Color-Corrected Nathan Drake leaves uncanny valley behind – Looks photorealistic

This color-corrected image of Nathan Drake in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is probably the most realistic in terms of lifelike game graphics we’ve seen so far. The tech behind the face also allows for very detailed facial expressions and judging from the gameplay video the character model will also be able to flow smoothly in-between animations.

[DarkOcelet]

The lightning makes a huge difference in games. Damn this looks really good.

[rodiabloalmeida]

Its missing proper sub-surface scatering to be photo-realistic. Also some colors are not shifted correctly (look the eyebrows). But it must be something new to some of you. Even PC games lacks proper SSS in most cases. But I must say that The Sorcerer demo running on PS4 showed by David Cage has the edge on this matter. Of course I will get tons of disagrees from people that are either fanboys or just people that doesn't know what the hell I'm talking about. Or just due to PC been mentioned in the sentence. Whatever makes your boat float.

EDIT: corrected so the gammar nazi LostDjinn can be happy for a misplaced word in a whole sentence. Point your fingers somewhere else.

[LostDjinn]

"Its missing proper sub scatering surface".
Did you mean sub-surface scattering? I really like the way you tried to kick butt and ended up with your foot in your mouth. I await your edit.

OT: Looks good. The environmental lighting in game I haven't seen much of though. Here's hoping ND nail it.

Edit: Haha. You got caught out not knowing what you're on about. Create whatever fantasy you like to hide it.

[rodiabloalmeida]

@LostDjinn

Nice try. Not working. Try harder, dreamer.

[Odoylerules000]

Is English your native language? I think a missing word is the least of your issues. If I were you, I'd avoid trying to sound knowledgeable. It's pretty awkward. Still, you cater to the Sony haters so you have that going for you.

[theshonen8899]

PC gamer and graphics programmer here. This guy clearly has no idea what he's talking about. Nathan looks great.

Cheers!

[Visiblemarc]

Many disagrees will result, not necessarily just from people thinking you are wrong, but in many cases people are tired of people criticizing excellent work in forums like they personally have no failings.

[lipton101]

I'm more concerned with his eye motions in cinematics. That's where the uncanny valley really comes in. Think of the dead, zombie eyes in polar express

[kpat1982]

Or you could get disagrees for sounding like a condescending ass bag.

[Dirtnapstor]

Translated:
Wah wah wah, wah wah, wah wah wah wah wah. Wah wah?

[Wizard_King]

Looks very good. But that's cgi cutscence stuff right there. It won't be that quality in game.

[Solid Wolf]

3D Artist here, as much as most people probably do like these images, I agree with rodiabloalmeida that it still doesn't look quite right. The SSS isn't showing properly here, the yellow tone on those eyebrows are supposed to look pink/reddish as the light illuminates his skin. The lighting could also be improved, since I don't really see the three-point lighting at all. I wish I could see the original image since the article says that this is a "color-corrected" image. Maybe the source image would have looked far better.

[Destiny1080]

rodiabloalmeida

please enlighten me on the difference you can see with sss on and off

http://www.derschmale.com/b...

[Solid Wolf]

Destiny1080:

I don't know whether you need your eyes checked, or you're just trolling, but I can clearly see the skin of the head on the right is being illuminated thanks to SSS. You can also see the pigment of his skin bleeding/glowing around because of the light, giving his skin a more natural, and smooth look. This is opposed to the image on the left where his skin looks too rough, and because of the lack of light bounce, makes the lightning look too mushy, and clay-like.

[Dannylew]

Lights is the most important thing in CG.. in Photos .. in Life.

[skratchy]

It's really true. Lighting has made a significant leap this generation. Playing PS3 games is so hard for me. They hardly look better than PS2 games to me anymore XD

[LightofDarkness]

Still looks pretty uncanny valley to me. Plus, perhaps the biggest issue with uncanny valley is the eyes, which these images obviously do nothing to address.

It's nice, but let's not go overboard.

[G20WLY]

I think it's difficult to demonstrate how lifelike something looks when it's a static shot. You're right about eyes being important - their movement can help a lot.

Subtle, barely-perceivable, facial movements can be key to believability. Looking forward to seeing more of this!

[Spore_777]

"Still looks pretty uncanny valley to me."

Yup.

