Halcyon Days 3D Motion Video Project

[fAB]

Site: halcyon.legends-station.com/

What Is Halcyon Days?
If you haven't heard of it before, or if you haven't visited the site in the past year, here's a bit of history.

Halcyon Days used to be a choose-your-own-adventure story set in the world of Mega Man Legends. You could select different characters and read through their stories, deciding at the end of each page which path you wanted to take next. After enough years of stagnation and lack of community interest the idea was finally canned and I instead turned it into a 3D motion video project.

The varied storylines have been consolidated into one which I intend to bring to life through 3D animation. The end result aims to be a movie or series of episodes.


Project Status
Most people reading this are probably thinking it's impossible, that I'll never finish it. Let me say right now that they're probably right. It's a tremendous task, and it's moving slow. But for me the main point of this project is to further develop my 3D modeling and animation skills. However far I do or don't get on the project isn't as important as what I learn along the way.

That said, I'd still like Halcyon Days to become something that the fan community takes an interest in, and perhaps even gets involved with. Even though I announced HD's new direction a year ago, I've been keeping it very low key, not wanting to bother people with it until I had something worthwhile to show that might generate some serious interest. At last, I do.

(video is also available for download on the Halcyon Days site)

I'm still learning as I go, but this video is some pretty solid proof that I'm putting in a serious effort. There's more info on the site itself, and if you're interested you can track on its progress on The Main Gate of course. Naturally I'd love to hear what you all think about it so far. A little more exciting than the old text adventure?

[Avegodro]

The video was great fAB, I think it is an awesome idea of bringing the Legends world to life this way. I dunno fAB those text adventures can be quite exciting sometimes. ;D

I have a question though, what software are you using for your modeling?

Also what sort of things could we do to help?

[Loken]

I haven't ever seen this project before! I'm going to have to dig around on that site today.
Yes this is very interesting, that video was awesome.
So is this going to still be a choose your own adventure thing or is it just going to be movie?
Also your narrator voice is pretty awesome fAB, and is that a new reaver I saw in those ruins?

[Chiz]

Jul 2, 2011 14:45:53 GMT -5 fAB said:

Most [...] probably thinking it's impossible, that I'll never finish it. [...] But for me the main point of this project is to further develop my 3D modeling and animation skills. However far I do or don't get on the project isn't as important as what I learn along the way.

That's what it's all about, fAB; you can't do a project for someone else or the community, or you're going to be disappointed and regretful more times than not. You have to do it for yourself, you have to do it because you love it and you can take something away from it. If you don't do what you love, and love what you do, it's work and it's not worth it and you'll burn yourself out trying to fight through it. Personal experience has shown me that I cannot possibly expect someone else to appreciate/enjoy a project more than I do, and if my appreciation/enjoyment of it is through the baseboards...

As for actual critiquing, the animation here looks like it's off to a good start. The eyes seem a little off to me, but no complaints for the rest. Regardless of what happens, you're doing a good job.

[fAB]

Thanks guys!

Avegodro
The modeling and animation is all done in Blender (textures in Photoshop), which is awesome and free, should anyone be interested in trying it.
As for help, well, it's subject to what people can do and are interested in doing. My focus is on learning modeling and animation, but there'll be plenty of that to go around if anyone with said skills were interesting in lending a hand. This sort of project will obviously need plenty of 2D art as well, concept and orthographic (for modeling). NPC-esque character designs, locations, etc. I'm not looking for anything specific at this point. The one exception I'll definitely be needing is some good voice acting down the line. Can't do all that myself.

Well, I guess I could, but that'd bring the project crashing down in a hurry.

Loken
I'm going for a single storyline now, whether it will be a movie or episodes is still undecided at this point.
There is indeed a new reaverbot in there. I actually designed it for the CU event, but since it was already fully modeled I figured why not include it in the vid?
And it's nice to receive a positive comment on the narration. XD I'm usually pretty good at voices, but I currently have a canker sore on the tip of my tongue (too many Tootsie Pops recently) that really limited my ability to talk as I normally would.

@chiz

Personal experience has shown me that I cannot possibly expect someone else to appreciate/enjoy a project more than I do...

