UFO:Alien Invasion
Development => Artwork => Topic started by: Destructavator on October 18, 2010, 04:22:14 pm
-
OK, now that I have some serious tools for rendering outdoor scenes, terrain, skies, and backgrounds, I'd really like to get going on ideas for in-game cinematic clips.
Ideas and storyboarding plans can go here, in this thread, anything from hand-drawn sketches to quickly rendered low-quality still drafts.
If you propose an idea, please keep in mind the following:
- If it isn't terrain, clouds, scenery, etc., and we don't already have a 3D model for it, someone will have to make a 3D model and possibly animate it. Please don't dream up something with outlandish details that require lots of highly detailed models and then expect one of the modelers here to simply do all that work for you. We already have quite a bit in the data source to start with.
- Also about models, large objects that are viewed from a distance (buildings) should be rather simple, without too many polys, or else rendering scenes would take too long. Close up content should have fairly good detail though - An example would be the interior cockpit of a Phalanx fighter aircraft and the pilot, to depict a pilot pressing controls and operating the aircraft in the middle of air combat, looking out the window, etc.
- Between Crystan and myself there shouldn't be too many issues coming up with SFX and soundtracks for the movie clips, however:
- No language, written, printed, or spoken please. That would create localization issues, as we would then have to have alternate video clips and alternate soundtracks for every single language the game supports, which isn't really feasible - I personally wouldn't support such a thing.
- Even without language, we can still depict characters that communicate. If a civilian is shown watching an alien ship land, a later shot of the video clip could show the same person frantically interacting with another person, out of range for hearing any exact words, but making gestures and pointing to where they saw the UFO as if to imply "It's over there! I'm serious - I saw a UFO land!"
If a good plan for a video is put together, approved by BTAxis and Winter, and it seems do-able (doesn't require tons of fancy modeling work beyond reason), I will put it together and make it happen.
-
I'd like to point out that a priority will be a new intro video for the game, one that is actually decent. The old one was thrown together as a "placeholder" and is, quite frankly, a bit crappy.
-
Is the level of detail you're looking for? If so I can slap some quick textures on these. The other buildings I was talking about are going to be a pain to convert over, because all the texturing is for a RSB format that was peculiar to Red Storm Entertainment games.
-
Is the level of detail you're looking for? If so I can slap some quick textures on these. The other buildings I was talking about are going to be a pain to convert over, because all the texturing is for a RSB format that was peculiar to Red Storm Entertainment games.
Yes, that type of mesh detail, with few polys and faces like that, is just about perfect for what I'm looking for, although if the mapped textures have a decent amount of detail that would be nice. For UV textures I'd suggest a resolution of ~512x512 or ~512x256 tops (depending on the shape of the UV map), although if the initial texture size is larger it can always be scaled down w/anti-aliasing to preserve perceived detail.
Keep in mind that when such simple models are added to a TG2 scene as a population, it can end up producing a large number of combined polys that can add up. TG2 actually is designed for rendering in small sections at a time, so even if complex models were used I don't think it would run out of memory or anything, it would simply take a very long time to render the whole scene.
I can use city buildings, suburban structures, rural farm buildings, just about anything.
For objects that aren't in a population but are instead a single (or small number) instance, such as one or two fighter aircraft in a scene, we can probably get away with complex models (which is actually good for close-up shots).
BTW, populations should also work for people, making small crowds of scattered civilians.
-
Just a question but if the intro is supposed to show (if it shows) the initial attacks, shouldn't it be allowed to use the specific place's language in signs and such, if not even in speech? Since they are predetermined, it shouldn't be affected by the local language settings. German in Bonn most likely stays German, whether the player him/herself is from Germany or Australia.
-
Just a question but if the intro is supposed to show (if it shows) the initial attacks, shouldn't it be allowed to use the specific place's language in signs and such, if not even in speech? Since they are predetermined, it shouldn't be affected by the local language settings. German in Bonn most likely stays German, whether the player him/herself is from Germany or Australia.
Hmmmm.... That's a good point.
I guess, in the end, it depends on if the intro does indeed show the initial attacks as detailed in the plot, or if it simply shows a "generic" mission from a UFO detected to Phalanx troops landing at a crash site to deal with it, much like the old original XCOM Intro.
