The 'Smell' Shader

[WildManofBorneo]

SD. I’m glad you mentioned shaders because I remember a conversation we once had about how important the colours of Shenmue were important to you. How difficult has it been to achieve the “look” and “colour” of Shenmue with Unreal 4?

YS. The basic attractive colours in Unreal 4 are formed with High Dynamic Range, and there is a wide range of colours from light to dark which can produce images where you can really feel the light and shade. This was the key deciding factor for my selection of the Unreal Engine. For me, the light and the shade are the most important part. For Shenmue, there are 2 things which are necessary to add. The next stage is there has to be a feeling of humidity. Shenmue has to have a slightly “wet” feeling to it. A damp kind of feeling in the air. I don’t mean actual rain, but the air should have a kind of moist feeling to it.
It’s difficult to achieve this with the standard Unreal 4 shaders, so I think we will have to write our own. The Shenmue teaser we have shown has achieved that look of “wetness” I think. We have now reached the second step. We are not yet at the third stage, but that will be images that you can smell. For example, in China they may chop up a pig like this, and then, without storing it in a refrigerator, sell it under the hot sun. It has that kind of raw stink, and that’s something I think we managed to achieve in Shenmue 2. Shenmue 3 will also be going onto this stage next. A “smell shader”, or a “stinky shader”! (laughs).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think we have yet to see the implemented 'Smell Shader' as even the latest screens from Magic 2018 (https://shenmue.link/post_en/898/?en) still appear to be from the Gamescom build.

[Hazuki00]

You can clearly see it even since the beginning of the development, like this picture for instance:


Or this one:


And even in this one, you can see it at the mountains in the back:

[Miles Prower]

I don't think he seriously meant it would be an actual game mechanic, did he? I think he just meant that he wants S3 to retain that same lived in, damp feeling. He said something to similar effect on Twitter a while back:
https://twitter.com/yu_suzuki_jp/status ... 4541276160

EDIT: Oh, I think I misunderstood what you were getting at, slightly: but as seen as in the post above, it does seem like those shaders have started to be implemented.

[Hyo Razuki]

Yeah, from what we've seen so far, they've done a great job to take the lived-in feel from Dreamcast version S2 over to S3. I think Yu even once said that he did some of the coding for those shaders himself.

[Spaghetti]

Can't wait to smell those graphics.

But no, the screens from MAGIC '18 aren't from the Gamescom build. There are a lot of improvements specifically in regards to their lighting and material shaders in the new stuff - although it's anybody's guess how "done" they are and if Yu has achieved the right "smell".

[WildManofBorneo]

You can clearly see it even since the beginning of the development, like this picture for instance:


Or this one:


And even in this one, you can see it at the mountains in the back:

Those examples reflect the 'humidity' shader as mentioned in the above interview, however I'm not certain if we have yet to see the 'smell' shader.

[Jibby]

I'm not certain if we have yet to see the 'smell' shader.

I can already smell Ryo's filthy unwashed clothes

[nskachu]

I'm not certain if we have yet to see the 'smell' shader.

I can already smell Ryo's filthy unwashed clothes

They were washed just a day before he entered the cave. When he jumped into the river to save the goat. Oh, and Shenfa of course.

[Kiske]

Personally, this screenshot from Gamescom 2017 gives me a sense of "smell".



I've been lucky enough to travel to South Africa once in my life and go out for a photo safari in the Bush at 6:00 am.

There was something special not only in the air, the smell, but also in the light. The combined effect was a unique feeling that people from there described to me as something specific to Africa.

I have a similar feeling watching at this screenshot from the surroundings of Bailu village.
The scattered mist and the range of colors going from very dark to vivid. The sun light above the Village tower.
All this gives me the feeling i'm there, at 6:00 in the morning. Almost smelling flowers and the nearby river, feeling the sun warmth on my skin.

It's honestly hard to tell (for me) what Suzuki San means exactly about Shenmue 3 graphics smell, but there's something in what we have seen so far that I don't recall to have seen in (many) others recent productions.