Silicon Studio
 | |
| Privately held company | |
| Industry |
Computer graphics Video games |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Tokyo, Japan |
Key people |
Teruyasu Sekimoto (Honorary Chairman) Takehiko Terada (President and CEO) |
| Products |
3D Dot Game Heroes Bravely Default |
Number of employees | 195[1] |
| Website | siliconstudio.co.jp |
Silicon Studio is a Japanese computer graphics technology company and video game developer based in Tokyo. As a technology company, Silicon Studio has produced several products in the 3D computer graphics field, including middleware software, such as a post-processing visual effects library called YEBIS, as well as general real-time graphics engines and game development engines, such as OROCHI and Mizuchi, a physically based rendering engine. As a video game developer, Silicon Studio has worked on different titles for several gaming platforms, most notably, the action-adventure game 3D Dot Game Heroes on the PlayStation 3, the role-playing video game Bravely Default on the Nintendo 3DS, and Fantasica on the iOS and Android mobile platforms.
History
Silicon Studio was established in 2000 to deliver innovation in the digital entertainment technology and contents industry. It was founded by Teruyasu Sekimoto, who was formerly the senior vice president of Silicon Graphics (SGI).[2] Specializing from the start in rendering technology, research and development methods, post-processing visual effects, game content development, and online game solutions, Silicon Studio created four main studios to achieve the highest productivity in these areas. The research team at Silicon Studio developed several techniques related to fields in visual effects shown at the Computer Entertainment Developers Conference, such as post effect processing and global illumination. While traditionally a provider of middleware solutions for Japanese game developers, Silicon Studio has grown as an international company with a greater focus on the visibility of their products abroad.
Silicon Studio has partnerships with a number of companies, including French company Allegorithmic, Canadian company Audiokinetic, British company Stainless Games, Italian companies such as Kunos Simulazioni and Milestone, American companies such as Microsoft and Pixar, and Japanese companies such as Bandai Namco, DeNA, Dimps, FromSoftware, Idea Factory, Koei Tecmo, Marvelous, Sega, and Sony Computer Entertainment.[3] Silicon Studio has also partnered with the following companies: Vivante,[4] OTOY,[5] Square Enix, and Matchlock.
In February 2014, Silicon Studio was selected by Develop magazine as part of the "Develop 100: Ones To Watch" list, a list of 100 global companies that are "on course to change development over the next 12 months."[6] In September 2014, Silicon Studio debuted their new MIZUCHI engine.
Video games
Games developed by Silicon Studio:
| Release date | Titles | Genre | Publisher(s) | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Operation Darkness (Special Thanks) | Tactical role-playing | Xbox 360 | |
| 2009 | Onore no Shinzuru Michi Wo Yuke | Action | PlayStation Portable | |
| 3D Dot Game Heroes | Action-adventure | PlayStation 3 | ||
| 2010 | Three Kingdoms Card Battle | Social role-playing | Silicon Studio[7] | Mobage |
| 2012 | Bravely Default | Role-playing | Nintendo 3DS | |
| Fantasica | Tactical role-playing | Silicon Studio[7] | Mobage | |
| Muramasa: Princess Commander | Social card game | |||
| 2014 | Monster Takt | Role-playing | Silicon Studio[7] | Android, iOS |
| 2014 | Age of Ishtaria | Action role-playing | ||
| 2015 | Grand Sphere | Role-playing | Silicon Studio | Android, iOS |
| Muramasa: Princess Commander -Miyabi- | Role-playing card game | |||
| 2015 | Bravely Second: End Layer | Role-playing | Nintendo 3DS |
Middleware
Bishamon – Bishamon is a particle effect authoring tool and runtime library that works for many gaming platforms. It is developed by a partner company and is integrated with the Orochi3 game development engine.[8]
Motion Portrait – Motion Portrait is a technology tool that can automatically animate a portrait. It supports both regular camera photos or non-realistic character drawings.[9]
YEBIS
Development for YEBIS originally began some time around 2004.[10] Notable video games that utilize YEBIS include:[11]
- 3D Dot Game Heroes (2009)
- Dynasty Warriors 7 (2011)
- Gunslinger Stratos (2012)
- Fighter Within (2013)
- Monster Monpiece (2013)
- The Witch and the Hundred Knight (2013)
- Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers (2013)
- Valhalla Knights 3 (2013)
- MotoGP 14 (2014)
- MXGP The Official Motocross Videogame (2014)
- Bloodborne (2015)
- Dragon Ball XenoVerse (2015)
- Final Fantasy XV (2016)
