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[SystemBug]

You'll be alright.

calling other people "dumb people art leads" and then telling them to take art classes after that?

how about you take a class in not being an asshole?

 

[EatChildren]

calling other people "dumb people art leads" and then telling them to take art classes after that?

how about you take a class in not being an asshole?

My hyperbole regardless of how assholish shouldn't be taken too seriously.

The defence of implemented chromatic aberration in video games from reputed artists/designed does not constitute as an objective, bettered understanding of how right or wrong it is. So rather than rant assholishly, I'll elaborate further.

As far as I'm aware, chromatic aberration is an imperfection of imagery captured by lens, and is frequently emulated in cinema either unintentionally, for stylistic reasons, or in the case of a lot of CGI to give the impression of realism as imperfections and oddities in CGI (including the uncanny valley) are hidden behind "mistakes" we've come to identify with lens shot footage.

This does not make the same philosophy directly applicable to video games where numerous other factors need to be considered, including the psychobiology behind perceiving 3D imagery that is also interactive and the potential blurriness/loss of clarity and therefore frustration it introduces. CA also wrestles with the limitations of real time 3D rendering, especially resolution and aliasing limitations. A CGI film has to deal with none of this; every frame can and is rendered with an incredible clarity and resolution often with subtle CA that come together for a sharp, believable image. Video games, on the other hand, are (on consoles) often limited to a petty 1280x720 native rendering resolution combined with aliasing issues and more. Application of CA in these instances, even at native 1920x1080, is often in the extremes, exaggerated, and visually disorientating when combined with aliasing and an erratic moving player character.

Does it benefit the image in terms of making it more believable? Sure. It, like for all 3D rendering, hides blemishes of 3D. But the effect is only as useful as it's acceptance; stylistically and convincingly to hide blemishes over visual disorientation and severe loss of image quality and sharpness. I personally feel that for an overwhelming majority of video games it is applied haphazardly in an attempt to emulate lens errors as seen in film, and it does not make a game more attractive of believable, but instead visually unpleasant and sometimes nauseating. Not just because of the image involved on a per frame basis, but because interactive 3D work and imagery does not appear to run the same psychology of perceiving that image as film. It's similar to the framerate debate; low frames are fine for a linear, controlled sequence of imagery like film, but becomes troublesome when an interactive peripheral is introduced and the imagery is varied and perspective often dictated by the player.

Ultimately the onus is on the artists to implement their effects and create their works. But if viewers of that art are saying "woah, what the fuck is this, why is it blurry, I hate this effect" they're not at fault or wrong. It's a direct, honest response to what the artist created. And for me while I'm yet to have a naturally negative response to CA in film, I frequently have an unintentionally negative response to CA in games. Not "fuck, this it has CA, and I hate CA!", but "this imagery is blurry, the IQ is terrible, the effect is disorientating, and I do not feel it is contributing positively to the atmosphere or presentation". ZombiU is one of the few games I didn't mind it, likely because of the often slow, sluggish player perspective and its thematically appropriate use.

There's my subjective, less assholish response to the CA-in-games debate.

 

[Dictator93]

I think it is important to mention how CA is directly tied into depth of field. Every game I have ever seen (perhaps not Black Desert though).. has the CA function be a separate full screen effect apart from DOF.

CA just doesnt cover the screen at all times in a radiating pattern from the center.. if it is there.. it is pretty much limited to out of focus area and the bokeh shape.

Even games like the order, which prides itself on camera emulation, doesn't seem to do this and CA can be found in the entire image instead of being localized to the out of focus areas.

 

[Nemmy]

I actually prefer Fallout's unmodded look. The bright blue sky doesn't exactly fit with its postapocalyptic feel to me. I can see why some would enjoy it more with the mod.

I always disable motion blur whenever I get the option, as well as sometimes bloom - fortunately it's been a long time since I saw a game with a radioactive glow similar to Oblivion's or Witcher 2's. I can deal with film grain, though an on/off toggle is always welcome.

 

[AEREC]

Here's an example from Dying Light:

Looks like Pay Day to me.

 

[Ellis]

Bit of a bump.

I'm not a fan of most shitty looking bloom and camera effects ( chromatic aberration can fuck right off ), but I have found myself adding film grain to games that don't originally have it.

