Rayman: Revenge of the Dark

[Shrooblord]

[Droolie]

That is very sexy. I mean, I can see Rayman's nose skin pores! I've always wanted to see Rayman's nose skin pores. There seems to be texture everywhere, and is it just me or is there some cloth texture on Rayman's shirt too? Very nice!

That said, it feels slightly weird to see Rayman with such big eyes, especially since he looked fine in the previous picture. I guess it would fit since this takes place between R1 and R2 though. And that rock next to the logo (which looks fine IMO) doesn't seem well balanced.

Also, I'm not sure if this would fit with the area you're trying to make, but I would personally add lots of long (the area seems ancient) grass or other foliage on top of the flat parts of the rock walls and have it hang off. I would probably also curve the grass a bit more.
Those are just suggestions though, so do with them whatever you want I still wish I had the ability(/time) to make my 3D stuff look half as good as yours!

[Adsolution]

That is very sexy. I mean, I can see Rayman's nose skin pores! I've always wanted to see Rayman's nose skin pores. There seems to be texture everywhere, and is it just me or is there some cloth texture on Rayman's shirt too? Very nice!

Thanks! Yup, some of those detail textures were very recent additions (though I'm deliberating whether Rayman's are too obvious). Ly's skin detail I think worked especially well:

That said, it feels slightly weird to see Rayman with such big eyes, especially since he looked fine in the previous picture. I guess it would fit since this takes place between R1 and R2 though.

I sort of made his eyes progressively bigger and his nose progressively smaller, I found that it fit more with the style I was going for, and also for the reason you mentioned. Regarding it looking fine in the previous picture, I think that was just capturing a lucky angle, he looks like he has a tumour with the old head model:




I remodelled the head 2-3 months ago, here's what it looks like now in a comparison shot:

And that rock next to the logo (which looks fine IMO) doesn't seem well balanced.

Ahah, that's actually because it's a teensie head sculpture, you just can't see the support in the screenshot. My excuse for that is that the wallpaper actually originally started out as just a showcased collection of all of Spanex's rock models:




- and all I did was stick Ly and Rayman in there, do lighting, add 3D grass and some other effects, and move a couple rocks out of the way to make room for the camera, so the environment wasn't even really built for a wallpaper initially. In this above shot here, you can see the same flat rock near the centre where Rayman and Ly were standing; the camera in the wallpaper was coming in from the left, facing right.

Also, I'm not sure if this would fit with the area you're trying to make, but I would personally add lots of long (the area seems ancient) grass or other foliage on top of the flat parts of the rock walls and have it hang off. I would probably also curve the grass a bit more.

Oh, absolutely! I can assure you that when we have an environment like this created for an actual level, it will have more detail such as said long grass, and won't be directly based off of... a sideview of a rock showcase that happened to contain some aesthetic appeal making me want to take a screenshot.


Also, for no reason, I did this:



(Ignore the green sci-fi HUD on the middle-right, that's a default one that comes with CryEngine that I keep forgetting to remove.)

[Shrooblord]

ramen, you look lost
are you looking for the Princess's cake?

you can't have it
that's Mario's

[saerleiya]

:mrgreeen:

So you are also typing directly the emote rather than selecting it. Nice .

I mean...U WOT M8?

[Adsolution]

Lol fuck.

[saerleiya]

Oh, by the way: how many polygons did you use fo Rayman's head? There seems to be a lot of these little babies .

[Jewish Candy]

Ohhh nooo, I didn't notice the pores haha silly raymans not supposed to have skin

Regarding it looking fine in the previous picture, I think that was just capturing a lucky angle, he looks like he has a tumour with the old head model

Just what would he be without his tumour-ass nose. While the old model is perfectly fine I definitely prefer the newer one, it really does feel like a bridge between the R1/2 styles. Seriously, thanks for putting all this up - the work and attention to detail that has gone into this is astounding. Those rocks.

If I can add one thing, Ly's proportions look a little odd. It could be the camera angle, or an aesthetic decision (more childlike?), or just me - her R2 proportions seemed strange as well...

