Improvement in the lighting.....

[Xcellere]

In the E3 2004 videos, did anyone else notice the improvement over last years videos in regards to the lighting?

Before, when an object transitioned between a light and dark parts of the environment, the change from light to dark would appear to be instant on the object itself. In the 2004 video, objects and characters transition smoothly between light and dark. Watch the scene where Gordon is told by the Combine to come to the back room. The combines body reacts to the lights above perfectly, smoothly transitioning between light areas and dark areas.

They stated (Valve) that dynamic lighting was in place, and now we can finally see it in action.

 

[Shuzer]

We still haven't seen dynamic lighting, that's just improved lightmap lighting AFAIK.
I forget who originally pointed this out, but you're right, it is better. Someone even e-mailed VALVe, and their response was (something along the lines of): "We've had almost a year to tweak the game."

 

[Dagobert]

From per object to per vertex. Still not per pixel, though, is it?

 

[ferd]

damn, still no pixel to pixels shading
that would've really made the game better

 

[Xcellere]

Oh, I didn't know that it wasn't dynamic yet. But still, I think that it looks far improved over last year and it looks terrific. I can't ask for anything more.

 

[[Matt]]

The lighting has improved greatly from last years video. Find the section with father gregory and watch the bit where after he speaks to you. He turns and runs off around the corner and as he does so he runs into shadow. When he does so you will notice the top half of his body go dark before the bottom half as the shadow moves down to his legs.

 

[Crusader]

Yeah, that is good

 

[Delgarto]

It still needs a ton of work though. For example, in the train sequence, the flying thing with the light attached to it, lights up the whole train even though only part of the beam hits it, and the whole crane sequence was rather disappointing.

 

[IOD*Mako*]

I felt the graphics were a little more immersive this time around. I can't put my finger on it but it just seemed so. Maybe that is why.

 

[dscowboy]

Ok... one more time: There is no noticable difference in lighting quality. The reason you don't see characters 'popping' from dark to light like in the barricade video is because there are no situations in the new video where that would occur. The 'problem' in the barricade video is where the C17 resistance character passes in front of a window, and the LIGHTMAP under him has a very sharp transition from dark to light, thus the character has a very sharp transition from dark to light. LIGHTMAPS do not confer per-pixel or even per-vertex lighting on characters. The engine samples the lightmap directly under the character, and modifies the brightness of the ENTIRE CHARACTER based on them.

Dynamic lights, however, DO shade characters per-pixel, which is what you're seeing when the Combine walks under the light at the station. You can also see this in E32k3 traptown before the dumpster falls: Combine are walking around under dynamic lights and they are shaded per-pixel. So, last time: 1) Barricade - pops because character transitions across sharp shadows in LIGHTMAP. 2) Combine in train station - per-pixel shading from dynamic lights. 3) Gregori - walks over GRADUAL light-to-dark transition in the LIGHTMAP. If Gregori had walked over a sharper shadow in the lightmap, his brightness would've also 'popped'. Valve has not 'vastly improved' their lighting model, lightmaps just plain DO NOT shade per pixel. Lightmaps apply to surfaces only. They would have to apply to every point in 3d space to properly shade characters/models with, which is WAY beyond our current memory limits.

 

[Lobster]

In my opinion, If your looking for the most advanced lighting or even rendering systems in a game then HL2 really isnt for you, there are other examples of graphics technology that are pushing into new territory and hardware usage with games.

Half-life 2 however will have a very nicely balanced quality in all its features, and result in a nicely built game and engine that can breath second wind into the huge mod and player communtiy that half-life has, and offer valve the oppotunity to incrementaly develop and update source overtime and bring new features to modders and there future products, such as a greater use of dynamic lights, HDR, pixel-shader 3.0 that kinda stuff.

For the tech nuts I hear stalker is using 100% per-pixel dynamic lighting even in its huge outdoor areas, that impresses me alot more than say Doom3's lighting system which seems to be trapped in cramped rooms (scarey rooms mind), and its always cool to see the new meaty engine features being developed.

 

[volume]

We still haven't seen dynamic lighting, that's just improved lightmap lighting AFAIK.
I forget who originally pointed this out, but you're right, it is better. Someone even e-mailed VALVe, and their response was (something along the lines of): "We've had almost a year to tweak the game."

Doesn't all this make waiting worth it?

 

[kaf11]

^sure does. this final product will infact rock.

 

[lans]

Doesn't all this make waiting worth it?

Very well said. I always remind myself with that in mind. Screw dynamic lighting, I loved call of duty and it had no fancy stuff like that - heck it was very ordinary except for the fact that it happened to be the best game I played in 2003 ( Max payne 2 coming in a close second).

Back to topic: Yes the lighting is much better. In last year's strider vid, when gordon went below that arch with "THT" (that the strider blasted away) the gun changed from bright to dark awkwardly. This year, the transitions look smoother.

 

[SubKamran]

It still needs a ton of work though. For example, in the train sequence, the flying thing with the light attached to it, lights up the whole train even though only part of the beam hits it, and the whole crane sequence was rather disappointing.

Lol, about the crane sequence, I emailed Yahn about that I don't expect a reply, since it's pretty easy to spot.