This is my concept for the first effect out of the two. The concept is that a character like Lee Sin is shooting a barrage of chi fists at his opponent, suppressing them during the ultimate. There is a second part to this effect and I hope to post that up here soon. .
This is the concept for the second portion of the effect! Basically after the flurry of smaller blue chi fists, a larger fiery red/orange one flies out and finishes off the effect. I also figured out a basic outline of my timing ( It's basically like when a boxer shoots out a bunch of jabs followed by a straight). The next post will hopefully be a vid of my initial block out of the effect in UE4!
Love it! The colors are awesome, and we can already feel the huge impact!
I especially appreciate the little drawing with Anticipation, slow out and everything. Really useful.
C. K Sheperd and sgtscience: so basically my plan to do this effect was to zbrush sculpt some hands, retopo it and and then using some fancy shaders + trails/card, make it all come together. I then decided to try something new to what I'm used to and decided to try and use the spline system in UE4 to bend a mesh along a curve.
Nice! I'm just learning UE4. I didn't know they had a spine system... What can this do? As for sculpting hands, I would think it would be better to just low poly model them, since they will only be visible for a few seconds, and you can't use normal maps... I would probably use animated static meshes for the hands but I'm not 100% sure if u can
Haha. sgtscience I would have used the same techniques. That's why it's always worth asking so that we can learn alternative methods that might work better.
So work this week punched me in the gut but I was able to find time this weekend to get something going. The spline system in Unreal worked better then I thought (the math to set this all up at first was bonkers). I've got the meat and bones of the projectile in there and now it's time to work on the anticipation and impact timing of the blue chi fists. Also there is another random ball in there, couldn't find him in the outliner, ghost ball !
Another WIP! I've got the idea of what I want the impact to feel like but there still timing polish to be had. The gif is killing the quality so I'll put up a video later as well. Looking forward to setting up the build up and then polish the effect as a whole from there! Also I have been inspired by the stuff everyone has been doing so far, let's push through to the end!
This is really fun, I'm liking it a lot. Timing feels solid and the impact is really nice! Is your build up finalized or are you going to keep working on it? Keep up the good work! Can't wait to see what else you do.
Woah! I love it! *^*
It feels.... Powerful!
I particularly love the impact. Especially the small line that goes "through" the target!
Maybe you should try with less bloom? I think it would look better, and it'd fit LoL style even better!
Looking at this again I still love it but may i suggest making the fists a little bigger? They're a little small at the moment so its a bit hard to tell what they are without prior knowledge.
@Sirhaian: yeah, I've started to notice the bloom too. I'll definitely tone it down and see if that helps bring more clarity to the impacts!
Lokii288: I haven't started on the build up yet so that will be the last part of this effect that I would need to block in before polishing. The fists not really reading has been a known issue for a while now, making them bigger has been on my to-do list .
Hey Guys! Thanks for all the comments! This is my latest WIP with the anticipation in. I've almost got the whole effect blocked in now and now all that's left is to do the orange palm strike. I changed some of the timing around as well so hopefully this feels better
I think that first fist that pulls back and hits first should be noticeably bigger than the rest. That way it looks like he's only going to throw one punch, then POW! Tons of punches!
I'm going to guess the black spike parts on the sphere are just placeholder, so nothing to go into there.
I see you have some dust offset where the punches spawn from. You may be able to get away with just having it spawn directly in front of the sphere and still keep the blowback dust behind it as well. That is just thinking out loud though.
EDIT: never mind, forget this part ^^^
Re-watched and the dust looks good as is.
That's a pretty interesting idea about the first hit should be bigger then the others, when I go back to this effect I will definitely keep that in mind.
I finally finished blocking out the effect and I will now be moving towards the second effect. I am happy with where it is now but I often find it easier to find mistakes after distancing myself away from the effect for a while.
The second effect is going to be a void version of Braum's Ultimate! I won't do a concept for that one since there is already a ton of reference in the game for this effect so I will hopefully have a block out even sooner!
Started blocking out the initial impact when Braum's shield hits the ground. Shaders are still major WIP and the timing can be better. Critique is always welcome!
