The Great HDR Debacle

There has been a disturbing trend lately in game graphics development to apparently consider the use of HDR Bloom Lighting appropriate in all contexts. Game developers appear to think of Bloom lighting as the magic “make aesthetically better” effect, and seem to think that the more it blooms, the better it is.

Although the trend has continued into modern games (I’d like to at least mention Bioshock, although I think I’ve beaten that horse to death), Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion still stands alone as an exemplar of how to do HDR Bloom badly, as this screenshot demonstrates:

Here we see very clearly what the problem is.  The structure in the background is so blown out with the bloom lighting that we cannot see any of the expensive detail put into it.  The building becomes simply a featureless white mass.

If we were to take a video capture of this area in Oblivion, we would find that the bloom lighting never lessens; the side of that building will be forever blown out in extreme brightness.  If we compare that approach with Valve’s Half-Life2, we begin to see what is perhaps a much more appropriate take on the effect.

In Half-Life2, blooming lessens as players look at bright spots, and increases as players look at dark spots.  This simulates players’ eyes adjusting.  In this case, instead of merely being an overdone pretty effect, HDR actually adds to the experience, increasing immersion and even changing gameplay slightly.

~ by shinyaryart on September 11, 2007.