Are Photorealistic Video Games Possible? - Reality Check 

cool!

Hi ESO love your videos

+ESO - Fallout & Elder Scrolls Guides Laser point clouds are just one way to create 3D models. The technique they mention in the video is in fact just relying on images. There are basically two ways of computing a 3D model: with or without orientation information of the camera, i.e. the recording location is known. When the camera position is not known, a method called Structure from Motion (SfM) can be used, which first identifies common features between two images first (algorithms capable of doing that are e.g. SIFT, KAZE, ORB, SURF etc.). After these points have been identified (feature detection), they need to be unambiguously described within the context of neighbouring pixels (feature description), thus you can find the same point in the other image again (feature matching). Once you did that with a couple of points, you can infer the relative position between the cameras; this information gives you the translation and rotation between the recording locations. Than you continue doing that with the other images; step by step. By knowing the image coordinates in every image for a specific object coordinate in the real world, you can build a 3D model. This is the method which probably has been used for Ethan Carter. When you know the relative orientation between the cameras already, thus their so called baseline, you can use classic photogrammetry. By exploiting the so called coplanarity between the cameras and the object, it is simple geometry to derive a 3D point from 2D image information. Interestingly, both methods do more or less the same, but have different origins. Structure from Motion has been developed by the computer vision community, and is mostly used indoors where you do not have direct georeferencing capabilities, such as GPS (so you have no idea where your cameras are). It is mainly used for close-range applications, i.e. robotics. Photogrammetry, however, is older than that. It has been developed in the late 1900s by geodesists to measure distances and areas in aerial photographs. Originally, it was a military technology. Nowadays, it is a standard technique in earth observation and geoinformatics. Many 3D models of the earth are created with satellite images using that technique. In the last couple of years, these two domains seem to merge, and benefit from each other, which is a great thing. It also becomes increasingly important and exciting since these techniques are desperately needed for things like autonomous driving. I hope that helps to demystify this topic a bit :)

+ESO - Fallout & Elder Scrolls Guides Was about to tell you that you were wrong and explain but it seems Phil beat me too it.

Berelore There was nothing wrong about what i said. It was expensive to produce the first car and it was deemed unnecessary but now look where we are. Just because it is an expensive process does not mean it is not good for video games, its simply more available technology that we have at our disposal.

If it existing, would you play the campaign or multiplayer

+Mr.miner The Arc Hunter existed*

Check out battalion 1944 currently in development

+Jacob Sabastian That game has shit graphics tho.

+Jacob Sabastian game looks like shit, and looks nothing like games in this current gen.

+deathdude282 Star wars battlefront uses this technique

+FiNiTe Star wars battlefront uses photogrammetry

+FiNiTe I'd buy a new PC just for that.

Rubert max I mean, S.T.A.L.K.E.R with an environment from this game, so photorealism would help out for the game's theme. Or atleast insanly high res textures xd

+FiNiTe Yeah that would be awesome, so far theonly two games using this technology are the vanishing of ethan carter and star wars battlefront 3, we need to see more games using photogrammetry

+Scias yes... star wars battlefront is.

+SprayedToTheBone2 that's the best joke I read today. Thank's for the laugh

+Toppromotions Kartracing Team (Kevin) lol ikr it has the best graphics in a game(with SweetFX). But if you stand still and look to the textures you really see the pixels

+Chairdolf Sitler Yea, the Witchers graphics aren't that good. Geralt's face looks weird at some angles

+Chairdolf Sitler witcher 3 is the way better game but with mods swbf looks fucking mindblowing, nothing comes near it

+Gaming guy Both? Yes. Both are nice.

+Ferdi Krist Yeah though I will say that art style is more important than graphics I must admit that when certain games come out that have both great art style and graphics they are often times gorgeous examples include batman arkham knight (console version at least) and alien isolation

+Gaming guy Most devs only stylize their games in order to hide imperfect graphics.

+jperez Not really, some games will just look much nicer stylized like tf2, tf2 just wouldn't be the same if it were photorealistic.

Xpry Ofcourse the graphics need to complement the rest of the game. But that doesn't change the fact that stylized is cheaper to produce than photorealism.

***** we don't speak of that day around here...

here is a crazy idea...why not both -_-

Dani John I knew you'd say that. theres always that one predictable guy... No ones saying both isn't possible but game-play is far more important.

Dani John Yes, this. Video gameing is a visual medium and as such graphics DO MATTER to the experience quite alot. Saying graphics don't matter is like saying the amazing cinematography and style og Sin City doesn't matter for the film (it obviously does, it's what MAKES it amazing).

