Leader face animations

[Alzara]

Hey guys

I was wondering if there are any plans to animate the leader's faces in FfH? I've never modded civ before so I'm not sure how the animation is produced. If there are no plans for it at the moment, and animating new faces is possible, then would it be OK if I tried a few to see if you guys like them?

I'd like to get involved

Thanks

Al

 

[Grey Fox]

Age of Ice has some animated characters, but I prefer the 2D stills.

 

[Ekolite]

The stills are ok but I think if someone could do animations for them it would be great as long as they were well done and look like the 2d leaders. I dont know if the team was going to do it themselves though.

I've heard aimations are difficult to do, if you've never done any modding before maybe you should start with something more basic? Promotions and spells are reasonably easy AFAIK but Im not a modder myself so Im not sure.

 

[Grey Fox]

Yeah, well it would have to be very well done. The Charadon in Age of Ice is pretty well done, but it comes nowhere near to the still. Those paintings has so much atmosphere and feels so much like fall from heaven that if they ever go for 3D animations they have to be very well done to outdo what we have now.

 

[sylvain5477]

Many of the 2D pics are great but some could be better still
Difficult to render the 3D with as much athmosphere as the 2D... need to be almost pro.

 

[Alzara]

As I understand it modding and animating are pretty much two different things. So if you can animate well, in theory you could produce decent animations with limited modding knowledge.

I'm just wondering how you animate in civ. Can you use regular animation programs, or are there tools found in civ modding kits that you have to use to animate. I know some professional animators who can help me so I'm sure I can do a good job and be true to the 2D portraits

Thanks guys

Al

 

[Grey Fox]

I suggest checking the Creation & Customization forum.

 

[C.Roland]

Well, I'm sure we (The team) with a group work would be able to produce high quality leaderhead if we want (I began to use Zbrush for High resolution mesh and it is very fun to use, so if I do the high res model and the normal map, if Sez do the texture and if Ploper animate it) I'm sure we would be able to do a really decent job, horewer, with the three of us lacking of freetime, it would probably took 2 years to complete all the leaders. I think we all agree that working on the units and buldings are a better way to spent our time on the mod because it is more crucial than LH.

 

[Ekolite]

So other people are free to do it in the meantime?

 

[reveler]

I would appreciate an option the keep still images as the animations are just a ressource drain and add zilch to gaming fun.

 

[R0GERSHRUBBER]

I know that several of the current leaderheads come from the Icewind Dale games by Bioware. Does anyone know if there is anything wrong with this?

I'm a big fan of the current 2D leaderheads: they look better than any of the animated leaderheads I have seen for any mod, and add most a great deal to the game atmosphere.

Maybe someone should create a poll to determine interest in 3D animated leaderheads?

 

[C.Roland]

So other people are free to do it in the meantime?

They can make it if they want, but I doubt that they will be included in the mod. The majority of feedback that we heard about LH is that people want to stay with 2d.

 

[Ekolite]

Oh, I agree, I used to play perpentach a lot, just so that I didn't have to meet him and see his LH lol. I meant that if someone made them as a modmod, and if they all came out as reskinned Ghandi's, like in many mods, I would never d/l it, although I'm sure it must be possible to make good ones, otherwise Im perfectly happy with the 2D ones.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I definately don't want to see 3D leaderheads added. 3D leaders have a tendancy to look really silly (even in AoI), and they break the feel of the game. Also, they slow the game down significantly, and don't display very well on older computers (they never worked on my home PC, and although they always worked fine on my currently broken laptop it was really annoying to wait for them to load.) Lastly, they take serious effort that would be much better spent modding something else, and make the files much larger than they would othrwise be.


That said, I wouldn't mind if there were there but strictly optional, especially if they were only included in the media pack so I wouldn't have to download it.

 

[icantcmyeye]

I know that several of the current leaderheads come from the Icewind Dale games by Bioware. Does anyone know if there is anything wrong with this?

the artists were contatcted, and asked for permission, as were those who's music was used. Theres a full credits on the download page.

 

[Nikis-Knight]

A CFC user called Frenchman, I think, mades some alternate leaderheads that look pretty good. If you makes animated leaderheads that are good, we can promote it and some people will probably use it.

 

[SwordofStriker]

Personally, I much prefer the 2D art. It just seems to add to the immersion more than the cartoony animated heads do in BTS.

 

[steampunk1880]

you could, I dunno, make 2D animations, like you're talking to a magic portrait or something. It wouldn't have to move much, just enough to show that what you're talking to is alive.

 

[xienwolf]

Unfortunately unless animated by the original artists trying to make the current still a 2D animation would come out looking like bad Flashvideo

 

[steampunk1880]

Is it too much to ask for an all new animated set of portraits in an optional pack? I know most people have gotten used to seeing what you already have on there, but what I wouldn't give to see Falamar rocking slightly with his ship trying to keep steady a stein of grog... or something. Or Hyborem absently poking a tortured soul with his trident. I guess what i'm saying is that it doesnt need to be exactly like it was in the original character portraits.