When I say "fake effects" I mean a technique that doesn't work as you would expect it to under different conditions.
Shadow mapping is the first good lighting I have ever worked with. It has a few foibles, but I think this is the method that will dominate for the next five years, and it will only get better as hardware improves. So to me it's like the last five years can just be forgotten. At last, we have simple direct lighting that works! It's kind of sad that for all the hype, we really haven't even been able to do lighting, but at least it is making real progress, instead of "film grain". In ten years, people will look back at 2000-2007 and think "They couldn't even do lighting back then". I mean, taken in the broad scope of things, graphics are pretty pathetic right now, but getting better.
This is the first time I have really had 3D graphics with lighting!
Shadow mapping is the first good lighting I have ever worked with. It has a few foibles, but I think this is the method that will dominate for the next five years, and it will only get better as hardware improves. So to me it's like the last five years can just be forgotten. At last, we have simple direct lighting that works! It's kind of sad that for all the hype, we really haven't even been able to do lighting, but at least it is making real progress, instead of "film grain". In ten years, people will look back at 2000-2007 and think "They couldn't even do lighting back then". I mean, taken in the broad scope of things, graphics are pretty pathetic right now, but getting better.
This is the first time I have really had 3D graphics with lighting!