Halo 3 Trailer @ E3: Confirmed

rusty said:
all that the picture shows to make your point is that the models look alike... which is hardly a shock given that they are both meant to be MC! imo the halo 3 model is clearly higher poly as well as having better textures.
i watched a lot of pics since then,you know...My bet is still 95% either halo2 cutscene model ,or halo2 PR ,or whatever model already 95% done.
BTW ,i'm sure the model could be 3 times more polys ,i doubt it would stress more the hardware in the conditions shown...
 
rabidrabbit said:
which ran on a PC (devkit).

well a devkit is still xbox hardware... Just more RAM. Explain the xbox controller and the actual xbox unit on top of the subwoofer during the conference, which caused a crash. :???:

Here are Bungie's renders of the MC from Halo 2:

Wireframe
Smooth Mesh
Normal Mapped
Texture Mapped

Besides the obvious change in the gloves (polygon-wise) and the difference in the number of circles in his boots (this one could easily just be a different normal map), I see big differences in the arms (near the elbow, the armour protrudes more in the Halo 3 model). And well... for some reason he just seems a little more beefy in the H3 trailer.

And see the difference in the helmets (top part):

Large pic from H2 (MP)
Close-up from H3

edit:H2 SP pic for those thinking that the MP model is different
 
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_phil_ said:
A whole lot of wishfull thinking here.Nothing in these particles lead to believe they are not classic particle alpha-ed quads.

Wow. _phil_, when did I ever say they were anything else? When did I say that it was some magical mumbo-voodoo gumbo sauce? I said they made everything feel solid. Really, what is that, wishful reading between the lines?;)

Edit: I mean no offense _phil_, because I respect both your opinion and input. However, I never said nor tried to imply that they were doing something technologically special. I was saying that instead of being able to see where each alpha'd quad is in the dust, it transitions very smoothly (i.e., far more than just 5 or 6 layers, or just more intelligent use, or whatever).
 
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_phil_ said:
i watched a lot of pics since then,you know...My bet is still 95% either halo2 cutscene model ,or halo2 PR ,or whatever model already 95% done.
BTW ,i'm sure the model could be 3 times more polys ,i doubt it would stress more the hardware in the conditions shown...

Of course the model could have been 3 times as many polies, but you said yourself that the design is inherintly lower poly. If they can use few polys while still producing a really great looking model, it's far better than producing a model that only looks marginally better while sacrificing the budget for everything else. This is especially true for an FPS where you won't be seeing the MC model up close very much.
 
TurnDragoZeroV2G said:
Wow. _phil_, when did I ever say they were anything else? When did I say that it was some magical mumbo-voodoo gumbo sauce? I said they made everything feel solid. Really, what is that, wishful reading between the lines?;)

Edit: I mean no offense _phil_, because I respect both your opinion and input. However, I never said nor tried to imply that they were doing something technologically special. I was saying that instead of being able to see where each alpha'd quad is in the dust, it transitions very smoothly (i.e., far more than just 5 or 6 layers, or just more intelligent use, or whatever).

Pardon me ,then.There was a lot of use of the 'real' word.
 
Why is this even being discussed anymore? or rather where has this conversation gone? it's a waste of time to argue semantics!
 
Acert93 said:
I am taking them at their word that what they produced was in-engine and collated into realtime (ala Heavenly Sword) with the goal to use stencil shadows and ended up having to cut the feature. It does happen.
It did happen, actually. It's not documented anywhere, but when I interviewed at MS once one of the DX guys said exactly that. They ended up cutting it because the framerate was too unpredictable with it on (especially in multiplayer). It was either gameplay or shadows and Bungie picked gameplay. It's really one of the funnier things on the net that they get ridiculed for deciding something to appease their detractors.

Heaven knows how endless the string of hate words Bungie would've gotten if they'd stuck with the shadows and let the framerate dip all the time.


Not that any of this matters, because Halo 3 looks frickin' sweet and I'd be happy with just a portion of those graphics.
 
http://www.gamespot.com/e3/e3story.html?sid=6149725


The demo shifted away from the crater to the part of the level you see the Master Chief walking in from. He was controllable, which means that the trailer indicates just how good the game will look. Lehto was able to zoom in on the Master Chief with the camera, and you could see the many different ways light reflected objects onto him. For example, you could see light reflect off the ground and onto his armor. A new materials system shows the difference between his armor and the rubber undersuit. It's so detailed that if you bring the camera close to the Master Chief's visor, you see everything in front of him reflected in it, right down to the ammo counter in his rifle.
doesn't sound like they used an old model to me.

sounds more like Bungie is trying to make this a Next Gen showcase and they have the talent to back it up IMO.

