Let's face it, war can be quite dirty. The war in Call of Duty 4 was quite dirty too, however it could have been much, much more dirty. Oh yes, quite dirty indeed.
In speaking with Gamasutra, Call of Duty 4's art director, Michael Boon, talks about all things visually pleasing that came from Modern Warfare. One thing that he and his team tried to hold back on was the use of dirt in any given scene. Instead, their emphasis was on using lighting to really make the visuals pop.
The interview spans three full pages. Don't worry, it's not all about how dirt, lighting, and non-repeating textures make for a great looking game. There's quite a bit in there about the creation of the opening level, the post-credits level, and the overall creative process that went into Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
In speaking with Gamasutra, Call of Duty 4's art director, Michael Boon, talks about all things visually pleasing that came from Modern Warfare. One thing that he and his team tried to hold back on was the use of dirt in any given scene. Instead, their emphasis was on using lighting to really make the visuals pop.
Another thing that helps is the believability of the characters, and you can sometimes get into that uncanny valley with COD4.
MB: I think the trick to gradually traversing it is to focus on going as far as you can with the character model itself. Then look at ways to enhance that model with improving elements affecting it. Such as the lighting, self-shadowing techniques, and other ways to improve not just the model itself but how it's viewed naturally in the world.
With Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare specifically, we're fighting in war-torn environments and the characters are rugged and dirty, so the "put dirt on it" technique works well.
Putting dirt on things and that sort of stuff, it does work, but then people do sort of recognize patterns and things like that. So, how can you kind of get around that? What's your method for non-repeating textures, and things like that?
MB: Well, first of all, I'll say one of the hardest things we did in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was make people stop putting dirt all over everything. We finally had a lighting engine that was good enough that you didn't need to do any of that. And we're still pushing on this, put dirt on the right places, but don't put heavy dirt on everything.
Yeah, that was a huge deal in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. And still, to this day, we get art applicants, and I'm like, "No, they're still doing it the old way. There's dirt on everything all the time." To get around that, good lighting is key.
In terms of repeating textures, we repeat textures quite a lot, actually. But you usually want to change them up, like you have a texture that repeats one and a half times, and no one's going to see it.
And then you change to something else, and then you change back again, and it's fine. You have a texture that has some really obvious repeating elements, and you put a window on top of one of them, and no one notices the texture repeats.
MB: I think the trick to gradually traversing it is to focus on going as far as you can with the character model itself. Then look at ways to enhance that model with improving elements affecting it. Such as the lighting, self-shadowing techniques, and other ways to improve not just the model itself but how it's viewed naturally in the world.
With Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare specifically, we're fighting in war-torn environments and the characters are rugged and dirty, so the "put dirt on it" technique works well.
Putting dirt on things and that sort of stuff, it does work, but then people do sort of recognize patterns and things like that. So, how can you kind of get around that? What's your method for non-repeating textures, and things like that?
MB: Well, first of all, I'll say one of the hardest things we did in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was make people stop putting dirt all over everything. We finally had a lighting engine that was good enough that you didn't need to do any of that. And we're still pushing on this, put dirt on the right places, but don't put heavy dirt on everything.
Yeah, that was a huge deal in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. And still, to this day, we get art applicants, and I'm like, "No, they're still doing it the old way. There's dirt on everything all the time." To get around that, good lighting is key.
In terms of repeating textures, we repeat textures quite a lot, actually. But you usually want to change them up, like you have a texture that repeats one and a half times, and no one's going to see it.
And then you change to something else, and then you change back again, and it's fine. You have a texture that has some really obvious repeating elements, and you put a window on top of one of them, and no one notices the texture repeats.
The interview spans three full pages. Don't worry, it's not all about how dirt, lighting, and non-repeating textures make for a great looking game. There's quite a bit in there about the creation of the opening level, the post-credits level, and the overall creative process that went into Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.