bananafactory
Banned
Holy shit that perfect avatar quote
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Developers: STOP using Chromatic Aberration
- Thread starter Seanspeed
- Start date
Holy shit that perfect avatar quote
Truly offensive images. All of those games look like total garbage - it's like we're stuck in the PSX era. I'm shocked and appalled that this is what is classed as passable in this day and age. I don't know if the parents are to blame or it's the times we're living in, but enough it enough.
I think the OP is sad that their avatar has poor IQ
I agree. after seeing those images I lifted my head and filled my apartment with keening anguish.
QualityPixel
Banned
Developers: keep using CA in your games. When used in moderation it adds a nice look and feel to a game. For best example of this effect in use see Destiny.
Dictator93
Member
ichtyander
Member
I don't think it has anything to do with developers lagging behind the movie industry, nothing to that effect.
First person views have almost always been presented as cameras as opposed to simulating actual human sight. Why? Because it closely simulates a more film-like look and the various effects that indeed influence the clarity of the image make it look more like a real camera. It's more realistic in the sense that it simulates real camera effects and flaws. To me it's similar to using CRT shaders for emulating older systems. Yes, it brings the image closer to what it used to look like on the original systems but it also introduces distortions and reduces image clarity in a way.
Anybody who's saying that games should simulate actual human eyesight, have you actually ever played a game that's attempted to do that? As in showing what it really looks like when looking at the sun, showing afterimages, floaters, constant blinking, simulating snappy eye movements instead of continuously rotating the camera/head etc? I'm not saying it shouldn't be done, just that it has pretty much never been the goal.
Also, regarding the film industry, Holywood's been doing the same thing with wide lens flares and purposefuly using or simulating anamorphic lenses (X-Men: First Clas comes to mind) in recent years.
In general, modern western society is very much in a nostalgia retro-mode the last decade or so and it's kinda fashionable to use or imitate old hardware, sounds, fashion and art styles so I think that might have something to do with it.
In any case, I don't mind CA and even preffer it in some cases, but it really needs to be done well, just like any other effect really. For example, I enjoy it thematically in Alien: Isolation although it should probably be tweaked, but in Payday 2 it's definitely overdone.
First person views have almost always been presented as cameras as opposed to simulating actual human sight. Why? Because it closely simulates a more film-like look and the various effects that indeed influence the clarity of the image make it look more like a real camera. It's more realistic in the sense that it simulates real camera effects and flaws. To me it's similar to using CRT shaders for emulating older systems. Yes, it brings the image closer to what it used to look like on the original systems but it also introduces distortions and reduces image clarity in a way.
Anybody who's saying that games should simulate actual human eyesight, have you actually ever played a game that's attempted to do that? As in showing what it really looks like when looking at the sun, showing afterimages, floaters, constant blinking, simulating snappy eye movements instead of continuously rotating the camera/head etc? I'm not saying it shouldn't be done, just that it has pretty much never been the goal.
Also, regarding the film industry, Holywood's been doing the same thing with wide lens flares and purposefuly using or simulating anamorphic lenses (X-Men: First Clas comes to mind) in recent years.
In general, modern western society is very much in a nostalgia retro-mode the last decade or so and it's kinda fashionable to use or imitate old hardware, sounds, fashion and art styles so I think that might have something to do with it.
In any case, I don't mind CA and even preffer it in some cases, but it really needs to be done well, just like any other effect really. For example, I enjoy it thematically in Alien: Isolation although it should probably be tweaked, but in Payday 2 it's definitely overdone.
bananafactory
Banned
Alright, that's totally valid. I will say I hated the film grain in Mass Effect 1 and appreciated the option to turn it off so I can understand the desire for disabling CA, even though it doesn't bother me personally.
As others have said, options aren't a bad thing.
ashecitism
Member
ZombiU in 2012 was the first prominent title to heavily use it I think. Then yes, in the next year it slowly started to become a thing.
The sad truth is that it's on by default in CryEngine and UE4 and some devs probably forget to turn it off.
Try playing the game rather than looking at a screen and then see if you feel the same. You don't play static images.
This past half year, it's been an actual plague. Games I have not bought because of CA:
Dying Light
Bloodborne
Games I did buy but only stuck with because the story really interested me, while suffering the CA:
The Order
Life Is Strange
As a long time console owner, I'm starting to even consider going PC because then at least there are people hacking it out of games.
