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woooow
the amazing thing about this is the incredible quality in real time....
:o This is simply amazing! Even the water interacts with the palm he destroyed! If TG2 would have this kind of preview, work would be much easier to do.
The really awesome thing was walking around with the lightrays around :P
THAT was awesome.
Crysis = number one game of year 2007. Definately.
Holy crap, amazing! That's way beyond the level editors from the Q2 and Q3 era :D
that is if crysis is launched this year:P.... since its already like 6 months late... also quake4/ hell gate London look awesome... though where's my 8800gtx core duo when i need one :-[ :-[ :-[...
crysis engine is very good though... the real time lighting and objects like trees is cool
QuoteIf TG2 would have this kind of preview, work would be much easier to do
Sorry, wouldn't work.
Crysis, since it's a game, is made with incredibly low-poly objects (seriously, those trees become "billboards" (single 2-poly squares with pictures on) at very short distances. These pictures have to be created by somebody, and can't be done by terragen on the fly).
The water is spectacular, as it always has been with crysis, but not very customisable. And as a level editor itself the sandbox is highly limited.
Thirdly, all that high-poly detail on the terrain is created from normal maps (possible displacement maps) in the terrain textures, and not pure geometry like in Terragen. Since terragen doesn't use normal maps for microdetail, it wouldn't be able to render these in the preview in real-time either, since it would require a great deal of processing to create the maps themselves.
It probably doesn't have global illumination settings either (it might, but i doubt it).
It certainly wouldn't be able to render an entire planet.
The main point I'm trying to convey, is that whil crysis looks superb, and in real-time too, all of this content that you see is created outside of that editor (textures, normal maps, models) and not in real-time. For terragen to present that quality in real-time it would need to use the multitude of shortcuts used in the game industry, and so we'd all have to be making normal maps in photoshop.
I'm sure somebody with a greater deal of game knowledge/programming knowledge can furnish you with greater details (I only have game-creation experience, no programming).
Well, it could work if they implemented the right kind of LODding. Just like they stop at a certain value for the 3d preview window. Just like in 3D studio where I can apply meshsmooths for rendering, but in the viewports I disable them or set them at a lower itteration.
Quote from: ProjectX on March 17, 2007, 08:57:59 AM
QuoteIf TG2 would have this kind of preview, work would be much easier to do
Sorry, wouldn't work.
Crysis, since it's a game, is made with incredibly low-poly objects (seriously, those trees become "billboards" (single 2-poly squares with pictures on) at very short distances. These pictures have to be created by somebody, and can't be done by terragen on the fly).
The water is spectacular, as it always has been with crysis, but not very customisable. And as a level editor itself the sandbox is highly limited.
Thirdly, all that high-poly detail on the terrain is created from normal maps (possible displacement maps) in the terrain textures, and not pure geometry like in Terragen. Since terragen doesn't use normal maps for microdetail, it wouldn't be able to render these in the preview in real-time either, since it would require a great deal of processing to create the maps themselves.
It probably doesn't have global illumination settings either (it might, but i doubt it).
It certainly wouldn't be able to render an entire planet.
The main point I'm trying to convey, is that whil crysis looks superb, and in real-time too, all of this content that you see is created outside of that editor (textures, normal maps, models) and not in real-time. For terragen to present that quality in real-time it would need to use the multitude of shortcuts used in the game industry, and so we'd all have to be making normal maps in photoshop.
I'm sure somebody with a greater deal of game knowledge/programming knowledge can furnish you with greater details (I only have game-creation experience, no programming).
:P It does have global illumination I think...I know it has Parallax Occlusion Mapping and Ambient Lighting..so they may be.alternatives :P
As for King tiger, I thought it's only been 3 months late? It was scheduled for Q1 2007 I remember, as I remember having wishes of getting it on New Years :P
OMG. Perhaps in 20 years time when we all have incredibly fast plastic processors we will be able to use TG2 like that.
