kamyk on 22/10/2008 at 23:24
I have to say I don't find this appealing. It reminds me of looking at a streelight in heavy rain. I wear contacts so I don't have to see lights with that big fuzzy blob around them (among other reasons). If I wanted that effect, I'd just take them out and get drunk.
ZylonBane on 22/10/2008 at 23:31
Cameras and human eyes are indeed similar in that objects can be "overexposed" if too much light is falling on them. This is trivial to demonstrate at night, under a full moon. Let your eyes acclimate to the dark, then look up at the moon. The moon will appear as a solid white disk for a few seconds, until your pupils adjust to the elevated light level.
Note that simulated pupil dilation (as demonstrated in Lost Coast) is not the same thing as HDR, though it is often used in conjunction with it. HDR simply allows lighting calculations to be performed along a much larger gamut than the RGB 0-255 range. Bloom is then generally used to smooth out the regions where the HDR gamut exceeds the monitor gamut, instead of just hard clamping to pure white.
sNeaksieGarrett on 22/10/2008 at 23:45
Oh okay, so what I was explaining was the pupil dilation part, that makes sense I just wasn't thinking of it. (I'm thinking of he part in lost coast where you move from a tunnel of darkness to a bright area the sun is shining on.)
sparhawk on 23/10/2008 at 09:26
Quote Posted by DrK
Oh my god ! :eek:
That's the kind of graphics and atmosphere I tried to create in Rocksbourg 3, but using particles, transparency on objects and coronas ! I'll have to give it a go as soon as I have time for it, this might be extremely interesting for my next mission :D
It always beats me why poeple would even like to look at such eye watering screens. I remember playing the Painkiller add-on where they also introduced bloom, and they used it so much that I couldn't keep playing it, until I found out how to switch it off.
People are wearing protective glasses when they drive in glaring snow, to avoid this type of thing, and here they try to get it in. :eek: :eww:
In HL2 there were some situations where it made sense, like coming out of a very dark tunnel into the bright day. But these situations are not so common, and using it in a generic Thief scene, like shown in the original post, it just makes it look washed out and unrealistic.
sparhawk on 23/10/2008 at 09:31
Quote Posted by Shadak
I think the idea is supposed to be to emulate your eyes, not a camera. And it IS true that your eyes to see a light haze on overly bright surfaces that extend past them to sort of cover the darker nearby stuff.
I don't know why games would need to simulate eyes, because poeple playing normal games usually have real eyes to see for them. No need to emulate things that you usually don't even notice.
Feels similar to eyeblinking which one game implemented. That's so stupid, because I have my own eyes tha tblink regulary, and I never notice it, unless consciously thinking about it. It doesn't make a game more realistic, it just makes it look buggy.
Andarthiel on 23/10/2008 at 10:11
It looks pretty good in Thief. Bloom can look good if it's done right and kept at an average level but if there's too much of it then it can annoy and possibly blind the player.
DrK on 23/10/2008 at 12:03
Quote Posted by sparhawk
It just makes it look washed out and unrealistic.
Thief by itself isn't realistic at all, but I agree with you on the point it just looks ugly and painful when bloom is overused (especially on Yandros' screens). However, this feature has to be used wisely, it can create a dusty, magic or rainy atmosphere which can be very effective.
And I love the wash out effect, you can see it in my fms. It is very interesting to work with, artisticaly speaking, and I think it adds a little more realism and life to the places. It forces you to play with lightings to make a balance.
Volca on 23/10/2008 at 13:01
Quote Posted by sparhawk
Feels similar to eyeblinking which one game implemented.
:wot: That must have been horrible!
sNeaksieGarrett on 23/10/2008 at 15:44
Yeah, eyeblinking?:weird:
EvaUnit02 on 23/10/2008 at 15:51
Presumably we're referring to Alone in the Dark (2008)? That game mechanic worked fine outside of the very brief prologue. You'd be splashed in the face by slime spitting bugs (and on a rare occasion, blood) and then you'd blink to clear your vision. It was perfectly acceptable, not obtuse at all.
People hating on innovative and/or ambitiously designed, yet flawed titles like AitD on TTLG is quite ironic, considering the games that are prominently discussed here.