Once we start planning an intro storyboard, at that time that type of thing would be more clear, I guess.
-
OK, here's a start of a plan/idea for a new intro.
1 - First a city is shown, a port city between terrain and an ocean or body of water, everything peaceful and hunky-dory, nice and calm. This is the first attached pic, although once I get some more simple building models a final product would look much, much better than this (I only have one simple skyscraper model used for this pic, and I rendered it at draft quality). Perhaps the camera could even be slowly drifting in the air toward the city, and/or slowly rotating, whatever.
2 - The Earth in space is shown, still nice and peaceful for the moment. Then, any calm music stops, and an alien mother ship/carrier approaches the planet.
3 - At a very high altitude, an individual UFO is shown descending away from the large carrier, headed down towards the surface.
4 - The UFO is shown flying above terrain, and the camera lingers on the UFO for a moment before shooting across ahead of the UFO's path to view the city, so it is clear that the UFO is headed *toward* the city.
5 - Phalanx aircraft are shown in the air, also above the terrain, on patrol but not (yet) near the UFO.
6 - A Phalanx pilot glances down at a radar display and sees the UFO as a detected object.
7 - The pilot looks up, and sees targeting crosshairs on the HUD showing where the UFO is, far ahead of the aircraft (second attached pic).
8 - The pilot presses a button, and,
9 - The HUD shows a zoomed box that shows a more detailed view of the UFO, on the HUD (third pic).
10 - The Phalanx aircraft are shown "punching it," increasing speed to full, racing to reach the UFO before it reaches the city.
11 - A few brief clips of some air combat, until a Phalanx missile causes the UFO to crash-land near or at the edge of the city. (Should the UFO down one of the Phalanx aircraft first, before it is beaten?)
12 - A dropship is shown in the air leaving a Phalanx base.
13 - The dropship flies over the terrain toward the city and lands nearby the crash site.
14 - Phalanx troops emerge, in the midst of a little chaos as civilians are running away from aliens that are shooting at them.
-
I really like that concept. I hoped that a earth from space view would be part of the intro. :)
-
I really like that concept. I hoped that a earth from space view would be part of the intro. :)
I've actually already got a 3D model somewhere on a drive for the planet Earth, as viewed from space. Terragen 2 can also render fictitious planets in space or in a sky.
In the meantime, I just taught myself how to use the surface color shaders to add color to the mountains in a natural way, blended together.
-
It's be worth getting a tally of what resources you need that you don't currently have. My thoughts:
1. Hi-poly pilot model at least from chest up, animated to look down (maybe use Origin's hi-poly soldier models?).
2. Hi-poly interior of an interceptor cockpit.
3. Hi-poly dropship? (If dropship is shown from far away only, then no hi-poly model needed. Same with interceptor.)
4. Animations of soldier models (assuming it use sOrigin's hi-polys), animated hi-poly civilians, and animated hi-poly aliens that are shooting.
I think this last scene is probably the most resource-intense of the series. An alternative ending that may be more manageable would be the following:
13. Dropship shown flying en route (Herakles).
14. Cut to interior of Herakles, screen shaking from the flight, soldiers strapped in. Big rumble, then the screen settles and the doors start to open. We hear chaos outside but only see the brightness of the light coming through the opening doors. Camera is framed in such a way so that as soldiers exit they block the light, screen fades to black.
This way you would still need the animations of soldier models, you'd also need a hi-poly interior of the herakles, but you wouldn't need all the civilians and aliens, or the destruction outside or any of that. I think creating and animating a chaotic scene would be a lot of work.
-
It's be worth getting a tally of what resources you need that you don't currently have. My thoughts:
1. Hi-poly pilot model at least from chest up, animated to look down (maybe use Origin's hi-poly soldier models?).
2. Hi-poly interior of an interceptor cockpit.
3. Hi-poly dropship? (If dropship is shown from far away only, then no hi-poly model needed. Same with interceptor.)
4. Animations of soldier models (assuming it use sOrigin's hi-polys), animated hi-poly civilians, and animated hi-poly aliens that are shooting.
1 and 2 are for sure, definitely going to be needed, not just for this video but also for a lot of other in-game video clips I have in mind. Some of 1 and 2 I'd be willing to tackle myself if no one else will. For 3 I think most of what we already have is adequate, although I would need a good interior modeled, for showing what soldiers do inside.