IMO, the spikes around the sphere pop up too fast. They almost look instant, especially compared to the progression of the forward moving rift. Slow the initial spike movement by 25-50%, and have it slow down as it reaches its full height.
Really looking nice!
And I agree with THenderson, the spikes just appear in 1-2 frames, and we can't see that they're coming from the ground.
But the shaders look reeeeeeaally nice, I love them. Especially the spikes poping in front of the caster. You nailed it.
A true feast for the eyes, these animations. And yeah, those spikes at the back are suddenly there, needs a bit more time.
I'm wondering though: have you also tried the Braum attack out on a piece of Rift map? Not sure if that is needed for the assignment but I wonder how the spikes look where they connect with the grass/ground of the game map?
Again, not sure if necessary but might be nice to try?
I was able to get the whole second effect blocked out. I agree with you all that the spikes came out way to quick, I made a little bit slower but it still might be a little too fast. I did a pass on the void shader and focused on adding a lot more impact to the effect. I have a giant list for polish so lets get to work!
I'll try and get the effect on a piece of Rift terrain but in the contest they wanted the scene to be untextured so I focused on making the effect on an untextured background.
I think if you have your spikes come up in sequence at the speed they do now, that would help the viewer follow it a little better. Right now, you have it slowed down, but both the small front layer of spikes and the taller back layer look to pop up at the same time. After the effect finishes, the front spikes lower first, followed by the back ones. If you could. reverse this for the start of the effect and have your littler spikes pop up just slightly before the ones behind them?
That's a good idea. I'll try that and other ways to make it a more gradual read. Right now all the meshes in the spikes are placeholder as well (unless I don't have time to change em in which case they become final assets :P) so hopefully the final mesh can allow for some more cooler animations.
Your impacts are pretty fantastic. Hypnotic, really attractive. All the layers to them are great. I think this spell is awesome, but 1 thing I did notice that had me feeling a little let down was, I wish the initial fists weren't so small, and were more true to concept in size.
2nd Effect
This is another pretty great effect, but I completely miss the point where the shield slams into the ground, it gets lost in it all, so I totally miss the justification of all the crystals exploding out of the ground. Maybe slam the shield a bit earlier before the effect procs?
I'll mess with the timing so that it reads better. That effect is super busy so I'll have to fuss with it so that I can stream the information instead of just bursting your face with it. Thanks for the critique!
How did you get your vimeo vid to embed into your posts, if you don't mind me asking?
A critique on something I missed before: Somewhere in the FAQ/QA for these projects, it was mentioned not to animate the spheres at all. I know that kinda sucks, especially since the effect is meant to be a knock up, but I wouldn't want you to get a lower judging just on that small technicality
I'm going to remove the animation of the ball getting shot into the air for the final, it's really hard for me to visualize the timing without the ball also getting knocked up in the air. Thanks for reminding me though .
Really nice work! Definitely got the LoL style down in the textures and I really like the colours. Personally I'd say it might be a nice idea to break up the uniform width and timings of the second effect just to give it more weight and tension but that's a minor change that might give it that extra 'oomph'
Did some small updates to the second effect. I'm going to start putting both of them in the same vid as this is the proper format that they wanted it be in for the contest.
1. updated the materials (made it a little bit more purple, added more blues)
2. updated some of the timing, might need a little bit more fussing
3. did some color tweaking on the final impact effect
Some more polish. I did an overall pass on a lot of stuff but the big addition is the addition of a lot more alpha erosion. I did some textural polish on the impact for the first effect which makes it feel a lot softer and more blended with the effect. For the next update, I'm going to focus on making this effect optimized as much as possible to League of Legends.
Posted this at 60fps so definitely check it out on HD.
One thing that I find kinda jarring is when the purple spikes around the ball start to go back into the ground, they jump up really quick before going down. I'd either get rid of that or make them jump backwards in an arc into the ground.
@Bruno Afonseca Thanks! I have gotten the critique over the purple spikes a couple of times so now it is definitely a priority fix on the effect. That whole back area needs a sculpting pass really : /
Replies
This is my concept for the first effect out of the two. The concept is that a character like Lee Sin is shooting a barrage of chi fists at his opponent, suppressing them during the ultimate. There is a second part to this effect and I hope to post that up here soon.