Dying Light
Bloodborne
Games I did buy but only stuck with because the story really interested me, while suffering the CA:
The Order
Life Is Strange
As a long time console owner, I'm starting to even consider going PC because then at least there are people hacking it out of games.
But it doesn't work since our brains correct the faults in real life but can easily notice when this stuff is off and weird. Your brain won't correct severe chromatic abberation where red, cyan or green or separated like in the example shots in this thread. Instead it will continually put strain on your eyes. The effect doesn't work as intended. Games that use it genuinely hurt my eyes and make them water. My brain is trying hard to correct the image and make it look sharp but it can't so the image is blurry and I can't focus.
SeanNoonan
Member
Well, damn. Never heard of this term before. I actually thought it was my tv or console getting old or something and never payed it any mind to it for that reason, now you're telling me this is an intended effect? Disgusting, terrible, criminy. They better stop this ugliness asap, terrible effect in whatever case.
Or maybe I should just be glad my stuff ain't broke >.<
IcyBlueStrawberry
Member
This is a fairly egregious example, but it does a good job of illustrating what we're talking about.
.jpg)
But it looks awkward and less clear from the examples I've seen.
Dictator93
Member
It is no longer on by default in the Cryengine EaaS. But UE4 definitely has it on by default.
Oh, hah. A wii U title... yeah, no wonder I forgot
Haha. Yea, The Order looks great.
I'd love to see what it looks like without CA still. A game can look good despite CA. But I wouldn't be averse to admitting that it may look alright in that game, either.
Solid Samus
Banned
Wait what the hell are you talking about? This is pretty new to games and people have noticed and noted the effect cropping up in games from moment 1. It's legit uncomfortable for many of us. Try playing a game that goes overboard on it (or maybe you are one of those people wondering why you can't see it on a phone screen or when its not full screen in which case I'm wasting my time). Dying Light actually gives me headaches at times. CA significantly impacts image quality objectively depending on its implementation and the size of your screen, whether or not you believe the effect to be good or bad. You don't get to hamdwave it away as a universally petty thing just because you hardly notice it with very little apparent meaningful exposure to it.
XOMTOR
Member
I've been a photographer since the mid 80s and the Alien Isolation image is terrible. In order to render that amount of CA, a lens would have to be seriously out of alignment, in other words defective. Even crap store brand lenses back in the day were not that bad.
Version 3.0
Member
Me, too. I can even "move" red and blue objects, especially lights, by moving my head around. There's a Firestone store near where I used to live, and at night, I could make it look, quite literally, like the sign is not lit, but has floating lights that say Firestone just above/below/beside the sign, depending on the angle I'm looking through my glasses.
Or, as another example, the Gmail app icon on my phone looks like this:
But if I look at it at an angle, it literally looks like this:
It's weird. That anyone would want to reproduce that shitty, vision-distorting effect in a video game blows my mind.
I have mentioned this before but this is a good time to repeat it. For those who play on projectors, particularly lcd or lcos, chromatic aberration is fucking annoying. I spend an hour or more aligning my red green and blue panels and making everything tight. I put in something like Bloodborne and I literally have to walk right up to my screen, switch sources, try a different game, check my lcd panel setting etc... fuck that shit.
The effect very closely mimics out of whack red green and blue panels. It's in so many damn games now that I find myself looking for it immediately so later I don't think my projector needs maintenance. Not to mention that when blown up to theater-like sizes, the effect makes everything look softer, which in turn makes me think, "why play games this big if the developer is gonna make them look like shit?"
With 1080p being so common now, home theater gaming is finally becoming a viable reality. Last gen was ok, but there were many sub 720p games that were generally shitty on such a large screen. Finally we're getting pixel for pixel sharpness and these image degrading effects are like taking 2 steps back.
The effect very closely mimics out of whack red green and blue panels. It's in so many damn games now that I find myself looking for it immediately so later I don't think my projector needs maintenance. Not to mention that when blown up to theater-like sizes, the effect makes everything look softer, which in turn makes me think, "why play games this big if the developer is gonna make them look like shit?"
With 1080p being so common now, home theater gaming is finally becoming a viable reality. Last gen was ok, but there were many sub 720p games that were generally shitty on such a large screen. Finally we're getting pixel for pixel sharpness and these image degrading effects are like taking 2 steps back.
Shivvy_NTL
Member
What is CA?
This is a fairly egregious example, but it does a good job of illustrating what we're talking about.
