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Leander: In-game Cinematic (WIP)

TiO2
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TiO2 null
Hi, we're team Leander and we're currently working on a short in-game cinematic using Cryengine 3, at the moment its still very much a work in progress.

Team members are:
Max Doherty http://www.maxdoherty.co.uk/
John White (me) http://johnjwhite.co.uk/
Kim Watts http://kimwatts.co.uk
Igor Titov http://titov3d.co.uk

Music By Jan Zhan
And lion Creature concept by Murayama Ryota

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgg1rMtAmb0"]Leander_WIP - YouTube[/ame]

Any feedback or critique would be greatly appreciated.

Replies

  • ZUBILO
    very interesting)
    Have one question. When a character picks up the amulet why a copy left lying on the stone?
  • e-freak
    looks like a lot of work and good quality you achieved!

    what's the background for this?
  • DWalker
    The animation of the dragon stalking seems very stiff. I'd recommend looking at some images of cats stalking their prey; the hind legs are much higher than the forelegs, with the head lower, still.
    roy-toft-a-serval-stalking-prey-leptailurus-serval.jpg
    For the tail, I'd recommend watching videos of alligators; the main problem I have with the current animation is that I'm just not feeling the weight of the tail.

    Some of your camera cuts seem excessive, especially when the hero picks up the amulet - you have 3 cuts within 6 seconds. You'd probably be better served with a single spline camera that zooms in on the character as it pans around. I'd also get rid of the shaky-cam effect at the start of that sequence.
  • Guedin
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    Guedin polycounter lvl 11
    It looks like really interesting. The environment and lighting looks gorgeous.
    Keep it up
  • krimzondestiny
    This was pretty sweet. The only critique that I have is on the part where the dragon first appeared. I was watching it without sound and based on the animation, the dragon didn't look like it roared so much as it said "hey". I'm not sure if it roared or said hey because I couldn't hear it, but it looked like it. I would really sell that part if I were you guys. Excellent work though. I smell employment in the near future for you guys if you're not already employed.
  • sjuskadur
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    sjuskadur polycounter lvl 7
    I would do a massive texture pass on a ton of your stuff, some saturation variation, alphawork (Especially on the main characters mane etc.) In addition I agree with Dwalker on the Camera, You keep cutting to black - which does insinuate that a lot of time has passed, Simplify your cameras try fewer cuts and go into the curve editor of the camera spline and smooth out all the tangents feels very often like the camera man keeps driving over big rocks.
    Environments look fine - try blobshadows under dense grass it will ground it better, as well as the maincharacter could use higher res texture and over all texture work.

    Good job keep it up
  • Kibi
    Thanks everyone for the crit so far :)

    Thought I would post a more final version of how the camera and edits would be as the above was put together a bit last minute for the deadline. Also has some minor adjustments to animation. Unfortunately we only have a couple more weeks until our final deadline so hopefully we can add as much crit as possible in that time!

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaHNbpoTsmA"]Final Year Game Trailer Cinematic Preview WIP - YouTube[/ame]
  • TactMasterZero
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    TactMasterZero polycounter lvl 17
    awesome work! the shot compositions and camera animation, character and dragon animation are all much improved in the new version.
  • satrio
    Great effort, and the new clip shows a lot of improvement!

    But three enviro guys and just one animator? There is a lot to animate here and I feel the animator has to much to do to give each scene the attention it needs.

    Maybe you should discuss this at next team meeting, as everyone watching (except you guys and other environment artists) is going to focus on the action, not the backgrounds.

    My advice is to get at least one more animator so they can do their job properly with the same attention and love you put into the environments. There is simply to much to do for one guy in my opinion.

    Looking forward to the finished piece!
  • BARDLER
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    BARDLER polycounter lvl 12
    I don't know if you guys plan on keep working on this but the major thing that sticks out to me is the camera work and animation.
    -Camera cuts should go unnoticed by the viewer for the most part, but when you cut to black that often, use really quick cuts, and don't use establishing shots effectively they become really noticeable.
    -Tempo of the story should effect speed of the cuts you make. You should reserve quick up tempo cuts for when something exciting is going on. When a character is simply walking then quick cuts don't really do much for you. A great example of tempo cutting is from the air plane scene in The Incredibles. The scene starts out fairly calm with long paused cuts, but as the danger becomes greater the cuts become faster and faster. By the end of the scene you get a bunch of cuts that are no more than a second long.
    -You have a shot from the first person of the dragon which I did not understand the first time because I didn't know the dragon excised. Whats even more odd is that appears the main character hears, sees, and reacts to the dragon, but than in the next shot keeps walking to the amulet thing. Point of view shots do not work unless the audience understands that the character exists. You need to use an establishing shot before you can use a point of view shot.
    -In the battle scene a lot of the cuts do not place the characters in the right position. Often times the characters in the previous shots are much closer or further apart then they are in the next shots. On top of that all the close ups that you do make it hard to understand what is actually going on in the scene. I also think you could hide the transition of lighting everything on fire better than cutting to black. I think a close up of the character on the ground for a couple seconds would be better.
    -The animation is stiff in a lot of areas, especially the walk cycle that you are using. There are also issues with feet sliding pretty often throughout when the characters are turning. I am not really to good at picking out animation problems, but those two things stand out to me.
    -The story doesn't really come through. I don't get why it starts in a snowy area, but then the temple thing is all nice and spring time looking. Then he switches out the amulet that is just laying on the stone, but I don't get what it is. Then there is a dragon there, but he isn't put in any type of context until all of a sudden he shows up. You could easily build tension by having the character look at a book in the beginning that details the amulet and the dragon guarding it. You could also add tension and danger to the situation by showing the dragon earlier and letting the viewer know what the character is walking into. You can tell a story in a min, but you have to give the viewer a lot of information in the beginning which is something the story is lacking in.

    Hope that helps a little bit. I really like the art work you guys did, especially the environments and setting. I think you guys did a good job overall, so don't take my critique the wrong way.
  • Gheromo
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    Gheromo polycounter lvl 11
    Hey Guys, thanks for comments and valuable feedback.

    @satrio, technically its 2 environment artists. I helped to block out the temple environment. Also made few props and a bit of world building in my spare time after work, I don't feel like I should be credited really. Unfortunately we are short of animators on this course, not an option. :)

    @BARDLER, lots of good feedback, wish we had it few months earlier to have time to fix most cinematography. As of now most shots will have to stay as they are because the final deadline is in 2 weeks. Most cinematography and narrative issues are the result of cuts we had to make through the course of this project as it was becoming too big for us to do in this time frame.

    Thanks for the feedback guys, we will apply as much feedback as possible.

    Igor
  • DWalker
    Budgeting time is probably the toughest thing to learn - whether making a film or working on a game. Learning to set realistic goals, and being willing to cut early to produce a smaller but superior product is, unfortunately, something even professionals seldom learn.
  • e-freak
    After seeing your Maya Layout I think its even more impressive from a technical point of view. The story and timing might need work, but doing proper, rigging, animation and layout, porting it to a game engine is one hell of an accomplishment for a university project!

    If you still have time after your graduation, I'd keep polishing it a bit more and get it some final touches.
  • Gheromo
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    Gheromo polycounter lvl 11
    Hey guys, this is the final version of the film we did for the UH Expose on 5th of May. Unfortunately we never had time to polish some of the things we wanted.

    We may or may not work on it further. It is undecided at the moment.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utIt6YfI52M"]Leander Games Art Trailer UHAnimation 2013 - YouTube[/ame]
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