Update to Existing Facegen
Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:29 am
Facegen Mod 2014
After the recent discussion on the dev forum about the facegen and talk of replacing face imagery with
cartoons, I post this with some trepidation (not wanting to discourage 'any' progress in this area)
These are some upgrades and additions to the existing facegen for Pioneer.
Adds new eyes, mouths, hair, clothing and accessories and a few more backgrounds
I started work and experimentation on this some time ago and realised very quickly it was going to be a
very long slough.
The existing facegen head graphics are actually quite good (they just needs a lot of finessing and TLC)
Most of the upgrades need to be made on the individual components, eyes, nose, mouths and hair etc..
There were some alignment issues with the heads not all being centered - I did issue a patch for that a
while back - don't know if it was ever adopted or not.
In any case, I did opt to press on with some basic changes and additions, before needing some time out.
ATM, more work has been done on Race 0 than the rest, in terms of corrections and features.
I have also had to resort to a few unconventional tricks to get some effects and results I was trying to
achieve.
Still have stuff in the pipeline though, ie: helmets and EVA suits (for clothing layer) - but the helmets
require an additional layer on top of the existing facegen character layers in order to work properly.
(Although, I have modified them to work in the facegen hair layer to test them out and can make them
available if there is an interest) - unless shirt sleeve environments will be the norm in Pioneer.
- I also made a bunch of other sub items that can't be used unless/until there becomes a way for players
to choose between such items. The existing facegen is great for what it does -but with no means of player
interaction, it is simply a blunt tool, and as any blunt tool it is difficult (and clunky) to always have
it do what you would like.
There are more limitations than one might think. I too believe things like blinking eyes, perhaps moving
mouths could be implimented - but there needs to be the desire and will to make such details a reality
within the facegen code.
I can imagine many more options - but these would require at least two additional player controlled
layers to be implimented on top of existing layers.
Although creating a stylized cartoon with all the bells and whistles, might sound simpler, - don't kid
yourself, it will be a lot of work (in spite of the simpler style). The existing system, although clunky
still has a lot going for it. It simply requires a commitment to push it to the next level.
This makes a small (dent) with a couple of fixes to existing heads, eyes, mouths, hair and adds some
original artwork of my own.
Includes changes, refinements and replacements for many of the accessories and adds many new ones.
New clothing and uniforms are also included - with some classics added. (I can see how using patterns -
could reduce the number of clothing items of varying color)
All in all, a very tedious and time consuming process to do well.
Old chinese saying: to encourage holding the course when things look insurmountable.
paraphrased: "If the way is hard - it may be that hard is the way"
...Anyways, far from complete, but at least this is an upgrade to what exists now.
download here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/094na ... bao_V1.zip
An added note:
Along the way I thought of some ways to improve the folder structure to give individual races a default
option of their own clothes, equipment or armor.
I would add an accessory and clothing folder into each of the individual race folders.
The new directories would be the first place that the facegen would look for clothing or accessories,
once a race had been decided upon by the program.
If nothing was in the new folders, it would look in the default (normal) clothing and accessories folder.
This would solve a lot of present and future facegen issues, that I won't get into ATM.
After the recent discussion on the dev forum about the facegen and talk of replacing face imagery with
cartoons, I post this with some trepidation (not wanting to discourage 'any' progress in this area)
These are some upgrades and additions to the existing facegen for Pioneer.
Adds new eyes, mouths, hair, clothing and accessories and a few more backgrounds
I started work and experimentation on this some time ago and realised very quickly it was going to be a
very long slough.
The existing facegen head graphics are actually quite good (they just needs a lot of finessing and TLC)
Most of the upgrades need to be made on the individual components, eyes, nose, mouths and hair etc..
There were some alignment issues with the heads not all being centered - I did issue a patch for that a
while back - don't know if it was ever adopted or not.
In any case, I did opt to press on with some basic changes and additions, before needing some time out.
ATM, more work has been done on Race 0 than the rest, in terms of corrections and features.
I have also had to resort to a few unconventional tricks to get some effects and results I was trying to
achieve.
Still have stuff in the pipeline though, ie: helmets and EVA suits (for clothing layer) - but the helmets
require an additional layer on top of the existing facegen character layers in order to work properly.
(Although, I have modified them to work in the facegen hair layer to test them out and can make them
available if there is an interest) - unless shirt sleeve environments will be the norm in Pioneer.
- I also made a bunch of other sub items that can't be used unless/until there becomes a way for players
to choose between such items. The existing facegen is great for what it does -but with no means of player
interaction, it is simply a blunt tool, and as any blunt tool it is difficult (and clunky) to always have
it do what you would like.
There are more limitations than one might think. I too believe things like blinking eyes, perhaps moving
mouths could be implimented - but there needs to be the desire and will to make such details a reality
within the facegen code.
I can imagine many more options - but these would require at least two additional player controlled
layers to be implimented on top of existing layers.
Although creating a stylized cartoon with all the bells and whistles, might sound simpler, - don't kid
yourself, it will be a lot of work (in spite of the simpler style). The existing system, although clunky
still has a lot going for it. It simply requires a commitment to push it to the next level.
This makes a small (dent) with a couple of fixes to existing heads, eyes, mouths, hair and adds some
original artwork of my own.
Includes changes, refinements and replacements for many of the accessories and adds many new ones.
New clothing and uniforms are also included - with some classics added. (I can see how using patterns -
could reduce the number of clothing items of varying color)
All in all, a very tedious and time consuming process to do well.
Old chinese saying: to encourage holding the course when things look insurmountable.
paraphrased: "If the way is hard - it may be that hard is the way"
...Anyways, far from complete, but at least this is an upgrade to what exists now.
download here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/094na ... bao_V1.zip
An added note:
Along the way I thought of some ways to improve the folder structure to give individual races a default
option of their own clothes, equipment or armor.
I would add an accessory and clothing folder into each of the individual race folders.
The new directories would be the first place that the facegen would look for clothing or accessories,
once a race had been decided upon by the program.
If nothing was in the new folders, it would look in the default (normal) clothing and accessories folder.
This would solve a lot of present and future facegen issues, that I won't get into ATM.