"No! Euclid!" GPU Ray Tracer gets an upgrade!

I've been working on my non-euclidean GPU-based ray tracer, and made a lot of progress. I've been adding a multitidue of features and it's now available on github. I've only been compiling it for Linux, but it might work in Windows, though I can't really test that.
github.com/cnl...

[@imstupid880]

What in God's name have you done? It's like Antichamber and Portal had a baby.

[@asdrubalvect6328]

Huzzah! It's a 3-Dimensional Portal!

[@CloroxBleach0]

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@fargoththemoonsugarmaniac]

Oh my fucking God I LOVE YOU. THANKS!!!!!!! I searched for the name of this game for years... Finally I found it! If I could I'd kiss you.

[@FrankHarwald]

indeed, that game mechanic seems like antichamber all over again... also: another game going into that same kinda direction is Manifold Garden by Wiliam Chyr (look that up if you're interested in this kinda stuff) & I am confidend he might be interested in your non-euclidean game engine & the ray tracer behind it.

[@Spudcosmiccc]

When in doubt just call every puzzle game Portal

[@mansodev]

KZbin algorithm: I bet you’re wondering why you’re all here today

[@Adecker100]

Hey, I don't mind...

[@hiralykowalski6825]

KZbin algorithm knows me better than I myself This is bit creepy to be honest

[@xrayfalconx2528]

Nah i specifically searched for this

[@aurrtt7115]

yep

[@goeiecool9999]

Pitch this to valve. Portal 3 confirmed.

[@goeiecool9999]

Really? Unreal engine? That surprises me as most of the stuff valve has been releasing is either VR stuff in Unity or game ports to source 2

[@Leijona321]

Most likely source 2. Unity has probably been just for these VR showcases because its easy to make fast projects with unity engine and nobody is spooking around their source 2 VR code before they actually release source2 VR title.

[@1224chrisng]

Non-Euclidian Portal good luck

[@nathangamble125]

@Dwight A. Spencer Raytracing is coming soon to Unreal engine though!

[@jopo6445]

@@nathangamble125 Raytracing won't convert a euclidean engine to a non-euclidean engine, so it won't make it easier to do stuff like this in the unreal engine

[@CypressDeer]

RTX On

[@CNLohr]

Except without the RTX.

[@CypressDeer]

@@CNLohr And with way better performance

[@Snailsxd]

lmao

[@7XHARDER]

@@CNLohr wow 5 years and you are still replying to comments? :O

[@dr.angerous]

@@7XHARDER haha

[@Julian_H]

Polygonal graphics are great, but it's cool to see something like this. Ray Tracers can lead to some potentially interesting gameplay ideas and a really unique art style.

[@PeterWorkman]

drugs are bad mkay

[@saerain]

Math is a hell of a drug.

[@clex2349]

Meth begins with me

[@CsharpPreza]

Mkay is not a word.

[@dxalradoftwgameplay3629]

A cultured Eminem fan I see

[@molnez]

@@CsharpPreza You obviously don't watch South Park.

[@lucidiantwilight9768]

It reminds me of these raymarching and raytracing algorithms that I seen in the past. One time I came up with an implementation of non-euclidean geometry in raytracing. The precision wasn't great, but the outcome was mind-blowing.

[@CNLohr]

That is how it goes!

[@AlbinoJedi]

This is pretty cool. I am very fascinated by non- euclidean geometry based things.

[@sossololpipi9633]

Geometry based drugs

[@ograkthemonkeyhunter2743]

Wat is non euclid

[@infiniteplanes5775]

Non Euclidean geometry is a whole bunch of neat things. It’s very interesting to view and I hope this engine will someday be able to do those things

[@the_jaer_hend]

friend: i had a dream where i kissed my crush! my dreams:

[@ciclon5682]

dream: so you see in this side of the room the x and y axis are smaller than the other side

[@whywhy8276]

dream: minecraft manhunt

[@expiredmilk158]

@WHY? WHY!?!??! AHAHAH nice

[@sushrutmishra]

Exactly

[@PotaraP]

I’m always 2-4 weeks late to the comments

[@TheSlyProductions]

I'd like to play this in VR

[@urielseptim910]

How to vomit in 3 seconds: Play this game in VR

[@ironia5147]

Literally gonna dies

[@harleyva]

@@urielseptim910 if you're weak 😎

[@truefiasco2637]

with a procedural element so you never bump into anything.

