WIP Nelson Mandela 3D Leaderscene

ok, our next project will be Nelson Mandela.

Things to consider...

First, we need to consider which existing CIV5 LH ANIMATIONS the model will use, the obvious choices are Bismarck (Parkes) and Selassie (Hitler) but it would be nice to get another animation....possibly Gandhi or Darius??

Next, we need to think of what clothing, a suit, more traditional attire?

Comments and PICs greatly appreciated

THANKS

I'd say Darius would be better then Ghandi because Ghandi looks pretty frail and does a lot of very culturally specific poses.

and make him wear a suit, i'd say. Most of his images show him wearing one and i couldn't really find a "traditional" outfit.

Didn't he usually wear a Madiba shirt? It was named after him for a good reason.

There's lots of interesting things to consider here!

Backgrounds and Clothing

I think Mandela's clothing choices should reflect the environment that he's in. If we place him either outside Cape Town City Hall, a street lined with Jacaranda trees or the interior of a building - then he should be wearing a suit. However, if we place him on a mountain overlooking Cape Town, or somewhere with more foliage - then I think perhaps a more traditional shirt would do.

I'm more than happy to take suggestions regarding where to place Mandela! Keep in mind that we'll want him to be in, and around Cape Town - since that is where we'll be placing the Capital.

Cape Town City Hall at night
Cape Town City Hall during the day
University of Cape Town steps (cloudy day)
Cape Town University (regular day)
View from Table Mountain
View of Table Mountain from shore


Animations

I would prefer a leader with longer opening lines, since those are easier to adapt for voice actors. I think we can count leaders like Boudicca and Songhai out - on account of their swordplay. That doesn't mean we have to rule out leaders with sceptres like Maria or Casimir. Leaders like Enrico would be fabulous if placed over a vista of Cape Town.

Here's a playlist of all the leader animations we have so far.

I'm a fan of Darius, Enrico and Selassie. I wonder if it's possible to combine animations - seeing as I think that Enrico's peace animations are great, but ill fitting for war.

Also, here's something neat that I uploaded ages ago - the South African Peace Theme. Warning it's pretty intense. I'm more partial to the War theme however (which gets better and better with each listen).

TPangolin said:

Here's a playlist of all the leader animations we have so far.

I'm a fan of Darius, Enrico and Selassie. I wonder if it's possible to combine animations - seeing as I think that Enrico's peace animations are great, but ill fitting for war.

Also, here's something neat that I uploaded ages ago - the South African Peace Theme. Warning it's pretty intense. I'm more partial to the War theme however (which gets better and better with each listen).

Click to expand...

I think having the leader scene in a more natural setting would really complement the themes (which sound pretty awesome I must say ), but I was wondering if it's possible to include 'crowd' reactions like that in Montezuma's leaderscene. If it's possible, then I'd vote for a nice public scene where people usually gather and rally, so we can have the crowd react to interactions in diplomacy - Darius' positioning and perspective could work well with this.

I think Madiba shirt is better, since the shirt is unique to him. I think suit are very common worldwide and does not really reflect a South African culture.

Kerfuffle said:

If it's possible, then I'd vote for a nice public scene where people usually gather and rally, so we can have the crowd react to interactions in diplomacy - Darius' positioning and perspective could work well with this.

Click to expand...

Darius' perspective would be great in that sense! Especially if we can get him speaking from Cape Town City Hall.

Although it would be odd to imagine a diplomatic meeting where the leader sits in the rally. It works for Montezuma, because it's kind of implied that you're standing on the same level as he is. Leugi expressed his disdain for this with Eva Peron and thus redid the screen to great effect.

I'm a fan of something like this:



It blends nature and urbanity together and would be nice work nicely with the theme, potential ambience and a more traditional shirt. Something would have to be done about the water though (not even going to ask if we're able to port over water animations from Portugal)

I'd love to hear what the professional BG makers like Sukritact, Jan and Leugi would say in regards to a Mandela screen (if they're interested in contributing their thoughts that is).

TPangolin said:

Also, here's something neat that I uploaded ages ago - the South African Peace Theme. Warning it's pretty intense. I'm more partial to the War theme however (which gets better and better with each listen).

Click to expand...

Not exactly relevant to what is being discussed here but, ain't that War theme a tad too similar to the Boer War Theme?

Nah, Kruger's theme is far more boering

Leaders meeting in a public forum doesn't make any less sense than one being on horseback and the other not (Alexander, Genghis, and Napoleon), or one being on a boat and the other on a dock (Harald Bluetooth)

Evidently that's subjective in this case then. I think it makes little sense to have the viewer placed amongst the crowd with the rest of his populace with him talking down to you.

The other settings that you mentioned make sense because of the perceived intimacy.

I think it makes sense with the Aztecs, but not with a modern leader like Mandela.

Well with the Aztecs, he's looking directly level at the camera. This implies that you're not floating, but on a platform on a similar level to him whilst the horde rabbles on below. Regardless, what are people feeling for the background? More urban, natural or perhaps a combination of both?

The Coastal City one that you suggested a couple of posts ago is really growing on me. If it weren't for the fact that water/waves might pose a bit of a problem, I would definitely go for that one

Yeah, it's kind of an issue. There needs to be some sort of animation, or we'll have to edit the picture so that the water is stagnant.

Might have to do some research regarding famous picture of Mandela or where he hung out a lot.

Is it possible to have an animated image as the background? I'm not too experienced with how civ handles art, so I'm not to sure what the difference is between easy and impossible.

Many screens do have animated features that aren't the leaders. It might not be impossible, but I'm not sure if we're at the stage wherein we can effectively pull something like that off.

I'd like to hear some more opinions on backgrounds

I was having difficulty with the animated backgrounds because they have multiple models....I think I was taking the wrong approach....I am thinking of two possible methods that might make either animated or at least more 3D like BG possible.....try to experiment some over the weekend

Animated backgrounds should be possible - I just did my flat background out of laziness and just wanting to get the leader out.

The Moroccan leader could be animation for Mandela as well.

Mansur is a nice choice. I'm also thinking Catherine wouldn't be too bad either:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5go2Sc-5Ss