Intro
This character should need no introduction. Sailor Moon, a.k.a. The Moon Princess, a.k.a. Usagi Tuskino (in Japan), a.k.a. Serena Tuskino (in North America) is the heroine of the hit anime series Sailor Moon. If you need any other info on her, I suggest you do a word search on "Sailor Moon", you'll find tons of pages dedicated to this series.
This is the second Sailor Moon model released so be sure that you place it in the proper directory (players/Moon). Since there are two Sailor Moon models there was a temptation to compare the two of them to each other. However, the reviewers have decided to forgo such a comparison and we'll simply state that we prefer this Sailor Moon model over the other one.
The Model
The model is instantly recognizable as Sailor Moon as it includes all of the trademark features of the costume and hair. It is a bit on the thin side though and is probably on the borderline for inclusion in the pack. The mesh is based on the author's earlier Sailor Mercury model with some additional features and refinements.
The hair is composed of five objects: one for the head hair and four for the ponytails and meatballs. Since the head and hair are separate objects, there are a few internal polys which might have been deleted. Nonetheless the ponytails are a good mesh with enough polys to make a decent animation but they are not too poly heavy. The meatballs are modeled with cubes (12 polys each) and are sort of blocky. Personally I would have gone with either octahedrons (8 sided) to save polys with about the same appearance or icosahedrons (20-sided) to give a more rounded shape.
In addition to the extra hair being separate objects, the hands also appear to be separate objects as well. The hands consist of a 3 digits, a thumb, a forefinger, and the remaining fingers fused into a mitten shape. While this arrangement is a definite improvement over the completely fused fists of the previous Sailor Mercury model, the use of separate objects in this area occasionally causes the wrists to look disjointed. However the reviewers feel that this was probably done in order to eliminate folding in the forearms when the hands rotate. The new hand design by the author does have some benefits. This new design opens up the animation possibilities of the model and the author uses them well in the taunts.
As stated earlier, the body of the model is on the thin side (but not far from what was drawn in the series). The body deforms nicely in the animations. The knees have problems in some of the animations and poorly deformed vertices are visible. The feet are very well done, defining the shape with a minimum of polys.
The skirt area of the model has a few problems. If you look closely at the model you can see that the waistband of the skirt is floating just away from the body. This was probably done by the author to prevent the skirt from intersecting the hips (what little there are) and butt. This problem could have been solved by simply attaching the skirt to some of the vertices on the body. The Sailor Collar on Sailor Moon's suit isn't present as an object on this model but is merely painted on the skin. While this is an acceptable design decision on the author's part, KV thinks that the Sailor Collar should have been modeled.
Another addition over the Sailor Mercury model is a weapon model. This is a reasonable low poly interpretation of a sword-like magical weapon used in the show. This is in character as Sailor Moon was the one of the few Sailor Scouts to actually use a weapon. (Although in the show, this weapon was used with a thrusting motion rather than the slashing motion animated here.)
In light of all of the accessories, (hair, skirt, bows, etc.) needed to make this model properly, the poly count for this model could easily have been higher but the author managed to trim it down to 708 polys. In order to reach this 708 poly count, the author employed several good modeling techniques. One good technique the author employed was to make a 1-1/2 sided skirt, the underside of the skirt doesn't normally show except near the hem so only triangles with the broad end on the hem are included, those with the broad end near the waist are eliminated, saving several polys. This is a good example of minimizing detail where it doesn't show. There are a few places however where the model could have benefited from the use of a few more polys.
Like the Sailor Mercury model the face doesn't have a real nose and while one can be painted on for the front view the profile looks odd. It would only take about 4-6 polys to sketch in a 3-D nose and probably greatly improve the model. A few more polys in the elbows and shoulders would probably help too although the folding in these areas is somewhat covered by the skin.
Overall a good effort, but with some room for improvement (send her to the gym to bulk her up a bit) - 3.5 moons
The Animations
The animations are probably the best part of the model but are a bit uneven. Some are smooth and show good attention to details such as secondary motion while others are a bit jerky or have some errors.
The upper body and head are generally well animated in almost all of the animations. However some of the animations have little or no motion below the waist. This lack of animation sometimes makes the model look stiff and occasionally unbalanced. The model should shift it's weight a little bit more in order to look more natural. The hair motion is generally pretty good but it could use a bit more follow through instead of always following the model's head motion. for example, when the model stops it head, the ends of the hair stops as well. The end of the hair should continue to move forward. The inclusion of this secondary motion would give the model a more life like appearance. It should be noted however, that long dangling objects are tough to animate convincingly, so we commend the author for even trying.
The stand is somewhat jerky and at one point the hair passes through the arm. The author tried to put some secondary motion in the legs but didn't quite carry it off. The weapon animation as Sailor Moon moves her sword is good, however the stand is one of the weaker animations but hey, who stands around in a DM?
