Wolfgang Engel

Last updated
Wolfgang Engel
Occupation(s)Writer and designer
Notable workShaderX, GPU Pro, and GPU Zen books series
TitleCEO of Confetti

Wolfgang Friedrich Engel is a GPU and Graphics Programmer. He is the founder and CEO of The Forge Interactive. Previously, he also worked as the Lead Graphics Programmer for Rockstar Games. He is also the founder and editor of ShaderX, GPU Pro, and GPU Zen books series.

Contents

Career

As a developer, Engel has developed videogames in addition to games for the television series Wetten, dass..? . [1] He was the Lead Graphics Programmer at Rockstar Games, where he led the graphics development of the RAGE engine. During his time at Rockstar he contributed to Rockstar Games franchises including Midnight Club , Red Dead Redemption , and Grand Theft Auto . [2] At that time Engel also developed the Oolong gaming engine for iPhone, that eventually shipped about a hundred games. [3] In 2008 Engel introduced light pre-pass rendering as a method of deferred shading variant in the development of videogame graphics, [4] [5] [6] and is known as an expert in shader programming. [7]

Engel then founded Confetti Interactive and Confetti Games in 2009, [8] [9] and is its CEO.[ citation needed ] Confetti is a think-tank for real-time graphics research in the videogame and movie industry, graphics tools developer, and programming services company. Tools Engel has helped develop for the company include Aura, a global illumination system; Ephemeris, a skybox/skydome system; and PixelPuzzle, a Post FX pipeline system. [8] [10] As a part of his role with Confetti, Engel works with external clients, and provides consultations to other game developers. Confetti contributed to games including Tomb Raider , Battlefield 4 , Murdered Soul Suspect , Star Citizen , Dirt 4 , Vainglory , Transistor, Call of Duty Black Ops 3 , Battlefield 1 , Mafia 3 , Quake Champions , and Phyre . [11]

Writing

Engel has written or edited more than 20 books on graphics software development in use by the videogame industry, in line with contemporary techniques and practices. [12] The book series he has authored include the ShaderX, GPU Pro, and GPU Zen books series. [11] The ShaderX4 book was awarded the Game Developer Front Line prize in 2006.[ citation needed ] His books have also included edited collections of pieces by other industry experts and designers, [13] and Engel has also been technical editor to books published by other authors on the same subject matter. [14] [15] Engel also writes articles for developer magazines and game tutorials for videogame-oriented websites. [1] Engel has also spoken at public conferences regarding various techniques in videogame creation [16] and is a faculty member and advisor to the Academy of Game Entertainment Technology. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DirectX</span> Collection of multimedia related APIs on Microsoft platforms

Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direct", such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectSound, and so forth. The name DirectX was coined as a shorthand term for all of these APIs and soon became the name of the collection. When Microsoft later set out to develop a gaming console, the X was used as the basis of the name Xbox to indicate that the console was based on DirectX technology. The X initial has been carried forward in the naming of APIs designed for the Xbox such as XInput and the Cross-platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT), while the DirectX pattern has been continued for Windows APIs such as Direct2D and DirectWrite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenGL</span> Cross-platform graphics API

OpenGL is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve hardware-accelerated rendering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray tracing (graphics)</span> Rendering method

In 3D computer graphics, ray tracing is a technique for modeling light transport for use in a wide variety of rendering algorithms for generating digital images.

Direct3D is a graphics application programming interface (API) for Microsoft Windows. Part of DirectX, Direct3D is used to render three-dimensional graphics in applications where performance is important, such as games. Direct3D uses hardware acceleration if available on the graphics card, allowing for hardware acceleration of the entire 3D rendering pipeline or even only partial acceleration. Direct3D exposes the advanced graphics capabilities of 3D graphics hardware, including Z-buffering, W-buffering, stencil buffering, spatial anti-aliasing, alpha blending, color blending, mipmapping, texture blending, clipping, culling, atmospheric effects, perspective-correct texture mapping, programmable HLSL shaders and effects. Integration with other DirectX technologies enables Direct3D to deliver such features as video mapping, hardware 3D rendering in 2D overlay planes, and even sprites, providing the use of 2D and 3D graphics in interactive media ties.

A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term "software engine" used more widely in the software industry.

Game programming, a subset of game development, is the software development of video games. Game programming requires substantial skill in software engineering and computer programming in a given language, as well as specialization in one or more of the following areas: simulation, computer graphics, artificial intelligence, physics, audio programming, and input. For multiplayer games, knowledge of network programming is required. In some genres, e.g. fighting games, advanced network programming is often demanded, as the netcode and its properties are considered by players and critics to be some of the most important metrics of the game's quality. For massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), even further knowledge of database programming and advanced networking programming are required. Though often engaged in by professional game programmers, there is a thriving scene of independent developers who lack a relationship with a publishing company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shader</span> Type of program in a graphical processing unit (GPU)

In computer graphics, a shader is a computer program that calculates the appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color during the rendering of a 3D scene—a process known as shading. Shaders have evolved to perform a variety of specialized functions in computer graphics special effects and video post-processing, as well as general-purpose computing on graphics processing units.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torque (game engine)</span> 3D computer game engine

