Torque 3D Development - Screen Space Ambient Occlusion
by Brett Seyler · 01/26/2009 (12:32 pm) · 40 comments
Last week we looked at some really nice shader driven rain simulation by Gerhard Botha. This week, we're back for more with a preview of Screen Space Ambient Occlusion in Torque 3D.
The video below shows some of the functionality that will be accessible in real time from the editor or the Torque 3D console. For example, you can toggle various screen space shaders on and off and with SSAO, you can adjust contrast on the fly. Commands were keybound for this footage as we're not yet ready to show the new editor updates. Note that the lighting is still far from complete in this footage. Gerhard is still working with a hybrid of our new Torque 3D lighting, and the older TGEA lighting, but even still he's managed to make for a much faster, easier to use system than exists in TGEA 1.8.
The Torque 3D team is really starting to pick up the pace here, so watch for *much* more to come in the next few weeks. For a quick review in case you missed last week's blog, here's quick backgrounder on Gerhard and his work on Torque 3D.
Gerhard's Bio
"I am the head of software development in South Africa for an England based company developing software and hardware solutions for fatigue testing and structural analysis for the automotive and aerospace industries. My weekend hobby is the development of plugins for 3D Studio Max as well as the development of advanced gaming features and shaders for Torque. I am currently working on some AI and advanced shaders for Torque 3D which includes:
Screen Space shaders (Ambient Occlusion (SSAO), Bloom, Depth of field, Geometry smoothing. Motion blur) GPU cloth dynamics. GPU simulated water effects. GPU soft particles. GPU soft/rigid body dynamics. Dynamically destructible objects. Computational intelligence algorithms for AI usage. Multi-pass deferred CustomMaterial shaders."More development blogs to come. This is post #8.
Torque 3D development blogs:
- Post #1 - Kickoff
- Post #2 - Apparatus and Warrior Camp
- Post #3 - Luma's racing kit
- Post #4 - Josh Engebretson and Web Publishing
- Post #5 - Pricing and Licensing
- Post #6 - Pricing and Licensing CONTINUED
- Post #7 - Wetness & Precipitation
- Post #8 - Screeen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO)
- Post #9 - Matt Langley and the Torque Launcher
- Post #10 - Chris Robertson and Collada
- Post #11 - Depth of Field
- Post #12 - Advanced Lighting
- Post #13 - Soft Particles
- Post #14 - World Editor
- Post #15 - Pricing and Licensing ANNOUNCED!
- Post #16 - GDC Live Edition
- Post #17 - River & Road Editors
- Post #18 - Beta is UP!
- Post #19 - Light Rays, Undercity, Material Editor
- Post #20 - Mass Market Hardware
- Post #21 - Beta: Part Deux
- Post #22 - Marching Towards Beta 3
- Post #23 - pureLIGHT
- Post #24 - Lighting, Terrain, and Cloth
- Post #25 - Beta 3!
- Post #26 - Coming Soon!
About the author
Since 2007, I've done my best to steer Torque's development and brand toward the best opportunities in games middleware.
#22
Out of curiosity, will that player model be included with the release? It would be good to have a stock model that is set up for an eye-level weapon.
01/27/2009 (4:47 am)
Very nice. It'll be good to have a bit more flexibility with screen space effects.Out of curiosity, will that player model be included with the release? It would be good to have a stock model that is set up for an eye-level weapon.
#23
Price is still whats concerns me, but that time, that sorrow :)
01/27/2009 (9:10 am)
SSAO is standart now a days, nice that its comming to T3D (im keeping me eye on this one).Price is still whats concerns me, but that time, that sorrow :)
#24
And I'm keen to know more about this :
"our new Torque 3D lighting"
:)
01/27/2009 (12:06 pm)
Really nice!And I'm keen to know more about this :
"our new Torque 3D lighting"
:)
#25
And where did you get $345? Did I miss something?
01/27/2009 (12:13 pm)
Quote:This justifies a price increase of $50 from $295 (TGEA) to $345 (T3D) already :)
And where did you get $345? Did I miss something?
#26
01/27/2009 (2:17 pm)
Looks great! Thanks for keeping us updated. Keep it up guys :D
#27
Question: is this an effect we are going to have access to, out of the box, or does it require a lot of tweking in te engine code, etc...
Don't get me wrong, i am gladd to have that avaiilablle either way... it is just that, if that is available out of the box, then I think Torque is getting much too powerful :)
By looking at these demos, I can tell that it is going to be a greatter improvement over TGEA, than TGEA was over TGE.
Cheers.
01/27/2009 (3:27 pm)
That looks awesome.Question: is this an effect we are going to have access to, out of the box, or does it require a lot of tweking in te engine code, etc...
Don't get me wrong, i am gladd to have that avaiilablle either way... it is just that, if that is available out of the box, then I think Torque is getting much too powerful :)
By looking at these demos, I can tell that it is going to be a greatter improvement over TGEA, than TGEA was over TGE.
Cheers.
#28
01/27/2009 (5:14 pm)
Looking great guys :) can't wait to see what else you have in store and working with Torque 3D 
#29
01/27/2009 (7:44 pm)
@James... I'll take a guess at he was joking :) 
#30
01/27/2009 (9:58 pm)
This looks really good, but aside from better shadowing, I don't see the point.
