Greetings Citizens,
If you’ve ever wondered whether or not feedback from backers is really impacting Star Citizen, we have an example for you of just how seriously we look at your comments! Yesterday, we posted the initial base male character head for Star Citizen… and several users responded that the irses were too large.
Artist Mark Skelton read the comments thread first thing the next morning and realized that they were right, the irises needed to be smaller. We can’t make every change fans want, but this one made sense. By 9 AM, a revised version of the head with smaller irises had been completed and distributed to the rest of the team… which we now present for your further comments:
(Remember, this is just the base model upon which the customization system will be developed… so no worries if you have facial hair, brown eyes, big ears or anything else needed to make this basic man into ‘you’! Check back later in the week to see the whole body.)
You can’t fool us, that’s obviously a picture of a real person.
First? Well, that’s a first for me on this site. No longer a first comment virgin, YAY- wait oh no there goes my innocence, nooooo!!!!…..
Speaking for myself and possibly for the majority of the fans:
I never doubted that you are listening to us.
But as we know there are some who think you don’t or you are not listening enough. I think with this you really showed them they are wrong.
+1
+2
+3
We always listen, but sometimes we just don’t happen to agree with some things.
One thing to replace one cosmetic detail on the face of a 3D render and another is to make balanced game mechanics
. Which I dont doubt will be made perfect.
+4
+5
Why can’t we just have customization for our eye size???
Probably, we’ll have. It’s just a BASE head model.
Looks good, but still could use some improvement with displacement maps. Silhouette shows some very large polygons. Its ok to have them, but they can “hidden” with displacement. Plus they will help with the whole skin detail, eyelids etc.
CryEngine even supports this. Plus, discuss displacement vs vector displacement for this
Have fun!
that was fast!! even though i didnt mind irises as were before, hats off to you CIG, cant wait to see more!
Well I think they were a little off before but now they really do look appropriate. I didn’t mean to be such a critic and I doubt anyone will really notice my eyes in SC. Thank you Mark Skelton and team.
But the rules of engagement on Bunker Hill was to not fire “until you see the whites of their eyes” so don’t doubt that people will be lookin’ for people’s eyes when they are shooting at you
Yeah, I didn’t see what they were talking about before, but I can see it comparing them side by side. Nice call, CIG!
But they are still blue and not brown:D
However those new eyes look much better. Great work.
Can we know his name ?
John Doe Eyes
John Eyes Does
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Persian_Fallow_Deer_Does.jpg
it’s fine either way. who’s to say eyes would look like they do now 1,000 years in the future?
I’m surprised that was off. Heard of the golden ratio? Describes the ratio of one thing to another within the human body as a whole. Everything from the segments of your fingers to the size difference between adjacent teeth. I think DaVinci did the original work in determining this ratio.
Here’s a link for reference: http://library.thinkquest.org/trio/TTQ05063/phibeauty1.htm
I would think it would make sense to start with a skeleton that fits this ratio perfectly, and then record the delta from perfect when customizing your character.
Perhaps this is how it work, I dunno. Just thought I’d throw it out there.
Iris size should be customizable imo.
Not really. Lots of things about human eyes vary, but the iris:eyeball ratio actually doesn’t. It needs to be a certain ratio to even work.
If you’re just going by Rule of Cool, though, then I agree.
Because I thought the oversized irises looked great, even though I was among the people who pointed it out.
The levels of detail in this are so deep it’s almost gross, I just can’t get over how nicely done this is… Ugh.. “Nice” is just no good as a description..
Wow that looks like a picture of a real person. Eye’s look great too. Just remember nature is rarely perfect so we should be able to customize away from perfection also
I might like to have a hunchback pirate or something lol
Like the hunchback in the movie 300? lol
Looking good, but I prefer the eye’s of the original base head. Just seem more alive… but then that probably just comes down to the shadows that are on the original.
I like the original as well. I noticed that the eyes were big, but I was thinking, “Oh wow! Humans in this future have evolved! Obviously because they are flying around all the time and are likely spending a lot of time in non-physically strenuous situations their eyes have become bigger to take in more visual input. Obviously this would allow them to analyze and react faster to their cockpit environment.”
