Valve's High Dynamic Range Explored
by Josh Venning on September 30, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Image Comparison
For those used to the look of Half life 2 and Counterstrike: Source, the new HDR effects in Day of Defeat probably won't blow your socks off. The enhancements are subtle, but you can definitely tell that they are there. Most noticeable is the auto exposure effect, which simulates the way that the eye can be blinded slightly by stepping into the sun from a dark area. While some might complain that this is annoying, it seems to us that annoying or not, it adds another dimension to the gameplay. In other words, in a real battle, the sun in your eyes will affect your aim, thus adding to the realism of the game. The bloom effect is noticeable as well, and it is very effective at making light in the game seem brighter than it really is.
Below are some images that compare the different modes. The top-most image is with no HDR enabled, the middle image is with bloom only enabled, and the bottom is full HDR enabled.
For those used to the look of Half life 2 and Counterstrike: Source, the new HDR effects in Day of Defeat probably won't blow your socks off. The enhancements are subtle, but you can definitely tell that they are there. Most noticeable is the auto exposure effect, which simulates the way that the eye can be blinded slightly by stepping into the sun from a dark area. While some might complain that this is annoying, it seems to us that annoying or not, it adds another dimension to the gameplay. In other words, in a real battle, the sun in your eyes will affect your aim, thus adding to the realism of the game. The bloom effect is noticeable as well, and it is very effective at making light in the game seem brighter than it really is.
Below are some images that compare the different modes. The top-most image is with no HDR enabled, the middle image is with bloom only enabled, and the bottom is full HDR enabled.
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
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8NP4iN - Friday, September 30, 2005 - link
Yeah... where´s the shadows of those objects?ballero - Friday, September 30, 2005 - link
Seems to me it's Low-DR not High-DR. After playing Farcry and SC:CT the Valve' hdr looks like a step backwards...Questar - Friday, September 30, 2005 - link
http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/lostcoast....">http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/lostcoast....Leper Messiah - Friday, September 30, 2005 - link
I think it looks a lot more realistic, while actually playing. The screenies don't do it justice.Just think though. Flashbangs with HDR. *cackle*
Phantronius - Friday, September 30, 2005 - link
Thank god BF2 doesnt' have HDR or I woulda given up on itbob661 - Friday, September 30, 2005 - link
I would've just turned it off.yacoub - Friday, September 30, 2005 - link
Yet when the goal is to win, the last thing I'd do is add something optional that impinges MY ability without equally affecting everyone else's. =
So maybe in a singleplayer game or maybe if it was something in a couple years that is defaulted to ON and doesn't easily turn off, it would be useful. But really, graphical settings should never be optional if they directly impact the player's ability like that.
That would be like returning to the days when people figured out you could turn off the FogOfWar or smoke effects so you could see the full draw distance and totally snipe people before they could even see you coming.
DerekWilson - Friday, September 30, 2005 - link
valve says hdr gives an advantage because the contrast differences make it easier to spot players moving through the environment -- or something like that. Like a player who steps in front of a dark tunnel occludes the light outside and will really stand out.Personally, I don't think it's that useful or detrimental ... I do think it adds some pretty nice realizm to the scene in many places. This HDR implimentation is not perfect, but its better than many others out there.
The balance is good in my opinion.
route66 - Friday, September 30, 2005 - link
Overrated.Developers need to find better usage of my CPU and GPU load than subtle lighting effects.
segagenesis - Friday, September 30, 2005 - link
More like too bad they didnt do this from the beginning with Half-Life 2 and it didnt look any better to me from the start. I wonder when people will ever get it in thier heads that graphics != gameplay. A game could have all these fancy smancy effects but if it still plays badly the graphics do NOT make up for it. Read: Doom 3.Concentrate on the game first, not the graphics.