GDC Europe 2013: Shining the Light on Crysis 3

This presentation is part of my talk at the GDC Europe 2013 in Cologne, Germany. The 50 minutes session goes through the production of Crysis 3 and showcases important lighting principles for creating appealing scenes.

I also explain how physics can help create better materials and textures, using physically-based rules, and how the CryEngine lighting features were used in Crysis 3 to create one of the best visual experiences in a video game.

Furthermore, several case studies provide a clearer demonstration of the methods and workflows I used to design the lighting for outdoor, indoor and cinematic scenes.

Enjoy 30 additional bonus slides as well, that were not shown during the talk, as 50 minutes is rarely enough to talk about such a wide topic of discussion.

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GDC Talk Video
Shining the Light on Crysis 3 PDF

FMX 2013: The Art and Technology behind Crysis 3

This presentation is part of my talk at the FMX 2013 conference in Stuttgart. The session goes through the different phases of the art production, from concepting to full production. Tiago Sousa describes some of the technical features implemented to create one of the best visual experiences to date in a video game.

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The Art and Technology behind Crysis 3 PDF

Crysis 3 Nanosuit Covers

Official Nanosuit renders used in a few magazine covers for the release of Crysis 3. Fully rendered in real-time.

Notice: no overpainting at all was involved in the creation of these pictures, which is extremely rare when it comes to magazine covers.

Crysis 3 Single Player Action

Official in-game screenshots captured for Crysis 3 release, featuring the single player campaign. No retouching. Fully representative of the final game.

Notice: these images are captured while playing, thus some of them might present relatively strong in-game real-time object motion blur.

Crysis 3 Single Player Environments Beauty

Official renders captured for the release of Crysis 3, featuring the 7 main environments of the single player campaign. 100% real-time, no retouching. Representative of the final game.

Notice: some assets might have been hidden from a couple of scenes before capture, in order to prevent spoilers.

Crysis 3 Aliens Studio Lighting

Real-time renders of the aliens of Crysis 3, with in-game assets and high quality real-time studio lighting.

Crysis 3 Multiplayer

I edited the lighting and created these marketing screenshots for the promotion of the multiplayer mode of Crysis 3. 100% real-time lighting and post-processing.

Crysis 3 Michael “Psycho” Sykes

Marketing screenshot of “Psycho”, one of the main characters of Crysis 3. 100% real-time lighting and post-processing with in-game character.

Crysis 3 Fields Environment

First official in-game screenshots of the Fields environment, presented to the press in November and December 2012. 100% real-time. 0% Photoshop.

Crysis 3 E3 Demo

I captured the following images for the E3 demo of Crysis 3 revealed to the public in June 2012. It features large-scale environments with sandbox gameplay. The level, also available in the final game, was a perfect showcase of the CryEngine lighting capabilities, with deep dark canyon, bright open sections, large view distances over and from the dam, and interiors with hundreds of dynamic lights.