Artist Highlight – Tom Tobey

Kiara · 03-12-2010, 07:59 PM

EQII has some super talented artists. They make everything from pretty zones to really cool looking armor. But that isn't ALL! This week it's all about animation and Tom Tobey, Sr. Artist, answered a few questions for us and slipped us a couple of sneak peeks at what he's working on for the future!

Read more!

Ama · 03-12-2010, 08:05 PM

Kiara you own me a new set of eyes for seeing that troll dance. The frog thing though *shrug* it's cliched, but still funny imho.

shadowscale · 03-13-2010, 12:45 AM

this is what had me going ohhh

"Yes! and Alan will kill me if I say anything before Fanfaire. I actually thought some of the best monsters I have animated were in Sentinel’s Fate, but I think what the art team is doing for ******* ups the bar again. There’s some really fun and unexpected surprises coming to EQ2."

the *******, same amout of letters as Velious. and with the how the main quest for SF has played out...

THE DRAGONS BETTER BE NICER THEN WHAT WE HAVE GOTTEN SO FAR!!! seriosly the main selling point of Velious for me in EQ1 was could actualy ally with skyshrine and the claws of veshan. and i think they are going need some help dealing with you know who anyway... dident seem to mind the aid of mortals before, not sure why it would change. THEY HAD A BAR WHERE MORTALS AND DRAGON KIN GOT DRUNK TOGETHER... seriosly i dont think they could get more friendly then that without some hybreds going on...

ttobey · 03-13-2010, 02:09 AM

Those dances don't necessarily synch to the music, the tunes are more there for flavor, and the racial dances are not planned for anytime soon. I'm working on some bigger things that will really make you happy.

Ambrin · 03-13-2010, 03:21 AM

Such as panda's riding T-rex's into battle?

Very nice work on the animations, I especially enjoyed the dancing frog

Vortexelemental · 03-13-2010, 03:43 AM

Ambrin@Nagafen wrote:

Such as panda's riding T-rex's into battle?
Very nice work on the animations, I especially enjoyed the dancing frog

DO IT. There must be at least one with next expansion. Otherwise I will be disappointed by you.

Neiloch · 03-13-2010, 07:09 AM

Dinosaur mounts inc

Morghus · 03-13-2010, 07:12 AM

There is a T-rex in one of the specimen containers in the Vasty labs. Wonder if it's related to that?

Quicksilver74 · 03-13-2010, 11:06 AM

ttobey wrote:

Those dances don't necessarily synch to the music, the tunes are more there for flavor, and the racial dances are not planned for anytime soon. I'm working on some bigger things that will really make you happy.

Will these big things make Michaelangelo and Panthro Happy?

Diapause · 03-13-2010, 11:33 AM

Not enough can be said about the artists of EQ2.. I know the mechanics, itemization and quest guys get all the drama, but after playing this game since launch, I for one truly appreciate the amazing amount of work you guys have done. Evidenced even more by the fact that a 5 year old PC game still has legs visually is a testament to you all.

Kudos on a job well done.

Ama · 03-13-2010, 04:20 PM

ttobey wrote:

Those dances don't necessarily synch to the music, the tunes are more there for flavor, and the racial dances are not planned for anytime soon. I'm working on some bigger things that will really make you happy.

I would say the only thing that would have really made the troll dancing messed up is the milkshake song. *shivers*

Personally I want to see some dark elf dancing. *looks at Kiara*

Kendricke · 03-13-2010, 04:52 PM

Maybe it's just me, but I'm just not feeling the new "haha..OMG this is so funny" racial dances. I was pretty excited to see some of the new armor designs that started to filter in to the game with Shadow Odyssey because it lead me to believe the art direction was taking a more realistic slant again (Roman legionnaire helms, horned mongol style helms, Germanic sallet helms, a crusader bucket helm, etc) and then we get animations that seem like inside jokes more than an attempt at immersive gameplay.

To each their own, certainly. However, I guess I'd personally be more excited to see correct and updated attack animations rather than new racial dances which seem focused on giggles and snickers.

I mean, I'm sure some folks enjoy the dancing Froglok...but how many more would drop their jaws to see a monk using nunchuks or just seeing a wizard using a new casting animation or (I realize I'm getting CRAZY now) just seeing a shaman poke something with a spear instead of taking a wide arc swing with it.

