Critique my background, character, walkcycle etc!

[NSM]

I've been messing around with AGS the past week or two, trying to see what sort of quasi-3d game can be made using the new features.  The room and character were both created in Blender, and the room was rendered in Yaf(a)ray.  Anyway, here is a video of the character walking around the room:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhsHLQ3VkoU

The background is 1024 x 768, and I'm running the game at 800 x 600 with 32 bit Color depth.  One problem I do know I'm having is that the character seems to "jump" when I turn on continuous scaling (not sure how clear that is in the video).  Not sure if there is anything that can be done to fix that?  Is that due to high resolution?

Here is a screenshot of the same room, but using 1024x768 rather than 800x600 (also continuous scaling turned off, which seems to distort the character slightly), just to give you a clearer view of what everything looks like.



Any advice/help/criticism would be much appreciated,

[Travis Anthony]

I think the background is very empty.  The carpet? is really weird.  I'd like to see the posture straightened up.  He has a C-shaped back   It also looks like his leg bends in a bit below his knee.
And his hair is really dark.
Just curious, How many frames are in your walk cycle?
He walks very awkwardly.  It's as if he's power sliding

Check out this walk cycle.  http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-occFkFbl3ms/normal_walk_cycle/
It's more of a cartoon kinda 3d walk cycle.  Still nice to look at though.

And here's a walk cycle you can pose your model to.  It's missing half of the frames though.


Keep going at it!  cheers.

[LRH]

The character does seem to have a gliding effect. This can be cleaned up with a few tweaks in either animation speed or walking speed. The animation itself feels a bit stiff, maybe his upper body could be a bit more loose? Also, while he's walking, he never extends his leg, his knees are constantly bent.

As far as the 3D environment goes, this is no easy task for just one person, (if it IS just you) and I think it looks pretty good. As Travis said, the carpet could use a different texture and color. I feel like a dark red would look nice, but maybe that's just me?

The areas where the walls by the fireplace meets the other walls seems odd IMO it would look better as a flat wall. Also, I think the windows could use a glossy type texture, even if it's just something like a light blue color just to imply the light from outside.

Other than this, maybe put some more furniture in the room, a coffee table or something, just to reduce negative space.

I think there's real potential here. Good luck

[NSM]

Thanks so much for your help!  I've just been working a bit on the character, and changing some of the things you guys mentioned have helped a LOT.

I changed the walkcycle from 21 frames to 11, and made sure his legs actually straightened.  It looks exponentially better, and the lower number of frames also seems to have remedied the problem I was having with continuous scaling.  I've noticed now that his legs aren't quite symmetrical, so I want to fix that before posting the walk cycle again.

The emptiness of the room is more laziness than anything else.  I might just find some stock models to place in the room.  I was thinking of putting a table in the middle, but I imagine that would be a bit annoying for players.  I've struggled with the carpet.  I'll keep at it till I come up with something.

Thanks again for the help!  It's already looking much better.

[CShelton]

If you haven't figured this out yet about your walk cycle, your character's arms and legs are reversed. That is, when your right leg is forward, your right arm should be back (or else you'd likely fall over).

The Muybridge animation photos are a great resource, but don't be afraid to just rotoscope your walk cycle. If you're not familiar with the term, rotoscoping is just tracing over something that's already animated, such as a video of a human walking. Lots of 3d packages will let you put an animated background on a plane for just such a purpose.

Here's an example of a human walk that's been rotoscoped:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6LHNmrPetc

You can learn a lot about animation from roto'ing stuff, so go for it.

A quick note on your room, darkness is your friend. Have a central light source somewhere (the chandelier, or the fireplace maybe?) and allow the rest of the room to be enveloped in varying levels of shadow. Your room has ZERO contrast because it seems to have been lit with a 2,000w light. Lighting goes a long way for covering up modeling, texturing, and materials issues.

[NSM]

Thanks for your comments.

If you haven't figured this out yet about your walk cycle, your character's arms and legs are reversed. That is, when your right leg is forward, your right arm should be back (or else you'd likely fall over).

The Muybridge animation photos are a great resource, but don't be afraid to just rotoscope your walk cycle.
Here's an example of a human walk that's been rotoscoped:

I've improved my character a lot since I posted that.  At the moment, though, he's a bit of a placeholder.  I'm using a really simple method which allows me to pose and animate him in 2-3 minutes, which makes experimenting in AGS a lot easier.

A quick note on your room, darkness is your friend. Have a central light source somewhere (the chandelier, or the fireplace maybe?) and allow the rest of the room to be enveloped in varying levels of shadow. Your room has ZERO contrast because it seems to have been lit with a 2,000w light. Lighting goes a long way for covering up modeling, texturing, and materials issues.

I agree, but I'm having a few problems.  The first is time.  The picture from my OP is rendered in Yafaray, using direct lighting.  I basically just switched on ambient occlusion and set it pretty high to get an even lighting for the whole room.  Another room I'm working on uses photon mapping, with the single light source being the sun shining through the window.




