Battle of the Bands - EQ style

[toddfx]

Some of you may remember seeing my EQ fan art thread a while back, and perhaps a few might even recall me saying I had something new in the works. Well 8 months later I've finally found the time to complete it. Actually, I could easily spend another X number of hours/days/weeks/months fixing errors and improving it, but I decided to just call it finished and release it now.

I'll save the long explanation and just let you witness it for yourself.

http://toddfx.com/eq_bands.html

It will open in a new window:
http://toddfx.com/img/bands_thumb.jpg (http://toddfx.com/eq_bands.html)

I originally intended to make it much longer, like a true battle of the bands, but yeah I came to realize that isn't going to happen!

[leefyg]

+1

[Twig]

Man this is awesome :O

[Auvdar]

I about died laughing when the elf comes out busting the Zelda theme. Freaking awesome!

[Tombom]

I think this is my first serious post on these forums, well done sir, well done.


Crushbone metal band is pretty legit

[AffEcT]

hahahaha! Awesome!

[bakkily]

lol wow, all of this was awesome!

[purist]

This rules.

[purist]

Somebody reward this man with an in-game title and/or guise for this video.

[baub]

wp

[Pyrocat]

Could not stop laughing for the last 30 seconds of that video. Was that DJ Durison Darkleaf Dark Ascension spinnin up beats with a DE guise?

[Zereh]

LOL omg That dwarf could really shred on his axe ... hahaah

Thank you!

[Spud]

I can't get the video to load for some reason right now but I'm laughing my ass off just at the initial image of the troll on drums, barb on guitar, and erudite on bass.

[Swishahouse]

Todd this is absolutely outstanding! The way you added so much animation to the models was incredible! Could you give us some insights into what software you used to make this all happen? Again, I think you wholeheartedly -- this is AMAZING!!!

[lilyanna]

Lol that is so good !

[Francois]

Erudite on bass? that's gotta be racist.

J/K that was a amazing.

[Aadill]

Erudite on bass

EFB :(

[Estu]

This is pretty great.

[Felwithemagi]

A+, would waste time at work watching again.

[Dr4z3r]

That was amaaaaaazing!

[Malrubius]

/salute

[nalkin]

:eek: /clap /clap

[xshayla701]

Best thing ever...

[Uaellaen]

awesome, all i can say! great work!!

[FaranCleric]

Well done! Hilarious!

[Archival]

Sticky it!
Awesome!

[andvarion]

Man this is awesome. What is the DE song? All the others are actually songs from games/movies, so I assume the DE song is from something as well?

[visage]

That was cute. You really need to make one with vocal acting. Thanks for sharing man made me laugh and smile. Darkelf one btw was hottt

[Slave]

I have to say that this goes up there with the best of the EQ videos... I mean of all time. This will probably be my Fette's Vette now for EQ.

[Orov]

epicly done. 10 gold stars for you

[Ihealyou]

I just laughed like an idiot at work.

[Nial]

Wow that is just awesome!

[XiakenjaTZ]

Very impressive.

[Silentone]

amazing, very well done man

[hedbonker]

Stunning work. You are a truly dedicated artist sir!

[leefyg]

I'm sorry but there are too many positive reactions in this thread, please move along to whining, hating and predicting the end of p99. Nothing to see here.

[jballe3]

well done sir, i dig the cb band and the elf shreddin zelda lol

[Noser]

This is great. lols

[nalkin]

In this dark hour, with the server crumbling through our hands, our friends and allies betraying us with every step, one man has stepped up to unite the community. A short unassuming video could possibly be everything we need to come together again as one, and Toddfx has done that and more. I say we martyr him for the sins of all that has happened, and all that will happen. Someone go get the cross..... /cry.....

[Skope]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DughsAW9vn0

[mokfarg]

Loved it!

[toddfx]

Thanks a ton for all the feedback guys!

LOL nalkin, that is awesome, thanks for that. The recently lack of positive energy around these parts is largely why I chose to release it right now. Otherwise I likely would of drawn it out another 2+ months fixing all the imperfections I see in it.