Armawk · 03-13-2010, 06:38 PM

As long as you dont go into real world dances and such unimaginative stuff we are all good. There has been some fine animation work recently and I'd love to see it continue. The Pandas for example have won me over and I was very down on the idea, but they are beautifully done.

ttobey · 03-13-2010, 06:52 PM

Kendricke wrote:

To each their own, certainly. However, I guess I'd personally be more excited to see correct and updated attack animations rather than new racial dances which seem focused on giggles and snickers.
I mean, I'm sure some folks enjoy the dancing Froglok...but how many more would drop their jaws to see a monk using nunchuks or just seeing a wizard using a new casting animation or (I realize I'm getting CRAZY now) just seeing a shaman poke something with a spear instead of taking a wide arc swing with it.

Updating attack animations and adding nunchucks versus a few dances, is literally 8 months of work vs. 1 or two days. Actually I rarely do anything with players, I'm mostly doing new NPC's. The few dances I did were done in the day or two I had between toxxulia and roehn theer. The dances currently aren't scheduled to go in any time soon.

ttobey · 03-13-2010, 06:57 PM

shaunfletcher wrote:

As long as you dont go into real world dances and such unimaginative stuff we are all good. There has been some fine animation work recently and I'd love to see it continue. The Pandas for example have won me over and I was very down on the idea, but they are beautifully done.

I'm glad I won you over on the Pandas! I love them. SMILEY For the next expansion, I'm currently working on a new NPC that you may have seen in EQ1, and they are as good as if not better than the Pandas. We'll probably show them at FanFaire.

Deveryn · 03-13-2010, 07:55 PM

Othmir!

Writer Cal · 03-13-2010, 08:23 PM

Gimme playable Othmir! /whines

Also. <3 the Pandas. Excellent job.

Rainmare · 03-14-2010, 06:16 PM

the only disappointment I have with the pandas is I can't do that little tai chi animation they one on the rocks does or the 'trainees' do when in panda illusion. but I do love the panda dance and the combat animations.

the one that he bounces from one foot the othe other before doing his spin kick my friend calls 'panda tipping'

xochipi · 03-15-2010, 12:22 PM

so sad.... someone so talented usin beyonce music to show his art....

Kander · 03-15-2010, 01:30 PM

shadowscale wrote:

this is what had me going ohhh
"Yes! and Alan will kill me if I say anything before Fanfaire. I actually thought some of the best monsters I have animated were in Sentinel’s Fate, but I think what the art team is doing for ******* ups the bar again. There’s some really fun and unexpected surprises coming to EQ2."
the *******, same amout of letters as Velious. and with the how the main quest for SF has played out...
THE DRAGONS BETTER BE NICER THEN WHAT WE HAVE GOTTEN SO FAR!!! seriosly the main selling point of Velious for me in EQ1 was could actualy ally with skyshrine and the claws of veshan. and i think they are going need some help dealing with you know who anyway... dident seem to mind the aid of mortals before, not sure why it would change. THEY HAD A BAR WHERE MORTALS AND DRAGON KIN GOT DRUNK TOGETHER... seriosly i dont think they could get more friendly then that without some hybreds going on...

Ppfft, what dragons?

Incidentally, Tom Tobey Rules! As does our entire art team! Very happy to see these guys getting the spotlight they deserve! We are very fortunate to have so many awesome talented people! They make the world go around!

Stubbswick · 03-15-2010, 04:26 PM

Kander wrote:

Ppfft, what dragons?

*waves hand*

These are not the dragons you are looking for.

MurFalad · 03-16-2010, 08:27 PM

The Froglok animation is excellent, although it probably suits a Troubadour better then my Guardian due to being quite frivilous. What strikes me is that when I look at it it feels more like I am looking at a person moving, rather then just an animation, that can only happen when every move is perfect.

On the character animations though I must admit I too would love to see more of them to make the combat feel richer, I understand the original animations were motion captured, although I wonder if not being part of Sony pictures anymore means that isn't available so easily, or if it actually saved any time to create them that way....

I guess the problem with adding them is that its 24 animations needed to be created for each new move then?

And wondering if there will be a crossbow SMILEY

ttobey · 03-16-2010, 08:35 PM

MurFalad wrote:

The Froglok animation is excellent, although it probably suits a Troubadour better then my Guardian due to being quite frivilous. What strikes me is that when I look at it it feels more like I am looking at a person moving, rather then just an animation, that can only happen when every move is perfect.
On the character animations though I must admit I too would love to see more of them to make the combat feel richer, I understand the original animations were motion captured, although I wonder if not being part of Sony pictures anymore means that isn't available so easily, or if it actually saved any time to create them that way....
I guess the problem with adding them is that its 24 animations needed to be created for each new move then?
And wondering if there will be a crossbow

Yeah most of the original animations were mocapped, that's why they look so weird and bad mimey. Can you sense my love for mocap? Evan Sampson, another animator on the team gets to deal with the mocap more than I do.