I think this last scene is probably the most resource-intense of the series. An alternative ending that may be more manageable would be the following:
13. Dropship shown flying en route (Herakles).
14. Cut to interior of Herakles, screen shaking from the flight, soldiers strapped in. Big rumble, then the screen settles and the doors start to open. We hear chaos outside but only see the brightness of the light coming through the opening doors. Camera is framed in such a way so that as soldiers exit they block the light, screen fades to black.
This way you would still need the animations of soldier models, you'd also need a hi-poly interior of the herakles, but you wouldn't need all the civilians and aliens, or the destruction outside or any of that. I think creating and animating a chaotic scene would be a lot of work.
This sounds fairly good, I think I agree with this now that you've mentioned it. The only part I don't agree with is the choice of dropship, I think that for an intro we should only use technology available at the start of the game, and not include something that should be researched and discovered by the player. This would also avoid newcomer feedback along the lines of "Hey, why does the dropship I see at the start of the game not look like the one I use playing the game?"
For the same reasons, I think the Phalanx craft shown in the intro should likely be Saracens.
EDIT: For later in-game clips, we could use different craft, of course.
-
Thats a good idea H-Hour. I realy like the interior cockpit of the interceptor idea - so its also possible to do some airfight action from two perspectives - if it isnt to much work. Anyway i hope the interceptor using a minigun because i made a superb minigun sound that i want to use in that video at all cost. ;) (ill send a demo sound file to Destructavator because i dont want to share the source file with public)
-
Thats a good idea H-Hour. I realy like the interior cockpit of the interceptor idea - so its also possible to do some airfight action from two perspectives - if it isnt to much work. Anyway i hope the interceptor using a minigun because i made a superb minigun sound that i want to use in that video at all cost. ;) (ill send a demo sound file to Destructavator because i dont want to share the source file with public)
I just listened - Yeah, that's an impressive sound alright, something that certainly deserves to be used for something in at least one of the videos that gets put together. I think it would be good for the interceptor's cannon, when it catches up to the UFO and starts fighting it.
Please commit it to the data source - I'd hate for this one to get lost.
Also, can you make good jet engine sounds, for the interceptor craft when they do maneuvers in parts of the video? There will be a music soundtrack, so I wouldn't suggest constant noise from sound FX, but an occasional swoosh as an aircraft rockets by would be good.
-
Well i thought i would edit/make the sound track? :) (the sound-track, not the music) Anyway i already have a constant jet sound as well as various jet flyby sounds. One is already located in the sound/seq/ dir. It is used in the credits sequence.
-
Well i thought i would edit/make the sound track? :) (the sound-track, not the music)
Whoops! Sorry, I may have mis-communicated - I meant to imply that the final end-result product should have both music throughout the whole thing (custom-tailored to go along with what happens in the video), as well as some sound FX on top of the music.
I would definitely leave the sound effects up to you - you're really good at that. As for the music, I'd like to at least try to put together a music track that would work when all the video (visual part) is together, although if you also want to do some music you could certainly propose your own, and we could let people vote on which music track they like better.
Is this acceptable?
Sorry for being unclear - (American) English is my first language, and I've known the word "soundtrack" to sometimes mean sound effects, sometimes mean music, and sometimes mean both put together all in one - I probably could have said things in my previous post a better way.
-
No no i thought you would add the sound effects to it because i should upload it to the data source. And i have to excuse - i miss read the whole last two sentences of your post - sorry. For me its okay if you do or someone else do the music stuff. I think iam going to compose some music but just for some personal tests - in case its good ill show it.
-
OK, if you want me to take sound effects that you create and upload, and edit them into the video with my video editing software, yes, I can do that, that's easy for me and I have no problem doing that.
Is this what you mean?
-
No no no. :D I thought you wanted to add the sounds because you wrote i should upload the sounds to the data source - so you can add them. Maybe i wrote something false because of lacking english skills. Again sorry. For clarification: I want to do the sound stuff. Iam already excited about it. :)
-
Now I'm a bit confused. ???
No worries, I'll try putting this in another way:
1 - First, forget what I said before (new plan).
