I just saw a video about what the publishers call the "next major step after the invention of 3D". According to the person speaking in it, they use a huge amount of atoms grouped into clouds instead of polygons, to reach a level of unlimited detail.

They tried their best to make the video understandable for persons with no knowledge of any rendering techniques, and therefore or for other purposes left out all details of how their engine works.

The level of detail in their video does look quite impressive to me.

• How is it possible to render scenes using custom atoms instead of polygons on current hardware? (Speed, memory-wise)
• If this is real, why has nobody else even thought about it so far?

I'm, as an OpenGL developer, really baffled by this and would really like to hear what experts have to say. Therefore I also don't want this to look like a cheap advert and will include the link to the video only if requested, in the comments section.