Galithdor · 03-16-2010, 09:07 PM

Deveryn wrote:

Othmir!

Thats what I thought....the T-Rex points towards Velious sorta as well, though I'm not trying to get any speculations going

Armawk · 03-17-2010, 12:09 AM

ttobey wrote:

Yeah most of the original animations were mocapped, that's why they look so weird and bad mimey. Can you sense my love for mocap? Evan Sampson, another animator on the team gets to deal with the mocap more than I do.

For dances, combat, exotic creature stuff etc, hand animation is great.. assuming the animator is really good and can manage all the subtleties and secondary movements you would get from mocap .. but for walk cycles and run cycles on player characters etc its damned hard to beat good mocap. The walk and run cycles in EQ2 are the best in any game Ive played by a huge margin, compare the idiot bouncing in LOTRO (did someone there REALLY think people bounce on their toes for hours on end) or the outright wierdness of wow to the believable run cycles in EQ2.. I find hand animation of those kind of endless repeat 'see it a million times' animations is problematic, because one tends to put in too much 'life' and it looks annoying in ways that are hard to identify or even notice if you are working on it. Its hard to beat something that just looks like someone running.

ttobey · 03-17-2010, 01:02 AM

Yeah the runs are great! You'll have to credit the animators of EQ2 past for those as they have been so worked and reworked that there's barely any mocap left on them.

Rijacki · 03-17-2010, 02:44 AM

ttobey wrote:

Yeah the runs are great! You'll have to credit the animators of EQ2 past for those as they have been so worked and reworked that there's barely any mocap left on them.

But the mocap was still the starting point. Using a base and then erasing what makes -not- work seamless is HEAPS better than either doing a straight mocap and ignore incorporating into the actual game movement or starting completely from scratch and ignoring the realities of physics (which should still govern even a fantasy world or it tends to enter the uncanny valley).

Run/walk animations and standing pose in most of the other MMOGs currently out there is one of the things that makes me shudder and not want to play them at all because I get to distracted by how 'wrong' it is. It's one of the chief things that really bugged me about CoX, Aion, and Pirates of the Burning Sea. Vanguard and another one I tried that I'm blanking the name on (not out of any spite, my brain just lost the name suddenly *laugh*) weren't as uncanny valley but still less natural in my opinion.

Galithdor · 03-17-2010, 07:10 PM

ttobey wrote:

Yeah the runs are great! You'll have to credit the animators of EQ2 past for those as they have been so worked and reworked that there's barely any mocap left on them.

Psst...dont be so modest! SMILEY Even if its true! Just give em credit where credit is due and its fine!

I'm totally trying to corrupt-a-dev

ttobey · 03-17-2010, 07:48 PM

Daenee@Antonia Bayle wrote:

Gimme playable Othmir! /whines
Also. <3 the Pandas. Excellent job.

I think we need some female pandas in there too!

Calthine · 03-17-2010, 07:52 PM

Who did the riding-the-rhino animations? Been watching myself in 3rd person on the rhino, and it's so well done it makes my fanny hurt, lol.

03-12-2010, 08:05 PM	#2
Ama General Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 2,833	Kiara you own me a new set of eyes for seeing that troll dance. The frog thing though shrug it's cliched, but still funny imho. __________________

03-13-2010, 02:09 AM	#4
ttobey Developer Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1,126	Those dances don't necessarily synch to the music, the tunes are more there for flavor, and the racial dances are not planned for anytime soon. I'm working on some bigger things that will really make you happy. __________________ Tom Tobey Sr. Animator EverQuest 2

03-13-2010, 03:21 AM	#5
Ambrin Server: Nagafen Guild: Illuminati Rank: Members Loremaster Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Canada Posts: 391	Such as panda's riding T-rex's into battle? Very nice work on the animations, I especially enjoyed the dancing frog __________________ ___________________________ Ambrin - 92 Monk / 92 Tailor / 320 AA Ambryn - 92 Dirge / 320 AA Visjeer - 92 Necromancer Oryn - 90 Inquisitor

03-13-2010, 03:43 AM	#6
Vortexelemental Server: The Bazaar Guild: Wherever the Wind May Blow Rank: Wind Loremaster Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 1,115	Ambrin@Nagafen wrote: Such as panda's riding T-rex's into battle? Very nice work on the animations, I especially enjoyed the dancing frog DO IT. There must be at least one with next expansion. Otherwise I will be disappointed by you. __________________ You must be joking. SoE? Reputable? Don't make me giggle. Ah, you went and made me giggle. There goes my sandwich.

