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Digital Foundry: Anthem technical breakdown
- Thread starter Theorry
- Start date
It isn't native 4k but it use the checkboard rendering to reach this goal, it use lower res sample to reconstruct the 4k output.
Zombegoast
Member
I hate the use of the word "Pre Alpha"
Darksiders 3 look like it's in Pre Alpha meanwhile Anthem looks like it's ready to release this fall.
My game during Pre Alpha was just a white cube stretched out to put more white cubes to create a level.
I can't get excited anymore for E3 because it's the same BS with everyone.
Darksiders 3 look like it's in Pre Alpha meanwhile Anthem looks like it's ready to release this fall.
My game during Pre Alpha was just a white cube stretched out to put more white cubes to create a level.
I can't get excited anymore for E3 because it's the same BS with everyone.
Looks really nice but I'm convinced it'll be able to drag me away from Destiny 2, I think I'm probably too far into that to start again in a new world. Who knows, though.
What the hell is it with all the hate that DF gets for giving us information concerning an early version of a game on upcoming hardware?
They're being open about what they're doing, they're not presenting it as a completed game on a released console and a lot of people really want more information about this stuff. Even the thread title gives it away, you know what it's going to be before you even read the thread.
It wasn't so long ago that Microsoft asked DF to talk about the unreleased hardware. Microsoft want it, DF want it and a lot of potential customers also want it. If it was wrong, if nobody wanted it, it simply wouldn't be happening.
What the hell is it with all the hate that DF gets for giving us information concerning an early version of a game on upcoming hardware?
They're being open about what they're doing, they're not presenting it as a completed game on a released console and a lot of people really want more information about this stuff. Even the thread title gives it away, you know what it's going to be before you even read the thread.
It wasn't so long ago that Microsoft asked DF to talk about the unreleased hardware. Microsoft want it, DF want it and a lot of potential customers also want it. If it was wrong, if nobody wanted it, it simply wouldn't be happening.
SEGAvangelist
Member
I think you're the only one who called it "uprendering."
Caayn
Member
When using checkerboard rendering it renders half the pixels in the frame based on new data. The value of the other half is determined based on the already rendered pixels and data from the previous frames.
So if it uses checkerboard rendering at 4K. 4.15m of the ~8.3m pixels are brand new pixels while the other 4.15m pixels are "recycled" and updated. The result is an image with ~8.3m unique pixels but not all of them are created equally.
It's amazing how stubborn he is. It's best to ignore him. He's already been banned a few times for his antics.
Is there going to be a thread you don't post this in?
Someone is upset, haha.
That "demo" looked ridiculous, I figured it was just a "target" running on PCs. Maybe....maybe not.
Reckheim
Member
It was very obvious based on the specs the console wouldn't be doing native 4k on some games.
Was actually surprised Phil kept bringing up 'real 4k' during the conference.
BritBloke916
Member
Checkerboard rendering can be explained by these simple words: crazy graphics magic wrought by genius wizards.
BigTnaples
Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Can't wait to watch this.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Or if you need a more in depth breakdown of how it works, you can always go to this amazing topic:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1330505&highlight=
it's rendering half the res in a checkerboard pattern (think the black squares of a chessboard) while the "white squares" are being generated using the previous frame or 2 of data. the output in terms of pixels is still 4k. but the native render per frame is only half of that. it's very impressive stuff. at least that's my understanding of it.
Reineldinho
Member
Thanks for the clarification. Whatever is uses, If the maintain the level of detail upon release, it's going to be (already is) a real looker regardless
LukasTaves
Member
Actually running on xbonex gives me hope the final version looks closer to the demo than Ubisoft's demos for instance, as they were shown with gpus more powerful than the console at the time.
GHG
Gold Member
The Frostbite engine tends to scale well so it will probably end up looking great on all platforms.
The opening cutscene looks to be of higher visual quality than the rest of the demo, primarily in terms of lighting (most apparent when you compare it to the cutscene where your character is walking out and looking at the wilderness just before gameplay).
Maybe that cutscene is using superior assets or perhaps even it's pre rendered (seeing how its first person so doesn't really needs to show the custom player character)?
Maybe that cutscene is using superior assets or perhaps even it's pre rendered (seeing how its first person so doesn't really needs to show the custom player character)?
Exploratory
Banned
I'm guessing the hub world is a lot easier to render than the open world.
Well in the end that's what Checkerboard Rendering , Sparse Rendering , Temporal Injection & so on is.
josecitoxnyo
Member
People will demonize checkerboarding because of stuff like Phil is saying when in reality is a brillant technique to get the most out of the resources available.
Even on a PC i would take it over native 4K.
Complete nonsense ! And yet you'll find comments like these in every new unreleased game DF analyses. Digitalfoundry is primarily a tech department, comparison is part of it but it's not the only reason they exist.
There is absolutely NOTHING wrong in looking and analysing footage of a new game, discerning its tech and then when the final game eventually comes out compare it to the original showcasing while using the original analysis as a base. For people who are interested in tech it serves as a nice reference point t while talking about game graphics and tech.
There is absolutely no reason why they shouldn't be doing this.
LukasTaves
Member
Watched the video.