KC Who said graphics don't matter?

+Rowan J Coleman mad ting

+Rowan J Coleman You could but for a mountain they'd use a full size helicopter or plane to do it.

+log1x07 hahaha unheimlisch

+log1x07 New kids, junge?

+log1x07 Brutal Doom FTW!

+agil gila Dass deine Mutter fett ist.

+agil gila UNCANNY dude, so sees out!

It's because there's a huge market in the console industry

Well they are the ones supposedly buying the majority of their games at retail price or at least a much higher price than what Steam generally offers. This industry thrives on money.

You do realise that PCs hold back the industry just as much as consoles do, right?

Tekanova your ignorance its funny

E SC *Your ignorance, *it's funny.

Lmao

+Eddie Adams The Order: 1886 has WAY better graphics

+slayer25-9 No duck hunt has better graphics.

BucketOfCreeper yeah, duck hunt's are better than 1886 and battlefront combined

That game used photogrammetry from the movie itself

This

If your talking about now, yeah. You never know what is going to happen in the future, so consoles in 20+ years might be able to do it.

What about the PS4 and Xbox One? They'll handle photorealistic games at maybe 45-60 frames per second. Look at Division and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. They look insane even though they've mainly been demonstrated on the next-gen consoles.

Fish Man At 1080p 25 FPS while PC is doing possible 12k 60 FPS

Jack Nack I was just making a statement that PCs will be far more capable than just 4k today. Especially in 20 years.

Jack Nack bro, you can't see more then 24 fps /s

I agree! Photorealism creeps me out for some reason. In my case, immersion is story based, not graphics based.

It all depends on the game. For example, if vanishing of Ethan carter or Layers of fear did not look how they do then they would not have the same atmoshphere or immersion. Realism is also an art style.

I don't think talking shit about something correlates with the definition of the word: "care"

They do talk more about consoles than their own platform... If you go to /r/PS4 they only talk about PS4 games and PS4 related things. If you go to /r/PCMasterRace, half of the posts there are just stupid things about consoles. If that's not ''obsession'', than I don't know what it is.

That's an outstanding idea.

So your competitors can profit off of your hard work? Not wise from a business standpoint.

I want to play gta on a 1:1 scale of the world

+uetzel I think then maybe games might become repetitive feeling. Seeing the same buildings, trees, even rocks in 2 different games wouldn't be very good either.

+MenderSlen579 how about the pc suck box?

+MenderSlen579 i cant belive this pc gamer shit people have their opnions plus i bet you have a crappy pc

+Godd Howard nope i have a high end pc but not top of the end pc but pretty high end

Haha. I can only hope you're being clever and not oblivious.

Stephen Anderson, maybe (s)he meant the later games in the series. The cut scenes were live action with actors who already had some fame doing movies and TV series'. Aside from not being the best video compression, it was nearly the best photo realism that could be part of a game then. Anything better was still photographs of live actors dressed as characters or pre-rendered scenes output as probably png files.

Nope

:"(

ah yes those where the good days..and ofcourse when you buy a game its the full game! not needing any bullcrap pass and stupid DLC..ah damn it what has the world become..

I'd at least like to see a time where they're equally important. Given how well the games in which they are tend to do, you'd think more devs would take that on board.

Agreed with you. One reason I like pc exclusives, they can put a lot of time In the story and the graphics are ready taken care of because they dont have to worry about same hardware like the ps4s or xbones. Oblivion is one of the best TES games and on pc its amazing because thr modding community brought it to 2014 standards. Im not an elitist. PC, PlayStation, Nintendo FTW

+S Collin rather "Das ist unheimlich"

+moinsenman :D

+S Collin I speak German, and I was trying to figure out what the fuck he was saying for like ten minutes through his accent.

bartsshorts Brilliant! How did you come up with such genius on your own? Did you have a quantum supercomputer craft such a witty joke for you? I just can't comprehend it!

+90ItsYaBoii90 Lol Not quite, no. :D Kudos for the effort you put into it, though. Not so much for the sexism.

Not all pc gamers, some just enjoy playing with keyboard and mouse and dont have the money for 60$ games.

sander dullaert That's because they spent so much money on their '4K Dual-Screen, ultra powered' PC. They basically won't play anything unless it's 4K and running at over 200fps

***** most gamers are fine with 1080p 60fps(which is possible on a $500 pc), something consoles struggle to achieve. 

sander dullaert The PS4 can do 1080p and 60fps though. It's just the game devs deciding to stick with 30fps.

