The launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022) not only marked a milestone in war narrative but also established a new technical standard in the industry. Under the hood of the IW 9.0 engine, Infinity Ward developers implemented a workflow that merges environment photogrammetry with fluid physics simulation. This article breaks down the artistic pipeline, from modeling in Autodesk Maya and ZBrush to texturing based on real materials in Photoshop, optimized for real-time volumetric lighting. 🎮
Asset Pipeline: Photogrammetry and Water Simulation 🌊
The process begins with capturing real environments using photogrammetry, generating high-density point clouds that are imported into Autodesk Maya for retopology and normal baking. For operators, ZBrush is used for sculpting microscopic details such as skin pores or uniform folds, achieving a level of detail exceeding 20 million polygons before reduction. Weapon texturing in Photoshop uses reflectance maps based on real materials (worn steel, textured polymer), synchronized with the IW 9.0 volumetric lighting system. Water simulation, meanwhile, is solved using a particle physics solver that interacts with the scene geometry, generating waves and refractions in real time without the need for pre-rendering.
Technical Lessons for the Independent Developer 💡
Although the budget of an AAA title is unattainable, Modern Warfare II's approach offers valuable lessons. Photogrammetry, even with basic DSLR cameras, can be replicated in small projects for texturing props. The key lies in optimization: the IW 9.0 uses a texture streaming system that prioritizes details visible on screen. To simulate water without a complex solver, real-time displacement shaders combined with animated normal maps can be used. The flow from Maya to Photoshop remains the industry standard; mastering ambient occlusion map baking from ZBrush is the first step toward photorealism.
As a developer, which specific aspects of the IW 9.0 pipeline do you consider most decisive for achieving photorealism in Modern Warfare II, and how does it differ from techniques used in open-source engines like Unreal Engine 5?
(PS: 90% of development time is polishing, the other 90% is fixing bugs)