[Tai Scott]

Tessellation is a feature that has been near perfected in directx11, if you wanna know what it is go here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ABeq7PEdRc

this is the heaven benchmark. a game engine/tool to test the capability of your systems hardware. heaven is special because its fantastic use of tessellation within the game engine, a feature that may or may not be used in skyrim. but from what todd howard said we can expect it to be used in some way as its the biggest thing in the dx11 arsenal "Yes, but I guess the real question here is do we take advantage of DX11's big new features and the answer is 'not specifically'." meaning that they wont focus on making a game JUST to LOOK great, they want a game that will RUN great, on everything its released for. and i think we can all respect that. but if you take a look at the video you will notice that tessellation does not make the game too shiny or anything nor is it some space aged tech, its been around a long time just never used in this way, a tool to assist with adding extra geometric detail with low performance cost. so that whole "not specifically" line makes me think that it will be used, just not to do anything huge, although it has the potential to.

so, here are the places i expect it to be utilized.

Armor and weapons.
im not sure but i think the proof is staring right at you, the nord in the background, take a look. notice something? its either a high res model of the in-game character or a tessellated model of the in-game character or its completely photo-shopped to look photo-realistic. look at the horns on the helm, then go look at the horns in the trailer.

Water and other similar effects
this i think is a given..even wow has tessellated water.

Architecture.
the nordic ruins look great dont get me wrong, but most all the surfaces could use definition . but the wall in the shot with the zombies..great looking.

Npc & creatures
tesselated meshes go a long way to sell the image, none more so than the things you interact with. go play metro 2033 or the new stalker game, youll see what im talking about.

and maybe some other world objects,

[Adrian Powers]

It won't be in. While the game will have DX11 support, they're not making use of many of it's big features. From statements they've made, that is most likely any feature that will affect it's graphics.

[Ana Torrecilla Cabeza]

It won't be in. While the game will have DX11 support, they're not making use of many of it's big features. From statements they've made, that is most likely any feature that will affect it's graphics.

you again.
oh and SOURCE?
that was a fast post too, did you read the whole comment or do you just not like me

[Juanita Hernandez]

"Yes, but I guess the real question here is do we take advantage of DX11's big new features and the answer is 'not specifically'. Our graphics work centers around doing things that will look the same regardless of platform, and sometimes that implementation will be different on the 360, PS3, and PC. "

That's my source, but there is some speculation involved. My reasoning, and others I have talked with, is that if they are working to keep them all looking the same, then the features most likely to not be included are those that will have an impact on the visuals. I can't think of one that will have a greater impact on graphics than tessellation. That, combined with what it would require to get it working on the PC, they probably aren't going to take that extra effort. It would require them to prep each model specifically with an additional depth map to make use of it.

edit: Don't get me wrong, I would love to be surprised. I'm just not very optimistic about it. The game is, at it's core, a DX9 game.

[Bones47]

Tessellation is a feature that has been near perfected in directx11, if you wanna know what it is go here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ABeq7PEdRc

this is the heaven benchmark. a game engine/tool to test the capability of your systems hardware. heaven is special because its fantastic use of tessellation within the game engine, a feature that may or may not be used in skyrim. but from what todd howard said we can expect it to be used in some way as its the biggest thing in the dx11 arsenal "Yes, but I guess the real question here is do we take advantage of DX11's big new features and the answer is 'not specifically'." meaning that they wont focus on making a game JUST to LOOK great, they want a game that will RUN great, on everything its released for. and i think we can all respect that. but if you take a look at the video you will notice that tessellation does not make the game too shiny or anything nor is it some space aged tech, its been around a long time just never used in this way, a tool to assist with adding extra geometric detail with low performance cost. so that whole "not specifically" line makes me think that it will be used, just not to do anything huge, although it has the potential to.

so, here are the places i expect it to be utilized.

Armor and weapons.
im not sure but i think the proof is staring right at you, the nord in the background, take a look. notice something? its either a high res model of the in-game character or a tessellated model of the in-game character or its completely photo-shopped to look photo-realistic. look at the horns on the helm, then go look at the horns in the trailer.

Water and other similar effects
this i think is a given..even wow has tessellated water.

