Killzone Shadow Fall: Creating Art Tools For A New Generation Of Games
16 likes12,670 views
The document outlines the development of art tools for 'Killzone: Shadow Fall' at Guerrilla Games, focusing on the integration of Maya into their game engine pipeline. It details the advantages of using Maya for asset creation, improved rendering through deferred rendering technology, and the introduction of extension attributes to optimize file load times and scene sizes. The use of Viewport 2.0 is highlighted for enhancing performance and artist collaboration, enabling more controlled integration with game rendering processes.
Killzone Shadow Fall: Creating Art Tools For A New Generation Of Games
- 1. Killzone Shadow Fall Creating art tools for a new generation of games Sander van der Steen Senior Technical Artist Guerrilla Games
- 2. Intro •Guerrilla Games is based in Amsterdam •First party Sony studio since 2005 •Killzone Shadow Fall •Launch title for the Playstation 4 •Pipeline build around Maya
- 3. Takeaway •Maya in the Guerrilla Games pipeline •Integrating a game-engine in Maya •Maya scene file considerations for next-gen •New possibilities of viewport 2.0
- 4. Maya in the Guerrilla Games pipeline
- 5. Simple Killzone Shadow Fall pipeline overview Asset creation Maya, Mudbox, Motion builder etc.
- 6. • All assets are imported into Maya and placed in environment • Individual assets are tweaked Simple Killzone Shadow Fall pipeline overview Asset creation Environment Art
- 7. • The levels with geometry transfer to the lighting team • “Complete” levels will be exported to game Simple Killzone Shadow fall pipeline overview Asset creation Environment Art Lighting Game
- 8. Simple Killzone Shadow Fall pipeline overview Asset creation Environment Art Lighting Game • Many iterations required to reach production quality
- 9. •Artist friendly + familiar •A lot of editing for free •Mesh edits (polygon tools) •Material edits (hypershade) •Less need to import/export to/from applications Autodesk Maya advantages
- 10. Autodesk Maya in-engine viewport demo:
- 11. Autodesk maya in-engine viewport demo:
- 12. Autodesk Maya in-engine viewport demo:
- 14. Integrating a game-engine in Maya
- 15. Maya needs to know how: •To render •Game engine specific •To communicate attribute changes •Mesh edits, position updates etc. •To read game data •Maya scene usage A lot of tools coding!
- 16. A game-engine in Maya: Deferred rendering
- 17. Initial implementation: •Brute force updates each frame (CPU limited) •Knowing what to update can be difficult •Limited integration •View selected, draw overrides, etc. Deferred rendering: Killzone 3
- 18. Playstation 3 vs. Playstation 4 VS RAM Processing Power PS3 PS4 ~10x 16x
- 19. Workstation performance: “Killzone 3” vs “Killzone Shadow Fall” VS RAM Single threaded processing power 2009 2013 ~2x ~4x
- 20. Deferred rendering: Killzone 3 Maya Updates Maya Render Deferred Render Single frame CPU time distribution
- 21. • Maya mesh edits? • Tricky hierarchical updates (from a parent transform) • Visibility changes • Maya LOD groups • Shader changes? Challenges for pushing updates
- 22. Maya’s DAG tree might not be represented 1 on 1 in-game. • Callbacks? (MMessage) • Often no notion of groups or hierarchy • Only world-space transforms in-game Challenges for pushing updates 2
- 23. •A lightweight representation of the DAG tree in Maya •It mirrors the DAG tree in Maya •Implemented using C++ callbacks (API MMessage class) Solution: Guerrilla DAG EngineGuerrilla DAGMaya
- 24. • Node added callback (MDGMessage): • Create GG DAGnode • Transforms, lights, maya meshes, building blocks and sets (shaders) • Add GG DAGnode to database • Node removed callback (MDGMessage): • Cleanup Implementing Guerrilla DAG
- 25. will have read only access to it’s sibling via an MObjectHandle to the maya node Implementing Guerrilla DAG GG DAG node Maya node Engine Each Guerrilla DAG node:
- 26. will have read only access to it’s “sibling” via an MObjectHandle to the maya node Implementing Guerrilla DAG GG DAG node Maya node Engine Each Guerrilla DAG node: will listen for AttributeChanged callback on it’s sibling (MNodeMessage)
- 27. will have read only access to it’s “sibling” via an MObjectHandle to the maya node Implementing Guerrilla DAG GG DAG node Maya node Engine Each Guerrilla DAG node: will listen for AttributeChanged callback on it’s sibling (MNodeMessage) deals with AttributeChanged as appropriate for the nodetype
- 28. Implementing Guerrilla DAG GG DAG node Maya node Engine Each Guerrilla DAG node: Knows how to update the game engine
- 29. Transforms are special cases: • Monitor child added/removed (MDagMessage) • Keep an up-to-date list of children • Can push updates to children Implementing Guerrilla DAG GG DAG node Maya node Child GG DAG node A Child Maya node A Child Maya node B Child GG DAG node B
- 30. Implementing Guerrilla DAG GG DAG node Maya node Child GG DAG node A Child Maya node A Child Maya node B Child GG DAG node B Child nodes can also access siblings!