***** okay maybe it can. i just dont agree with you saying that the pc gamers in general are annoying, a group of irritating gamers that take the pc masterrace too serious are annoying.

Fox Engine uses Photorealism, but they do it for the characters instead, then drop a few layers of transparency and throw all the little details on top :3

Engines don't make the game... Engines are just sets of tools for making the production easier, but it's not like there are effects or shaders that can't be done on any engine.

***** I couldn't agree more on that.KONAMI studio is using fox engine to develop their PES games but didn't look great because they didn't utilize it well enough that even Kojima himself didn't like how they used it for PES 2014

+TheKestevon The only realistic looking games from the Fox Engine are MGS 5 and Slient Hill P.T

+Raziel is Love - Raziel is Life no

Not only... But its nice

Or in other words, u either need a good artstyle or perfect photorealism

Need? No, Prefer? Yes. I mean its one step further to a virtual reality. Pretty much right now its the apple watch, its a nice thought, but its not needed. yet.

+Ryuo but as i said... Virtual reality also works with a good artstyle... Just no bad photorealism

Superblaster Megamaster I think you need to revisit the definition of open world, especially if compared to ACU or any other massive game with dynamic time of day and many other systems running in the background.

Greg Rassam Wouldnt say its open world but its not that linear either

Same Dishonored and bioshock are my favorite looking games

Possible? Yes....BUT! Should we really use that in games?

Only on PC

If you have a supercomputer than yes

Davor Basic You don't need a supercomputer...

Neutrino If you want photo realism like the real world than yes you do the graphics are far from realistic

Your kind are cancer to the gaming community.

shadowstrangler1 thats fine. The pc master race does not suffer from illness only peasents do

***** this is a three year old joke

dont mind them. just trolls.

darude sandstorm

Darude sandstorm

Jelly xbot

Yeah, but there's nothing really special about it. And I just played it maxed out...

Star 2500 I was thinking the same thing

darude sandstorm

Woh, woh woh... You jumped from "are always better" to arguing about the fact that they can be good too. Not the same at all mate. Also just looking at art, and playing in it aren't the same anyway.

gilless429 I should add " in my preference" .

darude sandstorm

gilless429 "Woh, woh woh... You jumped from "are always better" to arguing about the fact that they can be good too." What? I came back because I re read this and it confused me. Also games, can be considered art.

Oh that's funny! :') you made me laugh!

Zachary Mollohan Why? Have you even seen how that game looks? It's incredible!

***** Did you see I said top-of-the-line? This PC build is not only for gaming, but also for recording, editing, rendering, video game making, etc. It's a professional build, you could get a PC as strong as a PS4 for the same price, Windows and Keyboard&Mouse included. 400$ is pretty cheap.

***** Do you get a monitor with the PS4 and Xbox One? What's that? NO!? Ok. And I saw Keyboards&Mouse bundles that are 30$. Plus Windows, or not if you crack it. 30$ is the starting point, so really, no, it's not expensive.

***** A 30$ mouse/keyboard bundle is all you need. That's what I always had, and it performs well. Also, here's a system build that will wreck you arguments : pcpartpicker.com/p/NmtsFT

***** Uh... No. A PC that performs slightly or a lot better than a console is always better, heck, a PC that performs worst is better, because you still get all the PC features AND YOU DON'T PAY FOR ONLINE GAMING. Also, fuck off, console peasant, I know you're one of those "fake PC gamers" like BBC warned us about. Stop pretending you're a PC gamer.

And I actually thought building a good PC costs around 700! lol... Not?

Because it is right now apparently not cost effective as explained in the video. A developer may take much much longer to polish the graphics quality of the game, while sacrificing much needed time that could have gone to story development and character design which requires a large number of individuals capable of doing so (which means means more cost to pay those same people).

Because consoles...

most games are built for immersion, not nature walks.

It's not good for the gameplay, art design and even overall graphics. It's much easier to just build the world yourself. But many developers started photographing textures. Ready at Down photographed different materials for their game (The Order 1886) under different lighting conditions and the results are far more impressive and easier to use in-game than TVOEC. In this game the lighting is static and very dull. The player's interaction to the environment is also very minimal. Compare that with The Order 1886, which looks far better and every scene can be lit realistically by the player's torch and geometry can be changed, objects can be moved, and materials react to your presence.

***** The Order was a huge disappointment...

Gotta agree. I love graphics that look good, but for now optmization, AI, physics, etc., should be favored. We've gone forward quite a lot in graphics and all, but some of the rest of games' important parts are just lagging behind like hell.

tell intel to lower their cpu prices then.

