[Via 1UP]
GDC08: Tech Demo - Havok cloth physics
[Via 1UP]
More game info on GameDaily: GameDaily Biz, Fast & Free Game Downloads, Video Game Trailers, Video Game Cheats, Video Game Reviews, Video Game Screenshots,
All contents copyright © 2003-2008, Weblogs, Inc. All rights reserved
Xbox 360 Fanboy is a member of the Weblogs, Inc. Network. Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Notify AOL
AOL Games
Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in:
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-19-2008 @ 11:28PM
Magic Whiskey said...
Hm. Don't get me wrong; I've been advocating the push towards more natural, free-flowing physics based fabric in gaming for years, and this IS better than what most games have offered so far, but it still feels rigid to me a bit.
In animation class at my undergrad art college, we studied fabric in different weights reacting to one constant force. Of course silk reacts totally different than say burlap. With this fabric tech demo I can't distinguish what type of fabric it's supposed to be. In one way its light because the near-shoulder areas act in accord to the bottom ends, but also like burlap, the fabric in total moves thickly. I hope you understand what I mean.
If this is to be believed to be 'cloak fabric', i.e heavy cotton or perhaps wool, the upper fabric near the figure's shoulders would not move as easily as the lower fabric does. Also the fabric would not fold in on itself as much; it would billow. I also had issues aesthetically with seeing the fabric catch the wind of the figure's movement as he walked or ran way too dramatically, like Terrence said. It wouldn't flap like that..it would lightly form an 'A' shape as it caught the air, much like a sail. It would not totally flip out and flap in the wind like this tech demo portrays.
I know I'm being a little critical, but to advance the technology, those that care should be so I feel.
Reply
2-19-2008 @ 11:35PM
Anticrawl said...
Well put, that's all that needs to be said in response to your comment.
2-19-2008 @ 11:38PM
ray42 said...
coulda nailed the framrate down a bit
2-19-2008 @ 11:40PM
ray42 said...
Shit my bad guys, it was some fff-ed up buffer :F
2-20-2008 @ 5:18AM
Boff said...
ray42: Ha ha that's exactly what I thought till I watched it the 2nd time!!
Magic Whiskey: At least it's a positive step in the right direction though, right?
2-19-2008 @ 11:36PM
Anticrawl said...
The real issue here is why Joystiq is using Game Videos. Their embedded videos are god awful.
Reply
2-19-2008 @ 11:55PM
flameofdoom666 said...
I may not be as trained as you Magic Whiskey, but I think it looks great!
Reply
2-20-2008 @ 1:54PM
Magic Whiskey said...
I'll say this: it's not Batman Begins. If you've played that you know right now what I mean. Poor Bats' cape was a wet Kleenex on his neck, didn't move well and was extremely tiny.
Think about all the games we already own (or have played) that could benefit from real cloth physics instead of NO cloth or stiff, cardboard sleds attached to necks of video game characters since time began.
To name a few just off the top of my head.. Soul Calibur (Remember when Spawn had a crappy axe instead of his cape? Physics.) Any dungeon crawler (Baldur's Gate, Diablo, etc), the LOTR games, countless superhero and Star Wars games, Crackdown (Imagine if your Agent had a nice big cloak or trenchcoat as he jumped building to building!), and games you might not immediately think about, like the GTA titles, Prince of Persia, any FPS you can name, ...hell, even flight games, (flags, banners), essentially ANY game you can think of that would benefit from fabric in any form.
The big talent when it comes to using an engine like this will be on the artistic side, I think. The manipulation of multiple fabrics and fabric-weights might be taxing on the system of course, but more importantly the artist has the task of portraying weight and fabric thickness correctly. Imagine an elf princess running. She might have a silk shawl, a cotton dress and a wool cloak. All of those separate clothing articles have to work independently, yet by the same external force or momentum (wind, movement), and still not clip at all with each other OR the model. That will be impressive when we finally see it all work in tandem, on the fly in our home consoles.
I'm kinda thinking, and I've BEEN thinking we won't see 'next-gen' until we can see something like that.
2-19-2008 @ 11:58PM
Adam said...
Its a cool concept but the cape flows to freely with little to no motion but its obviously something they could tweak.
Reply
2-20-2008 @ 12:05AM
Mikezula said...
UP! UP! AND AWAAAAY!!!
Reply
2-20-2008 @ 1:27AM
Brian said...
Meh... maybe it's just the poor resolution of this video, but this doesn't wow me.
Of course, I have no idea how this works, so it could be a revolution for all I know. >.>
Reply
2-20-2008 @ 1:43AM
Magic Whiskey said...
I don't deny this COULD BE a revolution; I want it to be, but so far this, in my opinion, is a stepping stone and one in the right direction.
If you want my take on decent, existing fabric physics in gameplay I'd have to only point you to Fable. That was pretty good for it's day.
2-20-2008 @ 4:24AM
Chase said...
Well, that's certainly lovely, but nonessential to actual gameplay. Appearance is nothing. Thirst is everything.
...
A licky boom boom down?
*flees*
Reply
2-20-2008 @ 12:16PM
Grant said...
i hope they aren't wasting too much time worrying about cloth physics, or that this is going to use up too much processing resources that could be used towards something more practical.
i have no problem with taking the next step towards realism, but i kinda feel like resources spent on something like this could be spent on greater interactivity in an environment or something more immersing.
Reply
2-20-2008 @ 3:23PM
malfunktion said...
Although rough, it looks better than anything I've seen before. Although the whole time i was more interested in seeing him sit down
Reply