Valve Demos High Dynamic Range Lighting News

Half-Life2 developer Valve has today released a video that demonstrates the implementation of High Dynamic Range lighting in its forthcoming expansion Half-Life2: Lost Coast.

In an interview with bit-tech.net, Valveâ??s Director of Marketing, Doug Lombardi about the implementation of HDR in Lost Coast, and what the technology allows developers to do. Lombardi explained that HDR can be applied for a range of visual effects including:

• Blooming â?“ emulates overexposure in cameras
• HDR Skybox â?“ multiple exposures are created allowing for adjustment in real-time
• HDR Cube Maps â?“ allows for an objectâ??s reflection to be cast more accurately with the brightness of the source
• HDR Water Reflection/Refraction â?“ white spots and blooming due to the reflection of a bright light
• HDR Refraction Effect â?“ HDR light takes on the properties of the refracted material
• HDR Light Maps â?“ generated by a radiosity process and takes into account light bounces and global illumination
• HDR Light Sources â?“ greater range of light values for developers to draw
• Exposure Control â?“ enables gamers to experience aperture adjustments between dark and light environments

The demonstration video shows off a majority of the features listed above, with the major difference being the â??wetâ?? sand implemented through HDR â?“ although in the interview with bit-tech.net, Lombardi revealed that PCs may have to have up to 2GB of RAM and a 3GB processor as well as a 6800GT / X800Pro graphics card to fully realise the effects of HDR in Lost Coast.

As well as being implemented in The Lost Coast, the next version of Day of Defeat is also expected to utilised HDR â?“ whilst Lost Coast is expected to be launched via Steam in July, Valve are yet to announce when the HDR integrated Day of Defeat will be available.

Weâ??ll have more shortly...