Good to see you're still working on stuff, Delphinium. I have two suggestions for you on your latest images. The smoke for the shuttle could use a very small depth biased alpha (called Depth Blend Falloff) I think. This will cause the particle billboards to fade a little bit when they collide with a mesh, like the control tower and launch tower, and prevent that clipping appearance that looks really sharp. The zealot looks really cool, though I feel like his attack animation could use more smooth of a wind up before he starts swinging.
Those look really cool. Do you have a place where I can download them all as one file? I don't really want to have to go through every page one by one. I would love it more, though, if you didn't mind sharing the actual source files as well (the max files). I like to touch things up before putting them into my campaign. Particles and such. That way I could also give you more specific feedback, such as on the volumes and such things. Either way, they look pretty solid just judging by the screenshots.
I am working on two extremely large projects, one of which is my own and is private. I wouldn't say mapster was ever really alive, though. Not compared to the communities I was a part of during 2001-2014. But that's a big, complicated subject.
The idea is to have a reflection filter. You can even record in a closet with alot of clothes.
To expand on this -
The materials in your recording environment are extremely important. Even my most casual viewers noticed a huge difference when I moved in my mic quality, and it was entirely from the environment. In my previous environment, the closet beside me pronounced reverb due to the finish on it. There was a window in front of me with, at best, closed blinds. They're plastic, a very flat, reflective sort of surface. Behind me was a bathroom and a fairly open room. Like throwing a sausage into an empty water tank.
Although my new room is much larger, the carpet is thicker, the ceiling is using panels typical of an office setting which absorb echo to an extent, and there are thick, rolling cloth curtains behind me. I also disrupted the environment to either sides with soft, angular surfaces to "trap" audio waves and piled boxes in angles behind me to disrupt bouncing lard. I studied a bit of acoustic/studio stuff shortly before we moved, so I tried to place my desk in a manner which prohibited immediate audio bouncing and not just anywhere. I did not expect the difference to be that big, but it was. Same hardware, same settings, totally different quality. Especially when you use something like a compressor that tends to jack up those ambient reverb tails.
Nonetheless, for around $200 CAD, I was able to get a heavy duty stand and an isolation shield that could fit to my Blue Yeti. The results for those samples were extremely clear despite the entire setup only being about $420 or so CAD (blaze it).
Compressors with a very strong effect on low volumes can still pick up even trace reverb, as seen in this sample (though note it's a different mic than the other sample). This super-strong compressor is used for my video projects to level out the mic and game audio since I work with merged streams, which is a nightmare for balancing volumes. Background audio gets picked up really easily by it, and noise removal filters would dramatically impact overall quality, so the environment must be as noise-free as possible.
Back in Warcraft 3's youthful days, some of the bigger campaigns came to me for remastering. The kind of things they handed me were probably illegal in certain states. Audio quality that you could feel rotting your kidneys. I was actually pretty successful in cleaning them, but there's a few things you should understand about noise removal and the costs it has. That I got a workable result was a miracle, but "workable" was, in my eyes, "bearable to listen to" and no one should settle for that today. That it got to the stage it needed remastering meant it was doomed for mediocre results from the start, and that's no good m8. Noise removal impacts the sample because it targets information your voice also contains. Focus on environment, then posture, then worry about editing after you have an acceptable result to edit. And, of course, less is more. Take it easy on effects. Experiment with them as individuals and learn how they can contribute to each other before vomiting into a big heap.
I won't even get into the whole acting thing, I could be here for weeks if I do. All I can really summarize there is - acting makes most people, including the vast majority of people who post samples on this forum, uncomfortable. They may not even realize it, but their voice exudes it. I could go on about how to embrace your character and blah blah but you probably get all that. I could tell you "practice!!" but you probably get that. I think the most useful thing I could encourage you to do is first get accustomed to the sound of your own voice. Out of all of the people I've tutored probably 90% of them told me they don't like the sound of their own voice and this was their first roadblock to overcome. Following that, speak lengthy dialogue. Cite audiobook passages and then actual dialogue with inflection. Work on longer pieces so you understand the value of intonation in shorter pieces. Becoming a caster and reviewer tremendously improved my voice acting and at that point I already had over 15 years experience in it. Issue was I hated my voice and had zero social interaction outside of the internet, so my general voice was underdeveloped. Learning my voice, becoming comfortable with it, and then working with it allowed me to control it in ways I never thought possible previous.
And something a bit unrelated, does wc3 support alpha masking? I'm looking at using Neodex to convert a large number of assets to the Warcraft 3 format, but my experience with wc3 is limited to mdlvis and War3modeleditor back in like, 2009ish.
