Sure it's a good idea to remove the static light dot from the eyes?

[CidHeiral]

It's situational. Asteri's picture above with their au ra is a good example of situations where the new one objectively does not look more alive.

The Au Ra example looks fine to me. The lack of shine makes sense given where the light source is located. I'm struggling to see how that makes them look less alive unless your definition of alive is this:



Here's an actual person with the same thing going on due to the similar direction of the light source. It's certainly moody but I don't think any reasonable person would describe him as looking soulless or dead. That's just how light works.

[Gemina]

The eyes... actual eyes have so much more going on than a white dot reflecting back light. Living eyes are constantly engaged with the environment as can be seen with their rapid movement when looking at the eyes of another person. The pupils dilate and contract based on the amount of light present. The iris can even appear a different color based on lighting and atmospheric conditions. Beyond that, the entire eye is made up of a fleshy membrane that has a constant glare as it also reflects light.

These are all things the design team should be striving for in order to give our eyes more life. I'd be all for them coming off as a bit creepy because they appear to have more soul than anyone working in the Biden administration.

In short, what they've cooked up so far still needs more work. Regardless of subjective viewe about their quality.

[AstiSpumante]

Eh, there are many legitimate concerns with the update, but I do not think this is one of them. Sure, when you are staring at your motionless character in the face for hours in the creator, you'll feel the lack of it, but I do think this is going to make for an improvement when it actually matters in cutscenes and stuff.

Like, do you really notice this in the benchmark cutscene itself? I didn't.

Actually yes I did! On the boat scene I legit was wondering if my WoL got bodyjacked by an Ascian or something because of it.

Even assuming that's from a shadowy angle (which if they can reflect the blue of the water they can reflect some light in the eyes) the eyes are still dull even in the bright action scene.

[Sated]

I was really offput by the lack of shine in the eyes at first, but after adjusting the angle and background I was able to find it again.
It felt like it was just much more reflective of the camera and environment.



I think I'd need to see what it's like in actual gameplay while questing in a dark area or something before I dismiss the new eye shine update, because right now I feel like the blame might rest more with how horribly the character creator's environments are set up than with the new tech itself.

[AstiSpumante]

Also, since there has been so much talk of realism I went and stood in various levels of light and shaded my eyes with my hands and took photos with the back camera of my phone (so no cellphone screen acting as a bright light source) and I still got eye catches/the white shine marks. Healthy eyes are pretty juicy, they are naturally reflective. So /not/ having any reflective bit 99% of the time on my lizard IS weird.

[GrizzlyTank]

The Au Ra example looks fine to me. The lack of shine makes sense given where the light source is located. I'm struggling to see how that makes them look less alive unless your definition of alive is this:

Here's an actual person with the same thing going on due to the similar direction of the light source. It's certainly moody but I don't think any reasonable person would describe him as looking soulless or dead. That's just how light works.

The reality is that the art style for this game closer to the top image than the bottom one, i.e the anime style. And even then the light dot is actually present in the realistic picture albeit faintly, and the top picture is clearly a gross exaggeration.

Also found a wikipedia page for it.
"Audiences usually perceive eyes without specular highlights to be lifeless or evil"

Even rummaging through articles now and they pretty much boils down to the same thing. Use highlights to not have a vacant look. Even if the primary/ambient light source isn't aimed and reflecting off the eyes. This goes for IRL photography and cinematography.

[4clubbedace]

Also, since there has been so much talk of realism I went and stood in various levels of light and shaded my eyes with my hands and took photos with the back camera of my phone (so no cellphone screen acting as a bright light source) and I still got eye catches/the white shine marks. Healthy eyes are pretty juicy, they are naturally reflective. So /not/ having any reflective bit 99% of the time on my lizard IS weird.

well because your phones camera is a reflective glass surface , the "camera" in game isnt "real"

there can be something said that theres no "gloss" in the cc. lipstick should have a gloss or matte option , and eyes should be more gloss as a membrane

[Tengi]

I think I'd need to see what it's like in actual gameplay while questing in a dark area or something before I dismiss the new eye shine update, because right now I feel like the blame might rest more with how horribly the character creator's environments are set up than with the new tech itself.

I think this is a really good point, I also feel this way with the tattoos/facepaint; I like how my Lalafell's Tarutaru nose (dark mark) is very dark in the live game, but it seems much lighter in the benchmark, but I'm wondering if they haven't updated the optional markings in the cc yet to the new graphic standards, and how they play with the new lighting.

[CidHeiral]

And even then the light dot is actually present in the realistic picture albeit faintly

Which is exactly what's happening in the Au Ra picture.

Also found a wikipedia page for it.
Audiences usually perceive eyes without specular highlights to be lifeless or evil

Audiences are also typically intelligent enough to understand how light works and that every character isn't going to have vibrant catch light 100% of the time.

[DiaDeem]

This is the one thing from the update that the more I look at it, the more I think would work better with a more artistic approach, rather than being so shy with the realistic light reflections.

I think they should still make it dynamic, but I don't think it's doing the art style or even the update justice with the current implementation.

All I'm doing here is making the new highlights a tiny bit bigger and a tiny bit brighter.


Is it less realistic? Maybe? I think it makes the update and the art style shine more, no pun intended.