Computer generated graphics have come a long fucking way in the past 10 years, but this is just ludicrous.
Seriously, this is not video footage, these rocks were created in Unreal Engine; software that’s used to create video games. Look at these rocks. Fucking look at them.
The photorealistic work was created by graphic artist Rense de Boer, who worked as a technical art director for several years at DICE, the company that developed Battlefield. But gnarly war zones weren’t enough for him, he wanted to push the boundaries of real-time rendering and by dog he bloody did it.
Exploring the limitations of what’s currently possible, he says his focus is to “take another approach at how we create content for games to see how far we can take it.”
Using a process called photogrammetry, de Boer spent five days photographing the landscapes he wanted to create in Unreal Engine. Compiling the set of images from various angles is what gives the scene a sense of realistic depth, which took him several weeks to build.
“Plants and trees are built leaf by leaf, giving it depth that is needed to ensure realism and create a more believable world,” he said.
It took two of the best graphics cards currently available on the market (2x Geforce 1080 Tis) to produce the environment, both of which were provided by Nvidia. His next move is to create a demo of a Nordic forest with the same level of insane detail which can be explored in real time. Um, YES THANKS.
“The content that comes out of this will find its way back to merge and become a full game,” he said. He even reckons it could be available on Steam by the end of the year.
Video games are going to start looking incredibly fucking lifelike, folks.
Photo: YouTube / Rense de Boer.
