[WIP]4xHi-res Sprites... and 4xHD?

[Mtzfire]

I'm only going to say this. We are making the sprites at a high resolution, hence the term "hi-res." I'm sorry but there is just no other word for it that's suitable. I don't plan to stop making these. GRANTED, they aren't as professional as IdSoftware could remake them, but they do allow you to see the sprites EXACTLY as the original do in a much higher clarity, and resolution.
-I can post some screenshots, if anyone wants, of the sprites in the game, they look good, in fact I made to for D.U., one showing the Demon in regular sprite, and the 'same' picture, but with Blox's demon being rendered. As a matter of fact, even 4xHQ didn't make the original sprite nearly as hi-quality as Blox's sprite, so that's just a little proof that they are indeed higher resolution.

I guess the only way to show how nice they look is to make a playthrough video with the sprites we have so far, so I'll make it soon...

Anyway, as I stated before I do like that "paint-overs" give you the 'mega' resolution, but as we are not IdSoftware, we can't do that and finish in our lifetime. See, we can actaully release a sprite pack without taking ages
-So the basic thing is: If you don't like them, don't download them, simple as that

EDIT: Here is my last bit of advice for "mega-HD" material. Contact Derek Yuhttp://www.derekyu.com/?p=376 If anyone can remake the sprites, he can. Just don't expect him to accept either, lol

[TheDoomGuy]

I'm only going to say this. We are making the sprites at a high resolution, hence the term "hi-res." I'm sorry but there is just no other word for it that's suitable. I don't plan to stop making these. GRANTED, they aren't as professional as IdSoftware could remake them, but they do allow you to see the sprites EXACTLY as the original do in a much higher clarity, and resolution.
-I can post some screenshots, if anyone wants, of the sprites in the game, they look good, in fact I made to for D.U., one showing the Demon in regular sprite, and the 'same' picture, but with Blox's demon being rendered. As a matter of fact, even 4xHQ didn't make the original sprite nearly as hi-quality as Blox's sprite, so that's just a little proof that they are indeed higher resolution.

Hey, yeah. Post dem screenies.

[Mtzfire]

Here is the original:

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Here is Blox's sprite:

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As you can see, the sprite does need HEAVY cleaning up, "smoothening." There's no problem, I can smoothen it easily, and well, I realize that people are the biggest say in this, so It'd be nice if someone volunteered to try out "smoothening them."
-AND remember, we're not making "high-end" graphics, here, we are just giving you the sprites at a higher resolution. No new detail, but rather how the original sprites are.
-Anyway, I am fully aware of the bugs, that is, his left eye, and some arm areas. We can fix that easily
Okay well I'll do some fixing and maybe show him animated, because I do know that it's the animations that really matter

EDIT: And YES, if you guys think some areas are too rough, not smooth, there's no problem in editing the sprites, I can do it.

[Blox]

You do realize that if we keep doing this to every hi-res sprite project thread, none of them will ever be released, right? You can't expect someone to replace hundreds of sprites with god-tier professional-quality sprites.

There goes the cold truth. This is Doom, the artistic requirements shouldn't be God/Top/Hightiernamegoeshere-tier when it comes to stuff like this. I'm not saying that accepting junk should be accepted though.
What I'm doing is trying to make some good-looking replacements for HQ4x sprites, as HQx wasn't made for sprites like DOOM's. But for (very)low-res pixel art/sprites. And as far as my personal judgement goes, I'd use my own sprites any day over HQ2x doom sprites. And again, this is DOOM - setting up a big team of GREAT artists is (next-to) impossible, as finding those artists is one hard task. Getting them to work and FINISH the sprites they were set to do, is a whole different story. (Sadly, the DHTP is an example of this, both in terms of requirements and artist problems.)

Not to mention, the 'team' we are at the moment, is me and Mtzfire. Both of us don't possess incredible image-editing software skills, and I don't have good artistic skills in general. When we feel like it (tm) also makes a big difference, as unlike the situation at SF:HD, we aren't some big artist company. That (most likely - no) have a lot of great artists, that have the PAID JOB of making those things. We make this in our spare time, and I hardly find time to work on this. As I both do some RL things, browse forums, and more forums. Play Skulltag a lot, and more.

And I'm the only one producing sets of sprites at the moment, so the stuff about monsters is pretty much a solo project. Which is one of my excuses for not spending days on the sprites. The second one is that I plan on making other monsters after the demon, so instead of having you wait months/years on a release, it'll probably be some months before I release a full demon set.. If I get myself to making the sprites, of course. (See Skulltag)


So yeah, this is DOOM. Either we do it, do it partially - or leave it as an unfinished nightmare for everyone that looked forward to it. (ZTerrainV2, and other things like that falls under the last category.)

[DBThanatos]

Agreed, and I'll say it again, I like this project. Might not be "vader" quality, but being realistic, vader quality re-sprites is never going to be done.

[Caligari87]

Out of curiousity Vader, how much would finishing a single sprite be to you, in terms of money? Maybe if we all made it worth his while to finish them, payment on a sprite-by-sprite basis...

