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Developers: STOP using Chromatic Aberration
- Thread starter Seanspeed
- Start date
Dictator93
Member
Devs still apply it to the whole image (which means the camera lens is extra shit-tastic) instead of localizing it to how the game's depth of field works.
Kinda sad that they do not know how to mimic the cameras they actually love mimicking so much.
Kinda sad that they do not know how to mimic the cameras they actually love mimicking so much.
PulseONE
Member
I believe so, but that entire game was designed with the aesthetic of being filmed from a handheld camera, so it worked
CaptainLoveline
Member
I'll never understand why this is such a big deal. If anything devs need to stop using lens flares and dirt filters, y'know... things that are actually obtrusive of the damn screen.
Sanctuary
Member
I never said that it did, but it does somewhat smear the "jaggies", along with the rest of the picture. I also never said this is factually why CA is used, but simply stating "artistic choice" can't be the only reason, especially because of how poorly it's usually implemented. Unless all of these developers simultaneously had a major acuity loss.
Rising_Hei
Member
So basically, CA's is 2015's motion blur.
In last generation many games had atrocious amounts of blur to hide jaggies and low res :/
In last generation many games had atrocious amounts of blur to hide jaggies and low res :/
Not even close. Thanks for trying.
king grimlock
Member
But be prepared to get blasted when you do something that makes no sense.
Motion blur has more of a practical use due to how it can blend frame movement to smooth out animation. CA is purely an artistic choice.
Cranberrys
Member
I love it too. I don't like when a game looks too realistic, I love flashy colors and effetcts like that.
Blue and Orange is done because it's the most contrasting colour set. That doesn't remotely make it the "best" (though perhaps the most widely applicable), but it's so widely overused in every situation because it's the easiest way to make aesthetically pleasing colour contrasts with minimal effort.
The feel of bad eyesight.
Probably not. Firstly, not every dev is excited about VR. Secondly, chromatic aberration belongs to a set of effects that are caused by lensing imperfections that you don't get with a human eye. Games with CA are simulating a camera being in the game, but VR is usually to simulate a person being in the game.
For more reading, here's an article by a professional photographer who's also a rendering engineer at Ubisoft: http://bartwronski.com/2015/03/09/anamorphic-lens-flares-and-visual-effects/
I should've added a /s. Interesting article though.
DaciaJC
Gold Member
But chromatic aberration has the effect of seemingly blurring the image ...
Zombegoast
Member
CA is the next lens flare. It impedes gameplay by making the image blurry. TV shows don't do this and neither do movies.
Yeah, they do. Maybe not to the same extent, but it's definitely there.
It's a SSAO implementation done in a low resolution buffer which is then upscaled to final framebuffer without proper bilateral upscaling.Is chromatic aberattion the cause of the bright-colored outline around weapons hanging over Bloodborne's weapon workshop? (disclaimer - not my picture)
Whatever it is, it's a hideous effect that I wish was removed. This picture doesn't even show the effect at its worst....
I am wondering if it is sometimes used as a sort of cheap antialiasing as it blurs the image.
Anyway I prefer my image crisp too ... no CA, no motion blur (high framerates please ! Super Mario Bros ran at 60fps), no film noise, etc. except in some very specific contexts like people mentionned earlier in the thead: security cameras, flashbacks, time-rewind. Super Time Force comes to mind, that is an example of a game feature (time rewind) actually feeling better thanks to special effects.
Anyway I prefer my image crisp too ... no CA, no motion blur (high framerates please ! Super Mario Bros ran at 60fps), no film noise, etc. except in some very specific contexts like people mentionned earlier in the thead: security cameras, flashbacks, time-rewind. Super Time Force comes to mind, that is an example of a game feature (time rewind) actually feeling better thanks to special effects.
ShadowSoldier89
Member
want to bump this because holy fuck this effect is awful. I started playing life is strange last night and noticed it instantly. Quick google search led me to a config file where I was able to turn it off, so I took some comparison screenshots.
I can barely tell the difference.
You're joking. Look away from the center of the image.
I also have been running this tweak for the last few episodes. It's a massive improvement.
Put the pictures in full screen and look at the borders of the two pictures. You can't tell me you don't see it.
CA is fine in some games like Alien or such, but seems like everything needs to have CA and sometimes it just makes the image looks unnecesary blurry. It's annoying when a have has CA for no damn reason.
For example, Dark Souls 3 looks way more cleaner than Bloodborne thanks to no CA.
ShadowSoldier89
Member
you just gave me hope for the inevitable bloodborne 2
I don't know much about CA, but I assume it basically means being more blurry? I do prefer the second screenshot. Looks cleaner and easier on the eyes.
Sniffynose
Member
As a photographer this pisses me off so much, I spend hundreds if not thousands more for lenses and use software to REMOVE this shit from my images why the hell would anyone want to ADD it is beyond me.
