don't click here

The Greatest Thing Ever

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by Slingerland, Aug 25, 2010.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Chimpo

    Chimpo

    Virtua Poster Member
    9,686
    2,535
    93
    Los Angeles, 2029
    Banana
    I think a majority of us view this as a concept of what could be. I don't look at this video and scream at the top of my lungs "THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT IT NEEDS TO BE". I look at it with a bigger picture in mind. A visually nice looking game with attention to detail in all fronts. Obviously it won't look exactly like this video, but something with some high production values.
     
  2. Endgame

    Endgame

    Formerly The Growler Member
    If anyone hasn't seen this, Robert Medina has spoke to PlayStationLifeStyle more about the industries reaction here:
    http://playstationlifestyle.net/2010/08/27...ustry-reaction/
    Someone definitely should contact him! Just think how much he could contribute to Sonic 2:HD [if he's interested] - at least we could let ourselves be known to him.
     
  3. glem3

    glem3

    Member
    862
    0
    0
    Well, I'm pretty sure the folks working on Sonic 2 HD don't want to use too much 3D. They already have an art style, and although maximus is making some 3D objects for them, they're not in the same style as the guy who made this video.

    Anyway, I still think this is a really good animation :) It just doesn't have much relevance to sonic 4, like some people were comparing it to, as the creator said.
     
  4. ancara

    ancara

    Member
    375
    0
    0
    That was definitely quite a treat for the eyes.

    Somebody mentioned it before hand, but I'd definitely be interested in seeing something like this done in the Egg Engine, maybe even a whole game done in it.

    In fact, think about this:

    Egg Engine well.....engine + that video's level of graphics and tiling + quality music done by the community + every level including the one shown from Sonic 3&K done in detail and accuracy like that in one full game + online multiplayer + more fleshed out cutscenes (somewhat)

    =

    The perfect Sonic 3&K recreation, made by fans, for fans.

    .....I can dream. ;_;
     
  5. Hi guys. Creator of the video here. I hope nobody minds me chiming in, but I just wanted to say hi and let people know I've been following this thread, and I'm glad people have taken an interest in it. It's been fun reading the feedback of what people liked and didn't like.

    As a friendly peace offering, here's a quick render of the Sonic model I made for the video. After seeing the comments on Youtube and looking through the redesign Sonic thread here, and after attempting to animate those stumpy legs into walking, definitely not the design I'd use next time, but still not a bad classic Sonic 3D adaptation.
    [​IMG]
     
  6. Dude

    Dude

    Tech Member
    3,138
    0
    16
    Southbridge, MA
    Random VR/AR trash
    It's good to have you here, and that model looked wonderful at render time. I'd say the mid-row spines look a little thin but regardless, I was one of those many who absolutely loved your video. Question, how long did the rendering take?
     
  7. nineko

    nineko

    I am the Holy Cat Tech Member
    6,386
    537
    93
    italy
    Are you kidding? You're welcome, it's a pleasure to have you here! :thumbsup:

    And by the way I like that model, it's much better than many official ones. It doesn't need a complete redesign, but some minor tweaks at most, in my opinion.
     
  8. Polygon Jim

    Polygon Jim

    Eternal Tech Member
    0
    3
    0
    across town from Hinchy
    All the bitches.
    I still have to say the design looks terrible on the Sonic. The model itself was nicely made, but the design is bad.
     
  9. I intentionally made the spines thin and spiky so they'd show up better in the predominantly side-on view (otherwise they tend to blur together a bit too much). My only real criticism of the model is that the face lacks character. The eyes are a bit dead, and he has no mouth, but I'd say it's far from terrible (I say that as objectively as I can as the guy who actually made it)

    The render times were quite short, as I don't currently have my render farm set up, so this was all done on the one machine. Average of about 2 minutes per frame at 640x360 (sorry guys, no higher def render available!), and then about 1:30 a frame for the light rays pass. Anyone who's worked with 3D graphics will tell you that 2 minutes a frame is a dang short render, so these renders aren't too unrealistic for realtime. Most of the magic was in post effects.
     
  10. Dude

    Dude

    Tech Member
    3,138
    0
    16
    Southbridge, MA
    Random VR/AR trash
    I know what you mean about the render times. Were you using Global Illumination or some other form if lighting? GI render times make me want to pull my hair out.
     
  11. Azookara

    Azookara

    yup Member
    The design of Sonic in this reminds me of Sonic 1/CD's design but with a slight edge of SA1 involved (thinner and slightly droopier spikes, new shoes). I like it.

    Also yes I indeed support you making another video or something like that. It was really awesome and should be done again. :) Question is, what level?
     
  12. DigitalDuck

    DigitalDuck

    Arriving four years late. Member
    5,432
    496
    63
    Lincs, UK
    TurBoa, S1RL
    FBZ would be awesome, but I think the obvious choice is AIZ. Gotta start at the start.
     