- 31. Practical example: Moving a group Group1 pCube1 pCubeShape1 pCube2 pCubeShape2 Produces an identical Guerrilla DAG hierarchy
- 32. Practical example: Moving a group Group1 pCube1 pCubeShape1 pCube2 pCubeShape2 Attribute changed on group1 triggered
- 33. Practical example: Moving a group Group1 pCube1 pCubeShape1 pCube2 pCubeShape2 Update cached matrix and propagate
- 34. Practical example: Moving a group Group1 pCube1 pCubeShape1 pCube2 pCubeShape2 Finally update the game
- 35. Results, single frame Maya Updates Maya Render Deferred Render Single frame CPU time distribution
- 36. Results, single frame Maya Updates Maya Render Deferred Render Single frame CPU time distribution •Performance increase 40x •Most CPU time spend rendering •Much better integration with Maya Hidden object groups view selected Maya LOD groups
- 39. Killzone 3 (Playstation 3) •Released in February 2011 •Average team size ~120 •5TB of working data
- 40. •Released in November 2013 •Average team size ~160 •12TB of working data •Larger Maya files •Longer load/export time Killzone Shadow Fall (Playstation 4)
- 42. In general: Small files load faster Identify bottlenecks in file-load
- 43. Killzone 3 / early Killzone Shadow Fall: 80% of Maya file • Mesh data • Attribute data Identify bottlenecks in file-load
- 44. Custom attributes on native Maya nodes Export-time state: • Collapsing • Physics • Destructability • Etc. Attribute data
- 45. Attribute-data overhead in scene size Each custom attribute on a Maya node requires:
- 46. Attribute-data overhead in scene size Each custom attribute on a Maya node requires: • An addAttr statement in the Maya file per instance
- 47. Attribute-data overhead in scene size Each custom attribute on a Maya node requires: • An addAttr statement in the Maya file per instance • A setAttr statement in the Maya file per instance(optional)
- 48. Attribute-data overhead in scene size Each custom attribute on a Maya node requires: • An addAttr statement in the Maya file per instance • A setAttr statement in the Maya file per instance(optional) • A nodeAdded callback to install the attributes on a newly instanced maya node
- 49. Attribute-data overhead in scene size In Killzone Shadow Fall: • ~20 custom attributes on a node • ~40.000 nodes in an average maya scene containing a level section • ~50.000 Maya files stored
- 50. Solution: Extension attributes Introduced in Maya 2012 • Allows static definition of a custom attribute • Add to type of class once (e.g. transform) • Attribute definition not stored in scene • Defined in plugin Benefits: • No more addAttr calls required per instance • No callback required on nodeAdded
- 51. Extension attributes results: •Static scene (20.000 cubes) Dynamic attributes Extension attributes Difference Scene size 85MB 15MB - 80% File load time 45 sec. 14 sec. - 66% Result: Switching to Extension attributes
- 52. •Mesh data is large by nature •Reduce amount of maya meshes required •Look at the use of maya meshes Mesh-data overhead in scene size
- 53. Mesh usage in Killzone 3 Building blocks • Developed during Killzone 2 • Referencing of game-data •Small section of re-usable static geometry • Custom shape (MpxSurfaceShape)
- 54. Building blocks Custom shape generates a Maya mesh Custom shape Maya mesh shape 2 Shapes for a transform
- 55. Building blocks Why Maya meshes of game-data? • Wireframe and smooth shaded views • Snapping • Software rendering for lightmaps • Performance in viewport 1.0
