Friday 25 June 2010

New character workshop - first glimpse

I promised you a look at the new character shop as soon as I got something from the team in Cambridge. I found this waiting for me when I got up this morning, so here you go. I haven't even had breakfast yet!

Moviestorm Dave

Note: This is still work in progress and quite rough in places, so you'll see some broken icons on these shots. There's also a noticeable neck seam on these characters: Dave's fixed this, but the new neck code hasn't been integrated with the character workshop code yet. However, this will give you an idea of what the new face creator and character workshop will look like, and how much more you'll be able to do with Moviestorm 1.3.1 compared to the current version.

These don't show the more extreme characters we can do - this is just to illustrate the user interface and the range of controls. See shots of the new heads here!

First off, we've replaced the old grey background with a dressing room. The set isn't final, but already it feels much more friendly and fun to use. You also get a sense of what these characters will look like in context, which makes an enormous difference.


Now, this is the bit most of you have been waiting for. Check out the new face morph controls. (Click on the images to see them full size.) You get a huge array of sliders to play with, allowing you to control:
  • Ethnicity - this allows you to mix between different basic ethnic head shapes
  • Head Variant - several different face shapes
  • Nose shape & size
  • Ear shape and size
  • Mouth shape
  • Lip shape
  • Eyebrows shape & size
  • Eye depth, size and shape
  • Eyelashes






Let's take a closer look at the eyebrows, and see the range of variants available. Twelve different shapes, all of which can be tinted.


Next there's the new make-up. Add a design and colour it. We'll have some more conventional make-up, of course, but we can also do some more extreme things.


So there you go.

Now, where's my coffee and a cinnamon bun?

8 comments:

Matt Kelland said...

Edit - added link to shots of new characters at http://moviestorm.blogspot.com/2010/06/and-now-for-new-heads.html

Will Shetterly said...

So awesome!

The dressing room is a great idea, but I suggest boring beige walls so moviestormers won't be distracted by background colors when designing actors.

Will Shetterly said...

And, uh, am I seeing a mirror there?

johnnie said...

No, sorry Will - it is a mirror but it's a clever tricsky fake. Real reflection is a long way off yet, sad to say (for reasons of processor requirements as much as technical complexity).

Unknown said...

Matt, I feel like buying you a truckload of coffee and cinnamon buns! That looks absolutely incredible. I love the set in the background, very vibrant and exciting without being overbearing. It does indeed give the character context. It's all very sims-like, but much more interesting IMO

Matt Kelland said...

Thanks, Armanus, but it's the guys in Cambridge who deserve the coffee & buns. I just pass along the good news.

Walvince said...

Brilliant ! That's as good as we expected it :)

neut said...

yes yes and more yes, this has been a long time coming, can't wait for this, fantastic work guys.

neut