AuthorTopic: [WIP] Shiny robots  (Read 9144 times)

Offline Souly

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Re: [WIP] Shiny robots

Reply #10 on: July 26, 2009, 03:08:53 am
I disagree with Souly. It's not really consistent with the already established lighting and it is by no means an outline, it's rim lighting.

COUNTEREDIT.

Touché  :ouch:
I just had done a quick edit to maybe try and give him an idea for how to go about it.
Was just a sloppy attempt to break the black outline, an obviously bad attempt at that.
I actually had noticed I didn't even go with the lighting had edited my post...

Lendrick; That's looking awesome.
Just an idea for the legs, I know you may have wanted 1 pixel thin legs, but to be frank they are still sticking out like a sore thumb.  :y: :yell:

I see Atnas did a similar thing by adding an outline on the legs.


Just editing Lendrick's edit.. cause well it's shiny.
Though Atnas' legs are way better AA'd, this is just if perhaps you want to spread the black outline.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2009, 03:11:43 am by Souly »

Offline st0ven

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Re: [WIP] Shiny robots

Reply #11 on: July 26, 2009, 07:45:46 am
i think inserting your sprite into the proper environment in question would really help solve a lot of the heresay issues pretty quickly.

Your metal objects are going to reflect a lot of light within its environment. Shading metal outside of that environment is a bit of an exercise in futility because of metals' inherent properties (assuming that its not a chromed or otherwise painted/treated surface).

I made a little edit throwing the test sprite into a mars like environment to show the difference of what i think it might look like on the surface, using your sprite as a base to edit (i sure hope you dont mind).



now this may not be applicable if by 'mars' you mean like some underground factory in which the lighting is wholly ambiguous based upon whatever lighting is happening in the subterranean structure for example. (great thing about palette graphics is that you can swap its palette depending on its environment so that it can sort of morph to appear that its fitting properly in its environment).

I would also like to second the proposition to widen the legs to at least two pixels as i think that all semblance of form is lost at 1 px width. your shading will look potentially confusing against some background situations otherwise.

hope this is in the slightest helpful.

Offline EkbatDeSebat

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Re: [WIP] Shiny robots

Reply #12 on: July 26, 2009, 11:57:07 am
@stOven: I think you're right! That background really does help me make some choices; thanx!  ;D

And about the legs: I think you guys are right about adding 1 pixel to them. I can already forsee some difficulties right now, so 2 pixels it is!

(just a sidenote: I really really really appreciate your comments & edits! It's helping along so well, I kinda miss this kind of feedback with my regular job. Thanx again!  :crazy:)

Offline boyo1991

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Re: [WIP] Shiny robots

Reply #13 on: July 26, 2009, 04:27:51 pm
kewlio, i like :D

Offline EkbatDeSebat

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Re: [WIP] Shiny robots

Reply #14 on: July 27, 2009, 01:42:31 pm
Ok guys,

here's a little update on the shiny metal: First of, I decided to keep most of the outlines in 1 color, except with the antennas and spiny legs.
I found that a colored outline on the main bodies of the robots made their form less solid. With the antennas and legs it's OK, because it really conveys the feeling that they are much thinner and more fragile than the rest. But I didn't want this same feel of the metal material for the rest. Hence the outline.
The extra higlight (= rimlight?) on the right helps the metal stand out more as being metal, I think.

Then again, I might change my mind tomorrow and go with the highlight version Lendrick proposed. I've been staring at this a bit too long now. It does accentuate the dark outline, so Atnas is probably gonna spank me for that one  :-[

Note: the background by st0ven is just a placeholder environment, so don't worry about that one. I love the colors though!
Note 2: you can also see I'm working on some spaceships in a similar style. Thing is: with the shapes being so very basic and smooth, making a convincing shiny metal surface just with a few colors is a bit tedious for me. The ships have huge dark reflections. I figured: Even though they are in the same screen, actually they're in low orbit, so they should have some dark bands, reflecting space and all. I'm curious what you guys think of that.

So far... C&C is more than welcome!

Offline Atnas

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Re: [WIP] Shiny robots

Reply #15 on: July 27, 2009, 02:40:57 pm
Quote
so Atnas is probably gonna spank me for that one

o3o

dark outline looks fine in context.

Glad to see the values pushed.

This is coming along nicely.

You may desire to shift the vertical highlight more towards the middle of the groundbots à la stoven.

The current light along the left is not betraying their round nature.

carry on

Offline Dr D

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Re: [WIP] Shiny robots

Reply #16 on: July 27, 2009, 10:18:42 pm
On the largest robot/ship, is there a ridge along the spherical portion that we can't see? Because regular spheres shouldn't have highlights on their edges, because.. they have no edges. It's a 2D picture, but when you're trying to fake 3D form, it's necessary to think outside of what you are trying to create. Imagine it from all views, does it make sense?

If there is a ridge there, like there is in the middle, then just ignore that.

Also, there's quite some banding mainly around the highlights and midtones of your robots. (not o much the first/largest one though)

Offline EkbatDeSebat

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Re: [WIP] Shiny robots

Reply #17 on: July 27, 2009, 10:49:23 pm
hi Dr D,

yeah, you're right about that highlighted ridge: there isn't anything there. It's just smooth, so I guess I'll need to fix that.


And I'm also going to adjust the second highlights on the small robots. That should take care of the banding as well :) Thanx!

Offline Ddawg

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Re: [WIP] Shiny robots

Reply #18 on: July 28, 2009, 12:20:11 am
I really like the biggest ship. But the ship on the right's wings look a little weird. Consider fixing that up.
Also I noticed; All the robots 'Eyes' are all on the right. That looks weird, too. Move them each around a little bit.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2009, 03:38:11 pm by CommanderD »
I don\'t want to be a bad boy like I was in the *gulp* past...Please be patient with me.

Offline EkbatDeSebat

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Re: [WIP] Shiny robots

Reply #19 on: July 30, 2009, 10:43:59 pm


Ok, small update: colors have been shifted slightly, so they fit better in the martian environment.
I've mostly been fiddeling with the secondary highlight, trying to get it right.
Batch 1 is basically the same as my previous update, but with a more subtle highlight on the robots' bellies, with the light source set a bit lower to the ground.
In batches 2 and 3 this highlight has been shifted more towards the viewer, but I couldn't really decide on it's size. I think in batch 2 the vertical stripe of the highlight breaks up the geometry of the robots' bellies a bit. Maybe a bit too much.
So I made batch 3.

What do you think?