The reflections in Dead Space 3 got my interest because they “fade out” the “deeper” they reach into the ground. This is an effect i already tried to understand in reality and if you have knowledge or links about it, feel free to contact me! I would love to learn more about it.

Source: Dead Space 3

As far a i know (pls correct me if I’m wrong) this is called diffuse reflection in the real world.

e-freak mentioned, that this is maybe a tech they call Screenspace-/Real Time Local Reflections in the CryEngine 3. Feel free to checkout the presentation slides (slide 29) about this topic on their website.

It’s the opposite of a “perfect” reflection which you can see in a real mirror or Deus Ex 1:

Source: Games of Might and Magic

I would love to know how exactly they did it, but for now i can only guess. For me it seems like a “last rendered frame” fake (i wrote about this here) because of two points:

#1 Look at the chair to the right. The reflection looks like the image was stretched “down”. This works perfect on objects with mostly vertical edges, but these concave forms say to me “Simon, I’m not raytraced”.

Source: Dead Space 3

#2 You (not you, but Isaac Clarke, the guy on the picture) has a weird influence on the reflection. It looks like he is also “stretched” into the reflection.

Source: Dead Space 3

For the real world, I already could collect two interesting information about diffuse reflections:

#1 They are angle depended. The smaller the angle between the viewer and the reflecting surface, the stronger the reflection. This is why the reflection fades out. It’s called Fresnel equation. By the way: the “s” in Fresnel is not spoken because this guy was French. So just say “Frenel”.

This effect is visible very well in the game when you see it in movement. For that, they get a “Fox Point” because of their smartness. Look how the reflections get stronger the more the camera decreases its angle to the ground:

Source: Dead Space 3

#2 They get blurred. I’m not sure if this is true, but for me it seems that the reflection is not only faded in their intensity but also blurred the “deeper” it goes. But this isn’t made in Dead Space as far as i see.

Source: pdfcast.net

I really like that the developers invested time into this effect because i liked it already in reality and to see this in a game makes me happy. I hope for more stuff like this on the upcoming next gen consoles.

Update 1

Nicolae recorded this video for us and shows how the reflections in Deus Ex were made! The classic mirrored-geometry trick! <3

By the way, he also shared the console command to actually enable the wireframe:

In order to get this effect set launch option on the game on steam “-hax0r” then in-game, press “Y” for chat, and press backspace until you delete the “TeamSay” and then just enter the command after the the ones you need are:

• “ghost” for noclip
• “set DeusEx.JCDentonMale Airspeed 10” for better movement control
• “rmode 1” to make wireframes visible

And to get rid of the HUD:

togglecrosshair
togglehitdisplay
togglecompass
toggleaugdisplay
toggleobjectbelt
toggleammodisplay

Source: Deus Ex 1

And he provided this video from a game, we’re not exactly sure about how it is named. If you know the name, let us know!

Source: Wii Sports Resort

Update 2

If you’re interested in Sceen Space Reflections, there is this super cool article about Blightbound’s SSR with many images and tricks.

Source: Screen Space Reflections in Blightbound