All true, particularly that part. It's an important thing to keep in mind for guys like us.
I've been really indecisive on how best to present the characters visually, thinking it might be better to go with textured facial expressions like they use in the games. I wanted to try it this way first though, with separate eye objects that can move and follow things. It ended up looking better than I feared, but could definitely still use some work. I'm still not sure it's the best way to go though.

[Dashe]

I dunno, I'm not really feeling this one myself. Maybe it's because the action hasn't picked up yet, or because the exposition itself offers nothing new for me at the moment, but I'm not getting excited about it the way I do when a new Alternate Trigger pops up or a new SPA update happens. I'll reserve judgment until you actually get into the real plot, though. One can only hear about a world covered by endless water so many times before they start to tune it out.

I recommend episodic installments. Especially self-contained ones, with shorter story arcs. That way if you don't finish, nobody who becomes attached to it gets left hanging. The 10+ year wait for Legends 3 left me mentally scarred and probably turned me into that jerk who tailgates people going 10 MPH over the speed limit because they think it's still too slow.

Seconded on the narration, though. You sound good. And you know I'm always game for a voice acting role--playing boys up to age 12 comes the most naturally to me, but if you need a youngish sounding girl I can pull that off as well.

[HF]

Yo fAB!

I like what I see so far. Having an animated show will certainly make it more attractive, in the same sense as Novels VS Animations.

As Dashe has pointed out, self-contained episodes will be much better compared to an entire series of connected storylines (or at least to a "must know" basis). Assuming you are doing this as a solo project, time is certainly the big issue here.

[Qwertman]

I think the strongest point so far is the soundtrack.
I agree, the narration is good but the sound quality could be improved with some mastering and maybe a better mic.
If any help is needed with after effects, really anything that can be done in After Effects (flashes, lens flares, shaky camera, smoke, explosions, titles), I'd be more than happy to help.
Also, kudos on rendering in 16:9. If you ever wanted to do an HD render, I'd be willing to process any amount of the load to speed things up.

[Mikéy]

I like what I'm seeing and hearing. I guess most of the comments voice out my thoughts in a similar manner. Great voice acting, sweet animation, etc. In my own opinion, I like the video in its entirety, and although it's safe to say it'd be unfair to expect more anytime soon, the fact that you're actually putting forth effort forth towards the Halcyon Project, is truly amazing and awesome.

Good luck!

[Blues]

This looks pretty good so far, fAB. It's definitely a different direction to take Halcyon Days in then most would have expected, yet it's also fitting as well in some way. Current progress as seen in that video looks good, though I do have a few comments...

• Hopefully the ruins will end up looking at least a bit more complex, as they're fairly simplistic now, though thinking about it I'm sure you had a reason for that.
  
  
• Yohmi's eyes...for now they're passable, but I do hope that you added in eyelid controls at least for the future if you haven't already. : o Eyes are a big part of human communication, so people tend to focus on them; if some part of them is missing or goes unused it's going to stick out to people. Again though, I don't doubt you've already thought of this, so. :12:
  

I'll go ahead and recommend an episodic format as well, it's easy to work and will make everything more manageable for you. And as far as helping out I'd be willing to try- 2D concepts, VAing...I mean I'm not sure I have the whole scope of talent for it but I'd be willing to contribute in in any way big or small.


^{Also, I noticed Krinbeshel's 'cameo' in the video too. Sneaky. : P}

[Dream]

Looks interesting, I like that you're putting effort into something that you clearly enjoy. If you ever need any help you can just let me know. I don't really have a lot of time to invest in stuff like this, but I can give you advice if you need it. I've been studying 3D animation for 3 years now, specializing in lighting and rendering for feature animation.

If you're looking for specific critique, I'll say that there are some points in the video where there don't appear to be any light sources or shadows for certain objects, (though I know this is sometimes what happens in the game). Additionally you seem to have some flickering in some of the geometry, which is most likely caused by lamina faces (2 polys occupying the same space, z-fighting happens and you get odd flickering, like in the intro to the video on the corners of the moving flaps and the center part of the circle at the bottom).