[@KarhsXII]

Really beautiful work!! I love the way blocks meld into their surroundings when placed, and the absolutely wild visual stuff that goes on when you look down the edge of a distorted area.

[@OrangeC7]

7:15 - Is this the Game of Life? On closer inspection, it doesn't seem like it is... which automaton is it?

[@totaltotalmonkey]

We might be able to reverse engineer the algorithm by considering each change in the grid. However, it may just be a predetermined sequence. Looking to at the code may also answer your question.

[@fuuryuuSKK]

It seems to be the standard 23;3 automation

[@totaltotalmonkey]

@@fuuryuuSKK what does 23;3 mean?

[@Taarakion]

@@totaltotalmonkey It means that a cell will live with 2 or 3 neighbors and will born if it has exactly 3 neighbors. Written as B3/S23, is the default Life rule.

[@totaltotalmonkey]

@@Taarakion thanks for the answer : -)

[@bastiaanmarcelis7315]

Watching this video gives me that same old feeling i had when i was in math class. Knowing this stuff will always be out of reach for me. Seeing a glimpse of something beautyfull. It all sounds so logical. My math teacher explaining it to me, like it was impossible to Not understand. I admire the brain that can come up with such things. Now i do stuff with my hands like tightening nuts and bolts. Getting all dirty in the process. It's ok.

[@Salty_Bass]

Man these Farcry drug trip segments are getting way to realistic

[@posadist681]

+Kyle Johnson (WarlordKyle) The new Farcry primal game is lookin great!

[@Antsaboy94]

Here's a tricky question: what is the camera's field of view?

[@peabrainiac6370]

how is this tricky?

[@9696Punk]

Tricky because the area that you see is not only controlled by the field of view but by the curvature of space itself

[@raphaelnunes5925]

Looking at the green level with the blue clouds and seeing how it works, I think it changes dynamically

[@impostrous]

Oh shi~

[@digitalhouse6969]

@@9696Punk wtf

[@craftboy338]

I have no idea what's going on on a technical scale but this is really cool and I bet people could do some crazy stuff with this

[@Zoza15]

I like the whole transformation morphing effects..

[@adamsfusion]

This is simply incredible. As a developer, things like that TCC hot reloading compilation make my life so much better. Thanks!

[@cyancoyote7366]

Isn't room 9 Conway's game of life?

[@CNLohr]

Indeed it is!

[@cyancoyote7366]

That's cool :D

[@MrOccamsChainsaw]

Hands down the best video on this website

[@CNLohr]

+KA Thanks! Too bad this project is now end of life :-/

[@johnsherfey3675]

+CNLohr that's sad. I was wondering is this ray casting. because I see no shadows, reflections, or refractions? which would mean it's not a ray tracer but a ray caster.

[@CNLohr]

+John Sherfey Hmm... It seems that by definition it fits somewhere between them, since ray casting is generally done in 2D it seems?

[@johnsherfey3675]

+CNLohr 2d. Well That's almost never..

[@johnsherfey3675]

+CNLohr look up ray casting 3d. Its not done often but, it is done.

[@bionictwin4736]

bro the compressed space hallway genuinely hurts

[@Barboite]

This is mindblowing, 4:20 looks awesome. Any developper working on a game with this engine ? would be lame if not.

[@CNLohr]

No. No one adopted the engine that I am aware of.

[@jtsancen4435]

This is extremely entertaining and visually stunning. Great work!

[@HansonJ]

4:24 eXcUsE mE wTf?

[@zrATT_]

2014: NO EUCLID MINECRAFT 2020: Superliminal

[@barebone2]

A month after it goes mainstream, local police departments notice a sharp rise in LSD and acid drug abuse.

[@nyxcode2818]

"acid abuse" is an oxymoron

[@mattyd2248]

lsd is acid haha

[@DR-54]

@@nyxcode2818 I don't think "drug abuse" is a oxymoron, but then again I might be the only one reading this correctly.

[@Tokmurok]

@John Toas what the he'll are you talking about? On a spiritual level opening your third eye using drugs is dangerous and can let negative entities or environments interfere. Things like "shadow men" that wake you up and you never forget them, come to mind. See lsd simulator.

