GDC 2010 Presentation

[Michael Betke]

There was a reason why it was a bit silence around my gallery and work presenttion.

One thing was my new company launch which holds me back from developing fast.

Other thing was a GDC 2010 demonstration I'm working at. It'll be used for several purposes. In first case for video-presentation.

 

EDIT:

 

Project is done. Here is some screenshot stuff.

 

And the videos on YouTube:

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/pure3dviz

 

On a side note: You'll be able to buy asset packs I do/did very soon. So stay tuned.

[carlb]

looks good

[Marcus]

Simply stunning.

[Canardia]

I would use a blue skybox with few clouds.

[Michael Betke]

The Skybox is blue but the Screenshot function renders HDR very bright so I had turn it off. If you tunr of HDR the bloom is very bright and the sky looks almost white.

But I have to work further on the lighting.

[Pixel Perfect]

I'm normally a big fan Michael but this is just not working at all for me. I don't quite know how to put my finger on it but something does just not feel right. The trees in particular seem cold and sterile with no contrast and light variation. There seems to be some essential ingredient that is just missing and I wish I could say for sure what it is. Sorry, I did wonder whether I was better just not saying anything ... but that is my honest opinion.

[macklebee]

have to agree with Pixel... it lacks something... maybe its the effect of the bloom on everything making it washed out... I think perhaps just HDR without the bloom so you can actually see the sky's blue color might help... perhaps play with the ambient light setting as well...

[AggrorJorn]

love it. especially the last 2. if you would put that in a game, you'ld be rich in no time

[Josh]

I tend to agree the skybox should be a darker starting color, because when the ground fills the screen it really brightens the sky a lot.

 

Other than that, these are some of the best realtime screenshots I have seen, ever. It's certainly much better than S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and looks as good or better than Crysis.

 

I can't say exactly why, but this is so much better than your previous screenshots. This is the first time I have seen really good outdoor scenery in Leadwerks Engine. Definitely better than most AAA games I have seen.

[VicToMeyeZR]

I can put my finger on it. It looks like a painting, not a rendered screen shot.

[Rick]

I think you need more variety in trees. They all look the same which kills the realism. The rocks and ground & cover looks great though.

[L B]

Looks incredible as they all say, although it seriously lacks asset variety.

[diedir]

really great screenshots ! bravo !

just found too much blur, your vegetation is very realistic,

but as Rick says, more variety on trees would be better (rotation and scale)

[Michael Betke]

Depending on the feedback here I played around with some settings.

 

The skybox seems to brighten up because of the distant fog which reaches int othe sky. I had to raise the fog on such a height because otherwise the shape of the mountains would be just white in a far distant which looked not good.

 

I also darkened the Skybox. I only have a free cgtextures account and need to rescale the skytexture. This results in a visible edge along the borders of each skyimage.

 

The forest consists of three tree models now. But they all have the same texture. I'll change this. Maybe in colors or in another texture/shape. Some leave -trees in there would be great i think.

 

Concerning the painted textures I think the pixel ratio is off on the large rock models. I sclaed them for testing and will need to do a higher-res texture for them.

 

I have to do another scene in the next two days but will change/add more stuff to the forest then. It's fine for a video-flythrough but as a interactive demo it needs to get more polished and optimized.

 

EDIT: Scaling the trees is a bit hard because I ran quite fast into the 15 vegetation layer limit with the ground cover. I had to export three models just for the scale. MAybe this'll chane in future.

Edited February 27, 2010 by Michael Betke

[Josh]

The vegetation layer limit is arbitrary. I believe it is 16, but it can easily be raised.

 

If you adjust the alpha value of the fog color, you can make fog that is not completely solid in the distance.

[Pixel Perfect]

Well good luck with the presentation at GDC 2010 guys.

[Blue Solitare]

Which session with this be presented at?

[Josh]

It's not, it's just something for me to have to show.

[DaveLee]

This is absolutely stunning work! Great job Michael. My only critique is that the yellow moss texture of some of those rocks has a bit of noticeable tiling.

[Rekindled Phoenix]

It's not, it's just something for me to have to show.

 

I think it would be great PR for your engine Josh. Will someone else be able to represent your engine at the GDC?

[Josh]

On a technical level, I'd be fine getting a booth for the engine right now, but we don't have enough media content and demos built up yet. Next year would make more sense.

[Pancakes]

On a technical level, I'd be fine getting a booth for the engine right now, but we don't have enough media content and demos built up yet. Next year would make more sense.

 

I like your sense of patience and foresight, whatever you decide to do.

[omid3098]

hi Michael.

I like your first screenshot.

when you posted a feature request in a video, you used a scene with really nice sky and a lonely tree!

it was one of best scenes I've seen in leadwerks!

[Michael Betke]

This scene also consists of these assets. But I've choosen another skyboy. I have no idea how to generate a 6 sided skybox out of a spherical 360° sky.

Maybe I'll look into it on a last minute base.

[Canardia]

You can also use a sphere as skybox. Just disable the Framework skybox and put your own inside out sphere in the background world. It doesn't even need a shader.