Yeah, the old one is effect heavy, but also the mic quality really held it back (dat static). The main issue with the new one is the reverb sounds more echoey than it should, I think, and its volume is high enough that it sort of meshes into the voice and overcomes it at points. Depending what you are using, you may wish to lower the Wet (effect volume level) by about 15-20% and see if the mix sounds a bit more clean.
Starting minimalist (just with the reverb) is a good way to start, because it will help you analyze the kind of readability impact further effects will have.
This further raises the question: Is there any future for game companies of any kind, if their content is valued so low, and the value people get out of them is their platform and tools, not the initial content offering?
I think in even the worst case scenario there will always be game companies, because groups who build content eventually form into communities that create companies. A company is just a belt buckle holding in a tub of wishy washy lard. However, what you speak of already exists in the form of many middleware companies whose sole purpose is to take the responsibility of developing a game out of the hands of the developer (Havok is a basic example, but there are many companies straight up making assets for developers like Blizzard). Also see: Turbosquid, UE4/Unity marketplace, etc. Of course, there's the engines themselves as well. In a way, Steam itself also fits into this role, because it is middleware in several respects.
Edit: Also, given what we have seen, I think we can safely conclude RTS are dead. It seems the very genre preclude anyone from ever making one again, of note.
Agree 100%. I feel like it's been that way for a very long time.
I have released an incomplete video I was producing earlier in the year for the sc2 art tools. As with all of my dev videos, there is no effort to censor the content or hide issues that happen with the content.
This video was originally intended to introduce an inexperienced user to the sc2 max plugin and some not so obvious pitfalls, as well as run through some basic functions of the material and particle systems. I never made the particle system portion since I wasn't experienced enough to make a tutorial on it, and I didn't cover the material portion in-depth either.
Some of the information may even be incorrect (notably I think I mixed up RGB multiply with emissive multiply in the base menu), since I did not bother to fact check anything given the video was never going to be released originally. Nonetheless, it may be useful to someone looking to break into custom graphics for sc2.
If there is enough demand I may continue the video or build a video regarding my porting pipeline, including the use of MindTex. I wouldn't mind making it, but there needs to be some people who would actually use it.
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Good to see you're still working on stuff, Delphinium. I have two suggestions for you on your latest images. The smoke for the shuttle could use a very small depth biased alpha (called Depth Blend Falloff) I think. This will cause the particle billboards to fade a little bit when they collide with a mesh, like the control tower and launch tower, and prevent that clipping appearance that looks really sharp. The zealot looks really cool, though I feel like his attack animation could use more smooth of a wind up before he starts swinging.
Looking forward to seeing your future work!
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Those look really cool. Do you have a place where I can download them all as one file? I don't really want to have to go through every page one by one. I would love it more, though, if you didn't mind sharing the actual source files as well (the max files). I like to touch things up before putting them into my campaign. Particles and such. That way I could also give you more specific feedback, such as on the volumes and such things. Either way, they look pretty solid just judging by the screenshots.
0
I am working on two extremely large projects, one of which is my own and is private. I wouldn't say mapster was ever really alive, though. Not compared to the communities I was a part of during 2001-2014. But that's a big, complicated subject.
0
To expand on this -
The materials in your recording environment are extremely important. Even my most casual viewers noticed a huge difference when I moved in my mic quality, and it was entirely from the environment. In my previous environment, the closet beside me pronounced reverb due to the finish on it. There was a window in front of me with, at best, closed blinds. They're plastic, a very flat, reflective sort of surface. Behind me was a bathroom and a fairly open room. Like throwing a sausage into an empty water tank.
Although my new room is much larger, the carpet is thicker, the ceiling is using panels typical of an office setting which absorb echo to an extent, and there are thick, rolling cloth curtains behind me. I also disrupted the environment to either sides with soft, angular surfaces to "trap" audio waves and piled boxes in angles behind me to disrupt bouncing lard. I studied a bit of acoustic/studio stuff shortly before we moved, so I tried to place my desk in a manner which prohibited immediate audio bouncing and not just anywhere. I did not expect the difference to be that big, but it was. Same hardware, same settings, totally different quality. Especially when you use something like a compressor that tends to jack up those ambient reverb tails.
Nonetheless, for around $200 CAD, I was able to get a heavy duty stand and an isolation shield that could fit to my Blue Yeti. The results for those samples were extremely clear despite the entire setup only being about $420 or so CAD (blaze it).
Compressors with a very strong effect on low volumes can still pick up even trace reverb, as seen in this sample (though note it's a different mic than the other sample). This super-strong compressor is used for my video projects to level out the mic and game audio since I work with merged streams, which is a nightmare for balancing volumes. Background audio gets picked up really easily by it, and noise removal filters would dramatically impact overall quality, so the environment must be as noise-free as possible.
