At a technical briefing for the press in Tokyo, NVIDIA have revealed the 6 graphical points which make up Battlefield 3, discussing what makes EA's latest shooter such a unique game visually.
- Tessellation
A focus on tessellation was important, it seems, "especially in terrain objects, such as mountains in the distance." More effective tessellation allowed for a reduced computational load and a better sense of scale.
- Depth of Field
Getting the depth of field correct was a challenge, NVIDIA feel BF3 did it perfectly. Whilst not a new technology, it allows for a more realistic FPS experience. Getting the balance correct is something that most people wouldn't even realize needs to be done, but getting just the right amount of focus is important if you want to see moving enemies.
- Colour Grading
Making sure that colour looks natural around explosions and lights is another challege that the team had to overcome, an important step in the distinction between realistic imagery and pictures that you can tell were made on a computer.
- Global Illumination
Global Illumination is the key to Battlefield 3's great look. Increased attention to things like indirect light and radiosity have improved the way the whole in-game world looks. The NVIDIA representitive thinks that this is going to have the biggest effect on gaming graphics in the future.
- Volumetric Smoke
The challenge with smoke was to show the depth, the 'weight' of the smoke around the player character. The smoke from every explosion casts a shadow and becomes more than just another sight on the battlefield, but almost an indirect enemy.
- Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing
The FXAA was developed by NVIDIA and is apparently a step above other processes when it comes to anti-aliasing. Handling heavy loads easily, FXAA allows for very high quality effects but with little to no effect on the end user.
