Matt, Y'all need an Ambient Occlusion Pass

[Eyepop 21]

In the latest engine post, you showed off some images comparing Live to 2.1

 

 

The bottom picture is 2.1.  You're noting that character models don't jump out, but that's not the only issue that this picture shows.  Observe a variety of places in these two pictures: the undersides of the wooden platforms and the bridge; the corner between the buildings on the right; the hole in the wall on the left.  All of these are considerably darker in the live version, and are way easier to read.  Especially the hole in the wall: if I didn't know that was there, I would not be able to see it at all.  That has pretty big playability issues.

 

I mocked up the scene in Blender to show how Ambient Occlusion would fix this issue.

https://imgur.com/a/dLRxhxO

 

Please get your engineers on this, as the engine upgrade really should not be a downgrade in visuals/playability.

Edited March 29, 2020 by Eyepop

[SkittyM 287]

Pretty sure they're saving AO and Shadow maps for when they get scene lighting done.  They already spent forever doing lighting maps.

Edited March 29, 2020 by SkittyM

[eXezon 27]

To be honest to the main issue with the 2.1 picture is, it seems that the global illumination is not done correctly, mainly indirect lighting. Also the shadows do not add up, compare the shadow on the yellow building at the right side of the character with the shadow close to the gate, looks like lightning was not rebuilt properly  in UE.

Edited March 29, 2020 by eXezon

[Kevkof 806]

Just as a guideline when looking at the images in the tracking engine thread...

It's not final, so it's still being worked on and just an intermediate result to give you an idea of what's happening.

[GhosT 1301]

39 minutes ago, Kevkof said:

Just as a guideline when looking at the images in the tracking engine thread...

 

It's not final, so it's still being worked on and just an intermediate result to give you an idea of what's happening.

 

I don't know, they seem to be stuck on lighting for a loooong time.

The very first G1 leaks already had horrible lighting and it doesn't seem like it's really going forward.

[Eyepop 21]

Shadow maps do rely on lighting.  AO does not.  So even while they're working on lighting, they ought to have AO baked so that they can make sensible lighting decisions.  As is, they're going to need yet another lighting pass when they bake AO and suddenly the interiors of buildings are in desperate need of more light.

[SkittyM 287]

1 hour ago, GhosT said:

 

I don't know, they seem to be stuck on lighting for a loooong time.

The very first G1 leaks already had horrible lighting and it doesn't seem like it's really going forward.

Looks better than it used to tbh, but also keep in mind, RPs lighting was seriously that bad.  Wrong light types, lights being full dynamic instead of partially, awful color grading, lights showing where they shouldn't.  Do mind that there's a lot more happening than what Matt might show.  Gotta get those character editors looking right.

[Snubnose 640]

ontop of that, the sky is too bright and cyan (needs a little nudge to blue)

 

and wtf happened to the ground textures? the bigger rocks make it a lot more noticable that it's a flat texture, whereas the finer gravel kinda hides it better. also, why are there dark blobs all over the ground suddenly?

 

also, the foliage (mainly grass) still looks like it's out of a cartoon, with that black outline...

[Noob_Guardian 418]

1 hour ago, Snubnose said:

ontop of that, the sky is too bright and cyan (needs a little nudge to blue)

 

and wtf happened to the ground textures? the bigger rocks make it a lot more noticable that it's a flat texture, whereas the finer gravel kinda hides it better. also, why are there dark blobs all over the ground suddenly?

 

also, the foliage (mainly grass) still looks like it's out of a cartoon, with that black outline...

There's a lot more that they are doing to the textures and shading. I'd wait for a while before complaining since this is all just a partial test picture. It clearly doesn't have all the final assets.

[NotZombieBiscuit 3146]

I sort of have to agree with you.  Though things are a work in progress and an AO pass will come along with other changes that will help.

 

However I disagree with them placing so much emphasis on the LUT changes. There are far more aesthetic issues going on in the engine update of which can't be solved with fixing LUT/adjusting them.

[Ellix 416]

Another question from me - Did they change the FOV by any chance? The 2.1 version looks wider.

[Genobee 143]

2 hours ago, Ellix said:

Another question from me - Did they change the FOV by any chance? The 2.1 version looks wider.

Camera distance probably. Further away in one than it is in the other. Plus I'm not entirely certain they are standing in the exact same spot. Further leading to that effect.