CGI Renders Are Real Photos (2017)

This can happen accidentally as well. For example, the default Windows 10 wallpaper was created using a physical model, an array of projectors, and a smoke machine. Alas, the end result turned out to be indistinguishable from CG. [1]<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=ewmXizBqjl0">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=ewmXizBqjl0</a>

That reminds me of a real world experience I had a few years ago, where a real engine in front of my eyes looked like CGI.<p>I was on a small cruise on Switzerland&#x27;s PS Gallia [1], the fastest lake steamboat in Europe. When you&#x27;re on it, you can look down the center of the main deck to watch the engine at work. The engine is <i>perfect</i>. Perfect casing with diffuse white (IIRC) reflection, perfect golden metallic joints with glossy reflection, perfect little vials of oil on top of each moving part, to constantly oil them. It felt too perfect to be real, and really looked like it was animated CGI, yet it was there, 3 meters away from me, moving and powering the boat.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.lakelucerne.ch&#x2F;en&#x2F;your-cruise-experience&#x2F;explore&#x2F;our-fleet&#x2F;steamboat-gallia&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.lakelucerne.ch&#x2F;en&#x2F;your-cruise-experience&#x2F;explore...</a>

Ah yes! I came from a 3rd world country. The urban planning is chaotic and pollution everywhere.<p>Whenever I travel to a 1st world western country, both city and suburb, I see the clear blue sky and sceneries (buildings, roads, layout) that make me feel like I&#x27;m in a 3D FPS or city sim game.

The &quot;logo teaser&quot; &#x2F; title announcement for the Lord of the Rings - The Rings of Power show also made lots of people think it was some form of CGI, since they felt it didn&#x27;t look believable. Turns out it was actually filmed with practical effects.<p>The teaser: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=QhqGCPMfkNM">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=QhqGCPMfkNM</a><p>Behind the scenes: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=OC_yTMST7mw">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=OC_yTMST7mw</a>

There is a youtube channel which does a whole variety of mechanical contraptions, and it is absolutely impossible to tell if it is real from the videos.<p>I cannot remember it unfortunately, but the youtuber had to show some background footage to convince people those weren&#x27;t fake.<p>edit: Found it - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;@OleksandrStepanenko">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;@OleksandrStepanenko</a>

That&#x27;s what the original global illumination papers for path tracing did: They built a physical Cornel box and then compared photo and render [0].<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.graphics.cornell.edu&#x2F;online&#x2F;box&#x2F;compare.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.graphics.cornell.edu&#x2F;online&#x2F;box&#x2F;compare.html</a>

I love this!<p>I&#x27;ve always said a retoucher always tries to stray away from what a cgi artist looks to achieve. i.e. they want what each other have. perfection, and a lack of it.

These are beautiful.<p>Yet... I know this sounds arrogant, but I feel like I would eventually realize they&#x27;re real photos if I stared at these long enough without being told. i.e. If I saw them framed on a wall and walked past them every day.<p>The image noise, surface imperfections, chromatic aberrations, etc. are clues, and yes a raytracer can reproduce that, but not usually this well. That&#x27;s precisely why I think these are beautiful.

Perhaps McDonalds menus, IKEA catalogues, and Playboy shots are real photos as well? They just make an extraordinary effort and spend tons of money to make make it look fake.

I think people are trying to do this as well with face filters; make the real more artificial to attain the appearance of perfection.

In 2018, when launching the first real-time raytracing GPU, NVIDIA made an exhibition [2] at SIGGRAPH honoring &quot;Figure 7&quot; from Turner Whitted&#x27;s original Raytracing paper [1]. It consisted of a forced perspective floor and some suspended spheres. Lighting was a nightmare to get right.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cs.drexel.edu&#x2F;~david&#x2F;Classes&#x2F;Papers&#x2F;p343-whitted.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cs.drexel.edu&#x2F;~david&#x2F;Classes&#x2F;Papers&#x2F;p343-whitted...</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;techgage.com&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2018&#x2F;08&#x2F;Rob-Posing-With-Turner-Whitted-680x453.jpg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;techgage.com&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2018&#x2F;08&#x2F;Rob-Posing-W...</a>

[2017]

I imagine the most annoying part of making these photos is making sure there is absolutely no dust to be seen anywhere...

Clickbait, real title should be &quot;THESE CGI &quot;Renders&quot; Are Real Photos (2017)&quot;

Was a bit sad to discover the current studio website at this point. Everything is coerced to the past state, it&#x27;s a pretty bold and artistic move. Appreciate it.

Does CGI actually get the subtle shadow details right? Last I checked they were close but a trained person could spot the difference.

obligatory xkcd: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xkcd.com&#x2F;331&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xkcd.com&#x2F;331&#x2F;</a>