03-13-2010, 07:09 AM	#7
Neiloch Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Southern California Posts: 1,430	Dinosaur mounts inc __________________

03-12-2010, 07:59 PM	#1
Kiara Community Relations Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 4,359	EQII has some super talented artists. They make everything from pretty zones to really cool looking armor. But that isn't ALL! This week it's all about animation and Tom Tobey, Sr. Artist, answered a few questions for us and slipped us a couple of sneak peeks at what he's working on for the future! Read more!

03-13-2010, 12:45 AM	#3
shadowscale Forum Dragon Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 1,535	this is what had me going ohhh "Yes! and Alan will kill me if I say anything before Fanfaire. I actually thought some of the best monsters I have animated were in Sentinel’s Fate, but I think what the art team is doing for ***** ups the bar again. There’s some really fun and unexpected surprises coming to EQ2." the *****, same amout of letters as Velious. and with the how the main quest for SF has played out... THE DRAGONS BETTER BE NICER THEN WHAT WE HAVE GOTTEN SO FAR!!! seriosly the main selling point of Velious for me in EQ1 was could actualy ally with skyshrine and the claws of veshan. and i think they are going need some help dealing with you know who anyway... dident seem to mind the aid of mortals before, not sure why it would change. THEY HAD A BAR WHERE MORTALS AND DRAGON KIN GOT DRUNK TOGETHER... seriosly i dont think they could get more friendly then that without some hybreds going on...

03-13-2010, 07:12 AM	#8
Morghus Loremaster Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,105	There is a T-rex in one of the specimen containers in the Vasty labs. Wonder if it's related to that?

03-13-2010, 11:06 AM	#9
Quicksilver74 Loremaster Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 1,640	ttobey wrote: Those dances don't necessarily synch to the music, the tunes are more there for flavor, and the racial dances are not planned for anytime soon. I'm working on some bigger things that will really make you happy. Will these big things make Michaelangelo and Panthro Happy?

03-13-2010, 11:33 AM	#10
Diapause Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 105	Not enough can be said about the artists of EQ2.. I know the mechanics, itemization and quest guys get all the drama, but after playing this game since launch, I for one truly appreciate the amazing amount of work you guys have done. Evidenced even more by the fact that a 5 year old PC game still has legs visually is a testament to you all. Kudos on a job well done.

03-13-2010, 04:20 PM	#11
Ama General Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 2,833	ttobey wrote: Those dances don't necessarily synch to the music, the tunes are more there for flavor, and the racial dances are not planned for anytime soon. I'm working on some bigger things that will really make you happy. I would say the only thing that would have really made the troll dancing messed up is the milkshake song. shivers Personally I want to see some dark elf dancing. looks at Kiara __________________

03-13-2010, 04:52 PM	#12
Kendricke Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 4,032	Maybe it's just me, but I'm just not feeling the new "haha..OMG this is so funny" racial dances. I was pretty excited to see some of the new armor designs that started to filter in to the game with Shadow Odyssey because it lead me to believe the art direction was taking a more realistic slant again (Roman legionnaire helms, horned mongol style helms, Germanic sallet helms, a crusader bucket helm, etc) and then we get animations that seem like inside jokes more than an attempt at immersive gameplay. To each their own, certainly. However, I guess I'd personally be more excited to see correct and updated attack animations rather than new racial dances which seem focused on giggles and snickers. I mean, I'm sure some folks enjoy the dancing Froglok...but how many more would drop their jaws to see a monk using nunchuks or just seeing a wizard using a new casting animation or (I realize I'm getting CRAZY now) just seeing a shaman poke something with a spear instead of taking a wide arc swing with it. __________________ * -Opinions expressed in this post do not represent any current or past employers.

03-13-2010, 06:38 PM	#13
Armawk Server: Everfrost Guild: Nos Es Rutilus Rank: Tirones Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 2,240	As long as you dont go into real world dances and such unimaginative stuff we are all good. There has been some fine animation work recently and I'd love to see it continue. The Pandas for example have won me over and I was very down on the idea, but they are beautifully done.

