Editing Impostering

{{Status|RealWorld}}
'''Impostering''', or '''imposter''', is a rendering technique used in game developments to reduce the geometric complexity of a three-dimensional scene by caching portions of the scene as images without loss of detail.<ref name="imposterbasics">[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130911/dynamic_2d_imposters_a_simple_.php '''Gamasutra''': ''Dynamic 2D Imposters: A Simple, Efficient DirectX 9 Implementation'']</ref> A refinement of this technology is used in ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' and ''[[Halo 4]]''.

== Overview ==
<choose><option>{{Quote|We have this awesome new automatically generated LOD system called impostering that makes objects that are really far away really cheap to draw|[[Jon Cable]] in [[Halo: Reach ViDoc: Forge World|Forge World ViDoc]]<ref name="impostering">'''Halo: Reach''', ''[[Halo: Reach ViDoc: Forge World|Forge World ViDoc]]''</ref>}}</option><option>{{Quote|We started everything over from scratch, came up with a whole new rig for how we animate faces and also how we approach like texturing them, modeling them, everything, and just uh, put a lot more time, difference of about a couple million polygons.|Scott Shepherd in [[Halo: Reach ViDoc: Once More Unto the Breach|Once More Unto the Breach]]<ref name="breach">'''Halo: Reach''', ''[[Halo: Reach ViDoc: Once More Unto the Breach|One More Unto the Breach]]''</ref>}}</option><option>{{Quote|To pull off the vision for what we had for this game, we ended up gutting almost every part of the engine, retooling things to make it run faster, to make it run better, look better. |[[Marcus R. Lehto]] in [[Halo: Reach ViDoc: Once More Unto the Breach|Once More Unto the Breach]]<ref name="breach">'''Halo: Reach''', ''[[Halo: Reach ViDoc: Once More Unto the Breach|One More Unto the Breach]]''</ref>}}</option></choose>
In layman's term, impostering works by rendering object's level of detail based on their distance from the player.<ref name="bnet fan explain">[https://halo.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=41480994 '''Bungie.net''': ''*** UPDATE 3-11-2010 *** Example of Halo: Reach's LOD System'']</ref> Thus, the farther the object is from the player, the lower the level of detail the object has. The object gains more level of detail as the player comes closer to it. This allows for an expanded number of resources. While common in most modern games, the [[#Application_in_''Halo''_titles|implementation of the technology]] is different in ''Halo: Reach'' and ''Halo 4''. An example of this is lighting. In ''[[Halo 3]]'', there could only be three or four [[wikipedia:dynamic light|dynamic light]]s present at one time. Depending on the situation, ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' can present up to 40 dynamic lights at one time.

== Application in ''Halo'' titles ==
While previous ''Halo'' titles have made use of the technology, the impostering technology implemented in those titles was fairly simple and not refined until ''Halo: Reach''. During the development of ''Halo: Reach'', Bungie made considerable revisions to the technology so that it would perform efficiently without sacrificing the [[wikipedia:level of detail|level of detail]]. This refinement was first featured in [[Halo: Reach ViDoc: Once More Unto the Breach|Once More Unto the Breach ViDoc]] and is more noticeable in [[Forge World]]'s open landscape.

This improved technology was also implemented in ''Halo 4''.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Warthog Rough.jpg|An example of impostering applied on a [[M12 Chaingun Warthog|Warthog]].
File:Falcon Rough.jpg|An example of impostering applied on a [[UH-144 Falcon|Falcon]].
File:Ghost Rough.jpg|An example of impostering applied on a [[Type-32 Ghost|Ghost]].
File:Banshee Rough.jpg|An example of impostering applied on a [[Type-26 Banshee|Banshee]].
</gallery>

== Sources ==
{{Ref/Sources}}

==See also==
*[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130911/dynamic_2d_imposters_a_simple_.php '''Gamasutra''': ''Dynamic 2D Imposters: A Simple, Efficient DirectX 9 Implementation'']

[[Category:Development]]