• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Epic’s stunning new Unreal demos show off high-end ray tracing and photorealism

GoldenEye98

posts news as their odd job
https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/20/...ngine-demo-troll-rebirth-ray-tracing-gdc-2019

At its annual GDC showcase for the widely used Unreal Engine, Epic Games revealed a pair of gorgeous demos featuring a haunting future and an eerie fantasy realm. For developers, the two shorts demonstrate various new possibilities for the engine, but they also stand alone as beautiful — albeit brief — pieces of work.

The first, called Rebirth (embedded above), was designed by studio Quixel as an example of photorealism. It depicts a harsh terrain at an indeterminate point in the future, with eye-catching landscapes full of jagged rocks and dusty fields. The clip slowly leads to a huge, angular structure jutting out of a hill with a flying car speeding toward it. At times, the incredibly detailed video could be mistaken for a live-action movie. Even more impressive, Epic says that only three artists worked on the short, using an unmodified version of Unreal.

Later on in the keynote, we caught a glimpse of Troll. It’s actually a teaser for a full movie created in collaboration between Goodbye Kansas Studios and Deep Forest Films, but even the quick look on display was impressive. The trailer shows a woman — played by Tomb Raider star Alicia Vikander — by a pond dealing with some playful fairies. When the sprites make off with her crown, an unseen being growls in the distance, hinting at a darker story. Epic used the trailer as an example of the power of Unreal’s new ray-tracing tools. Troll has been in development for a few months, according to its creators, though there’s no word on when the full version will debut.



 

Shin

Banned
I expect this to be demo'd at PS5's reveal, just like they did with PS4/Pro...getting the first demo in.
 
First one is very impressive. Troll looks about expected for a tech demo.

Things is, uncanny valley is a very difficult problem for simulating humans whether it's in body features or animation/movement.
 

Shin

Banned
So useless then? Why do you want them to use a demo to set unrealistic expectations?
I'm just a random forum poster, perhaps your question(s) should be directed to the companies/individuals making and displaying them as to their intended purpose.
While at it kindly inform them as to how displeased you are and that they are wasting your precious time.
 

shark sandwich

tenuously links anime, pedophile and incels
Remember that the Unreal Engine 3 tech demo used assets from Gears of War. Wonder if either of these are from games in development....
 
Looks realistic superficially of course. But where is the advancement under the hood i.e physics? Still stuck in year 2000 in most aspects.

Like if you crashed that speeder into the building, fuck all would happen to the building. Next gen gaming won't arrive until Epic realises next gen realism is not just chasing photo realism down a rabbit hole.
 
Last edited:

Thanati

Member
blah blah blah tech demo. Show me gameplay that looks like this and i'll be impressed. Really sick of being lied to. If I wanna watch great cinematics, i'll pull up an old Final Fantasy movie.

Why is this a lie? It's showing the capabilities of the engine.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Screenshots of the Blade Runner\Death Stranding demo

c8e62b5c-5a53-40ae-9a07-a2d3a2982afd-original.png

d2edefd2-f031-4d6d-96ca-495ff575eecc-original.png

e1c99486-5e1b-444d-a1e9-f689ed0b9587-original.png
 

Stuart360

Member
Holy smokes. That Rebirth demo honestly looks real in places. We really are getting close to movie level cgi but in real time.
 

MadAnon

Member
blah blah blah tech demo. Show me gameplay that looks like this and i'll be impressed. Really sick of being lied to. If I wanna watch great cinematics, i'll pull up an old Final Fantasy movie.
So much this. It's a prerendered cinematic clip. Nothing more. When they run this stuff real-time in-game on affordable hardware, I will be impressed.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Who cares if it never makes it into the gameplay at this kind of quality. I just don't wanna be teased and let down anymore.

This is what their demo UE4 demo from 2013 looked like.

1b368da6-de2d-423c-9f76-3ee4910f1529-original.png

ad3ee018-c7ac-468e-bb2f-3f84b9dd1a4e-original.png

28b21626-e917-433b-9808-9aeaa8d59a20-original.png


And you can watch it here.





Do you think any Xbox One X and PS4 games have this quality now that you can think of? Any games over the last 5 years?
 

LMJ

Member
M MadAnon , Most of the time when unreal reveals a demo it is real time...

They proved that earlier this generation in the Good Samaritan demo when they zoomed in and out, and showed off different lighting effects things along that nature...there's a difference between real time and gameplay
 

MadAnon

Member
Looks realistic superficially of course. But where is the advancement under the hood i.e physics? Still stuck in year 2000 in most aspects.

Like if you crashed that speeder into the building, fuck all would happen to the building. Next gen gaming won't arrive until Epic realises next gen realism is not just chasing photo realism down a rabbit hole.
To have realistic physics, polygon models will not work. You need to imitate reality - objects made out of particles. Like advanced fluid physics are being made.
 
Last edited:

Orta

Banned
We're probably at least two gens away from these kind of graphics being generated in realtime in GTA8 or whatever?

First one was very impressive. Second wasn't as eye-catching.
 
Last edited:

lukilladog

Member
Cool, more demos. But it has been 10 years since the Rubi cinematic demo, still waiting for that level of graphics.
 

A.Romero

Member
It's a demo to showcase the capabilities of the engine (lightning solutions, post processing, etc) not the capabilities of current or future platforms.

This is intended to seduce developers, not gamers.

Just a clarification so the disappointment stops.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
It's a demo to showcase the capabilities of the engine (lightning solutions, post processing, etc) not the capabilities of current or future platforms.

This is intended to seduce developers, not gamers.

Just a clarification so the disappointment stops.

Yeah, but their showcases typically look like the next generation's games eventually.
 
Wow, that first demo was amazing! So, this "high-end" ray tracing? Is there really such a thing or is it just ray tracing, with high-end attached to it? Also, does this mean that the ray tracing done today, like Battlefield 5, is not "true" ray tracing? I could have sworn that I've read that somewhere, it's not actual ray tracing, it's an approximation. Please let me know if I am completely off here, thank you!
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
I have yet to see a game that comes close to their tech demos.

There are definitely games this gen that equal the quality of the "Elemental" Demo.

You don't think any game looks like this now?

28b21626-e917-433b-9808-9aeaa8d59a20-original.png
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom