Monroville

Sorry for the "fishing"... it is that those of us on the forums don't know which message other forum members may be watching, so the reasoning is to post at least 2 or 3 different threads in the hope that someone (like yourself) will at least notice one of them.

I am still wondering if the PS3 system firmware update isn't playing a factor in any of this as well.

Regardless, I appreciate the in-depth response and I will test those suggestions out to see if they work on my machine.

PS: is there a way to create a DVD with menus and such AND have the 720p video?  In another question, I was wondering if there was a way to do this and put it into an ISO file, so after download one could use IMGburn to simply burn the ISO to disc and have the best of both worlds (720p image and have a menu with possible extras)

ImperialFighter said:

Ganamae -  thanks for clearing that up for Monroville.  I really liked his recent suggestions. 

So that one particular one is called the 'Tyrant' eh?  I didn't know that either. 

I guess that would kind of make sense, being that it is the Avenger chasing the Falcon... or is it?!?!

I would think that the SDs hit with the ion cannon would take a little while to recover.  But can't we just say it was Needa?  You know, because everything just went his way...

Next up: Captain Needa's best seller - "How to go from starship captain to corpse in less than 24 hours"

Thanks for the kudos, Imp Fighter.. <:)

Ady: I understand that if anything is to be changed or added, it has to fit the logic of the situation (I can see why you would go back to 5 AT-ATs, being that Veers is essentially the "shock troop first wave" sent quickly to punch a hole for the main assault, which would come AFTER the shield generator was destroyed).   Regardless, everything is looking fantastic and it is just making it even harder to wait for the end result.  You know, it's almost like 1980 all over again waiting for EMPIRE to come out for the first time (and sad as it may be to say, I am looking forward to this more than WATCHMEN)

Imperial Fighter said:

Note:  Is it really the 'Avenger' that is the most foremost Stardestroyer here?  The foremost one (seen in this shot) is the one that gets disabled isn't it?   The 'Avenger' is another one that eventually chases after the Millennium Falcon, isn't it?  

I believe it is the Avenger, being that it is Captain Needa that is saying: "Good, our first catch of the day".  Man, what did Lucas have against poor Captain Needa?  First, he gets hit right in the face with an ion cannon blast (imagine him looking out the front window when that second blast hits the bridge square on), then he almost WRECKS a Star Destroyer trying to get the MF, and then he loses a head-on confrontation with a ship as big as the SD's nose (as in "tip of").

And to top off his illustrious career of losing, he gets dragged off the Executor bridge (and no doubt dumped out an airlock) after Vader force-chokes him to death for simply being himself.

And to think: he could have been a moisture farmer on Tatooine and lived a much more peaceful life... well, unless he had some droids the empire wanted...

ImperialFighter said:

 

I would keep this shot clean of any added SDs, being that the IMperial Fleet would be "behind" the camera view.

This is where I would add the rest of the Imperial Fleet in the background, about half the size or smaller than the Avenger (since the Avenger was rushing to make the first kill).

I would add the background fleet in the later part of the camera pan here, to show them closing in.

You could maybe add some tracks here to show that Luke has at least walked from over the ridge (from the center to the lower left).  I see now that there are tracks directly behind him (so this is a very minor alteration suggestion), just a suggestion so we can better see the tracks.

Could improve the background sky area.

I would replace the Executor with two or three disabled SDs off to the right background, to imply that the path the rebels took (and the previous location of the Imperial Fleet) was way off to the right.

I would keep this shot clean, as of by now Luke would be far away from the main rebel escape point and the ion battle.  You could possibly show the stars start to speed up as Luke increases speed to prep for the hyperspace jump.

adywan said:

.Where are all the Imperials? well they're off chasing the falcon. Vader has returned to the executor for the pursuit. Now  3 stardestroyers try to trap the falcon , and with the amount of ships we see approach HOTH that doesn't leave any for a blockade after one has been disabled. So luke is able to escape without any problems, so no blockade. Vader is using the whole destroy the rebels to find Luke without the Emperor knowing what his true agenda was so after he thinks Luke has escaped he probably wouldn't have cared less if they are all captured or not.

