Enhancing Duke's Spritely Appearance part 3

[chicken]

Originally Posted by NightFright

Although I admit we have a serious lack of (active) modellers right now. Most unfortunately.

Just because you don't see us it doesn't mean we're not there

http://rapidshare.com/files/19557305...o_WIP.avi.html

[NightFright]

Cool. Didn't know EDuke32 supports AVI replacements for ANMs?

[chicken]

I don't think it does.
But i read in some thread (dunno where exactly) that TerminX would implement movie-support in case it should be needed. But he wouldn't start working on that unless someone came up with it.
This is how i understood it. So there is a chance that this intro might be implemented some day.

How ever that may be, i just wanted to see if i could create an animation like that. And so far it looks good.

@TerminX: If you should read this, please consider working on it!

edit: if not, i could render stills and maybe create an anm-file. We'll see...

[Spiker]

Wow looks good. Can't wait when it's completed. I wonder if Someone will make support for something other than anm.

[marked]

Here is tile 4138. I tried to walk the line between keeping it close to original and trying to match it up with the very nicely re-made tile 4140 right next to it in the game. I "borrowed" some parts from the re-made 4140 to help keep the continuity. If this looks OK then I will try to do the same thing with the other tile next to this one,4142.

Then I have to do the blown up versions of both. Thats going to be a struggle I'm not looking forward to. Anybody else want to attempt those when I'm done with these?

EDIT: I looked at the broken tiles for the other panels and maybe I can figure it out myself. After all, how hard can it be to make something good look bad.

[NightFright]

I cannot complain about the remake.

[marked]

here is 4139 It was way easier than I thought it would be.

[Tea Monster]

Originally Posted by chicken

I don't think it does.
But i read in some thread (dunno where exactly) that TerminX would implement movie-support in case it should be needed. But he wouldn't start working on that unless someone came up with it.

And a number of the modellers said "Why are we going to spend a month or more modelling, rendering and animating only to have it sit on our hard drives for who-only knows how long?"

I'd be interested in seeing that avi file. It had been over-subscribed when I got to it.

Originally Posted by chicken

@TerminX: If you should read this, please consider working on it!

Send him a PM! He'll either say yes or no.

@ Marked. Looks very good. I had to look twice to see if it wasn't the original sprite.

[chicken]

Originally Posted by Tea Monster

And a number of the modellers said "Why are we going to spend a month or more modelling, rendering and animating only to have it sit on our hard drives for who-only knows how long?"

I'd be interested in seeing that avi file. It had been over-subscribed when I got to it.

Send him a PM! He'll either say yes or no.

I sent you a PM with a rapidshare-link.

I'm pretty sure that TerminX will consider coding movie support if there is a need for it. (sending him a PM is a good idea btw, it's practical )
One side has to come forward first and as i understood it, it is our (the modelers) turn.
Even if he doesn't, i will still try to finish this and make it look as good as possible. I'm learning a lot of Blender's features that i wouldn't need otherwise and it's a lot of fun.

[Parkar]

Originally Posted by marked

Here is tile 4138. I tried to walk the line between keeping it close to original and trying to match it up with the very nicely re-made tile 4140 right next to it in the game. I "borrowed" some parts from the re-made 4140 to help keep the continuity. If this looks OK then I will try to do the same thing with the other tile next to this one,4142.

Then I have to do the blown up versions of both. Thats going to be a struggle I'm not looking forward to. Anybody else want to attempt those when I'm done with these?

EDIT: I looked at the broken tiles for the other panels and maybe I can figure it out myself. After all, how hard can it be to make something good look bad.

Looks good. Something to consider, and this is a general comment, is to try and match the general color and brightnes of the original. A simple way to do it is to sample down the new one to the size of the old and blur them both. If there is a disticnt diference in feel it is probably in need of some tweaking.

[Tea Monster]

That does look good. Nice meteor! It needs to have the flames, but its a good start.

If you need any help with Blender particles or running the output through the compositor to lighten it up a tad, let me know.

