FE Animondays - Breathing Life into our Paintings

Making the Mini-Cutscenes of Fallen Enchantress

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-PDlxZRpMY&feature=channel_video_title
from Elemental Forums

Ages ago (or, at least, what FEELS like ages ago) when we were nailing down the art style for Elemental, one of the key factors was creating a world where the cutscenes weren't in glaring opposition to the in-game graphics.

This was around the same time that Fable 2 was released, where a beautiful pre-rendered intro felt (IMHO) fairly out of place in comparison to the mid-game cutscenes (which were beautiful in their own right). It was that realization - that paintings brought to life can be as appealing as their 3d counterparts - that helped fuel the artistic style of the game.

Unfortunately, the dream of these moving paintings weaving a tale as you play the game was never realized in WoM. We got as far as the 'wedding' cutscene and the 'you killed a dude' cutscene before needing to shift the focus onto other things. In FE we want to revisit that idea and have mini-cutscenes that underscore major points in your adventures.




This is a painting done for "The Bilge" wildlands cutscene, a vast swampland dotted with the ruins of a former kingdom, now overrun with trolls and spiders who protect treasures of the dead.

There are several bits of this image that beg to be animated, for which we use a program called Anime Studio Pro. It allows us to take a 2d image and attach bones to it, letting us animate much like we do in 3d.




Once all those vines are animated, and the rest of the scene is put together in After Effects, we do a simple flythrough to get the first of our mini-cutscenes.


Sorry - no Blood or fantasy Violence in this video. We'll try and do better next time :(


Also, since mini-cutscenes are total polish and very data driven, we can keep adding more and more right up until gold (if the budget and time allows) . By bringing our paintings to life and really punctuating those key points in your adventure, we also breathe some extra life into FE itself.

132,608 views 37 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

first

 

I like it, although I couldn't see the pictures, only the video.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Is that a troll I see in the video?

I must say, great that the moving paintings are back and kicking! I realy liked those little bits, it made the world come alive.

Go Boogie!

 

P.S. I get a 404 error for the pictures, not sure if it's just me.

Edit: The pictures are now visable and I didn't see a troll it was just a statue. :(

Start11 - Customize the Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 10/11.
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

OK, images moved...let me know if they show up now :)

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Great. I love the whole artwork in WoM. That will not change with FE. The idea of these moving paintings is fantastic. Really, really love it (and can´t wait to see more). 

Sorry - no Blood or fantasy Violence in this video. We'll try and do better next time :(
End of quote

 

hahaha......I started to remind you as i saw your statement.Allright, maybe next time. ;) :D

 

 

 

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

This has got to be the best and most economic way of illustrating this kind of game on this kind of budget. Even if you could do 3d cut scenes i think you'd lose something of the stylised look to the game. If you've got the art, flaunt it, I say.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

There are some really talented artists at Stardock. I just wish you'd stop with the black outline. :<

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

I like it, makes the game seem dark and foreboding. :omg:

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

is there any chance that i see MY sovereign on the cutscene instead of a generic one?

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting PanicWave, reply 8
is there any chance that i see MY sovereign on the cutscene instead of a generic one?
End of PanicWave's quote
Our Tech isn't quite there yet, but eventually that's what we want....maybe Expansion 2 :)

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

Beautiful stuff.

 

I can see what you mean about Fable 2. There is something to be said about consistency.

 

You make the artwork really come alive It sets a mood and leaves a wonderful impression.

Seriously, you are on to something here. :)

Hope the music that accompanies it is as good as the artwork.

 

 

 

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

Hope the music that accompanies it is as good as the artwork.
End of quote

Jepp, with some suitable music here, you can feel fantasy violence will going on stumbling in these wildlands.  :grin:

Reply #12 from Elemental Forums Top

I'll have to remember that piece of software, I naturally assumed you guys just chopped it all together in maya.

Reply #13 from Elemental Forums Top

The video looks great. Nice work!

Reply #14 from Elemental Forums Top

Looks gorgeous. I've always really liked the art style of Elemental; it has a very dark fairy-tail like quality. Not sure if that's what your going for, but it works. 

Reply #15 from Demigod Forums Top

The 2D art is Elemental's best strength. Please don't horribly compress them or make them tiny resolution.

 

:fox:

Reply #16 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting BoogieBac, reply 9

Quoting PanicWave, reply 8is there any chance that i see MY sovereign on the cutscene instead of a generic one? Our Tech isn't quite there yet, but eventually that's what we want....maybe Expansion 2
End of BoogieBac's quote

 

Its good news. Keep up with the great work!

Reply #17 from Elemental Forums Top

Never heard of Anime Studio Pro,but there is Puppet tool in AE that can do similar thing...since i like to stay in one program if possible,am curious,is Anime Studio Pro so much better for this kind of animations ? If yes,can you,please name me some advantages.Thanks

Reply #18 from Elemental Forums Top

Heavenfall & igoraki: What's nice about Anime Studio is that it allows for a full IK skeleton to be made over a 2d image (rastor OR vector)...something I haven't seen replicated in any other program (AE's Puppet tool is FK only, so it's jsut a bit more clunky than Anime Studio's system).

I can post a quick tutroial vid if you guys ever want to see how it all works...it blew my mind the first time I saw it in action.

Reply #19 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting BoogieBac, reply 18
I can post a quick tutroial vid if you guys ever want to see how it all works...it blew my mind the first time I saw it in action.
End of BoogieBac's quote
Please/

Reply #20 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting BoogieBac, reply 18


I can post a quick tutroial vid if you guys ever want to see how it all works...it blew my mind the first time I saw it in action.
End of BoogieBac's quote

 

I think this software (after effects) came bundled with the CS5 package I have at work. I've never even opened it but if you did a vid tutorial, I would try it out :).

Reply #21 from Elemental Forums Top

Not for me, I like exploring new software!

Reply #22 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting BoogieBac, reply 9


Our Tech isn't quite there yet, but eventually that's what we want....maybe Expansion 2

End of BoogieBac's quote

Would you be able to use it in conjunction with the ingame models? Say having three layers background, character/object and foreground (where the scene would be the bilge, with the character snapshot from their unit card or a directed pose, and the vines in the foreground.  Like a small stage performance or similar to how layering is done to give depth in a sidescrolling game.  

Reply #23 from Elemental Forums Top

Damn, I lost my post. Here is the telegraphic version

2D artwork good, 3D art bad. Me old school gamer, prefer 2D games. More 2D art in elemental will look better. Impressive to animate 2D painting.

Reply #24 from Stardock Forums Top

Looks fantastic!

Reply #25 from Elemental Forums Top

Any chance we will see a memory lane cutscene(s) consisting of scenes from our playthrough in animated picture book style?  Possibly with a narrator?  Cutscenes always build more rappot when the player directly identifies with them.