DrZeus

Hm... Unfortunately no one seems to know anything about this program.

Ok.. a different question then, what does anyone out there who makes movies USE to make the movies? Windows movie maker seems really blurry, (and only does 8 frames a second anyway) and I just need something I can port in a butt-ton of pictures into at 12-24 frames a second.

Zeus - god of animation projects

hey... I've a question for anyone familiar with VirtualDub. I got the program due to a reccomendation somewhere on these boards, to stick some demoediting together.


Well, I'm having a bit of a problem. It's coming out REALLY choppy. It looks like crap. It seems to be just flat out missing most of the frames. On standard playback it looks great. Try to export to an AVI and that's when it looks bad.

Anyone else used this program? Any advice on making it look... not like crap? I"m going for the "non-crappy" look to this movie... and I'm just not getting it.

Zeus - god of styles

Yeah, I was a little dissapointed with the whole "free respec every issue" idea too... it's always bad when people get expectations of free stuff, because then it isn't appreciated.

But they've pretty much decided on it at this point, giving respecs when there have been no major changes. So... at this point, I'd expect one, but like others... not really appreciate it.

Zeus - god of expectation leading to a lack of appreciation

Hm... I was always wondering how to deal with that sort of thing. There are several philosophies of course, you can either take pains to make sure those optical illusions don't happen, (due to different positioning, etc), "fix" them by making them inaccurate but removing the illusion, (in this case, if that was done then the tail would actually connect about six inches past where the butt ended, but would look connected for the sake of this one shot) or just let them happen.

I suppose how you deal with these sorts of ... perceptual illusions is probably the best descriptor of them, depends on the peice and the pose.

Zeus - god of strategies

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Not to be too vulgar, but normally the tail attaches right above the butt crack.

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Yes, normally it does connect at the base of the coxxyx vertibrae, (which are fused in a human, not sure about felines, I've never studied feline anatomy) which colloquially would be at the top of the butt crack, although personally I'd more describe it as in the middle of the pelvis.

However... in the picture it seems to connect at the base of the lumbar region of the spine, about a foot above that - almost directly behind the navel.

It could be just me. Maybe no one else sees it.

Zeus - god of being anatomically correct

That is some highly impressive work.... Although I'll agree that in real life (which this is close enough to to count) catgirls look more creepy than erotic.

I'm wondering about something however... where does the tail meet the body? It gives the impression of meeting right behind the navel, which seems an odd placement. On the other hand, sometimes with drawing you find things don't always look to be where they are. Does seem to be connected to the body at the lower back however.

Zeus - god of placement

Hey, does this thing help with camera movement?

I've got a particularly tricky camera movement I'm doing in an upcoming movie... it's basically just .25 of a circle, only using two dimensions (up/down and north/south) but during the whole time I'm trying to keep the camera pointed at one particular point, not a direction, which is what it wants to do.

Would this thing help with this?

Zeus - god of wondering and hope

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Man that was funny yet awesome from a film perspective in my opinion. How did you get it to look so detailed and with no names or other UI. I wonder if the movies I make come out so grainy because I use windows movie maker.

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Hell yes.

I'm not sure why, but windows movie maker makes things look really grainy. it basically blends everything together automatically... which CAN have some advantages (like in stop motion animation) But generally it's not a good video editing software to have.

Zeus - god of options

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I didn't reread the transcript, though I do remember the interview distinctly...but here's my take on bases:

They give players their own property...not exactly new ground for MMP's...however, they do offer an unprecedented level of customization.

Clearly, that customization, as well as the several gameplay benefits that the base provides hasn't been perceived to be worth the cost (i.e. Prestige/time played)...hence, Posi and several others (including myself) have taken a spin at making bases more accessible at an earlier stage.

It isn't the popularity of bases so much as the fact that our programming & art team did a phenomenal job of allowing players to generate their own lairs. Maybe not enough players have experienced this content to comment on it, though hopefully Posi's changes will help.

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I know this is going to be pretty moot at this point in the thread...

But I think you're missing the boat here. People aren't missing out on this stuff because it's too expensive. They're missing out on it for entirely different reasons, and prices won't change that.

First of all, only one or two people in a supergroup have access to see all the stuff (the people who build the base) and frankly... only one or two people are even interested anyway.

