Xterra's Critique Thread (No.2)

[NDraxian0]

Sometimes... you know what I've lose what I typed here once, and its not all that important in this case, so I'll go straight to the helping.

The real issue with a tetrahedral shape is the strange angle all the prongs are from each other (About 109.47 degrees). Sprite wise this means the the bottoms of the frontal lower crystal prongs should face the viewer more. If you were to wireframe it, you should see something like a hexagon on those bottom points rather than a line.

[DragonZero]

Xet, I think your Sprites may actually be TOO Fluent in their Pulsating Light animations to be Capcom Quality. XD
I have to admit, I'm pretty jealous.
Although I think 'Drax has a point. If you're going for the Shape I'm visualizing, try shaping the Crystal a bit more like a Ninja's Caltrop, if you've ever seen one.

[SmellyDeadHobo]

These are really cool man. I like the armor transforming alot. I also like the Kangaroo.

[DragonZero]

I am too a fan of the Kangaroo, although I must say, Hypnotic, Flashing, Glowing, Pulsing Lights aside...
......
>_>
*Shakes Head*

Lights aside, his Design seems somewhat Plain. Try giving him Vents, Blades, Gems, that sort of MegaMan stuff. Besides, I bet doing a Glow/Light effect for a Gem or Crystal would look awesome too.

[Xterra]

@DZ: The caltrops actually helped somewhat. Tron ni Kobun never showed all the different angles of the Golden Refractor (That's Capcom's name for it, but I prefer trifractor because it seems more catchy). With the caltrop I can possibly visualize many of those missing sides...although...the general shape of the trifractor is also a problem, because they're very sharp gem angles instead of spikes like on the caltrop.

As for MegaKangaroo, I'll definitely consider making a better armor design. I agree that right now his design is very bland, and that's mainly due to the fact that I spent so long trying to sprite a Kangaroo in Zx style much like Capcom does the animal-creatures we know as pseuderoids. Now that I have the general shape of the Kangaroo perfected, I can "armorize" him.

@Ndraxian: I'll try angling the frontal-lower refractors closer to the monitor. Right now I'm unsure of how I'm going to bend the refractor shape to be at a different angle, but I'm definitely going to try and get it pointed at us more.

Also, was the last update an improvement on the design/shape of it all? I was hoping that the new lower refractors on the trifractor was an improvement compared to the very flat and unrealistic ones from before.

(EDIT)-@Ndraxian: How's this?:

Obviously not perfect, and I'm working on it, but I fixed some of the shading on the wrong-angled lower refractors as well as angling new lower refractors towards the screen as suggested.

Banana-shape aside, I think I finally fixed the angle problem. Now I just have to sharpen the points so they're no longer as round around the edges. That way it'll appear more like a refractor as the first one did.

Are there any problems with the sprite? Please critique.

Oh yeah, and I might as well mention that this refractor is named the "Golden Refractor" in Tron ni Kobun, but because I am unsure if the shape of the refractor exists elsewhere I'll just continue referring to it as "Trifractor".

Once I fix this refractor I'm going to make "Diana's Tear".

[turpinator]

Ooooh! I can't wait to see Diana's Tear done. I couldn't help on the Trifactor issues, since I don't know what they wanted in an angle. But I can wish you luck in doing it right.

[NDraxian0]

Not quite... The Bottom tip needs to face the viewer more. You should almost be able to see the opposite side of main hexagonal "tube" (Or shaft?)
You should see an edge as well.

[Xterra]

Gosh it's been a while. And sorry Ndraxian; but I've practically given up on that refractor. I may return to it again one day if my desire for Tron Ni Kobun is reawakened. Same goes for Diana's Tear that I was supposed to sprite next... (sorry Turp')

I am almost ready to make daily sprite updates in my thread again. And since I did in fact sprite the eyes in my new Avatar, as well as the text saying "Neo Xterra", I thought I might as well post it here for you to see separate from under my username:



There you have it, the eyes I sprited. Any critique? :P

[lern]

Looks very niceh. Especially in the avatar. :P

But isnt the lightest skin tone too light? Yes it fits, but uh... I 'unno.

[Xterra]

Yes, the lightest shade on his skin happens to be white; or at least nearly white. But it didn't concern me to make the skin any darker because it looked fine, just as you mentioned. I think the main problem isn't the skin shade itself, but by the fact it is surrounded by a deep shade of red, and very dark grey metal. Which would obviously make it look odd...

...which is only more complicated by the fact the background color in my avatar is black. XD

[Hidden Fun Stuff]

And... Xterra's back spriting. And now the world is bright once more.

I can't see any flaws in those eyes, except that they seem to be taking bits of my soul with their infinite depth. Which isn't a sprite problem so much as my own problem. Awesome job, as usual.

[Xterra]

It makes me happy to hear that...in a weird sort of way. Thanks.

Anyway, just to set the record straight; I did not sprite any of what you are about to see. Model Marino was created by Jace, and everything else was made by Capcom. The only reason I'm showing it here is because I organized the animation, rather quickly, for Jace.

Here it is:

 click to show

It's sort of an inside joke between me and Jace. Cookie for anyone who gets it (as in, what it's making fun of), and a -1 cookie for anyone who mentions what it's about and spoils the fun of guessing for everyone else. XD

Feel free to tell me what you think of it though. I enjoy critique, quite a lot.

[Jace]

Everytime I see that a smile creeps on my face. I love what you did with Jace Xet. I really hope people get what's going on, just the idea of it is hilarious! Thanks once again.

