Programing concept focal bluring
by Ron Frazier · in · 09/12/2006 (9:27 am) · 10 replies
Ive been watching the latest developments on games with estimated releases of 2 to 3 years to see what games are estimated to look like in the future. Ive spoted something i find vary interesting in the new dice project "battlefield bad company". I dont know if this is simply a photoshop effect or if its an actuall game feature but Ive relised that bluring distant objects instead of adding fog seems to make screenshots look very life like. Well aside that the model quality is spectacular for a game, the distant blur can make even low poly models set for distant loads look extreamly convincing. I beleave with tlk and hdr blooms this kind of blur affect could be possible and reduce the need for fog yet surving the same purpose. This also surves the artistic purpose of drawing the viewers eye torward details you want them to look at and removes the attention from lowres meshes rendering at a great distance leaving poorly antialiased pixels.
Well i would take a crack at it myself if i had any kind of programing skill but I figure i can suggest the concept and see if any of the true programing ARTISTS might find this a good challenge.
Here is a screeny to show what im talking about or simply google battlefield bad company and look for screenshots.
http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/713/713943/img_3900197.html
Well i would take a crack at it myself if i had any kind of programing skill but I figure i can suggest the concept and see if any of the true programing ARTISTS might find this a good challenge.
Here is a screeny to show what im talking about or simply google battlefield bad company and look for screenshots.
http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/713/713943/img_3900197.html
#2
09/13/2006 (10:04 am)
Now not really lighting but I think the code would be specificly related to the nvidia cgtoolkit wich as far as i know is only usable with the tlk addon. I think the bloom feature given its its ability to increase fog over distance maybe able to be tweaked to create a gausian blur over that same distance and lean back on the fog. Its just an idea but i think tlk has brought alot more than just lighting to this game engine in general. It has more capabilities with the cg plugin and inadvertantly made realtime reflections possible. 
#3
but AFAIK, TLK has nothing to do with cg or other shader tech's.
edit: oh duh, he already did!
that said,
it definitely is an awesome effect.
TSE would be the natural place to start implementing something like this,
altho the impatient and skilled could probably give it a go in plain TGE (tlk or no tlk),
similar to Manoel Neto's relective water project.
09/13/2006 (10:14 am)
I'm sure mr. kabus may have something more definitive to say,but AFAIK, TLK has nothing to do with cg or other shader tech's.
edit: oh duh, he already did!
that said,
it definitely is an awesome effect.
TSE would be the natural place to start implementing something like this,
altho the impatient and skilled could probably give it a go in plain TGE (tlk or no tlk),
similar to Manoel Neto's relective water project.
#4
09/13/2006 (10:20 am)
I agree, focusing on these kind of effects in TSE would be best. You'll have full access to the lighting system and tools you're already used to, and built it shaders that run equally well regardless of video card manufacturer. 
#5
It's entirely possible to do with shaders.
09/13/2006 (10:37 am)
The effect is called depth of field (DOF) if you want to do some further looking into it by the way.It's entirely possible to do with shaders.
#6
I'm not an expert on the technique by any means, but I'm not 100% positive it would make sense to use for various objects themselves--however, I have seen lower lod models that are blurred by the artist used in games to very strong effect. The obvious upside is no processor power needed for the effect, downside being additional art effort.
09/13/2006 (12:45 pm)
In a way, it's also very related to clip mapping, in that Atlas2 has several layers of texture data available at once (in decreasing detail) and slices through them to determine which textures to render where.I'm not an expert on the technique by any means, but I'm not 100% positive it would make sense to use for various objects themselves--however, I have seen lower lod models that are blurred by the artist used in games to very strong effect. The obvious upside is no processor power needed for the effect, downside being additional art effort.
#7
I contemplated doing the effect with my low models using gausians to simulate the effect but I dont think that would bring it to gether well. The problem being the objects that dont use lows such as terrain wouldnt match well. I think Ill have to make tse a side project right now and see if i can manage to get it to work with my current tge implementations. Right now i cant even get tse to display water without crashing alot.
09/14/2006 (10:10 am)
Very informative thanks for the imput guys. Ill look into it, I have tse also and the only thing holding me back from using it is how unstable it seems to be. Ive had alot of luck with the tge engine and untill tlk for tse is fully released (uh I wouldnt know if it was already cause ive been sitting and waiting for some final resources to be released to complete my tge projects programing phase). Im no programer by anymeans but i can tweek and imput code when examples are available, the rest is for my programer to handle. I contemplated doing the effect with my low models using gausians to simulate the effect but I dont think that would bring it to gether well. The problem being the objects that dont use lows such as terrain wouldnt match well. I think Ill have to make tse a side project right now and see if i can manage to get it to work with my current tge implementations. Right now i cant even get tse to display water without crashing alot.
#8
09/14/2006 (12:41 pm)
You should take another look at TSE, Milestone 4 is out and looking very good. Synapse Gaming and GarageGames teamed up on TSE and now TLK is TSE's official lighting system.
#9
Ah I better stop cluttering this forum with my needless chatter and just download this baby.
09/14/2006 (10:16 pm)
OMG!! Yep i saw those pics but i didnt relize that was tlk lighting, guess I shoulda checked the techdocs. I know this probably isnt the place to be asking about features but Does that have your nice time system built in? I mean the celestial sun and moons that cast light (I beleave thats what was discribed in you preview vid along time ago).Ah I better stop cluttering this forum with my needless chatter and just download this baby.
#10
The new lighting rules though!
10/15/2006 (1:34 pm)
I think its funny that fluffy has a sword but no melee code :)The new lighting rules though!
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