Star Wars MMO - KOTOR, Giggity?

[Zerai]

Originally Posted by Monsoon

I completely agree. Another example is Everquest's Luclin models when they are at rest. They all look like they are leaning their elbow back on some imaginary countertop. And casting animations are the clumsiest looking movements ever. Seriously, were these SOE animators just incredibly clumsy dorks, watching themselves in the mirror for inspiration? I really really don't get it. It's like they don't have the eye to recognize fluid and natural movement. I had a suspicion that they didn't have any formal art training, but were simply technical masters of Maya or whatever animation program and that got them the job. Get some real artists in there, my God. I don't know how those animations got approved all the way up the chain of command.

I've been trying to learn some animation stuff and frankly, I have no idea how you'd make a natural looking animation without motion capture. And why anyone would make an animation without motion capture, especially at a large scale company, is completely inane.

[Ukerric]

Originally Posted by Zerai

I've been trying to learn some animation stuff and frankly, I have no idea how you'd make a natural looking animation without motion capture. And why anyone would make an animation without motion capture, especially at a large scale company, is completely inane.

You haven't worked with talented animators. Back when Nevrax started, we had one extremely good animator, and he made things you wouldn't believe, just by playing with the basic skeletal. When you really looked at it, the animation wasn't realistic, but it did felt natural. Others wouldn't touch animation - you put them at work with texture building and terrain sculpting instead.

Doing animation is a skill that takes a while to develop. And you need some talent to begin with.

Mocap sounds like a boon for that, but you have to clean up the capture data a lot, and build the transitions, which means the savings in terms of time aren't what you'd think. And sometimes, the animation is more realistic, but not aesthetic. It's made inroads now, but it's - still - not the philosopher stone of the animation. Notably when you have to animate non-humans :P