I've had my eye on Crysis for awhile, and I love how the editor works because its so easy. Crysis is pretty much the only reason I will be getting Vista probably.
@ProjectX: I know, i know! ;D I was just dreaming. But i think some better response in the preview is possible.
Quote from: MeltingIce on March 17, 2007, 12:32:13 PM
I've had my eye on Crysis for awhile, and I love how the editor works because its so easy. Crysis is pretty much the only reason I will be getting Vista probably.
As far as I can tell, Vista is not a requirement.
DX10 may be a requirement, rather than Vista. However, I'm not sure...
Minimum Requirements
CPU: Athlon 64 3000+/Intel 2.8ghz
Graphics: Nvidia 6600/X800GTO (SM 2.0)
RAM: 768Mb/1Gb on Windows Vista
HDD: 6GB
Internet: 256k+
Optical Drive: DVD
Software: DX9.0c with Windows XP
Recommended Requirements
CPU: Dual-core CPU (Athlon X2/Pentium D)
Graphics: Nvidia 7800GTX/ATI X1800XT (SM 3.0) or DX10 equivalent
RAM: 1.5Gb
HDD: 6GB
Internet: 512k+ (128k+ upstream)
Optical Drive: DVD
Software: DX10 with Windows Vista
doesnt DX10 software require DX10 compatible videocard??
Quote from: Dark Fire on March 17, 2007, 11:06:01 AM
OMG. Perhaps in 20 years time when we all have incredibly fast plastic processors we will be able to use TG2 like that.
..Plastic you say? lol :P
In 20 years time we will be able to actually PLAY in Crysis environments - virtual world :P
Uhh also, DX10 software does require a DX10 compatible videocard, but Crysis has been made to be kinda like backwards compatible - it can go on Dx 9.0c. Sorta like emulating :P
ya I hope its DX9 quality is same as DX10
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2.8gHz minimum? Gah!! *thud*
a single 8800gtx ran crysis beautifully and was shown at one of the press releases where they showed you blowing the palm trees in half.
the other cool feature is if you run through bush the leaves bend around you with proper physics.
Quote:P It does have global illumination I think...I know it has Parallax Occlusion Mapping and Ambient Lighting..so they may be.alternatives :P
As for King tiger, I thought it's only been 3 months late? It was scheduled for Q1 2007 I remember, as I remember having wishes of getting it on New Years :P
Parrallax mapping is a form of normal mapping, but it allows for generating actual geometry from a texture (or is that displacement mapping - could even be both). Ambient lighting is NOT global illumination. Ambient lighting just lights the area (without casting shadows) by a certain amount, Unreal Tournament 1999 had ambient lighting, quake might even have ambient lighting, I can't remember. Global illumination seems to calculate light reflection off of surfaces and (certainly in TG2) the effect of the atmosphere on sunlight, whereas that would instead be faked by an artist in crysis.
BTW> one of the main progblems with the preview window may be occlusion. Occlusion is a pass (a calculation of the scene) in which it works out what to render and what's invisible. Since Terragen generates
entire planets that's a lot to occlude, and calculating all of that on the fly just isn't possible at the moment.
And then once it's done the occlusion, it's gotta actually render your scene! All things considered, the preview is pretty damn fast.
Crysis is indeed very impressive and I think many in the landscape design and rendering industry should be looking at it for inspiration. It is not so important to look at what they achieve in realtime in terms of render quality and effects; although that is very impressive, it is possible only because of a great deal of previous work done by artists to create all the shaders, tree models, etc. and much of it would not be applicable to your own custom scene - in other words you work within the limitations of what others have created previously. More important is the ease of use in modifying the scene which they have enabled - everything from terrain modeling to vegetation placement, including instancing.
Although I think it is doubtful we will get to quite this level in the initial TG2 release, it is certainly our goal to achieve a similar ease of use in editing. Terragen's traditional strengths in its rendering engine and atmospherics will of course remain and continue to improve as well.
- Oshyan