LAIR Thread - * Rules: post #469

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1/ you can have SSS on very thin objects too ,thickness is not imperative.A 1/10 milimeter sheet can still have strong SSS .

2/ most SSS are a hack ,mental ray Fast SSS is a hack ,Turtle SSS is a hack , most solutions are a hack ,so where hack stops and where true SSS starts? Who is using true physicaly based SSS ,even offline , when you have to calculate more than a single frame ? ...
 
SSS was first modeled through research on thin-film optical scattering and paradoxically can be even stronger on extremely thin films.

I'm not sure the relevancy of translucence, since the SSS effect is one of diffuse backscatter, not looking at an object with a light source on the opposite side.

Lips with SSS = good, Lips without SSS = plastic wax
Eyes with SSS = natural, Eyes without = glass marbles

both are thin transparent membranes
 
Yikes.... maybe I should have just omitted my question on SSS. :oops:

Anyhoo... I really want to see how these lizards are animated. There's a lot of potential with subtle movements and how they breathe.
 
new info, very interesting

Check out some of the latest Lair details. Some pretty impressive stuff will be happening with this game.

To flap the dragon's wings (allowing you to fly faster), simply press the X button.
You can also extend the dragon's wings (slowing you down).
To get a quick boost of speed, you can press the circle button.
To lock-on to enemy dragons and turrets, hold down the L1 and L2 buttons until the lock-on reticule turns red.
The face buttons are used for various long-range attacks such as firebreathing and fireballs.
If you are close enough to a dragon which you are locked-on, you can start to attack them physically.
Controlling both the movement and physical attacks of the dragon is done via the motion-sensing.
By tilting in a certain direction, the dragon will fly in that corresponding direction.
You can perform dives, sideswipes, etc. with the motion-sensing.
If you pull back very quickly, your dragon does a 180 degree turn.
When doing physical attacks in the air, you can aggressively move the controller into the direction of the enemy dragon, and slam into it.
Occasionally your dragons will grapple, and you can press a random combination of the face buttons to claw, slash, and even bite the other dragon.
Also, you will occasionally have the chance to jump off of your dragon, and land on an enemy's, where you can kill either them or their dragon, or even both. This is also executed via the face buttons.
On the ground, motion-sensing is also used for steering.
If you slam down the controller, you can cause your dragon to slam his feet down, causing shockwaves on the ground, which damage enemies.
Also, if you move it back and forth, you can slash at enemies, and even eat some of them to regenerate your health.
Fire-breathing is controlled via a face button, and you can aim the fire with the motion-sensing."

"Lair supports native full HD 1080p graphics and 7.1 uncompressed audio [1] [/B]and also takes advantage of the following technologies:
Progressive Mesh is a technique rendered by the Cell microprocessor, which allows for an intensive amount of detail to be placed upon vast amount of objects, both up-close and far away.
High-Dynamic Range Lighting: All of the lights, shadows, reflections, and highlights in Lair are in HDR, and are rendered in real-time by the Cell and RSX, thus allowing the lighting scheme to completely change, just like the time of day does in-game, however, due to the advanced programming of the lighting system, it will be ever-changing, and rarely, if ever the same twice.
Real-time Dynamic Physics: Every second of gameplay, Lair renders hundreds of physics effects on everything from your dragon, down to the cloak on an enemy soldier. All enemies and allies have their own physics-driven animations, and have individually programmed ragdolls.
Real-time Fluid Dynamics: All of the water effects in Lair, such as waves, are run by real-time fluid dynamics on the Cell.
Parallax Shaders: Parallax shaders are used on almost every object in Lair, including fire and clouds.
Real-Time Renderings/Volumetric Effects: The fire in Lair is rendered in real-time, and has its own physics. All of the clouds, smoke, and fog effects are volumetric. Lava, rain, wind, fur, and more are also rendered in real-time."

http://www.ps3power.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1171337134&archive=&start_from=&ucat=13&
 

very nice. It sounds impressive by this. But I hope it shows in the game now.

