Two years after the critically acclaimed F1® 2021, CG Specialists, REALTIME, has teamed up with Codemasters once again for the eagerly anticipated F1® 23 Braking Point 2. The REALTIME team crafted over fifty minutes of in-game cinematics using the latest in-engine solution and state-of-the-art performance capture tools.
"The visual fidelity we were able to achieve this time around was a huge step up from F1 2021. Everything from the lighting to the skin shaders and facial animation, we advanced every single element of our render quality." Ian Jones, CG Director.
"The visual fidelity we were able to achieve this time around was a huge step up from F1 2021. Everything from the lighting to the skin shaders and facial animation, we advanced every single element of our render quality." Ian Jones, CG Director.
Braking Point 2 allows players to immerse themselves in a compelling racing story that gives a unique peek behind the curtain of the world of Formula One. The story revolves again around rival drivers Aiden Jackson and Devon Butler, but with the added twist of them being teammates for the newly formed Konnersport Butler Racing Team, alongside a new female driver, Callie Mayer.
REALTIME was tasked with creating cutscenes that ranged from emotional character performances, right through to on-track action, featuring intense races and high-speed collisions.
REALTIME was tasked with creating cutscenes that ranged from emotional character performances, right through to on-track action, featuring intense races and high-speed collisions.
REALTIME's goal for this project was simple: to improve upon their previous cutscene work on F1 in every way possible. From the animation to the graphical fidelity, REALTIME wanted Braking Point 2 to be a huge visual step-up, and their new rigging tool, Frankenstein, helped lay the groundwork for this. Designed in Maya, Frankenstein is REALTIME's new modular rigging tool that helped speed up the process of rigging the characters and cars, allowing their pipeline to ingest the facial and motion capture data from their vendors and apply it back to the control rig, which was vital in providing consistency for our animators.
In Braking Point 2, every in-game character is based on a real-life actor's likeness and performance. To ensure REALTIME could accurately recreate the actor's performance digitally, they held multiple performance capture shoots that utilised Audiomotion Studio's motion capture technology, as well as DI4D’s Head-Mounted Camera solution. Using this technology, REALTIME could capture intricate detail of the actor's performance, from the inertia of the character’s face when they are talking to the subtlest of eyes movements.
In Braking Point 2, every in-game character is based on a real-life actor's likeness and performance. To ensure REALTIME could accurately recreate the actor's performance digitally, they held multiple performance capture shoots that utilised Audiomotion Studio's motion capture technology, as well as DI4D’s Head-Mounted Camera solution. Using this technology, REALTIME could capture intricate detail of the actor's performance, from the inertia of the character’s face when they are talking to the subtlest of eyes movements.
REALTIME implemented a brand-new in-engine pipeline to render this project, using the latest tools to craft realistic groom and skin shaders, as well as stunning car and track renders with accurate global illumination, reflection, and refraction. The speed and flexibility of real-time rendering was crucial in delivering the project on time. Each scene could be tweaked based on client feedback much faster than a more traditional CPU renderer, which sped up production time significantly.
"We’re delighted to continue our partnership with REALTIME to bring the second chapter of F1 23’s Braking Point to life. The team mirrors our drive to deliver motorsport excellence, and we can’t wait for our players to get into the game and start playing." Says Codemasters Ian Flatt, VP F1 Development ,Codemasters.
"We’re delighted to continue our partnership with REALTIME to bring the second chapter of F1 23’s Braking Point to life. The team mirrors our drive to deliver motorsport excellence, and we can’t wait for our players to get into the game and start playing." Says Codemasters Ian Flatt, VP F1 Development ,Codemasters.