57 replies to this topic

[Heffay]

MeiSooHaityu, on 23 July 2014 - 08:05 AM, said:

If there was one mech MWO really improved upon over the original BT design, it was the Catapult IMO.

I think they did a close second with the Raven, but it tends to be a love it or hate it design because some feel it is too boxy and wedge like.

I think we can unequivocally say that *every* mech we have in MWO is hugely improved over the original BT designs. I can't think of a single mech we have where this would even be in doubt.

[Sergey Kosinskiy]

Heffay, on 23 July 2014 - 08:11 AM, said:

I think we can unequivocally say that *every* mech we have in MWO is hugely improved over the original BT designs. I can't think of a single mech we have where this would even be in doubt.

Awesome?
I mean in BT it doesnt look so wide.

Edited by Sergey kosinskiy, 23 July 2014 - 08:17 AM.

[Kanigit]

Heffay, on 23 July 2014 - 08:11 AM, said:

I think we can unequivocally say that *every* mech we have in MWO is hugely improved over the original BT designs. I can't think of a single mech we have where this would even be in doubt.

We can indeed say that. As a BT player since 1st edition, I am quite pleased with the models. The animations, however, could use some more work. The worst offender imo is the Stormcrow.

[Heffay]

Sergey kosinskiy, on 23 July 2014 - 08:14 AM, said:

Awesome?
I mean in BT it dosnt look so wide.

The Awesome in MWO still looks FAR better than the drawings from BT. It's actually one of the better looking mechs! Very unique chassis.

[The Dreaded Baron B Killer]

when I see the Direwhale do that "La La LA! here i come" prance I can't help but laugh and imagine an effeminate male...

Of course then it Alpha's me and has ACs blazing away and cores me and that image quickly disappears....lol

[Gallowglas]

Let's not be coy here. Most of the original TRO designs were *terrible*. We're not talking just average, run-of-the-mill terrible. We're talking full-on "I LIKE CRAYONS!" yelling, paste-eating, running-with-hands-flailing-above-the-head terrible. While some of the MWO designs may not be spectacular, they're pretty universally better than their TRO counterparts.

NOBODY thought the TRO Stalker design was cool (phallic love blimp anyone?). The TRO Raven got routinely beaten up, had its lunch money taken, and cried itself to sleep on its HUGE pillow. The TRO Atlas looked like a cross between a Fisher Price "little people" piece and an umbrella drink accident victim. The TRO Catapult, despite my love for the mech even then, looked as gangly and awkward as the president of the chess club dancing at the prom. It was all, "OH HAI GUYZ! I R ROBOT OSTRICH! LOL!".

I'm certainly in agreement that the animations could use some cleanup and that not all mechs are created equal in terms of aesthetics, but of all the things we can reasonably complain about, the MWO models are probably one of the most bullet-proof. Even Alex's worst mechs are better than most of what we've gotten before now.

Edited by Gallowglas, 23 July 2014 - 09:34 AM.

[MalodorousMonkey]

When I think of weird walking animations, I think the Dire Wolf. Remember that PGI was hurrying to try to meet the June 17 deadline.

[Wolfways]

Rhaythe, on 23 July 2014 - 03:58 AM, said:

</p>
Yes. Exactly.

Those are some loose hip joints

I think the Stalker animation looks terrible too. It looks like it's walking on its toes and taking tiny steps
Assaults need huge, slow strides.

[MW Waldorf Statler]

Once Upon a Time ...

Edited by CSJ Ranger, 24 July 2014 - 02:34 AM.

[l33tworks]

StaggerCheck, on 23 July 2014 - 07:49 AM, said:

What gets me is that someone actually signs off on some of this work. The Dire Wolf in particular looks like an assignment from a first year student who should know more about the weight involved. There is next to zero feeling of weight impact and distribution involved with that animation sequence.

Nobody in the PGi Dev team has ever had a sense of weight, scale, or physics in general. I think they have great modelers and animators, but certainly no science type employees. In CB when a mech was killed the falling speed was pretty fast. I.e the mechs would fall to the ground at the speed a human would if they tripped.

My younger more naive self made this post if you wanna have a read. Its PRE CB, before we had any game released to the public at all, so its an interesting read.

http://mwomercs.com/...sed-fall-rates/

Edited by l33tworks, 24 July 2014 - 03:05 AM.

[Navid A1]

CSJ Ranger, on 24 July 2014 - 02:33 AM, said:

Once Upon a Time ...

damn....
i really wish some improvements to be done to the current dire wolf walking animation... and the warhawk...
the kitfox and summoner need their left arm pointing straight instead of 30 degrees into the air when walking.

