Image Metrics show off their latest version

You will not believe your eyes from this moment on.

We can usually pick the difference in various animations used for computer images, but as technology advances, so does the ability to fool the human eye. What was once termed The Uncanny Valley by the graphics industry is perhaps drawing to a close. Image Metrics latest version shows just how real something can be.

[gaminoz]

Wow scary. That looks pretty real.

[XboxOZ360]

Yes it does, now add that to Codemasters Operation Flashpoint 2: and the detail they are putting into the game, see second video on the site in the article . .. and you'll start to see just how scary it could be.

The game has real-time loading, setting up weaponry, non of this grab a RPG and fire it. You have to find the right spot, set it up properly, load it, aim it, then fire it.

Then check out the detail they are putting into the persistent real-time damage modeling, all on console I might add (and PC gamers said it would/could NEVER happen - pppffft yeah right).

WHile the Image Metrics is not new, they are working to advance their software, and it's a huge step forward to even a year or 10 months ago.

[Rourker]

this video is old, I realize it says latest version, but it the exact same as the one I saw a couple months ago, no change at all.

[XboxOZ360]

Actually it only came out this week, as it's an advancement on the previous one which showed a different woman leaning against a wall. I have it stored on the site for reference. Yes, the item is around one month old, BUT it has not been on N4g as it is since it was updated over 8 months ago. So it warrants as new news. The item, if you CHECK, is connected to current Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising, you did check out the second video - didn't you. As the article is based around what to expect from games such as OF:DR and others from Codemasters.

Which IS new news.

God, some ppl see a heading and automatically 'assume" it means something other than what it is intended to be. But a read through an article can help understand where the article is coming from, rather than assume where it is coming from.

[Rourker]

but I was commenting on the first video. and I did see it before right here on N4G. a while back. I'll find the link if I can.

http://www.n4g.com/tech/New...

but yes the rest about codemasters is new. so I sincerely apologize for not stating that I was comenting on that video only and not the article in general.

[Immortal Kaim]

Wow, Im completely blown away with Operation flashpoint 2, so by the sounds of it, you can traverse the terrain in real-time, going to any location in any sequence?

[XboxOZ360]

Yeap, and it takes around hour hours in real time to get from one side to the other. No magic teleporting or such like. You can get a vehicle, but it'll still take you a good hour to do so, and the villages and buildings are exactly as they are on the island right now.

Oh, and btw, I put up the EARLIER version of their software so you can see the distinct difference between the new version and the old. There is NO WAY you can mistake the old for the new. Unless you're blind of course.

[gaminoz]

I wonder how many software developers will want to use the tech?

[Hunter86]

Wow thats amazing. Crazy to see that they can do that sort of thing.

[XboxOZ360]

Personally I think it's a great move forward for developing games on the consoles. Sure, some game will definitely have more persistent damage modeling across the board on PC gaming rigs. But a console is NOT a PC Gaming rig. That is the whole point.

The idea is to get games out to the WIDER public, not the smaller number of bedroom-bound gamers with PC's attached to their backs permanently. No doubt they will find ways of improving the dange as they work further with it. Games like Bad Company were thought impossible a year or so ago on any console. Now they can do it.

Give a developer LESS to work with, and it inspires creativity. Give them more and they get lazy and things become bloated.

[LinuxGuru]

That damage modeling is lame.

A bomb triggers a lame effects-hidden model swap. It's the oldest technique in the book. There's no physics-based stuff like red faction has that is involved, no persistent debris, just a persistent ravaged "post-explosion" model.

Not very interesting at all.

The only thing cool about this game will be the overly tedious attention to detail which, honestly, will make most FPS vets not even want to touch this title with a 10-foot pole.

It's a game, people....if we want a simulator, we'll play america's army, and that's free.

[XboxOZ360]

True, her face was what was rendered, but when you add that to software they use in films such as Sky Pilot, you begin to wonder where reality stops and virtual reality begins.