I'm on that wiki page too
. Top example is a high quality lens, the bottom is low quality lens.Ah, good to know.
I really, really hate the UE4 implementation so I hope that gets addressed.
This is an example of a game(Alien Isolation) where people say they like it. I don't get it, but you can see what the effect is and how it ruins clarity at least:
Agreed, I think it looks terrible in every game that uses it. Especially gross in Bloodborne though.
It's all about finding the balance. I have same stance with image noise. Even now I wonder why in the world did Bioware remove their noise filter from ME2 onwards.... (could it be too many were whining)? And in this regard, I am thankful to RAD for having it in TO1886.
Movies, another visual medium, emphasizes on various filters and noise effects to superimpose a visual theme or an identifier. Games need not mimic reality because they are inherently more; an artistic choice gives it an unique identity.
That said, CA has been used in heavy handed fashion at times to what feels like an attempt to distract from either shortcoming in IQ department or trying too hard to mimic reality when viewed through a spherical lens.
Movies, another visual medium, emphasizes on various filters and noise effects to superimpose a visual theme or an identifier. Games need not mimic reality because they are inherently more; an artistic choice gives it an unique identity.
That said, CA has been used in heavy handed fashion at times to what feels like an attempt to distract from either shortcoming in IQ department or trying too hard to mimic reality when viewed through a spherical lens.
OnionPowder
Member
You're serious?
Dictator93
Member
Much like the default bloom and fog settings last gen in UE3, I get the feeling tons of devs will forget to adjust it or turn it off.
Much sadness
Summer Haze
Banned
I agree. Devs can use that shit as much as they like, fucking smear that shit all over the entire screen and make it look like cheap 90s 3D...but please give us the option to turn it off.
blame space
Banned
this shit looks nextgen as fuck if anything i think it's not being used enough. hint hint NINTENDO..
infinit777
Member
I love it in some forms (Max Payne 3) but i dont really notice it in most games.
Gentleman Jack
Member
It's most obvious where a darker screen element lines up against a light screen element, like the edges of the shadows or the edge of the monitor screen in the Aliens screenshot.
adamantypants
Member
This is a fairly egregious example, but it does a good job of illustrating what we're talking about.
This. Once you start noticing it in games, you can't stop. At least for me. It's fucking terrible.
I've said this already, but it shimmers like mad when you turn the camera. All the beautiful distant Victorian detail flickers with bright unnatural colors as you try to examine your surroundings.
Is it bad that I don't actually see it in most of these screenshots? Wearing glasses has meant that I've been living with seeing CA everywhere for pretty much my entire life. I've learned to tune it out in everyday life so I think I just don't even notice it done in games unless it's really egregious.
I hated all that stuff in UT3, all the post processing really turned me off it.
Summer Haze
Banned
TyphoonStruggle
Member
Bloodborne is my first real run-in with chromatic aberration (I think). And god is it awful. It makes the game seem like a blurry mess.
Summer Haze
Banned
I think Titanfall did a good job implementing it also. It happens when an EMP grande goes off, to simulate the effect of electrical interference.
Cookie Dough
Member
CA sucks. OP is correct. Please stop using it. Ugh.
Some zoomed-in examples of CA:
GTA V
Lords of The Fallen
Bloodborne
Destiny
Oh god, this is gonna ruin so many games for me. Yeesh.
In real life our eyes and brain correct chromatic abberation because that exists in real life. However, chromatic abberation doesn't work in film, photography and games so much because most amplify the severity of it so our brains can't correct it. So this causes eye strain or headaches. This is why cinematographers and photographers will often try to remove it through post-processing or better more higher quality lenses.
That's the thing! Chromatic aberration is *usually* an unwanted effect and people pay top dollar for higher quality lenses to get rid of this effect.I'm on that wiki page too
Yet game developers are sitting here throwing this effect all over our games. Its nuts.
I can understand the odd game here or there using it, with a very specific art style in mind, but so many devs are using it now, and they are using it recklessly and with no moderation.
This is an example of a game(Alien Isolation) where people say they like it. I don't get it, but you can see what the effect is and how it ruins clarity at least:
Thanks for this. Im staring at it and trying to figure out why it would be used at all. For Alien, it is perfect to make it look like an old film or something. But Bloodbourne and other such games?
Looking at this image, i wonder it they are using it as a cheap alternative to AA??
Similar threads
- Locked