Torque 3D Development - Depth of Field
by Brett Seyler · 02/23/2009 (7:11 am) · 38 comments
Last week, we announced a major update to the Torque art pipeline: native Collada file loading. Today we're circling back to Gerhard Botha's work again to preview the Depth of Field shader (DoF) for Torque 3D.
The video below shows the full DoF functionality we expect to ship with Torque 3D. Each real-time variable parameter for the shader will be accessible in script, and perhaps in the editor interface as well. For this video though, commands were keybound as we're (still) not yet ready to show the new editor updates.
The lighting in this footage is also still far from complete. Gerhard is working with a hybrid of our new Torque 3D Advanced Lighting, and the older TGEA lighting. Pay attention to the notes in the video that precede the actual footage. The DoF shader has been exaggerated in a number of ways to better demonstrate the effect.
I've still yet to introduce you all to Ruan West, the man responsible for the art content in these videos we've used to show Gerhard's programming work. We'll talk to Ruan soon and hopefully learn something about how he creates such nice looking stuff in Torque. We'll also get his feedback on the new content pipeline for Torque 3D, and perhaps we'll have been able to reveal additional updates to Torque's content pipeline as well.
Gerhard still has a lot to show us too, of course. For a quick review in case you missed the Wetness & Precipitation blog where he was formally introduced, 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 #11.
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
02/24/2009 (12:06 am)
any pre beta alfa of the beta coming soon?
#23
02/24/2009 (1:03 am)
Looks good. Wish these kind of things were demos as well, but it's nice to see it working. As always, looking for more of em.
#24
While DoF and SSAO are awesome features, it would be a lot more interesting to see actual workflow improvement in the editors. For example, what can we expect from the next generation of Constructor and the world editor.
02/24/2009 (4:05 am)
Thanks for the post Brett. Torque 3D is certainly looking very good and is starting to meet some of the expectations that I had for TGEA originally. It is looking good.While DoF and SSAO are awesome features, it would be a lot more interesting to see actual workflow improvement in the editors. For example, what can we expect from the next generation of Constructor and the world editor.
#25
02/24/2009 (4:32 am)
T3D looks like it is coming along well. I have a feeling that it might be to steep for my wallet. :P
#26
I would rather see them do something like $299 for a single title and $999 for unlimited titles.
02/24/2009 (5:21 am)
@Quentin - I hope GG doesn't end up doing a stripped down version, removing all of the features to make it more affordable.I would rather see them do something like $299 for a single title and $999 for unlimited titles.
#27
WHERE'S THE MEAT!?
P.s. This looks like TGEA 1.9 if you ask me. Finally coming of age.
02/24/2009 (8:03 am)
Quote:While DoF and SSAO are awesome features, it would be a lot more interesting to see actual workflow improvement in the editors.I agree. Seeing these longer-than-needed videos on shaders in use is a bit patronizing and may I say lame as well ? Where's the meat guys?.. or are you selling this engine based on a few shaders, collada and a theoretical deployment gui ?
WHERE'S THE MEAT!?
P.s. This looks like TGEA 1.9 if you ask me. Finally coming of age.
#28
31 Developers. He is highlighting each team member's hard work that's going into Torque 3D. Do you think we are all working on shaders and Collada? Hell no.
However, you have to admit the new rendering tech, shaders, and better art pipeline are great additions to Torque 3D. When Gerhard first start posting his amazing work for his own project, people were clawing at it asking that we pay to get his work ported into TGEA. Wish granted.
"Theoretical deployment gui?" You are not giving much credit to the tool and Matt Langley's work. I'm using it more and more, and it's used for far more than project deployment
We have already mentioned that a lot of internal work being poured into the tools, which is not exclusive to Torque Toolbox (Torque Launcher). However, Brett will be revealing all of this in his future blogs.
It's not like he is releasing a blog about shaders and not talking for months.
Again, just show some patience.
02/24/2009 (8:30 am)
@eb - Show some patience. Do you remember Brett's first blog about how many people are working on this engine? 31 Developers. He is highlighting each team member's hard work that's going into Torque 3D. Do you think we are all working on shaders and Collada? Hell no.