03-13-2010, 06:52 PM	#14
ttobey Developer Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1,126	Kendricke wrote: To each their own, certainly. However, I guess I'd personally be more excited to see correct and updated attack animations rather than new racial dances which seem focused on giggles and snickers. I mean, I'm sure some folks enjoy the dancing Froglok...but how many more would drop their jaws to see a monk using nunchuks or just seeing a wizard using a new casting animation or (I realize I'm getting CRAZY now) just seeing a shaman poke something with a spear instead of taking a wide arc swing with it. Updating attack animations and adding nunchucks versus a few dances, is literally 8 months of work vs. 1 or two days. Actually I rarely do anything with players, I'm mostly doing new NPC's. The few dances I did were done in the day or two I had between toxxulia and roehn theer. The dances currently aren't scheduled to go in any time soon. __________________ Tom Tobey Sr. Animator EverQuest 2

03-13-2010, 06:57 PM	#15
ttobey Developer Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1,126	shaunfletcher wrote: As long as you dont go into real world dances and such unimaginative stuff we are all good. There has been some fine animation work recently and I'd love to see it continue. The Pandas for example have won me over and I was very down on the idea, but they are beautifully done. I'm glad I won you over on the Pandas! I love them. For the next expansion, I'm currently working on a new NPC that you may have seen in EQ1, and they are as good as if not better than the Pandas. We'll probably show them at FanFaire. __________________ Tom Tobey Sr. Animator EverQuest 2

03-13-2010, 07:55 PM	#16
Deveryn Server: Lucan DLere Guild: Fourth Wall Rank: Emperor Loremaster Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 1,302	Othmir! __________________

03-13-2010, 08:23 PM	#17
Writer Cal Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 700	Gimme playable Othmir! /whines Also. <3 the Pandas. Excellent job. __________________ ~Daenee~ Member of the Tom Tobey Fan Club since 2010. Homeshow Designs: Deluxe Seaside Cottage Reckoning Goes Corporate

03-14-2010, 06:16 PM	#18
Rainmare Server: Oasis Guild: Pillage Rank: Captain Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,982	the only disappointment I have with the pandas is I can't do that little tai chi animation they one on the rocks does or the 'trainees' do when in panda illusion. but I do love the panda dance and the combat animations. the one that he bounces from one foot the othe other before doing his spin kick my friend calls 'panda tipping'

03-15-2010, 12:22 PM	#19
xochipi General Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 85	so sad.... someone so talented usin beyonce music to show his art.... __________________

03-15-2010, 01:30 PM	#20
Kander Game Dev Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 660	shadowscale wrote: this is what had me going ohhh "Yes! and Alan will kill me if I say anything before Fanfaire. I actually thought some of the best monsters I have animated were in Sentinel’s Fate, but I think what the art team is doing for ***** ups the bar again. There’s some really fun and unexpected surprises coming to EQ2." the *****, same amout of letters as Velious. and with the how the main quest for SF has played out... THE DRAGONS BETTER BE NICER THEN WHAT WE HAVE GOTTEN SO FAR!!! seriosly the main selling point of Velious for me in EQ1 was could actualy ally with skyshrine and the claws of veshan. and i think they are going need some help dealing with you know who anyway... dident seem to mind the aid of mortals before, not sure why it would change. THEY HAD A BAR WHERE MORTALS AND DRAGON KIN GOT DRUNK TOGETHER... seriosly i dont think they could get more friendly then that without some hybreds going on... Ppfft, what dragons? Incidentally, Tom Tobey Rules! As does our entire art team! Very happy to see these guys getting the spotlight they deserve! We are very fortunate to have so many awesome talented people! They make the world go around! __________________ <img src="http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/7049/kandersignatureskyshrin.jpg">

03-15-2010, 04:26 PM	#21
Stubbswick Loremaster Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 293	Kander wrote: Ppfft, what dragons? waves hand These are not the dragons you are looking for.

