Non-photo realistic rendering?

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bystander

Regular
It seems that the majority of the games I've seen coming out for the next-gen consoles are all going for that photo-realistic approach, and it doesn't seem like that there are many going for a non-photo realistic approach.

Anyway my question is does anyone have lists of games for any of the next generation of consoles that contain NPR rendering?

Also how does the extra power of the next-gen consoles help those going with a NPR approach? What effects or techniques can be done now that couldn't be done before?
 
It's still a lot more realistic than Trusty Bell or Blue Dragon or Rayman or Mario...
 
i think you can look at a game like Kameo on the 360 as an example. i believe this generation can do some really nifty things with stylized rendering. however, as most of us know the casual gamers that play the 360 and PS3 (generally mid to late teens and 20's) they are mostly interested in games that are like playing live action movies. as video games, like much of everything else, are becoming a numbers bussiness, companies have to rely more on what sells. i think this is why we arent seeing as many stylized, surrealistic type games.
 
I prefer to call games that technically have great graphics..convincing. I like to refer to a games art style as either realistic or not realistic.
So for example Kameo is a great example of a game with technically convincing graphics.Water looks like water,metal and other surfaces look as they should but,but the game has a clear non realistic look. Relative to our realism that is. I prefer games like this,over games like GOW with a very realistic art style.
 
It's a byproduct of the "next-gen" and developers trying unimaginatively (IMO) to show off the whole new world of computational and graphical power available to them (which is why in most cases next-gen games have made do with current gen gameplay). Normally it just takes one game to use fantastic "NPR" rendering to spark off about 10 or 20 bandwagon jumpers announcing similarly rendered games (solely going by cel-shading here).
 
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Gears isn't really that realistic either, everything is slightly exaggerated from surface properties to character design...

Actually GTHD is the closest to photorealistic rendering, and most games are already surrealistic to a level. Have been for quite a while.
 
It depends on the game.

For instance, for cars, people probably want photorealism.

Remember that Capcom game which used animation cell rendering? That didn't go over too well in the US but maybe it was big in Japan.

Maybe someone could do a game with a Sin City look. Did they do a game for that movie? You could make a GTA type of game but with the distinctive look.
 
Laa-Yosh said:
Actually GTHD is the closest to photorealistic rendering, and most games are already surrealistic to a level. Have been for quite a while.
Click to expand...

Hm, that's interesting. I have heard the term "surrealism" used in conjunction with Salvador Dali; can you educate us a bit, citing games as examples?
 
wco81 said:
Remember that Capcom game which used animation cell rendering? That didn't go over too well in the US but maybe it was big in Japan.
Click to expand...

Are you talking about Killer 7? I don't think it sold well in Japan either, but thankfully that's not stopping the studio or Goichi Suda from pursuing a number of next-gen projects. ^_^
 
No it was a racing game, using cell-shaded animation.

Instead of reflections galore, it had a kind of anime look, maybe Speed Racer-ish.
 
Serenity Painted Death said:
Final Fantasy XIII isn't going for photorealism.
Click to expand...

Mmm it's quite photorealistic, if we say that something like Star Wars CGI (the prequels) was photorealistic. It's fanta-photorealism... If that's even a word. For example, the cities and environments are very realistic, but they show fantasy content - the jungle is very fantasified for example, to make it look very pretty... But if we had a jungle with crystals coming out of the ground and trees, and the sun was at the right height, casting beautiful rays through the beautiful trees, it would look pretty similar to the jungle in FF13. ;)

The main character is also quite photorealistic - even though the traditional "anime" look is still there to a certain extent.
 
I really liked the psuedo-cel-shading of Super Mario Sunshine, and it surprised me that nobody copied the look of that game last generation. But then very few people acknowledged any of the great departures that were taken in the design of that game. Though Mario Galaxy has a look that's more "realistic", I love how that looks, too. Still nowhere near uncanny valley territory, though if they even went as far as doing his hair and moustache with a fur shader instead of one piece that looks like plastic, it could still be true to form and cartoony enough. I know I wouldn't want to be hopping around with a photorealistic Mario, though.
 
Iron Tiger said:
I know I wouldn't want to be hopping around with a photorealistic Mario, though.
Click to expand...
That's a photo-realistic Human Mario though. It'd look very different in the cartoon style was shaded in a photorealistic, though not necessarily human, way. The game could be portrayed as a Claymation/Plasticine world, or plastic world, in photorealistic quality so it looks like everything really is made of clay/Plasticine/Plastic, as though they're models. Or they could be rendered in a real-world style, but with cartoon models.

Has anyone ever taken the latest, greatest human rendering software and techniques and applied them to cartoons to see how they look with SSS and GI? It'd be good to render a character and compose them into a photo to see how it looks.
 
Shifty Geezer said:
Has anyone ever taken the latest, greatest human rendering software and techniques and applied them to cartoons to see how they look with SSS and GI? It'd be good to render a character and compose them into a photo to see how it looks.
Click to expand...

Incredibles, Shrek 2 etc...
 
Hmmm, possibly. I think they're quite stylized though. They certainly look like CGs rather than oddly shaped real people. Looking around, I think a good impression can be got for photorealistic, but not real-life simulation, graphics...

face1.jpg


face1.jpg


shrek2_800.jpg


flushed-away-trailer.jpg


I don't think you'll find many people who wouldn't like the above in games :D
 
 
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Hey, thanks for reminding me. Now I'm on uncapped broadband, I can cruise the CG sites!

Anyhow, for the topic there really needs to be distinction between (non)photorealism and stylized rendering. I had a thread a while back (here) about stylized rendering, which is what the OP is really after. Many games go for realism, even if a sort of abstraction from realism. Few choose to go with a stylized rendering technique other than Cell shading. I think Okami takes the crown for new and original. Kingdom Hearts had some great looks too. I'm thinking of the Hundred Acreas woods levels contrasting with the normal cartoony look.

These new consoles ought to be able to do amazing things, but as I questioned in my thread, why would you want to?
 
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