How to improve Nexuiz visually?

[qubodup]

Hi there,

At least a bunch of people think that Nexuiz is far from pretty, in the way Tremulous and Warsow are.

I can't be sure about this, as my Athlon XP 2600+ and GeForce 5200 Fx don't allow shaders and shadows without getting terrible fps.

I noticed one thing though: it seems that for example sidestep-animations are missing.

Is there an "art"-to-do list?

What other things should or could be improved visually in your humble opinion?

Do you agree that character animations is a problem?

[[-z-]]

Hi there

Hello

At least a bunch of people think that Nexuiz is far from pretty, in the way Tremulous and Warsow are.

Well it depends on what you look for in beauty in a game. I don't think warsow has fog or reflections. Some people prefer cell shaded maps and weapons, others prefer intimate details. I never played Tremulous so I can't comment on that.

I can't be sure about this, as my Athlon XP 2600+ and GeForce 5200 Fx don't allow shaders and shadows without getting terrible fps.

Well shaders are shadows are ~kind of a big deal~ if we're talking about the visuals of a game.

I noticed one thing though: it seems that for example sidestep-animations are missing.

It is to my understanding that there is limited know how of to actually create a character. There are some people I've seen create multiple characters in a week (leilol) but many others who have trouble rigging the model (which appears to be the biggest "how do I?" in the Nexuiz character creation scene).

Also, the torso doesn't move, I think that's more important than side step .

Is there an "art"-to-do list?

Nothing official that I know of... the development wiki may be the closest thing.

What other things should or could be improved visually in your humble opinion?

Moving torso, that is all I need (for now).

Do you agree that character animations is a problem?

It's not that big of a deal to me.

[*HxC*Cuizinier]

Q3 engine ... sorry

[HarryButt]

I don't think, that LordHavoc is going to port all his stuff to Q3.
Nevertheless a DarkPlacesQ3 engine would be awesome. Quake3 with all this shader stuff. Yum. But then there's still the performance problem.

[...] it seems that for example sidestep-animations are missing.

I think, there are some. But no sidestep-while-shooting-animations. This looks very weird. As if the characters are floating around the map. Afaik there are no jump-animations also.

What other things should or could be improved visually in your humble opinion?

Besides from animations, maybe HUD and menus. Of course, the current menu system is way better than the old one. But it's still not perfect imho. I think, the window shrinking animations should be slightly faster. And there has to be more skins. I don't like this plastic look. Metal would fit more to the game's theme. Still, the colorful characters (as they are atm) are alright. And if there are some jump-animations, they definitely should play at jumppads too. It looks stupid, when characters are being catapulted around and still look as if they're standing on some invisible platform.

Do you agree that character animations is a problem?

Yup. But I have no idea of 3D modeling, neither of animating stuff. If there'd be some cool tutorials, I'd love to do it myself, since I got some free time in the next few weeks.

[morfar]

And there has to be more skins. I don't like this plastic look. Metal would fit more to the game's theme.

try "menu_skin silver;menu_restart" or "menu_skin simplygray;menu_restart". Both those are metalic.

[iSuck]

Moving torso = segmented models, this would make Nexuiz look sooooo much better.

Yes, I'm sorry to tell you, but Warsow is beating Nexuiz in reflections, but contains less shiny-bumpy-graphical prowess otherwise. The portalmaps and camera maps and portal-camera maps are fun though, a lot like Portal (Orange box).

If we do segment the models (a task that's been put off since at least 2.23) then all of the current models will suddenly become useless. They just aren't made to bend at the waist. Still, this would allow waist-bending, sidestepping while shooting, better bunnyjumping anims (currently players freeze when jumping, something Warsow fixed). Segmented models should be a priority, but being so difficult, they might never even be started.
Also, Tremulous is good, for it's engine, but has no real modern rendering ability. It does have segmented models.

[HarryButt]

Okay, this link is already known in the forums, still here's the Blender Noob to Pro Guide.
There are printable PDFs also. I think, I'm gonna print a little book at my homies' print office and try to put some stuff together.

[jal]

Hi,

I think what you guys really need is animation blending instead of segmenting player models. It can be entirely made in the client (I do it like this in the latest versions of Warsow) and it would allow to keep using the current models with minor changes (adding more animations).

[qubodup]

So, say we wanted to fix the ugly-animations stuff, would we have to program new code? (anim blending) or is the code already there, but not used?

what about skeletal animations. They would require big changes to the models, yes?

[rufsketch1]

Hi there,

At least a bunch of people think that Nexuiz is far from pretty, in the way Tremulous and Warsow are.

I can't be sure about this, as my Athlon XP 2600+ and GeForce 5200 Fx don't allow shaders and shadows without getting terrible fps.

I noticed one thing though: it seems that for example sidestep-animations are missing.

Is there an "art"-to-do list?

What other things should or could be improved visually in your humble opinion?

Do you agree that character animations is a problem?

I'm really not sure on what grounds you're saying nexuiz isn't pretty. animations and character models are more or less the only ugly things. and even then, not all of them are that ugly.

besides that, the rendering capabilities of nexuiz go up against next gen (i guess it's current gen now?) games pretty fucking well. shadows, reflections, parallax mapping, normal mapping, and the explosions are certainly some of the best i've ever seen in any game ever. this is mostly due to the fact that it relies on transparency mapped particles that obey physics, but overall just well thought out.

look at the video on the main page, tremulous doesn't hold a candle to it, and warsow just barely. warsow has superior art direction, but definitely inferior technical capabilities.