Architecture.
the nordic ruins look great dont get me wrong, but most all the surfaces could use definition . but the wall in the shot with the zombies..great looking.

Npc & creatures
tesselated meshes go a long way to sell the image, none more so than the things you interact with. go play metro 2033 or the new stalker game, youll see what im talking about.

and maybe some other world objects,

slow down for a second the trailer and im pretty sure the screenshots where done on a 360

[Heather beauchamp]

but its really not that big a deal to use a tessellated mesh on the more practical items, where it really changes things is when its used in an extreme situation like in the heaven benchmark, you only need to look at the airship to know what i mean by that.. if it was just water [which you cant deny is PROBABLY the main reason they wanted to use it] then it wouldn't change much at all. The same can be said of the character models, creatures, weapons, and armor. play metro 2033 in dx10 then switch it to 11, whats the major difference, slight definition?

also there are varying levels of tessellation, it doesn't need to be set on extreme, what i saw in heaven was 3 sliding bars to set the level, and the max was pretty extreme, SKYRIM does not have to be.

[kat no x]

but its really not that big a deal to use a tessellated mesh on the more practical items, where it really changes things is when its used in an extreme situation like in the heaven benchmark, you only need to look at the airship to know what i mean by that.. if it was just water [which you cant deny is PROBABLY the main reason they wanted to use it] then it wouldn't change much at all. The same can be said of the character models, creatures, weapons, and armor. play metro 2033 in dx10 then switch it to 11, whats the major difference, slight definition?

also there are varying levels of tessellation, it doesn't need to be set on extreme, what i saw in heaven was 3 sliding bars to set the level, and the max was pretty extreme, SKYRIM does not have to be.

That's just it, I don't think they did want to use it. I think they built the engine capable of handling DX11 so that it won't get outdated too quickly, but that they're not going to really utilize it in this particular game.

As for your assertion that it won't change much, I disagree. You take the same models used on the console versions, create and apply the depth map to it and the item will be a lot more detailed than their console counterparts. They'll be much smoother with more fine details. We're not just talking higher resolution textures here.

[Luna Lovegood]

slow down for a second the trailer and im pretty sure the screenshots where done on a 360

i know that. thats why i was making a comparison.

[Roberto Gaeta]

That's just it, I don't think they did want to use it. I think they built the engine capable of handling DX11 so that it won't get outdated too quickly, but that they're not going to really utilize it in this particular game.

what exactly does that mean? that they expect us to do it? i find that hard to believe. if that was the case what was the point of supporting it in the first place?

[Suzie Dalziel]

if that was the case what was the point of supporting it in the first place?

1) it's already in the engine for the next game they make, and

2) I'm sure there are efficiencies and improvements in DX11, even if you aren't using the obvious "oooh aaah" eyecandy features

3) with DX11 support built into the engine, modders have a better chance of being able to activate some of the stuff that's not used by the vanilla game.

[louise fortin]

what exactly does that mean? that they expect us to do it? i find that hard to believe. if that was the case what was the point of supporting it in the first place?

The point is that they want the engine to last. At things advance, they'll have need of it. They'll be prepared. Right now, as much as I want it, it is admittedly not real common and it does require a fair amount of extra work to get up and running. People who do have DX11 will still benefit from other aspects of it, like increased efficiency (most likely), so it's not useless.

As for us putting it in, we'll have to wait and see how hard it is for us to activate it. To my understanding, there are two parts to it. First, the equations have to be put in to tell the engine how to tessellate the objects in the game. The second part is that each object to be tessellated has to be prepped with depth maps, at least, so that the engine will know what to do with the new vertices once it's created them. Depth mapping the whole game would be a big chore for a relatively small body of gamers. What will be required for us to activate, though... It may be that we just need to make a bunch of depth maps and tweak the ini file. Who knows.

I expect that as the use of DX11 grows, it's more likely that following titles like maybe Fallout 4 will actually utilize it.

[LuBiE LoU]

It won't be in. While the game will have DX11 support, they're not making use of many of it's big features. From statements they've made, that is most likely any feature that will affect it's graphics.

