4 ms·

Am I alone in thinking most of this year's Unreal Engine demonstrations are just...not that great? Like, this is what graphics looked like on the Xbox One from

by causi 4y ago

Am I alone in thinking most of this year's Unreal Engine demonstrations are just...not that great? Like, this is what graphics looked like on the Xbox One from nine years ago: https://halo.wiki.gallery/images/1/12/H5G-Waypoint-Swords_of_Sanghelios.jpg https://halo.wiki.gallery/images/1/12/H5G-Waypoint-Swords_of...

kuschku 4y ago
The quality of nanite heavily depends on your model. You can use photogrammetry scans or CAD exports directly, and nanite will make sure they'll look good. But if you just use existing videogame or fanmade assets (like here), the quality obviously suffers.
bogwog 4y ago
Nanite gives you high fidelity and Lumen gives you physically accurate lighting, but those things can't replace good art direction.
ainiriand 4y ago
Well that screen capture is taken from a cinematic scene if I am correct. UE demonstrations are real-time playable environments. Have you tested the Valley of the Ancients demo on your computer? You will see what I mean.
sk0g 4y ago
That screenshot does not look rendered in game, and no idea what the resolution is - at least not by an Xbox One. If current games are indistinguishable from single-frame renders that take minutes if not hours, I'd say that's a massive win! This looks more like the actual in-game rendering: http://cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/997/997367.jpg http://cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deri... What stands out to me is the low resolution textures everywhere, obvious seams between terrain and assets (runtime virtual texturing resolves that), light seams which have odd seams, and the entire ambience being vaguely similar to how light acts, but not really - primarily the lack of bounce lighting affecting anything. With the move to HDR, the more binary lighting of previous games looks weird too now. Contrast that with the rich detail in lighting you can see in Fortnite's new update - https://i.redd.it/g2wqe10no44a1.jpg https://i.redd.it/g2wqe10no44a1.jpg Nanite, especially foliage, is something you have to experience for yourself though. Foliage pop-in not being so stark and alarming is huge for me, and the rich lighting capabilities improves immersion massively. Regarding assets, high polygon assets have been created for ages too, but were never actually brought in to games. You bake those details into your normal maps, but with Nanite you can just bring them into games, and get the full detail when the player is up close to them. When games can fully embrace Lumen and Nanite, the developer iteration improvement will be huge.
oneoff786 4y ago
Halo 9 nine years ago looked like this https://images.app.goo.gl/wbcDbmHJhcUsxB5YA https://images.app.goo.gl/wbcDbmHJhcUsxB5YA
- causi 4y ago
  Halo Anniversary came out 11 years ago, and it ran on hardware from 2005.
djmips 4y ago
1 is the loneliest number.
jayd16 4y ago
The technology at play is about handling scaling detail. You can now use very large and very detailed models so your scenes look good from close and afar. A single shot misses the point. What makes that shot look good are just the post effects, eg. depth of field and god rays.
et1337 4y ago
There's no accounting for taste, but another reason why the Unreal advancements are a big deal is improved productivity for artists. The geometry in that Xbox One screenshot was painstakingly optimized by some poor overworked artist, whereas this guy just threw together a couple billion polygons and UE5 didn't even flinch. edit: not to mention the lighting in the Xbox One screenshot was also pre-baked and probably manually tweaked, compared to real lighting updated in realtime in UE5.

by causi 4y ago

kuschku 4y ago

The quality of nanite heavily depends on your model. You can use photogrammetry scans or CAD exports directly, and nanite will make sure they'll look good. But if you just use existing videogame or fanmade assets (like here), the quality obviously suffers.

bogwog 4y ago

Nanite gives you high fidelity and Lumen gives you physically accurate lighting, but those things can't replace good art direction.

ainiriand 4y ago

Well that screen capture is taken from a cinematic scene if I am correct. UE demonstrations are real-time playable environments. Have you tested the Valley of the Ancients demo on your computer? You will see what I mean.

sk0g 4y ago

That screenshot does not look rendered in game, and no idea what the resolution is - at least not by an Xbox One. If current games are indistinguishable from single-frame renders that take minutes if not hours, I'd say that's a massive win! This looks more like the actual in-game rendering: http://cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/997/997367.jpg http://cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deri... What stands out to me is the low resolution textures everywhere, obvious seams between terrain and assets (runtime virtual texturing resolves that), light seams which have odd seams, and the entire ambience being vaguely similar to how light acts, but not really - primarily the lack of bounce lighting affecting anything. With the move to HDR, the more binary lighting of previous games looks weird too now. Contrast that with the rich detail in lighting you can see in Fortnite's new update - https://i.redd.it/g2wqe10no44a1.jpg https://i.redd.it/g2wqe10no44a1.jpg Nanite, especially foliage, is something you have to experience for yourself though. Foliage pop-in not being so stark and alarming is huge for me, and the rich lighting capabilities improves immersion massively. Regarding assets, high polygon assets have been created for ages too, but were never actually brought in to games. You bake those details into your normal maps, but with Nanite you can just bring them into games, and get the full detail when the player is up close to them. When games can fully embrace Lumen and Nanite, the developer iteration improvement will be huge.

oneoff786 4y ago

Halo 9 nine years ago looked like this https://images.app.goo.gl/wbcDbmHJhcUsxB5YA https://images.app.goo.gl/wbcDbmHJhcUsxB5YA

causi 4y ago
Halo Anniversary came out 11 years ago, and it ran on hardware from 2005.

djmips 4y ago

1 is the loneliest number.

jayd16 4y ago

The technology at play is about handling scaling detail. You can now use very large and very detailed models so your scenes look good from close and afar. A single shot misses the point. What makes that shot look good are just the post effects, eg. depth of field and god rays.

et1337 4y ago

There's no accounting for taste, but another reason why the Unreal advancements are a big deal is improved productivity for artists. The geometry in that Xbox One screenshot was painstakingly optimized by some poor overworked artist, whereas this guy just threw together a couple billion polygons and UE5 didn't even flinch. edit: not to mention the lighting in the Xbox One screenshot was also pre-baked and probably manually tweaked, compared to real lighting updated in realtime in UE5.