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Sage
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Post by Sage » Fri Aug 11, 2006 11:23 am

My what big teeth you have.

I mean, what's even creepier than switching to that in a few seconds is doing that in the blink of an eye (it is a facial expression after all >:D)

But, umm, is his fur supposed to change colors? Or did the lighting source move or something?

I'd love to see facial expressions, especially surprise from a split second before inserting your knife into their throat :D.

This is good news, not only this cool morph system, but the programmers as well. I certainly hope they know what they're doing. Then again, knowing David (which i don't much...) he wouldn't have hired them if they didn't :P.

Progress is always good, keep up the good work... because... there's cookies waiting for you?

EDIT: Snap, their eyes will be able to look around, right?

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MacWiggy
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Post by MacWiggy » Fri Aug 11, 2006 11:50 am

Finally, a graphics update that's really useful. But don't listen to me, I'm a troll.

zip
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Post by zip » Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:02 pm

The shot of the morph looks like it's taken from Lightwave or so, not from the engine?

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Ninjas
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Post by Ninjas » Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:13 pm

The morphs are shown from inside Max, but the same morphs are working fine in the engine and look great. This was a test Ian did when morph targets where being tweaked.

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rudel_ic
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Post by rudel_ic » Fri Aug 11, 2006 1:40 pm

Nice!

Just as a sidenote, when a wolf shows his fangs, the fur rises. If you ever considered to include realistic fur, that's a way to really benefit from it.

Have you thought about simulating muscle contraction and release with morph targets?

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Viking Zippy
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Post by Viking Zippy » Fri Aug 11, 2006 1:41 pm

That looks totally badass, but personally, I think the wolf looks too different from its original Lugaru counterpart and almost 'cute and fluffy' until it growls :?

By the way, what are morph targets? I didn't quite glean enough from the blog and the posts contained herein ...

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rudel_ic
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Post by rudel_ic » Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:04 pm

I guess that if you have 2 models for 1 3D object with vertices at different locations, you could say "move vertices from model-A-vertice-locations to model-B-vertice-locations, adjust the normals and stretch the textures accordingly with seamless tradition if this-and-that happens". That would make model B a morph target for model A, and probably the other way around if you want to have a way to go back.
Last edited by rudel_ic on Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Sage
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Post by Sage » Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:06 pm

Seems like it would be easier to have 1 model except have it so that a certain vertex can move to different locations depending on the facial expressions (I think this is kinda what HL2 has?)

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rudel_ic
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Post by rudel_ic » Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:10 pm

In a frozen state, the model with the moved vertex is not the same model as the model with the vertex at the original location. Of course, model B could be a transformation of model A, but the resulting matrices are different and model B doesn't have to be a transformation of model A, which for me makes it 2 models in each case :wink:

David
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Post by David » Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:16 pm

This is basically combining the best aspects of traditional vertex interpolation (ala pioneered by Unreal and Quake 2) and modern skeletal animation, so we can combine bone-level pose animation with per-vertex soft tissue animation.

The new programmers are really fantastic; they are better at their respective fields than I am, which is why I asked them to work on this project :) My specialty is game/engine design and rapid feature prototyping, so it is best if I can focus on that as much as possible.

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Sage
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Post by Sage » Fri Aug 11, 2006 3:17 pm

That's good news, could you tell or describe to us what the other 3 specialize in?

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rudel_ic
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Post by rudel_ic » Fri Aug 11, 2006 4:06 pm

For me, it's more interesting who they actually are. Like, you know, their names, history in game development, how they were actually chosen and stuff.
Yeah, I'm curious :)

Vib Rib
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Post by Vib Rib » Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:59 pm

PS: I vote I be added to the development team, for purposes of creating cutscenes/intros/etc. Just think, it's a beautiful, ultra-advanced-graphics-engine world with a rising sun that illuminates the vast rolling grassy hills, and suddenly BAM! CUTSCENE! Scenery disappears, everything goes black and white, and looks at though it were drawn by a third grader with a Sharpie!

It's win-win!

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Sage
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Post by Sage » Fri Aug 11, 2006 9:01 pm

It can have voice acting from Microsoft Sam as well :D

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Renegade_Turner
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Post by Renegade_Turner » Sat Aug 12, 2006 12:01 am

I've stepped into Bizarro world.

But seriously yeah, give us some info'mation on the programmers.

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