I started this in January, and it is now of course September. I'd estimate I put about 40 hours into it, maybe less, though probably more. I've wanted to animate EQ characters (or any characters in general, really) playing music since Live. The original thought that inspired all of this was a cyclopes singing Dread Zeppelin's cover of "Viva Las Vegas" in PoK. No clue.

Anyway, I'm at work right now but I'll follow up with some more insights later on. Thanks again guys, glad you're enjoying it!

[Diggles]

brilliant

[Cheech]

This is freaking amazing. Some really cool shit!

[k1n0]

So Epically, Amazing!!! I Cryed and Laughed and it was awesome bro ! :O

[Ingrum]

Very, very, very, awesome! Thanks for putting the effort in and sharing this toddfx!

[fuark]

Lmao most productive minute of my day

[citizen1080]

Toddfx for prez

[Galacticus]

Awesome! Curious to know what program you used for it all =D

[bakkily]

i'm guessing 3dsmax because it would be more compatable with the eq char files, the actual name i forgot, i prefer maya myself, but max just allows a easy biped to attach to the polys, after that you just animate each frame, and render, good work btw!

[Pyrocat]

Awesome! Curious to know what program you used for it all =D

I believe he talks about it and his process more in this thread (http://www.project1999.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18950).

[Irris]

awesome video, would watch again:D

[bakkily]

pyro you are correct, i havnt worked with the program he uses, well max/maya both are big time 3d programs that cost big bucks to use, but yea i have worked with something similar to what he's using, but was another .extension of maya, a plugin is the correct word, but yea i did a video along time ago and a certain game i liked a lvl, so would let the program render all geometry into real time, big process, he probally knows what im talking about, but if you're an artist, enjoy drawing/painting ect, id say get into 3d animation, even if for a hobby its fun

[Irris]

super good job!

[Kyrus]

Well done sir. You deserve a lap dance by a dark elf.

[Khurak]

/thank
Very nice

[falkun]

That was awesome!

[Anger]

This is totally sweet. Nice work!

[Slathar]

I think this may be the first positive thing I've said on these forums:

That was really cool and I hope you make more stuff like this.

[Extunarian]

I'm glad that dwarves and orcs could finally be united in their love for the tetris song.

+1 on a custom title for toddfx's main.

[casdegere]

Wow, wicked awesome!

[Sickle]

HAHA, Love the club scene with Dark Elfs. Great job

[toddfx]

Yeah I use 3D Studio Max. It's easy to rig and animate a character using their CAT (Character Animation Toolkit) system.

If you are not familiar with 3D animation, here is the gist of it: You begin by essentially adding a skeleton to the limbs of a character, allowing you to animate the rotation and position of each bone. For each bone, you then place "keyframes" (which contain rotation and position data) along a timeline to establish the desired movement over time. I'll post some screenshots and maybe a video of the software and my setup.

To capture the geometry from the game, I use a tool called 3D Ripper DX. It monitors DirectX data that is flowing through the graphics card and records it. You can then import that data into Max and also Maya.

[Bardalicious]

I fucking love you for this.

Crushbone death metal band was amazing <3 the dwarf.

[guineapig]

Man this is awesome. What is the DE song? All the others are actually songs from games/movies, so I assume the DE song is from something as well?

I feel like it's from Castlevania SotN, but it's been years since I played it.


---------------------------------

Nice to see one thing that everyone can agree on, great job man!

[nymphloa]

veRY WELL DONE Man...just what the forums need lately

[toddfx]

Anybody else want to take a guess at the song that is in the Dark Elf scene before I spill the beans?

Hint: it is a remix

[Diggles]

Oi, spill the beans already!

[Arrisard]

Anybody else want to take a guess at the song that is in the Dark Elf scene before I spill the beans?

Hint: it is a remix

No idea what song it is specifically, but, they made the All Your Base song out of it :3

[casdegere]

It sounds like a heavily remixed, EQ theme to be honest

[Ingrum]

I believe it's the remixed Zero Wing introduction theme originally composed by Tatsuya Uemura.

As to which specific remix, I've no clue. =P

[Bardalicious]

I believe it's the remixed Zero Wing introduction theme originally composed by Tatsuya Uemura.

