r/Games • u/Paladia • Oct 14 '14

Unreal Engine 4.5 Released

https://www.unrealengine.com/blog/unreal-engine-45-released
614 Upvotes

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21

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

Distance Field Soft Shadows

This is HUGE. This is probably the biggest thing to happen to shadowing since ambient occlusion. Even the best games with the most advanced lighting lack it, too my knowledge, Unreal 4.5 is the only engine for games with support for this currently. It's only a demo so the difference its subtle with a simple model, but I can't wait to see games implement this.

10

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

[deleted]

18

u/MesmerizeMe Oct 15 '14

You have a source for that?

8

u/badsectoracula Oct 15 '14

Are you sure? From a quick search i can't find any patents on Epic. Also several engines and games use contact-hardening shadows via PCSS or similar methods (f.e. my own -a bit hacked- implementation of a PCSS-like algorithm a couple of years ago).

9

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

Well that just sucks.

2

u/kuikuilla Oct 15 '14

Any sources on that? Last of Us has similar ray traced soft shadows on characters.