AuthorTopic: aircraft ('hi, i'm new here'-topic)  (Read 6393 times)

Offline mirage

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aircraft ('hi, i'm new here'-topic)

on: March 24, 2007, 09:33:44 pm
Hi, been lurking here for a while now and i'm pretty impressed with most of the work posted here so i thought i would do some pixel work myself again

I've been an active member of the c64 scene for a while and have worked on various GBC/GBA/mobile phone games... Nowadays I'm working on a next-gen ps3 game so doing some (non-c64) pixels was nice for a change

Ok, here is something i did tonight... it's small and just a remake of some graphics i did for a game before, because i just wanted to get the feeling for square pixels back



(No reference used, painted in my own pixel program i'm working on at the moment, first test run didn't crash :))

It was tricky getting it to fit into 16 colours, but i think it turned out alright

I kinda liked having a non-static palette (in contrast with the static c64 palette) again and i had fun doing some hue-shifting

C+C welcome, and i'm curious to see some edits aswell
« Last Edit: March 24, 2007, 09:36:08 pm by mirage »

Offline inkspot

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Re: aircraft ('hi, i'm new here'-topic)

Reply #1 on: March 24, 2007, 09:39:38 pm
No CC, you are pure master. For a one night, this even better, how many hours you did this?

Offline Sharm

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Re: aircraft ('hi, i'm new here'-topic)

Reply #2 on: March 24, 2007, 10:06:25 pm
Wow.  That looks fantastic.  The only crit I can possibly think of after staring at it is that the top flame has an odd bit of white and the bottom intake(?) looks a bit flattened compared to the top one.  Very impressive.

Offline Fry

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Re: aircraft ('hi, i'm new here'-topic)

Reply #3 on: March 24, 2007, 11:38:12 pm


I did a quick edit just for fun, mainly just swapped the palette up a little bit and added a few more highlights.  The detail is amazing, I especially love the clouds.

As far as the composition and details are concerned, there is very minimal to improve upon.  I can't wait to see more.

-Fry

Offline Joshua

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Re: aircraft ('hi, i'm new here'-topic)

Reply #4 on: March 24, 2007, 11:47:46 pm
Oh, nice. I especially like the design of the aircraft. Nice palette too. The way you shaded the clouds make them look a bit flat, but then again it can also be seen as an interesting style choice.

Either way, this is definitely a breathe of fresh air. Do you possibly have any more of your art online that we could see?

Offline Helm

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Re: aircraft ('hi, i'm new here'-topic)

Reply #5 on: March 25, 2007, 12:08:02 am
Hi mirage, glad to have you.

Your piece has a lot of dark shades that are very close to each other, and to black. You should separate and optimise. There's a lot of jaggiedness also, manual antialias would help. I think the thick black outline for the ship in this case is a crutch. You can separate the ship from background with light edges as well, and generally it spoils the realistic mood by having these cartoony outlines. Below is an edit to show you some classic hand aa and also some 'modern' pixel art techniques such as 'interlace dithering', some dither-aa (on the vertical edge of the wing) and so on.

Offline Serena

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Re: aircraft ('hi, i'm new here'-topic)

Reply #6 on: March 25, 2007, 12:19:24 am
I persoanlly like the black outlines, I wouldn't change them.  I think they work with the style you've got going.

Offline kakikukeko

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Re: aircraft ('hi, i'm new here'-topic)

Reply #7 on: March 25, 2007, 12:57:02 am
no real crits from me, that's really good.. yeah I agree with Serena, the black lines are part of the style, so it's probably a matter of taste.. maybe they could be less regular in size though and have perspective..
like darker (thicker in the front) and thiner/lighter behind... ? just a thought..
Can't wait to see more!  ;)

Offline mirage

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Re: aircraft ('hi, i'm new here'-topic)

Reply #8 on: March 25, 2007, 12:59:47 pm
Thanks for the comments and critiques  :)

I originally made this image as a startscreen for a game, but i lost the original and only had a jpg version left... this is what i managed to save from it:



@Sharm: Agreed, the exhausts and flame looked a bit weird so i fixed that in the latest version

@Fry: i'm not sure about the palette change, but i like the extra highlight on the cockpit, so i put that in my version aswell

@Joshua: Most of the stuff I pixeled got lost at one point and i only have some crappy jpg's left :(

@Helm: I see now today that some of the colours are too dark, must have been because my room was too dark aswell last night. I see what you're saying about the aa being a bit sloppy, i fixed most of that today. The dither-aa i'm not too happy about as it can make clean lines look a bit messy, imho.

yesterday's version:



latest version with all your c+c in mind:

Offline philipptr

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Re: aircraft ('hi, i'm new here'-topic)

Reply #9 on: March 25, 2007, 01:48:17 pm
Great piece! The only thing that seems strange to me is that in the new version the reflection of the flames is a bit extreme. All other edits you've made work very well on this piece. Nice work :)

Offline Helm

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Re: aircraft ('hi, i'm new here'-topic)

Reply #10 on: March 25, 2007, 01:48:40 pm


I think these shines would help explain the volumetrics of the plane, seeing as it is in open daylight and the heavy right bias to the lightsource doesn't make much sense, but also it makes especially the hull of the ship look as if it's a bit 'gradiented'. However, the shines I added outline a problem with the main hull and jet engines in relation to the wings.. they seem to have a bit of a mismatched perspective. I didn't edit to that extend because it would mean extensive reworking. In fact, my shined edge on the beak of the ship accentuated the problem that was 'hidden in the shadows' before, sadly. Perhaps setting up a rudimentary 3d model beforehand of pixelling would help, if you've got the faculties for that.

I added the yellow tint to the actual exhausts that emmit the flames, I thought it would be strongest there than on the reflections in other places.

I defatted the black line on the far wing, again a matter of preference, I think it looks better thusly, personally.

Fixed a really small nitpick on one cloud.

I 'showed' a bit more of the far turbine since given the volume and angle of the hull, I don't think it could be obstructed as much as it was.

This is really nice, I think if you adress small points such as these you can get it to be as good as it can be, without major reconfiguration of perspective.

Offline mirage

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Re: aircraft ('hi, i'm new here'-topic)

Reply #11 on: March 25, 2007, 03:38:29 pm
Fixed the perspective:



I didn't use all your edits... Personally i thought it was a bit over the top, but i liked the backlight on the nose-part

Current version:



Also broke up the clouds a little bit more with some hue-dithering and softened the transition between the blue en pink in the top left corner

I'm happy with it now

Offline JJ Naas

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Re: aircraft ('hi, i'm new here'-topic)

Reply #12 on: March 25, 2007, 04:45:25 pm
Awesomeness! I totally dig the thick black lines in the original version.. oh well. About the clouds below... I'd like to see more conformity in the shadows they cast to have a better idea of how far from the ground they are. What's the main light source? If the ship is flying on top of the clouds, shouldn't it be bathing in sunlight? Seems still rather cloudy on top of this layer of clouds.. Still, it looks great as it is.

Offline Helm

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Re: aircraft ('hi, i'm new here'-topic)

Reply #13 on: March 25, 2007, 10:31:16 pm
I think you're right to be happy with it, it looks quite excellent, and I can't find much fault with it. The perspective fix was intuitive, nice job alaround! Welcome to pixelation again. Stay a while, stay forever.