Well, this is still a troublesome issue, because there were at least 7 to 9 Star Destroyers in the fleet (as shown in the Executor introduction), so even if 3 were immediately sent after the Falcon as Vader and the rest of the snowtroopers were picked up and transported to the Executor there would still be @ 4 to 6 ships to cover a good sized area of space by Hoth (especially if they picked up where the rebels were taking off from).

- as far as Vader and the rebels (rock group name anyone?), yes he had the ulterior motive to capture Luke and destroy the Emperor, but being that he had plenty of ships to spare AND the rebels are conveniently right there in front of him, it wouldn't be too hard to believe that Vader would order 2 to 3 SDs to go after the Falcon, have the Executor follow once Vader was on board and then have the remainder of the fleet "catch up" once they have either mopped up what they could of the rebel escape or recovered from the ion blasts.

As far as Luke getting to the last transport, he could have used the force (knowingly or unknowingly) to mask his appearance ala Obi Wan during the tractor beam de-activation scene in ANH (you know, where he "throws" the sound for the stormtroopers to hear, and when they turn back they STILL don't notice him?), not to mention one could assume that most if not all of the snowtroopers were inside the rebel base.

- also, Luke is walking AWAY from the base, being that he is walking towards us when he spins around to look at the Falcon taking off out of the main hanger, which is behind him.

I would still consider showing some more SDs in Hoth orbit, even if you show a good 5 or 6 dead from ion cannon blasts, with maybe some wreckage of rebel transports that didn't make it.

This is why i will only ever use what is in the 6 movies as canon for Revisited and nothing outside for these because the canon keeps changing all the time and has become a mess.

Here here on that.  While it would be cool to see some references here and there, it could also just tend to complicate matters and create more "prequel paradoxes" concerning the overall story arc.

Ripplin said:

Is it just me, or do those two pictures Adywan posted look very weird? The first one has red and green specks all over the place, and the bottom half of the second one is pink. :p

Both images look fine to me (no artifacts or defects); I'm using Mozilla Firefox as my browser.

I know it is a good ways away, but please, please, please don't upload the final version as an *.MKV file.  I have been having so much hell getting a few of these things to convert over, it would make me look like Larry from the 3 STOOGES if that was the only way to get it.

I really wish a lot of those guys out there (on THORanime and TEHPARADOX) would just put all of those 720p and 1080p files into an *.ISO file within their RAR folders, so then all you would have to do is extract and burn the image to a dvd.

Okay, HERE we go...

I got lost in the forums for a bit (I was wondering where Vaderios was on the ANH:R dvd-9 thread).



Anyways, I can go either way on the Dagobah stuff.  Having some more creatures (like the albino spider thing) in the background or even the foreground (Luke is resting on one of them as it begins to move away say during a shot or two) would be nice.  In regards to the planet, again either way would work:



(1) I really like the second Vaderios shot of the X-wing entering the cloud bank; anything to help increase the scale to show he's entering a planet's atmosphere.  The planet shot I could see some changes on, but not the "less-cloudy" version, as it would negate the reason for Luke's crash (why not head for the open areas and backtrack to the force-sensed area?  It's not like the X-wing has a limited fuel supply).  You can DEFINITELY have the clouds moving perceptively (to show a stormy, churning atmosphere), regardless of any additions.

(2) Maybe if one could add some multiple hurricanes in the Dagobah planet shots so the cloud cover isn't just static, but is covered in multiple storms of various strengths (maybe some even generated by Yoda as a means of force-covering his habitat).  This would allow for the completely cloud covered shots to remain, but actually give some menace to the planet too (maybe add some lightning flashes within the cloud cover). 

in fact, when we get that POV shot from the X-wing, maybe the expanse of the shot could be widened a bit, as we barely glimpse the forest below as the clouds break momentarily between various cloud banks Luke has to go through, as well as when Luke actually starts to hit the tree canopy, show the trees bending and curving out of his way.  Luke may take it as his X-wing shields are causing the trees to bend, when on hindsight it could be implied that Yoda was clearing a way for him while using a "force tractor beam" of sorts.

