A Look At the Tools Used To Make Metal Gear Solid 4

Soft Image is running a detailed story about the making of Metal Gear Solid 4. They explain the game's development cycle, from the art direction to the animation of characters to the building of models and textures. "In terms of bones used for constructing the bodies of characters, about 21 joint bones were used that contained animation data and were activated through these data. But many auxiliary bones were also used to supplement movements such as the twisting of knees, elbows, legs and arms. These were not activated by animation data. Rather, they were linked to the values of the basic joints that were activated by animation. ... They also used a tool to automatically generate the rig for controlling eyeball movement and the muscles around the eyes. Because the area around the eyes is also controlled using both shapes and bones, when the eyeball locator is moved, the muscles move smoothly just like they do for the mouth. Further, even if the shape is edited to redefine the eye edges, it does not spoil the blinking or brow furrow expressions at all."

Comments

Re:Fanboy Goggles

[renegadesx]

"They're called Fanboy Goggles. They were invented by Dreamcast fans way back in 1999/2000."

I am no Microsoft fanboy however for the record I admit to being a Dreamcast fanboy! I am a Linux user and I own all 3 consoles. I just dont take my Linux fanboyism to the level of Twitter

"You're a pathetic idiot."

Now that is what I call fanboy language!

It's almost three years into the 360's disastrous life and the 'graphical showpiece' for the 360 isn't some amazing first party title, it's a game running on the fucking outdated Unreal Engine 3."

Emotional much? Oh and where is the PS3's killer app? That blows the 360's graphics out of the water? I am waiting? No one denies that the PS3 has more horsepower, however we are talking about a complex chip that will (like the PS2) take a whole generation to unlock. No one has the means to produce anything more meaningful than what the 360 can do. Even Uncharted (the only good first party title) doesn't offer a richer visual experience.

Btw I will give Sony credit, they have one good first party title while Microsoft have none. However almost all major 3rd party titles (CoD4, Assassins Creed, Orange Box, Rainbow Six Vegas, Oblivion etc all look better on the 360

What's even more pathetic about the absurdly underpowered 360 graphics hardware is even running the Doom 3 era UE3 engine Epic still had to limit the number of objects/enemies onscreen to usually just a few and confine the player to tiny corridors and rooms and even outside the background draw distance is absurdly tiny with everything beyond the immediate foreground blurred out with a vaseline type filter. Who's the fanboy? Most draw distances in Gears were outdoors and more than what Resistance had without 10 loading screens per level (a.k.a MSG4)

If UE3 engine is so obsolete? Than why is it still being licenced like crazy, even Square is using it!

Hell, the 360's botched graphics hardware couldn't even handle the unified lighting model Doom 3 had three to four years ago. I played Doom 3 on Linux, and I must say: Lighting model? What lighting? The game was dark as shit you couldnt actually see anything without a pissy flashlight that you could't use if trying to shoot something!

I must say, the language and attitude seems to indicate you are a Sony fanboy and the fact that you posted AC I am pretty sure you know the common oppinion will be the same. I love both consoles and think they do quite well, but I must say...

If the PS3 is such a mega powerhouse that's a generation ahead of the 360 that you seem to claim that it is... where's PS3 Crysis? (which btw doesn't require Blu-Ray)

Double epic fail!