Kudos to you, I hope to see more in the future!

[fAB]

Hm... Been that long already, has it?
As I try to juggle my time around to my various projects, a day turns into a week month before I know it. Excited though I was to get that video out, this is exactly why I didn't directly ask for help yet--I know my pace. XD I really appreciate the offers for the future though, and the overall positive response this got.

Dashe
If you had gotten as excited about this as you do Alternate Trigger, I'd have to dismiss you as a completely hopeless Legends fan girl. XP

Of course, we'll have to find someplace to fit your renowned voice talents in.

@everyone who mentioned it
I see the merits regarding an episode format. People wouldn't be left hanging halfway through a movie, and putting out shorter episodes would give faster returns in the short term. On the other hand, I do like the idea of aiming for say a 90 minute movie as opposed to multiple 25-minute episodes that would end up taking more time and effort in the long term, and might just feel like a very short lived series in the end rather than a solid goal that was reached... Hence my indecision on the matter.

Qwertman
Thanks for the offers. The after effects in particular are something I hadn't given a whole lot of thought to yet that could really provide some polish to a lot of scenes.

Mikéy
Nothing to say but praise and enthusiasm? I guess I can live with that. XD

@ Blues
The ruins were just thrown together for the sake of having someplace to put the reaverbots. Wouldn't dream of putting something that bland into the finished product. I did kind of end up liking the refractor room though. With a little more polish it might look okay...
And yeah, the eyes need major work. See my comments to Chiz above.
Will keep you in mind for concept stuff and voice acting when the time comes, thanks!

Dream
Many of those little clip segments used in the video are anywhere from 8-12 months old already. Took me a while to realize all that flickering came from my thinking I could save a few polygons when filling the ends of cylinders (say 16 vertices in the circle, filled by 8 quads instead of 16 triangles). And the lighting, yeah, sometimes I just wanted to see what something looked like without paying much attention to all the details.

However, in the more recent scenes I put together I did find myself struggling when trying to get the lighting to feel right. It's such an important aspect. I'd definitely value your input when it comes time to render some serious scenes.

[Dashe]

*Nearly spits out her tea all over the keyboard* A 90-minute movie?!!?! You...do know how long that would take with a one-person crew, right?

A solo-effort for a 3D animated film of that length would, assuming you worked nonstop, did not accept any help from outside sources for modeling, rigging, animating, or texturing, reused all of your Alternate Trigger models to save time, and do not use any of the time you'd need to focus on your real job and any other projects you have dangling, would take you ten years to finish. A twenty-five minute episode would still take a bit longer than it took to wait between AT03 and AT04.

I'd honestly recommend shooting for ten minute episodes or less. You can definitely tell a story in ten minutes, and still get in a load of detail. Plus it would be more likely to look good if you took your time with it. Plus Youtube uploads cap at ten minutes unless you're super-popular on it--hence why Tau had to upload that one segment of Legends 1 Abridged twice.

Just something to consider, especially knowing the amount of projects you have to attend to and the fact that you'd also have to go to work to sustain yourself. And need to sleep. And need to eat. You wouldn't want to be picking away at this one project until your retirement, would you?

[fAB]

I'm hoping not to be a one-man crew eventually, though maybe 90 minutes would be a bit much. Could aim for a Disney length 60-70 minutes instead... though I hadn't considered a 10 minutes per episode plan...

You can definitely tell a story in ten minutes, and still get in a load of detail.

'Tis possible, but I'm not sure I could do it. My writing history contains numerous novel-length stories in various drafts of completion, but only two short stories. I'm just not good at them. My main idea for HD's storyline has been something of a grander scale since the beginning... So, you've had me thinking off and on the past few days, this could be the first way for people to participate in this project.

I'd like to hear story ideas. They needn't be too specific but general stuff that would hook the watcher and give them a good 10 minute or so dose of self-contained Legends world action.

If we get several good plot ideas for episodes and particularly if I can make them work with my characters and mix them with my own plot ideas, perhaps the short episodes could be the way to go. If not, then we're no worse off than my current indecision.

[Dashe]

Could we please have basic information about your characters so we're not grasping at straws for plot points?