I’m actually kind of sad to see the eyes shrink. How… Typical and un-inspiring. Unless we have retina size on the customization options?????
Please don’t do a Skyrim and make all the characters look really OLD, that was one thing I hated and no one was able to make a really decent younger looking characters mod for it.
Just because I’m old and fat, doesn’t mean I want my character to be that way too.
I agree. A range of different skin types would be nice. Not everyone needs to be a grizzled combat veteran. At least, not to start with…
But, that said, this is looking TOP QUALITY. Keep up the good work!!!!!!
Yeah, i want to be twelve and kill pirates in space!
Wait! You aren’t?
Have a 12 year old jump in and handle the turret!
Good Point, but not too young.
No flying childs/teens.
Exactly, just 20-30s range, instead of 30-50s would be nice.
Though I’m hoping there will be various skin types and such, like you could edit Eve.
Loved their facial/body customisation, I know this isn’t Eve, I’m not suggesting it is, but there are certain aspects of that game they did really well.
GJ skelton this is one handsome mutha right here.
Hats off to you Mr. Mark Skelton. Industry leading work!
Can’t wait to see the females!
Perfect!
Maybe it is just me, but the detail of his face is not a whole lot better than other faces I’ve seen in Batman Arkham City for example. I thought it would be better than any I have ever seen they way Chris Roberts talked about the game.
Whereas, compared to the way the avatars in Black Prophecy looked….
There is a diminishing point of return on investment in making things look “real” in video games. At some point you have to ask yourself how “real” that realistic can be and go with that, especially if that level of real would end up clashing with the artistic style of the ambient environment.
tl;dr:
Don’t strain your eyes so hard or they’ll turn into the ones from the last model.
(irony is intentional)
Wow nice call, now that I think about the previous picture it was a smart move to adjust the eye size.
I was wondering if the vein on the temple can change with the mood of the character? Say, he’s angry and it would grow. If he is relaxed, it’s barely noticeable. Would that be possible? Cheers =)
Probably, as it’s only a bump map, and like texture maps they can be morphed.
That’s to funny!
I’m curious by the pinched ridge of skin from below the eye to the cheekbone. Either they’re some strange wrinkles or they need to be flatten out a bit. (I did go to the length of checking my own face in the mirror to confirm my thinking … not that I’m really that average!)
Damn, seems we are getting yet again much more than expected.
Looking forward to having a play with the final thing, good work
Haha, oh no, you’ve told us that you are listening to what we say. Now we’re going to start squawking even more.
To start with, does everything in Cry Engine 3 have that lustrous shine? It looks like it has a thin layer of wax.
In general, CE3 rendered objects seem prone to either shining like they’re covered in wax, being invisibly dark due to lighting contrast, or glowing neon colors.
They said they weren’t in-engine shots, but renders from 3ds max. It’s hard to get accurate-looking skin, although sub-surface light scattering shaders have improved it greatly.
Ah, I missed that software format distinction. Perhaps those lighting characteristics are more of a generalized modern trend.
All that stuff is controllable within crtengine3 through the types of mapping that is applied to the head model mesh. The actual “coloring” of the skin is but one part of a material. Other parts can define how shiny different areas are, how reflective they are, bump mapping and more.
My eyes will be covered with Ray Ban Wayfarers, of course. Day or night (cue Cory Whatshisname song now)
I see your Ray Ban Whatever and bid you WileyX (AirRage Polarized Blue)
We pimpin’ ^^
I thought the irises were pretty kawaii
Can we get brushed metal eyes please? Thanks!
i’m gonna pay 10 more bucks for that!
But anyway,don’t talk too high,someone could hear us and run to making a poll in the forum
and he has LTI for his live…and a golden ticket..
Thanks Mark, the size is perfect now.
Thanks, it looks much better now and great work. ^^
The Level of detail is great, though he still is an ugly bugger.
LOL yeah that was my thought too he got hit by the ugly stick just a bit but it looks great and so real….Man this game is going to look like a movie when it’s done. Two years is going to be a long time but I can wait if the whole game is going to look this good
just put it on full screen in high res .. VERY well done!!!!
