AMD demos Cinema 2.0 with movie-realistic graphics

Posted at: 10:51am 13th August 2008 by Ben Hardwidge

Real-time photo-realistic models could appear in future games, and could also help out CG effects artists in the movie business

If you think that the foliage in Crysis looks pretty realistic for in-game graphics, then prepare for a jolt, as AMD has just demonstrated its Cinema 2.0 technology, and the potential results are stunningly realistic. Just take a look at the woman on the left, who has been rendered entirely in CG, and in real-time too.

At a tech demonstration in New York yesterday, AMD showed how the image was generated. The model stands in a curvy room that looks like something from an arty dream sequence, with walls covered in high definition cameras at all angles. The cameras take pictures and flash incredibly rapidly, a bit like the Bullet Time technique used in ‘The Matrix,’ to the point where the flashing on and off apparently appears invisible to the human eye, and they look like straightforward lights.

According to Joystiq, the cameras can ‘capture surface detail to a level that surpasses human touch,’ resulting in an incredibly detailed model that can then be translated into 3D. With the model digitally captured, game developers could then manipulate it how they want, and render it in real-time. The process could also be beneficial to CG effects teams in the movie business as well, who could possibly create and manipulate digital actors much quicker than before.

A number of game developers were listed as partners in the AMD presentation, including Crytek, Blizzard, Splash Damage, Rebellion and Remedy, although it’s fair to say that it will be a few years before we start to see graphics such as this in games. Even so, it’s an amazing tech demo, and we recommend having a look through the pictures below.

Via Joystiq.


You can see a couple of Cinema 2.0 videos in our Radeon HD 4870 X2 review here, and download them for high-res viewing