Secondly, in ANY game this isn't the sort of content that is ever used a whole lot. I remember houses in DarkAge... people would go through tons of trouble to GET the house... then build it... then almost never go there again. It was something that was done, to say you've done it, maybe to fill some hidden roleplaying niche and then just kind of be glad you have it around, even if you never use it. People LIKE the idea of bases, we're all glad they're available, we just don't really have much use for them. No one really does.


Honestly... the art department DID do a great job with bases... too good in my opinion, a little too much time is going into that. And has gone into that. At this point, it's very clear that the devs are FAR more interested in bases than the players ever have been.

If people are only interested in bases (generally of course) to say they have them and to fill a small roleplaying niche, then maybe they never needed all the features you packed them with... people generally just don't care. Maybe all you needed to do was to make a general customizable base... something that looked good, and allow the person to put the entrance wherever they wanted to (depending on the supergroup) and allow small groups (one man) to have one and you'd have seen all the use you'd ever see out of them. That way... someone who wants an apartment can put their entrance near a doorway... I heard of some hero who wanted to live ina dumpster, that's fine... but all this teleporting and power items stuff and what not... it's just not what people go for.


Methinks you need to hire a psychologist to seek out what people want... and more importantly.. WHY they want some things so the development goes a little closer to mark. If it helps, I happen to know one who's available.

Zeus - god of research

Guess this thread goes to show everyone's tastes are different.

personally... I don't care for any of them. They're quite plain, and they strike me as the kind of hero/villian you see 2/3 times and you don't remember them 5 seconds after they leave.

They're just not STRIKING. I think the bold shoulders don't look well on the model.... and the color schemes are very bland. They just don't stand out in a crowd. There's no contrast there, no color, just nothing noticable or memorable.


Here's a suggestion... don't try to use EVERY costume peice. Most superheroes don't need shoulderpeices. Or eyepeices. Just as an example... sometimes less is more. Try livening up the color schemes a bit.

On the other hand, maybe bland was the look you were going for. Maybe this is just another feindish mercenary... not particularly unusual or extraordinary... maybe an average soldier from a hellish dimension or something.. if that's the case... then you did well. I suppose it IS hard to judge something when you don't know what the intent of the outfit is.

Zeus - god of special

Unforunately that codex entry doesn't give you the transparent part, it only gives you the aura effect. I need a transparent statesman! I even went to the extent of getting a demo recording of me being ganked by a couple stalkers (they were glad to oblige).... and I just couldn't get much out of examining the demorecording. I can put on the hide FX maintained aura,and it just gives me a little smokey aura.


Although I did find an XLU command... for the stalkers the XLU was .149020 and it wasn't on the heroes... but maybe that's just saying they're villians or something. I suppose I can give it a try.

Zeus - god of commands

I need someone to be invisible. And I'm having a slight problem with that.

How do I make someone invisible?

I recall being a stalker... roaming about invisible... with a jetpack. That's some messed up stuff... looked really funny, fortunately no one ever suspected that this jetpack flying through the air may have a stalker attached to it. That's pretty much what I need... to make someone invisible, while making their objects they're holding visible.

Any clues? I'm at a loss here.

Zeus - god of hope

Most art is similar...

do you think anyone can learn to play the guitar?

Do you think anyone can learn to play the piano?

I do. It just takes some people a hell of a lot more effort than others. It's a real bear actually... for an awful lot of people. You may even say that normally... for most people, it's not even worth the MASSIVE amounts of effort if they just don't have a natural talent for it. But of course, if it IS worth it to you to put in the massive amounts of work, and it sounds like it is... then there's really no drawback in keeping up the good work. However... consider that you'll progress about as fast as you have in the past... faster sometimes, slower other times.


Yes... you can get better. I'm sure you have already. But it's up to you if you want to go through the effort of being GOOD.


And art classes... I find things like that teach you how to use a particular medium instead of teach you how to draw. And there's a big difference...

Zeus - god of details

First of all... thanks, that helps a lot.

Secondly... the link was right above a post of mine! I didn't see it clearly the first time I suppose.

Thirdly... I wonder why back alley brawlers normal model has no circle.

Not that i'm complaining, mind you.

Zeus - god of circular things

I need the names of some models for a demoediting project I'm doing.

