ZylonBane on 12/3/2011 at 21:29

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So I finally got around to doing a proper side-by-side review of the cutscene remake. Here are my thoughts--

First, it's amazingly well-done. Commercial quality for sure. Ironically, the only complaints I have with are really simple things--

The text layout. Here's the before-and-after of Goggles' assignment email:

http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/6142/cutscene1b.jpg

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/9630/cutscene1a.jpg

Good overall, but the text on the second-to-last line is way too crowded, and there's a bit too much glow IMHO (especially considering the original has no glow at all).

Here's the "5 months later" title card before-and-after:

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/4932/cutscene2b.jpg

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/7599/cutscene2a.jpg

No idea what exactly happened here, but the white text is clearly blown out and hard to read.

The security screens. There's a blank grey frame in there as they're cycling. Also, the font used on the not-in-game security screens doesn't match the in-game ones. When I was creating the SHEMP versions, I used Arial as it seemed to most closely match what they'd used in the original video.

The stasis pod status screen. The original video does a great zoomed-in dramatic pan across this screen, focusing first on the years ticking down, then showing "ERROR" just as it reaches the top. The remade video pans in the opposite direction, from the opposite angle, and barely zooms in at all. Considering this bit is just camera movement, there's no excuse not to reproduce it perfectly.

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/7148/cutscene3b.jpg

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/9758/cutscene3a.jpg

That's some serious atomic glow on the ERROR there, too.

The Goggles model. Any way to fix his splayed fingers? They're really distracting to the point of laughable. Also, could his hairline be nudged up a bit? Currently it's almost touching his eyebrows. Heck, if the Goggles Q. Nerdlinger bowl haircut could be replaced with a more typical Marine buzzcut, that would be even better.

(http://img220.imageshack.us/i/nerdlinger.jpg/) http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/1658/nerdlinger.jpg

The end of the video. That five seconds of black nothing at the end of the video should be trimmed off.

So Muzman, if you're up for cranking out another revision, I'd be more than happy to generate the various text plates for you. I've even come up with a new better version of the pod screen, based on a more thorough analysis of the original cutscene.

Attempting to reconstruct the original pod screen texture from the video was a pain in the ass due to the perspective distortion, so this is the best I was able to cobble up:

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8201/podscreenvideo.jpg

Fortunately, this was good enough to help refine my previous SHTUP effort into this:

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/3856/podscreen.png

The only intentional change I made was to the "302AA2" text. Since the first few characters of this are never shown and hence unrecoverable, I just changed this to the Soldier's ID number. Fortunately it had exactly the same number of characters as the original text.

I also finally managed to track down the font used on this screen. I used to think it was Andale Mono, but turns out it's actually Letter Gothic Standard (the giveaway is the sharp point on the "A"s).

Muzman on 17/3/2011 at 14:53

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Cheers for taking the time. I'll just mention the reasoning behind some of this, where it exists, quickly since it might be worth wider discussion in some places. (Cue picket fence quote barrage)



Yeah it does crowd a bit there. That can probably be dealt with. I think glow helps in principle. I'll try toning it down a little more.


I don't think it's blown out. It's just fatter and true white. I'd say the original was true white too, but the compression has made it soft and uneven. Slimming it down, at least, will probably help.



The cycle of the screens on that angle is sort of a half way compromise between the random way they behave in the early cutscene and the regular way the game ones cycle. The cutscene security clips blank out ocassionally too and this way the in-engine ones match the lighting on his face (which was about as controlled as dromed would allow). I think it works well.
The text readout is different though. I think I used one of the Squares for some reason. It wouldn't be hard to alter.


Tricky one. The original segment is almost certainly just a text animation that the camera passes over. It was never in the game engine at all. I've always felt that it lacked context for just which readout this is. So I was trying to give it some. As such, just moving up in a similar shot isn't going to work. But going up on the readout itself is a bit more interesting, particularly if closer in. Maybe some combination of the two would work


Yeah there's a few quirks to that model. I don't think fixing the fingers is really on the cards at this point though.

Interestingly Goggles is actually wearing a Navy beanie type thing, hence the position on his forehead. It's the same in the orignal skin and you can see the texture and the fold pretty well on close examination, so I stuck with it. It's not all that obvious in the game or videos though.


That's the time it takes from the picture fading out until the audio fades out completely. It's the same in original. I think it's there so the jump into the game isn't quite so sudden after being bombarded with info.


Cheers. I'll just adjust the one I've got with that refence and see how that goes first. The font tip helps already. Most of the existing one was made with Lucidia Console, for instance. But thanks all the same.

I'm not sure exactly when I'll do this stuff. I should probably get the next one futher along first. But much of it is worth trying all the same.

scarletguard on 25/3/2011 at 06:19

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This thread was the main reason I signed up here, Muzman. I wish you the best of luck with your cut-scene project. I look forward to viewing your completed videos with great anticipation.

Now that I finally acquired SS2, it's time to play it. I'll be checking back from time to time though.

Muzman on 3/4/2011 at 07:28

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Thanks guys. I really do need to get back to it.

I haven't stuck any on youtube mostly because it's really meant to be used with the mods. The originals are up there and preserved for all to see. It's not as important that happens with these. But I might do it eventually.