However, you have to admit the new rendering tech, shaders, and better art pipeline are great additions to Torque 3D. When Gerhard first start posting his amazing work for his own project, people were clawing at it asking that we pay to get his work ported into TGEA. Wish granted.
"Theoretical deployment gui?" You are not giving much credit to the tool and Matt Langley's work. I'm using it more and more, and it's used for far more than project deployment
We have already mentioned that a lot of internal work being poured into the tools, which is not exclusive to Torque Toolbox (Torque Launcher). However, Brett will be revealing all of this in his future blogs.
It's not like he is releasing a blog about shaders and not talking for months.
Again, just show some patience.
#29
@all: Thanks again for the kind words. Cred obviously to Gerhard and Ruan for putting together all this bling, almost as an afterthought. It's fun to be on the revealing end of it because when I see this kind of thing for the first time, I always end up pulling a Neo..."Whoa."
02/24/2009 (9:04 am)
@eb: I guess I would say that if you're not sufficiently interested or satisfied with what I've been sharing, there's always the option to just ignore these blogs until the product is released. It sounds like that might fit your temperament better :)@all: Thanks again for the kind words. Cred obviously to Gerhard and Ruan for putting together all this bling, almost as an afterthought. It's fun to be on the revealing end of it because when I see this kind of thing for the first time, I always end up pulling a Neo..."Whoa."
#30
..Well, I never really thought about being patient. :P + :D
(I did not mean my prev. post as sinister as it may sound.)
I am not demeaning any effort put forth by any dev...I am merely questioning the way and rate at which the knowledge is made public.
[[ Contemporary Physics, editor improvements, other pipeline improvements(if any) ?????? ]]...THE MEAT Michael! The MeAaAaaaat!:D
Cheers
P.S. I admit that my previous post was toned a little 'odd'...but that doesn't mean the question has to be avoided. ;)
02/24/2009 (9:22 am)
@Michael Perry, ..Well, I never really thought about being patient. :P + :D
(I did not mean my prev. post as sinister as it may sound.)
I am not demeaning any effort put forth by any dev...I am merely questioning the way and rate at which the knowledge is made public.
[[ Contemporary Physics, editor improvements, other pipeline improvements(if any) ?????? ]]...THE MEAT Michael! The MeAaAaaaat!:D
Cheers
P.S. I admit that my previous post was toned a little 'odd'...but that doesn't mean the question has to be avoided. ;)
#31
I think what some people are saying (maybe eb included) is while we are impressed with the pictures and video's you all have brought to us, and think those things are really great improvements, we have heard very little about what exactly these "31 developers" working on T3D are really doing. I guess we are looking for workflow/pipeline/functionality type news along with or instead of the ohh's and ahhh's associated with the beautiful images we have been shown thus far.
@ Brett
Telling someone if you don't like or are not satisfied with what I share then leave is most likely not the most conducive approach harmony in reference to provider/client relations lol.
@ Michael
You are right, more patience on our parts is needed. But we to have deadlines and planning stages that require us to look into the future and attempt to gather the most specific/accurate information we can.
To all GG people, so far what I have seen has been great! Nice work.
~LK~
02/24/2009 (4:34 pm)
@ Michael & BrettI think what some people are saying (maybe eb included) is while we are impressed with the pictures and video's you all have brought to us, and think those things are really great improvements, we have heard very little about what exactly these "31 developers" working on T3D are really doing. I guess we are looking for workflow/pipeline/functionality type news along with or instead of the ohh's and ahhh's associated with the beautiful images we have been shown thus far.
@ Brett
Telling someone if you don't like or are not satisfied with what I share then leave is most likely not the most conducive approach harmony in reference to provider/client relations lol.
@ Michael
You are right, more patience on our parts is needed. But we to have deadlines and planning stages that require us to look into the future and attempt to gather the most specific/accurate information we can.
To all GG people, so far what I have seen has been great! Nice work.
~LK~
#32
I guess what I would like to see is what is T3D going to have to make it invaluable to me and my team.
