New Benchmark Feedback: Midlander Hyur Females

[OgruMogru]

My partner's character. Open in new tab for fullsize. Even though they're really pleased with the way she looks and she doesn't suffer from the same problems a lot of the other faces and features do [just sad about the less intense makeup!] you can still clearly see the weirdly thick bottom eyelid and the missing "makeup" texture that serves to connect the lower eyelashes to the lid. Particularly the second picture from the left on the top row. Look at how thick that lower eyelid is! Like I said for this particular configuration of features and facetype it looks really good and the thick eyelid doesn't negatively affect the face in any way and I'd hate to see it change for this face config specifically - but I think it's what's contributing to the droop for certain eye shapes.

[mdv8]

I definitely see the differences here, especially considering this is the face I use. The passive smile helps to cancel out the resting B-face from my eyebrow selection. The benchmark version shown here looks like what could be considered to be the older sibling of the current 6.55 version.

That's totally accurate - in my pictures above it looks like an older sister of my character. The appearance of looking older might come from appearing more tired, without the light in the eyes and without the slight smile. It could also be the difference in the cheekbone appearance making the face shape look slightly slimmer without rounded cheeks (like Miki_L mentioned), which may be due to the lighting if the model itself hasn't changed.

For the record, the comparison picture I posted above is about as close as I could get the new model to look like the original character - from other angles it's an even larger difference (like in the benchmark video).

I think that there are definite changes in both my character's face (type 5), eyes (type 1), and mouth (type 4) that add up to give the impression that it's a different person. I don't know if it's a change in the model or lighting, but the cheeks look less round, the eyes look duller and empty, and the mouth gives off a different expression.

[OgruMogru]

Did a tiny paintover to show how I would deal with that negative space between lash and eyeball. Obviously it's a lot easier to paint over a static image than it is actually correct a 3d sculpt but I hope it helps illustrate how much of a difference the shape of that one bit of space can cause ^^'
before:

after:

[CantDecide]

My partner's character. Open in new tab for fullsize. Even though they're really pleased with the way she looks and she doesn't suffer from the same problems a lot of the other faces and features do [just sad about the less intense makeup!] you can still clearly see the weirdly thick bottom eyelid and the missing "makeup" texture that serves to connect the lower eyelashes to the lid. Particularly the second picture from the left on the top row. Look at how thick that lower eyelid is! Like I said for this particular configuration of features and facetype it looks really good and the thick eyelid doesn't negatively affect the face in any way and I'd hate to see it change for this face config specifically - but I think it's what's contributing to the droop for certain eye shapes.

Yeah, I really don't mind the thick lower eyelid on my character either. It's still present for her original eyes (face 1 eye 3s, heavy makeup) and I like the way it looks there. It's worth noting that I only say that for the heavier makeup option, though. Without it there's a gap that I'm not a fan of between the waterline and lower lashes in the original model as well. I think it's a good example of what you're talking about.

Live Game - With and Without Makeup


2nd Benchmark - With and Without Makeup


So, like you said, the lower lashes aren't connecting nicely. I think a couple of things would fix this, and the eyes as a whole:

1. Moving the base makeup-free lower lashes up against the waterline, either by redrawing them there with some added length to compensate, or by filling in the gap as you suggested the way the original makeup option does.

2. Restoring the bolder winged eyeshadow for the makeup option.

3. Restoring the original upper lash shape. In the case of my character's eyes, that would mean shortening the upper lashes towards the inner eye, and lengthening them towards the outer in the spirit of the original eye shape.

4. Restoring the ever-so-slight shading above the inner eye to balance out the undereye bags.

5. Either restoring the shadow over the eyeball itself that Yenrz mentions here, or making it optional. I feel like it would be nice for this to be made optional because some might like the brighter look from the newly opened eyes.

If they do these things the lashes would look better than the original, in my opinion.

I will say they do look much better in this benchmark than they did in the last one, though. I'll give them that.

[noumen0nn]

I'm very unhappy that the updated benchmark did nothing to fix the various off-model features of Hyur face 1. Here's a side-by-side of my WoL:



While she no longer looks like a wax doll like the previous benchmark, the impression of her face is still completely off, and her dark makeup accentuates the issues.

Going over the details, here's some traces I did of the eyes, plus an overlay of the traces for more clarity of what's changed.



Her entire eye (type 5) has "shrunk" for no apparent reason, and the overall shape of the eye is much less upturned and much more almond-shaped. Her eyeliner has shrunk as well, and received a similar de-slanting, giving her eyes a duller, less-intense look than before.



Moving on, her nose (type 4) is noticeably more wedge-shaped, which along with the more flared-out nostrils gives her a witch-like appearance.



