What makes UT3 truely unreal...

UT3 should be coming soon with a new gametype, improved vehicles, and MORE PLAYERS! Death Warrant will be there with hardware to spare!
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Savage
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I would appreciate any suggestions or links for further study on the following topic or any feedback you think may be of some interest on the technology that makes Unreal Tournament 3 truly Unreal and that is the manipulation of surface normals. Now I'm not going to bother explaining what this is because their are many better descriptions than I can offer out there but it is my main area of study right now with the exception of the projects I have assigned to me, and it is amazing! I would love to get others input on the subject and I would suggest anybody that would like to get into game development to look into this technology. Look here to get an understanding of Surface Normals.
First was the manipulation of the way light is reflected of the surfaces of the mesh by using an algorithm to smooth the transition of light reflection off the surfaces of one polygon to its neighboring polygon otherwise known as a shader model. Look here for shaders.
The latest technology in this area is Normal mapping or Dot3 mapping, and this is truely what makes Unreal unreal. Normal mapping store the information of a high polygon model and maps it to a low polygon model making the world look as if it is made of millions of polygons when in fact it is a small fraction of that allowing for speed and less over head. This is not just important for modeling or UT3 but the future of gaming in general. Check it out because this is where the future is going! Normal Mapping! Image Image
Last edited by Savage on Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Savage
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Some other version of bump mapping include Parallax mapping which is used in some of the new high end games like Fallout 3 and Crysis, even UT3 can simulate Parallax mapping to a degree... so I've heard anyway. Parallax mapping is a virtual Displacement mapping that gives the illusion of raised surfaces. Take a look at this example of a Parallax map:
Image Here is how it is used in game and it gives the illusion of a tiled floor when in fact it is completely flat:
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Another type of bump mapping is Displacement mapping which gives surfaces a great sense of depth and detail, permitting self-occlusion, self-shadowing and silhouettes. Displacement mapping is the most costly of techniques. Displacement mapping isn't YET used in games but instead it is often used in high-end rendering systems, but I suspect it will be used in games or a version of it...

This is a single Displacement map:
Image Here is a graphical illustration of what Displacement mapping does to a given surface:
Image ... The future?
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Savage
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjsdAXSGEe8[/youtube]

I just thought that was so funny...

"Pythagoras gave us the Pythagoras theorem because he wanted us to make computer games" -Bucky

The conclusion in case you are wondering:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRYxNYpyLSo[/youtube]
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DW_Ant
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Oh noes, my math class found me in my house!

My cover is blown, and there's no way to escape math this time...ahhh!!!
The difference between successful people from others is
not in the lack of strength,
not in the lack of knowledge,
but rather in the lack of will.

FFE466

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Savage
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Math never bothered me. I must use it constantly at work and it was always my strong area. English is a different story. My spelling suffers horribly; However, my grammar has improved a bit. I wouldn't be able to survive without spell check.
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DW_Ant
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Well I never had a problem with math before....
But until I went to Calculus and starting learning some math garbage that I'll never use in my life, then math & I had some problems.

DW_Savage wrote:My spelling suffers horribly...

You sure?? It looks pretty good to me.
The difference between successful people from others is
not in the lack of strength,
not in the lack of knowledge,
but rather in the lack of will.

FFE466

_________________________
{F}{AH}{CivFR}{XC}{U}{DF}{CJ}{SD}
Savage
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I did my first normal bake this morning in preparation for the gasbag project and got some interesting results. I'm not sure if it was successful or a failure but it isn't like any normal I have seen for the UT3 Editor or at least most of it. If anybody knows anything about this, let me know. I'll keep playing with it until I get something more recognizable.
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Savage
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Never mind, I used camera view instead of tangent space.
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