I can’t wait to see the female head models!!
That change made a surprisingly big difference, IMO. GJ Mark!
Looks better than anything I have seen in a game.
I think he is cross eyed?
Other than that its so real, someone obviously has passion for his work.
no there not crossed, the pupils are not centered.
I’d Like a little more Sternocleidomastoid muscle for my landmarks for putting in an Internal Jugular Venin Central Venous Catheter. I see a little bit there, I think I can work with it. Oh, did I mention I wanted a sick bay in the game too?
Great!
But … aren’t the pupils a bit too small? Not kidding, I think the pupils are a bit to small.
The Head has light pointed to her eyes…
Before and after comparison: http://i.imgur.com/4TQmvzv.jpg
Thanks to Reddit user: Ghost404
Thx for comparison. Definitely can see iris size much better now.
Awesome nice work Mark Skelton!
That’s much much better !
Nice work ! and thanks for listning to the community
well good job …
on the same time, it’s a first step …
perhaps people wait for the final version before says it’s not ok no ?
and they says we can modify the style/color/etc so where is the problem ^^
I actually don’t particularly care for the model. To me, the ears look wrong. There’s something about how the ear attaches at the bottom and the lobe that seems a bit off. The bridge of the nose also seems a bit wide to me, though that could just be the way the model is lit.
I don’t really like the chin much, either. Though, I wouldn’t say it’s rendered wrong, just that I don’t like it.
I’m sure we’ll see more changes as things go along, but as it is I’ll hope we get plenty of customization options because I have a very different idea of how I’d like my character to look.
Wow! Now that you say, yep all those things are off somewhat.
D
NooOOOOOOOooo! DON’T start listening to the community!
It’s the thin edge of a mad wedge when you do that, because they’ll expect it all the time with the deluded belief that they actually can influence production. Just keep on doing everything your way.
Original Big Irises were also charming. Alien races SLIGHTLY different from humans should be introduced later as a surprise. The Large Iris Bearers could be a strong psychic alien race, who evolved and can influence ship characteristics via:
- Telekinesis: give added thruster boost or better strafe
- Telepathy: identify cargo with % accuracy
- Mind Stun: stun enemies during boarding with % success
- Thought Control: TC influence merchants thinking to give discount (% success)
- Anomaly Detection: AD find wormholes with % success
- Regenerate: heal faster, repair broken bones with % success
With the game being more player skilled based rather being a talent point rpg game, don’t think we will see racial bonuses. Or maybe there could be a place for them, as long as they steer clear of any sort of combat advantage and provide more to the immersive element of the game.
Oh great, thanks to this change I know need to get me a cyber eye prosthetic to get permanent larger irises.
No seriously,great work on the rework of the base model!
Just finished reading this after posting to the last. This does look slightly less evil.
Very nice work Sir! Keep it up.
He needs a swashbuckling mustache, but I guess I’ll add that myself.
As said in the former article (I found this one after reading the older one): A complete customization system like in TES Oblivion would be awesome, no character would look like another.
Looks great, you have now earned NJS’ seal of approval! *Grin with thumbs up*
Looks like the generic Commander Shepard.
Excellent! No complaints here.
Much less like a zombie and much more .. normal.. darn, the head beat me at the staring contest again.
Still looks a bit…eerie…in my humble opinion. Not that it isn’t excellent in all other ways. And since it’s just a starting point that we base our own characters off of, the eeriness shouldn’t really matter. I think the big lips and so on make him look fairly effeminate, but of course there are people who do really look like that. I would just customize mine differently.
Ah, that’s what is referred to as “The Uncanny Valley”. We increase our empathy with artificial images or robots, and animated characters as they gain realism–until they get so close to real we get creeped out because they are ‘almost’ but ‘not quite’ real, and we reject them. It’s an audio visual curse. Tin Tin and polar express the CG movies creeped some people out for that reason. It’s almost like we see them as real -but sick, an involuntary reaction. It’s quite fascinating stuff.
Looks good; thanks for keeping a weathered eye to the backers.
Looks much better, looks like a real person.
Great jog guys.