[specialguest]

There is just something about video game character models i can't quite pinpoint out that makes them uncanny valleyed. It's not the resolution or making out fine skin details that is the issue. We can look at low resolution muddy images of real people's photos and without a doubt know it's real.

[rodiabloalmeida]

It's the lightning. After All, that's how we perceive things with our eyes. It does apply to video games too (also movies and related stuff)

[Fishy Fingers]

Usually exaggeration, but does look very impressive.

[AudioEppa]

It looks like a beautiful video game face.. I can't wait for ND to juice me with this game.

[jhoward585]

WOW! The Color-Corrected Nathan Drake looks amazing. The pores and imperfection on his face are freaking amazing.

[sin7279]

awesome!

[hazelamy]

little too much fake tan methinks. ^_^

[LordMaim]

Have you seen the tropical locations that Drake frequents? That's *real* tan. ;)

That said, I think this color correction was applied by a third party to Naughty Dog's original picture of the models in gray.

[Odoylerules000]

Dat fake-bake, tho? I can see Nathan hitting up a tanning salon.

[PR_FROM_OHIO]

Damn That's impressive!!!

[masterfox]

it really looks impressive and very photo realistic, it gives me chills we are going to play a game like that in full HD glory.

[SP4CE_C4PT4IN]

Looks awesome!

[Sarah_Ch]

Hot😍

[strangeaeon]

Getting a tad annoyed at all the "lightNing" typos. Stop being so lazy. Looks amazing but still in the valley.One thing that can help is modeling after a real actor, coming up with your own face, no matter how much character you try to pour into it, always comes up a little generic.

[Outthink_The_Room]

LOL. Thunder and LIGHTING apparently.

Anyways, you're right about still being in the valley. There is so much subtly to someone's face that it's almost impossible to recreate it for a game.

They did a fantastic job, but it's still off. Under these LIGHTING conditions, it looks OK, but we aren't in a photoshoot type environment when playing the game.

A characters face needs to be natural under any LIGHTING condition. Not these perfectly placed renders. Also, the face is way too oily and reflective. Maybe if he was sweating, it would look right, but walking down the street, his face shouldn't have as much of a glow to it.

We really need to focus on more natural LIGHTING before we get over the valley. And we can't keep trying to mask imperfections with fog, dark lights and god rays to try and simulate overly-lit scenes for realism.

[UltraNova]

"We really need to focus on more natural LIGHTING before we get over the valley. And we can't keep trying to mask imperfections with fog, dark lights and god rays to try and simulate overly-lit scenes for realism."

Wait as much as I love my ps4 its safe to assume that level of realistic lighting is ways off. PS5 maybe?

[ballsohard2013]

now this is what im talking about!!!! So far the gameplay videos i've seen on Uncharted 4 plus the leaked photos... has me super impressed. I cant wait to get this gem right here! People talk about The Order and bloodbornes awesome graphics... no get your eyes checked folks. U can damn near see the stubble on his face.

All I need is Uncharted 4, Metal Gear Phantom, The Division, and Quantum Break (on XB1) and im good. Bravo naughty dog... keep up the excellent work!

[Yaay4me]

Wait, he wont look like that in the game will he? That looks too good to be in a game. It has better resolution than my 4k tv

[gameon1985]

to bad it want look like that when the actual game is being played.

[JohnWayne_]

It's going to be hard for you to prove that while playing on your XBONE, because this game is only for a ps4 if you didn't know.

[BLow]

And you know this how? You've played the game? How is it? Plus, since its 3rd person, you'll be looking at the back his head for pretty much the whole game. Of course it won't look like that unless your zoomed in on his face. Sometimes I wonder if people actually think about what they say before it comes out. I mean really? Like your going to be playing the game zoomed in on his face. Come on man....

[snookiegamer]

Drake looks awesome, really want UC4!! ....There is a chocolate candy commercial running in the UK, featuring a very impressive Computer Generated 'Audrey Hepburn'. Whilst some people could immediately tell it was CG, many with untrained eyes could not.

However, there are tell tale signs that totally give it away. It's subtle, but the eye movement, posture and skin still look unnatural to me. I don't doubt PS4/X1 visuals will improve, but I don't buy sub $400 hardware can match or even come close to industry CG Visuals.