02/24/2009 (5:26 pm)
I think what we are trying to say is, DoF, motion blur, SSAO (to some degree) are now standard in MANY indie game engines. Engines like Unity 3D have proven that you can get high quality editors in an indie engine. I guess what I would like to see is what is T3D going to have to make it invaluable to me and my team.
#33
@Andrew - We have addressed part of the pipeline with Collada and TSShapeConstructor. Some of the work flow has been addressed with MattL's Toolbox. There's a lot more to come.
Don't wait! If you already own TGEA, get crackin' on some game play or utility code. Porting it to Torque 3D will be quite simple when it drops and you are ready.
@eb + All - Just keep following Brett's blogs and be prepared to say "finally!" or "awesome!" =)
02/24/2009 (5:34 pm)
@eb - After a few years, we're used to your posts ;)@Andrew - We have addressed part of the pipeline with Collada and TSShapeConstructor. Some of the work flow has been addressed with MattL's Toolbox. There's a lot more to come.
Don't wait! If you already own TGEA, get crackin' on some game play or utility code. Porting it to Torque 3D will be quite simple when it drops and you are ready.
@eb + All - Just keep following Brett's blogs and be prepared to say "finally!" or "awesome!" =)
#34
what.. they finally finish that big red "make game" button I've often heard about?? ;)
Sorry.. couldn't resist lol. I get what your saying, and really am looking forward to hearing more. So far, things are looking great, so don't think we haven't noticed.
02/24/2009 (6:06 pm)
@ Michaelwhat.. they finally finish that big red "make game" button I've often heard about?? ;)
Sorry.. couldn't resist lol. I get what your saying, and really am looking forward to hearing more. So far, things are looking great, so don't think we haven't noticed.
#35
cool video. I enjoyed it like I enjoyed the one about ambient occlusion. Definitely keep posting these regardless of what anyone says. people want to see the bling along with the "meat". these videos aren't lame at all although the opening dialogue explaining dof was a bit much.
and oh yeah, could someone ask one of the 31 developers to add texture projection to the engine?
02/25/2009 (6:27 am)
hmm first ambient occlusion shaders, now dof. are you guys trying to run ubiq visuals out of business? lolz!cool video. I enjoyed it like I enjoyed the one about ambient occlusion. Definitely keep posting these regardless of what anyone says. people want to see the bling along with the "meat". these videos aren't lame at all although the opening dialogue explaining dof was a bit much.
and oh yeah, could someone ask one of the 31 developers to add texture projection to the engine?
#36
they are adding the assets people like the most into T3D ubiq visuals is just one of those company's where all of there assets are real good. torque has to keep moving forward even if it has to add things thats already been done which is allot of stuff as people have been makeing things for torque engines for years now so there's allot of stuff out there. they are adding in real good stuff most of us can use i like everything thats been shown for T3D so far.
i just hope that cloth system will be put in that has many good values that it can add to the engine. that cloth system can be used for more then just cloth if you put your mind to it like i have.
02/26/2009 (1:18 am)
well i don't think ubiq visuals will go out of business there are people that will always use tgea just like tge so there will be people buying there kits always. ya its going to hurt them allot i think but they will come up with other things to make so they still got money coming in. we all have to adapt its just the way of life.they are adding the assets people like the most into T3D ubiq visuals is just one of those company's where all of there assets are real good. torque has to keep moving forward even if it has to add things thats already been done which is allot of stuff as people have been makeing things for torque engines for years now so there's allot of stuff out there. they are adding in real good stuff most of us can use i like everything thats been shown for T3D so far.
i just hope that cloth system will be put in that has many good values that it can add to the engine. that cloth system can be used for more then just cloth if you put your mind to it like i have.
#37
02/27/2009 (9:04 pm)
Any ETA on the next blog? Looking forward to it. :)
#38
04/15/2009 (5:29 pm)
it seems you have solved the usual problem of edge fuzziness bleed how did you do that ? - hard to see because the scene is so dark
Torque 3D Owner Vincent D
Maybe next time you should use less distracting background music ghehe ;)