Chromatic aberration in games how to#

But so has nearly every other image effect out there (remember how much lens flare and bloom was overused in gen 7?) - that doesn’t make the effect ‘shitty,’ it makes a case for not using it if you don’t know what the hell you’re doing. Has it been overused in the past? Absolutely.

Chromatic aberration in games how to#

The point again is that Chromatic aberration is simply a tool in the toolbox, much like things such as camera shake, bloom and lens flares if you choose to use it, it should only be if you know how to use it effectively and appropriately, for a precise kind of impression. Now, both of these types of implementations have completely different end goals (one is to give a sense of realism, the other is a part of the artist’s expression). I believe both of these examples can encapsulate how CA can be used. In another kind of example, flaws are introduced in other artistic mediums as an actual part of the artistic process (wabi-sabi and Kintsugi pottery styles, for example ).

An orange peal effect in car paint is done to emulate surface flaws in order to establish a more realistic look in-game - even though such an effect is not actually desirable in real life. While I respect your opinion, this is exactly what I mean by a binary choice being fallacious - just because an effect is emulating a ‘flaw’ doesn’t mean it is by definition bad: