Boosting the poly count in games by a factor of 100,000

[Moe]

Refering to the video's explanation the system will only display as many points as the resolution affords. So talking about an resolution of e.g. 1280x1024 this would be ~1.3 million points per frame (or more with an higher res). Without question, this is possible.
If the algorithm they are using is able to convert classic polygon models into cloud data in real time, bringing them onto the screen or uses any system which generates them out of data of less size than the actual storing of all those points on a hard drive would afford - it could be possible. I am thinking of that one scene where the camera flies around this statue of an elephant, there he's saying they are currently working on speeding up the fps, which might be a hint, that the algorithm produces those visible points while searching the index you mentioned before in real time.

So what I am trying to say is: Perhaps the overall size of the data storred on youd HDD isn't that exorbitant - it is their algorithm generating the unlimited detail environment shooing the points through your RAM.
Correct me if I am wrong as I am thinking about this with my limited logical imagination - this system is uncoupled from any former approach.

Lastly, if all this is true and managable - this will push a lot of things to a next level.

>Moe

[Hai-Etlik]

Converting polygon data on the fly would be pointless as that in itself couldn't really be any faster or more detailed than existing polygon scanline rasterization techniques, and you would still need to store and index all that data before you could search it. The conversion algorithm would have to be magic to be able to take a mesh and turn it into a point cloud with more detail than the mesh, or to make the conversion.

Also the description in the video was that the point cloud data is what is being stored right down to the level of what would ship with the game. That's what all the stuff about scanning in rocks was about. The rock exists as point cloud data, not a mesh that is converted to a point cloud.