[Graphic Engine] Add Depth of Field

[Wyllie]

I think it would be nice if Depth of Field was added to the game as an option.

For those who do not know what Depth of Field is:
http://www.spot3d.com/vray/help/150SP1/images/examples/vrayphysicalcamera/08_balls_dof_focus400.png

The further the objects are from the focal point the more blurred they are.

[Chaosprism]

Any other games currently have this display option?

[Velexia]

I think it would be nice if Depth of Field was added to the game as an option.

For those who do not know what Depth of Field is:
http://www.spot3d.com/vray/help/150SP1/images/examples/vrayphysicalcamera/08_balls_dof_focus400.png (http://www.spot3d.com/vray/help/150SP1/images/examples/vrayphysicalcamera/08_balls_dof_focus400.png)

The further the objects are from the focal point the more blurred they are.

Very interesting.... I like it =)

[Cleitanious]

Any other games currently have this display option?

Most modern 3d games do. Many of them are also starting to include "Ambient Occlusion" which is an object blocking a light souce will have that reflected on the edges of that object. Turbine actually had that feature in LOTRO long before I've seen it anywhere else. Therefor, we know Turbine's graphical engine techs are awesome.

DoF Isn't easy, or simple, but it is really cool. I would love to see it in LOTRO and DDO too. Though, first they should IMO put Ambient Occlusion in DDO since they already have mastered that.

[Wyllie]

Well DOF can be a pain to implement but I believe it is part of the DX10SDK. The nicest thing about DOF is that you can set models and textures of out of focus items to be very low poly count/resolution.

I think Ambient Occlusion is something that is part of nVidia's drivers. You should be able to force it on in the driver I think... again I could be wrong.

Ambient Occlusion:
http://img.techpowerup.org/090402/Capture453.png

Going to Post another thread for this feature to be added too!

[MrCow]

The nicest thing about DOF is that you can set models and textures of out of focus items to be very low poly count/resolution.

This is already in DDO. I can attest that when I started playing DDO and I had much lower graphical settings that it was very easy to see that an ogre was in low polygon model when he was 20+ feet away from me compared to the moderate polygon model when he was up close.

[Wyllie]

This is already in DDO. I can attest that when I started playing DDO and I had much lower graphical settings that it was very easy to see that an ogre was in low polygon model when he was 20+ feet away from me compared to the moderate polygon model when he was up close.

You are right as LOD0, LOD1, LOD2 exists in game and there is definately a difference in ploy count from LOD0 -> LOD2. But with the blurring you could make LOD2 even less polys and basically remove most of the texture resolution since the object would be pretty blurred out at that distance.

Basically instead of something like Good Model/Texture -> Bad Model/Texture you end up with Great Model/Texture -> Horrendous Model/Texture but with the blurring from DOF the Horrendous Model/Texture gets blurred and looks "correct" for the scene.

[Ryiah]

Well DOF can be a pain to implement but I believe it is part of the DX10SDK.
I wouldn't imagine so much a pain to implement as a possibly big drain on the video card seeing that its probably a multiple pass effect but then DDO already does multiple lighting passes. And there has been a sample in the DirectX SDK since at least version 9.

[Wyllie]

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k293/krikri7411/monkfight.jpg

[Cleitanious]

Pretty much.

But there would be more levels of blur than just one :p

[Yikesegads]

I dont understand all the "high end" graphic options that only add blurry, hazy, glowy looks to things.

Personally, I hate Depth of Field, Bloom, and similar HDR lighting effects. I didnt pay lots of money for a high end computer system to make my graphics look blurred and hazy.

Id rather their graphics team focus on improving the amount of terrain and polygon "pop in" that happens. The whole "make the building fewer polygons as soon as the player is X distance from it" Level of detail calculations... blah blah. Thats nice for low end machines. Many high end machines can handle it though. Nothing worse than the world looking like its made of legos that build things in real time as you get closer to them.

[BattleCircle]

I dont understand all the "high end" graphic options that only add blurry, hazy, glowy looks to things.

Personally, I hate Depth of Field, Bloom, and similar HDR lighting effects. I didnt pay lots of money for a high end computer system to make my graphics look blurred and hazy.

Id rather their graphics team focus on improving the amount of terrain and polygon "pop in" that happens. The whole "make the building fewer polygons as soon as the player is X distance from it" Level of detail calculations... blah blah. Thats nice for low end machines. Many high end machines can handle it though. Nothing worse than the world looking like its made of legos that build things in real time as you get closer to them.

I think you misunderstand what the op is talking about. He is asking for an out of focus kind of real life graphic. Think of it as I see what I am looking at, and I see other things in my peripheral vision, but they are slightly out of focus.

[Yikesegads]

No, i understand exactly with Depth of Field is.

I understand its an attempt to make things work like how your eyes focus on things in real life.

But when I see it on my screen, what I think is "Crisp, nice graphics on top of icky blurry graphics"

It feels like a very phony way to make something seem more 3d. At least to me.

Every game that uses it, I always turn it off.

Im not against games having it as an option that can be turned on or off. However, if its an element of "where do we want the devs to spend their time and effort on right now" id rather have that limited time and effort be spent on something else that id use, rather than something that id simply turn off.

[Cleitanious]

Meh, the devs already have ambient occlusion. I wonder why they haven't implemented it into DDO though, and since they use DX10 I'm sure they can include DoF as well.

[Wyllie]

Every game that uses it, I always turn it off.

What games use it that you have played? I can only think of a couple that possibly have it; it would be nice to know of more.

And I would suggest DOF as a toggled option. I personally love DOF and want to see it as an option in all my games.

BTW, I hate HDR and Bloom. Bloom to me looks like someone took a wet brush over a dry water color painting.


Pretty much. But there would be more levels of blur than just one :p

There are three levels of blur there. :P But yeah, it would be much more professionally done. :P

[Yikesegads]

What games use it that you have played? I can only think of a couple that possibly have it; it would be nice to know of more.


More than i can remember. A few that ive been playing recently however:

Fallout 3
Champions Online (i think CoH does too)
Riddikk: Dark athena (silly profanity filter)
Crysis

[Wyllie]

I'll have to give some of those a try... minus Champions. I did not notice DOF in Crysis; was it added in Warhead or something?