How games have faked interiors for more than a decade

Games have been faking windows in buildings for more than a decade. In pursuit of maximum visual quality at minimum performance cost, shortcuts have been taken, and interiors that do not exist have been rendered. In fact, there is a good chance you may have seen one of these “fake“ windows in one of your favorite games in the past. This video gives a brief history of the effect, and explains how it is implemented. It teaches to spot the fakes, compares different variations and teaches the underlying mechanisms in a way that is understandable without prior graphics knowledge. Enjoy. Chapters: 00:00 - Fake windows 02:08 - How does it work? 05:17 - Refraction 07:07 - Origins 06:43 - Imperfections 09:48 - Other examples 11:00 - Adding walls 12:11 - Why? 13:26 - Closing words Selected sources: - “Simon schreibt“ blog pos - Joost van Dongen: “Interior Mapping“, CGI 2008 - Andrew Willmott: “From AAA to Indie: Graphics R&D“ - #post-2751518 “Interior Mapping“ forum thread Creative Common Assets: - Building facade: Image by pikisuperstar on Freepik #query=shop front&position=11&from_view=search&track=ais - Obj Camera () by DionHsu is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (). - Interior back layer: Image by upklyak on Freepik #query=grocery store background&position=0&from_view=keyword&track=ais - Interior middle layer: Image by macrovector on Freepik #query=interior-supermarket-banners&position=4&from_view=search&track=sph - Interior with walls: Image by upklyak on Freepik #page=2&query=building inside&position=39&from_view=search&track=ais - Fish tank picture: Bengt Oberger :