people tell me "make the scene that works from the fixed angle then render it realtime" and

[eniko@mastodon.gamedev.place]

RE: https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@eniko/116115487242931795

people tell me "make the scene that works from the fixed angle then render it realtime" and

i don't get it. it's so easy to throw around free premade assets and make a stunning scene in blender without worrying about it being "game-ready"

plus, i can do stuff like volumetric scattering in blender

i dunno, maybe i'm stupid but this way feels a lot easier to me
*and* produces an aesthetic that stands out. anyway, i like it and i'm going to be doing more in this style because i think it's cool

[eniko@mastodon.gamedev.place]

making game ready assets is so fucking stressful. i love fucking around in blender with zero stress about finding out because none of it *ever* has to get imported into a real 3d engine

[snoopj@hachyderm.io]

@eniko you're not stupid, it *is* cool

I would hazard a guess that most people flinch away from what feels like (and is!) a restriction of what can be expressed with a strategy like this, but I think it's neat if you're willing to accept that kind of constraint and let it sharpen your intentions

[eniko@mastodon.gamedev.place]

also if you prerender you can pull that shit into photoshop and go to town on it in a way that you just can't with realtime rendering

[craigp@mastodon.social]

@eniko I was thinking: nearly every gameready asset is at least partly prerendered. That's what a normal map is! That's what a texture is!

[ataylor@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@eniko TBH while it looks really cool this is the part where folks get reluctant, I think. Because once you start painting over the render it becomes a massive amount of effort to iterate on the result. (i.e, "This rock looks bad here, let's move it" quickly becomes a multi-day task.)

Which may or may not be an issue for you! But there are definite disadvantages to baked data.

[ataylor@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@eniko (This is the real reason AAA gets excited about RTX, as well. Yes you _can_ bake lighting, but the artist experience of baked lighting _sucks_.)

[oblomov@sociale.network]

@eniko there was an interesting video critic of the remastered edition of Abe's Oddysee that made that point (along others; it pointed out several flaws in the remake and the mixed 3D/hand painted art style of the original vs the plain 3D of the remake was only one of the issues)