Animondays - The Ebb and Flow of Magic

Using After Effects ‘Caustics’ to make Wisps of Energy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgCjvX2637I&feature=channel_video_title
from Elemental Forums

Greetings,

Just a short entry this week, since I’m working on cutscenes, which need to stay under-wraps for a while.

One of the shots you’ll be seeing when FE hits 1.0 involves...GASP...shards of magic ;)  One polish points I wanted to pull off was to have the magic from the crystals wisp off and either dissipate or come back to to the shard.

I got pretty close to this effect at a different time when playing with ‘caustics’: the simulation of water refraction. It took around 5 tries, but I think I got the effect looking less like soap and more like flowing magic, all while keeping within the art style.

 

Keep in mind that this is only a small part of the scene, but these are the cool little effects that we’re giving more attention to in FE, making the overall presentation more polished.

I’ll try to have something more action-packed for next weeks animation journal :)

 

183,892 views 34 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Seriously looking forward to FE coming out. We are still looking at a Fall 2011 release right?

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

I'm hoping for a 2013 release myself... more time to make it sweet before release.

Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

I have one request for animations in FE, namely, in the UI, make the spellbook pages turn in a magical way, with glitter and shiny sparkly stuff. It would make it feel more mystical :)

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

relmich: Last I heard, but Brad is pretty committed to letting this one cook as long as necessary. We will have a Beta period though, so you'll be able to play feature complete sandbox games for a while before FE goes 'Gold'.

Quoting unacomn, reply 3
I have one request for animations in FE, namely, in the UI,
  This is on my wish list as well...the static state of the UI does more to dampen the mood than most people would realize (IMHO).

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

I am all for the "when it's ready" approach.  I am just anxious to get my hands on it.  After a few rounds of WOM, I get more and more anxious to see what has changed in FE.  Most notably the Tactical Battle changes (IMHO the biggest need for improvement in WOM).

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

I'm for the "when it's ready" approach, but a beta doesn't have to be 100% ready.

 

If FE is going to take a long time to go into beta, then 1.3 needs to be a way to keep WOM interest alive as much as possible.  (1.2 didsn't have enough new stuff to hold my interest, though it was necessary)

 

 

 

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Agree on the tactical battle changes.  I look forward to them the most (although I am a sucker for animation/3d art goodies).

 

I love Ani-mondays..  Thanks!

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Nicely done!

Thanks for sharing!

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

Ffffffff... now I'm :drool: that was very awesome and nice, can't wait to see more and I definitely can't wait now. I wanna see what the final product will look like. If there is a beta I'm already gonna be ready and on board XD

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

Wow, this looks really good. I was kind of hoping that FE would have a slightly darker look to it- from what I've seen so far (which is just a little, so I might be wrong), this looks to be the case?

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

I wonder what the system requirements are.  My once high end machine is now low and maybe too slow. X(

Reply #12 from Elemental Forums Top

It will likely be made with low end machines in mind but also have high-end specs as well for those of us who can afford computers like that lol

Reply #13 from Elemental Forums Top

I think that they said at one point that only a new Pixel Shader version would be required. Which I took to mean, the requirements will be very similar, but not identical.

Reply #14 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting BoogieBac, reply 4
This is on my wish list as well...the static state of the UI does more to dampen the mood than most people would realize (IMHO).

Totally agree.

Fluff is good, embrace the fluff. :D

Reply #15 from Elemental Forums Top

The final cut looks nice and lava-lamp-ish. Was that what you were attempting to mimic? Still seems somewhat muted to me, somewhat this-worldly and not quite transcendent enough. Might I suggest smoking a lot more dope? (Do you actually smoke any dope at all? Please, try some, try quite a bit.)

Reply #16 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting onomastikon, reply 15
Was that what you were attempting to mimic?
  Yeah, I was going for a subtle 'solar-flare' type of magical arcing across the shards. It's still not perfect, but at least at this point I'm not fighting the numbers, I'm just playing with the refraction map.

And your dope suggestion has been 'duely noted' ;)

Reply #18 from Elemental Forums Top

Eh, it's like those method actors..."Anything for the performance!"

And it may be the only way to get those 'Pink Space Ponies' that players ask for into a Stardock game  :)

Reply #19 from Elemental Forums Top

Take 1 was a little goofy, but I like it because it looks like the magic has a mind of its own. Very mysterious.

Reply #20 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting LightofAbraxas, reply 10
I was kind of hoping that FE would have a slightly darker look to it- from what I've seen so far (which is just a little, so I might be wrong), this looks to be the case?
  For sure...making a deliberate step towards a darker tone.  Many of our cutscenes are loosly based on the 'feel' of this painting Leo did for fun...

Love this pict so much :)

Reply #21 from Elemental Forums Top

lol is that the Kraxis emperor I see there!?

Reply #22 from Elemental Forums Top

I like the solar flare idea. Still looks a tiny teeny bit soapy to me in take 5because occasionally two "flares" combine into one "soap bubble", but it's nothing too serious. I really like the fact that you're focusing much more on presentation.

Here's one more player who would really wish for a more animated UI.

Reply #23 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting BoogieBac, reply 18
Eh, it's like those method actors..."Anything for the performance!"

And it may be the only way to get those 'Pink Space Ponies' that players ask for into a Stardock game 
Oh man it would be totally awesome to get pink space ponies as an event. Like, a meteor falls and its full of pink ponies with fairy wings, and you can use them instead of normal horses and they're better, but if you use them then eventually they'll pupate and then their final form will be shoggoths or something horrifying

Reply #24 from Elemental Forums Top

This is F*CKIN SWEET, oh & are these the ponies Lord Xia's been askin for the last 1/2 a year, he may have to change his pants

Reply #25 from Elemental Forums Top

Very cool stuff.

EFE is going to look awesome methinks.