Dawntrail Graphical Update - Au Ra Feedback

[quistal]

I agree with everyone saying the changes to lip shape, loss of the dark line and loss of the mouth corners really changes the feel of my character in a way I do not like. The new lips almost look painted on like a barbie doll.

I also am sad about how the cheeks look much less round and the tip of the nose has become much sharper and less downturned/round-feeling.

The eye makeup has also changed significantly - more opaque and no more wing to the eyeliner, which is a HUGE change in vibe. I hope at least some of these things can be adjusted.

[RoadGGG]

With everyone upset, I was worried I got the short end of the stick as well...

I seem to have gotten the opposite problem with people: She looks more alive and happy than her 6.58 look! (This is GOOD for me, btw.)
6.58

7.0


Granted, I DID have to make some small changes (swapped the eyes and lips cause the ones she currently had looked weird, but that doesn't seem like a big problem for me considering we're getting a free fantasia.

To the people here who are genuinely upset, I advise you try editing your blorbo a bit and see if that fixes some of your issues.

[lunartears]

I really prefer the original lip appearance, the setting is the same yet the difference looks so strong. Also tried out Mouth 3 instead of 1 today to see if it would thin the lips a bit more and it just didn't give the same feel (not pictured here)



Took a side view picture to compare the shape of the mouth/nose. The lips look more puckered up in the new version.



Another note: I've been looking at my character a lot and I've noticed that the eyes look really off? I considered myself a part of that "dead stare" Au Ra fanbase, but it feels like the version of that stare I liked has been replaced with a truly unappealing soulless eye look.

EDIT: Horns not connected to the scales? Oh that's very strange...



More of a personal addendum but also got lots of anxiety regarding the new mouth rig, I am attached to the weirdness of the /fakegrin emote on this race.

[anigym6]

Hello 14 devs, thank you for your work in all of this!

Add me to the list of people who are finding the change in my character's lip shape (not color, I know that can be adjusted very easily) to be really off from the original. Others in this thread have already pointed out the whys, so I'll just attach a screenshot and add my name to the pile.

[Selvia]

So as an Au Ra haver, I really do enjoy graphics update. The increased poly count looks great and I enjoy it a lot and really love how nice he looks in the benchmark. Also messing with the Gamma filter helped to restore how I usually see my Au Ra and it’s been lovely for myself.

My only true issue that I would like to see be addressed is the coloring of the neck scales on male Raen. (I’m sorry, I don’t really know how to insert images from mobile phone here.)

The way the neck scales look now looks as though the contrast between the lighter tone of the scale surface compared with the darker color used to define them feels very drastic and most noticeable on the neck. It’s something I wound up noticing far more and feels more distracting to me. It felt as though it was a sticker placed on top of the neck rather than something that feels like “natural scales” that are part of my character as I usually see it in the current version of him.

A way that I think could help to balance and address that is by decreasing the saturation of the darker color to help it blend more seamlessly with the lighter scale color, if that makes sense? Again, I apologize that I’m not able to add in images at this time to help visualize my point better but I hope it’s understood what I’m trying to say.

I do also want to say that I appreciate the updated look and I am pleased with everything else. I genuinely was happy and excited seeing him in the benchmark trailer and found the lighting in trailer to be a better representation of how I would see him in game than what is represented in the character creator. (I know that others may not feel that way and I understand as well.) But I do appreciate the time the team has taken to make these changes for the game going forward and I hope you’ll also be willing to take my feedback into consideration for future fixes. Thank you!

[PriscillaSaitou]

I put together a bunch of comparison shots just for reference, more than anything the lips are what really are bothering me, they're COMPLETELY DIFFERENT in the benchmark (red lined in the first image for a better shape comparison)


In case my writing isn't super legible, the main points are that in current 6.x the lips I use have a much wider cupid's bow, the corners are lot more upturned, and there's divot in the middle, but in the benchmark, they're very flat with a small cupids bow. It really dramatically changes how she looks and it really bothers me...(yoshi-p you said this was a summer vacation but you've made my daughter miserable ;__; )

There's some smaller things like the corner of her eyes being a different shape, the eyebrows being darker and thinner, and the makeup being a lot less colourful and dull.

The dilation of the pupils and the blending over the limbal rings isn't as bad on her as I've seen on other Au ra, probably because of the colour of her eyes, but it's still not great, I definitely prefer the current 6.x version.

[Kayato]

Aside from the lips and eyes, which everyone points out, I'm referring specifically to the scales and horns, which are what got me playing Aura.

1) The scales are noticeably thinner than before (both in shape and thickness) and seem to stick to the skin. At first glance, they may look more detailed than before, but they just look flat, like a tattoo or sticker of scales, especially the nose and neck scales.

2. As the resolution increases, the texture of the horns becomes flattened.
All the curves and contours of the horns are reduced, and the reflections are reduced, giving it an unpleasant resin figure texture, or a sanded look. This is even more pronounced when you look at the back of the horns.
The roughness of the horns was the reason I played Aura in the first place, so it would be disappointing to see this texture representation significantly downgraded.

3. Different scales have different resolutions for different face types. Especially for the male Au Ra's, the difference between the scales on face 3 and face 1 is noticeable.
Could it be that the data for Face 1 has been processed more for promotional images? This also happens with the male Viera race.


Overall, the horns and scales look downgraded because the textures have been sharpened, but they are too thin. Could you maybe increase the thickness a bit more like before or add some reflections to the horns like before?

[DekaiTsuna88]

I'm not sure how many of the Au Ra players notice this but it feels like our current eyes have a nice glow/shine to it (seems to light up a little in dark lighting), if you notice it how do you feel about the changes to this? Personally, I feel like the eyes have been made to look "too glowy" as opposed to the original subtleness. I probably sound insane saying all of this and I am not too sure if it is even exclusive to us, but I see it on my own character in the current game without using umbral rings.



Using the Black Shroud setting here, old on the left and new on the right.

I've been concerned about this in particular since they first showed the changes, but due to the other changes presented in the benchmark I've shifted focus to the general image of the character. I had actually made an admittedly poor thread just before the benchmark dropped regarding this change that included Lalafell.

They do look a lot more glowy on bright colors. My as-is model from current build shows up as if she has limbal while actually she doesn't have any. The fact that she also have bigger pupil in benchmark further enhances that faux limbal look. I had to move the color to darker shade to compensate for the glow so she doesn't look as dead.