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Apparently that was astoundingly difficult for them to do. I wonder if RS models are still animated by [tries not to gag] stretching the tris rather than... you know... rigging them, because a properly rigged model would mean that even timing-precise lip sync like this example wouldn't be a gruelling task.
To clarify, the difficulty wasn't in creating the animations, but the content development side of cutscene composition, camera work, timing the action to the music, getting the lyrics to appear at an appropriate time.
We commissioned a singing idle animation and a second to trigger as needed for flourishes. We didn't go as far as creating unique lip synced animations for each voiced line. If you got the impression we did, that's a good sign!
Shout out to Mod Zura for creating the musical finale and especially his epic camera work.
My contribution came in tuning the timing to make the most of what we had (especially later when the voiced track became available) and getting obsessively perfectionistic about trivial details.
Is this a hold up for the newcharacter player models too: incorporating the new models into all of the quest cutscenes? bc I'd be fine if old models were used in cutscenes if it meant we got to walk around and play with updated models sooner.
I can't say that's a notable obstacle for it. The initial hurdle to get over is the new player avatar and all the potential equipment that can be layered on it, which spans twenty years of varying graphical fidelity.
In the meantime, we have been making use of the new human base for newly created human NPCs where viable (eg Adrasteia, Moia).
By commisioned, does this mean you’re outsourcing your graphics/player models works these days? As opposed to asking the graphics department to make it? (Legit question as comissioning something to me and many others implies having another company do it)
We use a hybrid model. Some assets are outsourced, and some are done in-house, depending on the expertise required and production needs / staff availability.
IIRC Adrasteia's singing animations were created by one of our in-house animators, so I admittedly made a mis-leading statement.
Thank you for engaging with the community. I know it can be difficult sometimes given all the... "passionate" feedback people can often make. I'm sure I speak for a lot of people when I say we appreciate you guys for keeping our favorite game alive.
<3!