EA has released a new video showing off the next-gen Frostbite engine technology that simulated realistic hair. Frostbite is an engine that is developed by EA and designed for cross-platform use. It was released 11 years ago back in 2008, and was first used in the Battlefield series.
EA says that it has devoted a small team of people at its DICE and Criterion studios to work on pushing Frostbite above and beyond its limits.
Our purpose is to produce a step change in real-time hair and reach results close to movie and offline rendering. Starting last year, a small group of frostbite physics and rendering engineers have been working on pushing this technology forward, and, while we still have quite a lot of work ahead of us, we’re proud of what we achieved. This wouldn’t have been possible without the help of a few amazing Criterion content creators whose assets and constant feedback drove us forward.
Take a look at what the team has come up with:
The video shows a series of hair simulations that not only look realistic but amazing. In the video, we can see a faceless mannequin running around and whipping their long colorful hair from side to side.
EA also discusses some things that the new systems can do on its Blog Post. The new system can bring “believable natural and artificial coloring.” The video shows that dynamic changes of the hair melanin and smoothness parameters which produce a natural color change.
Another feature they discuss is “Volume Preservation,” which allows content creators to tweak a large number of parameters to achieve a wide range of behaviors,
While details are scarce on this new technology that EA is working on, the company plans to publish blog posts about each part of this new system.
We do not know how this technology will be implemented in the near future, as we are currently unsure of the specs of either Microsoft or Sony’s next-gen consoles. But as a work-in-progress for what Frostbite is capable of, it certainly seems that the future will bring more realistic and exciting features to games.
What do you think of the new hair simulation EA is working on using its Frostbite engine? Post your comments below.