Sci-Fi horror games like Dead Space look fantastic with it, and It also helps a lot with the colour banding in a lot of older titles.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Bit of a bump.

I'm not a fan of most shitty looking bloom and camera effects ( chromatic aberration can fuck right off ), but I have found myself adding film grain to games that don't originally have it.

Sci-Fi horror games like Dead Space look fantastic with it, and It also helps a lot with the colour banding in a lot of older titles.

Play on a VGA monitor for the same affect.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

I turn off chromatic aberration in literally every game that allows it

 

[shark sandwich]

Have we had any games that used both piss filter + chromatic aberration? Has this unholy abomination been created yet?

Anyway it’s probably been mentioned, but Final Fantasy XIV flashback scenes have this weird effect where the screen glitches as if it were recorded on a VHS tape. Guess they didn’t know how to emphasize that it was in the past, but it looks kind of dumb IMO.

 

[Ellis]

Have we had any games that used both piss filter + chromatic aberration? Has this unholy abomination been created yet?

Deus Ex HR ?

 

[RedVIper]

Shitty AA that looks like vaseline, this has gone down quite a bit thankfully.
Extreme motion blur where it has no place existing, I think it should only be used to represent speed in racers for example, or per object, for example a fast moving arrow.
Everyone already said CA.
Blinding bloom.
Shitty filters.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

I friggin LOVE chromatic aberration.

For me it creates this subtle psychological effect that makes the game look more real, same with film grain, anything that creates a film or camera like effect enhances the realislism for me.

For example in For Honor, that castle map with the tight hallways, when you look up while running, the chromatic aberration makes it look like photo-realistic camera footage, it's stunning.

I understand I'm in the minority on liking chromatic aberration so much, I hope devs don't drop it completely, though there's nothing wrong with making it optional.

I also really, really, really love motion blur, in fact I'd say it's the best graphical effect ever introduced to games, I remember when I first saw it in footage of Perfect Dark Zero, I was blown away, later when I saw it first hand in Dead Rising I just couldn't get over how cool it was.

 

[Danjin44]

Overuse of motion blur.

 

[Geki-D]

same with film grain, anything that creates a film or camera like effect enhances the realislism for me.

I can't stand film grain. I'm not really seeing it in too many games these days and when I do, I can turn it off but that shit really pisses me off in movies. I get old movies actually shot on film, but TV shows (TWD comes to mind) and movies shot on digital that have had film grain added for no reason is just stupid. I don't have a 4K TV just to have a filter of crap put between me and seeing a clear picture.

 

[nkarafo]

Motion blur on top of the LCD motion blur.

Especially at 30fps the above is vomit inducing.

 

[shark sandwich]

Overuse of motion blur.

Jesus, this completely ruined the game for me. It was compounded by the fact that the camera controls on the R-stick went from zero to “nauseatingly fast” with the gentlest touch of the stick. Can’t believe they released it this way.

 

[mrMUR_96]

Okay so I have no idea what it is, but what effect does Dragon Age Inquisition have over everything, making it look shiny and weird bright dots on everything? Whatever that is, I hate it, really badly.

It's just poorly implemented pbr. It was the first implementation in frostbite which know has one of the best implementations imo.

 

[Sub_Level]

Depth of Field
Bloom
Motion Blur

3 things i always turn the fuck off.

 

[Chozofication_]

Chromatic aberration is literally bad enough to where I avoid games that have it. Except maybe where it shows up on screen when you get hit... and you're a robot. Like Nier

 

[rəddəM]

Although Spider-Man's motion blur is very good I still left it at minimum.
Uncharted 4 at motion blur at 1 vs 10 is a day and night difference. ND motion blur is garbage.
I always leave motion blur and film grain at 1 and disable chromatic aberration.

 

[WaveRider]

In order of unpleasantness:

Vignetting (Corner Shadows)
Extreme Motion Blur
Aggressive Depth of Field
Film Grain
Chromatic aberration
Bloom

I am not a fan of blurry images.

 

[mekes]

Chromatic Aberration in Bloodborne. The gothic style architecture in the game was gorgeous. Adding CA only took away from the wonderful work the artists had done.

 

[Hendrick's]

• Film grain
• Motion blur to compensate for shitty FR
• Lens flare
• Whatever that shit filter was in Deus Ex HR