I'm 24, and have been programming computer graphics for around 12 years. Most of my work has been on game and graphics development libraries. I started programming on a TI99/4A making little clones of existing games like Moon Patrol, and have since used Atari ST and PC's for development.

The previous 7 years I've been working on libraries and development tools but the past year I've been doing games using my libraries. A couple of them worth mentioning are Dunamis, which is a 3D fighting game. You can check that out at www.dunamisgame.com. Another is a RPG called EvenStar which is still under development (www.dreamstone.net). I also have an outdoor multiplayer game call One Man Army which was just started.

The primary goal of Power Render has changed since it was first created. I was very interested in landscape engines, like Magic Carpet, and I developed one using software rendering. I found the need to put other 3D objects in the world so I created general purpose 3D object routines as well. This was the beginning. Back in 1995/96 I was looking at 3D acceleration and chose to support 3Dfx because it looked promising. Keep in mind I had never seen a 3D accelerator in action before. 3Dfx was kind enough to send me a Voodoo1 board and from then on, I've left software rendering behind. My new goal was to keep Power Render up to date with the latest 3D hardware. I think my experience with the WordUp Graphics Toolkit helped me design a simple API that works. Each release has been backwards compatible with the previous with no changes to the core rendering functions.

As for power, Power Render 3 which should be available this summer will have everything you could ask for in a general purpose engine. Some of the new features will be hardware bump mapping, DirectX 6 support, up to 8 stages of multitexturing stored in the mesh files, lightmaps, shadow volumes, 16 and 32 bit color textures, textures of any size, and lots more. It's tough keeping up to date with 3D hardware and that's my primary goal right now. My secondary goal is to develop useful examples and tools to make Power Render more attractive. Recently I've released (with full source code) a character animation system and a fully 3D landscape editing program call Landscape Studio.

You can quickly get objects up on the screen and manipulate them with easy commands. Having a proprietary file format allows you to create and edit properties of meshes with no programming required. For example you can convert a 3D Studio file with animation and textures to my format, then modify it using the Power Render graphical tools to change textures, colors, translucency, multitexturing, rendering methods, etc. The landscape engine is top notch and ready to use for all kinds of games, such as driving, hunting, flight sims, arcade, rpg, and strategy. Finally the API is the right mix between high and low level that lets you create anything you want.

I mentioned a few that I am involved with earlier, Dunamis and EvenStar. I'm really excited about One Man Army though. It's going to be pure arcade multiplayer fun. It's basically outdoor quake, combined with vehicles (ala GTA) and will be very flexible. I'll be releasing some more information about it on my web site after I get bump mapping added.

How do you feel about the new bump mapping technology visible in those Matrox G400 screenshots)?

I created this technology demo (screenshots at www.egerter.com/matrox) for Matrox to show off bump mapping in about 2 weeks. The results are great. Bump mapping can be used to add detail to all surfaces which is affected by dynamic lights on lightmaps. Games like Quake and Unreal could be using this technology with no modification to their lighting code. Matrox has raised the bar a little and you're going to see the rest of the companies trying to catch up.

Don't look for classes in school or University to teach you what you need. Browse the internet and buy some books and you will learn it yourself from the people with experience. I took some 3D graphics courses in University bought they just taught me things I had already learned several years ago. Another thing I hear is people that are making their 7th or 8th engine. I think I made about 2 engines while working on 3D. Reuse code, use modules, plan it out and do it right. You'll save loads of time in the future.

I only use C (no C++) and mostly use Microsoft Visual C/C++ now. I also use Watcom C for building smaller command line based utilities.

I'm a basketball fan so I'd have to say the NBA Live series. You can jump in and play with the teams that are hot during the year. I also like the god games by Bullfrog such as Populous and PowerMonger.

What new 3D technology do you see arriving in the near or distant future (and what do you hope to see)?

Most 3D graphics algorithms were designed 20 years ago, so I don't see any major improvements in terms of algorithms and API's. The main improvement with 3D cards will be more detailed textures, more speed, and a full DirectX 6 feature set (including bump mapping, stencil buffer, etc).

Get the trial version of Power Render 2.6 along with the new character system and Landscape Studio from www.egerter.com :)