[ Graphical Update Feedback ] Examples of Darker Skinned Characters/Darker Lighting

[eternalmagic]

Also while I'm happy about the update so far, I think some of the shine to the more natural skin colors seems a bit stark and like it washes out the colors. I hope its just because of they lighting they used though and it is something that can happen quickly, even when drawing.
I am super happy they read the comments about us not being able to see our own characters in dark environs and brought that up during the stream!!

I am tentatively hopeful that it is just because of the stark lighting, because what they showed is in a very bright location with midday/clear skies. It makes sense for wanting to have "neutral" lighting, though it's still maybe a bit too stark. Still super, super happy that it's clear they saw and understood what was being discussed here, and it's a good step in the right direction!

[CNitsah]

At one point in time, I hope they will show us feet and hands. Hands and (especially) feet need a rework too.

[QwertySparrow]

I want to say I am very happy to see the graphical updates to all the characters and how it adds so much quality to the WOL. And I am a fan of the majority of changes to skin tones and defining features, but I am sad to say that I am disappointed in the direction they took the viera noses. My fav part of the viera's faces were their cute bunny like noses and it makes me sad to see the team make them sharper in the 7.0 update. It makes them lose a lot of their charm and makes it feel like Im playing a hyur with bunny ears. I just hope it doesn't change the nose of the viera face I am using because I love my viera's bunny nose a lot.

[TheDruidOcelot]

For anyone who wants to see the new graphics all in one place.

really not a fan of how dull the new M!Miqo'te irises look. makes them really flat and matte looking which is just quite unappealing to me. the grey undertone on dark skintones is still there, and is even more noticeable with the VERY stark white highlight. there's been an improvement, but its still got a ways to go imo.

[Ambarhaura]

I want to say I am very happy to see the graphical updates to all the characters and how it adds so much quality to the WOL. And I am a fan of the majority of changes to skin tones and defining features, but I am sad to say that I am disappointed in the direction they took the viera noses. My fav part of the viera's faces were their cute bunny like noses and it makes me sad to see the team make them sharper in the 7.0 update. It makes them lose a lot of their charm and makes it feel like Im playing a hyur with bunny ears. I just hope it doesn't change the nose of the viera face I am using because I love my viera's bunny nose a lot.

Agreed, why did they give the bunny-like race a more human nose in the before/after "graphics update" example? That isn't just a graphics update, it is a fundamental design change and not cool. I hope that is a mistake/bug/not finished yet.

[aulierre]

Echoing the sentiment that the darker skin tones aren't playing well with the highlights and shadows (the highlights are a stark white, and the shadows are a plain black), and the way the graphical update expresses the base skintone seems to desaturate the skin. Darker-skinned characters look both plasticky (due to the highlights) and ashen (due to their desaturated skin). A decent range of dark skin tones were previewed, so it seems to be an issue with the general rendering of the graphical update, rather than the developers just picking one ashy skin tone by chance.

As a result, in the previews, various dark-skinned characters seemed to have ashy skintones with desaturated undertones. The pale-skinned characters, by contrast, seemed to have warmer undertones. My suggestion: try to ensure darker skin tones have more saturated undertones (either cool or warm undertones, depending on where in the colorpicker the skin tone was chosen from) to off-set the ashy effect.

I don't know if they can change how highlights and shadows work, but, if they can, I'm sure making the shadows or lighting a little more warmer or cooler (whatever is appropriate to the environment) instead of just regular black/white might help a little bit as well.

[SchwarzwaelderTorte]

yooo the two feedback threads from EU Fanfest are winning congrats us

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the ashy, cold looking undertones are due to the lighting. If you look at any metallic material they've shown it's the same, everything is a lot bluer than before, and I suspect it's due to their new "physics based" rendering in an attempt to make a fantasy game more realistic for some reason : o )

(To be honest it's an issue in a lot of games recently, everything has blue shadows and undertones no matter the art style...)

I think it's something we'll easily be able to counter in gpose by placing warmer lights (or with housing items), but it will probably not be very flattering in cutscenes...

I'm not sure how they could improve it either from a technical point of view, since at the moment the character creator only lets you pick one skintone from a predetermined palette. A sheen slider would be good, instead of it being an on/off toggle depending on the skintone you pick, but being able to affect the color of it would be great as well... the problem is that if you give too much ~ creative freedom ~ to players it could start looking a little funky if they pick clashing colors on purpose. But setting a predetermined sheen value and color to EVERY skin tone on EVERY race sounds like hell for the devs too.

[Iscah]

...I suspect it's due to their new "physics based" rendering in an attempt to make a fantasy game more realistic for some reason : o )

Realism in visuals and realism in the setting are two completely separate things.

[mercvry]

Well, here we go, we got the benchmark!
How is everyone feeling about their WoL?

For my sunseeker I personally don't mind any of the changes done, HOWEVER.
The lighting in the character creator feels worse than before?
With the update of the hands, I hope we can get lighter palms and soles of the feet for dark skinned characters

[LuluLavender]

Well I'm not sure if my characters skin is dark enough to be valid for this thread, but currently it is dark enough for me to experience problems in some cutscenes in game. Personally, I'm so happy with the changes! I was worried at first, flipping through the different lighting in the character creator, but I quickly realised that your characters skin reflects the environment lighting now, so sometimes in dull and grey lighting, your skin can take on a dull look. At first, I was worried that the colour was dramatically lightened, but it was just the lighting!


Looking very grey in dreary lighting


Same character, same skin, much more warm lighting!

I think we'll see more dynamic lighting in cutscenes from now on, and I'm looking forward to it! What I've seen of dark skinned WoL has been gorgeous, the way the skin reflects light now is beautiful, especially on darker skin!