StarCraft First Contact

[Freespace-3DT]

Hey everyone!

It's been a long long time since I've posted an animation here, mostly because the stuff I did came with an NDA attached and I couldn't show it. However, I can finally show everyone this latest project.

Presenting, StarCraft First Contact:

HD Youtube Stream

If there are StarCraft fans among you, some of you might have noticed this popping up around the fansites last week. I did this cinematic for Starcraft Legacy. The voice actor is my friend and collaborator Phillip Sacramento.

It's an intro to the storyline in the first StarCraft, taking place 4 days before the single player campaign begins. It might be a bit confusing for people not intimate with StarCraft lore, but it should still be fun to watch.

I hope you enjoy it as much as the community has enjoyed it so far. Comments are welcome.

[LostSoul]

Very cool.

If there was anything that stood out it would be when the cruisers engage the carrier, the weapons fire looks overlayed and super-imposed. An incidental hit or two on the drones as they launched would have done a lot to add depth to the shot.

[TekNeek]

This is insane, man!

5*

[Rip_shot]

very nice visuals, everything was reconizable to the starcraft counterpart, my only complaint is scale, the whole thing felt so very small, and with the fighters being the size they are it definitly dosn't help the scale

otherwise its pretty cool to watch, good stuff, not crazy about starcraft myself, but I agree, entertaining to watch none-the-less

[neokyubi]

wooooow finally some animations from you again freespace
i enjoyed the video ^^

[Freespace-3DT]

LostSoul: Thanks, it's true some interaction with the interceptors would have added more. At that moment, I was trying to show how unbeatable the Gantrithor is, and I wasn't planning on having some of its interceptors taken out.

TekNeek: Glad you like it!

Rip_Shot: I really messed around with scale for a while, but I wanted the interceptors to be noticeable from a distance, not just tiny blue pixels. Any idea what else I could have done to support scale?

neokyubi: Hell, it was about time, right?

[Star_Scream]

Yeah finally a new animation from you Freespace

I like the special effects and huge blast from one spaceship but i have one question, how did you the transparent wave which comes out of the ship when it explodes at 1:23 minutes?

[Freespace-3DT]

You can try two things to get a distortion pulse.

First, you can animate a Torus in 3dsmax, and apply transparent refractive material to it. This way it will distort the background, as it expands.

Second, you can simply use controlled distortions in post-production, by distorting footage through the use of masks ( separate render passes, that are black and white, and tell the program where to distort and where not to ).

[Star_Scream]

Thanks Freespace, your first tip is really easy that I didn't think of it to make just a torus

[Tank[NL]]

great work man. cool to see you got your own studio. your signature pic also make more sense now

the only thing about the animation was the expression on the marine when he looks at the protoss beam. seems to me that when you're looking at something that bright, you'd scrunge up your face a lot more, if you get my meaning.

other then that, it was awesome.

[Freespace-3DT]

Star_Scream: Sometimes the simplest stuff is the right choice.

Tank: I did try to scrunge it up, but I think I was too shy with it. I'm going to be a bit more agressive with facial expressions for future cinematics, that's for sure.


By the way, there's an editorial about the cinematic, here: http://sclegacy.com/editorials/34-ge...-first-contact - it's got a nice backstory for the cinematic and a couple of interviews. Makes a good read while sipping your morning coffee ( or corn flakes )

[Tank[NL]]

fun read indeed. except i had midnight coffee...

[Freespace-3DT]

Is that healthy?

[Antediluvia]

Very very well done, I only have two complaints about it though:

First of all, the interceptors seemed very slow compared to what I remember when using them in Starcraft, so it was just odd seeing them so slow. And secondly, I wasn't a big fan of the sound in space, though I can understand why you guys included it in there.

[dopefish]

Awesome