I don't understand why it's so important to try and undermine this presentation when it was just a TEASER with assets that they have already said many times they intend to use in game.
 
I think they mean how they react to light and that kind of thing.

Anyway, what point have you been trying to prove during this thread? With all da 'halo 3 uses da halo 2 model' and all dat shitniz? That bungie are shitty/lazy developers?
 
_phil_ said:
if this isn't pure PR ,what does this mean?They just have discovered multitexturing ?

Mutlitexturing?... That sounds a bit too advanced for Bungie, soon you will be telling us that they can write shaders as well:LOL: , I don't think so Bungie is teh suxkzoorrs:rolleyes: ...
 
uhhh... ehhhhh.... bbuutt PR........
*SLAP* ! no rabbit NO!!

Can we get back to talking about the trailer.
I think overall, the trailer is one of, if not the most impressive yet on any console, at least by sheer image quality. The lighting especially is impressive.
Even though there's little happening on the trailer, and relatively little onscreen (just the character, emptyish environment and some ships) it succeeds in setting up athmosphere and excitement. Pretty much a counterpoint to most trailers, that by showing a lot of cuts and action fail to set up.
It'll be interesting to see some more busy environments of Halo3, and how the game looks for example in a city-like level (I have a feeling there'll be some "deserted city" level in the game).
 
_phil_ said:
if this isn't pure PR ,what does this mean?They just have discovered multitexturing ?

:?: No, a shader material system so his armor looks like shiny, reflective medal and the undersuit looks like dull, semi-glossy rubber.

This may be PR (duh... everything they say about their game is PR... ditto CliffyB on Gears of War... and Kojima on MGS4... and nAo on Heavenly Sword... etc) but it is an explaination of their rendering system. MOST PC games up to this point have had a couple serious issues. e.g. Every object in the game looks glossy and like plastic. Very few games are using material based shader systems. MotoGP is one of the first on the consoles (there may be a couple others from the launch).

As far as I know Bungie has not claimed to invent anything new in the Halo 3 trailer. What they have done is mentioned the techniques they are using.

Fact is a lot of games would look better if they used material based shader systems and it is a positive that Bungie is using this technique. And now, it is not just flippant PR nonsense. It DOES make the game look better and it is something absent in many modern games.
 
Acert93 said:
:?: No, a shader material system so his armor looks like shiny, reflective medal and the undersuit looks like dull, semi-glossy rubber.

t is a positive that Bungie is using this technique. And now, it is not just flippant PR nonsense. It DOES make the game look better and it is something absent in many modern games.

I think it's so 1998 to say something like that...
 
rabidrabbit said:
Can we get back to talking about the trailer.

yes!

I really like what O'Donnell did with the music. When the banshees start flying in...man.. the tempo got me all excited. :D

I'm guessing those who don't really appreciate the teaser don't really follow the story. Even my buddy who plays H2 all the time online thought it was a mediocre trailer. And well... it's just an announcement teaser. i.e. "yes, we're working on the game, and this is a preview of what it will look like". And if you think about it, the only cinematic shown for Halo 2 pre-release was the announcement trailer from 2002 (barring the beginning and end bits of the E3 2003 demo). Everything after that consisted of in-game demos. I would say Bungie are following what they did before, but of course now they know not to spend time on a demo that won't be usable. My guess for next E3 is that they'll show multiplayer. I mean, if they really don't want to waste time making a single player demo, they can just show multiplayer, and that's something that people should be able to play at E3 ala 2004. And besides, they'll be keeping an even tighter lid on the story. ;)

That said, I think the MC's model looks fantastic. And showing all those capital ships over such a large distance was a treat to the scope of the events that are to be taking place in the story. Looking back at what they did with the Xbox and Halo 2's cinematics, there were several instances of dozens of characters rendered on-screen (even though they use model LOD, it wasn't terrible at all, although the texture popping was). I expect grand things for Halo 3's cut-scenes, and I can't wait to see what the other characters will look like, especially Gravemind and the Flood.

And actually, I wonder if Cortana in the game will look as she did in the announcement trailer. She looked more like a CG-prerendered model there with a very smooth, curved facial structure.
 
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