[chicken]

Just got an answer from TerminX. Chances for movie-support are small.
But i'll still work on it now and then, just not with top-priority.

@Teamonster: Thanks, i will get to you when i need help with it.

[NightFright]

What can be done is Ep.1 finale cutscene because opposite to all other movies, it just consists of images.

[DissidentRage]

Originally Posted by chicken

Just because you don't see us it doesn't mean we're not there

http://rapidshare.com/files/19557305...o_WIP.avi.html

Aww, can't access it anymore. You could try seeing if Yatta could host it.

[Tea Monster]

A number of us have planned to do just that (the finale from Ep 1) but if no video support is forthcoming, then there is no point in dedicating the time and effort.

[NightFright]

Here's a really hot candidate for a revision, #264. Our current version is incredibly ugly.

[marked]

As I was creating all of those hi-tech panel tiles with lights and displays I wished that the animated GIF format was supported to make cool lighting effects.

[Radar1013]

tell TerminX that and he might code it into EDuke32.

[Cipher]

Better yet, ask him to support animated PNG.

[Mr.Fibbles]

TerminX doesn't do the graphics stuff usually. I can't remember who does. (someone else on the team is responsible for more of the graphic stuff than TerminX)

However, he is the leader of the team and would know who to talk to about it.

[marked]

Nightfright: I looked at that tile before but couldn't figure out what it was supposed to represent so I passed it by. The same thing for tile 4378. I have no idea what the original text was supposed to be.It was unreadable.

[marked]

Here is my attempt at tiles 4430,4431,4432 They are on a transparent backround of course.


EDIT: DOH!! I just checked the to-do list and saw that we were looking for a model of these,not re-made sprites. Oh well. I'll just include them in my own game so its not a complete waste. On the bright side, I realised my mistake before re-making 4433-4435 the same way.

[DissidentRage]

Originally Posted by Mr.Fibbles

TerminX doesn't do the graphics stuff usually. I can't remember who does. (someone else on the team is responsible for more of the graphic stuff than TerminX)

However, he is the leader of the team and would know who to talk to about it.

That would be Plagman, who, apparently, is the shit.

[Piterplus]

Originally Posted by NightFright

Here's a really hot candidate for a revision, #264. Our current version is incredibly ugly.

Better?

[escapist]

Originally Posted by marked

Here is my attempt at tiles 4430,4431,4432 .... DOH!! I just checked the to-do list and saw that we were looking for a model of these, not re-made sprites.

actually, is it even possible to make a model like that with the animated "sparks"? (I'd really like to know how). Maybe a re-made sprite is our best bet.

[NightFright]

@Piterplus:
That's MUCH better indeed!

@marked:
Your sprite fuse can be used as placeholder for now. #4378, like many other sprites, has to be filled with "fantasy" text. All I think I can tell is that the big letters at the bottom spell "GUARD". The rest is up to your invention, maybe some rules how to behave in emergency situations or so, and below it reads "Always be on your GUARD". At least it'd be a start. However, note that the sprite is flipped in E4L5. That might screw the whole thing up right away.

@escapist:
Terminator model looks better now.

[Tea Monster]

Originally Posted by escapist

actually, is it even possible to make a model like that with the animated "sparks"? (I'd really like to know how). Maybe a re-made sprite is our best bet.

You make the standard model (one exists like it for one of the Ep1 electrical boxes). Then you either model the spark, or put a plane where the spark is going to be with alpha (transparency) and then you have two skins, one with the spark flashing (maybe two skins) and one without. the one without will just show the transparent panel and will look like there is nothing there, while the two spark skins, played per frame, will look like the spark is 'sparking'.

[dan2091]

Originally Posted by marked

I know we are waiting for a model replacement of 1347 but having time on my hands I decided to give a try at a re-make of the sprite. If anyone thinks it looks ok, use it until the model comes along.

Is it possible to re-make the enemies' sprites (troopers, pigs, octabrains, etc.) to High Defintion just in case I don't want to play with the models on?

It's a great work what everyone have done with the models and the 3D stuff in the game. They look great but I just wanted to see this happening.

