Heavy Rain - Casting --- diplomatically speachless

Prs-Phil · May 2006

I was just introduced to this more than impressive and moveing piece of computerart. I'm glad to have seen something so well done with nextgengametech.

140 MB download, it is worth every MB

http://www.quanticdream.com/pages/frameset_index.php?lg=us

Mister Sentient · May 2006

These guys ought to take a leaf out of Valve's book. While impressive the facial animation still looks stilted and unnatural.

Prs-Phil · May 2006

ah yes, it is certainly not perfect, but the whole package supports the idea and it worked for me. Inspiring

SuperOstrich · May 2006

Interesting story, but not very visually impressive.

Super · May 2006

If you break down the individual peices, they're impressive but as a whole it doesn't quite work. Although its still quite good IMO.

Is it me or does the model need her teeth pushed up? There's something about the eyes too...

Mister Sentient · May 2006

[ QUOTE ]
If you break down the individual peices, they're impressive but as a whole it doesn't quite work. Although its still quite good IMO.

Is it me or does the model need her teeth pushed up? There's something about the eyes too...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, she does look a bit goofy.

Prs-Phil · May 2006

yes she does, but I think that is the whole point, allthough visually not superebly executed it does give her alot of character.

SuperOstrich · May 2006

I think she has a lot of character, which is mostly achieved through the voice acting.

Prs-Phil · May 2006

that is probably the main carrier of the whole thing and although the rest does have its flaws it still follows the "story" that she is telling and acts in a closed universe.

Toomas · May 2006

She shows her upper teeth way too much and also sometimes i think she opens her eyes too wide.
Not to mention the lips move robotically and are sometimes very off.

Prs-Phil · May 2006

yes and ? thats why the whole thing is crap ? can be forgotten ?

I applaud the effort of these people to bring a bit of emotion into this mainly stale and still matureing medium.

I don't understand how everbody complains that everything is only sold be gfx and techshit that changes all the time and the first thing that comes along when something fresh and inspiring pops up is technical nitpicking and critisime rendering the whole idea worthless or is it just me that percepts your awnsers in that way.

Ninjas · May 2006

The character is a pretty huge departure from Stahlburg's standard character designs. He certainly can do idealized females. I watched it with the sound off, so I guess I missed out a bit.

I agree. It is cool to see people finally going in this direction, but I am more excited by the Alan Wake shots I have seen than by this. While apartently real-time, it is not a game, but a little movie done in CG.

The asthetic is cool though.

Mister Sentient · May 2006

Don't get me wrong. This is indeed impressive compared to a lot of games out there. Personally I can do without the melodramatic acting but I appreciate what these guys are trying to do tech-wise. Hopefully this is still early stages in the development of their project and we can expect improvements.

Toomas · May 2006

Im not nitpicking, it was just uncomfortable to watch because of the poor animation.
I get distracted by stuff like that and then it ruins the whole thing for me, sorry that i am such a weirdo.

Not to mention her face was the focus of the whole thing, yes the geometry and textures were great and i really liked the tears but come on you cant just overlook some huges flaws that are in the focus all the time.

Prs-Phil · May 2006

ah cool, no offence then sry

...

Toomas, fair play I can understand that, I was just talking about the same issue with a friend. I think that just has to do with a bit of selfknowlege/awareness/control then you can get alot more thoughts and inspiration out of alot less or more input. Filtering while not getting caught up.

Needles · May 2006

This is very impressive for being realtime cg...but her expressions are not that hot...sometimes there pretty disturbing @_@

Toomas · May 2006

Now that i think about it maybe the original voice was in french, them being a french company and stuff?
It would explain the out of sync stuff and maybe make the wild expressions look more suitable.

Sa74n · May 2006

thats awesome. i'm a big fan of dramatic games with a strong storyline and i enjoyed fahrenheit too even if the button mashing was a bit annoying in places. the face looks really cool. the quality reminds me of alan wake

i'll definitely buy both games.

Luxury · May 2006

Uncanny valley at it's prime right here.

LordScottish · May 2006

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She shows her upper teeth way too much

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that's what I noticed the most, but I liked it a lot beside that. Together with the voice acting it kept me watching the whole movie.

Mister Sentient · May 2006

From Stahlberg himself...

"About the mouth issue, we're aware of it, it's on a list of things to do. Part of the problem is that the original actress does have a really big mouth and really big teeth, and the realtime engine is unable to cast as detailed a shadow from the lips as would be necessary, and probably the animation is a little off (test stills in Mental Ray look fine). About a sound sync issue, I think they said it was due to a technical problem at the booth, anyway they seem aware of that too."

FatAssasin · May 2006

I can't help but think of "Chubby Rain" from Bowfinger whenever I read about this.

hawken · May 2006

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I can't help but think of "Chubby Rain" from Bowfinger whenever I read about this.

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yes exactly!!

thomasp · May 2006

had to laugh a few times at her facial expressions when watching this. they could have made this really much more interesting with better animation/mocap tweaking. i know it's cumbersome but well worth the effort.

Daz · May 2006

Yikes, I don't like it at all sorry Prs-Phil :-)

I just don't think it's succesful as a convincing piece of facial animation. Theres just way too much going on that's irksome, most of which has been mentioned. The too big hi-lights on the eyes, the weird hi-lights in the mouth corners, the odd cheekbones, the teeth, the showing too much white of the eye above the pupil (heinous crime). Some proper self shadowing would really help them too, particularly with the mouth interior. My guess is that there's some kind of facial capture technique being used here, and it just isn't working that well.

The only thing that makes it remotely emotive is the quite nice orchestral music. Turn that off and it's really not.
Not bad, but really, not that great either imo. A fun watch tho' thanks for sharing.

Steve Schulze · May 2006

The main issue with the eyes and teeth is the lack of self shadowing, something which will presumably be added to the actual game.

[ QUOTE ]
Part of the problem is that the original actress does have a really big mouth and really big teeth

[/ QUOTE ]
Yep.

And without horse-teeth cam

thomasp · May 2006

well, they COULD have properly calibrated their mocap markers to adjust better to the face geometry. and with the right package, it would have been no problem to animate an offset on the eye lids and upper lip to at least eradicate the most obvious flaws.
seems, they have done this whole facial mocap thing for the first time and were in quite a hurry. it can only get better

Malekyth · May 2006

Zowie. The horse teeth cam totally does it for me. I should probably not visit any stables, farms, ranches or race tracks, with this new piece of information about myself.

Finish downloading, fucker! Finish downloading!!

Mister Sentient · May 2006

I like French women :P

gauss · May 2006

Trying not to demonize or lionize here... it reminded me of watching Spirits Within, anyone else get that feeling? Materials were good, post-processing stuff really helped the believability. but the digital actress herself went skating up and down the charts, just like watching the FF movie. There were moments where you're completely believing it, it's really seeming life-like and emotive; and then the next things are just off. still very exciting, all in all--we all know how it is to show off early stuff, so if this is representative of an early state and they get a good handle on their tech and workflow, the end result could really be something.

which reminds me, for some reason i have yet to pick up Farenheit, even though it's right up my alley.

also, despite (because of?) the giant horsemouth, i also find that woman quite attractive. kudos to them for getting an actress who is certainly pretty but not in a generic way.

Heavy Rain - Casting --- diplomatically speachless

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