[@beowulfey172]

Really nice work. One of the best examples of non-euclidean visualization I've ever seen! I think seeing these really hammers home just how alien and incomprehensible this sort of geometry is. I understand why its considered Lovecraftian and really makes me wish there were a House of Leaves game made using these concepts.

[@nameguy101]

The moving lava floor is Game of Life isn't it?

[@CNLohr]

Almost, I think it's slightly easier for the cells to stay alive, though.

[@nameguy101]

CNLohr How long did it take to first write the ray tracer? and the non-euclidean volumes?

[@CNLohr]

Oh gosh, I wrote it over a several year period. If I knew what I know now, it'd probably only take me 80 hours or so, but I think for me to get to where I am now, it was probably 300-400 hours.

[@hugelham1304]

I have watched this video at least 100 times now, idk why something about it. Maybe its the mic

[@trancerobot]

Reminds me of some tricks you could do with the Descent 2 level editor - you could place rooms within other rooms, sharing the same space, accessible depending on the path you took, and also make things that are "bigger on the inside". Great work btw, I love this kind of stuff.

[@CNLohr]

Indeed. I believe a number of the early 3D engines made a lot of this possible, but, none of htem would let you warp space dynamically, like in the same scene.

[@ancientapparition1638]

Non Euclidean geometry is definitely a neat game idea.

[@landonpowell6296]

This is insanely cool. Have you considered putting a license on the GitHub so other people can use the engine in their projects? If you're looking for a "do whatever you want" license, CC0 is an option, and the MIT License comes pretty close to that.

[@TheSnail225]

I think that WTFPL is better choice of "do whatever you want" license

[@mechaero2800]

snail225 😂

[@Cookie__XD]

Wait a minute! Minecraft Ray tracing?! Are you from the future?!

[@AlphaModder3]

Was the room with the changing lava floor a cellular automaton?

[@CNLohr]

Indeed it was!

[@AlphaModder3]

Something about the patterns seemed familiar :P

[@Quills64]

this is so cool. it's funny that a video on an actual non-euclidean engine barely mentions that term unlike all the memetic videos with euclidean geometry that do.

[@LimyChitou]

I like this so much, and it has so much potential... This needs further development

[@davidwillmore]

Room 9: Conway's game of death.

[@CNLohr]

Ooh that's a good one.

[@arjanb7158]

Seeing this video got me really excited to start a project doing similar things. How do you implement the room where running in a straight line doesn't get you there faster? Do you have some function that defines the density of space at each point in the room? Is movement affected by density of space, then? How do you "warp" the rays that are moving through varying density of space in an efficiently calculatable manner? Any good tutorials or publications on this kind of subject that you would recommend?

[@chinuchun]

If it is not too late, the best bet would be to check the source on github. As he has explained, you can change the code in realtime, while playing. Just enter the room you are interested in and check the source code. Should be the best way to answer your question

[@IsaacLightning]

Are you planning on going any further with this?

[@The1wsx10]

i have seen pictures of awesome stuff with ray-tracers before, but none of it was real-time. this is really awesome. i would love to see a puzzle game with this.

[@CNLohr]

I don't think it's gonna happen :( no one's taken the project over.

[@MoccaDeShibe]

"aperture science would like to know your location"

[@CosmicDTaco]

incredible showcase for something this old, absolutely mind-blowing!

[@CNLohr]

Thanks. I've gotten a lot of mileage from these sorts of techniques both professionally and for fun!

[@doxioo]

4:19 As Gyro Zeppeli once said "The shortest path was a detour"

[@dropdedd]

Just seeing this now, wow I'm excited for future gaming

[@yacob1113]

I love how 5 years ago this was an advanced day tracer

[@ArtificialDjDAGX]

I know I'm still on my first year of education to become a civil-engineer in software and game-programming, but I need to see how this thing works!!! It's so great! With how this can do a lot of things regular ray tracers can't, I hope it's possible to render from camera to screen with 2 cameras instead of the regular single camera rendering.

[@teft8627]

I expected a: "sike its all one room"

[@nadiequintero9981]

Hello! I've been going through your videos and I love them, pure genius! I was wondering, why did you choose to implement this game's engine in your WiFi visualization project? What advantages did it give you compared to other methods?

[@CNLohr]

It was just convenient and did a lot of what I was after. So I just went with it.