No way José! ;/

[F0XHOUND]

It looks epic. But I'm still favouring the dark sorcerer face... but its pretty much reached a point now on ps4 that things at this level all just look insanely good.

[Vanfernal]

This looks great. But the main obstacle to cross the uncanny Valley has been the eyes. It's really difficult to make a realistic stare and not look like some sort of machine. A picture with the eyes closed isn't the best to make that statement. Still, very damn impressive.

[Relientk77]

Nathans face looks great

[MadLad]

You know, I need to stop handling thought out opinion pieces and 2000+ word reviews.
I'll be just as well off finding a picture and then commenting on it for a few sentences.

[MadLad]

It's the truth.

N4G eats garbage posts that you can create and post in a ten minute period, if the creators have any idea what they are doing.

[ziggurcat]

that's not exactly what you would call "colour corrected"... whoever did that doesn't know how to really use photoshop - bumping up the brightness, sharpness, and contrast =/= colour correction.

[Yetter]

looks great but thats not what the gameplay looked like at PSX. And the 'uncanny valley' refers more to facial animations then to actual detail on the face. Though I think naughty dog is better than most when it comes to their mo-cap

[WeAreLegion]

Who cares about Nathan Drake? Give me Doughnut Drake!

[assdan]

I'm seriously blown away right now...

[BLow]

It really does look good. How you got 2 disagrees I don't know. It looks pretty impressive. I guess there is something better than that on CONSOLE. Please provide proof!!! I guess these comment section programmers can do better....haha

[dadz]

Holy crap that looks amazing!

[DougLord]

Uncanny valley is about animation / motion, not graphics. People have been able to draw/paint photo realistically forever. They can't animate it.

[windblowsagain]

@rodiabloalmeida

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[Rute]

The reveal teaser for UC4 looked pretty close to photorealistic. However, I'm pretty surprised if the final in-game graphics manage to consistently be up there.

So far I'm more impressed with the gameplay footage from The Order 1886 than UC4.

[sackboyhappy]

looks great, fingers crossed for 60fps

[samchez77]

Damn. Nice Detail. Colour are still a bit dodgy. Looks more like the makeup on a wax figure than an actual person. But damn. That's impressive.

[Solid Wolf]

It's the lighting, the lighting could have been improved with the use of 3-point lighting, rather than just one source of light. the Sub-surface scattering also doesn't look strong enough to be noticeable, but the model itself and the textures look fine.

[THEzRude]

Hardly a photorealistic.

[kamundo]

That looks very nice and I don't for one second believe that he'll look anywhere near that good in-game. Bullshots are the industry standard these days.

[SpecialK]

I thought they they did pretty well in the ps3 version of the last of us (haven't played the ps4 one)

In all the cut scenes it felt like I was watching a fairly well budgeted sci fi series and the facial expressions and animations were better than many :p

So if they get this face, with better animations than that, then it will be beautiful.

Any idea if this is employing motion capture for the facial animations? Surely then you don't need to worry about little facial movements that really make something believable as its all taken from real actors anyway.

[ironmonkey]

still some amazing talent.

[DanielGearSolid]

I usually click on these "photo-realistic visuals" articles skeptically but this one actually looks pretty damn good

[obmas]

oh come on, just because they can model hyper-realistically faces, doesn't mean that is what the game will look like. Undoubtedly, there will be lots of polygon loss if they want to aim for 1080p 30fps

[hkgamer]

i personaly don't get the uncanny valley feel from character models that are not based on real people. i just naturally have that distinction between cg and real people like most others.

character models based on real people tend to trigger the uncanny valley a lot more, think about la noire, sports sims or la noire. we automatically think of their real counterpart and when we see their animations they just look robotic and miss that human element we dont think about for other cg models.

[PersonMan]

It's easy to cross the uncanny valley in a picture, but once you see it move, you'll know it's not real. It's too easy for our brains to tell when something does not move in a natural way. There are such small subtleties in real life movement that it's easy to pick out something that is simulated.

[Gigus]

That looks really awesome.

[jgent]

I don't see the downgrade from the initial reveal.

[ScaryMonkey]

Looks astounding but I'm sure that wont stop some armchair graphics experts who have never modeled textured or animated a thing in their entire life from having criticisms.

[dolfa]

Thats nothing special, rendered better quality than this one. I doubt this will be the ingame quality, its just model show.