Looking forward seeing this in action!
This is the concept for the second portion of the effect! Basically after the flurry of smaller blue chi fists, a larger fiery red/orange one flies out and finishes off the effect. I also figured out a basic outline of my timing ( It's basically like when a boxer shoots out a bunch of jabs followed by a straight). The next post will hopefully be a vid of my initial block out of the effect in UE4!
I especially appreciate the little drawing with Anticipation, slow out and everything. Really useful.
I'll have a video up soon to show what I mean
It feels.... Powerful!
I particularly love the impact. Especially the small line that goes "through" the target!
Maybe you should try with less bloom? I think it would look better, and it'd fit LoL style even better!
Lokii288: I haven't started on the build up yet so that will be the last part of this effect that I would need to block in before polishing. The fists not really reading has been a known issue for a while now, making them bigger has been on my to-do list
This is being executed so well! Amazing style.
Well done!
Can't wait to see more of it!
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I'm going to guess the black spike parts on the sphere are just placeholder, so nothing to go into there.
I see you have some dust offset where the punches spawn from. You may be able to get away with just having it spawn directly in front of the sphere and still keep the blowback dust behind it as well. That is just thinking out loud though.
EDIT: never mind, forget this part ^^^
Re-watched and the dust looks good as is.
I finally finished blocking out the effect and I will now be moving towards the second effect. I am happy with where it is now but I often find it easier to find mistakes after distancing myself away from the effect for a while.
The second effect is going to be a void version of Braum's Ultimate! I won't do a concept for that one since there is already a ton of reference in the game for this effect so I will hopefully have a block out even sooner!
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Void Braum... This will surely be totally epic! Can't wait to see it in action!
cant wait for more updates.
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And I agree with THenderson, the spikes just appear in 1-2 frames, and we can't see that they're coming from the ground.
But the shaders look reeeeeeaally nice, I love them. Especially the spikes poping in front of the caster. You nailed it.
I'm wondering though: have you also tried the Braum attack out on a piece of Rift map? Not sure if that is needed for the assignment but I wonder how the spikes look where they connect with the grass/ground of the game map?
Again, not sure if necessary but might be nice to try?
I'll try and get the effect on a piece of Rift terrain but in the contest they wanted the scene to be untextured so I focused on making the effect on an untextured background.
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Your impacts are pretty fantastic. Hypnotic, really attractive. All the layers to them are great. I think this spell is awesome, but 1 thing I did notice that had me feeling a little let down was, I wish the initial fists weren't so small, and were more true to concept in size.
2nd Effect
This is another pretty great effect, but I completely miss the point where the shield slams into the ground, it gets lost in it all, so I totally miss the justification of all the crystals exploding out of the ground. Maybe slam the shield a bit earlier before the effect procs?
A critique on something I missed before: Somewhere in the FAQ/QA for these projects, it was mentioned not to animate the spheres at all. I know that kinda sucks, especially since the effect is meant to be a knock up, but I wouldn't want you to get a lower judging just on that small technicality
I'm going to remove the animation of the ball getting shot into the air for the final, it's really hard for me to visualize the timing without the ball also getting knocked up in the air. Thanks for reminding me though
1. I increased the size of the fists so they fit better with the concept
2. Sped up the blue fists travel time
3. Added a particle trail behind the blue fist to add more color contrast
Might come back to polish the impacts but going to polish the materials for the second effect first.
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Did some small updates to the second effect. I'm going to start putting both of them in the same vid as this is the proper format that they wanted it be in for the contest.
1. updated the materials (made it a little bit more purple, added more blues)
2. updated some of the timing, might need a little bit more fussing
3. did some color tweaking on the final impact effect
4. added a slight vignette...I love vignette's...
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Posted this at 60fps so definitely check it out on HD.
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One thing that I find kinda jarring is when the purple spikes around the ball start to go back into the ground, they jump up really quick before going down. I'd either get rid of that or make them jump backwards in an arc into the ground.