I totally wouldn't buy my kid a toy that I thought was crap and I'd rather buy some toy that I thought had more value for the same prize, because I would think buying the crap toy is a waste of money, just like buying or renting the PT or Power Rangers, when there's hundreds (possibly thousands) of better movies to buy or rent.
Ady, could you please upload the HD matte paintings you used for this reconstruction (and any other HD matte paintings you might have). I wouldn't bother you with this but I've been trying to find them for ages and you're the only person I know, who has them. Thanks :-)
twooffour said:
The central question is, what do you mean exactly by "arranging it for themselves"? Does it mean "being able to understand dialogue"? Or "rightfully concluding that the PT is inferior garbage"?
I mean arrange it for themselves to watch it, in other words find a way to watch it, like seeing it at a friend's house or borrowing it from someone or buying the Blu-Rays for their own money or renting it or whatever. I'm not going to play it to them myself or even tell them about it but I'm not gonna stop them from watching it either, if they find some way. Just like I'm not going to show them or even tell them about other movies that I think are shit but I don't care if they find their own way to see them.
But I'm totally gonna show TMNT to my kids but I wouldn't buy and show them Power Rangers or Pokemon but I don't give a bull's crap if they see it on TV in the morning.
The Aluminum Falcon said:
No hard feelings?
Of course not, there never were any :-) I guess the language barrier keeps me from conveying the tone of my posts sometimes...
But that's the whole point, this is still a Partly Despecialized Edition, not a theatrical reconstruction. I'm removing the changes that are distracting. Because a shot is new, it isn't necessarily worse than the original... well, ok, original is always better because of the sole fact that it's original but in this case the new shot doesn't really change the viewing experience. But yeah, I'll wait and see what that shot looks like in DJ's V3 and then decide what to do about it.
Xhonzi and TheBoost, I'm on your side on this issue. I think kids can't always make smart decisions for themselves and when I have kids, they're definitely gonna see the OT first and then they can watch the PT, when they're old enough to arrange it for themselves, I'm not gonna show it to them. And I would totally remove the lightsabre from the Yoda figure.
Well, actually, I was gonna use the SE shot of the Sandcrawler there. It's one of those shots that are completely new, so rotoscoping cannot help and it's an ok one in the SE, it has no CG in it (except possibly the sky but that doesn't bother me) and replacing it would mean using solely the GOUT, which I wanna try and avoid as much as possible.
Oh, and here's a new version of the "look sir, droids" clip. I remade the wipe and adjusted the Dewback to fit in better and start moving at the correct time (although that is still not quite perfect but I don't think it will get any better).
I didn't mean to get defensive, although now that I read my post I see how it may have seemed so :-)
I see what you mean now; but the SE background is quite obviously the original background enhanced by CG elements and I 'm actually pretty sure that the ground is original. It's only been recoloured and it seems so crisp and shiny because it's HD. But if you'd be able to make a new background plate that would look even more like the original in HD, I'll be glad to try and use it.
Sorry, man, I'm not exactly sure what you're saying... It's basically a reconstruction of the original background. And I honestly hate the way the SE speder looks and moves in that scene (especially the 2004 one).
Me too, that's why I bought it, even though I wasn't a kid any more ;-)
Oh, dammit, I hate it how lately lots of threads get screwed up by arguments like this. Take it somewhere else guys, please!
To put this thread back on track, here's a picture of my little brother :-)
OK, guys, I have a request. Does anyone have any high res matepaintings for SW and ESB? I know that at least the ones for ESB are somewhere out there because Ady used them for his reconstruction.
Thanks, guys. Here's another little experiment. Again, it's not quite polished yet, and the wipe is gonna need redoing but let me know what you think.
@canadianbs101: I'm glad you liked them. I must say, I didn't burn them yet, so I still don't have the covers printed out, could you post some pictures? I'd like to see what they look like as an actual set :-)
Ooops, sorry, kamyio, didn't want to be an ass or anything. I meant more like the pictures you posted because when I saw them, I thought they were from Neptune's conversion. To be honest I'm not very good with names, so I thought you were the guy who started this thread and when I found out you weren't I may have overreacted a little in my post here. It's just that I wouldn't be happy if someone posted something in my thread, that could be by mistake considered to be my work.
