Scali I'm not disputing your statement at all, I don't have the technical background in this area to really make any assessment of it, but how do you reconcile the delta between your assessment of the situation versus that of a highly placed and experienced individual of the likes of Richard Huddy?
Well, let's see...
I'm a professional graphics software engineer, with no ties to any videocard manufacturer. Aside from my professional work, I have open source projects available on the web, which use this sort of technology.
Richard Huddy is a PR guy (not a developer) for one of the largest GPU manufacturers in the world.
I mean to say this guy could not have possibly gotten to his current position in life, accumulated the professional experience he has on his CV, without knowing a thing or two about his line of work. Right?
I would say: wrong.
In my experience, PR people generally don't have a formal education in graphics or software development (Huddy does not, as far as I know). Their knowledge of the technology is superficial, and they consult their technical colleagues on what to say, and how to say it. Huddy has often been burnt in the past because he tends to cross these boundaries, and in the process either stabs people in the back or at least puts his foot in his mouth.
So when I read what Huddy has to say, and I read what you have to say, the logical conclusion that I come to is that I'm sure you are both correct but that there is reason what your talking about isn't something that Huddy is talking about.
The simple answer is that tessellation is not currently one of AMD's strong points, so naturally Huddy will try to downplay its significance.
I'm just saying that his scenario is not an accurate representation of reality. Mine is. As I say: look at how Pixar applies tessellation in their RenderMan software. That's where we should be going with tessellation on GPUs: adaptive subdivision based on the polygon's sizes in screen-space.
I could go in detail on how rasterizing, tessellation, NURBS and AA work, and how it all fits together, but you'd have to ask specific questions, because I don't know what you know, what you don't know, and what you want to know. It's a pretty large subject to cover in a single post.
So please: Ask questions if you want to know something. I know pretty much everything about graphics.
Or are you really trying to convince us that Huddy is not an expert and that he is to be wholly discounted?
I am willing to go as far as this: He is not an expert in the technical field. He consults experts in his company. That is not the same. You could say he's an expert-by-proxy. He is not to be wholly discounted, but he does not exactly have a flawless reputation, and obviously he has an agenda to push.
Considering he is not anonymous and his credibility is on the line every time he goes on record, the exact opposite of your situation, I'd be inclined to believe Huddy even if I don't have the technical prowess to do so with confidence.
That is exactly the danger of the situation. People believe him, even if he is wrong.
But I would be easily convinced that you are both right but you are missing the point of wherever Huddy was going with his message in the interview. Miscommunication happens all the time.
I know full well where Huddy is trying to go: he's trying to cover up AMD's poor tessellation performance.
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