Bolter and Grusin (1999, pp. 114–116) clarify by bringing up photorealism in their book that the goal of photorealistic computer graphics is to create a realm free of all references to the medium itself as well as to other media, but it has never been capable of maintaining that purity. It must instead capture us using the principles of linear perspective painting and photography. Before learning more about digital photorealism in the context of visual effects, it's vital to understand its origins. The photorealism genre, also referred to as superrealism, was established in 1969 by American novelist and art dealer Louis K. Meisel (‘Louis Meisel’,2020). The method was influenced by photography; rather than actually viewing events as they occurred, it used the visual data captured by a camera to create illusionistic paintings, sketches, and other works of art. The term "originators" was defined as follows:

1) The Photorealist uses the camera and photograph to gather information.

2) The Photorealist uses a mechanical or semi-mechanical means to transfer the information to the canvas.

3) The Photorealist must have the technical ability to make the finished work appear photographic.

4) The artist must have exhibited work as a Photorealist by 1972 to be considered one of the central Photorealists.

5) The artist must have devoted at least five years to the development and exhibition of Photorealist work.

 

       Having a discussion on digital photorealism, it has recently grown in importance in the film industry, or, to put it another way, it's one of the main elements that contribute to the interest level of movies and television shows. It is without a doubt important in the context of visual effects CGI can assist in resolving numerous film flaws and permits the maintenance of the photorealistic quality in the scene. The main benefit of digital photorealism is that it gives creators more freedom. When you, the viewer, are absolutely certain that something is real even though it turns out to be CGI, it makes the viewer believe it to be real. For instance, a scene in which the entire army and the fort were involved was shot in the open with a few pieces of ammunition. In addition, it enables storytellers like filmmakers and others to tell stories that otherwise would not be possible. Moreover, architects employ CGI renderings in their catalogue, and those who have access to VR technology can even tour a house as if it were already finished. It becomes very difficult to convey it when you are there and they draw out some designs and explain how the residences would look to you. CGI, however, produces a very vivid vision. Regarding digital photorealism in the context of VFX, Andrew Price, better known as Blender Guru (Blender Guru,2016) made a statement in one of his videos by displaying a graph illustrating how the standard for using actual assets in movies has lowered while the standard for CGI is rising. No matter what, any CG or VFX artist's first objective is to achieve photorealism.

 

       Photorealism continues to be one of the most in-demand skills in 3D as movies and video games take our attention to ever-more extraordinary storylines. So how may CGI or digital photorealistic images be produced? In his video (Blender Guru, 2016, 10:07), Andrew Price lays out a theory he refers to as the "Four Building Blocks of Photorealism." In order to make the process easier to understand, he divides it into four sections, which he refers to as a house. Modelling, material, lights, and post-processing are these four components. The reason for classifying this procedure as a house is because modelling makes up 20%, materials make up 35%, lighting makes up 35%, and post-processing makes up the final 10%. Starting with modelling, it is important to get the proportions and shapes right in order to achieve photorealistic modelling. The foundation of the structure, as indicated by Andrew Price, is the reason behind this. The modelling stage can be relatively simple and straightforward because it is the beginning, but it is crucial to get it right because if the proportions are off as we move forward, the entire process would be useless. Price specifically mentions in his videos (Blender Guru, 2016, 14:05) that the scale should be kept in line with reality to obtain a photographic image. People may counter that sometimes it is obvious to claim that the measurements are accurate based solely on their eyes. However, Prices thinks that our perceptions may not be as precise as we think. Moreover, he suggests making use of references for photos whenever possible. In order to create a photorealistic image of a human, according to Prices, studying anatomy is essential because even a minor error might make it appear fake.