So, no hard feelings, I hope.
Wow, I don't know about Neptune but I'd be seriously pissed off if someone tried to hijack one of my project threads like this, especially without trying to contact me privately first.
yep :-)
No, like I said in this post, I won't be waiting for the blu-rays. I'll use the broadcasts to make a 720p version and just keep the rontoscoped shots in lossless AVI and if the BDs prove to be an improvement, I'll make a new version using them.
Thanks, Zombie, I would be happy if you'd find some use for it at savestarwars.com :-)
Also, I fixed the canvas issue.
The Aluminum Falcon said:
What exactly is the 10-15% which will not be despecialized? Is it what I mentioned earlier:slightly different color timing, recomposites, different skies, different sabers?
Yeah, that's prety much it. But also changes like the DS detention block corridor extension, some new matepaintings, some of the CGI x-wings (only those that are not obviously CGI and look similar to the original) and stuff like that. Simply put I'm not aiming at a faithful reconstruction in terms of actual technical completeness but in terms of the viewing experience while keeping it as HQ as possible.
This possibility has already been discussed somewhere and it would work for some shots but I've been told, that sadly there are no P&S versions that would be a good enough quality - there may be some 4:3 LD captures but all the P&S laserdiscs are pre 1990s and have pretty bad transfers, so while they have a better resolution, there are other bad video artefacts.
Ooooooh, sh*t... Well, I'll try to rewrite it based on this info later.
Here's a little something I wrote to support the cause :-)
Here's a little something I wrote ;-) I know it seems like it doesn't belong here but read on and you'll see it does.
Ars Galactica, 3/3/2018
When Leonardo Da Vinci was brought back to life by genetic engineers last year, he adapted very quickly, as could be expected from the visionary genius that he is. He immediately took interest in modern art forms and became especially enthusiastic about digital painting.
When he found out that many of the works of art that influenced him in his youth were in the hands of private collectors or locked up in museum vaults and only available to public in digitalized and often altered form, he started an active campaign for these to be publicly exhibited and today he had a speech in the American congress.
American Art Review, 2/2/2027
Five years ago, the state of Da Vinci’s most celebrated work the Mona Lisa reached a point where it was no longer safe to exhibit. It was taken away from the Louvre gallery and replaced by a copy. This week though, the original was exhibited again, after being subjected to a thorough restoration supervised by maestro Da Vinci himself. Due to his fascination with the modern digital painting techniques, portions of the painting were carefully cut out of the famous work and replaced by newly printed elements, digitally painted by Da Vinci. While many art historians cry out in terror, Da Vinci maintains that it is his work and he can do what he likes with it. He further said: “I was never quite satisfied with the way Mona Lisa, or Merry as I called it at the time, turned out. I always felt it to be unfinished and it was only the modern technology that allowed me to finish it the way I wanted it to be and was never before able to achieve by the primitive brush techniques of the 16th century.”
The restored painting was exhibited for a limited time in the Louvre and attracted tens of thousands of people, who were eager to see the maestro’s newly enhanced classic. After the initial exhibition time is over, the original will be replaced by a copy of the restored work.
While many of Da Vinci’s admirers appreciate his new additions to his classic work, there are many art lovers and historians who disagree. Art historian Peter Glans wrote: “It isn’t only that it is wrong in my opinion to alter a classic work of art in any way, it is also the way in which Mona Lisa was altered; that is by using a technique completely different to the one originally used, which renders the new replacements quite obvious and distracting. We can only hope that it is still possible to restore the painting to it’s original glory.”
Aesthetica Nova, 5/19/2029
Today marks a very important time in the history of art. After a long period of waiting, maestro Leonardo Da Vinci finally opened the first exhibition of art work he made since he was brought back to life twelve years ago.