And the lips (type 4). I don't even know what to say. The way the lipstick is drawn has changed completely, making the lips seem like a drastically different shape; she looks like her lips are permanently pursed. Her philtrum is much thinner, and her cupid's bow is an entirely different shape, even without the lipstick.

I know the devs worked hard improving the benchmark, but I cannot find it in my heart to thank them right now. I can't stand looking at my WoL in the benchmark, and I'm dreading the release of Dawntrail when I should be getting excited for it.

[Mara-Li]

While I'm mostly okay with my WoL, I want to release a concern about her lips.
For reference, I use:
- Jaw 1
- Face 5
- Lips 1

I loved the fact we could see the tooth.
OLD (Endwalker)



New (June Benchmark)

[NoxLuminos]

I know I'm kinda late to reply to the thread, but I absolutely feel the effects of this too and I'm gutted. Even while compiling these images I almost couldn't believe what I was looking at, she looks SO different.



1. The skintone got the warmth sucked out of it, and the eyes look stark and cold. Not just color-wise, but her entire expression too, and the smaller eye size only accentuates this.

2. The puffy bags under her eyes are... just awful to look at, honestly. They catch light in all the worst ways. The current-game "eye bags" have smooth & dark shading that looks almost like make-up, and I quite like the dramatic and edgy effect. The benchmark versions are fleshy and inflated and kinda make it look like she just finished crying (which feels ironically apt right now, LOL)

3. Her mouth doesn't have a slightly coy almost-smile shape anymore, its just outright neutral and unfeeling, and at worst it looks like a frown, which is the literal opposite of the effect I picked that lip shape for.

4. The eyebrows are higher up (or maybe its in combination with the eyes being smaller and more sunken into the head), and aren't as dark, which makes her look less focused & content. She just looks.. confused? Indifferent? No-thoughts-head-empty?

TLDR; All these factors combined make her look colder, unfocused/air-headed, and just outright unflattering in its own right.

Similar to what someone else in this thread & a few others mentioned, if these don't get fixed, I'm definitely going to fantasia. Which really breaks my heart because I'm very attached to her, but with these changes it wouldn't be HER anymore. The changes are too dramatic and detrimental to her appearance.

[rainichan]

Going to add my voice here since my main is a hyur and while I'm happy with her overall look in the new update, there was a glaring issue that I hope will be addressed before the launch (or hotfixed after) of Dawntrail

Face 5, Eye Shape 3. The eye makeup in both current patch and the 1.0 benchmark were fine, there was a depth to it, though it looks a little strange like it's not completely fitted to the eye, but the current benchmark the shading has gone:


direct link for a larger image: https://i.imgur.com/hH1nwGV.png


direct link for larger image: https://i.imgur.com/rcuXjXz.png

Larger individual images for straight on: https://i.imgur.com/FQpf3s3.png, https://i.imgur.com/Bteva6u.png, https://i.imgur.com/1covK2D.png

Larger individual images for 3/4 view (not entirely exact but as exact as I could get): https://i.imgur.com/jLw5eD0.png, https://i.imgur.com/aHFWRaM.png, https://i.imgur.com/w7CC05Y.png

And with a red circle notating the exact issue on just the eyes; the 1.1 version I had to swing the camera some to get the eyes shaded slightly, since the lighting on the default view was very bright and made some of the details invisible, but swinging the camera did help it look like what I had in the first two:


direct link for larger image: https://i.imgur.com/6wcSXdr.png

From this shot you can see the current patch has some shading to make the eye look natural; B1.0 it's darker and not as much shading but still some definition around the eye and the eyeliner, but the definition from both current patch and B1.0 is completely gone in B1.1, making it look very flat when you look at it head on. It's the only real issue I have with her look, and I'm happy overall, but the eyelashes look off compared to the eyes on an otherwise fine look. I'm not sure if the eye needs to be enlarged just a bit, or if there needs to be shading to make the eyelid on the bottom look more natural (it looks more natural in the current patch), or if the lashes need to be sized down just a bit with more natural eyelid shading around the eye, but one of those would probably make it look nicer.

[Luluna]

I am unsure on Hyur now as they are looking a little different. I agree with this thread. I feel they have some how lost a little of their charm and I do not know why. The lipgloss bland beige colours are bad and the lack of eyeliner that was on some eye choices is gone or small. I will have to see what they look like in game and on my PS5 and see if there is much difference.

[LlymlaenGreene]

hello dear hyurs sisters. I completely agree with you that some of the charm has simply evaporated. In the next topic, I made a clumsy comparison and I'm going to repost it here later. In the meantime, here's a gif