{"id":682,"date":"2011-03-17T14:40:33","date_gmt":"2011-03-17T18:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oztalay.com\/matt\/?p=682"},"modified":"2012-01-19T11:48:49","modified_gmt":"2012-01-19T16:48:49","slug":"gdc-2011-notes-art-direction-for-photoreal-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/gdc-2011-notes-art-direction-for-photoreal-games\/","title":{"rendered":"GDC 2011 Notes &#8211; Art Direction for Photoreal Games"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s really all about getting everything looking juuuuust right<\/p>\n<p>Photoreal is just as much an art direction decision as any other style, and there\u2019s a lot of room to play around in that<\/p>\n<p>Photoreal requires a lot of creativity, it\u2019s not easy, very difficult to achieve<\/p>\n<p>\u201ccinematic photoreal\u201d -&gt; beautiful and visually distinct images<\/p>\n<p>-Every film has its own unique look, and you can pick out a shot from films even if you have no contextual information at all<\/p>\n<p>Photoreal can be achieved through proper application and use of:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Textures<\/li>\n<li>Lighting<\/li>\n<li>Post Effects<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Art Director\u2019s Job<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Figure out what is most visually important<\/li>\n<li>Design a look for your game you can call your own<\/li>\n<li>Focus on the big-picture first, then start getting down to details<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Good visuals\/reference lead to a game that \u201clooks good!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Visuals support and enhance gameplay<\/p>\n<p>How are your art direction choices making the game more fun?<\/p>\n<p>Night doesn\u2019t have to be, and usually isn\u2019t, black<\/p>\n<p>Your eye is attracted to brightness and contrast<\/p>\n<p>Your goal is to create visual interest through:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A dynamic image<\/li>\n<li>Directing the eye with contrast or color<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Find great reference -&gt; photography (not pictures)<\/p>\n<p>Use reference daily, use it in reviews, use it in context, always have it up, look at it on-screen<\/p>\n<p>Quick-glance test to get the color and contrast looking right first<\/p>\n<p>Maybe make a photo-wipe tool to view reference and game side-by-side<\/p>\n<p>Textures<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Higher texture resolution doesn\u2019t not mean photoreal<\/li>\n<li>Get these right FIRST<\/li>\n<li>Use a MacBeth Munsell Color Chart to color-correct your photoreference and phototextures<\/li>\n<li>Best light to take textures is on an overcast dry day with a fixed White Balance on your camera<\/li>\n<li>Pair your MacBeth with the digital version (have a digital version in your engine, too!)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>1. Shoot in RAW on an overcast, dry day w\/ camera set to sRGB<\/p>\n<p>2. Shoot your MacBeth for EACH texture, or lock down your settings<\/p>\n<p>Light changes every time you move the camera, depending on your angle to sun etc.<\/p>\n<p>3. Lock exposure settings<\/p>\n<p>4. Bring into bridge and click White Balance Tool<\/p>\n<p>Make sure curves are set to linear<br \/>\nExposure slider a lot until your numbers line up with the digital macbeth<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Resources &#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Chromoholics<\/p>\n<p>Save areas of base image and adjusted to see difference<\/p>\n<p>Goal-&gt; In unlit mode your scene looks like a really realistic overcast day<\/p>\n<p>Lighting<\/p>\n<p>Bring your color chart into your game, make sure that\u2019s lined up correctly<\/p>\n<p>Use grey diagnostic spheres to make sure your lighting is looking right<\/p>\n<p>Filmic tone mapping!<\/p>\n<p>Ambient lighting should match sky, sky not always blue<\/p>\n<p>Shadows should reflect the sky<\/p>\n<p>Avoid flatly-lit areas<\/p>\n<p>-Bounce and AO help define the shape<\/p>\n<p>Need darks and lights, but don\u2019t have to go to full extent with JUST lighting, you\u2019ll push them out with post effects<\/p>\n<p>Contact shadows sell the world<\/p>\n<p>Post Effects<\/p>\n<p>Atmosphere color and horizon color<\/p>\n<p>Color Grading Lookup Tables<\/p>\n<p>-Can use multiple to define different areas<\/p>\n<p>-Treat a base LUT in photoshop, apply those treatments to color strip, plug in that LUT<\/p>\n<p>What techniques do films use, and how can they be applied to games?<\/p>\n<p>-Bleach Bypass<\/p>\n<p>Squint-test -&gt; Do you know what you\u2019re looking at?<\/p>\n<p>Desaturate Scene Test -&gt; Are you maximizing your value range?<\/p>\n<p>Use Histograms to check your scene<\/p>\n<p>Do the basics REALLY well<\/p>\n<p>Have a clear visual direction<\/p>\n<p>Does the art make the game more fun?<\/p>\n<p>-Get textures right<\/p>\n<p>-Linear lighting and filmic toning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s really all about getting everything looking juuuuust right Photoreal is just as much an art direction decision as any other style, and there\u2019s a lot of room to play around in that Photoreal requires a lot of creativity, it\u2019s not easy, very difficult to achieve \u201ccinematic photoreal\u201d -&gt; beautiful and visually distinct images -Every [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[187,186,72,180,182],"class_list":["post-682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays-and-opinions","tag-art","tag-art-direction","tag-gdc","tag-gdc-2011","tag-notes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":926,"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682\/revisions\/926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oztalay.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}