While thousands of people stand in line to see these new works, many critics express their disappointment. The maestro’s newly found fondness of digital painting and naïve art are not to everyone’s taste but the works are also criticized for being uninventive and derivative.
Nevertheless the exhibition is one of the most commercially successful ones in history.
Artnet, 5/16/2032
After three long years Leonardo Da Vinci finally opened his second exhibition after his 2017 resurrection. At the reception, he presented a series of new works, which are all completely digital this time and even shown exclusively in digital frames.
The quality of the works, which this time exhibit a vague inspiration in cubism and surrealism alongside the naïve art of the previously exhibited works, is once again debatable at best and many art critics who were hoping for Leonardo’s old genius to return this time don’t hesitate to express their disappointment and says that this exhibition is even worse then the last one.
Atopia, 9/12/2034
Da Vinci, who had the Mona Lisa removed from the Louvre with the intention of exhibiting it together with his new works at a third new exhibition planed for next year, finally gave in to the overwhelming demand for re-exhibition of Mona Lisa in Louvre. But yet again, he did so in his own way, which disappointed many. The original painting, which was altered in 2027, was scanned at a high resolution and this scan was once again digitally cleaned up to get rid of any remaining cracks in the original paintwork and this digital scan is now exhibited in a high definition digital frame.
“The work now looks better than ever before and in the HD digital frame, the audiences can see more detail than on the painting itself,” Leonardo’s spokesperson Kosh Jurnish explained.
But what is worse, further alterations were made to the picture, which now features elements of naïve art and cubism in order to better fit into the grand exhibition Leonardo has planned for next year. Also, the over-all colouring of the Mona Lisa was heavily altered for it’s 2024 exhibition.
“This is how I always intended the picture to look,” Da Vinci commented on the colour issue.
When asked about restoring the original painting to it’s unaltered form, Da Vinci said: “That version doesn’t exist anymore. It’s in old art history books if anyone wants it. To me it is just a rough draft.”
Artisctica, 5/19/2035
The grand exhibition was another disappointment. Although Da Vinci gave up on naïve art and stuck mostly to cubism and surrealism this time, the works still lacked inventiveness and were derivative just like their predecessors.
Art Weekly 2/15/2036
An announcement was made today that after numerous complaints of art enthusiasts and even petitions against the suppression of the original Mona Lisa, it will finally be exhibited in Louvre this December. The artistic world rejoices.
Modern Art 9/21/2036
It was revealed today that the original Mona Lisa will be exhibited alongside its new digital apparition for double the entrance fee. It will only be a printed reproduction sourced from the scan made for the 2013 edition of History of Art, which was one of the last printed art-books and can only be found in specialized libraries.
“It was the best source we could find,” Leonardo’s spokesperson Kosh Jurnish told us. “The original painting was irreversibly altered. But I saw it myself and it looks great, just like the real thing.”
But others disagree. “I saw the ‘original’ Mona Lisa today in Louvre and I can tell you one thing – it’s not the original. I saw the original when it was last exhibited and the detail on this scan is nowhere near the real painting and even the color reproduction is not perfect. Also, the authors of the 2013 History of Art edition used amateur digital restoration techniques, which further distorted the fine detail of the scan,” says Harry Richards – art historian and restorer. And he adds: “I know for a fact that the original pieces that were cut out of the painting and replaced by digital prints in 2017 are still preserved in a vault somewhere and I even offered maestro Da Vinci to restore it for free but I never got any response.”
As to making a 100% theatrical HD version, I'm definitely not going to attempt that, because there are so many changes that with the GOUT as a source, it would be next to impossible, but I'm definitely going to make the new versions more despecialized than the old ones. I'd say, they should be like 85-90% the theatrical version.
Also, as I don't own a BD burner, my edits will definitely be just AVCHD. I want to make 720p DVD9 AVCHDs now using the HDTV broadcasts and then, when the blus come out, I might do a 1080p AVCHD version with each film split over two DVD9s.
