Joraks Experiments [WIP]

[Jorak Uln 458]

Here are some further tinkerings with the newest animations - by the way, its not vanilla Manaan that your seeing in the background - its a "fake" cubemap, simply a normal tga that i gave a CM spelling but no txi.

 

Also the wall behind is changed in the last vid:

 

animation ME4.2:

 

 

animation AQUARIUM:

 

[Mutilator57 140]

I think the aquarium animation is particularly apt considering Manaan is a water world! In any event, great work as usual

[Kexikus 994]

The aquarium animation is pretty cool. I would however remove the effect of it disappearing and reappearing. That effect just makes it too obvious again that it's a repeating texture.

 

I think that going for animations that look like stylized versions of water stuff works best here. They can hide the repetition of the texture quite well and make totally sense to be on Manaan.

 

You have two walls in the hotel with possibly different animations, right?

Maybe you could use the aquarium (without the effect I mentioned above) for the large one and the first animation from a few posts earlier for the small one. You could also try and make the latter look a little more like bubbles rising in water to fit the theme of the aquarium animation.

[Jorak Uln 458]

The aquarium animation is pretty cool. I would however remove the effect of it disappearing and reappearing. That effect just makes it too obvious again that it's a repeating texture.

 

I think that going for animations that look like stylized versions of water stuff works best here. They can hide the repetition of the texture quite well and make totally sense to be on Manaan.

 

You have two walls in the hotel with possibly different animations, right?

Maybe you could use the aquarium (without the effect I mentioned above) for the large one and the first animation from a few posts earlier for the small one. You could also try and make the latter look a little more like bubbles rising in water to fit the theme of the aquarium animation.

 

Thanks for the input - but i hope you guys realize that this is the most important part of the animation:

 

 

 

in vanilla Kotor there are no windows at all:

 

 

so as you see in the hotel are only solid walls - my idea in contrary was to simulate the sea of Manaan on sth. like a big screen -> the rain on the windows is an illusion as well;

thats the reason why i chose the aquarium that slowly faded into the windows.

 

 

The inspiration came from the ME andromeda trailer, but obviously there the transition between tech equalizers etc. to the planet showcase is much more smooth.

 

In short, i dont have to chose the aquarium animation, it can also be anything else, but  the most important thing is that the transition between windows/ tech animation is looking good -

basically that you see its an illusion created on a big computer screen.

 

It was very difficult to create especially the windows part, -which is final now -  so im open to any ideas you can give me on the transition (aquarium etc.)! 

[Kexikus 994]

so as you see in the hotel are only solid walls - my idea in contrary was to simulate the sea of Manaan on sth. like a big screen -> the rain on the windows is an illusion as well;

thats the reason why i chose the aquarium that slowly faded into the windows.

 

 

The inspiration came from the ME andromeda trailer, but obviously there the transition between tech equalizers etc. to the planet showcase is much more smooth.

 

In short, i dont have to chose the aquarium animation, it can also be anything else, but  the most important thing is that the transition between windows/ tech animation is looking good -

basically that you see its an illusion created on a big computer screen.

 

It was very difficult to create especially the windows part, -which is final now -  so im open to any ideas you can give me on the transition (aquarium etc.)! 

 

I get what you mean (and I saw the cubemap before^^), but I still don't think that the transition from aquarium (or whatever) to nothing is a good idea.

If you go with the aquarium animation maybe you could make it look like these are windows and the fish are hologramms projected onto those windows. Maybe give the glass a slight blue touch and have only the fish/bubbles/whatever on it so that you can still see "through" it.

However, I think that rain is not really a good idea, as there is no sign of rain at all when you go into the open areas of Manaan.

 

You could also try and use the windows as one big screen with an underwater scene shown on it, though I'm not sure if that's possible with a cubemap. Windows and city behind them might work better then.

 

Is it possible to animate the cubemap you used as background there?

[Rinku 22]

Maybe you could do something like in AotC when Padme is sleeping in her room on Coruscant (can't find a video at the moment). It was essentially a horizontal and vertical light line that alternated across the window

[Jorak Uln 458]

I get what you mean (and I saw the cubemap before^^), but I still don't think that the transition from aquarium (or whatever) to nothing is a good idea.

If you go with the aquarium animation maybe you could make it look like these are windows and the fish are hologramms projected onto those windows. Maybe give the glass a slight blue touch and have only the fish/bubbles/whatever on it so that you can still see "through" it.

However, I think that rain is not really a good idea, as there is no sign of rain at all when you go into the open areas of Manaan.

 

You could also try and use the windows as one big screen with an underwater scene shown on it, though I'm not sure if that's possible with a cubemap. Windows and city behind them might work better then.

 

Is it possible to animate the cubemap you used as background there?

I tried to animate the "cubemap" but since its not really a cubemap (no cube 1 in txi) its not possible unfortunately.

About the rain - well why not?

Its a computer screen, not real-time, and could be a lava planet as well

Seriously i think the Manaan/rain/windows motive might be a better choice than underwater, look at it in a sense of a weather forecast, still the transition has to match that.

 

@Rinku:

Remember they are not real windows, so there should be more holographic elements than realistic ones...

[LiliArch 115]

Having a lava planet viewed at Manaan hotel windows would look really odd indeed.

 

And I, for some reason, like the Mass Effect style more. Don't ask me why.

