How 3D Game Rendering Works: Lighting and Shadows

[Julio Franco]

The vast majority of visual effects you see in games today depend on the clever use of lighting and shadows -- without them, games would be dull and lifeless. In this fourth part of our deep look at 3D game rendering, we'll focus on what happens to a 3D world alongside processing vertices and applying textures. It once again involves a lot of math and a sound grasp of the fundamentals of optics.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/article/1998-how-to-3d-rendering-lighting-shadows/

 

[QuantumPhysics]

One thing I’ve noticed about games with RTX is that sometimes the shadows can help you by allowing you to know if someone is about to enter a room allowing you to set them up so you can kill them as they enter. This happens in Call of Duty all the time. My problem is that the action usually is taking place so fast that you don’t have a chance to appreciate the details.


A game like Splinter Cell or DOOM3 is better because the action is slower and it gives you a chance to appreciate the details or to actually analyze things like shadows

During the Nvidia conference releasing RTX cards I was underwhelmed by the belief that simply showing better reflections and transparency was enough to sell the cards.

No one spends their time in a video game staring down at the reflections of fire in puddles of water. Very few people spend time paying attention to glass transparencies.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t games that can’t take advantage of it.

I just feel that current shadow technology before RTX cards was already good enough that Ray tracing didn’t make that big of a difference. What we really wanted were cards powerful enough to run 4K or even 8K above 60 frames per second.

Not that it matters for most people, because the majority of gaming monitors are 1440 P or 1080 P.

The few 4K monitors that are designed for gaming or curved are extremely expensive.

 

[Burty117]

One thing I’ve noticed about games with RTX is that sometimes the shadows can help you by allowing you to know if someone is about to enter a room allowing you to set them up so you can kill them as they enter. This happens in Call of Duty all the time. My problem is that the action usually is taking place so fast that you don’t have a chance to appreciate the details.


A game like Splinter Cell or DOOM3 is better because the action is slower and it gives you a chance to appreciate the details or to actually analyze things like shadows

During the Nvidia conference releasing RTX cards I was underwhelmed by the belief that simply showing better reflections and transparency was enough to sell the cards.

No one spends their time in a video game staring down at the reflections of fire in puddles of water. Very few people spend time paying attention to glass transparencies.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t games that can’t take advantage of it.

I just feel that current shadow technology before RTX cards was already good enough that Ray tracing didn’t make that big of a difference. What we really wanted were cards powerful enough to run 4K or even 8K above 60 frames per second.

Not that it matters for most people, because the majority of gaming monitors are 1440 P or 1080 P.

The few 4K monitors that are designed for gaming or curved are extremely expensive.

I wish I could like your comment twice. Once because I actually agree with you, and again because you didn't mention your 2080Ti

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I wish I could like your comment twice. Once because I actually agree with you, and again because you didn't mention your 2080Ti

And now I will give you a LIKE for doing it for me.

 

[Lew Zealand]

In watching a few reviews of Control, I was under the impression that the ray tracing added actionable information in-game, instead of just making it look pretty. Hopefully developers will figure out more ways to incorporate ray tracing into gameplay elements.

 

[m3tavision]

One thing I’ve noticed about games with RTX is that sometimes the shadows can help you by allowing you to know if someone is about to enter a room allowing you to set them up so you can kill them as they enter. This happens in Call of Duty all the time. My problem is that the action usually is taking place so fast that you don’t have a chance to appreciate the details.


A game like Splinter Cell or DOOM3 is better because the action is slower and it gives you a chance to appreciate the details or to actually analyze things like shadows

During the Nvidia conference releasing RTX cards I was underwhelmed by the belief that simply showing better reflections and transparency was enough to sell the cards.

No one spends their time in a video game staring down at the reflections of fire in puddles of water. Very few people spend time paying attention to glass transparencies.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t games that can’t take advantage of it.

I just feel that current shadow technology before RTX cards was already good enough that Ray tracing didn’t make that big of a difference. What we really wanted were cards powerful enough to run 4K or even 8K above 60 frames per second.

Not that it matters for most people, because the majority of gaming monitors are 1440 P or 1080 P.

The few 4K monitors that are designed for gaming or curved are extremely expensive.

You mean DXR.... only 6 games have RTX.