HL2 HDR / Lost Coast Preview

[Lazybones]

 http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2005/06/14/...overview/1.html

Not sure I like the over exposure element shown in some of the shots.. Might be as annoying as lens flairs when they where first introduced and over used.

One think I notice is how much the new lighting improves the look of water.. HL2 already has some of the best looking water, now it even looks better.

[Ustauk]

 That looks sweet.  It's interesting that they say it can run with existing x800/6800 hardware.  The 2 gb RAM recommendation was the steepest requirement.  Probably by the time x800s are considered low range cards, people will have that, though.  Remind me to get 2 gb of RAM on my next rig, I noticed Battlefield 2's already pushing 1 gb

[Mr. Analog]

 Looks good so far, though I wonder what specs Valve will finally settle on...

[Darren Dirt]

 

Of course, once Gordon walks through the door into the area outside, his eyes adjust again to the amount of light - the aperture narrows - and we can see where we are going again. Once all games employ HDR, there will be no going back: SDR titles look flat and lifeless in comparison.

No kidding! Amazing difference in the realism - actually a good excuse to keep promoting the hardware upgrade treadmill...  B) - some other samples on the official ILM site: http://www.openexr.com/samples.html


And I guess Far Cry fans may have already had a taste in the 1.3 patch, reviewed here.


PS: Anyone watched this "90 second movie circulating the 'net" yet?

[Darren Dirt]

The dynamic lighting in the new HL engine is cool. The technology itself is cool. There's a website with high-definition images that uses it, and especially this page made me go "wow, that is cool."



http://www.hdrimaps.com/images/gallery/terminator/index.html





also, found this article: "HDRI explained"







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