There's no denying that we are advancing in games a great deal, and now that gamers are experiencing much more than they did even 3-5yrs ago. I've been around gaming for - well let's say a LONG time, and when you look at how far we have come in say 10 - 15 plus years, then look at how far we have come in just 2 2-3 yrs, it's staggering at the speed of the advancements.

By this time next year we will find it difficult to even guess which is real and what is not.

[Simmo44]

Fantastic video! It's crazy to think that women wasnt real!

[LinuxGuru]

Just her face was fake, the rest of her body was real.

[darkmurder]

This is amazing!!

[Silogon]

I'm not seeing the impressive stuff they're raving about here. They have 1 or 2 different modles rendered for the game, great. Most games do that stuff. The graphics look alright, but not much better than the game they'e cmparing themself to. I don't see this as being a stand out game or stand out tech, myself. The whole thing seemed stiff too.

[XboxOZ360]

I thin many new gamers expect way too much from developers in the time frame they work in.

Given the advancement they have made in the last say 3-5 years, I'd say we are damn lucky. The advancements over just the last 3 have been much more than the previous 10 or 12 years. But many younger gamers wouldn't know this, as they only see what is current, as that is what they experience. So it's hard for them to guage what has actually changed in the great scheme of things.

[kittoo]

I didnt like it how the site turned it into a flamebeit with bringing DVD9 and Blu-Ray in. What does this awesome software have to do anything with these things?

[XboxOZ360]

Well obviously you didn't read it all that well then, did you. It's NOT Flamebait, its simply pointing out the basic premise behind developers using less and achieving more with less.

By building for consoles, be that on the DVD9 or BR, they have to work more efficiently with regards to both memory, and of course, how they store their data. While many believed the days of the DVD9 were drawing to a fast close with the introduction of the BR, they soon found out that was in fact, not the case.

Developers found ways of making better textures, destruction, use of memory etc. It opens up their creative juices so they can find ways to stick more on less.

BR has its advantages as a HD movie delivery format, there's no doubting that, and it is a great way to deliver LARGE assetted games, but games can fit on DVD9's now even more than they could before, and they are finding more ways of opening that space up.

Why, because it has over (0% of the user-base across the glob using DVD9's. So you don't drop one format to follow another if it only supports a small % of the user based (relatively speaking of course). What you do is, find ways to deliver the same product across all mediums, and use the lowest common denominator as your goal post.

So that in the end, it makes no difference if it is on DVD9 or BR . .

So exactly where is the BR/DVD9 flame-baiting occurring, perhaps it is in your mind.

[jerethdagryphon]

the only way to have damage modelingdonecorrectly is if the location to the milimeter has been eiher pre worked out or calculated behind the scenes on a model given the exact specifications as human flesh and bone
with range weapon ammo type and movment thwron into the mix its a hefty set of calculations

ie.. upper arm 2 inches above elbow 9 mil pistol 50 yards arm crossed over chest speed walking would give a different result and final location then if itwas done.

just on location ..
i feel we are a ways off from true damage modeling
and that video with the girl was on here before same one

[titntin]

Whilst the technology demonstration is great, and this level of facial animation is very welcome to games, the article is a bit misleading.

The demo clearly shows a real video plate - the bit thats been 'matted over' is the facial features, and they clearly demonstrate this at the end of the piece. To suggest, as they do in this article, that it's all CG is to misunderstand what they are seeing.

The facial expressions are excellently captured and mapping them into the real video frame in this way is an excellent demonstration of how excellent the facial capture software is. Lets just not pretend the entire scene is CG...

Getting emotional acting onto 3d figures has always been difficult, but if we want proper emotional involvement its an absolute must, and this tech is starting to bring it all together. I was very impressed by the results that were achieved by the characters in Heavenly Sword, which had astonishing facial expressions, but it looks like this will soon be topped and I want to see much more! :)

[killalot100]

i have to see real gameplay of flash point. i dont think the game is going to look like the way they are saying it is. maybe its going to play the way it is but most of the time this kind of games get dumbed down for one reason or the other. hope i didnt offend anybody its just that i been there done that kind of thing. i as much as others hope it is as good as shown.