Badniks & Bosses Art

<!--quoteo(post=206706:date=Jul 14 2008, 07:22 PM:name=Vijay)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Vijay @ Jul 14 2008, 07:22 PM)

Cheers,
Vijay[/quote]
Hi Vijay. When I feel something is wrong, I do the basic compare by scaling down the graphics. Look at the original boss, and your two versions scaled down 4X:



You have done a huge job! So what looks identical to the original at this point? I say the main outer shape of everything looks more or less the same as the original. Almost, not counting the hammer which has another shape than yours. How do the colors and gradient match up?

You show some impressive skill so far.

 

<!--quoteo(post=206844:date=Jul 14 2008, 05:31 PM:name=Vincent)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Vincent @ Jul 14 2008, 05:31 PM)

 

Also, the red trim around the thruster has a break in it. Also, it looks like Eggman is too far forward in his chair.

 

You can also take out eggman Vijay, since Vincent has almost finished the improved eggman frame for boss vehicles.

You might find it useful to have a look at the springs remastered by Exodus for inspiration:



He added more in-between shades to give the spring a shiny appearance without resorting to the automatic gradient filter (the grey coils in particular you might find useful).

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There's also something else - the first boss vehicle that should be remastered is the Metropolis Zone vehicle. I only just realized this, so we're sorry for not informing you earlier.

This is because the boss vehicles from Emerald Hill, Chemical Plant, Aquatic Ruin, Hill Top and Mystic Cave are simply "add-ons". The boosters and hammer in your remastered Aquatic Ruin boss for example would need to be first added onto such a base vehicle, so we can then use that same base vehicle for all the other necessary bosses.

Here are the 4x sprites of firstly, the Metropolis zone base vehicle followed by the Aquatic Ruin add-on vehicle.

 

Sorry for correcting you. The add-ons are only overlays. Which means the real art is behind each boss ship (nah, more of replaces tiles than overlaying pattern tables since VRAM space was already low). So Metropolis may look like it doesn't have any add-ons, but that green laser lamp is an add-on. Here is the real ship (sorry but the palette in my image is actually from Sonic 3's, so use the palette Athelstone provided):


Source: Nemesis compression pointers and LOst Library pattern table.

 

Good job. I saw the lamp, but I figured it would be a minor edit to simply cover it up with the grey plate while using everything else as a base. Still since we have this now, even better. I noticed though that in the Sonic 3 version you provided that they removed some of the grey shades, but it's really not a big deal. Maybe they thought their shades were too grainy in the Sonic 2 boss vehicle or something. I could edit them back in, but meh. Aesthetically they look practically the same anyway.

Here it is at 4x with the appropriate Sonic 2 palette (I connected the two halves correctly).

So to be clear, this is the base vehicle that should be remastered (Edit: see next post)

 

My first badnick, Spiny:



85% Completed.

 

Hmm, good start. The next step could be removing the thick outlines and adding some volume to its "feet".

Oh, and about his teeth, they might look a bit too "real". Perhaps making them thicker and less curved could help make them look more "mechanical".

 

I think the spinities coming out of the top should be more geometric to match the rest of the badnik.

 

Since it's been reposted, I think that the black line on that enemy (outlining its face) ought to be straighter.

 

I thought that when the top claws where closed, there were no gaps at all =/

 

tsk tsk.

Everyone needs to start posting their contributions at 4x instead of whatever the hell they feel like posting it at. 4x is almost at 1080p. That's definately the largest we'll need any of the art at.



Look at how much better the shades look at actual size. And that's with a simple resizing. Imagine if the image was exported at the intended size.

 

The outlines on the feet seem too thick to me. I'm not sure what purpose they have in the original, but here the contrast is too high.

 

<!--quoteo(post=209951:date=Jul 23 2008, 08:21 AM:name=Master Emerald)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Master Emerald @ Jul 23 2008, 08:21 AM) [/quote]
Hmm, do the curves coming down off the eyes look off to anyone else? I know it's hard to tell exactly what they're meant to be without looking at the original artwork, but it seems like they should be straight lines to me. Also, when you compare the sprite to the 4x you can see that the two spines on the outside are slightly overlapped by the ones on the inside - no gap is present there like has been created in the 4x version.

 

That was what I meant in my previous post.

 

Generally, thick outlines should be avoided, because they make it look obvious that the image was based off a low resolution one. When I look at this conversion in particular, it looks like the pixelated lines were straightened, and that's all. Master Emerald can do much better than that, as he has already proven.

 

It's a good start, but as others pointed out some of the lines are too curved or smoothed. Remember this is a machine. However it's coming out very nice, work on the thickness of the lines and some of the curves and I'm sure it'll look a lot better. The top spikes should be a bit less curved when compared to the sprite, and there should be a slight shadow on the bottom of them.