Holy Goddam

[Morgoth]

Whatever. Maybe they could make it look better in HR, but prolly on the expense of performance. After all, it's always nice to show a demo and max everything out, but in an actual game you've a lot more going around, so the devs have to allocate ressources accordingly to mantain a playable framerate. That's my guess at least.

[Kaftan Barlast]

I looked at the clips and Lightstage is a technology used to capture really high quality moving 3D and texture/colour data at the same time. What they did here is that they managed to compress and optimize(cheat) the enourmous amount of data so that it can be played back in realtime. But they dont specify which parts fo the released material is realtime and which is pre-rendered.

[GreasyDogMeat]

Bit background info about this project. Around 3.35 you see that model in motion.

yeah, okay, except that's not a model per se so much as super-duper motion capture of a woman's head.

 

impressive but not the same thing.

 

Its still awesome and shows what may be what video game characters will look like in the future.

 

Thats the first CGI human that completly fooled me into thinking it was real video. I remember a video game producer saying that photo realistic characters may be possible in about ten years... and this has me thinking it might be true.

[crakkie]

The model was created with a dome of digital cams with TTL flashes capturing her movements exactly. There is no muscle structure or skeleton modeling, it's just a very high resolution capture of her exact movements as she talks. As it stands this is only really useful for something like interactive movies where you interact with the story, not games where you interact with the world.

 

Also, if models and animations were that exact, it would push development costs up another order of magnitude. That's not good for industry, and it isn't worth it, not for something you'll get used to seeing after 30 minutes. Unfortunately, customers by and large are going to keep pushing for graphical improvements until that level is reached. Exponential content creation costs will at some point outpace linear sales increases. Then society will collapse.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Ok cool, you have completely realistic human faces now.

 

 

What then?

[GreasyDogMeat]

Well, I'm sure the gaming industry will find tricks and programs to make it more cost effective.

 

Its kind of like the Diablo 1 CGI intros... extremly impressive for their time but now far surpassed by actual in-game graphics.

[crakkie]

They haven't with this generation. Games are smaller, shorter, and cost much more than the last generation. Most of that cost increase is an explosion of artists/modelers/animators.

[Kaftan Barlast]

...most of that cost increase is an explosion of artists/modelers/animators.

 

 

Hey, we're not the only ones to blame here. Every single aspect of game development has become more complex and time consuming. Nowadays you have like one guy doing nothing but work on a water shader for 3 years straight, that was unheard of ten years ago.

 

But it might quiet down a bit because the tools required to make game assets are becomming more and more advanced and easier to use aswell. For example; today, an artist will easily spend a week laying out the UV's for a main character, and another guy 2 weeks for rigging him and preparing him for animation(a process that has to be redone for every single change in the characers design). In the future, we will have programs who will do all that automaticly in 5-10min.

[GreasyDogMeat]

I think graphics of that level will be worth the collapse of society.

[Gorth]

Wasn't one of the major arguments for moving from 2d to 3d engines the cheaper and faster creation of assets? >_

[Hell Kitty]

I'm pretty sure the extra dimension is the major argument.

[Morgoth]

...most of that cost increase is an explosion of artists/modelers/animators.

 

 

Hey, we're not the only ones to blame here. Every single aspect of game development has become more complex and time consuming. Nowadays you have like one guy doing nothing but work on a water shader for 3 years straight, that was unheard of ten years ago.

 

But it might quiet down a bit because the tools required to make game assets are becomming more and more advanced and easier to use aswell. For example; today, an artist will easily spend a week laying out the UV's for a main character, and another guy 2 weeks for rigging him and preparing him for animation(a process that has to be redone for every single change in the characers design). In the future, we will have programs who will do all that automaticly in 5-10min.

I don't need a week to lay out UV's for a main next-gen character (lets say 10k polys), more like 5-8 hours, or less. Can't comment on the rigging though, as mine are only primitive ones with a single idle animation (for test purposes only).

Anyway, you'll always need artists, no matter how many processes will become automated.

[Bokishi]

I hardly believe this is true, but whatever I'm going to Siggraph tomorrow I'll check the ATI booth if it's there

[newc0253]

I'm pretty sure the extra dimension is the major argument.

Yeah, but why stop at 3 dimensions?

 

I don't just want graphics to look cool and pretty. i want graphics that allow me to fold space, etc.

 

the downside isn't the cost of games either. the real risk is if Azathoth finds his way onto our dimension. then we're really doomed.

[Montgomery Markland]

The background in the photo is not CG, I don't think. I believe it's a wall from the Ennis House by Frank Lloyd Wright (the house from Bladerunner).

 

 

 

Just because the background is possibly real doesn't mean the human is real, but there you have it.

[Bokishi]

This wasn't at the ATI booth...

[Kaftan Barlast]

Yeah, I havent heard anything about on CGsociety either.