Art direction, that is. Once Kojima said too sharp images look CG-ish.
Metal Gear Solid 4 gameplay trailer @ TGS
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The animation, that are not carried over from MGS3, like the little robot animation and the two legged "metal gear" animation look much better than those that still are based on the old animations, like the soldiers and much of the Snake's.
Love the balancing animation of that little robot when it turns a bit too fast, cute
Love the balancing animation of that little robot when it turns a bit too fast, cute
Yeah, the sharpness of the image has nothing to do with the contrast and depth of the image. When contrast is low the image looks like a very very old LCD picture - lifeless. And that would hold true whether it runs at high resolution or not. Sharpness and contrast have nothing to do with each other.
Hey, you know Kojima's a man that takes his work seriously!
Also I think the reference to octopi in the camo name is perfect; an octopus truly is the master of camouflage, and not many people seem to know it. (and they're smart as hell too!)
Hey, you know Kojima's a man that takes his work seriously!
Now if only RS:Vegas can follow suit I'll be happy as a clam!
I understand Laa-Yosh's argument about the contrast, but I think it is done on purpose to enhance the effect of a dusty washed out desert environment. Yes, they could make the shadows very dark and sharp, but the effect would not be the same. They must have placed ambient light on purpose to brighten up those areas.
Some photographers when developing prints in a dark room purposely use filters to lower contrast, and some hollywood movies and tv shows have used effect to give you the impression of low visibility in a dusty bright environment, or they use overexposure plus a contrast filter to crush the bright end of the spectrum to give the impression of a blinding environment.
Moreover, any amateur photographer who uses builtin lightmeter exposure setting on a digital or film camera and goes out in the desert on a bright clear day is going to end up with either low contrast, or underexposured/overexposed. That's why "Auto Levels" and "Auto Contrast" is so beloved by amateur photographers in photoshop. That's why Ansel Adams had to invent the zone system.
I don't think the artists on MGS4 are unaware of contrast, after all, artists today are practically trained to judge on contrast. When I was taking photography classes, our teacher, as well as other students, all judged photos immediately on technicalities (contrast, exposure) and only secondarily in composition, angle, fov, etc. Basically, even a great photo in terms of artistic merit was a failure if the contrast or exposure was poor.
I think somehow they have consciously chosen the look. You know that unless they cranked up ambient or placed lights everywhere to wash those shadows out, the most likely default would be harsh dark areas. In fact, many games go the opposite extreme and you end up with everything being dark as shit looking like night time or filmed in space.
You could always try loading up the MGS4 pics and adjusting contrast to see how the overall 'feel' of the environment would change.
As for Euphoria based animation, it would be nice, but I think this will be along time coming. I'm not sure people have figured out how to use it outside of cinematics and "effect" reactions. Even Indy seems to use it only after you hit someone and they must fall or stumble. But does Indy use Euphoria for Indy's basic exploring, picking items, running, shooting, and punching animation? Combing procedural animation, simulation, and artististic touchups + mo-cap seems to be in the process of research, even tho Euphoria does some of it for you.
Some photographers when developing prints in a dark room purposely use filters to lower contrast, and some hollywood movies and tv shows have used effect to give you the impression of low visibility in a dusty bright environment, or they use overexposure plus a contrast filter to crush the bright end of the spectrum to give the impression of a blinding environment.
Moreover, any amateur photographer who uses builtin lightmeter exposure setting on a digital or film camera and goes out in the desert on a bright clear day is going to end up with either low contrast, or underexposured/overexposed. That's why "Auto Levels" and "Auto Contrast" is so beloved by amateur photographers in photoshop. That's why Ansel Adams had to invent the zone system.
I don't think the artists on MGS4 are unaware of contrast, after all, artists today are practically trained to judge on contrast. When I was taking photography classes, our teacher, as well as other students, all judged photos immediately on technicalities (contrast, exposure) and only secondarily in composition, angle, fov, etc. Basically, even a great photo in terms of artistic merit was a failure if the contrast or exposure was poor.
I think somehow they have consciously chosen the look. You know that unless they cranked up ambient or placed lights everywhere to wash those shadows out, the most likely default would be harsh dark areas. In fact, many games go the opposite extreme and you end up with everything being dark as shit looking like night time or filmed in space.
You could always try loading up the MGS4 pics and adjusting contrast to see how the overall 'feel' of the environment would change.
As for Euphoria based animation, it would be nice, but I think this will be along time coming. I'm not sure people have figured out how to use it outside of cinematics and "effect" reactions. Even Indy seems to use it only after you hit someone and they must fall or stumble. But does Indy use Euphoria for Indy's basic exploring, picking items, running, shooting, and punching animation? Combing procedural animation, simulation, and artististic touchups + mo-cap seems to be in the process of research, even tho Euphoria does some of it for you.
The wall textures definately look lower resolution than they need to be, or they lack detail textures, and shaders.
Hopefully this will be rectified in the final game which is along way off. For example, the stone could certainly use some shaders for not just offset/parallax occlusion map, but also diffuse/sub surface scattering in the sandstone.
Hopefully this will be rectified in the final game which is along way off. For example, the stone could certainly use some shaders for not just offset/parallax occlusion map, but also diffuse/sub surface scattering in the sandstone.
That at least should be present in this game. The bodies falling down looked so stiff, it was as though rigor mortis had set in seconds after death!
It doesn't need to be Euphoria. If they use something else to get fine animations, it's fine with me. Just better animations.
scooby_dooby
Legend
The lighting seems to be noticeably flatter than the first trailers shown, where one of the most impressive aspects was the high contrast in the lighting, expecially the dark areas.
Hard to argue it's a stylistic choice when the previous trailers were quite a bit better.
Simple ragdolling would be a step up, but if they want realism they should chuck in some extra behavioural motions.
Avon_Implosion
Newcomer
the more i watch the vid, the more impressed i am by it, really.
The graphics are still incredible-the pics, as always, dont do it justice. Very nice music as well; good to know that Williams is back on the wagon for the musical score
The only thing keeping me from being completely satisfied would have to be the animations. But if Famitsu is correct, they'll be cleaned up considerably in no time.
The ending was especially excellent, both technically and artistically. Good animation, and a nice twist.
The graphics are still incredible-the pics, as always, dont do it justice. Very nice music as well; good to know that Williams is back on the wagon for the musical score
The only thing keeping me from being completely satisfied would have to be the animations. But if Famitsu is correct, they'll be cleaned up considerably in no time.
The ending was especially excellent, both technically and artistically. Good animation, and a nice twist.
Is that a promo pic? The AA is very high. The texturing looks very PS2 like
. This is where procedural bumps ought to be ideal. Ho-hum, wait for MGS5 