Back in Warcraft 3's youthful days, some of the bigger campaigns came to me for remastering. The kind of things they handed me were probably illegal in certain states. Audio quality that you could feel rotting your kidneys. I was actually pretty successful in cleaning them, but there's a few things you should understand about noise removal and the costs it has. That I got a workable result was a miracle, but "workable" was, in my eyes, "bearable to listen to" and no one should settle for that today. That it got to the stage it needed remastering meant it was doomed for mediocre results from the start, and that's no good m8. Noise removal impacts the sample because it targets information your voice also contains. Focus on environment, then posture, then worry about editing after you have an acceptable result to edit. And, of course, less is more. Take it easy on effects. Experiment with them as individuals and learn how they can contribute to each other before vomiting into a big heap.
I won't even get into the whole acting thing, I could be here for weeks if I do. All I can really summarize there is - acting makes most people, including the vast majority of people who post samples on this forum, uncomfortable. They may not even realize it, but their voice exudes it. I could go on about how to embrace your character and blah blah but you probably get all that. I could tell you "practice!!" but you probably get that. I think the most useful thing I could encourage you to do is first get accustomed to the sound of your own voice. Out of all of the people I've tutored probably 90% of them told me they don't like the sound of their own voice and this was their first roadblock to overcome. Following that, speak lengthy dialogue. Cite audiobook passages and then actual dialogue with inflection. Work on longer pieces so you understand the value of intonation in shorter pieces. Becoming a caster and reviewer tremendously improved my voice acting and at that point I already had over 15 years experience in it. Issue was I hated my voice and had zero social interaction outside of the internet, so my general voice was underdeveloped. Learning my voice, becoming comfortable with it, and then working with it allowed me to control it in ways I never thought possible previous.
Last, but not least, u gotta skate
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Does this support Warlords of Draenor?
And something a bit unrelated, does wc3 support alpha masking? I'm looking at using Neodex to convert a large number of assets to the Warcraft 3 format, but my experience with wc3 is limited to mdlvis and War3modeleditor back in like, 2009ish.
0
https://soundcloud.com/iskatumesk/apexrn-mission1
I ran a quick no-retakes practice jog through some scrapped mission dialogue for Apex RN. Here is mission 1.
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Sure thing, I'll add you. Your volume can be solved by changing the windows sound control panel settings.
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The volume is kind of low, but...
Yeah, the old one is effect heavy, but also the mic quality really held it back (dat static). The main issue with the new one is the reverb sounds more echoey than it should, I think, and its volume is high enough that it sort of meshes into the voice and overcomes it at points. Depending what you are using, you may wish to lower the Wet (effect volume level) by about 15-20% and see if the mix sounds a bit more clean.
Starting minimalist (just with the reverb) is a good way to start, because it will help you analyze the kind of readability impact further effects will have.
0
@joecab: Go
Speaking of assets, historically source model formats have been a real pain in the ass to work with. I wonder if that is still the case.
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I think in even the worst case scenario there will always be game companies, because groups who build content eventually form into communities that create companies. A company is just a belt buckle holding in a tub of wishy washy lard. However, what you speak of already exists in the form of many middleware companies whose sole purpose is to take the responsibility of developing a game out of the hands of the developer (Havok is a basic example, but there are many companies straight up making assets for developers like Blizzard). Also see: Turbosquid, UE4/Unity marketplace, etc. Of course, there's the engines themselves as well. In a way, Steam itself also fits into this role, because it is middleware in several respects.
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@3yks: Go
AAh. I remember you a bit. It's good to see some old names still kicking around. Keep it up.
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@3yks: Go
Are you Cynon?
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Agree 100%. I feel like it's been that way for a very long time.
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I'm not sorry. Sixen never told me his sc1 fursona. He somehow knows me but I don't know him. The mystery is too intense. 3edgy4me
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I have released an incomplete video I was producing earlier in the year for the sc2 art tools. As with all of my dev videos, there is no effort to censor the content or hide issues that happen with the content.
This video was originally intended to introduce an inexperienced user to the sc2 max plugin and some not so obvious pitfalls, as well as run through some basic functions of the material and particle systems. I never made the particle system portion since I wasn't experienced enough to make a tutorial on it, and I didn't cover the material portion in-depth either.
Some of the information may even be incorrect (notably I think I mixed up RGB multiply with emissive multiply in the base menu), since I did not bother to fact check anything given the video was never going to be released originally. Nonetheless, it may be useful to someone looking to break into custom graphics for sc2.
http://www.gameproc.com/meskstuff/apex_dev/HMesk_Sc2ArtToolsIntro-muxed.mkv
If there is enough demand I may continue the video or build a video regarding my porting pipeline, including the use of MindTex. I wouldn't mind making it, but there needs to be some people who would actually use it.