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Written by CrysisEU
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Sunday, 18 March 2007
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Crysis uses the CryEngine2 graphics engine. CryEngine2 was devoloped by Crytek, the makers of Crysis. CryEngine2 is the first completed engine to offer full support for both DX9 and DX10. I've compiled some information on CryEngine2 and how it will improve your gaming experience
CryEngine2
CryEngine2 uses many new technologies which are only just starting to show up in the world of gaming, none of which have been seen together in the same engine. Most of the technologies in CryEngine2 have been devoloped or enchanced by Crytek themselves. Crytek are the brains behind all of it, and they had the job of putting it all together. The great thing about that is the fact that Crysis won't be limited by the engine.
Below are just some of the graphical and physical features of Cryengine2. These were all featued in one of the earlier CryEngine2 tech demos.
Technologies
Dynamic Day & Night Cycle: Crysis features a true Dynamic Day & Night Cycle. Meaning the time of day will dynamically change as you progress through levels. This will also make it into multiplayer. 2 hours is equal to one Crysis day.
Sunrays and Diffuse Transmission: You all know what sunrays are, but what is diffuse transmission. Diffuse transmission allows light to pass through certain objects and materials. As seen above, the light is shining through the actual palm fronds causing them to glow. This also means that shadows which are cast onto one side of the palm frond, show through on the other side. If you go outside and put a leaf between your eyes and the sun, you'll notice the leaf glow as some of the light from the sun passes through it. It's kind of like how sun glasses reduce the intensity of light.
Soft Shadows: Traditionaly, shadows in games have been hard edged or pixelated, but when have you ever seen shadows look like that in real-life. I guess you could say that this is a 'softer' approach to shadowing. It's all calculated in real-time as well.
Soft Particles: The soft particles in Crysis are used for various effects such as smoke, fire and dust. The particles can be shaded which helps create realistic looking smoke and dust.
Motion Blur: Cinematics have been taken to the next level with CryEngine2. Motion Blur tricks our eye in a way that it makes frame-by-frame motion appear to be a lot smoother than normal frame-by-frame motion without motion blur. It's almost liking a trail showing you where an object has been. So, if the camera, as well as any object on screen is moved, it will create high quality directional motion blur and will exaggerate the effect depending on the speed of motion. This feature provides a cinematic visual quality supporting what Crytek calls "Video Realism". But it is more practical than it seems.
Depth of Field: Depth of Field can dramatically enchance your gaming experience in more ways than one. Depth of Field simulates the behaviour of your eye (or camera) by blurring objects farther or nearer to what your eye is focused on. It can also be used as a tool for game devs to set the area of a scene the player should be focused on.
Volumetric Clouds: Through an advanced Imposter Rendering Technique, Crytek delivers volumetric cloud formations that are illuminated in real-time and allow soft fly-throughs. This allows for frantic action when you are fighting aliens in the sky. The clouds also cast realistic shadows on anything lying beneath them.
Ambient Maps: A first in lighting technology is a real-time implementation of indirect lighting that approximates ambient light intensity. Using this technology, Crysis will feature the most realistic lighting without compromising on real-time performance.
Interactive Environments: Walking into a palm frond like shown above, has never looked prettier. Vegetation will react with your character by bending and deflecting off you. The same goes for basically everything else in Crysis. It serves a rather practical purpose in both singeplayer and multiplayer as the movement of the vegetation can be used to determine an enemies position (with the added help of sound).
Destructible Environments: If you interactive with an object (such as shoot, drive in to.etc) you will damage or destroy that object. Destructible Environments will change the environment depending on your actions. You can use this technology to your advantage while playing.
Advanced Shader Technology: CryEngine2 has the most advanced shader system ever. Shading is basically what gives an object it's look and feel. It can make an object look wet, shiny, rough.etc. CryEngine2 supports up to shader model 4 for excellent performance. The shader technology used on the faces is more complex and technologically advanced than the entire game of FarCry.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 21 April 2010 )
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Character Technology
