Episode #0425 (18 June 2017)

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VegettoEX
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Episode #0425 (18 June 2017)

Post by VegettoEX » Mon Jun 19, 2017 1:51 pm

Episode #0425 (download MP3) (rss feed) (subscribe in iTunes) (YouTube version) (SoundCloud version)
37:04; 96 kbps, mono; 25.6 MB

Episode #0425! Mike, Ryan, and Josh preview "Dragon Ball FighterZ", the new fighting game coming in 2018 from Arc System Works. Based on the E3 demo, how is the game feeling so far, and what is it doing to separate itself from previous franchise entries? A tease of new and forthcoming website content rounds out the episode!

SEGMENTS:
00:13 - Introduction (what's on deck + "FighterZ" introduction)
03:37 - Topic ("FighterZ" announcement, E3 hands-on preview, etc.)
30:37 - Episode wrap-up (brief news recap and website content teases)

REFERENCED SITES:
(Yeah, I said "... week of June 19th" with the 19th being a Monday instead of Sunday but I'm in no particular mood to wait until later to be able to re-record a stupid date spoken aloud at the beginning of the file SO HERE WE GO FOLKS!)
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KBABZ
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Re: Episode #0425 (18 June 2017)

Post by KBABZ » Mon Jun 19, 2017 6:16 pm

Great episode! Nice to have another episode to jam to.

On the subject of FighterZ's animation, from what I can tell it's using a technique called "Stepped Animation". Rather than moving through each animation key in a smooth arc with Spline Animation (which is what's normally used in 3D Animation), Stepped Animation results in the character "popping" from one pose to the next. At the same time, the "world" movement of a character moving through space, such as flying through the air or walking forward, is done at the normal frame rate and appears much smoother, as does the camera. This helps it get to that anime animation look where the characters are animated at 12fps but the movement of the cells themselves (like in panning shots) is at 24fps.

Using Stepped Animation allows Arc System Works to tailor the character lighting for each animation frame that helps really nail that flatter, simpler 2D look, rather than the more broadly generic lighting seen in titles like Xenoverse.

Spline Animation: Image

Stepped Animation: Image

These are actually techniques very similar to what Animal Logic used for The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman movie to mimic stop-motion animation in CG!

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