[phi108]

Even if we paid him, he's only one guy. Now if we paid him, Eriance, JustinC, DoomJedi, and all you other artists, then progress would be fast.

But anyway, I also like this project. The demon looks better than any HQNX/ScaleNX filters, so if you can keep the original style of everthing while adding better teeth , good luck.

[Mtzfire]

Thanks everyone. Now, I did say we can make these in short time, so I promise the next time I post I will have fresh, new material
-Also, when we have enough sprites, I'll make a test map to show the sprites in gameplay footage

EDIT: One last thing. Yes, Blox and I are very busy outside of the project. The only reason I can make alot is because I am working with decore rather than monsters. I can promise sprites MYSELF, but the monsters depend on Blox. I'll try my best to start making those after the decore

[Per-Scan]

I fully agree with all the pragmatic statements being made here. If we scoff at projects like this then we'll never have real alternatives. And, you never know, maybe if there was a proliferation of 'two-man team' projects (no offence guys!) it might be a catalyst for the creation of these holy grail sprites everyone wants but no one can make!

I'm pretty interested to see how this turns out and I wish you guys the best of luck!

[Amuscaria]

Even if you paid all the artists on here, progress of drawing/editing the high-res sprites would be painfully slow. Doom sprites only look good given their resolution, raise the resolution and more detail will have to be added, which makes it many times harder to make consistent from frame to frame, not to mention from person to person. Most people would probably give up after about 10 frames at 4x. If these were anime-style sprites, it' would be a different story (although it would still take very long).

Someone(s) with decent Zbrush or Blender's sculpting plug-in is the best bet at making all the Doom2 monsters at high res, then have the other 2D artists touch them up.

[SamVision]

Make 3D models, take a picture, touch them up

Exactly what I was thinking. It has been done MANY times before in other games.

[Blox]

And there's the problem, I haven't seen anyone regularly available that possesses such skills.

TeaMonster is one, but he usually disappears for months and months (And make stuff for other things too). I haven't seen other ZBrushers around here.
So the easiest way around is also the hardest in this situation.. heh

[Mtzfire]

I think it'd be best to stop this discussion. We ALL know that renderings from high-poly DOOM models are the only fast way to get 'super' hi-res sprites, but instead of saying it over and over, it's be best to wait for someone to say they'll do it.
ALSO: Yes, Hi-Poly DOOM models have been made, BUT they've been abandoned, because the 'authors' have more important matters, and by that I ONLY mean that they have to do work for their jobs and such, so they can't spend their time distributing freeware.
-There are 2 Hi-Poly models out there, an Imp, and a Demon. NOW: If you'd like to contact them (authors), I can search for the models again.
-But for the sake of this thread, it's clear that at the moment this won't be done, well, I know anyone can start already, but it will be long before 1 hi-poly model is complete.
Anyway,

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Yes I know of the models being worked on in DRD, but the 2 models I'm talking about are MUCH more hi-poly. I'll see if I can track them down...

[Spleen]

If these were anime-style sprites, it' would be a different story (although it would still take very long).

A shame nobody ever did an anime-style game for the ID Tech 1 or Build engine, back when it was cutting-edge tech. It was a much better fit for those kinds of graphics than PSX/N64-era 3D engines, IMO.

Maybe they couldn't figure out how to get light-hearted graphics into an FPS; for some reason, most games with those kinds of graphics were (especially at that time) third-person/top-down/side-scrolling.

I think it'd be best to stop this discussion. We ALL know that renderings from high-poly DOOM models are the only fast way to get 'super' hi-res sprites, but instead of saying it over and over, it's be best to wait for someone to say they'll do it.
ALSO: Yes, Hi-Poly DOOM models have been made, BUT they've been abandoned, because the 'authors' have more important matters, and by that I ONLY mean that they have to do work for their jobs and such, so they can't spend their time distributing freeware.
-There are 2 Hi-Poly models out there, an Imp, and a Demon. NOW: If you'd like to contact them (authors), I can search for the models again.
-But for the sake of this thread, it's clear that at the moment this won't be done, well, I know anyone can start already, but it will be long before 1 hi-poly model is complete.
Anyway,

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Yes I know of the models being worked on in DRD, but the 2 models I'm talking about are MUCH more hi-poly. I'll see if I can track them down...

High-polyness doesn't matter if the artistic quality of the model sucks. Is it better than this: http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/5 ... age-heavy/ ?

[Mtzfire]

It's not textured yet But it is higher in poly count, and yes, the hi-polyness does matter if you want to make sprites at a high resolution, because the higher the poly count, the less blocky it will be, the less pointy tips you'll have. It'd be best to make models without any point tips in joints at all. It allows you to make GIANT sprites, for full quality, rather than shrinking them down to make them look less pointy at edges.
-And that's the model I referred to as being in DRD, as it was posted there too Anyway, since those models are not abandoned ,that is, those in DRD, I will get them, I do think they're great
-Seriously though, I can't guess how much longer models will be brought up again and again...