[@thecakeredux]

What I don't understand about this is what actually determines the curvature. Are there set points with a known distance to one another from which everything else is interpolated? Points or areas with a certain gravity that attract the rays, maybe? Maybe I'm thinking too euclidean, but I can't make the jump without more information. Very interesting project(ion).

[@CNLohr]

So, this system does require that things are built out of a grid, which can be torn or warped but arbitrary space doesn't really work that way. Not in this system :(

[@thecakeredux]

@@CNLohr That makes sense, thanks for coming back at me. At the right time, too, just finished a small 3d rasterizer side project, maybe I can immediately break it with some of this.

[@bjbegui]

This is really awesome... Thank you for sharing this..

[@academQuake]

Me: OK, smoking a little pot and watching YT is gonna be a great evening! YT algorithm: I'm gonna warp this man's whole evening.

[@LightniteProductions]

Me: I wonder what's going on today on YouTub- KZbin Recommendations: *_HOW LSD LOOKS LIKE!_*

[@dustinm2717]

This is old but it's actually still one of the best "non euclidean" renderers Its not quite as crazy as the one or two that use literal hyperbolic space, but unlike the majority of the ones that exist on KZbin this doesn't just use portals Actually it works similar to an idea i had on how to make unusual spaces, interesting to see the idea in actual practice since i never figured out how to write it myself

[@aleksandar5323]

This is so cool , much respect! :)

[@sofia.eris.bauhaus]

this is great in lots of ways, but the fully-precedual textures are definitely one of them. :D

[@cheatman05]

This is some serious stuff, I haven't seen an idea in ages with this much potential

[@iiinterpreter]

You could make an insanely trippy horror game with this.

[@crazzzik]

Give it to Carmack, he was keen on the idea of ray tracing. He had some thoughts about dedicated hardware ray tracers. If you haven't seen, check out Bethesda's channel. He has a lengthy but interesting talk about the history of computer graphics and rendering.

[@CNLohr]

Leon Nat I studied a lot of what he had to say a long time ago on the topic, and I think the direction current hardware has gone may not be the /best/ for the future of gaming, but it certainly works. Any specific video you can think of I should watch?

[@crazzzik]

I was thinking of "The Physics of Light and Rendering"

[@CNLohr]

Good grief. I have all of 3 lines of code in my shader concerned with the physics of what the lighting should look like!

[@SamualN]

dedicated hardware for ray tracing is here!

[@hemalpatel9708]

Very good concept is used here!

[@joshuanawrocki2994]

This fucks with my brain more then I thought it would.

[@namelessnick9791]

cant imagine how trippy this would be in VR

[@asdfasdfasdf8523]

I have done a lot of maths back in the day but this is beyond me. Very impressed.

[@astral6749]

This looks very similar to 4D geometries. Very interesting!

[@vindi167]

Phew! finally something my computer supports!

[@ricardo.mazeto]

Would be nice if you make a video explainning how you made this tcc extension to recompile the changes to source code and update the binary while it is running. This is a unique feature, many people would be interested in it.

[@SERVER1992]

Dude if I had the time I would love to play around with your engine...This is great!

[@__.AE.__]

This shows that the functionality for ray tracing was always there, we were just too blind to see it.

[@JDoawp]

This man was ahead of his time

[@Jmcgee1125]

This could have some insane implications for FPS technology. I'm thinking of something where a player could warp the world to reach a place faster or cause things to slow down by increasing the space around them. Now that I think of that, what if it was a tower defense? You could slow down enemy movement, or speed them up through areas. The fluid nature of the physics could call for some crazy strategies. Combining the two, what if it was something like Arma 3 Zeus? The Zeus could create a map where the players would have to adapt to new shortcuts and alternate areas where things just aren't normal. Nothing is normal. What is "regular?" I think those questions could be more fully explored in a game, constantly warping areas rather than having definitive "warp" zones like this example. Who knows, maybe I'll try my hand at this. I'm no engine developer, but I do have programming experience. Just another thing to add to my ever expanding bucket list. Modern graphics cards could probably handle a lot more than this simple grid. Perhaps reducing their size and treating them more as stretchy voxels could lead to some more detailed worlds. Now for the real idea: Think Superhot. In that game, you can control time. But what if you could control space instead? If bullets were coming at you, increase the space around you. Bullet takes longer to get to you, giving you more time to move, but your 'real' world movement distance is significantly reduced, making it easier for others to get you. Or, decrease the space. Then you can move faster, but a bullet that gets close enough would find itself drawn more quickly to you. It may be beyond my expertise, but it's fun to imagine what might be if developed further.