  13. Azookara

    Azookara

    yup Member
    Honestly I think the coolest one to do would be Launch Base, just because Launch Base is my favorite level in S3K besides Mushroom Hill, although Angel Island, or Ice Cap or.... heck, every level in S3K would be awesome, so it doesn't matter to me. :>
     
  14. No GI (I don't have the rendering power to do that for an animation), but I did use final gather, but with extremely low settings. It's a bit flickery in places, but the overall ambience was still nice.

    The design for Sonic was basically an amalgamation of every good classic Sonic design I could find, ranging from Sonic 1 to the Sonic 3D box art. It wasn't originally made with Sonic 3&K specifically in mind.

    If I were to do another video, I'd probably go with something from Sonic 2.
    ARZ would look totally badass, although it's never been my favourite level, so maybe CPZ or OOZ. If anything, I'd love to go for an original level altogether, but the logistics of animating it without the safety net of essentially "tracing" a video makes that concept a bit difficult, unless I were to just build a realtime Sonic engine, and I don't think I'm that into it.
     
  15. PsychoSk8r

    PsychoSk8r

    PsychedelAnt | Tone Turner Oldbie
    2,689
    94
    28
    Birmingham, UK
    30 Day Project: Revisited.A New Release!
    Ah, welcome!
    Would you ever consider releasing any of the MHZ models you made in something like Egg Engine?
     
  16. Slingerland

    Slingerland

    Oldbie
    668
    2
    18
    Hechoeg Frat
    Sonic Mania
    Damizean is interested in this prospect. Very interested.
     
  17. Liliam

    Liliam

    Oldbie
    1,563
    118
    43
    This could easily be fixed by just adding some white ellipses toward the top of his eyes, like the high resolution artwork did:

    [​IMG]

    Another one on the nose could look nice, but isn't really necessary.

    What I liked the most was how it followed the original game's output (camera and actors' positions), before I realized it was an animation built on top of a prerecorded clip, which while not as exciting as a perfect 3D conversion of the game's engine, is still pretty gosh-darn awesome to see how everything lines up nearly perfectly with the original game. I personally really liked the uncurling bridge near the end of the clip, very nicely done.

    Faults I could just go on forever pointing out how the grass doesn't have the subdued checkerboard pattern of the original, how the bubble shield doesn't look or animate like the original, and how the HUD doesn't even try to look like an upscaled version of the original, but I'll just leave you with three notes:

    • Sonic's animations don't seem to match the original sprites too much. The sprites intentionally portrayed Sonic almost constantly at a 3/4 perspective, which helps to solve the "overlapping spikes" problem, only having Sonic's head turn side to side while he's picking up speed in his walking animation. When he's spinning/rolling, his sprite also flickers between full detail and a simple opaque sphere with a white shine in the top front corner, which helps to sell the idea that he's really curled himself into a perfect ball, and that he's spinning at a very fast speed by preventing our eyes from constantly being able to track his rotation.

    • When the leaves curl up to make a quarter-pipe leading into a wall, the leaves are cut very abruptly with a straight line, immediately switching to the wall texture instead of having a smoother transition where the layer of leaves starts to diminish and become thinner. This is very jarring when you take into consideration the amount of detail applied to the rest of the leaf layer.

    • This one is simple enough, Sonic doesn't flicker after taking damage from the enemy. I have to wonder why you left this one out, it should have been easy enough to simple toggle the Sonic model in and out depending on if he actually appears in the source frame or not.


    EDIT: Oh, and I forgot something that really bugs me at a subconscious level: The sole of Sonic's shoes shouldn't have that white layer yet. In his classic design it's supposed to just be red like the rest of the shoe, without any particular detail. This makes certain animations where you make Sonic twist around more simply seem "wrong", due to that difference alone.
     
  18. Damizean

    Damizean

    As classic as rock Member
    118
    0
    0
    Valencia, EspaƱa
    Various projects
    In case you're interested in letting me play with the MHZ mesh, the Egg Engine is made with Unity (the current version at least). I think (from seeing a couple posts at the Unity forums) you know how to use :o
     
  19. steveswede

    steveswede

    Member
    5,032
    2
    16
    Ask my hand
    Fighting against the Unitary State of Europe
    If you do do it. I hope you consider doing the whole zone. The only problem I had with your video of MHZ was that it was only 47 seconds. I think we would all be in nerd heaven if you did a whole zone.
     
  20. Ahh Sonic Retro, you never cease to amaze me ;-;. When we want 2.5D Sega, THIS is what we want, not some shiny grass Dimps created Sonic 4.



    The MHZ video is absolutely superb, Whatever you come up with, will still look amazing :)
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.