Im new to the forums (take a look at my post count) but i figured this would be the best place to ask the difference between in-game graphics and CG? They are both computer-generated yet in many games in-game seems to be preferred. Look at Jak X: Combat Racing, or Metal Gear Solid...both of these series often stay away from CG. Now, part of my curiosity comes from playing the games but i also heard of a movie tie-in for Jak X. They show video's of an upcoming DVD at jakxdvd.com and its a mix of in-game and CG footage. Why not just use all in-game? I heard that CG is more expensive, but then i think about in-game and the optimzation needed to render the graphics...bah :P Anyway, what does everyone prefer (personally or professionally); in-game or CG?

If by "CG" you mean pre-generated movies (like .avi, .mov, etc.), then it depends on the situation.

Diablo II, Warcraft III, and other Blizzard games have *fabulous* predone cutscenes that simply couldn't be done in real-time. Then, there's Half-Life 2 that has done in-game 'cutscenes' fabulously, too. The way how it doesn't "take you out of the game" is great.

The main difference between prerendered and realtime rendering is, simply, when it's rendered. Movies are obviously not being rendered by your DVD player. Instead, they have been made by clusters of high end computers frequently taking over an hour to render a single frame. No one wants to play a game at 1/360 fps, so you have to sacrifice some graphical abilities for speed.

The fact that a movie is using in-game sequences for it doesn't exactly make me look forward to the movie. Sounds rather cheap to me and I could just play the game instead.

So, in a game, it depends. In a movie it had better be "CG" as you call it. (unless I've missunderstood you)

I havent seen the movie (not out yet) but fom the video's on the site, i've gather thats its more of a...compilation. Im not sure if they are telling a story or if its just a collection reflecting the past games. But overall i definitely agree that for a movie i better be seeing CG. As far as games though, would in-game cutscenes be quicker? Then again, considering the next generation in consoles, the graphics are rather top-notch (for consoles) so in-game vs CG is almost being blurred...almost :P

If that's the DVD I think it is, it's a history of what happened in the first 3 Jak games, consisting of stuff grabbed from those games ('cept some narration by Daxter, which is oh so new I suppose). Was included with Jak X Combat Racing, I think.

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Original post by Gnarf If that's the DVD I think it is, it's a history of what happened in the first 3 Jak games, consisting of stuff grabbed from those games ('cept some narration by Daxter, which is oh so new I suppose). Was included with Jak X Combat Racing, I think.

It was included? Was it a bonus of some sort, like for pre-ordering or something? I picked the game up a few weeks after it came out.

I've no idea if it was some oh so limited deal, or EU only or whatnot, but I got it with my copy of the game, and I didn't preorder (not sure how long after the release I got it, but I wasn't camping the store at launch day or any such :P -- a week or two after release sounds plausible).

When you pre-render, you can afford higher poly counts, more elaborate shaders, global illumination models, etc. Thus, pre-rendered typically looks a lot better.

However, pre-rendered has two problems:

One is that it can't take into effect character changes. If you can wear different hats in the game, they can't know which hat you'll be wearing by the time of the cut-scene beforehand, for example.

Another is that it looks a lot better -- it takes you out of the game world, and into a separate, CG world. The switch between looks can be jarring, and hinder suspension of disbelief.

Because CG uses higher polycounts, etc, it can often be more expensive to model than "just" making animations and scripts for an in-game cut-scene.

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Original post by hplus0603 Because CG uses higher polycounts, etc, it can often be more expensive to model than "just" making animations and scripts for an in-game cut-scene.

Of course you don't have to use the higher polycounts but that usually defeats the purpose.

Realtime rendering makes more sense for brief scenes that add to the story or assist with game play (in Prince of Persia such scenes direct your eye to important parts of the room). For anything drawn out, prerendering makes more sense. You'll already be breaking some immersion by taking control away anyway, plus good prerendered movies are fun.

<rant>
On a side note, I'd like to mention that given players access to view at will all of the video sequences in the game after beating it... is an awesome feature for games with good long stories. After beating a game with a good story the player may want to re-live parts of it, but they may not be up to playing all the way up to those parts again.
</rant>

Original post by T1Oracle

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Original post by hplus0603 <rant> On a side note, I'd like to mention that given players access to view at will all of the video sequences in the game after beating it... is an awesome feature for games with good long stories. After beating a game with a good story the player may want to re-live parts of it, but they may not be up to playing all the way up to those parts again. </rant>

So, say i just beat FFX and i want to go back through all the cutscenes 9because they rock)? :P Im eagerly awating Final Fantasy XII and its cutscenes.

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Original post by hplus0603 One is that it can't take into effect character changes. If you can wear different hats in the game, they can't know which hat you'll be wearing by the time of the cut-scene beforehand, for example.

Depending on the situation, this can be got around in different ways:
1) Prerender the different hats and just copy whatever hat into the video.
2) Have a monkey steal the hat before the cut scene.
3) Record enough information to render the hat in real-time at high quality.
4) Have real-time low quality models in a high quality backdrop.

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Another is that it looks a lot better -- it takes you out of the game world, and into a separate, CG world. The switch between looks can be jarring, and hinder suspension of disbelief.

For some. I've never found it to be a hinderance to my suspension of disbelief.