Volumetric Fog of The Last of Us Part II by Artem Kovalovs || SIGGRAPH 2020

The Last of Us Part II is set in multiple different environments with extensive atmospheric look. In addition, the game uses a lot of transparent objects such as glass, particle effects, etc. that require proper compositing with the fog. This required us to create a new volumetric system that would support different fog environments and seamlessly blend with, and tie together, the rest of the world. We have developed a new volumetric fog system that is based on a view space frustum voxel grid (froxel grid) that allows us to properly composite with the rest of the world. However, such a system also comes with a lot of production challenges. In this talk we focus on the developed methods to improve visual quality, reduce artifacts coming from the nature of grid-based fog, and fit within the performance budget. Check out more SIGGRAPH 2020 Presentations on the Naughty Dog Research Blog: