The graphics are incredible, except...
Zyrusticae
Join Date: 2013-03-04 Member: 183690Members
Join Date: 2013-03-04 Member: 183690Members
Two things:
1. The shadows are badly in need of some kind of smarter filtering. Those pixelated edges really take away from the impact of seeing physically accurate shadowing. Alternatively, an option to change the shadow map resolution would be ace.
2. The reflections need work. I was so very excited to see the reflections option added, only to find out that the reflections are merely the same environment maps we've been seeing in games for so very long now. Screen-space local reflections are a thing now, so I strongly recommend considering the implementation of it, as it has a tremendously positive effect on verisimilitude.
This screenshot shows both of these problems:
The shadows have noticeable aliasing on the edges, and the reflection is not synced up with what it's supposed to be reflecting.
This screenshot shows TERRIBLE shadow aliasing:
Either of these can be added as extra options, so they shouldn't cost performance for those who don't need it. I know the implementation would require a non-trivial amount of dev time, but the effect they would have on the final image is tremendous. Please give them some consideration!
1. The shadows are badly in need of some kind of smarter filtering. Those pixelated edges really take away from the impact of seeing physically accurate shadowing. Alternatively, an option to change the shadow map resolution would be ace.
2. The reflections need work. I was so very excited to see the reflections option added, only to find out that the reflections are merely the same environment maps we've been seeing in games for so very long now. Screen-space local reflections are a thing now, so I strongly recommend considering the implementation of it, as it has a tremendously positive effect on verisimilitude.
This screenshot shows both of these problems:
The shadows have noticeable aliasing on the edges, and the reflection is not synced up with what it's supposed to be reflecting.
This screenshot shows TERRIBLE shadow aliasing:
Either of these can be added as extra options, so they shouldn't cost performance for those who don't need it. I know the implementation would require a non-trivial amount of dev time, but the effect they would have on the final image is tremendous. Please give them some consideration!
Comments
Personally I haven't seen this, so dunno.
Shadows use a 'cube-map' as well?
Either some AA or higher resolution would be a major improvement over the current situation.
However, with regards to the reflections, NS2's implementation is actually not "the same environment maps we've been seeing in games for so very long now". Every other implementation of cube environment map reflections that I've ever seen has been rendered as if the reflections are infinitely far away. This results in the reflection almost always being misaligned with the parts of the world that they're meant to be reflecting. I'm sure you've noticed in other games the way reflections on large flat surfaces appear to follow you around as you move.
NS2's implementation, however, projects the cube map in such away that it only applies to the locality around which the reflection probe entity was placed by the map designer. This results in the reflections lining up far more often than they otherwise would. In my opinion, it's a really clever implementation of cube environment map reflections.
Having said that, I'd love to see screen space reflections added into the mix as well. The one problem with screen space reflections is that they can only reflect what has already been rendered on screen. Therefore, the existing cube map reflections would still be useful because the screen space reflections need to fade away and be replaced with some other reflection method when the reflected geometry is off screen.
Max actually spoke of this in a post a few weeks ago:
http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/comment/2076781/#Comment_2076781
As for the shadows - yeah, I wouldn't mind a bit better filtering but, to be honest, it's not something that has bothered particularly. I'm more bothered by how quickly shadows fade away as you move away from the light source. It's particularly unfortunate if the light source has an impressive, animationed atmospherics effect attached to it because the fade becomes so obvious. I'd really like to see an option to increase the starting distance where shadows begin to fade out.