photorealism
Latest
Short film created in Unreal Engine showcases a photorealistic world
A short film that premiered at GDC highlights the photorealism potential of Unreal Engine, and it would be easy to assume Rebirth is a live-action short given how life-like it looks. The video depicts an atmospheric environment full of craggy rocks, hills and fog, along with an imposing, industrial structure. We then see a futuristic car speeding across the landscape towards the building.
NVIDIA opens up its Holodeck VR design suite
Hardware makers have figured out that enterprises are the best way to make money off of VR and AR, not consumers. NVIDIA, a company that does both things well but has been particularly strong on the business side lately, has just opened up its Holodeck "intelligent" VR platform to select designers and developers. First unveiled in May, it allows for photorealistic graphics, haptics, real-world physics and multi-user collaboration.
Machine-vision algorithms help craft realistic portraits from sketches
Sketching a person's face is difficult even for the most talented of artists. But even though it's an austere task for humans, it's not entirely perfect for computers just yet, either. That's where machine-vision algorithms come in.
GDC 2013: Activision's pursuit of photorealism
At a GDC panel titled "Next Generation Character Rendering" last week, research and development staffers at Activision-Blizzard showed off some stunning computer-generated portraits. The catch? They don't represent in-game assets; instead, they showcase the tech behind the graphics. So while these we won't be seeing the lady above as the protagonist of Titan, it's reasonable to expect that the characters of Blizzard's future games could look just as convincing and real. As I looked on from the audience, my iPhone's camera focused on the projected slides as if they beheld actual faces.
Grand Theft Auto 4 has never looked better (but will in the next iCEnhancer mod, we're sure)
Liberty City wasn't built in a beta, but when the Grand Theft Auto 4 iCEnhancer mod is finally done, we bet it will be more beautiful than Rome itself (How's that for a trip around the world?). iCEnhancer has released photos of its 1.3 beta, in the Second Phase and Pre-release stage, and some of these screens are looking better than reality. If anything, they certainly smell better than reality. Check out the goods on the iCEnhancer Facebook page, or take a peek at a video from the 1.2.5 version, which is only .0.5-percent less mind-blowing than the current beta.