WOW, not only it's likely it's running on xbonex, it's high end PC settings with little console caveats (Checkerboard, texture streaming, screen space reflections not reflecting particles, motion blur, etc)
WOW, not only it's likely it's running on xbonex, it's high end PC settings with little console caveats (Checkerboard, texture streaming, screen space reflections not reflecting particles, motion blur, etc)
mejin
Member
People are calling out Jim Ryan for the same motives and they're right: those two are full of BS.
wesleyshark
Banned
Yeah but sometimes what you find out is that the game demo is actually running on a PC with comparable specs (like Metro was). For Anthem, it's actually on the One X.
BatSu
Member
OK. Because they do not analyze FORZA 7? Why is it too beautiful?
LukasTaves
Member
It's also curious how "bad" CB is in this game.
On AC Origins they said that most edges actually came up as native, and they had to look in fast moving objects to see any artifacts. On Anthem even with the camera practically stopped you could see way more artifacts going on when they zoomed in.
On AC Origins they said that most edges actually came up as native, and they had to look in fast moving objects to see any artifacts. On Anthem even with the camera practically stopped you could see way more artifacts going on when they zoomed in.
Dee Dah Dave
Member
I don't know why fanboys are laughing at Scorpio using checkerboarding, because that just leaves even more room in the tank to increase graphics further than PS Pro. So if you consider this some stupid competition then you still 'lose' either way lmao.
Yes it's not odd for cutscenes to use higher quality assets. And most games have playable areas that are less complex to render and as such should the developers choose they could use higher quality effects in those areas. Some games do it by turning on certain effects and such not found elsewhere. But it usually does not affect the lighting itself nor does it lead to everything in an entire playable area look to be of higher quality than the rest of the game as it messes up the consistency of the game. There are some games that do manage it still though,like the house in UC4 that uses high quality ore baked lighting or the interiors in AC:Unity that look a lot better than outside.
Whatever it is, there is a difference between the quality in that opening cutscene and the rest of the demo. We'll find out exactly why once we see more of the game.
Skyline Owl
Neo Member
Awesome. That demo looked amazing, graphically.
rokkerkory
Member
Awesome stuff. No wonder it looked soooo good.
if anything this is showing some level of parity is in effect. but that was pretty clear to begin with. no developer in their right mind is going to put a ton of time and money into an xbox x version (or pro version for that matter) when their entire userbase is but a fraction of that of their base unit owners.
They can't do every game at the same time, they aren't a massive team and the type of work they do takes a lot of time.
This is no different to what it was like with the PS4 Pro, they covered what they could, when they could and listened to subscribers feedback about which other games they wanted them to cover.
There have been thousands of games shown at E3 and the show is still running, there's no way that they could every single game on every single machine. Anthem was a brand new game and I would think a game that many people are really wanting to hear about and it was also a game that Microsoft used to demonstrate the power of Scorpio, so it seems like an ideal game for them to cover.
Just because you haven't seen it yet doesn't mean they aren't working on it or plan to work on it. DF team is made up of like 5 people and only one of them is visiting E3 and is capable of getting the footage needed for analysis. It has been like 4 days since all these games were revealed. It takes time to do these things.
Anthem is a brand new IP and Forza has already been touched upon by DF in the past. So they prioritised Anthem before doing the Forza 7 analysis.
I think it's also very important that in hub-world artists have more time polish the visuals, than craft visuals for square-miles of space.
Maximilian Kolbe
Member
Wonder will that means 1800p checkboard on PS4 pro, since that's the case in ME:A.
Yes that's definitely true as well. I'm more curious about the differences in lighting though.
Dee Dah Dave
Member
We won't know anything for real until the thing is out on the market and DF are doing their comparisons. Even then like always new consoles never get pushed to the max in the first year.
But all this 4K, True 4K and dynamic stuff isn't much worth listening to from PR people. They aren't going to be giving the exact implementation in their quick soundbites. I mean even yesterday Mark Cerny was saying GT is 4K on Pro. Should we call for his beheading too because it's not entirely accurate? No, of course not. Let Digital Foundry and others sort out the fine details.
BatSu
Member
I not agree. Because no start the analysis by Forza 7, for they know that 4k is real? I guess
I figured this was 2160c, especially since the technology is already integrated in the engine. Looks great and still impressed as hell with it. Noticed the ground details popping in when looking over high quality footage. I imagine they assume most won't notice when moving in high speeds or while flying.
Interested to see how the other systems stack up.
If I were to guess the spin on this, the real 4K talk likely points to the possibility of current gen AAA games possibly hitting 4K. We haven't seen that on the Pro yet, have we?
Interested to see how the other systems stack up.
If I were to guess the spin on this, the real 4K talk likely points to the possibility of current gen AAA games possibly hitting 4K. We haven't seen that on the Pro yet, have we?
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
That would be a safe bet, hoping they optimize Frostbite on Pro some more and get it lined up to 2160cc as well.
The DF video mentioned dynamic resolution scaling here as well, like Origins, that the dev mentioned dynamic scaling but they didn't notice much in the demo. Maybe the dynamic scaling will be used more for the Pro version.
Either way, this was easily the graphical showcase of E3. Here's hoping the final version is just as, or even more, polished.
considering the issues seen in ME Andromeda in general, i think biowares A team could end up pushing full 2160 checkerboarding ala horizon/days gone for this game. but who knows. my main worry is how early it has been announced. it's all impressive looking now, but the same thing was said about division and by the time it released it looked kinda standard. i have a feeling the same will be true with this.