The next idiotic pseudo-realism: Motion Blur

[taltamir]

Motion Blur is one of the stupidest thing to ever be implemented, it is found in a large number of games today. You need to find out how to disable it on a game by game basis... rarely there is an in game graphic option to turn it off, sometimes there is a command line argument, rarely you need modified files (which can be found online, just google "disable motion blur <game name>"

The logic that the idiots who implement it use is "games look like you have an HD camera floating 5 feet off the ground, human eyes are not HD camera and sometimes are subject to motion blur and other issues, so we implemented artificial motion blur to represent it and provide a more realistic and immersive experience"...

Which is pretty damn stupid considering that when you turn your head you instinctively blink to avoid it (which you don't in a game so you get horrible motion blur), and IRL you cannot run fast enough to produce motion blur (which you do in those games whenever you move), and if you are in a vehicle that causes motion blur, only the closest area would be blurred; aka, sit in a car that is going 60 miles an hour and look out the window straight down, the asphalt would be blurred (in those games the entire screen is blurred though)...

It is also very wrong because HD cameras are sure as hell subjected to motion blur, in fact cameras suffer from blur more so then a human eye... ever taken a blurry shot because your camera moved a little? And if you want to look at FPS, the human eye is capable of ridiculously higher FPS perception then cameras record...

basically its this pseudo realism that makes everything brown, too much shadows that don't properly account for light diffusion, and with too much bloom so it burns out your retina... basically it is super unrealistic.
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=224

That strip should be updated, now realism means "brown, too much shadows, too much bloom, motion blur, and a film grain effect"... (ugh, I hate film grain effect!)

 

[Dribble]

It's in every movie you watch - it stops them looking jerky, they would look terrible without it.

The problem is not with motion blur, just with how it is used in games. It's often ott, however some games like crysis use it pretty well (which is why you could play that game at < 30fps and still have it look smooth).

 

[Ancalagon44]

Its a pity they dont just use a higher framerate for movies. I never understood why the big move to HD included a vastly higher resolution, but movies are still recorded at 25Hz. WTF?

 

[NoQuarter]

I always turn off motion blur too. LCD already has enough "free" motion blur imo

But can we throw Depth of Field in there as the next-next idiotic pseudo realism effect? I hate it. It puts whatever you aren't looking at out of focus.. but the game has no idea what I'm actually looking at so I don't want it to put anything out of focus. If I stared only at the crosshairs it'd have some relevance, but then I'm not going to notice the effect anyway.

 

[at80eighty]

I think motion blur is kind of helpful - less jarring ergo taxing to the eyes - I guess a middle ground would be just setting how much motion blur each individual needs

 

[Idontcare]

Motion Blur is one of the stupidest thing to ever be implemented...

Absolute truth.

Personally I view the blur they artificially create in games as actually being anti-realism because excepting for those very rare moments (or the persistent kind like your "looking at the trees nearest the road while driving at 80mph" example) blurred vision is not a routine feature I experience from my ocular cortex in daily life.

Why stop there? Why not decide everyone wants to play their games as if they were legally blind and had 20/200 vision? The list of ways to cripple the visual experience need look no further than a standard medical journey on vision deterioration.

I can't wait to plunk down $60 for the next release of Rainbow Six only to find that my character has a case of extreme nearsightedness.

Now that's role-playing!

 

[dug777]

Absolute truth.

Personally I view the blur they artificially create in games as actually being anti-realism because excepting for those very rare moments (or the persistent kind like your "looking at the trees nearest the road while driving at 80mph" example) blurred vision is not a routine feature I experience from my ocular cortex in daily life.

Why stop there? Why not decide everyone wants to play their games as if they were legally blind and had 20/200 vision? The list of ways to cripple the visual experience need look no further than a standard medical journey on vision deterioration.

I can't wait to plunk down $60 for the next release of Rainbow Six only to find that my character has a case of extreme nearsightedness.