As to which specific remix, I've no clue. =P

I think you are spot on. Was bugging the hell out of me where I knew that from heh.

[Mythic]

So awesome...


Mythic

[Butcher]

Very job sir.

[toddfx]

Yup it's a YouTube remix of the Zero Wing intro, but where I really know it from is the All Your Base Are Belong To Us (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qItugh-fFgg) video. I'm specifically referencing the internet meme, so I guess technically the song used here is a remix of a remix.

I've been trying to track down the YouTube clip where I got this particular remix, but can't seem to find it right now. Shame on me for not posting the credit for that sooner, or even having it on hand...

[Ravhin]

Oh the gnomes. Beautiful piece of work man

[guineapig]

Yup it's a YouTube remix of the Zero Wing intro, but where I really know it from is the All Your Base Are Belong To Us (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qItugh-fFgg) video. I'm specifically referencing the internet meme, so I guess technically the song used here is a remix of a remix.

I've been trying to track down the YouTube clip where I got this particular remix, but can't seem to find it right now. Shame on me for not posting the credit for that sooner, or even having it on hand...

Ugh, I should have realized I've heard that more recently than my PS1 days.
So ashamed...

[Athosblack]

That was class dude. The gnomes made me LOL at work. Keep it coming man, you got real talent!!

[RahlaeRuffian]

Nicely done!

[Nedala]

Awesome! Crushbone band is my favorite with the tetris theme and the axe-guitar, i can play that on piano too :D

[aerokella]

That was the tetris theme? That shit kicked ass!

[NenshouStar]

i was actually watching this yesterday.
i laughed at the end for some reason.
epic. 10/10

[toddfx]

i was actually watching this yesterday.
i laughed at the end for some reason.
epic. 10/10

Haha I was ready to be finished so I brainstormed ways to conclude it. Sticking with the video game/geek culture, I figured the death sequence of Goldeneye 64 is a pretty classic conclusion. Plus Bond Jamesbond is my main here on P99. So it works out nicely... :cool:

[JenJen]

so so good 10/10

[Otto]

That video is going to make the rounds. Awesome work man!

[Revo]

Goodness this is amazing.

[toddfx]

I have received a couple PMs and saw some people here asking how exactly something like this is created. I also get a lot of questions in general from friends and family who don't quite understand how digital animation works. Surely most of you here have seen behind the scenes videos of Pixar and stuff, but I'll go over some of the steps here.

In this case, the first thing to do is get a hold of the 3D geometry. There are ways of directly opening up the 3D files stored in the game's directory, but I have had little luck with making that work properly. At one point I did manage to find some hacked software that will do it, but it was buggy and just not easy to do. Not to mention it brings in the ENTIRE zone which is just unnecessary for something like this. So instead I have resorted to using a piece of software called 3D Ripper DX, which lets you load it up while playing Everquest (or any game that uses DirectX), and take a 3D snapshot. It records everything you see in your view similar to how you'd take a regular screenshot, except this method captures all the 3D data and dumps it into a little scene of it's own. It comes in already textured as well.

http://toddkumpf.com/images/forums/eq/max_05_th.jpg (http://toddkumpf.com/images/forums/eq/max_05.jpg)

So once you have your data in 3D Studio Max, it's time to prep it for animation. The characters come in doing whatever pose they were up to in the game: crouching, kicking, dieing, etc. They are not usable in this state, so they need to be manually manipulated to get back to a generic position similar to the Vitruvian man.

It makes me wish I hadn't taken this corpse bug for granted!
http://toddkumpf.com/images/forums/eq/image16.jpg

Character prepped:
http://toddkumpf.com/images/forums/eq/max_03_th.jpg (http://toddkumpf.com/images/forums/eq/max_03.JPG)

All 3D characters start in this position. This makes it easiest to "rig" the character for animation, which is what you call the process of adding a skeleton of bones to the character. The rig is a device used to animate a character. In the past (i.e. 6 years ago or so) this was a painstakingly slow process, but today there are tools that make it little more than a few clicks.