The run is smoothly done with good attention to secondary motion in the hair and skirt. However there isn't any secondary motion in the bows which is small problem with all of the model's animations. (DLK thinks this is only a minor problem which will not be noticed in a DM). Also, in one frame the left foot sinks through the floor. Nonetheless the run is a great improvement over the Sailor Mercury model which didn't have enough motion.
The attack is a serviceable slash although we think that a thrusting motion would have been both more true to the character and would look better in the firearm heavy Quake2 environment. (The wind-up for the sword strike looks a bit silly when firing the hyperblaster, which only uses the first attack frame.) Also, the wind up motion somewhat precludes VWEP support unless someone wants to make a collection of the magical wands, staves, and batons used in the show.
The pain animations are pretty good unfortunately each of the three pain animations uses its first frame for its last frame. This is a bit of a waste of scarce frames. The legs in pain1 are a bit stiff, pain2 is well done, and the hair in pain 3 looks a bit stiff (although the head motion is good.)
The jump animation is well done and in character with good attention to secondary motion and a believable follow through. (Note: This is the only point where the 1-1/2 sided skirt shows. KV also thinks that this is the best animation done for this model.) The jump animation shows a definite improvement over the author's previous Sailor Mercury model.
The taunts are cute. The flipoff has Sailor Moon looking forward, then slapping her hand across her eyes in disbelief. (Sailor Moon is a nice girl, she wouldn't do anything rude!) The salute is a short bow. (A Sailor Salute might have been better, but the sword complicates things.) The taunt is a twirl right out of the show. (This is DLK's favorite animation.) For the wave she flashes a V, but unfortunately this looks too much like a point to be effective. The point tries to be different by leaning forward but this is not different enough and it looks a bit unbalanced since there isn't any motion below the waist.
The crouch animations are good, in some ways better than the standing animations although the hair and weapon goes through the floor in some of the frames. The crouch attack animation is again a slash but in the opposite direction from the standing attack. Again, the head and upper body motions are well done with motion in all directions to make the model appear more lifelike.
The death animations are overall pretty good. However The death2 animation ends with Sailor Moon half sunk into the floor with her hair sticking up through the body. This is an error which should have been fixed. The death3 animation looks great but it ends up waaaayy outside the bounding box. (If only there were some way to animate a Sailor Moon sized hole in the nearby wall, it would be perfect! ;-P)
The animations at their best are imaginative and show an improvement over the author's previous efforts, but there are still a few mistakes to correct and improvements to be made. - 3.5 moons
From the sailormoon.txt file: "The skins are BAD!!! Read : BAD BAD BAD!!! I'm no skinner, so I would like to request anyone who would like to re skin her, drop me a mail."
The reviewers have to agree with the author, the skins are the weak point of the model. There is 1 DM and 2 CTF skins included and while the skins are true to the character and are instantly recognizable, they are rather flat and lacking in detail. They would benefit from an experienced skinner who can put in the shading and surface detail which has become the standard for quake2 models.
The skin map is an openGL friendly 256 X 256 but has 45% wasted space, a bit high. The skin layout is logical and easy to figure out but the skin wastage is high. There is plenty of space for the face so this could be done in good detail. The author uses a little bit of symmetry in the skin map, with both the right and left ponytails and meatballs mapped to the same patches of skin. The rest of the model does not use symmetry.
Most map areas have little stretching with the exception of the shoulders, hair, and shoes. The hair map also has a few flaws. The front portion of the hair map is dominated by the triangles which are inside the head and don't show, while the parts that show are crowded around the edges. The back of the hair is crowded into a small area. This layout should have been reversed and the visible areas should of been placed in the larger area while the areas which were not visible should have been placed at the edges.
The weapon skin is a bit odd at 100 X 100 pixels and 87% wasted space. It should have been 128 X 32 (openGL likes powers of 2) and stretched out more.
The flat skins, wasted space, and poor layout for the hair cause us to downgrade the skins, but the friendly size and layout redeem it somewhat. Still, only 1.5 moons.
This model includes the sounds from the Rei sound pack, which are workable for an anime girl but there is enough specific Sailor Moon material out there to do better. (If you want a Sailor Moon sound pack, try downloading the other Sailor Moon model and borrow its sound pack.) Since these are not really new sounds, no rating is given.
Visible Weapons Support
There is no VWEP support at present and using the id standard weapons would look silly, although perhaps a collection of Sailor Moon weapons could be made.
Pack Inclusion
Technically this is a 3 moon model, however this model is greater than the sum of its parts so we gave it an extra half moon. It is recommended for use by all Sailor Moon fans, the author did a good job on his subject. The reviewers had fun watching the eraserbots run around for the DM pictures and we look forward to his next Sailor Scout Model.
However, this model is borderline in regards to pack eligibility due to it's width and wasted skin space. Nonetheless, balancing out these negatives is the great popularity of the subject. It's a borderline case but we would vote for inclusion in the pack.
review by
DarkLight Knight and KV
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