[Xterra]

You are very welcome. I thoroughly enjoyed making the animation, and although I didn't really laugh or smile while putting it together, everytime it plays in your sig I smile as well. For some reason it just doesn't get old to watch. :P

It was a painful hour to piece together, but the 110 frames payed off in the end. Still wish I could have made it longer though. The original version right before I cut off the last two frames (it was 112 right before I sent it to you) had dialog between Ashe and Jace, which is why you see the dialog box open up. But I found it so much more funny to end the clip with her shocked expression than having her yell at Jace for what he did.

The original version right before the final cut said this:

Originally Posted by Ashe

Why the heck would you do something so ridiculously stupid?! There is absolutely no reason for this silly behavior!

Originally Posted by Jace

Oh, whoops! It looks like I landed in the wrong game. Sorry for all the trouble I caused. I promise it won't happen again.

As you can tell, I think the final version turned out much funnier without either person saying anything at all. :P

It also makes the loop of the animation less boring. Because your imagination can tag on any sort of conversation after the end. If you already knew what they were going to say, before they did so, it would get boring much quicker. Having a simple sprint-and-explosion loop worked out best.

My favorite part is when Jace slows down. Pay close attention to the legs. That's not an optical illusion. I actually onion-layered his sprint frames individually so that his movements were blurred due to his speed.

And I too hope that people get the joke.

[Hidden Fun Stuff]

Let's see here. EDIT REPOST

Mocking Slash Beast? In ZXA Style? MADNESS! Because this is... not Sparta. *kick?*

Anyway, I love the animation. X4 remains my favorite Megaman game, so it was kinda easy for me to tell what you were poking fun at.

[Xterra]

*sigh* It seems you hadn't read what I said. -1 cookie for you for getting it right, and spoiling it for the others. Yes, it is in fact mocking Slash Beast. That's why there's a train, a crate that gets destroyed, and Jace running beside the train at ridiculous speeds. It's quite obvious when you put it all together.

But anyway; the fact that you could tell what it was is a good sign. It means there's still hope in the world, and that people haven't so quickly forgotten how awesome X4 was. That's one of the reasons I really enjoyed making the animation. Because X4 was the first Mm game I ever played. I'm glad that you like it Hellfire'.

(EDIT)- You didn't have to remove what you wrote. You already said it, and I already responded to it. You might as well put the information back into your post. There was really no reason to remove it after my response.

If I had responded with something along the lines of "Hey! Don't do that! Remove that immediately!", then you'd have a reason to. But you don't, so I'd like it if you put your post back where it belongs. Please? :P

[Hidden Fun Stuff]

Oh, alright. (Offtopic)- You must be invisible, because you ARE responding but are "not" online.

I guess it's what we'd call "The cat's out of the bag," huh?

[Xterra]

Or perhaps I'm just logging in and out too fast for you to notice me being online? No; I am in fact invisible. And I appreciate you restoring your post.

I live for the critique, which is why I come here. It's the only way I can improve my skills. If no one responds in my thread, and if no one notices my work here on SpritesInc., then what was the point of coming here? If I'm not going to get feedback and help, I might as well do all my spriting alone, and keep my projects away from everyone's eyes.

But no; I do not do this. I come out specifically to gain attention. :P It's why I have a sprite thread, it's why I post sprites. The only way you can really upset me; is by taking good critique and removing it from here. XD

And I would appreciate it if people at least tried to critique my work. Even if you think you can't critique something so perfect (in your opinion), you'd be surprised how the smallest comment of something not quite perfect can help me in hunting down a proper solution. Any attempt at all with critique is welcome. Anything. So please help me improve my sprites with proper critique, and I'll continue to do so in everyone else's threads so that they too can find what they need to improve.

Basically, that's how this entire forum runs. All based on improving one's self.

(EDIT)- Oh, and I will have another sprite in about 2 days or so...Like I said towards the top of the page when I released the eyes from my avatar; I'm not ready to do daily sprite updates yet. About every two to three days I'll have something to show, but not much more than that. Please be patient. In a short while I'll be able to get back into making an update every day.

[Xterra]

*sigh* You guys dissapoint me. One day and the thread is already dead again. ;_; Do I honestly have to make a sprite update every single day to keep your attention? If that's the case, here's a glimpse at one of my projects:



Based off this movie. I was originally spriting him in an animation for Drei's Relatively Large Pixel Contest. But I never got it done, no one ever entered anything to that contest, and it died swiftly. So, pushed by the fact you guys need some daily dose of updates to keep you interested, I'm continuing the project.

The outline version on the left was what I made for Drei's contest, and the one on the right is what I sprited today. On top of all that, I shaded the entire pixel art and fixed up minor shading mistakes while listening to this song...on repeat...for about 4-6 hours. :P

Before anyone asks; Yes, I want to animate Master's dancing fully. The sprite was fully scratched, and I only take credit for the sprite I made. I do not take credit for Master's drawn dancing poses, nor do I claim any credit for the movie on Youtube. Only the sprite I made based off of the movie. To make certain I wasn't stealing anything, I had contacted BBD during the time Drei's contest was still open, and there weren't issues. So please no one think that I'm trying to claim the original movie as my own. I'm just making it down into sprite form...because I'm bored, and appearantly so are you. :P

Please tell me what you think. Especially if you think it's worth me animating it.

[Fuzion Phoenix]

Master. Dancing. to Caramelledansen?!!!!
This is MADNESS!