[@DeviMon1]

If someone is interested in an actual game with similar physics and mind blowing puzzles, try Antichamber. It really is one of a kind, and I saw quite a lot of similarities in the ideas. Ofcourse this ray tracer engine works differently and is more sophisticated, but that game wont dissapoint you either way.

[@posadist681]

+DeviMon1 Thanks I'll try it

[@World_Theory]

There is a web serial story called "Worm", that is set on a world where people started to mysterious get super powers about 30 years ago (very roughly, because I can't remember the exact date given in the story). There is a character named Vista, that can warp space. An example would be to pinch the space of the road together, and then cross in a single step. In this program, the room that changes dimensions looked like what I imagine a less extreme use of Vista's power would look like. This could be a very interesting game concept. Warp space into pretzels, to achieve your goals. It could a puzzle game, a fighting game, or something more complex, like an RPG Adventure with weird powers.

[@CNLohr]

It could, but it would take someone else to take this to the next level.

[@mattomanx77]

Another amazing renderer I've only now become aware of! I'll need to take a closer look for myself.

[@sturm1379]

This is how it looks like when you do a game based on a LSD trip

[@tsukamadomolinaojeda9109]

Wow, cant believe that type of thing was possible

[@gdm413229]

I think the pink and grey texture was for redstone ore.

[@ashnambers]

Why must youtube bring me to such an exciting and cool project for me to find out its life has long passed :c

[@JTH1153]

this has to be brought back to life

[@pingeee]

Idk why but I really like this kind of graphics, feels kinda nostalgic

[@anteconfig5391]

I've heard of ray tracers but it seems I have forgotten what that is. Now I really feel like finding out again.

[@faissalbensefia7001]

Please keep making this, it looks awesome!

[@NiceGuyShaders]

Hey, my brain! Are you still working?

[@du42bz]

The KZbin algorithm has blessed you

[@paulaccuardi9071]

We will watch your career with great interest👍

[@MeasuredMoth]

wow this is amazing, there seems to be some much work put into it

[@CaptainLysinga]

Awesome video :) This is the first time I am commenting on one of your videos (I am a subscriber) and I just wanted to let you know that you make awesome videos indeed :) Kepp it up! And I'd like to see these kinds of videos in the future :)

[@CNLohr]

Thanks. All too often, I work on a project and don't post it because I don't think it's in line with the channel... I'll try to be diligent in posting all the things I work on.

[@TP-rs5zl]

4:06 You found a way to make 4D spacetime seem simple! :o I couldn't explain it any faster or easier, it would be like 3 Harvard level paragraphs xD.

[@ZU6N]

dang, compare raytracing from then to now. that's crazy difference

[@yanfoo]

A non-euclidean Minecraft... that would be very interesting to make; building houses, around warp bubble...

[@galaxymaster]

Man N64 RTX is amazing

[@thenderyoshi]

I think you should make some parts of the world more geometric, just for aesthetics

[@x-tom_ber-x]

So this is what a non-polygonal game would look like!

[@CrewFroebel]

Can't wait to try this out. It reminds me of Antichamber and Portal. Seems really experimental!

[@compositebundle3549]

I can't even tell what's going on. It's great.

[@peterferrarotto1449]

This makes me feel very short, with how close the camera is to the ground.

[@TheCobyRandal]

Super cool! I could see this being used for lessons in relativity and even organic visualizations, like medical etc. I hope it gets picked up and used the way it deserves. Nice work, and thanks for sharing! :D

[@CNLohr]

+Coby Randal Check out my high res wifi signal mapping... that engine can be used for medical voxel images.

[@midorifox]

This is amazing. I hope someone will make a full game out of it

[@nacer_rpg]

r e c o m e n d a t i o n

[@paradoxks]

When is the full release

[@galewallblanco8184]

What you made is truly marvelous and wonderful, i've seen *none* do the same

[@Beatsbasteln]

i think it's pretty cool. i liked the room where you have to move to the right to get forward. very spacey. it all looks really blurry though. is it just because you're not much of a designer, or does raytracing just take too much gpu to leave something for quality visuals?