They seem to have a convention with the villians... If I want ghost widow, I use Signature_Ghost_Widow. If I want the circle under her, I use Signature_Ghost_Widow_contact.

However... my heroes seem to not fall under a similar naming convention. Model_manticore has a circle under hiim. Model_back_alley_brawler does not. Model_statesman does not. And Signature_manticore doesn't seem to be there.


How does one get sister psyche, manticore, positron and synapse WITHOUT the circles?

Zeus - god of knot nowing

Well, this is kind of hard without seeing the code and finding out what's messed up.


If possible, could you just cut and paste what it said before you changed it (where it declares the new object) and what it says now? At least what it says now would help quite a bit.

Zeus - god of answers

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I LOVE the pics . Great job. I dont understand how this all works tho. How are you getting statesman and such in your screenshots? Is this llike entering html code or something?

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Pretty much, just a bit different on the format and actually viewing the darn things.
Here's a few links to get you started. You'll probably be seeing alot more demos in the coming weeks due to the fact that the 3RD Annual Film Contest is due to start some time next month...more than likely toward the end. But for a person to have a decent chance of winning they tend to start way ahead of time.



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First of all, you really teased me with that link... I have been waiting for that next contest to pop up, and I thought I had missed it!

And you're right... I've been working on mine on and off for about half a year. Still a lot of work left to do, but I'm on my way at least. I assume lunar cycle has also been keeping a couple special ideas in mind, and has already finished them or is well on his way...

There will always be competition on this film festival, but he's the guaranteed competition. You KNOW he's going to put something up, and you KNOW it's going to be DAMNED good.

Zeus - god of credit where credit is due

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I'm not sure if I completely understand what you mean by 'colors fading over time'...?

Perhaps it would help for me to point out that I'm going to be painting these...?

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The sculptur that did my statue of Black Mute had to apply a special sealant to protect the paint (automotive varnish) that takes about 48 hours to dry.

If you want me to, then I can PM you the sculptur's e-mail if you have questions about protecting the paint, but he doesn't and I repeat he doesn't do statues anymore. He may be kind enough to answer your questions though.

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I've painted miniatures for years, and I can definately agree with what he's saying here.


Personally I've found two options. Buy expensive paints that won't rub off or flake, but that also don't mix very well so you need to buy another expensive color for each shade (and you're screwed if you mess up)... or buy cheap acrylic paint for 70 cents a tube, mix it all you want, and then afterwards hit the whole model with a fine coat of spray on clear acrylic coat.

I FAR prefer the latter method.

Zeus - god of prefrences

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I suppose I shouldn't complain too loudly, what with it being free to download and all...

...but issue 12 was really, really unsatisfying. The writing, the art, the plot...

Whoever you're paying to do that is being paid too much.

~Gabriel

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Well, I wouldn't say it was that bad, but it was a little... predictible. Most of that particular plot was predictible to be honest. They need to come up with some really good plots, not just "now is the day i RULE THE WORLD!!!!" which is... OLD. And the idea of someone switching sides just to fool the opposition is the oldest schtick in the book.

So with that in mind, I don't think issue 12 could have been any less predictable. It didn't have much to go on. It was miles ahead of the blue king series of course... at least it didn't have horus in it.

Zeus - god of horrible costume options

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I think this wanders back to the problem of narrowly defining Origins, though. My Magic scrapper's an archeologist who found a suit of magic armor. He doesn't know John Dee from Jan and Dean. His idea of an invocation is playing a Led Zepplin album backwards. He doesn't know squat about brewing potions or scrying stones.

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It sounds like the problem here isn't the invention system, it's the broad range of character concepts.

If our character concepts were horribly limited like in all other MMO's you wouldn't have had this problem. "finding" your armor wouldn't have been an option, because your magic origin hero would have been like every other magic origin hero.



Although as a side note... it doesn't make sense for 90% of adventurers in a fantasy world to do alot of crafting either. A master swordsman doesn't grind out thousands of suits of platemail. He practices his sword technique. Generally speaking crafting in an MMO pretty much requires you to assume that your character is identical to all the other characters out there and has the same motivations as all the other characters out there.

But... we'd have this problem no matter what out of combat system was implimented. If they had put in a skills system instead... what about superman type heroes who have no skills whatsoever? Would they be left out in the cold? When you have character concepts this versitile, then sometimes you have to seperate yourself a bit in order to add playability to various features.