Edited by Navid A1, 24 July 2014 - 03:24 AM.

[NextGame]

Henri Schoots, on 23 July 2014 - 03:15 AM, said:

It seems to me that the quality of the mech animations is not as good as it used to be.

Take for instance the Dragon, it really looks like a heavy machine, bouncing and struggling with it's weight, ankles, heel and toes moving or the raven. When I look at the newer mechs I cannot help to think a lot less attention has been paid to their animation or maybe they have been done by someone with less experience.

Probably not the biggest issue in the world I guess compared to other problems, but I couldnt help but notice the stiff flat footed kit fox strut, almost walking as though it was a lego man, so yeah, I agree that animations for newer mechs are poorer than what we enjoyed with earlier mechs.

[DaZur]

Just to be fair... all the chicken walkers except the Pult, Cicadia and the Timber have something that screws with their gait animation...

"Leg proportioning"

If you look at the size of their upper leg section, relative to their lower section, they're too short. In order for bird legs to work, the upper and lower needs to be roughly the same length. As is the stride is too short, leading to the "prancing tip-toe" visage we have right now.

Not to be left out... The Awesome does the BT quick-step again because it's upper leg is shorter than it's lower leg. Most of our humanoid mech have this dis-proportioning to some degree but the Awesome get the short straw as well as the short thighs.

Hint to animators and modelers: Basic bio-mechanics and kinesiology... Look it up.

Edited by DaZur, 24 July 2014 - 06:13 AM.

[Prezimonto]

Spawnsalot, on 23 July 2014 - 03:49 AM, said:

The one animation that really gets me every time I see it is the Direwolf walk - its legs are moving too fast for its speed so the feet keep sliding under it like its walking on ice.

It'd be nice if most of the heavier mech legs were slowed down a bit, currently they remind me of the Boston Dynamics Bigdog robot and then I start imagining Highlanders moving like it and I can't stop laughing.

Edit: Nothing wrong with screw-tops on wines especially not for the younger quaffing wines

This happens with the lights and mediums of the Clan mechs as well. It's really disturbing to watch in a game as it looks like they're ice skating, particularly up and down shallow inclines.

[Prezimonto]

CSJ Ranger, on 24 July 2014 - 02:33 AM, said:

Once Upon a Time ...

I want to point out that all these animations have the mechs swaying back and forth and up and down as they move. I think part of the problem is that our mechs are very stiff, outside of the very early mechs.

I suspect because we have no convergence times they don't want mech bits flailing about so it looks kind of okay when they fire on the move. Except now moving looks stiff and unusual.

[Impyrium]

Heffay, on 23 July 2014 - 08:11 AM, said:

I think we can unequivocally say that *every* mech we have in MWO is hugely improved over the original BT designs. I can't think of a single mech we have where this would even be in doubt.

I will agree that much of the original BT art is... pretty bad in quality, even if I like it simply because it's unique. And yes, much of the MWO designs are really nice and they've modernized them quite well.

But they ruined my Timber Wolf, man. They broke it. They took it away, set into it with baseball bats, then forced it on a high fat diet for several months. While I don't mind it any more, the MWO Timber Wolf is too fat, and the legs are too... non-bird like for it to be the true Mad Cat.

Also I liked the old Centurion. The MWO one is too fat, IMO.

But yes, other than that, the MWO designs are improvements.

[Livewyr]

Atlases look pretty good... Dire Wolf did not receive the same attention.

Stormcrow is not that bad as far as I have paid attention, but it seems not as much effort was put into the clan animations.

[DaZur]

Personally... since I'm now mastering mine... IMHO the Nova's animation is pretty generic.

In particular the foot animation is pretty stiff with that dew-claw'esk toe not doing much of anything and the I'm wearing swim flippers foot flop...

[process]

There needs to be less tiptoe and more plant-and-sweep. These are good examples:



A little Mechcommander torso wiggle would, I think, also improve the realism inside and outside the cockpit, though this doesn't necessarily mean some sort of reticle shake.

More gifs in this thread: http://mwomercs.com/...gif-collection/

[Alexandrix]

/signed

model redesigns/artwork generally looks fantastic.There are some issues here and there like the leg proportion thing mentioned above and what not.But,all in all,the artwork is pretty much awesome.

Animations? for the most part,garbage.The mech animations have never looked right to me.They don't have a sense of weight or natural movement to them.They just look like stiff action figures someone is trying to move into place step by step.It's really pretty bad.

Edited by Alexandrix, 24 July 2014 - 10:26 AM.