Red Alert and voxels info request

[Kajos]

Hi,
I have always wondered how voxels are used in Red Alert. I figured, OpenRA does it the same way, hence why I am asking here. My options are: voxels output is prerendered and stored in RAM, or a voxelrenderer is calculating them on the fly. If it is option number 2, how is this possible without stressing the CPU? Is it because the voxel models are so small (less voxels to pass through)?

Thanks,
Kajos

[Matt]

Red Alert and OpenRA use sprites. Voxels were introduced in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. Have a look at http://modenc.renegadeprojects.com/OS_Voxel_Viewer for some Open Source rendering code on these.

[Kajos]

Okay thanks I didn't know that. Thanks for the link too, I will check it out. I fairly know how voxelrenderers work, but it seems unlikely to me Red Alert 2 uses this in realtime, imagine having 50 units on screen, that would require quite the CPU, wouldn't it?