Torque Game Engine, or TGE, is an open-source cross-platform 3D computer game engine, developed by GarageGames and actively maintained under the current versions Torque 3D as well as Torque 2D. It was originally developed by Dynamix for the 2001 first-person shooter Tribes 2. In September 2012, GarageGames released Torque 3D as open-source software under the MIT License.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Non-photorealistic rendering</span> Style of rendering

Non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) is an area of computer graphics that focuses on enabling a wide variety of expressive styles for digital art, in contrast to traditional computer graphics, which focuses on photorealism. NPR is inspired by other artistic modes such as painting, drawing, technical illustration, and animated cartoons. NPR has appeared in movies and video games in the form of cel-shaded animation as well as in scientific visualization, architectural illustration and experimental animation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Software rendering</span> Generating images by computer software

Software rendering is the process of generating an image from a model by means of computer software. In the context of computer graphics rendering, software rendering refers to a rendering process that is not dependent upon graphics hardware ASICs, such as a graphics card. The rendering takes place entirely in the CPU. Rendering everything with the (general-purpose) CPU has the main advantage that it is not restricted to the (limited) capabilities of graphics hardware, but the disadvantage is that more transistors are needed to obtain the same speed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High-dynamic-range rendering</span> Rendering of computer graphics scenes by using lighting calculations done in high-dynamic-range

High-dynamic-range rendering, also known as high-dynamic-range lighting, is the rendering of computer graphics scenes by using lighting calculations done in high dynamic range (HDR). This allows preservation of details that may be lost due to limiting contrast ratios. Video games and computer-generated movies and special effects benefit from this as it creates more realistic scenes than with more simplistic lighting models. HDRR was originally required to tone map the rendered image onto Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) displays, as the first HDR capable displays did not arrive until the 2010s. However if a modern HDR display is available, it is possible to instead display the HDRR with even greater contrast and realism.

Managed DirectX (MDX) is Microsoft's deprecated API for DirectX programming on .NET Framework. MDX can be used from any language on .NET Framework. MDX can be used to develop multimedia and interactive applications, enabling high performance graphical representation and enabling the programmer to make use of modern graphical hardware while working inside the .NET Framework.

Tiled rendering is the process of subdividing a computer graphics image by a regular grid in optical space and rendering each section of the grid, or tile, separately. The advantage to this design is that the amount of memory and bandwidth is reduced compared to immediate mode rendering systems that draw the entire frame at once. This has made tile rendering systems particularly common for low-power handheld device use. Tiled rendering is sometimes known as a "sort middle" architecture, because it performs the sorting of the geometry in the middle of the graphics pipeline instead of near the end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deferred shading</span> Screen-space shading technique

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer graphics</span> Graphics created using computers

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft XNA Game Studio</span> Integrated development environment

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Sanchez-crespo, Daniel; Dalmau, Daniel Sánchez-Crespo (6 June 2018). Core Techniques and Algorithms in Game Programming. New Riders. ISBN   9780131020092 – via Google Books.
  2. ↑ Arif, Fahad (3 June 2014). "Xbox One eSRAM is Very Fast Memory, Proper Use Can Result Into Significant Performance/Speed Gains".
  3. ↑ "8 Sensational iPhone Game Engines (2D and 3D)". 14 July 2009.
  4. ↑ Lake, Adam (6 June 2018). Game Programming Gems 8. Course Technology. ISBN   9781435457713 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ McShaffry, Mike (25 June 2014). Game Coding Complete. Course Technology PTR. ISBN   9781133776581 – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ Duggan, Michael (16 July 2010). Torque for Teens. Course Technology. ISBN   9781435456433 – via Google Books.
  7. ↑ Nitschke, Benjamin (22 May 2007). Professional XNA Game Programming: For Xbox 360 and Windows. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   9780470173770 – via Google Books.
  8. 1 2 "Confetti Interactive: Creating Graphics For Games and Entertainment". gamesbusinessreview.com.
  9. ↑ Arif, Fahad (13 June 2014). "PS4 API is Something That Graphics Programmers Love - Specific GPU Optimizations Will Improve Performance".
  10. ↑ "Wolfgang Engel Video Game Credits - MobyGames". MobyGames.
  11. 1 2 "The Big Interview: Confetti Interactive On Video Game Lighting, Graphics Rendering And More « Video Game News, Reviews, Walkthroughs And Guides – GamingBolt". gamingbolt.com.
  12. ↑ Madhav, Sanjay (6 March 2018). Game Programming in C++: Creating 3D Games. Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN   9780134597317 – via Google Books.
  13. ↑ Engel, Wolfgang (28 July 2015). GPU Pro 6: Advanced Rendering Techniques. CRC Press. ISBN   9781482264623 – via Google Books.
  14. ↑ St-Laurent, Sebastien (6 June 2018). The Complete Effect and HLSL Guide. Paradoxal Press. ISBN   9780976613213 – via Google Books.
  15. ↑ Leiterman, James (6 June 2018). Learn Vertex and Pixel Shader Programming with DirectX 9. Wordware Publishing, Inc. ISBN   9781556222870 – via Google Books.
  16. ↑ Nitschke, Benjamin (22 May 2007). Professional XNA Game Programming: For Xbox 360 and Windows. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   9780470173770 – via Google Books.
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