Software that support YEBIS include:
- Substance Designer 4.3[11]
- Substance Painter[11]
- Luminous Studio[12]
- Modo[13]
- OTOY real-time path tracing engine[10]
YEBIS 2
YEBIS 2 is a post-processing middleware solution that allows developers to create high-quality lens-simulation optical effects.[14]
Among various other features,[14] YEBIS 2 includes the following features:
- Anti-aliasing, including MSAA, FXAA, post-process anti-aliasing, and image-based anti-aliasing.[15]
- Depth of field, including bokeh.[14]
- Color temperature adjustment.[16]
- Chromatic aberration.[17]
- High-dynamic-range rendering (HDR rendering), including real HDR rendering, simulated HDR rendering, and pseudo-HDR rendering.[18]
- HDR based exposure simulation.[16]
- Motion blur,[14] for fast camera rotation movement and one for translation & scene objects movement.[10]
- Multi-color customizable glare.[14]
- Optics simulation, including lens effects and physically accurate optical effects.[10]
- Ray tracing based algorithms for close simulation on camera lenses.[10]
- Supports DirectX 11, OpenGL ES 2.0, and OpenGL ES 3.0, with plans for DirectX 12 and Mantle support.[10]
- Variegated customizable glare effects, including HDR rendering and variegated tone mapping.[19]
In June 2013, Silicon Studio announced that their next post-processing middleware solution, YEBIS 2, would be available for game developers on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One development network. At the E3 Expo 2013, Square Enix’s tech demo Agni’s Philosophy was shown using YEBIS 2 post-processing effects.[20]
In August 2013, the YEBIS 2 tech demo “Rigid Gems” was featured in Google’s official unveiling of the Nexus 7 mobile tablet.[21][22] YEBIS has also been used for the Xbox One launch title, Fighter Within.[23] In May 2014, Silicon Studio announced that their YEBIS 2 middleware was being utilized in the MotoGP 14 video racing game, developed by Milestone for PlayStation 4.[24] YEBIS 2 is also utilized by Square Enix's Luminous Studio engine, and the action role-playing game Final Fantasy XV which runs on the Luminous Studio engine.[12] In 2014, Allegorithmic announced that it had integrated YEBIS 2 with software such as Substance Designer 4.3 and Substance Painter,[25] which are supported by The Foundry's Modo software.[13] OTOY has also been using YEBIS for their real-time path tracing engine on PC.[10]
YEBIS 3
A new version of the YEBIS post-processing effects middleware, debuting in 2014.
In addition to the YEBIS 2 features mentioned above, YEBIS 3 includes the following additional features:
- Blur simulation.
- Bokeh simulation, including open/close simulation of diaphragm blades, Lens aberration/correction simulations,[26] and simulating full range of bokeh size, from extremely small to full screen.[10]
- Camera animations and focus point animations are much smoother and take into account diaphragm movements.[10]
- Color space such as Adobe RGB, to display the right colors on special displays.[10]
- Greatly improved quality.[10]
- High quality screen space ambient occlusion[27] (SSAO).[10]
- Input/output color space conversion.[27]
- Iris diaphragm aperture/closure simulation.[27]
- More precise physical simulation of the internal lens optical components and diaphragm, by taking into account bokeh chromatic aberration, color fringing, and aperture shape.[10]
- Movie level post-processing effects.[28]
In 2015, Geomerics announced that it has integrated YEBIS 3 with the Forge lighting tool for the Enlighten 3 software.[29]
Engines
OROCHI3 – Orochi3 is an all-in-one game development engine. It supports PlayStation4, Xbox One, PlayStation3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360 and PC.[30] It is used by Bandai Namco Entertainment's upcoming fighting game Rise of Incarnates. An earlier version of Orochi was also used by Square Enix's third-person shooter arcade game Gunslinger Stratos in 2012.[31]
Mizuchi
A new real-time graphics engine that debuted in 2014, compatible with the PC and PlayStation 4 platforms. It is called Mizuchi, with the full title, Mizuchi: The Cutting-Edge Real-Time Rendering Engine. It is intended to be used for various different applications, including video game development, films, architectural and automobile visualization, and academic research.[28]
Mizuchi includes the following features:
- Materials system:[28]
- Metals, rust, plastics, leathers, concrete, leaves, etc.[32]
- Semi-transparent materials, such as glass.[32]
- Layered materials for rich representation.[32]
- High resolution material technology.[28]
- Lighting and shadows:[32]
- Wide range of light sources, including directional lighting, spot lighting, spherical lighting, area lighting, and omnidirectional lighting.
