While we're discussing photo-realism, lets actually discuss the different methods game programmers use to "duplicate reality"
Normal mapping - although it has its uses, I've grown very tired of it. Oblivion, Gothic 3, NWN2, you name it - they use it on every available surface, and it makes it all look gritty, but also low-res (to save memory space)
Parallax mapping - wow, there's a feature I could do well without. Sure, the walls and stones look great from that perfect angle, but from everywhere else, the colors bleed and it just looks like a shiny, wobbly glass surface coat.
Bloom filter / HDR - they pretty much look the same to me, just HDR is a tad brighter, and bloom is often more yellow tinted. They absolutely make it hard to look at the screen - HDR on a mostly white surface will blow the colors and you'll end up with a white blob filling big chuncks of the screen.
Water shaders - love them. Especially the Shader model 3 version, with depth and fog.
Please, list some of your "realistic techs" and your opinions on them.
Normal mapping - although it has its uses, I've grown very tired of it. Oblivion, Gothic 3, NWN2, you name it - they use it on every available surface, and it makes it all look gritty, but also low-res (to save memory space)
Parallax mapping - wow, there's a feature I could do well without. Sure, the walls and stones look great from that perfect angle, but from everywhere else, the colors bleed and it just looks like a shiny, wobbly glass surface coat.
Bloom filter / HDR - they pretty much look the same to me, just HDR is a tad brighter, and bloom is often more yellow tinted. They absolutely make it hard to look at the screen - HDR on a mostly white surface will blow the colors and you'll end up with a white blob filling big chuncks of the screen.
Water shaders - love them. Especially the Shader model 3 version, with depth and fog.
Please, list some of your "realistic techs" and your opinions on them.