The colorful cubes in the screenshot below are the bones that control the animation of the Crushbone Tetris band. The actual character model is then "skinned" using these bones as their controlling objects. Basically, you assign sets of polygons to be controlled by certain bones (i.e. all polygons that make up the left shin get linked to the left shin bone). Actually technically speaking, vertexes are assigned but I think maybe a polygon is easier to understand and visualize in layman's terms.
http://toddkumpf.com/images/forums/eq/max_01_th.jpg (http://toddkumpf.com/images/forums/eq/max_01.JPG)

Once you have the character rigged, it is time for the real fun part: animation. The foundation of digital animation includes two things: the timeline and keyframes. The timeline is of course a period of time (where 1 seconds equals 30 frames, so a 60 second video would mean 1,800 frames), and a keyframe is a like a "checkpoint" where you input what position and what rotation a given object should be at at that point in time. As time progresses, the animated object will move between those keyframed positions. You can "ramp" or "ease" in and out of those keyframes to create a more smooth, natural motion. These eases are created using bezier curves similar to what you have in Adobe Illustrator, Flash, or other vector program. Here is a timeline showing some animation curves:

http://toddkumpf.com/images/forums/eq/max_02_th.jpg (http://toddkumpf.com/images/forums/eq/max_02.JPG)
On the right you can see layers for each animated body part, each of which has their own set of curves which define their motion over time. The colors of the curves represent X, Y, and Z axis'.

Anyway I know it is brief but just thought i'd post some behind the scenes info.

[Aenor]

Off the charts.

[Revo]

Oddly enough my favorite part is the fact that the troll's foot works the base pedal.

[Kyrus]

The behind the scenes screen shots are quite interesting...thanks for uploading those.

[Titanuk]

smedy> you

[Uthgaard]

Some of you may remember seeing my EQ fan art thread a while back, and perhaps a few might even recall me saying I had something new in the works. Well 8 months later I've finally found the time to complete it. Actually, I could easily spend another X number of hours/days/weeks/months fixing errors and improving it, but I decided to just call it finished and release it now.

I'll save the long explanation and just let you witness it for yourself.

http://toddfx.com/eq_bands.html

It will open in a new window:
http://toddfx.com/img/bands_thumb.jpg (http://toddfx.com/eq_bands.html)

I originally intended to make it much longer, like a true battle of the bands, but yeah I came to realize that isn't going to happen!

Nice work.

I think I knew the guy who played your zelda theme, if that was Caleb Elijah, which I'm pretty sure it is.

[JayDee]

Phenomenal

[Fountree]

great job. im blown away ! thank you!

[Tarathiel]

omg this is soooo epic

[Runningfish]

Very very cool.. Definitely brings the EQ fan video to another level.

[beyondinfin]

Bump

I love it!! This animation rocks. And when will we be seeing a sequel?

[pickled_heretic]

good shit mang, really enjoyed this.

[Raylan]

Outstanding!

[Webwolf]

Meh I like your artwork better.

[Smyd]

best post on the forums, well done sir!!!

[leefyg]

So awesome. Shameless bump

[Snagglepuss]

By the power of Raptor Jesus, I ressurect-bump this thread for all those who didn't get to experience this awesome video when it came out.

[Tarigin]

What song is the first ? i cant fucking figure it.

Amazing work !

[toddfx]

Thanks guys, glad you are continuing to enjoy it! I just updated the video actually, but only the Tetris song (With Orc, Ogre, and Dwarf). I never liked the animation I ended up with on the Dwarf so I spent a few hours fiddling with it the other day while I was bored.

Funny thing actually, on the day I did that, I noticed the date on the file was exactly 2 years from the date I originally created it. Surprised it has been so long.

What song is the first ? i cant fucking figure it.

Amazing work !


Mario 64 Bowser Theme, remix version from Guitar Hero World Tour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7uzNrsPnI8

[Shamen]

simply amazing ! Great job, but..... no Iskars kinda made me sad

[Growlers]

This is too cool! Great work man.

[fugazi]

We need gnomes doing the Safety Dance!

[Kevynne]

Somebody reward this man with an in-game title and/or guise for this video.

[Hawala]

I'm gonna necro this thread.... SUPERB! 10/10