- Wide range of shadows, including standard shadow, omnidirectional shadow, and cascade shadow.
- Shading,[28] including support for deferred shading and forward shading.[32]
- Image-based lighting.[32]
- Real-time global illumination, including support for multiple bounces, modular radiance transfer,[33] and hybrid ray tracing.[34]
- Rendering:[28]
- Physically based rendering.
- High quality rendering comparable to offline rendering.
- Screen space effects: Screen space reflection, screen space ambient occlusion, and the latest in anti-aliasing technology.[32]
- YEBIS 3: post-processing effects middleware (see above for list of features).[28]
- Software development kit: Clean cross-platform abstraction layer, easily customizable rendering pipelines, useful debugging utilities.[32]
- Support tools: Material design tool, integrated editor to edit materials and lighting, scene graph, smooth integration with digital content creation (DCC) tool workflow,[32] integration with game engines and paint tools, support for model files and texture files.[28]
- Software documentation: Comprehensive tutorial for programmers & designers, application programming interface (API) reference documentation.[32]
In September 2014, a tech demo running on the engine, called "Museum", was revealed. It received a positive reception for the high visual quality of its real-time graphics.[35][36] In December 2014, Silicon Studio announced the Mizuchi engine will be compatible with the PC at 60 frames per second and the PlayStation 4 at 30 frames per second.
Xenko – Xenko, formerly known as Paradox, is a game development framework with an asset pipeline and a cross-platform runtime supporting iOS, Android, Windows UWP, Linux, and PlayStation4. It is currently under on-going development, but currently available as free and open-source (for Xenko beta version 1.8x).[37]
References
- ↑ http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/corporate/
- ↑ http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/en/corporate/the-innovation-of-silicon-studio/sp/detail02.html
- ↑ Official website
- ↑ http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/en/pr/2013/en1309sskk_vivante.html
- ↑ http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/en/pr/2013/pdf/siliconstudio_otoy.pdf
- ↑ http://www.develop-online.net/news/develop-100-ones-to-watch-2014-free-to-download-now/0189066
- 1 2 3 http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/en/products-service/apps/
- ↑ http://www.matchlock.co.jp/english/?page_id=46
- ↑ http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/en/middleware/motion_portrait/
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 http://gamingbolt.com/yebis-engine-interview-developing-physically-accurate-optical-post-effects
- 1 2 3 http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/middleware/yebis/en/showcase/gamelist/
- 1 2 http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-final-fantasy-15-episode-duscae-tech-analysis
- 1 2 https://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/modo/compatible-products/substance-designer-4/
- 1 2 3 4 5 http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/middleware/yebis/en/features/
- ↑ http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/middleware/yebis/en/features/anti_aliasing/
- 1 2 https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ja&tl=en&u=http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/series/3dcg/20120613_539675.html
- ↑ https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.gamekyo.com/group_article27308.html
- ↑ http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/middleware/yebis/en/features/hdr_rendering/
- ↑ http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/middleware/yebis/en/features/star/
- ↑ http://www.agnisphilosophy.com/en/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsdrk10bVGM
- ↑ http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/en/pr/2013/en1307google.html
- ↑ http://fighter-within.ubi.com/fighter-within/en-GB/home/
- ↑ http://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/217485/YEBIS_2_REVS_UP_OPTICAL_EFFECTS_ON_NEXT_GENERATION_RACINGTITLE_MOTOGPtrade14.php
- ↑ http://www.cgchannel.com/2014/05/substance-tools-to-get-render-tech-from-final-fantasy-xv-demo/
- ↑ http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/middleware/yebis/en/features/3_new/
- 1 2 3 http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/06/13/silicon-studio-announces-yebis-3-middleware-shows-impressive-new-effects-for-ps4-vita-pc-and-more/
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/middleware/mizuchi/en/
- ↑ http://gfxspeak.com/2015/03/06/geomerics-improves-illumination/
- ↑ http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/middleware/orochi/en/
- ↑ http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/88142/square-enix-next-game-is-gunslinger-stratos-uses-orochi-engine/
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/middleware/mizuchi/pdf/mizuchi_en_2015feb.pdf
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQIOs6M8gyM
- ↑ https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.sweclockers.com/nyhet/19251-spelmotorn-mizuchi-lovar-blandande-grafik-for-den-nya-generationens-spelmaskiner
- ↑ http://www.gamnesia.com/news/bravely-default-team-unveils-revolutionary-new-graphics-engine
- ↑ http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/mizuchi-tech-dem-renders-real-time-awesomeness.html
- ↑ http://xenko.com/