I'm thinking it will only be used for water. However, the good news is that it's there for us modders. Time for some fun :disguise:

[cheryl wright]

The point is that they want the engine to last. At things advance, they'll have need of it. They'll be prepared. Right now, as much as I want it, it is admittedly not real common and it does require a fair amount of extra work to get up and running. People who do have DX11 will still benefit from other aspects of it, like increased efficiency (most likely), so it's not useless.

As for us putting it in, we'll have to wait and see how hard it is for us to activate it. To my understanding, there are two parts to it. First, the equations have to be put in to tell the engine how to tessellate the objects in the game. The second part is that each object to be tessellated has to be prepped with depth maps, at least, so that the engine will know what to do with the new vertices once it's created them. Depth mapping the whole game would be a big chore for a relatively small body of gamers. What will be required for us to activate, though... It may be that we just need to make a bunch of depth maps and tweak the ini file. Who knows.

I expect that as the use of DX11 grows, it's more likely that following titles like maybe Fallout 4 will actually utilize it.

right, its like scripting multiple subdivisions to happen at the same time on different parts of the mesh and at varying levels of intensity. im sure eventully a plugin will come along to make the process much more streamlined if there isn't one already. but i doubt bethesda would take the time to do it all manually.. so i guess your right, its unlikely, but hey we dont know the kinds of tools that are in the new creation kit. it could happen.

[Izzy Coleman]

Sadly we won't see all these cool new feature in cross platform games until the next gen consoles are out. Crysis 2 doesn't have it and one of it's selling points is its look.

[My blood]

right, its like scripting multiple subdivisions to happen at the same time on different parts of the mesh and at varying levels of intensity. im sure eventully a plugin will come along to make the process much more streamlined if there isn't one already. but i doubt bethesda would take the time to do it all manually.. so i guess your right, its unlikely, but hey we dont know the kinds of tools that are in the new creation kit. it could happen.

The best part is this is the first time that such a large modding community such as TES modding community will get their hands on tessellation. It's time for us to perfect tessellation where others have failed. Even heaven benchmark had some issues with tessellation like some of their cobblestone streets were too inflated by the tessellation. A few height map changes would fix that.

[jesse villaneda]

right, its like scripting multiple subdivisions to happen at the same time on different parts of the mesh and at varying levels of intensity. im sure eventully a plugin will come along to make the process much more streamlined if there isn't one already. but i doubt bethesda would take the time to do it all manually.. so i guess your right, its unlikely, but hey we dont know the kinds of tools that are in the new creation kit. it could happen.

I agree, it is possible. I was quite surprised when they said it even would have DX11 support. So it is possible. I'm just not very optimistic.

And as Sleign said, I look forward to modding.

[Kristina Campbell]

The best part is this is the first time that such a large modding community such as TES modding community will get their hands on tessellation. It's time for us to perfect tessellation where others have failed. Even heaven benchmark had some issues with tessellation like some of their cobblestone streets were too inflated by the tessellation. A few height map changes would fix that.

I agree, it is possible. I was quite surprised when they said it even would have DX11 support. So it is possible. I'm just not very optimistic.

And as Sleign said, I look forward to modding.

:foodndrink:
same here.
i should be working on that now actually,unity blender morrowind..they all miss me, cant stay off these forums XD

[Sammygirl]

:foodndrink:
same here.
i should be working on that now actually,unity blender morrowind..they all miss me, cant stay off these forums XD

Right now, Maya is calling me. Been working on something for NV.

Hopefully by the time Skyrim comes out, I'll be able to get my skills that much higher.

[Brandon Wilson]

I can't wait to see what the modders do with this. This kind of thing is why I program and don't model, it all changes too fast and too quickly.

[Shaylee Shaw]

Right now, Maya is calling me. Been working on something for NV.

Hopefully by the time Skyrim comes out, I'll be able to get my skills that much higher.

:bowdown: Maya

[Ezekiel Macallister]

:bowdown: Maya

Huh... that emote doesn't work too well om this board anymore lol. At least not when it isn't in quotes.

[Janette Segura]

:bowdown: Maya

I picked it up in College and it quickly became my modeller of choice over Sketchup, Rhino or 3ds Max (which very few used). Not that Maya was very popular, either.