Final Fantasy XV Gets Spectacular Videos and Screenshots Showing Advanced Graphics and Technology

Giuseppe Nelva August 26, 2016 9:05 AM EST

Today Square Enix hosted a panel at CEDEC 2016 in Japan, livestreamed on Nico Nico, showcasing the character and environment workflows used for Final Fantasy XV. Unsurprisingly, the footage and work-in-progress screenshots they revealed were definitely spectacular.

First of all, we got a trailer showcasing the character workflow and the powerful tech used to render the heroes and heroines that we’ll meet in the game. Keep in mind that all the videos were recorded from Nico Nico, so they suffer from the usual abysmal Nico Nico compression and low resolution.

Secondly, the slide below gives some numbers on Noctis’ character model.

Polygons: About 100,000 triangles.

Materials: 6-8 individual materials.

Texture type: BaseColor/Normal/Metallic/Roughness/Occlusion

Texture Memory Footprint: About 20 MB (compression varies case by case).

LOD: 0-7 stages 8 stages.

Joints: About 600.

The following images show Cindy with and without the eye shader.

Below you can see Cindy with and without the skin shader.

Below you can see Noctis’ with and without the hair shader, and a video showcasing the reflective shader in action.

More hair effects in the screenshots and video here:

The eight LOD (Level of Detail) used when the camera is close (left) or far (right), and a video showing the effect in action.

In the comparisons below you can see pre-rendered graphics versus real-time visuals.

The making of Luna’s hair and the tool to design hairstyles can be seen below.

In this video you can see how ambient occlusion is baked on the textures of Noctis’ character model.

In the following video we see how materials and shaders can be changed on Cindy’s clothes. And yes, looks like the developer is having a lot of fun with her bra.

In the video below, you can check out the application of a frost shader and more material juggling on a secondary NPC and on a car.

Below you can check out the beautiful character models for the main cast, including a rare sighting of Aranea Highwind without her mask, and the first look on the animated models of Luna’s brother Ravus and Gladio’s sister Iris.

The following screenshots showcase the cloth physics tech that allows the characters’ clothes to move naturally.

The videos below feature a tool suite named Bonamik, that enables various effects like the application of velocity, hair and cloth deformation, wind turbulence and more.

Moving on to the environment workflow, in the gallery below you can check out various tests that were conducted mixing real life environments and in-game data in order to achieve a natural look.

Here are a few pieces of artwork used to design the world.

Below you can see a few work-in-progress screenshots showcasing environments and their polygon mesh.

Below you can check out the level design tools, including the asset browser.

In the pictures below you can see how the game’s terrain was designed, starting from a clay model.

The screenshots here showcase how the environment is affected by the day/night cycle and by weather.

Last, but not least, here’s a trailer showing the environment design tools in action.