[Adsolution]

Oh, by the way: how many polygons did you use fo Rayman's head? There seems to be a lot of these little babies .

I'll do a breakdown:

Head - 2130
Eye - 512 (x2)
Pupil - 72 (x2)
Torso - 1050
Neckerchief strands - 158 (x2)
Hand - 760 (x2)
Foot - 734 (x2)

So we've only got 7652 in total. Fairly standard for a video game character of console fidelity, but quite high-poly given the simplicity of the character's design. All the characters are tessellated in-engine, so curved surfaces will appear perfectly round and smooth, even in lower-poly areas.

While the old model is perfectly fine I definitely prefer the newer one, it really does feel like a bridge between the R1/2 styles. Seriously, thanks for putting all this up - the work and attention to detail that has gone into this is astounding. Those rocks.

I'm glad everyone feels it's bridging the two styles so strongly! It was only a very mild modification, I had planned on putting more work into combining the styles later on (which I definitely will still work a bit more on in the future), but I think much of the reason for it at the moment is due to my own art style sort of being in between the two as well - the cause for the game's development and the style probably developed simultaneously and for the same reason, huehue.

If I can add one thing, Ly's proportions look a little odd. It could be the camera angle, or an aesthetic decision (more childlike?), or just me - her R2 proportions seemed strange as well...

That's actually something we had a lot of difficulty with. In Rayman 2, her head is absolutely massive, whereas here, it's smaller, as the larger head didn't quite fit properly with the style being gone for, unless we wanted her to look like a little kid, which she isn't. Are you referring to the overall size of the head/length of the limbs, or more in-depth, like the bone structure?

[Master]

Can't say much at the most, but that's a wonderful hybridisation of R1 & R2 indeed. Ly looks pretty good too.

[Jewish Candy]

If I can add one thing, Ly's proportions look a little odd. It could be the camera angle, or an aesthetic decision (more childlike?), or just me - her R2 proportions seemed strange as well...

That's actually something we had a lot of difficulty with. In Rayman 2, her head is absolutely massive, whereas here, it's smaller, as the larger head didn't quite fit properly with the style being gone for, unless we wanted her to look like a little kid, which she isn't. Are you referring to the overall size of the head/length of the limbs, or more in-depth, like the bone structure?

Hmm. I’ve popped it in the GIMP for a good hard look and I think it might be a bit of both, though mainly proportions - I’m aware that I’m just working off one image.

In terms of bone structure, the problems are shared with R2 Ly - which could also mean "Canned fish is biased and untrustworthy". The shoulders seem off, almost as if they are back to front. Does the tail ‘bunch’ at the back, or does it flow out of her ass? If the latter, then it may be positioned too high up. Her hips and ass are really, really flat, which is more of a design choice than a problem, except that it makes her look more childlike.

By far the biggest issue is the head and neck. The head is still mahoosive, it’s almost the length of her entire torso. It lolls forward and throws off the proportions of everything else. She looks like a neotenised pixie - well, she IS a pixie, I guess, but Ly to me is at least somewhat statuesque. Either scaling the head down or the body up would work.
I’m also questioning the position of the ears, another R2 problem.

Hands.

None of this is major because the model looks fantastic - especially the texturing - and, again, almost all the problems are R2’s fault (that stupid little astrodroid). 90’s graphics and suspension of disbelief could mask these issues back then, but now, not so much.

EDIT: Just to add that I hope this doesn't seem overcritical, I don't mean it that way at all cos its all awesome but I'm tired man

EDIT EDIT: Okay, I've just been looking at Betina from the animated series. She suffers from many of the same problems (Rayman girls huh), but these were resolved simply by lengthening the legs and maaaybe widening the hips. So that's a thing.

[Adsolution]

EDIT: Just to add that I hope this doesn't seem overcritical, I don't mean it that way at all cos its all awesome but I'm tired man

Not at all, it was useful information! However, I do think altering/'fixing' too many of those things would make her appearance too human-like, especially because:

EDIT EDIT: Okay, I've just been looking at Betina from the animated series. She suffers from many of the same problems (Rayman girls huh), but these were resolved simply by lengthening the legs and maaaybe widening the hips. So that's a thing.

