[JansenM]

What's that, appearing from over the horizon? No, it can't be... An update!?

Oh, but it is.


I decided to get off my butt and work for a weekend, so now we have a character model!

Based mostly around the Sonic CD cutscenes' unique design in terms of proportions (with a bunch of artistic liberties and alternate design choices taken where necessary), this model's currently being passed on to the rigger/animator and should be running in... An unspecified amount of time, for now. Though work is somewhat slow and inconsistent, we're most certainly not dead yet.

This post has been edited by JansenM: 29 January 2014 - 11:45 AM

[NickonAquaMagna]

It's been a while since we've updated, and we wanted to have something to show, so here it is. The new Sonic model shown in the post above will be featured in videos an' whatnot once it's been rigged into the game. Jansem is also building and animating models for badniks that will be revealed at a later date, along with some additions and changes to the island. Dashtube has been working to build more of the island, and we'll soon be moving on the the last part of it. Now, I know that makes it sound like we're almost done, but we aren't. It may be the last section, but it's also going to be the biggest. It'll basically be a mountain that all the paths that opened up throughout the rest of the island eventually lead to, converging near the top, where the goal ring will be. We've been keeping hush hush for a while, but you guys here at retro get to be the first to see Sonic's new look. Watcha' think?

[Ell678]

I'm no expert at stuff like this, but something about his shoes seems wierd. I can't put my finger on it.

Does look nice though!

[winterhell]

I'm really looking forward to seeing it ingame.

[LordOfSquad]

It does look really nice. Hope there's some great animation to go with it.

[Tiller]

That looks lovely. I can't nitpick much at all. Maybe the shoes from the front look a little off but it's probably the angle.

Please bug the guys who did the Sonic SDK to swap this in as the default model.

[P3DR0]

Welp, the lower spikes in the head seems too big in comparison to the upper one, also they lack that small "bend" that classic Sonic have, they just seem too straight. The torso is waaaay too small and so are the hands. Also the cheeks look weird in the side view.

Other than that it's a well done model that needs a bit of tweaking.

[JansenM]

Thanks for the feedback. The lower spike is smaller in correlation with the CD artwork as is the torso, but the latter may well require deviation. Once the rig has been created, I'll probably scale up the hands since they most likely look tiny when clenched, and make any other changes in terms or proportion or positioning since it's a lot easier to tell after a few poses have been trialled.

[Xaklse]

Tiller, on 30 January 2014 - 01:43 AM, said:

Please bug the guys who did the Sonic SDK to swap this in as the default model.

If the Exodus guys are willing to donate the model, I'm not against it.

I guess some of the enemies would need AI, let me know if you need help.

[NickonAquaMagna]

P3DR0, on 30 January 2014 - 10:14 AM, said:

Welp, the lower spikes in the head seems too big in comparison to the upper one, also they lack that small "bend" that classic Sonic have, they just seem too straight. The torso is waaaay too small and so are the hands. Also the cheeks look weird in the side view.

Other than that it's a well done model that needs a bit of tweaking.

Let me just point out that this is modeled after how Sonic was drawn in the Sonic CD cutscenes, not American boxart classic Sonic. That's why the spines are straight and the torso is the size it is despite being the classic round torso. Those are just parts of the design.

I don't want to give the impression that we "can't take criticism" or whatever... but those particular pointers (aside from the hands and cheeks, though I honestly think making the hands bigger would be a bad idea since they'd reach, like, an inch from the ground then, like in Sonic Heroes) would only apply if we were attempting to recreate the American boxart classic Sonic that was featured in Sonic Generations... but we aren't.

That said, is there anything about the design where you feel we missed the mark recreating the Sonic CD style classic Sonic, which we WERE trying to do?

This post has been edited by NickonAquaMagna: 30 January 2014 - 04:46 PM

[NickonAquaMagna]

SORRY FOR DOUBLE POSTING, GUYS.

Xaklse, on 30 January 2014 - 02:47 PM, said:

Tiller, on 30 January 2014 - 01:43 AM, said:

Please bug the guys who did the Sonic SDK to swap this in as the default model.

If the Exodus guys are willing to donate the model, I'm not against it.

I guess some of the enemies would need AI, let me know if you need help.