Ideally I'd render all the rooms in that way, but whereas direct lighting takes about ten minutes, it can take me nearly an hour (and sometimes longer) to render pictures using photon mapping.  At the moment, I just don't have the time or patience to sit through that

The other thing I'm worried about is that my "light" character would look really bad in a darkened room and seem very unnatural.

[Anian]

Ideally I'd render all the rooms in that way, but whereas direct lighting takes about ten minutes, it can take me nearly an hour (and sometimes longer) to render pictures using photon mapping.  At the moment, I just don't have the time or patience to sit through that

The other thing I'm worried about is that my "light" character would look really bad in a darkened room and seem very unnatural.

To be honest, looking at your first pic, it looks far more unnatural when there is absolutley no shadows. Light and dark can add a lot to realism or more precisely to atmosphere and textures look more natural as well.

Especially when you have such cool light sources in that room - windows, chandelier and a fireplace. You could have some really nice effects. This is not so much connected with rendering options, but light sources (for example in the second pic that shadow from the window that's visible on the floor, adds a lot to the feeling of a room, btw. there's usually tiles in the kitchen not floor boards...just saying ) .
Do what other people do - test render fast and with smaller resoultion then when you're satisfied up the resolution and render quality.

[NSM]

That might be too dark.  I probably need to step away from the computer for a while, because I can't judge what I'm doing objectively at the moment.  I used photon mapping, and made the chandelier and fireplace my light sources.  There's also an area lamp to lighten things slightly.

[Ryan Timothy B]

I'm loving the new textures for the carpet and couch.  Also like the added couch and table as well, and the better looking plant stand.
You need a coffee table now or the room will look empty.

The door looks very large compared to that plant stand, fireplace and couch.  Depending on the height of the character, you'll either have to increase the size of the couches and tables, or decrease the size of the door slightly.

[CShelton]

Yes, I'd say you've gone a little too dark with the scaled down lighting. Here's some suggestions on how to mix in some light with dark for a happy medium from between your first and second versions.

1. Utilize those windows and bring in some light from outdoors. I've added some fake bluish moonlight to surfaces near the windows, that helps establish this as an existing world, and further defines and contrasts objects since we've got light painting their backsides. Also, its probably a good idea to not use true black for your dark areas, that outside sky should have some lightness to it. Same goes for the true black hallway, light should spill into that hallway.

2. Add glowy coronas to the light fixtures, this really helps complete the illusion that these are real lights, and that they are on. Adding just coronas will fool people into thinking you've done more than you really have.

3. In computer lighting, we fake most everything, so put another light underneath the chandelier to cast a soft glow on the carpet below. No fancy renderer will do this half as good as you can do it by just putting a fill light in where it doesn't exist in reality.

4. Play with the intensity of your fill lights so that the walls are bathed with gentle light. Flat wall surfaces shouldn't be darkened, nor should they be blown out. Corners are a different story, just act like shadows collect in corners and you'll be halfway there.

5. For dramatic emphasis, you could darken the ceiling around the bright part of your light. You might need to touch the image up in a paint package to achieve this, or practice up with attenuation settings.

Keep on improving!

[Kweepa]

Basic room design:
* there should be a light switch or two near the doorway
* where is the door? most doors open into the room they serve
* the doorframe looks like a very modern office doorframe. most house doorframes are wider and flatter, possibly with several ridges.
* and the doorframe usually blends into the base board, which is also absent here
* in (or above) the baseboard there are normally electrical sockets
* the windows look pasted on and are most likely too small
* the windows need curtains (or shutters?)
* add a larger picture rail perhaps. depends how old this house is supposed to be. given the painting on the ceiling, I'm guessing pre 1900. the ceiling should perhaps be a little higher too in that case (12 feet or so)
* there should be a circular or decorative moulding where the chandelier attaches to the ceiling
* the chimney wall indentation should be thicker to provide space for the chimney

Room function:
* what is this room used for?
* generally if you have a fire lit in a fireplace, the furniture should be arranged around it
* there should be some fire paraphernalia: a coal bucket, a fire guard/screen, poker & brush & tongs & shovel, matches, perhaps a basket of sticks
* there should be some kind of "expendable" rug or mat in front of the fire so that when sparks fly out they don't damage the carpet
* I would expect some bookshelves (or a television. boo!)
* presumably the painting on the wall is upside down for a reason
* other details: ashtrays, pipestands, world map globes, floor lamps, candles, loose books or magazines or newspapers, piano, cushions, one of those little cloths that hangs on a chair to protect it from hair oil, mirrors, more pictures on the wall, grandfather clock or mantel clock or wall clock, rugs, coffee table, drinks cabinet

[cosmicr]

  Another room I'm working on uses photon mapping, with the single light source being the sun shining through the window.




Ideally I'd render all the rooms in that way, but whereas direct lighting takes about ten minutes, it can take me nearly an hour (and sometimes longer) to render pictures using photon mapping.  At the moment, I just don't have the time or patience to sit through that

The other thing I'm worried about is that my "light" character would look really bad in a darkened room and seem very unnatural.

that image looks strikingly similar to the one featured in this tutorial: http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/model-texture-and-render-a-photorealistic-kitchen-in-blender-and-yafaray/