Video Games - realistic hair

[Yozhik]

In the video game world, a jump has been made to produce realistic hair for video game characters using complex physics modeling.

This blog (http://blogs.amd.com/play/tressfx/) details how the program works and has images of the new, more realistic hair. I thought this group was the right crowd to share this news with. :)

[Tabihito]

Oooh, now I just need Bioware to jump all over this for the next Dragon Age game...

Or a Skyrim mod. I'd take a Skyrim mod.

[millyaulait]

Ohhhh, lovely!

I love the texture hair mods in Skyrim, but this is so pretty. :o

[Cania]

Oooh, now I just need Bioware to jump all over this for the next Dragon Age game...

Or a Skyrim mod. I'd take a Skyrim mod.

Anything would be an improvement on the DA: Origins hair for women :P

[jacqueline101]

I've noticed they seem more realistic but I thought it was me.

[Wavelength]

Is that actually supposed to be images of Lara Croft on the blog?

If so, where's her long braid gone? And since when has she become an emo little 15-year-old?

Seriously, Lara Croft is supposed to be kickass. This chick looks like she'd cry if she broke a nail.

(Oh wait, I was supposed to be looking at the hair. Yeah, that looks pretty good.) :p

[Dziip]

Is that actually supposed to be images of Lara Croft on the blog?

If so, where's her long braid gone? And since when has she become an emo little 15-year-old?

Seriously, Lara Croft is supposed to be kickass. This chick looks like she'd cry if she broke a nail.

(Oh wait, I was supposed to be looking at the hair. Yeah, that looks pretty good.) :p

It's her first adventure... when she becomes the badass woman we know :P

It's so great to see better hair on video games ! I agree with Tabihito : Bioware come on !!!

[FireFromWithin]

Is this a bit like what they did with merida's hair in brave. They programmed all the strands separately or something (am incapable of understanding computers, they don't like me). It is amazingly cool.

[PrincessIdril]

Wow that is a fascinating find, thanks for sharing.
It's nice to see how Lara has developed from her original pointy boobs and rectangle ponytail!

[Syaoransbear]

It always bothered me how they couldn't do hair right in video games but they could do everything else very realistically. Bad hair dates a game's graphics so easily.

[cathair]

Is that actually supposed to be images of Lara Croft on the blog?

If so, where's her long braid gone? And since when has she become an emo little 15-year-old?

Seriously, Lara Croft is supposed to be kickass. This chick looks like she'd cry if she broke a nail.

(Oh wait, I was supposed to be looking at the hair. Yeah, that looks pretty good.) :p

I think it's supposed to be a prequel, so I guess she would be younger, but I agree I don't like the new Lara either. The storyline has been quite controversial too. I am wondering if she will lose her female fan base.

Hair does look technically great though, even if I don't like it on Lara.

[Cheele]

It always bothered me how they couldn't do hair right in video games but they could do everything else very realistically. Bad hair dates a game's graphics so easily.

I complete agree with this. One of my biggest pet peeves is icky video game hair (naturally, haha). So, yesssssss, I love this. Thank you for sharing :).

[EdG]

It's good to see progress on one of the grand challenges in computer graphics - rendering realistic hair.

Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit. Rendering hair is a hard problem, but rendering LHC hair might be a grand challenge. :lol:
Ed

[Nae]

Oh yes, that is a definite improvement. Nice! The shine is still a bit weird though but.....I can't expect everything. We are only so many years removed from the Super Mario Bros after all. Now THAT was some pixelated hair.

[PraiseCheeses]

Very cool!

Considering how much effort game designers and programmers seemingly have put into making bosoms bounce since the first days of polygon characters (Great Fairies in The Ocarina of Time, anyone? shudder:), it's about time. First things first, I guess. :lol:

[Seeshami]

They spend all this time and fuss on her hair and can't even throw a bone to her necklace.......:eye:

I still have a soft sport for 8-bit.

[Wavelength]

I think it's supposed to be a prequel, so I guess she would be younger, but I agree I don't like the new Lara either. The storyline has been quite controversial too. I am wondering if she will lose her female fan base.

