Wing Commander III - 2010 Movie Project

[Queeg]

Evening all, the last release of my Wing Commander III Movie was over 3 years ago now (someone was even kind enough to split it up and put it on youtube ). However, I want to have at least one more crack at it.

I'm currently making a new Wing3 movie from scratch. Thanks to Mario's extraction tool, I'm able to rip the videos off of my PSX discs directly to uncompressed AVI. I'm editing the uncompressed AVI's directly so they can be encoded straight to the final product, retaining as much quality as possible.

Here are some of the things I'm hoping to achieve:

- Less repetative, more exciting mission sequences

- Less of shoving in sub and main titles when not needed, preserve more of the original footage

- Better quality video, no nasty frame drops

- Better audio, no loud quiet, loud quiet business

- Different story decisions, (last time made Blair look a bit of an arrogant jerk)


So to sum up, a more naturally flowing movie without any obvious quirks. Now that I have a more powerful PC this should be possible. I really wanted to replace the spliced together DOSBOX footage with some proper 3D animation. However, I just can't seem to get a handle on the software. So I will stick to what I know I can do.

Of course, I've not come here empty handed. See below for a sample video. You'll need the Xvid codec or VLC player etc. If you watch it, please let me know what you think of the mission sequence. (sorry about using the mouse to aim, I have ordered a joystick, can't stand not being able to use TAB for afterburner).

Sample Video

Cheers

 

[Bigt028]

way to go...very cool...
i cant wait to see it...good luck..

 

[Wedge009]

Interesting. Welcome back.

Just... no more Avril Lavigne or typos in the credits, please. But if you want to stick with the former, then that's your choice, I suppose.

 

[Queeg]

No more Avril Lavigne, I promise!

 

[Bob McDob]

Yes, you must use Ashlee Simpson.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

I demand MORE Avril!

 

[Queeg]

Yes, you must use Ashlee Simpson.

That was pretty good!

 

[Queeg]

Okay, I've redone the first mission. Spent just over a week on it. It's only a draft, I still want to put in more effects etc.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/q2a2xq

If you're able to download it please let me know what you think.

 

[Wedge009]

Hello again. This is an interesting sequence and it's obvious a lot of effort has gone into it. Please take the following as honest, constructive criticism and not a slight against the work you've put into this project.

Firstly, you mentioned that you're editing the FMVs directly before compression for distribution. I understand that this is just a sample, but the compression artefacts seem quite noticeable. Although, I suppose it must be something like that in the original too?

Secondly, I didn't watch the first sample because of trouble with the hosting site, but what made you decide to go with original animation work? I understand that recording fight sequences with the in-game engine is unwieldy and difficult, but part of the charm was seeing the original game-play recordings in the movie. Too, even when you have programmatic control over ship movements and such, like in animation, too often they can come out looking unnatural as they did in this sample. I know you intend to add more effects, etc, but I'm not sure... something tells me you'd either need the same CG powerhouse that Origin used to make the FMV animations to blend the mission and FMV segments together convincingly, or we can accept that using the game-engine rendering is fine the way it is.

Finally, remember this is all just one opinion, others may like what you've done, and you may decide to stick with this option regardless. Good on you for your effort, either way.

 

[Queeg]

Thanks Wedge. I wasn't really worrying about making it look realistic. My goal was to make the film more appealing to those who hadn't played the game. Also to make it less like watching someone play the game, and more like a movie (albiet with amature CGI). All my other projects use the ingame stuff and I found it very challanging getting people who haven't played the game interested in watching it.

At the moment I'm just trying it out, might still go back to the ingame method. I have a habit of changing my mind (as you can probably tell from my first post!)

 

[NinjaLA]

yeah, I'll play devil's advocate here.. I thought the animated combat was pretty cool!

 

[Darkelf]

Wow! I never thought you'd do another attempt to improve on your earlier WC3 film Queeg. Nice to see you find the time and effort to try once again. You may remember me as one of your supporters back in the day.

I like how you cut from one scene to the next more fluently. Also in the second clip I thought the CGI work was very cool. It should not be realistic like you say but rather interesting on the eyes, where the game engine wasn't always the case, especially if you had never played the game. Though it's cheap looking CGI, it's also very well done. Also important to not make those combat sequences too long, because I assume there would be a lot in the film, so as not to make them too repetitive after a while.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the next ultimate cut of this great flick. I could never replay the game but re-watching the film based on the game is the next best thing.

Cheers and keep doing what you're doing.

 

[TCS-Concordia]

Queeg, I've always been a fan of your efforts and this was awesome. Good freekin job man!

 

[Queeg]

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm about to start working on the animation for the next mission. I probably should have titled the thread the 2011 project, as 2010 is very optimistic (especially as I may be moving in the next few weeks).

Oh and FAO Wedge, forgot to mention last time. The reason the FMV on the sample looks naf is because the source video quality isn't great to begin with (at least on my PSX discs!). I don't think I could get any more quality of it to be honest without rediculously high bitrates.

 

[Wedge009]

Yeah, I think that's what AD said about the source videos as well. Was just wondering, is all.

 

[Queeg]

Hit a bit of a brick wall on this one. Can't seem to find a model for the smaller Kilrathi cap ships (specifically a Corvette). Anyone out there got some with meshes? The only ones on the 3D site are the big carriers which aren't suitible for the mission I'm doing...

 

[TCSTigersClaw]

I liked it very much , I also prefer the cgi , but they need to be improved
you can do great dogfights that way , and closer to the mission briefing.

 

[NinjaLA]

Hit a bit of a brick wall on this one. Can't seem to find a model for the smaller Kilrathi cap ships (specifically a Corvette). Anyone out there got some with meshes? The only ones on the 3D site are the big carriers which aren't suitible for the mission I'm doing...

send me a screen cap and I might be able to make you a suitable model.

 

[Queeg]

Thanks Ninja! See attached.

 

[Quarto]

At the very least, you should be able to make use of the model from WCP - it's much prettier than the WC3 version.