Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Liamont]

Looks like they have tweaked the male elezen eyebrows! While I am happy that they look more similar to the old ones, but at the same time I am a little bit disappointed that they still do not have the same "feel". It's most apparent in eyebrows 4, where the eyebrows are still rounded and angled down still instead of almost an almost straight line across the top.

For eyebrows 2 (which I use, so I am obviously biased about this), the angle of the eyebrows is still "angrier", which I have to admit I'm still a bit disappointed about. The end of the eyebrows are still not tapered.

For eyebrows 6 it's very apparent that there is still no downward stroke at the ends.

I kind of wonder why the more "sharp" angles of the eyebrows seem to all been smoothed out still, I feel like this is part of a problem with the head mesh? I ran into this problem when I took matters into my own hands and attempted to recreate the old eyebrows myself.

But, I'm glad that there is progress and they actually finally tweaked the eyebrows! I hope though that they will continue to tweak it by taking a closer look at how the old eyebrows were shaped, along with the angle of the brows.

[Anarnee]

Anyone peeked at Thancred or Femroe face 2? My files are still copying on PS4 and I'm so anxious.

Looks like they have tweaked the male elezen eyebrows!

Looking forward to seeing my Elezen boys with the changes. TY for showing these off so clearly!

[Argantaelle]

Anyone peeked at Thancred or Femroe face 2?

There is no more vanilla Thancred; he is dead. They replaced the ARR model with the new one.

This is Thancred now.

[faiarrow]

Anyone peeked at Thancred or Femroe face 2? My files are still copying on PS4 and I'm so anxious.

(Here I am rejoining this thread after being JP only for feedback for a while...)


Eyes aren't fixed (pupils at least, the overshadow is fixed), nose smudge is a bit darker........ AND OUR SCULPT SHAPE IS FIXED. No wonky random philtrum when we never used to have one.

Normal maps aren't 100% but Sko for SURE is actually *Sko* again. 90% of the way there.

[Anarnee]

(Here I am rejoining this thread after being JP only for feedback for a while...)


Eyes aren't fixed (pupils at least, the overshadow is fixed), nose smudge is a bit darker........ AND OUR SCULPT SHAPE IS FIXED. No wonky random philtrum when we never used to have one.

Normal maps aren't 100% but Sko for SURE is actually *Sko* again. 90% of the way there.

Thank you so much for coming back to share the comparisons, the Philtrum bothered me SO MUCH.

I do like the darker nose, but it def could be darkened further.

Face looks much less puffy. I'll need to go get some comparison shots.

Also feel like the foreheads/brow are not as shiny? Looked like Highlander males brows before, but with eyebrows slapped on.

Disappointed they didn't fix the eyes cause that still bugs me a ton, it looks uncanny when the eyes are lidded especially, and it feels like the eyes are squint-y much more often than they use to be in emotes?

I've only looked at my main so far, but yeah she looks so much more like herself already.


Edit: This is not related to Femroe, it looks like they might have fixed some other lighting stuff too. For my main, the hair it no long mismatched when I'm under a blue sky.

[riani]

Let's see what happened to face #1, eyes #3 highlanders...


Oh? Oh! Is that...? ...oh no, was just a smudge on my screen, sorry.
Impression fixed, just a little bit? Meh? Okay.

At least you've fixed the misaligned face paint, right? That was in the 'planned to address' pile since July. Right?
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...hlander-face-1
No? Alright...


Joke aside there are teeny tiny changes, that could be welcomed by all, but too little. There are no big changes to get back the old impression. Was expected though.
Well, goodbye bitchlander... at least I don't have to buy fantasia for changing races.

Oh, and just to be clear. This is what a texture work could have done with 2 hours of back and forth comparisons:

[HawkeScream]

(Here I am rejoining this thread after being JP only for feedback for a while...)


Eyes aren't fixed (pupils at least, the overshadow is fixed), nose smudge is a bit darker........ AND OUR SCULPT SHAPE IS FIXED. No wonky random philtrum when we never used to have one.

Normal maps aren't 100% but Sko for SURE is actually *Sko* again. 90% of the way there.

Ohhhhhh! What a huge improvement omg, I can really see the fixes on her, I'm so happy for you!

[azaleai]

(Here I am rejoining this thread after being JP only for feedback for a while...)


Eyes aren't fixed (pupils at least, the overshadow is fixed), nose smudge is a bit darker........ AND OUR SCULPT SHAPE IS FIXED. No wonky random philtrum when we never used to have one.

Normal maps aren't 100% but Sko for SURE is actually *Sko* again. 90% of the way there.

I'm so happy to be rid of the bizarrely straight and completely misaligned philtrum. I personally feel like they went a little too far in the opposite direction and practically erased the philtrum completely, but better too faded than clear and misplaced, honestly. I do still think the textures are a little misaligned - if you get in real close the texture of the lips from the normal map seems to exceed the edge of the lip on the diffuse map, but... I'll take what I can get, I suppose.


^ This image shows it quite well on the closest peak of the top lip. Other races I've looked at have the normal texture fade before the lip colour edge or just have... less 'creasy' lips so it's not as obvious (miqo'tes, for example, but maybe I was only zooming in on those with makeup or something).

I honestly didn't realise the ash mark was darkened until your comparison. It still looks barely there on my skintone... I would very much like to see it back as dark as it was before. That said, I would also very much like to see it added as an optional feature so those who aren't fond of it can turn it off.

I still feel like the lip shape isn't quite right... the bottom lip used to be... more rounded in profile, a little more pursed looking...? I'm really not sure how to convey what I mean with words and I don't have any old top-down screenshots, so here's a quick slightly exaggerated sketch of what I mean.



The old lower lip was a little more square shaped when viewed from above and the normal map data gave it a fuller, plumper impression (there weren't really creases on it, but there was shape and a bit of texture). The new lips have the creases completely straight instead relying solely on the shape of the 3D mesh to give the impression of fullness and it kinda... doesn't from most angles. It looks a little flat by comparison. I think all races might suffer from this to an extent...

Regardless, I know that point is a little nit-picky, so I won't complain if it never gets addressed. consider it more just a quirk of the new models and textures I've observed.

My biggest gripe still remains though - the creases of the eyebrows are completely absent from the normal map making them look plasticky and weird, the awful painted-on "shadow" still looks terrible, the forehead still seems to curve in far above the eyebrow making the eyes look really sunken or like black eyes in some lighting, completely messing with the impression of the underlying bone and muscle structure.



I nabbed a new screenshot from that same old cutscene (not sure if the lighting in this location or rendering of darker skintones have been changed or if it's just edits to my settings and shaders but I'm glad she looks less blotchy now) and did another drawover and it's... no different. The misaligned normal/diffuse map on the lips is still there, they've just severely blurred/lowered the opacity of the lip line so it's not as glaringly obvious. Which is... disappointing, considering it's something that could be fixed in like five minutes with a liquify tool, and I don't even have the original sculpts to work with.

So... all in all, I feel like it's a step in the right direction, but there's still a fair way to go to get it right...