[Gzdoom]Rendering Voxels like the software renderer

[YukiHerz]

First, do know that i know nothing about rendering, so this may sound like a silly/stupid question, but asking never(or almost never) hurts.

Would it be possible to have voxels rendered with each cube as a flat square like in the software renderer rather than each being a cube of many poligons?

Hope i'm posting in the right section since i don't wanna present this as a feature request without knowing if it's doable or not.

[Gez]

I don't know if GZDoom supports billboarded surfaces in a mesh, as it is what this would require.

(Lots of games use billboarded surfaces in meshes. Foliage is typically done this way even in modern games.)

[Nash]

I think voxels would look better as individual billboarded particles just like in software, rather than 3D cubes, to be honest.

[Graf Zahl]

Not going to happen. The current approach is very efficient and allows to render the entire voxel with a single draw call. Doing per-column billboarding would really add up to a lot of processing time.
Not to mention that voxel rendering in the software renderer is rather glitchy if you know where to look. The way GZDoom does it is rock-solid 3D and won't exhibit any strange quirks.

[YukiHerz]

Well, at least the question is answered, good to know the current method is actually better in these regards.

[Nash]

Ah, true, 3D cubes will always sort their own depths better. :)