2 - I take the video segments, the pictures, and put them together into one, single video stream, which doesn't have any audio at this point.
3 - I then put together a music track and add it to the video.
4 - I send the video to you. I can also send the music track by itself along with it in a separate file, to make it easier to sync things in the next step,
5 - You can then add sound effects to the video, on top of the music - Either by editing them into the video itself, or by mixing them into the separate soundtrack file, which could then later be re-inserted into the video.
6 - One of us would take the new audio (which has both the music and sound effects) and combine it with the visual, "moving pictures" of the video, which give us a completed video.
7 - Last step, I could then take the completed video and, as long as it is approved by Winter and BTAxis, convert it into either OGM or RoQ video for the actual game. It then gets committed.
How does this sound? Would you be happy with this plan? If not, I'm open to changing things, I try to be flexible.
-
Sorry for the confusion. ;) That plan sounds perfect to me.
-
The only part I don't agree with is the choice of dropship, I think that for an intro we should only use technology available at the start of the game, and not include something that should be researched and discovered by the player. This would also avoid newcomer feedback along the lines of "Hey, why does the dropship I see at the start of the game not look like the one I use playing the game?"
For the same reasons, I think the Phalanx craft shown in the intro should likely be Saracens.
The initial PHALANX base has Stiletto. A newcomer could say "Hey, why does the interceptor I see at the start of the game not look like the one I use playing the game?"
-geever
-
The initial PHALANX base has Stiletto. A newcomer could say "Hey, why does the interceptor I see at the start of the game not look like the one I use playing the game?"
-geever
Good point. That wouldn't be hard to change, especially since I didn't render anything with Phalanx aircraft yet, so nothing is really wasted by making such a change at this point.
That's also good for another reason: Many newcomers mistakenly think the Stiletto is a helicopter, because of the way it looks in the craft equip screens - If they see it in action in an intro video they'll realize right away that it isn't like that, which will clear up such misconceptions.
-
You'll also have an easier time using the SHIVA Gatling gun, if you intend to use it. Saracen has no nose hardpoint and a Gatling mounted under the wing would look really strange.
-
You'll also have an easier time using the SHIVA Gatling gun, if you intend to use it. Saracen has no nose hardpoint and a Gatling mounted under the wing would look really strange.
Yup, quite true.
I'm still tweaking shaders and colors on the mountains, but I'm going to do a test animation render, just a few short seconds total, to try some things out in the software.
Meanwhile, If someone else can get even a few low-poly buildings together to make the city look better, that would be good.
If no one else volunteers to do a high-poly detailed pilot and cockpit interior, I guess I can get started on that later, but not right away.
-
OK, I've got a 20 second test render for all of you to feast your eyes on, however at this point I'm going to start it in a new thread - Given that we may eventually have multiple videos for the game, I think it would be best to keep this thread for general planning and info that applies to all in-game video plans, and plans for individual videos in separate forum threads. Otherwise, down the road we'd have multiple video ideas in a big mess crammed into one thread, which would be chaotic.
-
p0ss posted in another thread a link to a 3d resource site and I noticed these models. Maybe they can work for your city fly-by scenes?
1 (http://sharecg.com/v/48399/browse/3D-Model/sci-fi-city)
2 (http://sharecg.com/v/48397/browse/3D-Model/city)
-
p0ss posted in another thread a link to a 3d resource site and I noticed these models. Maybe they can work for your city fly-by scenes?
1 (http://sharecg.com/v/48399/browse/3D-Model/sci-fi-city)
2 (http://sharecg.com/v/48397/browse/3D-Model/city)
Ah! Yes, these would be very nice, thank you.
-
what kind of sound track are you guys looking for? an actual full song or bits and pieces of music stuck together?
-
what kind of sound track are you guys looking for? an actual full song or bits and pieces of music stuck together?
Probably more like the second case you mentioned, I'd say - bits and pieces, which of course would go along with whatever the visual content is at any specific moment. The soundtrack would of course also include plenty of sounds and SFX as well - Crystan could take care of most SFX, but if you have audio and sound creating skills we can always use contributions of more stuff.
First, though, I need more 3D models of stuff and artwork to get the visual parts together. That is really the priority and area where things are lacking at the moment. Once the visual content and such is together in "rough" (draft) renders, we would then worry about adding sounds and music, and timing all the stuff together.