03-16-2010, 08:27 PM	#22
MurFalad Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Tonbridge, UK Posts: 1,360	The Froglok animation is excellent, although it probably suits a Troubadour better then my Guardian due to being quite frivilous. What strikes me is that when I look at it it feels more like I am looking at a person moving, rather then just an animation, that can only happen when every move is perfect. On the character animations though I must admit I too would love to see more of them to make the combat feel richer, I understand the original animations were motion captured, although I wonder if not being part of Sony pictures anymore means that isn't available so easily, or if it actually saved any time to create them that way.... I guess the problem with adding them is that its 24 animations needed to be created for each new move then? And wondering if there will be a crossbow

03-16-2010, 08:35 PM	#23
ttobey Developer Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1,126	MurFalad wrote: The Froglok animation is excellent, although it probably suits a Troubadour better then my Guardian due to being quite frivilous. What strikes me is that when I look at it it feels more like I am looking at a person moving, rather then just an animation, that can only happen when every move is perfect. On the character animations though I must admit I too would love to see more of them to make the combat feel richer, I understand the original animations were motion captured, although I wonder if not being part of Sony pictures anymore means that isn't available so easily, or if it actually saved any time to create them that way.... I guess the problem with adding them is that its 24 animations needed to be created for each new move then? And wondering if there will be a crossbow Yeah most of the original animations were mocapped, that's why they look so weird and bad mimey. Can you sense my love for mocap? Evan Sampson, another animator on the team gets to deal with the mocap more than I do. __________________ Tom Tobey Sr. Animator EverQuest 2

03-16-2010, 09:07 PM	#24
Galithdor Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 984	Deveryn wrote: Othmir! Thats what I thought....the T-Rex points towards Velious sorta as well, though I'm not trying to get any speculations going __________________

03-17-2010, 12:09 AM	#25
Armawk Server: Everfrost Guild: Nos Es Rutilus Rank: Tirones Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 2,240	ttobey wrote: Yeah most of the original animations were mocapped, that's why they look so weird and bad mimey. Can you sense my love for mocap? Evan Sampson, another animator on the team gets to deal with the mocap more than I do. For dances, combat, exotic creature stuff etc, hand animation is great.. assuming the animator is really good and can manage all the subtleties and secondary movements you would get from mocap .. but for walk cycles and run cycles on player characters etc its damned hard to beat good mocap. The walk and run cycles in EQ2 are the best in any game Ive played by a huge margin, compare the idiot bouncing in LOTRO (did someone there REALLY think people bounce on their toes for hours on end) or the outright wierdness of wow to the believable run cycles in EQ2.. I find hand animation of those kind of endless repeat 'see it a million times' animations is problematic, because one tends to put in too much 'life' and it looks annoying in ways that are hard to identify or even notice if you are working on it. Its hard to beat something that just looks like someone running.

03-17-2010, 01:02 AM	#26
ttobey Developer Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1,126	Yeah the runs are great! You'll have to credit the animators of EQ2 past for those as they have been so worked and reworked that there's barely any mocap left on them. __________________ Tom Tobey Sr. Animator EverQuest 2

03-17-2010, 02:44 AM	#27
Rijacki Tester Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 7,842	ttobey wrote: Yeah the runs are great! You'll have to credit the animators of EQ2 past for those as they have been so worked and reworked that there's barely any mocap left on them. But the mocap was still the starting point. Using a base and then erasing what makes -not- work seamless is HEAPS better than either doing a straight mocap and ignore incorporating into the actual game movement or starting completely from scratch and ignoring the realities of physics (which should still govern even a fantasy world or it tends to enter the uncanny valley). Run/walk animations and standing pose in most of the other MMOGs currently out there is one of the things that makes me shudder and not want to play them at all because I get to distracted by how 'wrong' it is. It's one of the chief things that really bugged me about CoX, Aion, and Pirates of the Burning Sea. Vanguard and another one I tried that I'm blanking the name on (not out of any spite, my brain just lost the name suddenly laugh) weren't as uncanny valley but still less natural in my opinion. __________________

03-17-2010, 07:10 PM	#28
Galithdor Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 984	ttobey wrote: Yeah the runs are great! You'll have to credit the animators of EQ2 past for those as they have been so worked and reworked that there's barely any mocap left on them. Psst...dont be so modest! Even if its true! Just give em credit where credit is due and its fine! I'm totally trying to corrupt-a-dev __________________

03-17-2010, 07:48 PM	#29
ttobey Developer Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1,126	Daenee@Antonia Bayle wrote: Gimme playable Othmir! /whines Also. <3 the Pandas. Excellent job. I think we need some female pandas in there too! __________________ Tom Tobey Sr. Animator EverQuest 2

03-17-2010, 07:52 PM	#30
Calthine ZAM EQII Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 7,439	Who did the riding-the-rhino animations? Been watching myself in 3rd person on the rhino, and it's so well done it makes my fanny hurt, lol. __________________ Please visit my non-gaming Blog! or follow me on Twitter!