For example fire effects are some of the worst seen in a next gen game. Here it says "Real-Time Renderings/Volumetric Effects: The fire in Lair is rendered in real-time, and has its own physics. All of the clouds, smoke, and fog effects are volumetric. Lava, rain, wind, fur, and more are also rendered in real-time." which makes it sound like something special. Perhaps only the fire breath looks ugly but all the other fire effects are better.

Or perhaps they improved the visuals
 
As I'm sitting here pulling together my GDC lecuture, I notice that as usual, I have way more material than I anticipated. The challenge, also as usual, is to make it all fit in a 45 minute lecture that is indepth enough to get the coveted "that was useful!" label from the audience, without being so detailed that it gets boring and long-winded.
I think I can strike a good balance: I will have some very useful (and hopefully eye-opening) workflows to help texture artists and producers alike, and on the fun front I promise some Lair demos that show off the assets I'm going to present very well and that you probably haven't seen before. As usual, all the Lair stuff will be "you had to be there", nothing will be released outside of GDC. But the slides and workflow videos will be available after the show.

Hope to see you on Wednesday!

Speaker: Matthias Worch (Game Designer / Technical Art Director, Factor 5, LLC)
Date/Time: Wednesday (March 7, 2007) 9:00am — 10:00am
Location (room): Room 3007, West Hall
Hope it's not like last year that nobody attended -_-' ...
 
Yikes.... maybe I should have just omitted my question on SSS. :oops:

Anyhoo... I really want to see how these lizards are animated. There's a lot of potential with subtle movements and how they breathe.


HA! I was the one who started it. I'm glad I did. I'm learning as I go along.
 
GDC 07: Normal maps make Lair look good!

Afterwards, Worch showed off some incredible footage from Lair, running off a PS3. The graphics, while still glitchy, show a huge deal of promise. Of particular note were the incredibly lifelike water effects: when a ship explodes on water, you'll see realistic, physics-intensive, ripple effects that must be seen to be believed. The Factor 5 team clearly is doing something right: the textures were absolutely breathtaking, even up-close.
 
Lair always used normal maps. He was just talking about how they implemented them into the game, a reflection of sorts.
 
the pdf of F5 Lair presentation @ GDC 2007 about asset creation

Topic:
The new challenges artists face in creating next-gen graphics often require unique solutions and workflows. This lecture examines several such cases from all sections of asset creation. Assets covered will include character, creature, environment, vegetation, FX and volumetric textures. In each case this lecture will present a solution for creating all or a difficult part of the asset using a range of applications resulting in a dynamic solution. Applications will include Max, Maya, XSI, Polyboost, Bodypaint, Deep UV, Photoshop, Zbrush, and Zmapper. Ways to utilize these techniques in your own pipeline and to develop your own next-gen workflow solutions will be discussed.

https://www.cmpevents.com/sessions/GD/S3731i1.pdf
 
Sorry I did not went throught all the posts but I would like to know one thing considering the SSS.
It seems for me (and I can be wrong that is why I am asking for it) that the SSS is only a way to add specific transparency and reflection to an object disreagarding it physical properties.
By going throught some images with SSS inside I find that in some of them even human skin can let green light go through, which is a physical mistake as only red like light wavelength frequencies can go through it.
So just to know if you can choose the color of the light that comes out of a material or it is completely related to the light source itself.

I am a bit off topic but I am curious about it.
 
the pdf of F5 Lair presentation @ GDC 2007 about asset creation

Practically no substance in this one... But there's another presentation from Matthias Worch, his slides from 2005 had some nice info. It'll be online soon, according to him...
 
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A new screen apparently

lairmars2.jpg
 
A new screen apparently

lairmars2.jpg

Hmm... the game world is huge. I recognize that castle from the previous shots. I wonder if we will see lot's of pop-ins as the dragon flies closer... or if they have found a smooth way to handle it (no pop-ins !).
 
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