Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Plasmaspy]

And no changes except for the horn glow which kinda looked nice and the philtrum reduced slightly.
No mouth changes like i really hoped for. Eyes still look soulless.


Ignore between the lips, thats the gif maker.

[Daralii]

Because I'm inexplicably passionate about limbal rings, I'll throw in my own comparisons. Left is EW's benchmark(because I lost my actual screenshots), right is 7.0.


Now 7.1:


I did not adjust the color, the game did. There's also now something swinging back and forth in front of the Black Shroud's daytime light source, so kudos on that too.

[Larirawiel]

The shadow- and normal maps are still completely broken on Elezen faces. Mhhh .... i do not know what this small indie company does.



Cheers

[Silaryn]

I haven’t had a chance to log in and check but is dark skin still shiny?

[Gaddes]

So I guess why they didn't bother to really illustrate any of the "changes" that they did for 7.1 is because they just didn't do any, at least not for duskwight elezens...


I had to make a note of which was 7.0 and which was 7.1 as I was editing because I couldn't even tell the difference. There's infinitely more update in the clothes' collar/necklace than anything at all in the face...

The devs really insist on never returning duskwight mouth 2 to its original, more unique / fuller shape? This is literally an entirely different mouth shape.


If they'd at least attempted to return some of the lip curve I could've at least credited them with an attempt, but this...?

[Anarnee]

I haven’t had a chance to log in and check but is dark skin still shiny?

From what I've seen of other's characters in this thread YES everyone with dark skin still looks like they've been dipped in oil. It seems less pronounced on my main who has a medium complexion, but everyone that is darker still looks very shiny, I've not checked on my alt yet but from the comparisons I've see here, I'm not too hopeful.

[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...

[Evermomo]

Au Ra face 4, eye 3


My eye shape is back, thank you! This is wonderful

However, I hope they can still make the pupils smaller. It changes my character's personality way too much.

Au Ra horn sub-surface



As for the sub-surface scattering on the horns, I really miss it. I understand if it can't be red, but I feel like it's too pale and faint now. If the color is white, it doesn't really do what "sub-surface" graphics are designed to do. Instead of implying translucency, it simply weakens the shadows. Because Raen scales are not truly white, I think layers of scales and keratin would contribute more and more color to the light as it passed through them. But some may disagree.

[Cherrizini]

I am not home yet so I can’t play the game, are there any changes to viera noses being too dark? Or any noticeable viera changes?

[Shnrnr]

My Wildwood Elezen looks exactly like she did after 7.0: like a dead-eyed doll. I cry.