Classic Video Games Trick For Rendering Grass & Fur

Some time ago, Game Developer Danilo Dias shared a clip on X/Twitter of him playing Spider-Man 2 from 2004 on the original Xbox, pointing out an unusual grass effect in the game that simulates depth by stacking multiple planes, each with increasing brightness and transparency.

Grass and hair's dense and complex physical properties make rendering them extremely challenging, yet games have managed to do it for years. How is it possible for something so complex to be simplified so effectively? The core concept of shell texturing involves rendering multiple mesh instances and offsetting each vertex along the normal direction based on the instance count and shell spacing.

Much like other clever techniques developed for older and limited hardware, it's quite powerful and effective, especially at a distance. Headware Games' Nath offered a closer look at the same technique used in Shadow of the Colossus for rendering fur:

Nintendo, in particular, was enthusiastic about shell texturing in the past, especially in Star Fox Adventures, and still utilizes it in the current Switch games:

If you want to learn more about this method, check out this Acerola's video, which covers the complexities of hair rendering, shell texturing, and the technique's limitations:

Can you name a few games that utilized this technique? Let us know and join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Reddit, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.