Zeus - god of skills

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The question I asked Statesman via PM (sent January 13):

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Quick question about the status of skills, since it came up on the forums again...are they still under development or permanently shelved?

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His reply:

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Shelved.

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Seriously, is this so bad? How much wasted time have they thrown away on this idea? The sheer volume of work they must have done designing, programming, testing this system only to find out that all it accomplished was to make us EQ in tights... or a system that was broken... or just not fun...

We may want to consider that it's a good thing that they shelved the idea for now. It probably means they asked themselves this same question... "how much time are we willing to spend on this RIGHT NOW, and is it worth it". They coudl have just asked themselves this question and came up with the answer of... no, it's not worth it right now.


Would a skills system be awesome? Absolutely. But it's a matter of priority. They have dozens of things they want to add to this game, and this is only one of them. They can choose to take their time chasing this task on hopes and uncertainty, or go tackle some other projects that they KNOW will turn out well like new powersets, quality of life features that they're sure to actually work and the like.

Zeus - god of certainty

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Actually I like DC just because it's fairly centrally located on the east coast. A day of travel and you wind up in pretty much any place in the US east of kansas. As far as locations go, it's pretty central.

I see alot of conventions in chicago, and I'm not really sure why... it's not that seperated from the bulk of civilization, but it's not THAT centralized either...

Zeus - god of locating

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I've changed my mind, Zeus. No longer do I desire for the next event to be in Tampa. I think it should be at YOUR house. I will expect plenty of snacks between the gourmet meals you cook for everyone.



Sally - goddess of abusing Zeus' hospitality.

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Not a bad idea. I have some chips... and um... well, we don't drink soda... but we have three computers. And I do live in CENTRAL maine, which is central... to ... eastern canada... new hampshire (the perenium of new england) and a large family of lobsters. As a matter of fact, in the summer.. if you know where to go, you can get lobsters for a couple bucks a pound, so if someone chips in for lobster we could all gather around my three computers and eat some lobster.

Zeus - god of not liking lobster

Actually I like DC just because it's fairly centrally located on the east coast. A day of travel and you wind up in pretty much any place in the US east of kansas. As far as locations go, it's pretty central.

I see alot of conventions in chicago, and I'm not really sure why... it's not that seperated from the bulk of civilization, but it's not THAT centralized either...

Zeus - god of locating

The problem I see with doing a few little events all over is it would be hell on the devs themselves, which is why I'm assuming they won't be doing that. They would have to take time out of what they are doing, and of course.. travel. You for example can't travel.. whether it's for kids sake or just the dislike of traveling, they're all sound reasons and the same reasons the devs would have.

So I guess I'm hoping they do ... say, two or three fairly big ones. Anything on the east coast alienates the west coast and vice versa after all. Not much can be done about that.

Zeus - god of hope

I can see some honest suggestions as to where they may have the next event, but it seems everyone is just saying it should be in their own hometown.

Hasn't anyone heard of a centralized event? I mean.... florida? That's as centralized as where I live, and Maine ain't gonna happen either. I know people are just kidding around of course, but it would be nice to have a little... more serious discussion as to where it may be a good place to go.


Don't get me wrong... this would have to be for a bigger event. Let's face it, this last event, with about 200 people, was in the middle of nowhere. Yes, austin may be a very respectably sized city, but texas itself is central to... well, texas. So they had an event, pretty much local only to one state, and seemingly had NO PROBLEMS filling up their reservation cards, and then some. So location wouldn't make a damned bit of difference unless they wanted a bigger event. They could have one in nebraska, or even Maine I'm sure and get the same turnout they had down in texas... it's not that hard for a company like this to attract a couple hundred people apparantly.

But I'd like to see a nice bigger event. Personally, I'd be willing to travel a day to get there too. I consider a good days worth of travel to be between 14-16 hours, so that would place it... well, anywhere between chicago and DC, composing most of the northeast and a decent chunk of the northern section of the states... (the US isn't THAT big after all).

In a bigger event it would also be nice to see things like events. Costume contests, talent show, kareoke, open bar, you name it... it would be fun. Of course I'm probably thinking bigger than they are, but it would be a blast.

Zeus - god of thinking big