Quantum Break: Graphics Tech

[VFX_Veteran]

So I finally got to load up Quantum Break in Windows 10. Boy was I surprised at the graphics engine. Playing on the PC, I can understand all the grips about the framerate. However, having said that, I'm amazed at the visuals. I was wondering if there were any talks/papers on this games graphics engine.

One thing that was immediately eye-pleasing for me to see (I'm only in the first Act) is the self-occlusion of all the objects in the environment. Starting from the main character that you interact with (his clothes, neck, jacket on sleeve, etc..) to literally every object that's in interiors, you get this nice soft occlusion that I only see in CG renders. How expensive is this in realtime rendering and why is it that I have only seen this in a couple of games to that degree (100% of objects rendered and not just 60%)? To be clear, I'm talking about objects that are already in shadow from a direct light source that simulates indirect occlusion. I look back at all the games I've played in the last 2 years (Witcher 3, MGS5, AC:Unity, FarCry: Primal, etc) and only a small number of games (Batman AK, RoTR in some places) do this.

The other thing I noticed was the extensive use of screen-space reflections. Most game tag a certain number of objects to cast reflections being very conservative with the materials. It seems that QB uses it for whatever material has specular reflections. A very nice added detail that I love. The lab at the University appeared to me to have borderline "path-traced" render quality.

All in all, I'm extremely impressed with this game's visuals and would like to learn more of the differences in what that team considered "high priority" vs. other teams that don't consider these things high priority.

 

[afl_ext]

Hi

Mostly prebaked. Sorry for disappointing you but we are back into lightmaps era again.

 

[andrewmshowe]

https://mediatech.aalto.fi/~ari/Publications/SIGGRAPH_2015_Remedy_Notes.pdf

 

[VFX_Veteran]

https://mediatech.aalto.fi/~ari/Publications/SIGGRAPH_2015_Remedy_Notes.pdf

Yea, I read through this. Nothing on how they handled the graphics engine's lighting/shading system though.

 

[VFX_Veteran]

Hi

Mostly prebaked. Sorry for disappointing you but we are back into lightmaps era again.

Well, a lot of things may have been baked (that are not destructible) but the objects that were not baked cast occlusion. I tested this the first time I got a gun on objects in the room. Shooting some things on desks would knock them off and land on the floor and still have occlusion. Also lots of dynamic reflections. Basically it looks good and convincing. Someone there knows about how to make a physically plausible rendered frame..

 

[Ike Turner]

Yea, I read through this. Nothing on how they handled the graphics engine's lighting/shading system though.

? The whole 164 pages presentation is about the engine's lighting and shading with a whole section covering the AO..

Here's the AO paper from Ville Timonen who works at Remedy. The technique is called LSAO (Line-Sweep Ambient Obscurance)
http://wili.cc/research/lsao/lsao.pdf

 

[VFX_Veteran]

? The whole 164 pages presentation is about the engine's lighting and shading with a whole section covering the AO..

Here's the AO paper from Ville Timonen who works at Remedy. The technique is called LSAO (Line-Sweep Ambient Obscurance)
http://wili.cc/research/lsao/lsao.pdf

Sorry, I downloaded another pdf that showed the multithreading and that it was the same paper. My bad. Also thanks for the other paper!

 

[VFX_Veteran]

Very impressive work! What they concentrated on is exactly what I saw in the game that stands out from the majority of games. The GI, lighting and specular reflections.

Page 109/164 screenshot is pretty much every game out there. I hate it:

Page 108 is physically plausible:

All (dynamic and static) being lit by the same data makes the world seem consistent and one is fooled into thinking everything is dynamic when only some things are dynamic. Very smart developers there.

 

[Clukos]

This game is the best example of why screen space effects need to improve. It would look so much better if all the reflections for materials were stable not just in screen space, looking at reflections in the wood moving when you move just looks weird. But it sort of fits the game with time being all broken up and whatnot.

 

[VFX_Veteran]

This game is the best example of why screen space effects need to improve. It would look so much better if all the reflections for materials were stable not just in screen space, looking at reflections in the wood moving when you move just looks weird. But it sort of fits the game with time being all broken up and whatnot.

Agreed. I don't like that anything dynamic that's "outside" of the field of view will never get rendered in realtime. We have to wait I guess.. offline world would love a faster alternative to path-tracing those indirect rays too..

 

[Clukos]

Distance fields are a good way to solve at least some of the problems, used for occlusion: http://advances.realtimerendering.com/s2015/DynamicOcclusionWithSignedDistanceFields.pdf

Q-games ditched screen space reflections for ray marched reflections, which are stable out of screen space, for TTC

You can read from 128 page onward here: http://fumufumu.q-games.com/archives/TheTechnologyOfTomorrowsChildrenFinal.pdf

Dunno how that could be applied in Northlight though, i'd love something more stable.

 

[VFX_Veteran]

Well, it would be great to have RM reflections but damn.. I don't think the hardware can do it all yet. I can settle for the better lighting/shadowing first.

 

[Ike Turner]

Posted this in the game's thread

https://www.fxguide.com/featured/time-for-destruction-the-tech-of-quantum-break/

QB is a technical masterpiece despise some of its flaws.

 

[Billy Idol]

No, it is certainly not a technical masterpiece.

It has its moments, sure.

 

[Scott_Arm]

"Render technique and resolution on Windows 10
The Windows 10 version of Quantum Break uses the same reconstruction method as on Xbox One. If your resolution is set to 1080p, the game temporally reconstructs the image (except UI) from four 720p buffers rendered with 4xMSAA, just like on Xbox One. Engine assigns input geometry samples from 4xMSAA rendering into shaded clusters in order to maximize covered geometry while keeping the performance on acceptable level by reducing expensive shaded samples. When you change the resolution, the buffers used to construct the image are always 2/3rds of the set resolution, i.e. in 2560x1440 they would be 1706x960."

http://community.remedygames.com/forum/games/quantum-break/261576-quantum-break-status-update

 

[VFX_Veteran]

No, it is certainly not a technical masterpiece.

It has its moments, sure.

Tell me what other game has self-occlusion even on smaller objects when in shadow? That 1 feature there is a HUGE step up from what the typical game includes. It's such a very important lighting GI feature.

 

[milk]

Tell me what other game has self-occlusion even on smaller objects when in shadow? That 1 feature there is a HUGE step up from what the typical game includes. It's such a very important lighting GI feature.

I still don't know what you mean by self oclusion. My best guess is you are referring to QB's screen space specular occlusion, which I believe few other games do, and does indeed contribute a lot for its cg look. Its still a very rough aproximation to the 100% correct solution (shadowing for every single fucking light).
Is that it, or are you talking about direct shadows themselves? In that case, I don't see QB doing anything specially different in that regard (aside from some shamelessly low res maps here and there)

 

[VFX_Veteran]

I'm talking about this:

Look at the cameras on the ceiling, the file drawer handles, the chairs on the floor, character in the center's armpits, his pants, his shoes to the floor, etc.. everything self-shadowed in the scene like it should. This is very obviously missing in every game before it (except games that bake light maps).

 

[Laa-Yosh]

I kinda think that the comments about QB not being a technical achievement are more about not rendering in full 1080p on the console and about the PC port being sort of bad. None of which have anything to do with the actual rendering technology, though.

 

[VFX_Veteran]

Mirror's Edge 2 (panel on building):

Witcher 3 (hand on shirt, shirt on rail):

Gears of War 4 (metal on columns, rocks on ground in shadow, lamp post on columns):