Since we ran a feature on Duncan Harris, the groovy “video game photographer” behind the website DeadEndThrills, I’ve been sharing some of his work each week here.
This week Harris was really on fire — a whole grab-bag of games, with some spectacular shots from both Zeno Clash and Shogun 2: Total War. Let’s dig in.
First up, up top we have:
“The Far Side”
Hot damn, that is an awesome shot of the desert in Fuel. Wow.
Tools and tricks: 2160p rendering (windowed), antialiasing (4xMSAA, 2x transparency supersampling, injected FXAA w/ texture presharpening), restored developer menus, vignette effect disabled, no-HUD, free camera.
“An Unexpected Journey”
Another great wide-angle shot from Fuel. This game really does deserve the benefit of a good cameraman.
Tools and tricks: 2160p rendering (windowed), antialiasing (4xMSAA, 2x transparency supersampling, injected FXAA w/ texture presharpening), restored developer menus, vignette effect disabled, no-HUD, free camera.
“It Follows”
Yeah, it follows that we’d get at least one more great Bioshock shot after last week. Don’t look so glad to see me, Little Sister.
Tools and tricks: antialiasing (FXAA), Post Process Injection DLL w/ pre-sharpening for texture and post-sharpening for image, high-performance ambient occlusion, 2160p rendering, no-HUD, custom FOV, noclip, timestop.
“The Friendly Ghost”
A great shot from Zeno Clash, a game I know unfortunately little about.
Tools and tricks: no-HUD, viewmodel removed, Valve demo recorder, custom FOV, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (8x MSAA + 2x transparency supersampling).
“His Honour”
The first of several epic shots from Shogun 2: Total War
Tools and tricks: unrestricted camera, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (injected ‘ultra-quality’ SMAA), HUD removed in Photoshop.
“Beached”
Another shot from Zeno Clash that actually reminds me of a level I just played in Resident Evil: Revelations.
Tools and tricks: no-HUD, viewmodel removed, Valve demo recorder, custom FOV, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (8x MSAA + 2x transparency supersampling).
“Red Arrows”
Another kickarse shot from Shogun 2: Total War. As Harris puts it, “RTS rendering has reached a point where zooming out to anything remotely playable feels like a retreat.”
Tools and tricks: unrestricted camera, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (injected ‘ultra-quality’ SMAA), HUD removed in Photoshop.
“Firefall”
Here comes death, in Shogun 2: Total War.
Tools and tricks: unrestricted camera, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (injected ‘ultra-quality’ SMAA), HUD removed in Photoshop.
“Lone Star”
A nice-looking one-off shot from Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010.
Tools and tricks: 2160p rendering, antialiasing (4xMSAA + 4xSGSSAA), Racer_S camera and HUD hack, in-game Photo Mode.
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