What's missing?

[L B]

I'm comparing the atmosphere and look of my maps so far to various RPGs. I came across what is considered to be "Top-notch" in terms of graphics as a MMO, Aion.

Although the graphics aren't so stunning in my opinion, they still have some kind of mood I lack.

 

Any idea on how to get it? I already tried a warmer ambient-light, but it's no use.

[Canardia]

What makes Aion and WoW visually appealing and fun to the eye is the overexxagerated use of color hues. They use lots of clean and bright colors, and also curvy models and terrains. They just make "more than reality", a caricature of reality, which one could also call fantasy, that's what their genre is about anyway.

 

Your Origins scene looks more realistic, but it is also no fun to the eye, since people associate it unconsciously with hard work and cruel life. The realistic effect works only when its used to its full potential a'la Crysis, or in a darker ways like in horror games. But semi-realistic scenes are just in the middle of the road and not appealing to either eye candy or emo thrill.

[Josh]

On the left is the Aion image resized to 3x3 and upsampled. On the right is yours. The difference is saturation.

[L B]

Alright. Then why does my screenshot look somehow bad? Somehow flat?

 

EDIT: Just saw Josh's post. I get it, my hue is less colored. But still, there's something missing, don't you think? (Beside a character)

[Marleys Ghost]

Alright. Then why does my screenshot look somehow bad? Somehow flat?

 

EDIT: Just saw Josh's post. I get it, my hue is less colored. But still, there's something missing, don't you think? (Beside a character)

 

 

I would not say it looked bad or flat, the difference seems to be as stated hue and saturation.

[Josh]

Fog?

[Marcus]

What color are your lights? After doing an auto-levels in phototshop, I noticed that you had a LOT of yellow in the image.

 

Original:

 

After Auto Level:

 

Try adjusting your light color to see if that makes a difference.

[L B]

I actually like my version better, hehe!

 

@Josh: Had reduced it, now added it back. Looks better, except when you hit the sky. Let me take a screenshot.

[Canardia]

With color balance and saturation (both available in Framewerk via ambientlight, hdr, saturation), you could do this (although you should primarily do it in your textures, and rather do a desaturation to get your current image):

[L B]

Don't you think this is too extreme for gameplay?

And is there a new version of LE that allows color controls, or am I on some lost planet?

[Canardia]

Hard to say, it looks fine on my monitor. There are no completely black places, everything is still clearly visible. It's just more fun to the eye to have a more dramatic dark/light scene than a boring flat image.

[TylerH]

Lumooja's shot seems more fun than yours. Your shot, Ubu, just looks like every single other Leadwerks shot.

 

No one seems to vary the ambiance enough to get a unique look. Lumooja seems pretty close to a nice, dramatic look, but it is a bit dark.

[Marcus]

Lumooja's shot seems more fun than yours. Your shot, Ubu, just looks like every single other Leadwerks shot.

 

No one seems to vary the ambiance enough to get a unique look. Lumooja seems pretty close to a nice, dramatic look, but it is a bit dark.

 

Agreed. Almost every shot looks the same.

[L B]

Got what I was after. I finally accepted to use HDR, Bloom, Saturation, Brightness, and Contrast.

 

[flachdrache]

Looks mighty fine to me though, now its just missing butterflys or other living things to animate the scene.

I suggest to define a bunch of pprocessing setting for different time of day and weather conditions.

 

Another reason why its difficult to compete imho, is that i can hardly implement a straight "style".

While the latest screenshot looks a lot like FABLE - "we" usually paint with the engine and aint working from design sheets.

Often even such simple things like a lamppost do have its root in the culture where it is living in and by materializing all

these small parts a harmonising image is created.

[omid3098]

I think your trunk textrure in left tree and top of right tree is bigger than real size.

Brightness - contrast - level - Gamma correction:

 

[Canardia]

You can also check that your monitor brightness is calibrated correctly with this web site:

http://www.displaycalibration.com

[Josh]

It's easier to desaturate a saturated image than saturate a desaturated image.

[L B]

Heh, I think I got what I was after.

I'll build my own gallery on my website.

 

@Josh: I can't wait for MSAA/SSRT.

[f13rce]

Those pic edits look nice..

 

And I think not only the hue is different, but the second screen has way more bumpmapping, that makes it also look different.

[Laurens]

I doubt he added more bump mapping. The postpro just makes it pop out more I guess.

 

Guess it's also a matter of taste. I personally feel that Ubu's orginal shot looks way better than Aion. I think Aion and WoW look horrible.

 

Maybe you can compare to this shot. It's from Lord of the Rings Online of which I personally feel it has much more atmosphere.

 

http://lotro.arinthros.com/screens/files/landscape/shire_awesome-brook3.jpg

[L B]

This pic reminds me I'm in heavy need of proper rocks.

 

Also notice the smooth alpha blending of the leaves and grass. Wonder how to do this with LE.

[Masterxilo]

Also notice the smooth alpha blending of the leaves and grass. Wonder how to do this with LE.

 

You can't. You can't use alpha blending, at least not if you want lighting to look correctly.

There's only completely transparent or solid. (except for unlit objects in secondary worlds)

[Josh]

You actually can get antialiasing right now, and not the edge antialias shader. Just render to a double-size buffer, then draw this onto a buffer half that size, with the smooth texture filter set. This will produce about the same results as 2x MSAA. I don't recommend using this technique for anything you release, because the bandwidth usage would be ridiculous, but its okay for testing.

[Masterxilo]

That's still not the same as alpha blended textures.