This work was featured on Unreal Engine's GDC sizzle video as "Photogrammetry", but I've only just now found out where it came from. The creator, Rense de Boer, goes by the consistent online branding of Art by Rens. He worked at DICE from 2011 through 2014, working on the Battlefield franchise, and now he seems to be doing his own thing.
The environment work is stunning. The snow, slightly thawed and refrozen, covers the rocks and leaves in a way that looks absolutely real. Some of the rocks look partially moss-covered, with the plant seemingly breaking it down, and coming up through the cracks. There's only so many ways that I can describe it, but it's definitely worth a look. He targets four Titan-class video cards, but he's aiming for 4K.
He hasn't announced any product yet, so we're not really sure why he's doing it. He did receive a grant from Epic Games, though. I'm not sure exactly how much, just that $500,000 USD was split 30 ways, but not uniformly (some received more than others).
You are kidding
You are kidding
About what? That it’s
About what? That it's rendered?
Yeah. This video is just
Yeah. This video is just !!!WOW!!!
He might be doing it to get a
He might be doing it to get a job in the Arch Viz space, or the Game space, or as a hobby.
LIDAR + Camera = awesomeness.
LIDAR + Camera = awesomeness. Now show me a foot walking through those leaves in real time and we can be really impressed…
This is FUCKING. AMAZING.
This is FUCKING. AMAZING.
Gaming requires this to be
Gaming requires this to be merged (i.e. overlayed) with OTHER technologies because it’s pre-rendered imagery.
However, when implemented properly it is truly amazing for a fraction of the cost of what game developers thought would be possible in 2016.
Merging this with dynamic lighting is a bit problematic, because the pre-rendered shadows (3D image of the real world) won’t change. Workarounds such as shooting at high noon to minimize shadows then overlaying your own might be one solution but I’m no expert.
Still, it does look truly awesome and there’s lots of scenarios it’s useful for.
Wow, if I didn’t know it was
Wow, if I didn’t know it was CG, I would probably think it WAS real. There seemed to be a few issues with the way stuff is calculated to be in focus or not that didn’t seem natural, but really really good overall!