UE4 is great engine , the only thing where it falls short is dynamic moveable lights or Dynamic Global illumination
We know other engines can do this pretty nicely (Cryengine specially) and it seems to be mostly based around LPVs . So why won’t UE4 implement the same technique in UE4 as standard? The current state on LPV seems to be experimental.
Cryengine is giving out its source code now so why wont just copy the techniques and implement it in UE4 as suitable? They can copyright the source code but not the technique.
Or is there some other secret technique under process for dynamic GI in UE4?
1- You can’t just plug-in code from one Engine to another, for both Legal and Technical reasons.
2- CryEngines tech and lighting model is massively out of date. They also don’t use a Deferred renderer.
3- CryEngine ONLY has a SINGLE light bounce from ONE hard-coded light source (the sun). VXGI (nVidia’s Solution) and DFGI (Unreals Latest Solution), bounce from ALL lights, and DFGI is almost free
4- LPV is a horrible, leaky and poorly optimized unscalable technique for GI regardless of implementation. It has a very narrow range of uses. It did the job for a while, but technology has moved on.
5- CryEngine isn’t giving out it’s FULL source code, they give out part of it (don’t believe what you read on their website), and it’s still a jumbled mess.
Those console variable things never seem to work with my source built 4.6.1. There must be a wiki which is constantly updated with GI tweaks in each build
Had to chime in on this one…
DFGI only supports directional lights right now (aka what you get if you build Master in GitHub), but bounce from all light types is planned and it is certainly not almost free =) It’s high end PC atm, hopefully will be able to optimize it down to mid spec PC in the coming months. Static GI is always going to be cheaper than fully dynamic GI.
Ahhh my bad, I haven’t had a lot of to experiment with it yet… it was a long day
I disagree on both parts. Their water system is IIRC, pre-determined by their own artists. If you want to make changes or create your own, you’ll have to be a capable Shader programmer. I’ve managed to get ace looking water in UE4, it takes , and there have been loads of improvements to the engine since so I’ll probably have another go when I get . (I wanted to do a water pack like Adam from Epic has just done, but he beat me to it).
As for foliage, have you SEEN Koola’s work? His latest stuff isn’t even using pre-computed lighting.
Adam from EPIC made a very simple water system with Blueprints with some basic parameters, it’s good but the water doesn’t look realistic.
CryEngine’s water plane system offers you more parameters, buoyancy etc and it looks very realistic. Their foliage also looks very realistic, smooth foliage rendering.
A game engine should provide these things straight away, without having to read the bug list.
Don’t take me wrong, imo UE4 is better in many aspects but saying the obvious shouldn’t upset any fan.
Foliage problems are fixed in 4.7. Now nothing stops you from creating nice foliage.
Well, it’s only your opinion. I don’t think that game engine should provide one particular asset of AAA quality. Why water, why not clouds, fire and realistic character with customizable appearance? Where is the line?
Anyway, I completely agreed with DarthViper - it’s all about assets(After new foliage shading model in 4.7, of course). As example:
The difference is CryEngine is heavily geared to creating a certain type of environment (i.e. large, outdoor spaces) and has several of these features hard-coded into the engine. It’s possible to change some of them, but it’s pretty awkward and inflexible. Don’t like the ocean shader? Too bad, unless you want to start editing the shader yourself. Want to render interior spaces? The lighting engine will make that pretty awkward.
Epic’s approach is to present artists with the right tools to customise visuals their liking. That flexibility comes with the trade-off that you’ll have to do more work yourself, just like any good game engine.
@TheJamsh, I think you step a bit to much over moderator status. Trying to hit in that way a direct competitor does not make you better or professional. Especially when your arguments are only hate. We did not lost all the sense of reality.
I disagree. We talk about 2 different things. One use dynamic GI one use lightmaps. Of course assets play an important role. But when comes to lighing, we have 2 total different things.
As said, DFGI is under heavy dev. And will probable come in next few months. So far I see this more like an experiment, and not a working solution.
Based on this, I totally understand OP request. On the other side, to be honest, when you start to have a level, baking light maps over and over and waiting for this becomes really annoying.
We are close to 1 year of UE4 (wow fly), and a lot of peoples asked for dynamic GI since the beginning.
That’s for sure! I was talking about foliage and water system with Errvald, not about GI implementation ^^
I’m the person who started two big request threads back in times - foliage and GI
And I won’t deny that absence of dynamic GI is a bummer, it is an important feature that I personally want to see. It’s stupid to say you can overcome absence of GI with good assets
Well, it’s how thing goes. You can’t create working solution as quick as thought!
