CGI just got real

Normally the lighting is a huge part that makes CGI looking like plastic and fake, Unreal Engine 4 is a huge step into a better lightning technology in the gaming scene.
Just look at this example, all lighting effects are calculated on the run and not scripted, which is a huge improvemend.

a reply to: aLLeKs

awesome clip. thanks

a reply to: aLLeKs

What do you mean by 'all lighting effects are calculated on the run and not scripted'? Wouldn't there have to be a preset basis for seeing the point-of-view from every inch that a player would move to? I'm not familiar with the inner-workings and language of this tech, so it is very interesting. Thanks.

originally posted by: cavtrooper7
Actually the BIG game will be replicating DEAD actors one day.

That's the plot behind 'The Congress'.

www.youtube.com...

Playing Now at a Theatre Near You!

"25 greatest CGI movie moments of all time"

www.creativebloq.com...

skin isnt as difficult to do as you would think.

a reply to: PhoenixOD

It's not as much the skin as trying to create a person communicating and moving within a scene. The brain knows the difference between a real and generated face in those situations, which is really amazing given that it's 2014 and thousands of people are working on this (as well as building on each others work).

originally posted by: Aleister
a reply to: aLLeKs

What do you mean by 'all lighting effects are calculated on the run and not scripted'? Wouldn't there have to be a preset basis for seeing the point-of-view from every inch that a player would move to? I'm not familiar with the inner-workings and language of this tech, so it is very interesting. Thanks.

It used to be that when we made games and scenes with great looking lighting we would use an array of tricks to get the effect. This was all smoke and mirrors. For example if we wanted to have light streaming through a window in a dark room we would have to create volumetric style semi transparent static meshes for the light beams and use a particle effects generator to create the light spot on the floor and maybe some floating dust in the light areas. all the shadows where precalculated and 'baked' into everything that made up the level (ambient occlusion).

In UE4 the lighting and the shadows are all calculated in real time (dynamic lighting) so all we do is set the light source (the sun) and create an atmospheric volume for the world and it does it all for you. All textures are made up of many levels like specular and bump maps that produce real moving shadow effects in rell time.

The scary part is when these graphics become the norm for games like GTA. What is that going to do to our, or our kids psyche?

Ziowi ..makes the ISIS beheading wonder why they haven't got a hold of this tech. Even when we cant trust our eyes we will have to demand other proofs . Sound or it didn't happen . a reply to: RoScoLaz4

a reply to: RoScoLaz4

Consider the implications on propaganda. People already can't see reality right in front of them. Consider that they could make a video of you doing something you haven't done. This will happen. Not tomorrow, but in 10 years? I think there's no question that they will actively alter "reality".

originally posted by: Aleister
a reply to: aLLeKs

What do you mean by 'all lighting effects are calculated on the run and not scripted'? Wouldn't there have to be a preset basis for seeing the point-of-view from every inch that a player would move to? I'm not familiar with the inner-workings and language of this tech, so it is very interesting. Thanks.

Broadly speaking, in CG there's two types of lighting: direct lighting and indirect lighting. Direct lighting is the light hitting a surface that travels directly from the light source to the surface in question. It's trivial to implement as it's basically the dot product between the surface normal (the direction the surface is pointing) and the light vector.

Indirect lighting is considerably more processor-intensive (particularly in real time) as it's the light that has bounced off various other surfaces before hitting the surface in question (hence "indirect lighting). It's the reason why, even if all the lights are off in your room and you have only a small window, the room isn't pitch black in the areas not directly in the path of incoming light from the window. What makes it even more problematic in real time is the fact that indirect lighting requires extensive information about not just the surface being lit, but the surrounding geometry, something that doesn't jive well with computer graphics cards.

Perhaps the most realistic approach would be a brute force simulation of photon travel paths (but that's not something that's going to happen in real time anytime soon) but there's lots of ways to fake indirect lighting in real time but they all come with various shortcomings. The more you calculate offline (e.g. "baking" the lighting into the surface textures, a la lightmapping), the better the performance, but the more restrictions in place (i.e. the lights can't move around in the scene). The holy grail is to have a lighting system that looks great, runs well and can handle a wide variety of use cases such as dynamic lights, animated/dynamic models and so on.

Edit: the _ is supposed to say "window". I have no idea why it's appearing as an underscore.

Wow that is impressive. Hollywood actors should be $hitting on their Pant$ within the next 15 years.

on his website www.chrisj.com.au... he has more details on the progression :

Additional details on how he did it.
forums.newtek.com...

a reply to: Darkblade71

Lately I've been wondering what TV will be like in 10-20 years. Will it be like virtual reality? Will we still be looking at a tv screen or will we be inside of the show.

Technology is trippy.

originally posted by: Jennyfrenzy Lately I've been wondering what TV will be like in 10-20 years. Will it be like virtual reality? Will we still be looking at a tv screen or will we be inside of the show.

this is a profound question.

Actors for movies and television will still be expensive if someone's likeness is used and many lawsuits will develop from people that claim their likeness was used.

When CGI and AI get advanced enough to fool the audience then television and movies will be perceived as a non reality. Presently most movies and television are unreal.

Special effects for films will evolve to present the most horrific and the most fantastic.

a reply to: mysterioustranger

The person is not real.
From the creator in the Youtube comments:

"Nope, he doesn't exist. There are probably faint traces of me in him though, since I'm an easily accessible source of reference"

"All from scratch."

a reply to: interupt42

thanks for the extra info

Sort me out a lush sex slave..
decent build quality please.. I don't want to break
it.

originally posted by: eManym
Actors for movies and television will still be expensive if someone's likeness is used and many lawsuits will develop from people that claim their likeness was used.

Not if they use social media like facebook

www.nyccounsel.com...

Under Facebook’s current terms (which can change at anytime) ,

you still “own” the photograph, you grant the social media sites a license to use your photograph anyway they see fit for free AND you grant them the right to let others use you picture as well! This means that not only can Twitter, Twitpic and Facebook make money from the photograph or video (otherwise, a copyright violation), but these sites are making commercial gain by licensing these images, which contains the likeness of the person in the photo or video (otherwise, a violation of their “rights of publicity”).