Specifically, what I really need right now are outdoor man-made structures - mostly buildings, houses, skyscrapers, parking lots, landscaped areas, and such, for building outdoor scenes. At the moment I can easily render lots of types of terrain, clouds, skies, bodies of water and such with the tools I have now, but for man-made structures and landscaped or developed areas I'm short.
-
Specifically, what I really need right now are outdoor man-made structures
What about that whole city model? Loads of buildings there and already packed into a city...
-
That's a problem - I've been trying to work with that city model and it is very difficult to "shoehorn" it into the terrain. It isn't a flat and level model to start with, and I've been getting mixed results trying to get it looking decent on any terrain.
If I had individual structures though, that would be *much* easier, because then the Terragen 2 software can take each specific little component and automatically lay it flat on any background land or terrain, as well as automatically stopping at bodies of water, or steep cliffs, etc. The T2 software has not only single model import, but "population" model import as well, so if I had a dozen building models it could place thousands of them, mixed up, on the terrain in an area. It would be procedural placement (set by a random, but configurable, seed value) for rendering, and follow placement rules I specify (for spacing between models, rules for orientation, rules for how they lay on what parts of the terrain, etc.). That would really be much easier to work with and work much better than one large city model.
In addition, for moving on to a different location, a video of a different city, I could just change the seed value for the structures, and avoid having an identical city for a different video clip. The T2 software would do the rest.
-
Probably more like the second case you mentioned, I'd say - bits and pieces, which of course would go along with whatever the visual content is at any specific moment. The soundtrack would of course also include plenty of sounds and SFX as well - Crystan could take care of most SFX, but if you have audio and sound creating skills we can always use contributions of more stuff.
well i have some experience with a audio program called fruity loops, all id need to do is get some software for the program and i could possibly create any kind of SFX you wanted wether it be dark and spooky or upbeat n cheerful. id need parts of the clip so i could find out what works with what and things like that but give me a shout when your ready for it and ill get to it.
-
well i have some experience with a audio program called fruity loops, all id need to do is get some software for the program and i could possibly create any kind of SFX you wanted wether it be dark and spooky or upbeat n cheerful. id need parts of the clip so i could find out what works with what and things like that but give me a shout when your ready for it and ill get to it.
OK, when some more artwork is available and the time comes for adding sounds, I'd suggest working together with (and getting to know) Crystan, who IIRC also uses the same software.
BTW, I actually design (code) DAW audio plug-ins, I'm in charge of a "family" of plug-ins that are also on SourceForge, although the current downloads for the project are rather old - If you don't mind waiting a couple of weeks, you'll see some new test releases for the project coming out soon, which will be light-years ahead of the current (old) VST downloads. Most of the code base for the core processing of some new stuff is done, but it'll take time to get a new GUI together for a new release of my work (The old one is an overgrown mess), and I also hope to release a Linux port in LADSPA form at nearly the same time. (I also have another project member, a guy I know, working on a Mac AU port, but he has a lot going on for him so it might be a while before any Mac versions are up for D/L.) Some time down the road I plan to have some VSTi instruments and synths finally finished, but that won't be for some time.
-
OK, when some more artwork is available and the time comes for adding sounds, I'd suggest working together with (and getting to know) Crystan, who IIRC also uses the same software.
BTW, I actually design (code) DAW audio plug-ins, I'm in charge of a "family" of plug-ins that are also on SourceForge, although the current downloads for the project are rather old - If you don't mind waiting a couple of weeks, you'll see some new test releases for the project coming out soon, which will be light-years ahead of the current (old) VST downloads. Most of the code base for the core processing of some new stuff is done, but it'll take time to get a new GUI together for a new release of my work (The old one is an overgrown mess), and I also hope to release a Linux port in LADSPA form at nearly the same time. (I also have another project member, a guy I know, working on a Mac AU port, but he has a lot going on for him so it might be a while before any Mac versions are up for D/L.) Some time down the road I plan to have some VSTi instruments and synths finally finished, but that won't be for some time.
looking forward to them VST's and also looking forward to working with you guys for the intro :)
edit: just found some 4-5 year old VST's i used to use lol so ill have a play around for a couple of weeks n get some more experience in creating different sounds
edit2: by any chance would you have any base kicks, claps n stuff like that?
