Epic Games’ updated tech flaunts improved foliage rendering and more
Wide open spaces, swamped in foliage, and not a corridor in sight; the latest Unreal Engine 3 video is clearly making a statement.
New improvements to Epic Games’ flagship tech – from directional light shafts to colour grading, high-quality depth-of-field and improved foliage rendering – are each blended in the presentational video, which you can see for yourself below.
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I think that looked excellent, especially things like the flowers and foliage... I think the inclusion of organic elements is adding a whole new life to outdoor games. From an artists perspective though, there were also a couple of things that irked me.
1) Lights shafts from the moon. Given that the moon is a reflective light source, rather than an emissive one... light shafts seemed a bit out of place. The moon shines because a light hits it, not because it gives off light.
2) Rain splashes on the blades of grass were the same as in the ponds. If rain hit grass with enough force to create water spouts that size, the grass would be flat.
Yes these are picky, but it's the kind of things artists notice unfortunately. :D
I hope that DOF feature is properly used... nothing worse than fake DOF... other than maybe fake lens flare. ;)
