While Nanite is insanely impressive, seeing the dynamic lighting that Lumen can offer is a game changer I can’t wait to see implemented in the years to come. Lumen, on the other hand, deals with the aforementioned dynamic global illumination, a technology which allows a game environment to reacts to lighting changes in real time. It also allows for truly stunning assets to be imported, with some of the assets on display utilising 8K resolution textures. Nanite is a tool that virtualises geometry, allowing for film quality art assets to be directly imported into Unreal Engine 5, which, in turn, frees developers from the worries of polygon counts and levels of detail. The two key technologies mentioned throughout this breathtaking tech demo are ‘Nanite’ and ‘Lumen’.
The presentation highlighted the kind of technological advancements that we will see in games of the upcoming generation, with features such as dynamic global illumination and virtualised geometry poised to add a further level of immersion and realism to the medium. After revealing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 yesterday, Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest has made yet another huge reveal, showcasing an Unreal Engine 5 tech demo which was captured on the PlayStation 5.
