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by jrlocke 4123 days ago
A demo of the astounding capabilities for those who haven't seen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6PQ19BEE24

5 comments

This is my favorite Unreal 4 demo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOvfn1p92_8 (sadly missing the wonderful quote "I light my level by dropping a sun in.")

I'm completely in awe of the feedback loop here. It even compiles and swaps code while you're in the game!

Unfortunately that demo is outdated. They dropped a lot of that GI tech because it was never made performant for medium spec machines.
Keep in mind this is all done with "baked in" lighting. Still amazing, but to get that kind of graphical fidelity, you have to use static lighting.
According to the AAA graphics programmers I've consulted with now that we're in the age of physics based renderers this level of detail is pretty much possible in all 3d engines. You could take those assets, throw them in pretty much any other physically based renderer and they'd look the same.

I would be nice to see someone try that with these assets.

More the capabilities of the designer than the engine, since it is all static, but that scene is stunning.

I do wonder if Paris apartments have big glass double doors between the lounge and the master bedroom though. Could make visiting friends a little, erm, intimate.

nice. the thing i found odd is how the reflections/glare changes from simply looking around without moving. quite unnatural
Uncanny valley, if anything: reflections are supposed to change with a changing viewing angle and/or surface angle, whereas just camera movement has no immediate effect.
The whole "uncanny valley" idea is something that is related to virtual humans, not environments. But yes, agreed, dynamic lighting would make it more believable of course.
It does approach U.V somehow. The more realistic things get, the more I feel it misses something, like touch or smell, making it annoying instead of inspiring.