We learned from a recent Gamasutra article that BioWare has licensed Umbra occlusion culling technology for use in multiple titles, including Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect. This adds to the growing list of relatively high profile third party technology being utilized in BioWare products, and could be another interesting point of conversation in the constant debate about graphics in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

 

Normally a computer's graphics processing unit, or GPU, renders each aspect of the immediate environment with the same intricacy, meaning that items outside of your field of view are still drawing significant system resources. Umbra's occlusion culling technology is designed to let the GPU know what parts of the environment a player is actively looking at, allowing it to reduce the polygon count in unseen areas, minimizing the strain on the processor. Freeing up these resources could increase a games visual complexity, or as Gamasutra's Chris Remo puts it:


Umbra's technology can currently be seen in Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures and the up coming Guild Wars 2. Although many MMO gamers were not impressed with AoC as a whole, few could argue with the quality of its visual presentation which is assisted in some manner by the occlusion culling tech. While the publicized use of Umbra's technology in BioWare titles is limited to Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect, they also state that BioWare plans on using it in "other future titles."


This last piece about "future titles" is promising to many who are waiting for The Old Republic. The debate over the visual fidelity of TOR's stylized realism has been around since the games art direction was announced over a year ago, and, even though recent media has been more impressive, some still worry about the quality of the graphics. Umbra is an interesting addition to BioWare's arsenal, but it should be noted that there currently isn't any information, positive or negative, regarding its possible use in Star Wars: The Old Republic.