Now that's role-playing!

lmfao

 

[StrangerGuy]

L4D2 and Mass Effect 2 had the film grain feature which was silly too. Well, at least it can be easily disabled in the games.

 

[taltamir]

It's in every movie you watch - it stops them looking jerky, they would look terrible without it.

The problem is not with motion blur, just with how it is used in games. It's often ott, however some games like crysis use it pretty well (which is why you could play that game at < 30fps and still have it look smooth).

no they don't. Motion blur looks terrible in crysis and it was one of the more difficult ones to disable (had to get modified files)

Absolute truth.

Personally I view the blur they artificially create in games as actually being anti-realism because excepting for those very rare moments (or the persistent kind like your "looking at the trees nearest the road while driving at 80mph" example) blurred vision is not a routine feature I experience from my ocular cortex in daily life.

Why stop there? Why not decide everyone wants to play their games as if they were legally blind and had 20/200 vision? The list of ways to cripple the visual experience need look no further than a standard medical journey on vision deterioration.

I can't wait to plunk down $60 for the next release of Rainbow Six only to find that my character has a case of extreme nearsightedness.

Now that's role-playing!

that will be hilarious! and very much in line with what they have been doing thus far

oooh, I know, in addition to nearsightedness our hero should be color blind too!

 

[Tsavo]

Can get rid of lens flares, too.

I'm out slaying dragons and there's fucking lens flares as if I'm at home in my grass and mud hut watching HD video of my exploits as filmed by my trusty squire.

 

[taltamir]

Can get rid of lens flares, too.

I'm out slaying dragons and there's fucking lens flares as if I'm at home in my grass and mud hut watching HD video of my exploits as filmed by my trusty squire.

I agree with you there...
Speaking of, has anyone here ever experiences lens flare IRL without a camera? I don't recall my eye producing that particular effect...
ooh... and exaggerated head bobbing... I am talking about going up and down by about 20 cm, and no matter how slow you go... walk slowly and you will slooooowly bob up and down.
Is the target audience parapalegic miopic color blind bed-ridden individuals who have never walked, been outside, ran, etc? do they think nobody in the audience will notice that this is not what happens when you walk? If you run fast it moves slightly... but not as much as in the games.

 

[darckhart]

hahaha i completely agree! hate motion blur, hate dof, hate lens flare, hate stupid extreme head bobbing. if i wanted real life i'd go outside with my paintball gun.

 

[Genx87]

The lens flare can make sense. Though in the game to realistically model it they should have the players eyes close. But the head bobbing is dumb as hell. Our eyes rarely show this because they cosntantly adjust to provide a constant level view.

 

[NoQuarter]

I'd like to see an effect where staring at the sun makes it go blue as your receptors go numb to yellow then I can stare at the sun in game instead of having to do it outside.

 

[YBS1]

This stupidity started well before now. The first real instance of "forced realism" that I can recall was dynamic crosshairs. The idea being of course a person would be less accurate if they are moving so let's force their weapon to spray all over the damn place. Well guess what, if I'm moving I'm going to be less accurate anyway by the very nature of being in motion....just make my damn bullets go exactly where the crosshairs are. Now if you want to add some realistic recoil I'm fine with that, but my bullets should still hit the exact mark of the crosshair at the time I fired them.

 

[Rifter]

Yeah it sucks, i hate all the crap they try and add to make it look more real but end up making it look more fake.

Like head bob thats so exaggerated it looks like you are hurdeling midgets while running.

 

[taltamir]

so its called dynamic crosshair then? I hate that.

Like head bob thats so exaggerated it looks like you are hurdeling midgets while running.

that is a hilarious visual.

 

[Qbah]

I honestly don't mind any of those things... the dynamic crosshair, the blur, the film grain effect, the lens flares... I really don't mind I actually think they're pretty cool...

 

[taltamir]

I honestly don't mind any of those things... the dynamic crosshair, the blur, the film grain effect, the lens flares... I really don't mind I actually think they're pretty cool...

