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Using Excel As a 3D Graphics Engine

Posted by kdawson on Thu Mar 06, 2008 01:50 PM
from the right-tool-for-the-job dept.

simoniker writes "Obviously whimsical but slightly mind-blowing — an Eastern European coder has published video and the Excel tables to get full 3D wireframe running in Microsoft Excel. He even has solid polygonal graphics running. This isn't an Easter Egg by the Excel creators. Rather, he's using formulas to output the graphics, using two different methods, and showing all the variables on-screen in real time as the 3D is created."

+ -

This explains it (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 06 2008, @01:56PM (#22665240)

The DNF team has been waiting for the excel rounding errors to be fixed before release.
Obligatory Joke.. (Score:5, Funny)

by Matt Amato (2494) on Thursday March 06 2008, @01:59PM (#22665286)

Apparently he's using Excel as his web server too...
- Re:Obligatory Joke.. (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by Nom du Keyboard (633989) on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:08PM (#22665420)
  
  When your only tool is a hammer, you must make the whole rest of the world look like a nail.
  
  Parent
Explains the flight simulator in Excel 97? (Score:5, Interesting)

by TheCycoONE (913189) on Thursday March 06 2008, @01:59PM (#22665288)

So that's it, Excel is actually a 3d programming environment. The Excel 97 flight simulator then was a demo. http://www.eeggs.com/items/718.html [eeggs.com]
A cool trick, straight from the textbook (Score:5, Insightful)

by jandrese (485) <kensama@vt.edu> on Thursday March 06 2008, @01:59PM (#22665290) Homepage Journal

Back when I took graphics in college, it was made abundantly clear that all modern graphics are just large math problems solved in realtime. We did all sorts of work messing with transformation matrices and doing the math (sadly, since this was done by the CS department we did a lot less of the useful stuff and a lot more of the theoretical underpinnings that you don't technically need to know when actually programming something).

Anyway, the point is that Excel is reasonably well set up for doing the kind of math you need to do when making computer graphics and has vector output capabilities. It's a neat trick and something that would likely be useful in teaching the underpinnings (watching what happens as you tweak variables in a transformation matrix in realtime would have been very nice when I was taking my class).
Not to worry ... (Score:5, Funny)

by gstoddart (321705) on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:03PM (#22665334) Homepage

I'm sure someone has either already done this in emacs, or soon will.

Those guys have a mode for everything. :-P

Cheers
- Re:Not to worry ... (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by kalirion (728907) on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:21PM (#22665634)
  
  Oh yeah! Good ol' C-x M-c M-vectorengine...
  
  Of course I still prefer butterflies.
  
  Parent
skip right to the video (Score:5, Informative)

by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:04PM (#22665342)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV6uiZj0FHM [youtube.com]

and

http://www.youtube.com/user/GamasutraOfficial [youtube.com]
Not impressed (Score:5, Funny)

by Rufus211 (221883) <rufus-slashdot AT hackish DOT org> on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:06PM (#22665384) Homepage

I won't be impressed until Excel can pull of something as simple as a flight simulator.
big whoop (Score:5, Funny)

by FranTaylor (164577) on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:25PM (#22665678)

This was possible on a 7 MHz 68000 back in the day of the original mac. At 3 GHz he should be able to raytrace in Excel.
- Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by 49152 (690909) on Thursday March 06 2008, @01:55PM (#22665224)
  
  You sir are not a true geek ;-)
  
  He did it because he could, all other reasons would be redundant.
  
  Parent
- Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Insightful)
  
  by mattgoldey (753976) on Thursday March 06 2008, @01:57PM (#22665248) Homepage
  
  You people that ask why on posts like this need to turn in your geek card. Geeks do this kind of stuff because we can. We like a challenge. We like to explore technology to its fullest to find out just how much it can do -- despite the fact that there aren't any practical applications for whatever we come up with. It's all about exploration and learning (and a little bit about showing off what we can do).
  
  Parent
  - Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)
    
    by garett_spencley (193892) on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:08PM (#22665432) Journal
    
    pfft... speak for yourself. I do it to get laid.
    
    Parent
    - Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)
      
      by longacre (1090157) * on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:11PM (#22665496) Homepage
      
      What's the Excel formula for getting laid?
      
      Parent
      - Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)
        
        by dvice_null (981029) on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:15PM (#22665548)
        
        Not sure, but it probably has something to do with miscalculation.
        
        Parent
      - Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)
        
        by legoman666 (1098377) on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:42PM (#22665924)
        
        alt-f4
        
        Parent
      - Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)
        
        by MobileTatsu-NJG (946591) on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:44PM (#22665938)
        
        "What's the Excel formula for getting laid?"
        
