New Routines Tested on WC3 Footage Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

When we posted the first complete pack of enhanced Wing Commander 3 videos a few weeks ago, we labeled them as a "first cut" preliminary effort. They still looked great, but ODVS continues to find ways to create even more visual fidelity of the surprisingly low res/framterate originals. As he looks towards what a 2.0 update might be like, here's created a couple of test videos using more advanced AI/neural net methods to experiment with the next level of updated footage. Faces and hair look surprisingly good! Check the new samples out below.
I've been tinkering with my workflow for remastering the WC3 PSX footage. I've introduced a new AI method for interpolating the frame rate from 15fps to 30fps (which is far more accurate than the previous method), tweaked the AI upscale model and modified my AVIsynth code. So here's another comparison video. I think this bodes well for a WC3 HD Pack V2.0 :)
Another quick update on my new WC3 remaster workflow, which I continue to tweak to try to squeeze as much visual fidelity as possible out of the PSX source material.

I picked this scene because it has plenty of long, mid and short-range shots. A lot of the scenes in WC3 are mostly shot-reverse-shot dialogue sequences (most likely a limitation at the time of shooting with virtual sets). The process continues to improve :)

New Snap Ship Toys Reminiscent of Wing Commander Fighters Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Justin Flanery recently tipped us off about a new line of custom spaceship toys. PlayMonster's Snap Ships come in a variety of human and alien-styled designs, and the aesthetic could certainly be described as "Confed" or "Kilrathi. For example, the Scarab K.L.A.W. Interceptor gives off major Vaktoth/Darket vibes, and the Lance Scout partially resembles a Ferret. They even have a ship named the Sabre that would look quite a bit like a Wing Commander Sabre with just a few tweaks. These are customizable like Legos to an extent, so with so many space fighter-looking parts, there's some fun potential here. LOAF bought the Vaktoth and put it together below - it looks pretty snappy!
Justin: When trying to find some new toys for my son I found these awesome sets for sale on Amazon. They have an extremely “Wing Commander” sequence style to them and I think fans of Wing Commander could easily make some custom Kilrathi or Confed ships with their modular design.

I’ve always wanted some collectible ships and I think this could fit the bill for some.

LOAF: Is that... a Vaktoth?! A new series of modular spaceship building toys called Snap Ships lets you put together some pretty Wing Commander-y fighters! We picked up the “Scarab” for a closer look...
The box is full of tiny components and manuals! This is a bigger project that I expected.
It took no time at all to turn a pile of cubes into a deadly space fighter! It has a display stand, extra weapons you can swap out and even a tiny pilot in the cockpit! What a fun toy. We got the Vakto... Scarab for under $15 from Amazon. Stay tuned as we’ll check out the human Sabre when it arrives in a few days!
Justin just made this one... and it's a pretty close cousin to Privateer 2's Icarus.

Check Out the Other Wing Commander Collectible Cards Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

New this month on the Wingkipedia: high res scans of the 1999 X-Toys Wing Commander trading cards! Fans who kept their cards in the packaging could be missing out on some awesome reverse-side lore!
A different trading card was included with each of X-Toys' eight Wing Commander action figures in 1999. The rear card text is largely adapted from the Wing Commander Confederation Handbook.
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CIC

Learn About Remastering CGI Cutscenes Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

The WC4 Fan Remake will be using ODVS' fantastic video for most cutscenes, but there are a handful of CGI sequences that would be better served with complete graphical overhauls similar to the playable parts of the game. The team has to be careful to match the visual fidelity of anything new that they create so that it doesn't feel out of step with everything else. As such, DefianceIndustries, ODVS and Pedro have published a new article titled 'Recreating Worlds' to detail this process. It's a nice thorough overview and shows that they're making great use of the new project website. There's also a quick video example as well as some screenshots behind the development curtain. Check out all the details here.
Defiance Industries is going to create some new CGI sequences for Wing Commander IV Remastered that match the originals as closely as possible in aesthetic and quality.

Defiance is, of course, capable of creating footage with far greater detail and visual fidelity than was possible on an SGI rig in the mid '90s; but if he does, it will somewhat throw shade over the original game's CGI sequences. So Defiance is putting a lot of work into creating sequences that match the aesthetic of a mid-'90s SGI render. I'll then be running them through my AI video remastering process so they don't stick out like a sore thumb in comparison to the original scenes.

This tech demo serves as a comparison for a very quick render against an original shot of the TCS Lexington.

A Portent of Things to Come Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Did you know that Wing Commander’s future history includes a two-century pandemic that forces Earth to quarantine from the rest of the solar system?

