Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion [2021]

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I wonder if we will get similar upscaling techniques in the future for backwards compatible titles, considering that now they push the higher framerate.
 
@Dictator
puts PS5 through its paces...it's really got to be stressed that Housemarque is pushing the new GPU hard. Really hard.
How do you know this? This is a window launch game running on Unreal Engine 4. Do you really expect that game to already push the system through its paces (meaning to its max)?

(RT)...and not used for direct visual results.
I also didn't understand that part about the Hardware RT being used by the game without any impact on the final image (outside of being used for 3D audio). What is being used for then if not to improve the final image? Couldn't they deactivate it to improve performance or increase resolution instead if it's useless?
 
Thinking about it, wouldn't it make more sense to CB then Temporal Upscale, not the other way around.

You'd be temporally upscaling large missing blocks of information rather than temporally upscaling existing information in all regions of the screen. When multiple frames are combined this is likely to not "fill in the gaps" correctly. IE - there's likely to be a lot of error accumulation because temporally upscaling it is likely to put information into those blocks where there should be no information in those blocks. As well, it won't get the edge pixels (edges of the blocks) correct because it doesn't have information for the adjoining pixels in the missing blocks (those pixels are just black or just not there).

Whereas, if you CB afterwards, you're breaking up an existing temporally coherent image that will reconstruct correctly over a few frames with far less error.

It might be possible to do it with limitations on how the upscale works combined with hints about neighboring pixels from the missing blocks, but that seems far more work for likely worse results.

Regards,
SB
 
You'd be temporally upscaling large missing blocks of information rather than temporally upscaling existing information in all regions of the screen.
Temporally Upscale after the CB has been resolved.
The same way you CB then do a standard upscale currently.

I need to give it bit more thought, but temporarily building and upscaling into a CB output sounds odd.
 
Well if the RT isnt used for visual effects..... i can imagine it being more performant for lesser tasks indeed.
It can be used to speed up the current/normal visual effects.
So without the RT acceleration it would visually look the same, just perform poorly.
 
I’m not sure if he was referring to the difference in working between baked and unbaked. Or if he was referring to altering texture values for PBR to support an all RTGI type lighting system.

me 2. Lol. Gonna rely on the consoles for heavy lifting. Not sure if I can afford a new GPU right now

I hope someone chimes in.

I wonder how much of the new lighting can be achieved with it (Enhanced Ed 2021) as the standard for the cheap old baked lighting. I guess in stills, it would be almost identical but not so much while in motion.

I6ZC5gy.png


The one on the right looks so different, that I wonder if they rebake it for the normal version on the left, it would be much closer rather than locking the look on the right for the Enhanced Ed 2021 only.

Not sure how to put it exactly, but might be an artificial difference?
 
I wonder if pc hackers or reverse engineers can get to extract textures on the Enhanced Ed and compare them to actual texture on the 2019 version and see if they can transplant the textures and see how different that looks.
Also if they can find a way to force disable the new GI on the Enhanced and just see how the textures look.
 
I wonder if pc hackers or reverse engineers can get to extract textures on the Enhanced Ed and compare them to actual texture on the 2019 version and see if they can transplant the textures and see how different that looks.
Also if they can find a way to force disable the new GI on the Enhanced and just see how the textures look.
very little would be lit if you disable everything. It would look pretty weird I think. I'm not sure if you can check textures that way.
 
I hope someone chimes in.
I wonder how much of the new lighting can be achieved with it (Enhanced Ed 2021) as the standard for the cheap old baked lighting. I guess in stills, it would be almost identical but not so much while in motion.
I6ZC5gy.png

The one on the right looks so different, that I wonder if they rebake it for the normal version on the left, it would be much closer rather than locking the look on the right for the Enhanced Ed 2021 only.
Not sure how to put it exactly, but might be an artificial difference?

The image on the right looks somewhat awful. Something about the weird sheen/shine on the bricks looks out of place in a supposed rundown and dirty area.
 
It would be interesting to get a Developer DeepDive presentation for Returnal. At the very least I'd like to see the image comparisons at each step: at 1080p, 1440p Temporal Reconstructed, and final Checkerboard Reconstructed 2160. I think the game looks nice, but still curious how each step impacts the image.

You probably will, Housemarque have given technical presentations at GDC and discussed their game design over at GameIndustry.biz.

I do. I think it's just going to come down to me thinking you're over attributing the amount of labour required (if any at all and likely less if you don't have to do both pipelines) vs the big elephant in the room which light baking.

No. NO. Seriously man, have you read any of my posts? I'm asking folks like you who said RT lighting will save time to explain why. I've not said it'll be more time, the same time or less time. I'm asking a question because I don't know the answer. You've have also admitted you don't know the answer which is fine but please stop trying to project some position onto me for asking a question.

I'll wait for somebody who has implemented RT to share their experiences. Maybe DF can get anther interview with 4A Games but once they've had experience of doing the RT thing on PC and both consoles. That'd be interesting to read so see how they took their original lighting engine-powered Metro Exodus and replaced it lock, stock and barrel. :yep2:
 
I'm asking folks like you who said RT lighting will save time to explain why. I've not said it'll be more time, the same time or less time. I'm asking a question because I don't know the answer.
couse in theory will "automacitlcy" work with proper rays bouncing and artist doesn't have to use bake lighting per room etc
 
It can be used to speed up the current/normal visual effects.
So without the RT acceleration it would visually look the same, just perform poorly.
Hardware RT can be either used for the lighting or it is not. Y RT is not true because it's more indirect compared to X RT? What kind of narrative is that? Everything in a APU is indirect except for what is send from the HDMI to the TV.

Traditionnaly the definition of software rendering is that is being computed 100% by the CPU (so it's actually done by some hardware, but that's besides the point). Everything else is hardware based, meaning GPU accelerated.
 
Can someone please explain how you achieve a 4k CB image from a 1440p res that has been reconstructed from 1080p? AFAIK CB reconstructs from a half res and half 4k is 1920 by 2160 and not 1440p or 1080p.....
I wondered about this too. I would guess by rendering two pixels out of every three horizontally, instead of 1 out of two in traditional CB rendering. And then alternating which pixel acts as the hole (is not rendered) every vertical line.
 
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