-which I see purely as a stylistic thing, not a problem so much. But maybe those alterations made to Betina could work for Ly - I'll play around a little bit (though I've already done a lot of that in the past, my head hurts)!

In regards to the 90's graphics thing, I used this picture as a reference, which show off a similar proportion, not masked by 90's graphics (this proportion I'm actually really fond of, it's quirky and yet pleasing to the eye, for me at least):

Does the tail ‘bunch’ at the back, or does it flow out of her ass?

Here, I tried to have it line up with the tailbone:

[Jewish Candy]

In regards to the 90's graphics thing, I used this picture as a reference, which show off a similar proportion, not masked by 90's graphics (this proportion I'm actually really fond of, it's quirky and yet pleasing to the eye, for me at least)

Ahah, see I personally have a strong dislike of that picture Well that's good then, if it's a stylistic choice then go with it. To clarify, I used the word 'problem' because I see those choices as neotenising, which you want to avoid - not at all to imply that the choices are inherently bad in themselves. You know your artistic vision. Obviously I'd suggest making the legs longer, but ultimately if you're aiming for her existing proportions there's no need to hurt your poor head further by 'fixing' what ain't broke!

Here, I tried to have it line up with the tailbone

Thanks for the alternate view. I get it now! It was hard to see where it began from that other image.

[Droolie]

h̵̨͇̮̺̭̫͚ͬ̇̊̒͐ę͔̺͔̩̦͕̲̈͆̽̂ͮ̋͢͟͠͠ḻ̵̡̯̮̯̮̗̞͔̹̥̇̀̃ͧ̋p͋͑̑̀͊ͨ̉̎͘͏͏̛͍̜̘̥̟̟̥ͅ ̢̰̦̞̫͕̞͍͚̝͚̩̀̓͒̔̀͟͟m̸̧̡̡̥̮̹̺̭ͭ͐̔̓̿̈̃͛̂̉͊̌̿ͥ͑̄͑ͮ̐͘e̶̸̢ͤ̊̆̓ͯͪͤ̅ͪ̅͌̒͌̚͟͏̹͚͔̮̺͖̜̗͎̰̗̰̹̥̣̭͓̮ͅ


Seriously, she looks ready to destroy the world!

Anyway, that rock showcase looks awesome and I would definitely have wanted to make a wallpaper too if I had those assets. I like the Teensie head sculpture a lot. It's very similar to a landmark in my game: a huge Teensie statue that watches over the Sea of Lums near this area (come to think of it, that area feels quite similar to yours - I like it!).
And I don't see anything wrong with Ly's proportions anymore, to be honest. Hmm, I don't know how it would turn out, but maybe it's worth trying to fatten her up a bit? Ly is slender in Rayman 2, but adults are more slender than children/teenagers in general, so I would imagine a young Ly being just a little more fat than her R2 appearance. I wouldn't change too much - you would lose the style if you did, and it already looks near-perfect to me.

[saerleiya]

Ah, I feel relieved I'm not the only one this Ly is bugging a bit.

The top of her skull seems a bit too high to me. It is why I have the feeling her head is too long when compared to her torso. Rest is fine, really: she completely looks like a younger version of R2's one.

*What Rulez would say:

'WHERE ARE THE BOOBIES?'*

[Shrooblord]

dats not wat rulzez wuld sai


Hey Addy, where's that picture of Ly we propped up on the toadstool with the Lum in her hands? Did you show that here before?

[Shrooblord]

Delving deeper into images of Ly because I've decided I can't draw her for shit and I really need to learn, I just realised by looking at your image how amazingly accurate the suit she wears is to the one she wears in Rayman 2. I'd just like to congratulate Spanex on that, since I feel I've failed to do so in the past.

[beebo44]

So much attention to detail in all these images. They look fantastic!

[Motormike]

Really love what you're doing with Ly's design!

[Ambidextroid]

You should make it as surreal and quirky as possible, like Rayman 2 was.

And add Jano, he's cool.