Later, developers used techniques like . This added contact shadows to make objects feel grounded. But SSAO is a trick—it’s a screen-space effect that darkens areas where objects are close together. It doesn't actually know where the light is coming from.
Initial versions often featured "noisy" lighting and required heavy denoising filters, sometimes resulting in a "shimmery" look in shadows. Later, developers used techniques like
RTGI changes the game by using hardware-accelerated ray tracing to track individual light rays as they travel through a 3D scene. This allows for: Later, developers used techniques like