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LOAF

George Oldziey Streaming Live Friday Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

The Los Angeles College of Music will be hosting a live stream with Wing Commander composer George Oldziey on July 31. The event will be at 4 pm Pacific / 7 pm Eastern via the LACM Facebook page. George is part of the school's faculty teaching the next generation of artists. This sounds like it'll be a fantastic discussion, so we're eager to see how it goes!
FRIDAY - we will be going live with Composing For Visual Media Faculty GEORGE OLDZIEY, who will be giving you a behind-the-scenes look into his creative process for film scoring and orchestration! George is an award-winning composer and orchestrator who has worked on films such as 'Sin City' and 'Kill Bill Vol. 2,' and he has also scored video games such as 'Wing Commander' and 'Ultima Ascension.' This is your chance to learn all about composing and orchestrating from an industry professional!
An award winning composer, George joined the ranks of Electronic Arts in 1994 as an in house composer. While at EA he composed the scores for some of the most iconic video game titles in the industry; Wing Commander3, Wing Commander 4, Wing Commander; Prophecy and Ultima Ascension. His other video game music credits include Spongebob Squarepants for Playstation 2, a full orchestral score for the online game Shaiya (Sha-EE-yah), as well as scores for THQ’s Red Faction; Guerilla and Certain Affinity’s Crimson Alliance.

George has worked with film director Robert Rodriguez since 2002 for whom his music department and composer credits include Spy Kids 2, Spy Kids 3D, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Kill Bill Vol.2, Sin City, Grindhouse – Planet Terror, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Shorts, Sin City/ A Dame to Kill For, and the Dusk til Dawn TV series. He has also scored many award winning documentaries, some of which have appeared on the History and Discovery channels.

George holds a Bachelors Degree in Trumpet Performance from Manhattan School of Music and a Masters Degree in Composition from Texas State University.

Make a Model Morningstar Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

LYP Studios has put together a pretty neat Morningstar fighter for the Thingiverse 3D printing website. At nearly 15 inches long, it's a monster in the model fighter world and the large size allows for increased detail on the spaceframe. There's also plenty of ordnance it seems. Klavs was actually the person who spotted this and his art coincidentally served as the inspiration for this new iteration. It's been carefully designed so that the fuselage and fins can be independently printed and attached. You can download the files here. If you build one, be sure to send us pics!
F-95 Morningstar Heavy Fighter Variant (Wing Commander II)

This is my rendition of the heavy fighter, at 37cm long (about 1/72 scale) It was modeled similar to Adam Burch's (Klavs81) original version, but with some of my own customization.

The fuselage and fin parts should be printable in FDM in current orientation. However I would recommend resin printing for the engine parts & missiles. Assembly instructions are enclosed in the PDF file.

Please note that parts are aligned using pin holes.

Enhanced WC4 Video Adds Even More Detail, Plus Audio & Compression Fixes Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

We're excited to kick off a new week with another impressive enhanced Wing Commander 4 video release. Although at some point soon there are likely to be diminishing returns and the pace of new iterations will slow, ODVS has managed to crank out an even better looking package of the game's cutscenes. In this edition there's better character detail, improved CGI and restored audio aboard the Lexington. There's also just generally less compression visible and better handling of lower frame rate sections. All the clips are broken into two packages that are about four gigs each, and German/French versions are online too. If you're running a DVD edition of the game, such as the one available at GOG, all you have to do is unzip these in the VOB movie folder!

Note: Since publication, the downloads have been replaced with version 4.0.1. This repack fixes a number of issues in version 4.0.

Updates to this pack include:
  • New AI model retains/generates finer detail in faces/skin/hair/uniforms etc.
  • Better detail recreation in CGI scenes
  • Audio restored in the Lexington room transition scenes (props to @AD - I got the audio from his Holovids videos)
  • Entirely new AI method to fix low frame-rate sequences (Seether blowing up the Orlando Depot and approaching Blair for the final confrontation)
  • Overall higher quality video compression - I used a far slower process, but it reduced the amount of compression artefacts/image fidelity loss overall
I don't take the time to watch all four hours(!) of the footage back after rendering every version of the pack - so if any Wingnuts out there notice any glitches or oddities in the footage, please let me know and I'll address them and release patches. For example, I know there are a couple of videos that have wonky aspect ratios in the original DVD files (black bars to the left and right, etc.) but I don't know which ones they are without watching through EVERYTHING. If you spot anything like that, just let me know and I'll get it remedied :^)
You can also find WC3 and Prophecy clips in our archive.

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