Fantasy Lab Talks About Global Illumination

Back in June, independent next-gen development studio Fantasy Lab quietly introduced its Fantasy Engine. It created quite a buzz as the game engine features Global Illumination system. Back then, it wasn’t known to which platform the game engine will debut. In an exclusive interview with PS3Land, Fantasy Lab President Michael Burnell talks about the amazing technology that will power some PS3 games.

Global Illumination, as used in 3D computer graphics, calculates the light that reaches a surface using both direct light from light sources and indirect reflecting off other surfaces. As a result, images are more realistic and natural looking.

Besides Global Illumination (GI), the Fantasy Engine also has another unique feature. Burnell explains, “I think our combination of subdivision surfaces with displacement mapping is unique. It lets us render very complex geometry in a realistic way from any viewpoint. Computer graphics is about creating an illusion. If you see an object up close and it is obvious that it is rendered with normal-mapped polygons then you lose the illusion. Thereafter the viewer knows that the object is just some normal-mapped polygons and it no longer seems as real.”

Burnell points out that the most noticeable difference between GI renders and other shading techniques is the “diffuse inter-reflections.” This makes images look more real no matter what materials are rendered. It doesn’t give out unnatural lighting as seen in the Doom 3 engine.

The usual methods for for computing GI could take several hours even on typical scenes, but Fantasy Lab utilizes  an “extremely” efficient technique that’s ideal for running on parallel computing hardware. The studio believes that the PS3 is “powerful enough to render complex scenes in real-time with global illumination”.

The studio is currently working on a PS3 title but they didn’t provide any more information other than the game will have an “E” rating. They’re also looking to offer the GI technology as middleware on the PS3.

You can watch the Global Illumination in action as Fantasy Lab released a clip showing an animated model lit by the sky geometry.

Download: [Fantasy Lab – Rhinork Clip]

Back in June, independent next-gen development studio Fantasy Lab quietly introduced its Fantasy Engine. It created quite a buzz as the game engine features Global Illumination system. Back then, it wasn’t known to which platform the game engine will debut. In an exclusive interview with PS3Land, Fantasy Lab President Michael Burnell talks about the amazing technology that will power some PS3 games.

Global Illumination, as used in 3D computer graphics, calculates the light that reaches a surface using both direct light from light sources and indirect reflecting off other surfaces. As a result, images are more realistic and natural looking.

Besides Global Illumination (GI), the Fantasy Engine also has another unique feature. Burnell explains, “I think our combination of subdivision surfaces with displacement mapping is unique. It lets us render very complex geometry in a realistic way from any viewpoint. Computer graphics is about creating an illusion. If you see an object up close and it is obvious that it is rendered with normal-mapped polygons then you lose the illusion. Thereafter the viewer knows that the object is just some normal-mapped polygons and it no longer seems as real.”

Burnell points out that the most noticeable difference between GI renders and other shading techniques is the “diffuse inter-reflections.” This makes images look more real no matter what materials are rendered. It doesn’t give out unnatural lighting as seen in the Doom 3 engine.

The usual methods for for computing GI could take several hours even on typical scenes, but Fantasy Lab utilizes  an “extremely” efficient technique that’s ideal for running on parallel computing hardware. The studio believes that the PS3 is “powerful enough to render complex scenes in real-time with global illumination”.

The studio is currently working on a PS3 title but they didn’t provide any more information other than the game will have an “E” rating. They’re also looking to offer the GI technology as middleware on the PS3.

You can watch the Global Illumination in action as Fantasy Lab released a clip showing an animated model lit by the sky geometry.

Download: [Fantasy Lab – Rhinork Clip]