SilentGamer Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 > Epic announced a host of new features in their Unreal Engine 3 development platform today at this year's GDC, the biggest of which is support for DirectX 11 and its assorted tools. The problem is, for most people, these kind of announcements might as well be in Sanskrit – they're full of tech jargon that goes right by the average gamer.> > I've gone through in an attempt to translate what Epic means by Subsurface Scattering and Deferred Rendering. The bolded segments are features of the updated Unreal Engine 3 courtesy of Epic, followed by our explanation of what this means for games. Epic gave us the thumbs up for accuracy. Yay, us.> > > > Reflections are hard to do in games without wrecking performance. You'll notice that many games you'll play go out of their way to break any mirrored surface so that there's a plausible reason for them to avoid rendering your character's reflection. The solution Epic discusses here sounds like it'll take a simplified version of the scene around a reflected object (like, say, your character in a mirror or a polished metal surface) and apply all the different effects you'd expect on top of them.> > > > > > Materials like skin and other non-shiny surfaces aren't opaque, believe it or not. Your skin is colored the way it is in part because of the color of the blood running through the capillaries in it, and you can see some veins. This also means that when light hits it, it doesn't just bounce off. Some light penetrates it, which then eventually reflects back. Subsurface scattering sort of emulates this effect with light that hits surfaces the developers designate. Think of the difference between a plastic action figure's skin surface and your own. That's what Epic is selling here.> > Aliasing, put simply, is the jagged appearance that plagues edges in game visuals. Have you ever seen, say, a wire running diagonally from the ground to a structure that looked like it was a collection of horizontal lines laddering upward? That's aliasing. Anti-aliasing smooths these edges. There are a variety of means of anti-aliasing, but the most effective methods can be really hard on video cards. Hair is especially effected, because of its overall complexity. Epic is claiming a better implementation for materials like hair in the new version of Unreal Engine 3, as shown below.> > > > > > > > If I understand correctly, this will help with things like grass and trees too. When you play games like Bad Company 2 on the consoles, you can see this kind of aliasing (jagged edges) in the bushes and such.Article by IGN.comIsn't this great news?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aldur Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Nothing here that hasn't really been done before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devogen Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 All this and they still fail at basic human facial structure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimulex Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 @Devo:> All this and they still fail at basic human facial structure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrKris Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 @Proximity:> Nothing here that hasn't really been done before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 They go this far to make super-realistic graphics engines and I'd still pay more to play Minecraft or Sonic 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helladen Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 @Devo:> All this and they still fail at basic human facial structure.Who cares about that? There just giving examples of what the engine is capable of doing. The way they look can obviously still be changed, Unreal isn't a game company, it's a game making software… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draken Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Um this is not the future of graphicsthe future of graphics is called holograms, yes they already are making them youtube it :Phttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3seTlvQtIgcNow you cant say there's not going to be a gaming console with that technology Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devogen Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 @Helladen:> Who cares about that? There just giving examples of what the engine is capable of doing. The way they look can obviously still be changed, Unreal isn't a game company, it's a game making software…Hush Troll, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saadhamza Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 @Draken:> Um this is not the future of graphics> > the future of graphics is called holograms, yes they already are making them youtube it :P> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3seTlvQtIgc> > Now you cant say there's not going to be a gaming console with that technologySo like, i could really have a naked babe hologram fucking me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The New World Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Because real ones don't properly exist, am I correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Comnena Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 What's the point of all these fancy graphics if the world is not interactive? A pretty backdrop has always been a pretty backdrop, all these new graphics do is make it harder or more resource intensive to run the same boring games we've all played for 10-20 years now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawQuart Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Meh, I guess it could be cooler for animations but thats not the road they're headed on…I find it interesting though. I dont play a game because of graphics, but more defined ones are always nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shado360 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 @Jungletoe:> Meh, I guess it could be cooler for animations but thats not the road they're headed on…> > I find it interesting though. I dont play a game because of graphics, but more defined ones are always nice.I concur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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