Quality of 3d character models and animations

[steelshark]

My 2 cents:

Focus on solid looking Models, solid believable animations, perhaps with some footwork in combat too, as some animations in crpg feel very static.

High-poly models can most likely be patched/modded in, so should not be a priority.

 

Finishing moves are nice, IF they are short, otherwise they become repetitive.

[Hassat Hunter]

I was thinking NWN1 was much better in design and more stable than its sequel.

It's hell ugly compared to BG2 though.

[Falkon Swiftblade]

I def want them to put effort in the animations, we're not limited nearly like we were 10-20 yrs ago, and they can certainly maintain the look and feel while fixing the tech with current stuff. Even Zbrush has added some Super awesome stuff to make 3d model and renders look extra awesome with minimal work like Lbrush deformation in this video.

 

http://vimeo.com/52668394#at=0

[Frisk]

I def want them to put effort in the animations, we're not limited nearly like we were 10-20 yrs ago, and they can certainly maintain the look and feel while fixing the tech with current stuff. Even Zbrush has added some Super awesome stuff to make 3d model and renders look extra awesome with minimal work like Lbrush deformation in this video.

 

Look again at this, for example the campsite to the left, and estimate the size of the characters on the screen.

 

With the small characters, you you simply would not be able to see sufficient details for this to be worth the effort.

[Falkon Swiftblade]

I def want them to put effort in the animations, we're not limited nearly like we were 10-20 yrs ago, and they can certainly maintain the look and feel while fixing the tech with current stuff. Even Zbrush has added some Super awesome stuff to make 3d model and renders look extra awesome with minimal work like Lbrush deformation in this video.

 

Look again at this, for example the campsite to the left, and estimate the size of the characters on the screen.

 

With the small characters, you you simply would not be able to see sufficient details for this to be worth the effort.

 

I understand what you're saying, but at the same time they've said the party size will be up to 6 people, and unless they're making Chibi sized hero's, even that scene would not fit a party of hero's or allow for more than single monster battles. I certainly hope its not so small in scale. Even BG games had fairly spacious environments most of the time so the party could move around.

[Carmelle]

That screen to me looks like it's designed to set the mood or introduce an area (whatever is behind those statues), not be a complete map itself. I doubt any sort of encouters would occur there...and it's definitely large enough to fit the heroes for that purpose. Especially if they have any sort of depth, so as you move towards the entrance the characters would become smaller still.

[Hassat Hunter]

They already stated it's only part of an area, not an entire area map.

 

And yes, that much detail would be wasted, unless it was on the background. But that's painted, which makes it better than any kind of rendering does.

The only pro would be good animated objects to make the world more alive...

[Frisk]

The only pro would be good animated objects to make the world more alive...

 

That is certainly doable, and what you would do is to "place" 3D objects "on" the pre-rendered background, and those objects could include things like moving windmill wings, treas with leaves that move in the wind and so on - this is really no different than having animated characters and monsters.

(In some cases you can get animation effects by using animated textures on a non-moving object ... say, a water surface).

 

This might perhaps be combined with a layered pre-rendered background with the walkmesh winding its way between the layers, but that's an implementation issue.

[Carmelle]

They've already said that parts of it will be animated and such

[Hassat Hunter]

Probably badly worded.

 

I meant to say the only 3D advancement that could benefit the game was help to animations to liven up the background, not making models prettier, or adding bumpmaps or whatever.

Hopefully it's a bit clearer now, sorry about that...

[Falkon Swiftblade]

I saw one of the dev's mention they're switching 3d programs for project eternity to Maya, and the current version of Maya has a lot of fancy lighting and animation improvements in it. We should probably be seeing our first character in the next update I'm guessing since they recently finished it. I just hope they really take advantage of what they have access to, even if it's pre-rendered graphics like Donkey Kong and Killer Instinct from way back in mid 90's.

[Frisk]

We should probably be seeing our first character in the next update I'm guessing since they recently finished it.

 

...and we did...

 

[rjshae]

If that's leather armor, he has some big gaps down his flanks. Looks good though overall.

[Karkarov]

I just hope they got for more facial detail and go the route of letting us see the characters faces sometimes. Seriously, doing a solid character model is not that hard, or expensive, these days. There is no excuse to skimp on the quality of the character models.

[LadyCrimson]

If that's leather armor, he has some big gaps down his flanks. Looks good though overall.

It does look a bit more like a leather poncho.

[Hormalakh]

If that's leather armor, he has some big gaps down his flanks. Looks good though overall.

It's not leather armor.

[rjshae]

If that's leather armor, he has some big gaps down his flanks. Looks good though overall.

It's not leather armor.

How do you know that?

 

If it is metal, then sitting down or squatting will be difficult. The design isn't very practical for metal armor.

 

I actually think it's modeled after this guy:

 

Edited December 6, 2012 by rjshae

[Rabain]

From what Josh said in the update thread I gathered that it was the model for Edair. It doesn't look exactly like the concept art because well the concept is just concept.

 

Maybe that's what he looks like when he has no proper armor equipped. They probably won't have him wandering around with +4 mail at this stage.

[Hormalakh]

It looks more like lamellar armor than leather armor. I don't know all the armor names, but I saw another armor type that looked like that and it wasn't called leather. I could be wrong though.

 

Edit: It looks more like a gambeson.

Edited December 6, 2012 by Hormalakh

[Sabotin]

I think that's a chain (or very fine scail) shirt beneath the striped leather?

[Agelastos]

It looks more like lamellar armor than leather armor. I don't know all the armor names, but I saw another armor type that looked like that and it wasn't called leather. I could be wrong though.

 

Edit: It looks more like a gambeson.

 

It's neither. Lamellar is pretty much scale armor, only the scales interlock with eachother instead of being attached to a layer of cloth or leather.

And a gambeson is a padded cloth jacket (they look nothing like that). The armor in the picture is just some kind of leather cuirass.

Edited December 7, 2012 by Agelastos

[Hormalakh]

Yeah I don't know armor very well - but it didn't look like "leather armor" that we're used to, anyway.

Edited December 7, 2012 by Hormalakh

[Jarmo]

If that's leather armor, he has some big gaps down his flanks. Looks good though overall.

It's not leather armor.

How do you know that?

 

If it is metal, then sitting down or squatting will be difficult. The design isn't very practical for metal armor.

 

I actually think it's modeled after this guy:

 

 

I think that's brigandine, or plated, coat of plates, or whatever it's called.

Basically those leather "stripes" have a bunch of metal plates inside. Flexible, resonably comfortable, good protection.

(and then mail shirt below, will there be layered armor, I bet not)

Edited December 7, 2012 by Jarmo

[Hormalakh]

It's sad how little I know about armor. At least this game will teach me something about armor I hope?

[rjshae]

Shrug. Yeah I'm not sure either. It just struck me as probably being overlapping leather or cloth because it didn't have any horizontal joints for bending at the waist.