In 2016, Forza Horizon 3 captivated players with a beautiful Australian landscaped backed by a set of mesmerizing HDR skylines. Those skylines in fact, were rendered based on footage of real Australian skies captured during Playground Games' trip to the land down under. 

In this 2017 GDC talk Playground Games' Jamie Wood explains how the company developed a technique for shooting high resolution 24 hour HDR time-lapse photography using a custom camera rig, on location, and then projected these evolving sky captures onto the in-game sky of Forza Horizon 3. 

It's an enlightening talk about a unique process for creating in-game assets, and you can watch it in its entirety in the video above or for free on the GDC YouTube channel.

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or XRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.