Sorta. CA simulates the effect of a cheap camera lens. The colors are sort of split apart giving it a blurry look that's most obvious at the edges of various objects.
It's a nice effect when used sparingly, and at the right times. Unfortunately, Life is Strange slathers that shit over every single scene in the game. It's pretty gross. Thankfully, it's an Unreal Engine game so PC users can turn it off.
smashballTaz
Member
I was hoping for some with/without comparison screenshots in the OP to see what all the fuss was about. That first screenshot looks amazing to me. Granted I'm viewing this all on a smartphone, maybe that's why I can't notice this apparent violation upon gamer's eyes.
It's just the new current graphical fad I guess. Like coloured lighting and lens flare used to be in the days of Quake 2. Good times.
It's just the new current graphical fad I guess. Like coloured lighting and lens flare used to be in the days of Quake 2. Good times.
The Life is Strange comparison on this page is good. You'll probably want to look at it on a bigger screen than a cellphone though.
Caayn
Member
Terrible graphical effect. CA should never be a default effect. It should only be used as an extra effect when a player is hit by a stun gun for example as a disorienting effect. But never should it be used as an effect that's Always on the screen.
Really dislike that more and more games are starting to use this horrible effect. Even worse if the devs don't include an option to turn it off, not even on PC. I'm looking at you Rockstar!
Really dislike that more and more games are starting to use this horrible effect. Even worse if the devs don't include an option to turn it off, not even on PC. I'm looking at you Rockstar!
View the pictures of ShadowSoldier89 just above you on a normal sized screen, not a mobile screen. You should be able to spot the difference instantly.
I don't mind the CA here. Things that I'm not focused on being, well, not in focus isn't a huge bother for me. To each their own I guess.
The entire game fucks up the edges of the screen. Doesn't matter what the focal point is.
There's already a nice depth of field effect that does exactly what you're saying, and it's still in place after you disable chromatic aberration.
Shai-Tan
Banned
Sometimes it's not quite a positive aesthetic choice, it's covering up some other defect (we've seen this over many years with various use of depth of field, bloom, etc). But I'm guessing it's also developers not having good sense and using a new bell and whistle added to Unreal engine because they can and the proper solutions are more labor intensive than just slathering an effect on objects in the background. With the power of current devices in 1080p I would not be surprised if it is common as it's making up for weakness in lighting systems, low resolution shadows, aliasing in objects like vegetation etc. There are developers who are convinced an effect like this makes the game look better but I think that will seem quaint when more technically proficient games come out later in the generation that don't attempt to make things look "cinematic" by obscuring defects that don't necessarily need to exist with effects that are detrimental to image quality when overapplied
Its indeed a shitty effect that CAN have some VERY SPECIFIC uses. But right now, like every new effect when it comes out, its misused everywhere. Remember how the first years of specular lighting or the first years of HDR (bloom) was atrocious? They were throwing that effect everywhere because... they can!
The explanation for this mess is sad and easily understandable:
Its a world of artists and programmers and REAL designers, image experts are very few in the industry. So the programmer wants to push his new effect everywhere, he's proud. Same for the artist or shitty designer. They think they hot or something, they are passioned about this. They don't realise the mess it causes, its cool to have a new effect and show what they can do.
When they'll get tired of it, that we will have complained alot and suffered through A TON of games with extremely bad graphic design, that effect will disappear for good.
The explanation for this mess is sad and easily understandable:
Its a world of artists and programmers and REAL designers, image experts are very few in the industry. So the programmer wants to push his new effect everywhere, he's proud. Same for the artist or shitty designer. They think they hot or something, they are passioned about this. They don't realise the mess it causes, its cool to have a new effect and show what they can do.
When they'll get tired of it, that we will have complained alot and suffered through A TON of games with extremely bad graphic design, that effect will disappear for good.
This thread really needs to be stickied at the top of the forum. CA is awful.
This is an old post, but CA was not in the pre-pacthed day 1 Bloodborne version, so it really is something they should have made an option.
This is an old post, but CA was not in the pre-pacthed day 1 Bloodborne version, so it really is something they should have made an option.
What do you know that art directors on these games don't know?
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on something, but many people, like myself, think this is a great effect to use as deemed appropriate. If you hate it, fine, but your opinion isn't law nor does it represent a consensus. If there was a consensus that it was terrible why would games (not to mention TV, commercials, and movies) use it so often?
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/appeal-to-authority.html
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/appeal-to-popularity.html
Chromatic aberration has its place. It can be effective when your character takes damage or when it's being used to actually simulate a crappy lens. Drowning the normal game window in CA is virtually always a mistake, however, and it's only good for making the viewer feel that his eyes are going bad.
If everyone are entitled to their own opinions, then at least they could put it as an option like every other overused effect(like bloom).
Why many designers/artists/programmers seem to like it in game industry is that it's cheaper(fps) than aa and still hides some edges. Why consumers may dislike it is because it's a horrible effect that strains your eyes if used over the whole game.