I’m aware that a lot of companies are now using those very tools to make their movies and shows because of that very reason but why does it work out that way?
In: Technology
Generally because the ones in movies look better than the ones in games. The ones in games have to be done at a framerate high enough to allow the game to be playable.
For a movie they can spend 100 hours per frame drawing the image. Once that image is drawn it is then saved.
An analogy would be a painting. You can take many hours painting a scene and then once it’s done you can take a photo of that and then show it to people in an instant. It doesn’t have to be redone once it is done.
A video game has to redraw it every time because the player can do something different each time. In a movie or TV show it’s the same every time it’s shown.
Real-time graphics use lots of shortcuts, which are less accurate but look “good enough” at first glance. For example: most videogame engines cannot render reflections (if you do play a game with a functioning mirror, it’s typically accomplished by placing a second copy of the room behind the mirror, with everything in it the same). They “fake” reflections by just making shiny and dim parts of an object, but they aren’t real reflections. Movies do the diligence and every shiny object is properly reflecting its surroundings.
Short answer is that game engines cheat. Some thing like reflections or hair are done in a much simpler worst looking way. Particle systems for things like hair and fluid either need to be drastically reduced in visuals or some sort of work around needs to be found. Even things like poly count are often gutted when possible. It’s not uncommon for games to have multiple version of the same model with varying poly count. As you get closer to the time object the game engine will phase in the higher poly more detailed model.
Latest Answers