Unreal Engine 4 blurs the line between 3D graphics and photography

By Jon Martindale Published July 3, 2015

UE4 Archviz / Lighting 3

Back in the late ’00s the belle of the game engine ball was CryEngine. Crytek’s masterful — if incredibly taxing — piece of software created worlds that still look good today, but at the time were unimaginable. As much as there are a number of beautiful games being made in a number of different engines now though, Unreal Engine 4 often steals the show.

Even within the communities of those that use the new Epic Games engine though, some of the most stunning art work comes from renders created by those simply playing around with the engine in their spare time. Take UE forum member Koola’s efforts, who has blown everyone away with some of their recent work.

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unreal engine 4 photorealism koola5 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

unreal engine 4 photorealism koola4 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

unreal engine 4 photorealism koola6 — Koola

unreal engine 4 photorealism koola1 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

unreal engine 4 photorealism koola3 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

unreal engine 4 photorealism koola7 — Koola

unreal engine 4 photorealism koola2 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Most impressively, their prettiest scenes are actually playable at a decent frame rate too. Though no word on how powerful their system might be.

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It seems like at some point we’re going to be back to asking the question “can it run X?” where instead of Crysis, it’s Koola.

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What are some of the best looking in-engine shots that you have seen? And do you think any of the other developments from other companies can touch the latest Unreal one in terms of visual fidelity?

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Evergreen writer

Jon Martindale is a freelance evergreen writer and occasional section coordinator, covering how to guides, best-of lists, and…

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