[Jorak Uln 458]

Having a lava planet viewed at Manaan hotel windows would look really odd indeed.

 

And I, for some reason, like the Mass Effect style more. Don't ask me why.

Why?

 

maybe you guys should take a look at the Mass Effect original here:

 

 

 

as you see it somehow looks more "tech"

[Kexikus 994]

I tried to animate the "cubemap" but since its not really a cubemap (no cube 1 in txi) its not possible unfortunately.

About the rain - well why not?

Its a computer screen, not real-time, and could be a lava planet as well

Seriously i think the Manaan/rain/windows motive might be a better choice than underwater, look at it in a sense of a weather forecast, still the transition has to match that.

 

@Rinku:

Remember they are not real windows, so there should be more holographic elements than realistic ones...

 

Oh, I thought you wanted to simulate real windows^^

For a screen you can do whatever you want of course. I'd still try something like a stylized ocean. Maybe something like this: http://i.imgur.com/sFB04HF.jpg (Animus from AC IV: Black Flag). Would be cooler if you could animate it but might still look cool.

[Malkior 476]

Considering the Selkath come from the sea, and that they are basically allowing the Republic and Sith to stay in their capital city, I would think the motif would be designed to remind them of the ocean (Thus the underwater or aquarium makes a lot of sense) Rain wouldn't make sense unless it rained only when you were indoors and then ceased when you want outside; which would be kind of wacky..

[Jorak Uln 458]

Considering the Selkath come from the sea, and that they are basically allowing the Republic and Sith to stay in their capital city, I would think the motif would be designed to remind them of the ocean (Thus the underwater or aquarium makes a lot of sense) Rain wouldn't make sense unless it rained only when you were indoors and then ceased when you want outside; which would be kind of wacky..

To clarify is not a window. My intention is an animated screen that simulates a rainy sea on manaan. (and yeah - an aquarium...)

 

Ive added a loading UI to make it more techy - so check it out in Update 3.0 which is online now - and dont forget to give me some feedback.

[Rinku 22]

@Rinku:

Remember they are not real windows, so there should be more holographic elements than realistic ones...

 

 

I totally misunderstood xD Hmmmm maybe then you should alternate some human world pics. I'd imagine the Selkath would want to try having a "calming" atmosphere for the off-worlders to try to reduce the hassle of dealing with everyone.

[Kexikus 994]

Version 3.0 feedback incoming

 

The color changing animation in the swoop registration looks awesome. So does the new hotel sign, even though the text doesn't make sense in my eyes xD

 

I also like the aquarium animation but I still think it'd be better if it wouldn't blend out. My suggestion would be to use the part where the fish are not seen as background but give it a slight blue touch and then have fish swim on top of that all the time. And as a background cubemap I would then go for something that gives the impression of an underwater scene.

Then I'd also replace the animated lights on the second hotel wall, probably with either the animation from the swoop registration but in green-blue or with rising bubbles. And finally I'd try switching the two textures to have the "aquarium" on the short wall and the bubbles/whatever on the longer wall.

 

And finally, there are two textures I noted that are not updated with your pack. I guess that's because they are placeables used on several planets and I might even have mentioned them before but I thought I'd let you know (again^^): There is a food vendor in the hangar area and the food presentation is not updated. And then there are the desks used in the Republic embassy that also still have their vanilla textures (I think).

[Jorak Uln 458]

@Kexikus:

 

thanks for the feedback; i think for now ill leave Manaan how it is, also because i cant do it any better atm; maybe ive some fresh ideas later....

 

the PLC files might be included in a separate pack - have to find out how to make them occur locally - but thats also sth. for later

 

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in the meantime, here some screens from Dantooine tell me what you think:

 

 

v1 tall grass, dark rocks:

 

 

 

 

v2 diversified, shorter grass, brighter rocks

 

 

 

V3 diversified, full grass

 

 

 

[milestails 264]

Looking forward to your Dantooine release!

 

Any reason why you changed the scenery to green instead of keeping it as brown?

[Mr Ardvark 14]

V1 is looking pretty sharp!

 

Unrelated Question: Would there be any side effects to putting all of your textures in one folder and installing them all at once via XN View?

[Jorak Uln 458]

V1 is looking pretty sharp!

 

Unrelated Question: Would there be any side effects to putting all of your textures in one folder and installing them all at once via XN View?

no. You can absolutely do that. (=first all txi, then the rest). The XnView install is only for getting the animations right.

[Sithspecter 909]

I think the version 1 looks better. I'm looking forward to playing with all of these. I'm especially looking forward to a Taris mod.

[Kexikus 994]

I also prefer version 1. One issue I have with it though is that the ground texture has a different color than the grass making it pretty obvious that there is no "3d" grass in the distance. I'm also not a big fan of the brown rocks in the second picture, they just feel out of place to me.

Other than that it looks amazing already

 

And one more question: Will there be an autumn version with colors closer to vanilla? (I would probably not use it but I was wondering^^)

[ChrisC26 12]

I like V1 as well.  Especially the dark rocks.

[Constar 23]

V1 is the best fitting one in my opinion, too!

[LiliArch 115]

V1 looks best for me, too. And also, as a sidenote: That grass looks pretty awesome!

[Rinku 22]

Definitely version 1! And I agree with @Kexikus about the ground texture color.

[Sith Holocron 2,471]

Version 1 is better than version 2, IMHO.