Everytime I tell myself "maybe I shouldn't make this thread", I find some new example somewhere on the internet that tells me "no, there's something really bad about bloom". Bloom isn't new of course, it's been used as early as the PS2 days. But I can't shake this feeling that after reading Marmoset's article on PBR and…
To be fair, this effect can be overdone with real life photography as well. Therefore I would say that yes, it is often overdone in games - but the effect itself is not to blame, just the use of it. "Blaming bloom" would be like stating that a given Photoshop blending mode is "wrong". You can look up MGSV as an example of…
Bloom mimics the way light is dispersed by a dirty camera lens. In many games it is way overdone, but if done right it can add a nice softness to the image that you can't really get otherwise. I don't have an exact comparison handy, but here's an example with no bloom on the right, and some bloom on the left. Not an exact…
Come on, he wasn't that bad as Legolas. But seriously, I prefer more subtle integrations of it. It was terrrrible early last gen, but I think its mellowed out by now. (Sorry dont have any examples ATM)
Both. Exposure definitely exists. But I don't feel like that means objects/light sources are forced to turn glowy like in my game examples (this is where bloom comes in and I feel makes it worse). Even the worst over exposed photos that turn up on on google image search doesn't show people glowing like the sun. But just…
Bloom in games isn't really based on any sort of physical or optical camera effect. It's a simple post process that works by creating a copy of the rendered frame, blurring it, and then adding it back on top (usually resulting in bright areas becoming brighter). Pior's example image is using a diffraction filter which…