I am glad you are enjoying those (no sarcasm, really! I am glad to hear some people are at least enjoying it; I never ascribed to the whole "share the suffering" mentality). I find them insufferable though.
I am curious though, what do you think about everything being so brown?

 

[0roo0roo]

Its a pity they dont just use a higher framerate for movies. I never understood why the big move to HD included a vastly higher resolution, but movies are still recorded at 25Hz. WTF?

Its like calling a painting bad because its not a photo though Its different in film because you are not in first person control. It really doesn't matter for most things in film, you don't need to super high frame rate to pull off the instant feed back loop to your brain to combine with your inputs and what you see on the screen. In film its passive. For the same reason in film they have focus pull, not everything is in focus all the time, any photographer knows this trick,having everything always in focus is not advantageous aesthetically or for good story telling. Whats good in games just doesn't have much relevance in film. When everything is in focus and super smooth it looks like a soap opera, rather unpleasant to look at. They have a whole bag of cinematic trick to tell stories with, hardly ever do they ever use a first person perspective for good reason, its just not necessary or effective for the medium.

Some people complain about hdr as well, they'd rather ugly up everything just to get a better score. I just don't think its worth reducing immersion for supposed points. The extreme examples pretty much turn off everything in pursuit of frame rate...it was rather more extreme in the past.

 

[Qbah]

I am glad you are enjoying those (no sarcasm, really! I am glad to hear some people are at least enjoying it; I never ascribed to the whole "share the suffering" mentality). I find them insufferable though.
I am curious though, what do you think about everything being so brown?

What do you mean - brown? All games have plenty of colors. Could you give me an example, so I know what you mean?

Though I do game on a 40" HDTV... The color saturation is really good on those It does look bleak on my LCD (TN) which is really close to it, so I can really see the difference. Do you game on an IPS or PVA panel? Or TN?

 

[taltamir]

Its like calling a painting bad because its not a photo though Its different in film because you are not in first person control. It really doesn't matter for most things in film, you don't need to super high frame rate to pull off the instant feed back loop to your brain to combine with your inputs and what you see on the screen. In film its passive. For the same reason in film they have focus pull, not everything is in focus all the time, any photographer knows this trick,having everything always in focus is not advantageous aesthetically or for good story telling. Whats good in games just doesn't have much relevance in film. When everything is in focus and super smooth it looks like a soap opera, rather unpleasant to look at. They have a whole bag of cinematic trick to tell stories with, hardly ever do they ever use a first person perspective for good reason, its just not necessary or effective for the medium.

Thats well put and explain why movies can get away with it... but it doesn't explain the reason... the reason is technological limitations and cost. Filming at 200 FPS is not trivial, cameras have to make tradeoffs between different metrics of quality, and in addition to those tradeoffs, they must make a tradeoff between cost to produce/purchase said camera and its quality.

What do you mean - brown? All games have plenty of colors. Could you give me an example, so I know what you mean?

here is an article discussing the REASON behind the "brown" phenomenon: http://www.allegory-of-the-game.com/archives/99
Notice the difference between the screenshots of mirror's edge and gears of war.

 

[Tempered81]

I like the effect of motion blur in single player modes because of how it adds to the atompshere and realism. Object motion blur is pretty cool. However, it isn't good for competitive multiplayer; I'll agree with you there.

 

[taltamir]

I like the effect of motion blur in single player modes because of how it adds to the atompshere and realism. Object motion blur is pretty cool. However, it isn't good for competitive multiplayer; I'll agree with you there.

Turn your head to the side, did you see motion blur?
Go run as fast as you can, did you see motion blur?

What exactly is realistic about it?

 

[Qbah]

here is an article discussing the REASON behind the "brown" phenomenon: http://www.allegory-of-the-game.com/archives/99
Notice the difference between the screenshots of mirror's edge and gears of war.

Interesting read. I just assumed it's art direction in games and not really something dictated by current state of the technology. I don't mind if they do it to make games look more real - as long as it's not every single game (which thankfully it's not). Luckily we do have variety