Eh... it depends on how extensive things get. If this is a simple model swap, not unlike an alternate skin you'd unlock in any videogame, with all the same animations an' whatnot... then I'd at least like to wait until we're able to release a new trailer of Sonic Exodus, with that being this Sonic's debut.

But it's a little more complicated than that because we're planning to give him some idle animations that would be new to this game. Things like tugging the cuffs of his gloves like they're falling off, or kicking the ground when he's standing on a beach, making a cloud of sand appear, and maybe even a new running animation, little things like that. I don't know how hard it would be to program these into SDK in general, but we'd at least like to have them in Exodus.

The reason I'm pointing this out is because we want this Sonic to be unique and really, REALLY new. If you're willing to help us with the animations, we could start working together on making him the default right away. If you don't want these animations, though, that's fine. We'd just like to wait until we're ready to reveal this in the next Exodus trailer, if you're okay with waiting a while.

I do want to get more people on board and would like to work together, but only if you're okay with it. I hope I'm not being too demanding.

This post has been edited by NickonAquaMagna: 30 January 2014 - 04:57 PM

[Xaklse]

It's ok, no worries Let's wait until you reveal it properly and then we talk.

Most of the new animations you want can be added to the animation tree, which is available through the Unreal editor.

This post has been edited by Xaklse: 30 January 2014 - 05:24 PM

[Tiller]

Whoops that came off a bit rude. It was supposed to be a complement to the model in comparison with the old standard one.

I meant more in time. I don't mean to rob you guys of the assets debuting in your fangame. Sonic SDK's basic classic model is what the biggest sore spot when trying to look at the thing and this was vastly huge improvement to that.

[P3DR0]

NickonAquaMagna, on 30 January 2014 - 04:42 PM, said:

P3DR0, on 30 January 2014 - 10:14 AM, said:

Welp, the lower spikes in the head seems too big in comparison to the upper one, also they lack that small "bend" that classic Sonic have, they just seem too straight. The torso is waaaay too small and so are the hands. Also the cheeks look weird in the side view.

Other than that it's a well done model that needs a bit of tweaking.

Let me just point out that this is modeled after how Sonic was drawn in the Sonic CD cutscenes, not American boxart classic Sonic. That's why the spines are straight and the torso is the size it is despite being the classic round torso. Those are just parts of the design.

I don't want to give the impression that we "can't take criticism" or whatever... but those particular pointers (aside from the hands and cheeks, though I honestly think making the hands bigger would be a bad idea since they'd reach, like, an inch from the ground then, like in Sonic Heroes) would only apply if we were attempting to recreate the American boxart classic Sonic that was featured in Sonic Generations... but we aren't.

That said, is there anything about the design where you feel we missed the mark recreating the Sonic CD style classic Sonic, which we WERE trying to do?

Take it from someone who knows and has 2 custom Sonic models of experience over you guys. Just because something looks good in drawing doesn't mean it looks good in 3D or that it allows for a pratical rig. Many things can be fixed with a good rig, spikes can get straighten up and whatever. Especially the Sonic from the CD look. That style is totally obtainable with a good rig, but not the other way around. It's best to make a pratical model now than have a non-flexible model later.

The first model I had in my fangame was pretty cool and very stylish, also inspired in the Sonic CD/OVA look and the only reason why it didn't looked like shit when the fangame was in 2D was because the model was prerendered with a small size. If you could get closer you'd see how much we had to break it to make it look good, and that's totally fine for a 2D game with sprites smaller than 100px, but not for 3D when the player can get closer and see in detail how much shit is going on.

It's best to correct some things first and make some compromises in name of praticity than having to lose work later down the road. Either take my advice or see it for yourselves later on.

This post has been edited by P3DR0: 30 January 2014 - 11:28 PM

[JansenM]

Again, thanks for the feedback. I've already taken a couple of things into account such as the size of the hands namely because of how impressed I was with how your model turned out - your tips are heavily valued. As for the curvature of the quills, again that'll just have to be something changed around after it's rigged to see what works best in motion. Since various aspects of the model have already deviated from the CD style, it won't hurt to go further - especially since single 2D frames both aren't respectable as model reference and don't transfer well to 3D as a whole.