You know, like HD Street Fighter 2... I don't play fighting games that much, but the idea of re-making the sprites sounds good and I'd like to see it applied on the characters in game.

[NightFright]

I can tell ya this is not gonna happen soon. You will need several sprite renders for each enemy, postures and so on. Doing this for all enemies seems like a tremendous amount of work to me, and making it look right even more so. The Lizman alone (#2120) consists of 58 frames, if I counted correctly. It's just insane.

[marked]

Here are tiles 4142 and 4143. Here again I used some parts from the panels next to it to keep a similar look.

[NightFright]

Nice. Ep.4 texture todo-list is melting down. Still, I think the panels should look darker, i.e. more black. That grate part for example looks rust brown/gray in the original tile.

[marked]

Just like with my previous panel next to this one, I had to comprimise between the original and trying to blend in with the other panels that were created by someone else. Those were "brightened" up quite a bit from the originals so I had to do some of that with mine too. I know it's sometimes hard to find the right way to balance things. It looks like everything else in the room these are found in is in good shape and not deteriorated so I didn't want to make anything look old or rusty on my panels. Plus it looks like none of the others have that brownish look to the grillwork and I thought it might look out of place on mine. As I've said before,I'm not perfect and if someone wants to touch up tiles I've submitted to make them better thats OK with me. I'm happy to be able to contribute as much as I have already. I will try a different grill look and post it in a little while if it looks any better.

[Tea Monster]

Originally Posted by dan2091

Is it possible to re-make the enemies' sprites (troopers, pigs, octabrains, etc.) to High Defintion just in case I don't want to play with the models on?

It's a great work what everyone have done with the models and the 3D stuff in the game. They look great but I just wanted to see this happening.

You know, like HD Street Fighter 2... I don't play fighting games that much, but the idea of re-making the sprites sounds good and I'd like to see it applied on the characters in game.

I suggested this to someone else at some other location on the forums who didn't like the models. Unfortunately, what you are saying is "do your models up to really high-quality, then we are going to throw your work away and then keep a flat representation of it."

So yes, its possible, but after that it's up to you.

[alandog]

hey marked, your texture are getting better! but some aliasing problem (4433-4435) still remains, keep up!

[marked]

I prefer the first set with the grey metal grill but here is the set with a brownish grey grill closer to the original. Use whichever one you guys like best.

Darkening the panels as suggested to bring out more black didn't look good. It didn't match up well with the other surrounding panels so I left them as-is.

[Piterplus]

Metal gril from the first set looks more detailed than second one, which, I agree is more "true" to the original (but primitive from "hi-res" point of view). I, like marked said, prefer first one.
Maybe we could slightly tone the grill to brown? (it's just a suggestion):

[NightFright]

I think Piter's version wins.

[marked]

looks good to me also

[chicken]

Originally Posted by marked

Here is my attempt at tile 1068 the blown up phone based on tile 967 that was previously done by someone else. I know its not that great but its better than nothing. Maybe as a placeholder till something better comes along.

I noticed that this tile is distorted somehow while i was playing the first vacation-episode level.
In the original the receiver "hangs out of the picture".
The lower background is transparent.
Your version is entirely solid.
Sorry, can't post screenshots right now (i am not home), but maybe you guys could check again how it looks ingame.

Apart from that: You're really delivering great work, marked!

[NightFright]

The same issue is noticable in DUKEDC4 ("Smithsonian Terror"). chicken is right. You have to take a closer look at the original tile. The lower third of the tile is transparent, just the cord with ripped-off telephone receiver is dangling down. This makes it much different compared to #967 which has no transparency at all. It's a *HUGE* difference, for if you do the texture like you did, it totally messes up the aspect ratio!

The math is simple: #967 is 32x64, #1068 is 32x91. This means 27 pixels length are occupied by transparency. For your remake, that means it has to be 256x728, with the lower 27x8=216 pixel occupied by transparency (just the telephone cord is visible!).

Here is a Mapster32 screenshot: