Inner Circle Update for July 22 2019!
Added 2019-07-23 09:52:34 +0000 UTCHey guys!
We have a very big update here for you regarding the 3D conversion process for Pure Onyx. We've been putting in a lot of extra hours and are really moving along with this.
I encourage you to join our Discord server, as we are posting updates in there daily (and I think it's going really well community-wise). We've also begun doing live development streams (we will eventually start recording them, we haven't gotten to delve into it yet). For more information on how to go about getting set up on the Discord server, check out this link.
Anyways, here's a big rundown of stuff we've accomplished since the last IC update -- we're all in on the 3D conversion thing, so it mostly pertains to that. Keep in mind there are still a lot of WIP models and glitchy shader stuff in the mix.
Live Streaming on Picarto
We'll occasionally be doing live streams of things like sculpting / modeling / animating on Picarto now, so make sure to follow our channel so that you get notifications when we go live :D. We will also announce it on our Discord server.
Onyx 3D Body Test Rigging + Rendering Improvements
I made a ton of progress on rigging this week, as you can see from the video at the top of the post. Our new rigging system is far faster / more automated than when we were last working on rigging for MATM. We already have a test rig for Onyx's body in Maya, and I've successfully exported the skeleton and a (crappy) test walk cycle to Unity. Excuse the glitchy hair and shoulders :D. We also already have the physics system that we had set up for our 2D animations working with the 3D models.
I've been doing some tests with stepped animation to better produce the illusion of 2D sprites. The Onyx on the right is an example of this. Her animation updates at the framerate you'd see in cartoons/anime instead of the super smooth look you get from 3D. There's more too it than that, but for now this is a pretty decent test.
Lastly, we've updated the post-processing and have solutions for 3D character shadows and "fake" gloss for those shiny highlights working. The look for both of these can and will be improved further. Shadows won't stretch for miles and the gloss effect will look less artificial / 3D.
3D Vioreaper Model
Limbo has modeled the Vioreaper completely from scratch, and we already have a low poly version mostly ready (shown above). Now that we are in 3D we can dynamically process his (and other enemies') glowy bits with HDR, which removes quite a bit of fuss from the Spine workflow.
3D Splicer Body / Clothes Sculpts
We have the 3D version of the Splicer Thug ready for test rigging! Limbo did a really nice stylized sculpt for the body, and we updated our MATM clothing assets for this version. After we make a test rig for him the next step will be, like with Onyx, to create some test animations so that Mr. Kittyhawk can get the enemy animation code working with the 3D models.
More Enemy Variety
Going 3D makes adding more enemy variety far easier, so we'll be implementing a system that will allow for some randomization from pre-made materials for things like enemy skin and hair color.
New Onyx Body Model + WIP Hair
We needed to rework Onyx's body model for real-time 3D so that it has enough polys in the right areas, and TK has finished up the main body and face. We still have to add genitals though.
Hair is a different story -- we're still figuring out which style works best, and will probably be experimenting with it for a little while yet. Limbo spent a half day doing edits to TK's sculpt to improve the shape. We'll likely continue to iterate on this version, but also want to try a simpler low poly look that could work well with our hard shaded style.
Ubercharge's Latest Environment Work
Ubercharge has been back to modeling -- this time for the sewer maps. He's begun work on a system for rendering modular tiles -- basically pre-rendered chunks that we can stitch together in Photoshop or even dynamically in-game later on. We'll be using this system to create maps that link the landmark points in the levels (AKA super unique maps that take a lot of time to create), and thus should be able to generate maps of any necessary length without having render absolutely huge images over and over.
