It's a big deal. (Gaming)

by INSANEdrive, ಥ_ಥ | f(ಠ‿↼)z | ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ| ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, Wednesday, May 13, 2020, 18:40 (1443 days ago) @ cheapLEY

I was debating earlier about posting this here, and I decided not to as... most of the BIG stuff is in the jargon. And there is ALOT of jargon and a bunch of stuff you need to know before the jargon makes sense... BUT! as it's here now, I guess I'll give the short and long a try anyway.

What is being shown here, apparently, is a TOTAL GAME CHANGER in the classic pipeline in polygonal asset creation. For 20 years, really complex details have been faked using maps that interact with the engine lighting system. By the way, the reason we, in Destiny 2, have no control over when our flashlight can go on or off, is that there is a limit on the amount of real time lights you can have in a space. Otherwise, lights are faked using... various long held techniques.

Well, what they are selling here is that with this tech, Game Devs no longer need to fake anything, they can put the RAW SCULPTS into the game. With that, plus the REALTIME Global Illumination, which... I can't over state how important lighting is - it's how you see, and it's a mood - IN REAL TIME!? The Big Sculpt detail, mixed with that!? Well, see for yourself. This there for cuts out a HUGE portion of Dev Time that would have been needed to be used to make an asset. I'd say roughly a 3rd of the pipeline process is suddenly no longer needed. What could you do if you could make something 1/3rd faster, that looks better, and you have more time to make look even better?

As for the Niagara Particle system, which has been in beta for the last two years and just came out as officially production-ready with the latest release of Unreal 4.25, is that the particle system is no longer self contained with in the data stream. Thus, the bugs move when light hits them, the bats move dynamaicly when geo is in their way and so forth. It's cool shit & it's a big deal.