Electronic Arts is taking 3D animations to the next level as it files a patent that will introduce innovative imaging methods.
As per GameRant, the patent will bring in new software solutions that could break new grounds among game developers. Essentially a solution that fuses multiple technologies, it intermarries every element culminating to a better method of creating terrains.
Images from Space
According to the patent claims, the new method will employ the use of satellite images, which then goes through procedural recreations. The idea of its automation comes with a handful of benefits in actual practice.
In the world of game creation, where every bits and pieces are made in a painstaking process, the patent shows great promise in easing the entire procedure. Subsequently, making the job of generating three-dimensional environments less manual and significantly faster.
Apart from making the task easier through streamlining, the patent also theoretically reaches new heights when it comes to accuracy. This suggests that salient visual elements of a particular location could be accounted for even from an early layout standpoint.
Taking both advantages into the overall picture, this implies that developers will have a very handy tool at their disposal. One that can make a stunningly precise rendition of any locale found within the Earth’s surface. That is, considering that satellites orbiting our own planet lie atop of everything across their path, thus giving an overtop view of anything.
This means that, instead of getting reimaginations of certain places, developers can make them appear similarly alike as in real life. A task that may be difficult otherwise, especially for areas full of mundane and repeating elements, like forests and mountain ranges.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRcGfUPk_9c
Existing Technology
Satellites acting as a surveillance tool is not a new feat. More than anything, some of this space hardware is designed primarily for it. The Capella-2 satellite, for one, already has the camera that may truly be up to the task.
Featuring the employ of a powerful radio signal, Capella-2’s Synthetic Aperture Radar gathers exact imagery of anything on Earth from space. The capability even going so far as to penetrate through solid objects.
For a company that has BioWare, DICE, and Respawn under its umbrella, the idea behind the patent raises possibilities. This infers, among other things, seeing true-to-life recreations of existing places, not just in our planet but also elsewhere, in games.
Image used courtesy of Dark Drake/YouTube Screenshot