what exactly is Post Processing?

[Xenozx]

So, I played crysis. I decided to play with the post processing option. When it was on Very high, I noticed 2 things

1.) game was stuttery
2.) tree's and bushes close to my ingame charactor where fuzzy or hazzy.

When I turned it down to medium and or low, I noticed

1.) game sped up quite a bit
2.) the haze was gone


Is that all post processing does? Why does a blurryness up close cause FPS loss? I would almost think, it should be the oposite. For the brief time I played with it, I actually think I prefer it without post processing.


Also what does post processing do in UT3?

 

[JamesL]

post processing processes effects that make the game more life-like..

In real life, if you focus far, the things close to you are more blurry.. Same goes with photography. Objects that move fast have motion blur, etcetera..

The stuttering is because post-processing uses a lot of resources..

 

[Xenozx]

I see so outside of motionblur, and teh hazzyness, it really doesnt do anything? If that is so, I think I will play w/ it on medium for the performance bump. thanks

 

[AttackingHobo]

In Crysis it effects the atmosphere of the game a lot.

For example I know without it at high you cannot get the sunshafts on(unless using a hacked config)

 

[Citizen86]

But I LOVE motion blur!! If it's not too heavy it's great, it helps a lot with games like Crysis so that you can play with 20-40 FPS and not have it feel like a slideshow.

 

[Porter_]

post processing effects as described on TweakGuides (regarding Crysis):

Post Processing Quality:
This setting controls the various post-processing effects - so called because they're applied after the image has already been composed. In other words they're additional layers of effect on top of the current image which enhance or adjust the image to look better or more stylized. This setting has a major impact on performance, especially at the higher levels. The most significant impacts of this setting at each level below Very High are:

High: The 'god rays' shining through trees are removed, and the overall color grading of the game image is altered.
Medium: All motion blur is removed, and the foliage and other objects are slightly more jagged as in-game Edge Anti-Aliasing is also removed.
Low: The Depth of Field effect, most noticable when aiming down the iron sights of your gun, is completely removed as well, and there is a dimming of the general 'glow' in the scene, resulting in slightly darker colors overall.

 

[Drexion]

In Game Development, Post Processing is whatever the developer of the game/engine wants it to be.
Simply put, its basically effects that are done to the image after it has already passed through the graphics pipeline and has been rendered and placed in a frame buffer. (hence the "post"). Thats it.

In one game/engine visuals that are done in post processing, might be done in pre-processing in another game/engine.

Of course there are certain aspects which make more sense to do in post processing, (such as extra minor visual enhancements or stylizations) - but there is no specific meaning to post-processing in general, it varies from game to game.

 

[Battleneter2]

I hate motion blur post processing, reminds me to much of playing games on the first mainstream LCD's of around 10 years ago.

If I want life like I will get out of my seat and go for a walk.

 

[Big D.]

Post-processing (effects) are simply 2D effects added on top of what just got rendered.

POST (after) processing/rendering...they're basically Photoshop filters added on top of images but after every frame in a game.

They can be effects like glows, blur, distortion, etc. They help make the game more like a movie or real-life.