Plastic fantastic.

[ninzel]

I know we all like plastic. We like to dress in it, , stuff bodies in it, but do we want every surface imagnable to look like it. I say thee nay.
Ever since I played games like Far Cry on PC and seeing all these next gen games, I'm wondering if this plasticy look from bumpmapping or whatever it is, is somehting we have to live with until a new graphics technique comes out for creating luminosity on surfaces, or will this get better as devs get better at using it.

 

[nintenho]

I know we all like plastic. We like to dress in it, , stuff bodies in it, but do we want every surface imagnable to look like it. I say thee nay.
Ever since I played games like Far Cry on PC and seeing all these next gen games, I'm wondering if this plasticy look from bumpmapping or whatever it is, is somehting we have to live with until a new graphics technique comes out for creating luminosity on surfaces, or will this get better as devs get better at using it.

I think the only shader that causes that effect is spectral lighting. Next generation games that have an art style other then "TEH REALISTIC" never suffer from the plastic look. It might be a few years though until the average person sees it often enough in games to get turned off by it and then developers will finally stop being so zealous about it (hopefully).

 

[Squeak]

I don't get why people complain so much about the plasticy lighting.
It's not like they are used to somthing much better. I'll take BM with white specular mapping over low poly garaud lighting any day.

 

[nintenho]

I don't get why people complain so much about the plasticy lighting.
It's not like they are used to somthing much better. I'll take BM with white specular mapping over low poly garaud lighting any day.

It's not appealing in any way aesthetically...

 

[OtakingGX]

Isn't the plastic look largely due to Phong shading? I thought I read somewhere that as developers move to other lighting techniques using shaders and whatnot the plastic look should be eliminated.

When looking at objects in real life, their surfaces are, microscopically, very rough, so light is reflected in all different directions. Polygons in games, however, are flat, and tend to reflect light in the same direction. You can define which direction light should reflect with a normal map, but now you're creating two textures for every polygon.

 

[function]

I think the only shader that causes that effect is spectral lighting.

Spectral lighting. Awesomely spooky!

 

[bcloward]

Actually, the fact that people are complaining about the plasticy look is a good sign to me. It means that real-time graphics are getting to the point were we can actually achieve the look of a real surface. Since it's so new, we haven't done a good job of anything but plasticy yet - but it will come.

In the past, all real-time graphics used crappy gouraud shading and when people saw it they just accepted it - because it was so bad. Now that shading has actually got to a point where it's not as crappy, people are complaining because they can tell that the ability is there (or almost there) to make real surfaces. It's just not being used very well yet. That complaint to me is a sign of progress - and also a sign that dev artists are going to have a lot of hard work ahead of them getting their surfaces just right so as to avoid the grumblings.

 

[AlNom]

I think the only shader that causes that effect is spectral lighting.

Specular.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

If they just spread out the specularity instead of having it sharp and bright, they'd elliminate this. I guess it's a feature devs add to a degree that they can really notice it because they want to advertise they game uses normal maps! If it were more subtle, it would improve picture quality but not be something techheads could point out as a technology feature of the graphics. Less is often more...

 

[_phil_]

If they just spread out the specularity instead of having it sharp and bright, they'd elliminate this. I guess it's a feature devs add to a degree that they can really notice it because they want to advertise they game uses normal maps! If it were more subtle, it would improve picture quality but not be something techheads could point out as a technology feature of the graphics. Less is often more...

you pined it

 

[ERP]

The plastic look is usually the result of white specular, vs material colored specular.
It used to be because it was easier to implement in the relatively short shaders you could afford. No real reason for it other than developer preference or ease of implementation I suspect.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Specular highlights are a fake replacement for realistic reflections that may be tinted by the surface color and blured by the surface's small imperfections. Thus they by nature can't look fully realistic; but a talented artist can still use them quite well.
The color, size, and intensity of the highlight can be controled from the shader, it's a simple start. Then you can add textures to control the color and the intensity of the highlight throughout the surface, and you can change the intensity depending on the angle of the surface relative to the camera. The bumpiness of the surface has an indirect but very important effect on the speculars as well.
These options are available in most offline 3D rendering packages and lots of artists are already quite good at using them. The game industry needs to either train its own artists or recruit from the offline side to get into the know and this will take a little more time. That's it...

 

[darkblu]

Specular highlights are a fake replacement for realistic reflections that may be tinted by the surface color and blured by the surface's small imperfections. Thus they by nature can't look fully realistic; but a talented artist can still use them quite well.
The color, size, and intensity of the highlight can be controled from the shader, it's a simple start. Then you can add textures to control the color and the intensity of the highlight throughout the surface, and you can change the intensity depending on the angle of the surface relative to the camera. The bumpiness of the surface has an indirect but very important effect on the speculars as well.
These options are available in most offline 3D rendering packages and lots of artists are already quite good at using them. The game industry needs to either train its own artists or recruit from the offline side to get into the know and this will take a little more time. That's it...

recently three titles have impressed me with skillful use of specularity masks:

soul calibur 3
tekken 5
ridge racer psp (only for the road)

if you're starting to see a link here you're right - all three are by namco.

GoW may have used some, or at least i seem to have such recollections (my GoW copy is lent, can't check that now)