        I can give you the CSV version:
        
        Income, Car, Looks, Star Wars Fan, Flosses, Dress Quality, Glasses, Muscles, Fat
        $250k, Porsche, Good, 0, 1, >0.8, 0, 1, 0
        
        Parent
  - Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)
    
    by sm62704 (957197) on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:49PM (#22665996) Journal
    
    You people that ask why on posts like this need to turn in your geek card. Geeks do this kind of stuff because we can.
    
    No, more like "because we HAVE TO. We can't help ourselves.
    
    Parent
  - - Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)
      
      by alta (1263) on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:25PM (#22665694) Homepage Journal
      
      Hey, I'm a republican and a creationist. No one is going to convience me that this story was not worth of being posted or that I should turn in my card. Heck with an ID as low as mine, I doubt too many people would ask me to :)
      
      Parent
      - Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)
        
        by uhlume (597871) on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:45PM (#22665946) Homepage
        
        That's not how you spell 'IQ'.
        
        Parent
- circa 1990 MS Works was a Turing Machine (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by davidwr (791652) on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:00PM (#22665308) Homepage Journal
  
  I've long forgotten how I did it, but I used the database application in MS-Works for Windows 3.0 as Turing Machine.
  
  Why? If you have to ask, get off Slashdot.
  
  Parent
- Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Insightful)
  
  by Scrameustache (459504) on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:01PM (#22665316) Homepage Journal
  
  ...why?
  Same reason others climb mountains.
  
  Parent
- Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Interesting)
  
  by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:48PM (#22665982)
  
  The central thesis appears towards the end of the article. The idea is that something like Excel represents a different coding paradigm that hasn't been seriously considered, where you basically lay out what your stuff is supposed to do, i.e. declare it instead of coding it sequentially. By doing this, you increase comprehension of what's going on, b/c it's easier to visualize the algorithm (at least for 3d manipulations) by viewing the tables, instead of trying to decipher a sequential piece of code. It's basically advocating using a declarative programming paradigm (like Prolog) for games, except using a comical venue to show it.
  
  Tim Sweeney's POPL talk had some similar ideas too.
  
  Parent
- The source of progress (Score:5, Insightful)
  
  by dazedNconfuzed (154242) on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:13PM (#22665518)
  
  Strange how much human accomplishment and progress comes from contemplation of the irrelevant. - Scott Kim.
  
  Parent
- I hope you are not serious (Score:5, Insightful)
  
  by F\x{00eb}an\x{00e1}ro (130986) on Thursday March 06 2008, @02:26PM (#22665706)
  
  I might be missing the joke and taking this way to seriously, but I really cannot stand that attitude. I guess it's easy to push my buttons.
  
  In wich deranged moral system is there some sort of duty that forces smart guys to spend all their available time on things useful for society?
  
  (And who decides what is beneficial for society anyway?)
  
  If his hoby was playing chess or collecting stamps or climbing mountains, would you say that he should spend his time on more useful things? If he could afford to spend a lot of time on those hobbies, why shouldn't he?
  
  So why is it that every time someone does something cool and strange and for all purposes harmless, someone else always has to say "THIS GUY HAS WAY TOO MUCH FREE TIME"? Someone who, I might add, spends his time on slashdot?
  
  Envy?
  (I know I am envious, I wish I had the time and the determination to do a lot of these things. Considering that I am wasting time on slasdot, determination is what I am lacking more of)
  
  Parent

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This explains it (Score:5, Funny)

Obligatory Joke.. (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Obligatory Joke.. (Score:5, Funny)

Explains the flight simulator in Excel 97? (Score:5, Interesting)

A cool trick, straight from the textbook (Score:5, Insightful)

Not to worry ... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Not to worry ... (Score:5, Funny)

skip right to the video (Score:5, Informative)

Not impressed (Score:5, Funny)

big whoop (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Insightful)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

circa 1990 MS Works was a Turing Machine (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Insightful)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Interesting)

The source of progress (Score:5, Insightful)

I hope you are not serious (Score:5, Insightful)

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This explains it (Score:5, Funny)

Obligatory Joke.. (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Obligatory Joke.. (Score:5, Funny)

Explains the flight simulator in Excel 97? (Score:5, Interesting)

A cool trick, straight from the textbook (Score:5, Insightful)

Not to worry ... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Not to worry ... (Score:5, Funny)

skip right to the video (Score:5, Informative)

Not impressed (Score:5, Funny)

big whoop (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Insightful)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Funny)

circa 1990 MS Works was a Turing Machine (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Insightful)

Re:One can only ask... (Score:5, Interesting)

The source of progress (Score:5, Insightful)

I hope you are not serious (Score:5, Insightful)

Please Log In to Continuex

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