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    Moving on to the subsequent, important step, materials. It can be argued that something is photorealistic when the shading and texture resemble the real world. This is one of the most crucial steps in obtaining photorealistic images. Prices explains that if the shading or texture is off, the eyes can easily spot it. To create a photorealistic image, the materials must be precise in order to provide reasonably good light reflection and refraction. He provided an example of how much time an artist should spend on material in his video (Blender Guru, 2016, 23:24). for example, one should spend at least 2 hours on the material if they are required to create a photorealistic image in 4 hours. Having quality materials will enhance the realistic effect and enable the light to do his duties in a more organic manner. A realistic outcome for the final photo depends heavily on lighting, which is crucial in a similar way to materials. Lighting that is photorealistic reflects not only colour but also the direction and intensity found in real life. By understanding light colour, he described "light" by placing all the lights in the Kelvin scale. As a basic rule of thumb most lights in the real world fall within that scale (Blender,2022). For a more realistic depiction, it is more important to keep the light at the right distance and bounce. Utilizing real-world lighting directions is crucial. Furthermore, it asserts that reflections are just as significant as light. If an object did not reflect the amount of light that it was supposed to with decent material, photorealism might be killed. The final phase is post processing, which is in some ways simple. To achieve digital photorealism, the entire purpose of post processing is to replicate the imperfections that come from real-world cameras. As computer - generated imagery, we have access to digital cameras that produce perfect images—a physical impossibility that does not exist in the actual world. Most CGI artists have a deep interest in photography, which helps them develop a perspective of the actual world that they can display in their final simulations. A solid understanding of photography can be useful for achieving digital photorealism in a variety of ways. Andrew Price have mentioned five camera imperfection which he thinks are the most important and should keep in mind while making digital photorealistic images (Blender Guru, 2016, 41:44).Glare, motion blur, depth of field, chromatic aberration and barrel distortion. Starting with glare, it is important to realise that lens flare results from a strong light source in the background. Even though it doesn't really change anything, give it a small hit and add some glare. If your final render is missing it, it is too easy to tell that it is computer-generated. Second, there is motion blur, which is something that everyone is familiar with, but knowing when to utilise it will depend on your level of photographic expertise. Because the shutter must be open for a longer time so that it can catch the scene's light, motion blur is most obvious in low lighting conditions. When creating digital photorealism, it's crucial to consider if the scene has adequate lighting or not. If not, motion blur can be used to add realism. Additionally, when working on projects with fast-moving objects, motion blur can be essential for creating realistic scenes. Moving forward, it's also vital to consider depth of field. Only one subject can ever be in sharp focus, just like in photography. Therefore, either the foreground or the background are out of focus. It will be quite simple for viewers to spot the CGI and it won't be considered "digital photorealism" if the shot is hundred percent focused. Chromatic Aberration is the creation of a fringed colour. This effect is most likely to be observed when something bright meets something dark, most often with cheap lenses. However, it is not as significant as it may seem because these days' equipment are so much better, we can hardly find this efficiency and find it difficult to detect. last which is barrel distribution, talking about this effect in a video, Andrew Price says when a picture is shot, the lens of camera has a slight bend which makes a completely straight object which has little bend.

 

       In his lecture (Blender,2022) on the "Secrets of Photorealism," Price claims that "Toy Story 4" is the next movie that should be watched in order to learn more about photorealism. This is because "Toy Story 4" proved the principals of photorealism to be true. Even though the movie is animated, the usage of light     s provides the impression of photorealism, and the audience is lead to believe that it is real. Later, he goes on to emphasise how important materials are in producing realistic images. The vision is enhanced by a balanced ratio of light reflection and refraction, often known as diffuse. He claims that it is incorrect to reduce specular for an object in order to reduce reflection. Instead, it should always be set to 0.5 and increase the roughness of an object's material. Although it may appear that there is no difference because all the items reflect light, they all do; they just have varying degrees of roughness. Thus, Toy Story 4 has achieved that level of photorealism that can be comparable to the actual world and would have the exact effect by focusing on the two primary pillars of photorealism: light and materials. The statement made by Alex Roman that "90% of the time, the materials and the lighting hold the weight if developing authentic photographic imagination" feels particularly accurate in this case.

 

       To sum up, photorealism is an important component of the visual effects sector since it enables artists and filmmakers to produce digital images that feel and appear real. Additionally, photorealism has been employed in video to convey strong narrative. Not only that, but viewers have high expectations for the movies, and a small error might lead them to believe that a scene or image is CGI, even though they are aware that it depends entirely on the level of photorealism they like to see, which is unreal with genuine effects. However, the most crucial advice that every artist can use to produce photorealistic results is to use as many reference photos as they can. Although it will be difficult to accomplish, this objective has the power to completely alter how we view the world.

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Reference list

Blender (2022). The Secrets of Photorealism. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/Z8AAX-ENWvQ [Accessed 20 Nov. 2022].

Jay David Bolter and Grusin, R. (1999). Remediation: understanding new media. Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press

Meisel, L. (2020). Louis K. Meisel. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_K._Meisel.

Price, A. (2016). Photorealism Explained. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1-Ef54uTeU.