-
I have extensive experience recording in-game WoW footage and editing in Final Cut Express.
See:
http://warcraftmovies.com/pv.php?t=3&l=parl2001
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1392JvaDbA
http://vimeo.com/13351852
Unf. I need to be jobhunting right now. But later on I might be able to help edit.
-
Aight so here is my idea:
My idea would be a "battle: la" style intro sequence (if you are familiar with the movie).
1) open with a city. civilians walk and enjoy their lives in the peaceful calm of the urban environment.
Cut to:
2) a man in a military uniform working in a dark light room at a video monitor. a big partially concealed PHALANX emblem is on a wall in the background
3) camera moves back to reveal a scene of a large control room environment. setting the scene in the radar room of a phalanx base
4) camera zooms in on a big monitor showing earth. suddenly, a siren goes off.
5) the monitor screen zooms to show a satellite view of a small location on earth (say, new york city). several large red dots
cut back to:
6) the futuristic city. citizens look up into the sky. camera pans to reveal several harvesters screaming out of the sky onto the city, along with orbital entry vehicles that resemble comets impacting
7) the people begin to run in mass panic as the harvesters land and unload hordes of aliens (the first 3 main alien types).
cut to:
8) hand-held camera style news report footage of the aliens gunning down helpless people as security and police forces attempt to hold off the attack. ends with a shot of an alien shooting into a camera, causing it to fall.
cut to:
9) a scene of a wounded civilian crawling through the burning wreckage. an ortnok steps on him, and the camera zooms to the barrel of the plasma gun as it fires. cuts to black.
black dissolves to:
10) the phalanx logo on the side of a drop ship. camera zooms out to reveal a sizeable force of phalanx drop-ships and stiletto aircraft flying in formation over the burning city, ready for action
11) drop-ships land, and phalanx troops in combat armor jump out. camera zooms to the helmet of the lead soldier, fades to white
12) Title screen
-
Here are my suggestion and it will be detailed and I hope you will aggree...
Prolouge(when game starts)...
Scene 1(flashback):
- first person view (you have ballistic googles and holding assault rifle)
- inside the transport helicopter (make it kinda futuristic for near end of 21 century)
- you hear screams and gunfire from outside
Scene 2(Lock N Load):
- exiting from helicopter with fellow comrades and start shooting at aliens behind debris
- partially or fully destructed vehicles, rarely some vehicle undamaged, alot of dead civilians and soldier
- building damaged, some are fully destruced, large UFO hovering above center of the city
Scene 3(run):
- you and your soldier are running and retreating as alien forces advance
- small UFOs shooting at buildings and armored vehicles near you
- near you bridge collapses
- you and your comrades find some cover
Scene 3(last stand)
- surounded by aliens, shooting and taking cover, some fellow comrades got killed
- decide to take rocket launcher and to fire at landing small UFO and UFO got hit and gets damaged
- some backup arrives and start regrouping while under heavy fire
Scene 4(push forward):
- Aliens advance, large CW infrantry corps arrives, mass losses, alien starts to have losses
- civilians get in the crossfire
- you got hit by an alien firearm in the torso (barely survives)
Scene 5(halt):
- advance of aliens are halted (rockets fired upon small ufos)
- you hear on radio that CW is going to fire an experimental rocket against main UFO
- CW troops advance and aliens are retreating
- you got order to retreat and to get in the transport helicopter
Its probavly short but its a good start...
-
- No language, written, printed, or spoken please. That would create localization issues, as we would then have to have alternate video clips and alternate soundtracks for every single language the game supports, which isn't really feasible - I personally wouldn't support such a thing.
You can use written language with subtitles. I mean something like ASS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SubStation_Alpha) one, which can put text on any desired place over video and animate it so it looks naturally moving with object. In such way you have one video file and many subtitles (text files) for localization. I personally don't care about language of soundtrack if i have text in subtitles. It's so in movies and games alike. And usually original soundtrack is the best compared to localized ones.
-
Does anyone remember the original X-Com intro video? :) :) :)
Point being that a modern (non cheesy) cinematic video can be done - without any / with minimal voice, as long as appropriate text is used