A photo realistic Dragon is still fantasy, but there's plenty of folks working hard to create them.

Mr Stuart Antony You mean kimono dragon?

Uhm... That's... adressed in the video.

Never heard of Kimono Dragon, Komodo maybe. But no dude, the point is people want those Avatar, Lord Of The Rings type graphics in their games as much as anything else (and even they are not totally realistic). Art styles will never die, but realism has always been at least one of the major goals

Mr Stuart Antony Why? You can't realistically interact with that software, so what does it matter?

+xXpivotzXx1 with microwaves incluided? :v

+xXpivotzXx1 Search up the Valve HTC Vive and watch jackfrags video. It's like one step closer to SAO :D

SAO its like matrix O.o

+xXpivotzXx1 Wasn't .hack// before SAO? How come it's never referenced everytime someone talks about VR? That's like saying: "There are no MMO'S, only WOW".

Equinoksl My guess is more people know about SAO :/

It looks nothing like photorealistic.

Pole Ale you haven't played the game I take it

I have it for PS4 and you are god damn wrong. It's not even the best looking game on the PS4...

No....

It looks more next gen than some current gen games do

That is because it takes a good engine to actually render a real light, sure the models are 100% perfect, but the rest plays a big role too.

You are a bit out of touch with today's PC market, what you said was valid 5 years ago but times have changed drastically and engines like unity etc allow small teams to produce at any level they wish

The thing is, a lot of what developers do have deferred options. No level designer is going to set the entire scene to be at it's highest setting because that's obviously inefficient. For character design, you're usually doing things in iterations. It's not much of an issue unless you don't have the Memory to multitask in-between software because that voids your workflow and leads to crashes. As far as damaging the industry, I'd kind of think that were a 50/50 scenario by both company and consumer. You deliver it and they'll expect more of it because you're a AAA developer. With the introduction of PBR into game development, things get a hell of a lot simpler and that literally becomes a next step that will force consumers to purchase new hardware and draw a line on system requirements.

darude sandstorm

***** darude sandstorm

Recon Novahkiin Blackdude-snowstorm

Well unless it's a game going for a realistic immersion.

They showcase the ultra settings on PC so they can compare the best a PC can show in a game to what the consoles can do. Also, if you really consider yourself a PC gamer, you are probably going to have a rig that will allow you to play games at ultra.

metang800 What about true gamers that can't afford great rigs? I have a gaming computer but it still has trouble running some games on ultra and I consider myself a PC gamer.

Okay, that's fine. I'm just speaking from my knowledge, considering you can build an amazing PC that outperforms the new-gen consoles for about the same price.

metang800 Indeed.

Think about it like this. A Bugatti and a 1998 Chevrolet Blazer both have engines, tires, require fuel, have headlights, and can even drive on the same roads. My question to you is: which would you rather drive? Which one is clearly the superior vehicle? They do the same job, but it's clear as day which is better. That is essentially an analogy as to why I am a PC Ultra graphics "purist."

Darude-sandstorm

I dunno, i like taking a walk arround nature irl and in games, and this game seems to be the best one for that :D, besides heavely moded skyrim...

Marko Stamenkovic It might look nice. But it's not that special anymore after a while. you can have 6 grass models and just copy them over and over and it will always look great. A foto realistic game in city is much more impressive. Since each model has to be made and a lot more work goes into that than a forest.

Jim Feenstra Well never been a fan of urban areas, irl or in game. I like my forest shack :D

I don't think that's how it will go down, mainly because consoles follow about 5-10 years after PC. So maybe pc in 2020 and consoles in 2025 or 2030. Just my opinion.

Consoles in 2040s? Yea right. Honestly, i think 8th gen, and just MAYBE 9th gen will be there too, but after that, consoles as we know them today, will be no more. I give them 10 more years of existance max.

nope lol

Sayaboong Rai yeah it also uses photogramitry

Nah, lookup for Crysis CryZENx, Not even close IMO

+ncshuriken I do think there is a place for realistic looking games as well as games with a different artstyle. Dishonored is one of my favorite games even though the look of it does put some people off.

+Hugo Sutherland (GeraltOfRivia) What exactly do you mean?

If games became realistic I think it would ruin the expierience.

Hugo Sutherland What?? Do you mean YOUR experience? I'm still having trouble. Games evolving to realism does NOT "ruin" the experience: of course, as long as its done properly.

exactly, when I had an awakening that was even more enhanced, went from 720p to 4k

Acylowrider u wot m8