- 56. •No snapping for artists (fixed in Maya 2013) Problems and solutions with custom shapes (MPxSurfaceShape)
- 57. •No snapping for artists (fixed in Maya 2013) •Custom shapes need to feel as Maya meshes for artists. •Draw overrides, display layers, colors Problems and solutions with custom shapes (MPxSurfaceShape)
- 58. •No snapping for artists (fixed in Maya 2013) •Custom shapes need to feel as Maya meshes for artists. •Draw overrides, display layers, colors •Create maya meshes on demand for lightmaps •Do not save these to file (delete after use) Problems and solutions with custom shapes (MPxSurfaceShape)
- 59. •No snapping for artists (fixed in Maya 2013) •Custom shapes need to feel as Maya meshes for artists. •Draw overrides, display layers, colors •Create maya meshes on demand for lightmaps •Do not save these to file (delete after use) •Drawing slow due to OpenGL state switching •Use MpxModelView, or viewport 2.0 Problems and solutions with custom shapes (MPxSurfaceShape)
- 60. Viewport 2.0
- 61. What is viewport 2.0? A new viewport for Autodesk Maya • Designed for current generation hardware • Less state switching, much less CPU overhead • A new API for plugin drawing • No more MPxLocatorNode::draw, MPxSurfaceShapeUI, etc
- 62. New possibilities of viewport 2.0 The new viewport 2.0 API offers: • More performance • Maya meshes at least x10 • More controlled integration with Maya • Depth buffer sharing • New features • Mix and match MRenderOperations
- 63. Deferred renderer based on “Viewport 1” • (MViewportRenderer class) • Little control/integration with Maya Artists lacked: • Selection highlighting • Depth between Maya and game geometry incorrect (locators/lights) • No display of Maya meshes Viewport 2.0: Integration
- 64. Comparing deferred and deferred_vp2
- 67. Comparing deferred and deferred_vp2 Proper depth support, no more clutter!
- 68. Comparing deferred and deferred_vp2 Proper depth support, no more clutter!
- 69. Comparing deferred and deferred_vp2
- 70. How does it work? MRenderOverride Custom Viewport 2.0 renderer • MRenderOperation A pass in MRenderOverride • MSceneRender Maya’s viewport 2 rendering pass • MUserRenderOperation Do your own! Viewport 2.0: High level API overview
- 71. Render deferred beauty and depth (MUserRenderOperation) Deferred Viewport 2.0: Rendering operations
- 72. Copy to Maya’s buffers (MQuadRender) Deferred Viewport 2.0: Rendering operations
- 73. Render Maya’s view on top, preserving depth (MSceneRender) Deferred Viewport 2.0: Rendering operations
- 74. Deferred Viewport 2.0: Rendering stages
- 75. •Allows artists to work directly with in-game rendering •Selection highlighting, depth •Full support for Maya native geometry/manipulators etc. •Full control over what maya draws •Rendering API Agnostic (DirectX or OpenGL) Viewport 2.0: Integration advantages
- 77. Debug modes as extra operations Export settings: • Visualize draw call count • Single color for each draw call Viewport 2.0: More then rendering
- 80. The Future • Bringing Maya and game closer together • Background scene loading (streaming) • Storing scene elements in game-format only • Multithreading • Direct X rendering
- 81. Conclusions • Integrating game-engine in Maya improves productivity • Carefully thinking on scene configuration saves loads! • Viewport 2.0 provides flexibility and new possibilities
- 82. Questions?
- 83. Thank you Visit us at guerrilla-games.com