Hair does look technically great though, even if I don't like it on Lara.

Is this the storyline where she almost gets raped? I heard something about that and I was kind of disappointed and disgusted. What is it with strong female characters who keep getting pushed into becoming rape victims? It's like they're saying you can't be a genuinely strong woman unless you've been raped first, which is all sorts of problematic.

(I'll shut up now before I hijack the thread from the main point, which is the hair.)

[cathair]

Is this the storyline where she almost gets raped? I heard something about that and I was kind of disappointed and disgusted. What is it with strong female characters who keep getting pushed into becoming rape victims? It's like they're saying you can't be a genuinely strong woman unless you've been raped first, which is all sorts of problematic.

(I'll shut up now before I hijack the thread from the main point, which is the hair.)

That is almost exactly what I said when I heard about the storyline too, I couldn't have put it better (article here is anybody if is wondering (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/13/tomb-raider-lara-croft-rape-attempt)). I don't think whoever wrote that could have ever understood her original personality or why people admired and looked up to her. It made me wonder an awful lot about the current developers of the game. I think I read somewhere they have toned it down a bit now. I don't know if I will dare to play it and find out.

[Syaoransbear]

I've always thought Pixar in recent years has done a fantastic job with hair graphics. I was very impressed with the hair in Tangled and Brave, which is funny because the characters were so cartoonish.

[EdG]

I've always thought Pixar in recent years has done a fantastic job with hair graphics. I was very impressed with the hair in Tangled and Brave, which is funny because the characters were so cartoonish.The difference between computer graphics in movies and video games is that movie frames are rendered very slowly, from minutes to hours per frame. Movies can do a lot more computing than video games running at 60 frames per second.
Ed

[Syaoransbear]

The difference between computer graphics in movies and video games is that movie frames are rendered very slowly, from minutes to hours per frame. Movies can do a lot more computing than video games running at 60 frames per second.
Ed

Of course, and I'm not expecting pixar quality hair for in-game play, but there's really no excuse for yucky hair anymore in rendered cutscenes in video games. Hair in rendered cutscenes still looks like garbage even in recent video games.

[cathair]

My brother has noticed some interesting hair glicthes in the new Tomb Raider game with Tressfx:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3092&d=1362689357

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3093&d=1362689361

I guess you would have to expect a few bugs with something so complexed, doesn't detract from what they have done.

I decided to give Tomb Raider a try before I make my mind about it. I have been asking other people who have played it what they think and I am starting to wonder if some of that article it taking parts of it out of context.

[Yozhik]

Interesting! So as a result sometimes the bugs make her have really short hair?

As for the fact that there are bugs, I`m not surprised - my boyfriend worked as a QA tester for a while, and like you said, with such complex games there are so many bugs that even the QA team is basically only supposed to note down bugs that impede progress in the game. :shrug:

I'd be curious to hear from anyone who has played the game. I, too, read about the sexist almost-rapey scene, but I don't actually know anyone who played it.

[Wavelength]

Interesting! So as a result sometimes the bugs make her have really short hair?

As for the fact that there are bugs, I`m not surprised - my boyfriend worked as a QA tester for a while, and like you said, with such complex games there are so many bugs that even the QA team is basically only supposed to note down bugs that impede progress in the game. :shrug:

I'd be curious to hear from anyone who has played the game. I, too, read about the sexist almost-rapey scene, but I don't actually know anyone who played it.

I was just talking to a friend who has played it, and he said he was uncomfortable with both the almost-rape scene and the overly-realistic death animations. Apparently there's a death animation which shows Lara being graphically impaled on a spike through the bottom of her chin and up through her head. She lies twitching on the spike as she dies. Ugh.

He stopped playing at that point, but he really wishes he hadn't seen that -- because now he can't "unsee" it.

He's been in the army and he's got a reasonably thick skin. So if that got to him, then it's definitely not something I want to see, either.

[cathair]

I actually remember seeing the spike animation in the original game. Even in it's blocky way it was very gruesome, the sound effect it also quite gut wrenching. On the positive side I have heard the levels are very well designed and that it is fairly true to the original game.