#31
Can this be tuned per surface/object or just per scene?
Edit: Yeah, stupid question, since this is a screen-space shader... but it comes from the fact that, as it currently appears, I would not want this applied to the entire scene -- it just ends up looking strange.
01/27/2009 (10:12 pm)
Not sure I'm liking what I saw there; for some of the angles the SSAO looks good, i.e. realistic. However, others looks very wrong -- in particular, where the walls meet floors, there are dark shadows with no apparent sources. Don't know if that's a flaw in the algorithm or what, but in those cases, it definitely looks better with SSAO off. =\Can this be tuned per surface/object or just per scene?
Edit: Yeah, stupid question, since this is a screen-space shader... but it comes from the fact that, as it currently appears, I would not want this applied to the entire scene -- it just ends up looking strange.
#32
You can adjust the contrast, It doesnt have to be as strong as the picture shows. Watch the video, youll see you can make adjustments.
....I think its exactly whats needed.
01/28/2009 (2:50 am)
@Kevin RogersYou can adjust the contrast, It doesnt have to be as strong as the picture shows. Watch the video, youll see you can make adjustments.
....I think its exactly whats needed.
#33
What other point should there be?
It is a fact that the one are of computer graphics that has always lagged behind is the production of realistic shadows for an realtime environment. Ironically, shadows are probably the most important part of making images (whether they are 2D graphics, 3D graphics, paintings, etc.) believable to the human eye.
Look, this feature isn't going to be the be-all-and-end-all for *every* T3D user and *every* T3D game, but for a lot of people it will be a means to significantly improve the art quality of there game (while at the same time lessening the burden on their art production), and not only in a "realistic" manner. Imagine playing with the settings for this to give a little bit more style to a cell shaded (which, btw, would be *awesome* for T3D to have shaders for... hint hint...) game, or even just a less realistic environment (think TF2 or Battlefield Heroes, etc.).
At the end of the day, SSAO doesn't make a crappy game good, but it has the potential to make a great game *that* much better.
01/28/2009 (6:41 am)
Quote:This looks really good, but aside from better shadowing, I don't see the point.
What other point should there be?
It is a fact that the one are of computer graphics that has always lagged behind is the production of realistic shadows for an realtime environment. Ironically, shadows are probably the most important part of making images (whether they are 2D graphics, 3D graphics, paintings, etc.) believable to the human eye.
Look, this feature isn't going to be the be-all-and-end-all for *every* T3D user and *every* T3D game, but for a lot of people it will be a means to significantly improve the art quality of there game (while at the same time lessening the burden on their art production), and not only in a "realistic" manner. Imagine playing with the settings for this to give a little bit more style to a cell shaded (which, btw, would be *awesome* for T3D to have shaders for... hint hint...) game, or even just a less realistic environment (think TF2 or Battlefield Heroes, etc.).
At the end of the day, SSAO doesn't make a crappy game good, but it has the potential to make a great game *that* much better.
#34
Indeed it was just a silly calculation (with a smiley behind it). Sorry for the confusion James.
01/28/2009 (5:35 pm)
Quote:@James... I'll take a guess at he was joking :)
Indeed it was just a silly calculation (with a smiley behind it). Sorry for the confusion James.
#35
01/28/2009 (6:07 pm)
@Surge: Yeah I did watch it... But reducing the contrast only reduces the weirdness -- it just looks "less" wrong in that case. =P
#36
T3D is going to be a killer. It looks like you are seriously closing the gap between torque and the AAA engines. I'd like to see as much effort going into the T3D GUI designs, scripts and editors as you put into the engine development. Take a look at what Yuri is doing to see what I am talking about.
If you can get ease of development coupled with the engine enhancements, and a web browser plug in then T3D is going to be a killer monster. I'm pretty sure that T3D is going to totally reset the playing field in the game industry.
01/29/2009 (3:48 am)
Brett, honestly this is fantastic stuff. I have to admit these T3D posts are killing my motivation to work with TGEA 1.8.0. I'm seriously considering waiting until T3D is out to pick up game development in earnest again.T3D is going to be a killer. It looks like you are seriously closing the gap between torque and the AAA engines. I'd like to see as much effort going into the T3D GUI designs, scripts and editors as you put into the engine development. Take a look at what Yuri is doing to see what I am talking about.
If you can get ease of development coupled with the engine enhancements, and a web browser plug in then T3D is going to be a killer monster. I'm pretty sure that T3D is going to totally reset the playing field in the game industry.
#37
02/04/2009 (12:28 am)
Just a quick update guys...the Torque 3D dev blog for this week will probably not hit till Friday, but it's super cool. Look for something at the end of the week. Sorry for the delay!
#38
02/05/2009 (6:01 am)
Glad to see a new lighting system. The TLK looked pretty bad and had horrible lighting times.
#39
03/20/2009 (7:57 pm)
Very nice. Will that be for the basic version too?.. or just the Advanced?
#40
04/15/2009 (5:25 pm)
this is very nice when the textures are turned off (guys, ease in on the texture contrast, let the light paint the volumes) - so all the shaders have a SSAO toggle ?
Torque 3D Owner Chad Kilgore