Maybe even show Luke's instruments going out by pulsing on and off inside the X-wing as he is crashing - ala the water world planet in the early STAR WARS comics with the skimmers (the pirates had a device that would cause any ship that got close to the planet to crash-land so they could pilfer it).  Yoda's force-mask could provide the same effect - that Luke crashed because Yoda's force power caused it.  That could also explain how Luke is able to return to Dagobah in JEDI and NOT crash, even though the planet would have the same troublesome atmosphere.


In regards to BESPIN: maybe make it look more like a gas giant ala Jupiter or Yavin, with the cloud belts.  I understand the arguments that all 3 planets look damn near identical, but Bespin should be easier to "sex up" than Dagobah, which is established to be covered in fog, mist, clouds or storms.




(3) in regards to the shot of Luke and his sinking X-wing, you could show a path between the trees in the distance to show how Luke got there - maybe even show the trees bended and bowed, as if Yoda created a path for Luke to fly through and even crash land through - as in Yoda picked Luke up (or Ben told him he should expect a visitor) and right off the bat Luke was being tested.

- hmm, something I just noticed: in image #3 (the establishing x-wing crash site shot), we can see the path the x-wing took, as we are essentially looking from it.  Thus, the above shot of Luke trying to levitate his x-wing out of the muck should reflect what we see in image #3 (as in we are now 180° in image #3.)

Another idea is to play with the lighting, ie to copy the effect of clouds moving overhead:
a) how an object will grow darker then lighter as a cloud moves over it
b) faint paths of light (that pulse in and out to account for the moving cloud cover) in some of the more expansive swamp shots.

Some good examples would be the first 30 minutes of John Carpenter's THE FOG and the UFO discovery scene in JC's THE THING.  There are some shots where the light changes slightly to account for clouds moving through the sunlight.

Okay, my bad.  Regardless, there are the links.

Did I mention I didn't get to sleep until 4 am?

To quote Admiral Stockdale: "Who am I, and why am I here?!?"

Ladies and Gents, we are forgetting something here:

There is a completely different thread for all of this ANH:R stuff!  The past 20 PAGES have been about ANH:R!  While I feel the same way and love the edit, there is a different place to:

(1) spread the love

(2) ask for download links, references, clues, etc

(3) discuss any problems with edit, downloading said edit, etc.

This is supposed to be strickly regarding the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: REVISITED edit and suggestions as to how to do that edit if Ady wants to consider them (by strickly I mean how a football stadium is strickly for football: still plenty of room to move around in, but still all about football or some other sporting activity other than racing cars).

Again, I know I'm being an ass here, but the bigger this thread gets with things unrelated to what it is supposed to be, the harder it is going to be for Ady to sift through the posts and check them out. 

Save the JEDI:REVISITED stuff for that thread when it's posted AFTER EMPIRE:REVISITED is finished and available for download.

If you need help with the ANH:R download stuff, here is the threads:
ANH:SE 1080p for the PS3

Can anything else be done to ANH:Revisited?

EMPIRE:R and JEDI:R wishlist

ANH:Revisited DVD-9

 

And Vaderios!  Where've you been!  We miss you!

Moth3r said:

One could start by reading post 116 ITT.

Post 116 ITT (is that a username)?  Is there a link?

How does one go about getting an invite to MySpleen?  It would be nice to check these out, but I have no way of getting to them!

In the immortal words of Lucy (that would be Lucille Ball): "WAAAA!"

I guess I have to add my 2 bits:

So far we've covered:

(1) competition (which was between Beta and VHS - laserdisc was like the snotty art-critic uncle sitting in the corner). Does anyone remember when POPULAR MECHANICS was first talking about dvd?  I remember telling my friends about this "semi-transparent disc the size of a CD" holding a movie on it... their response was like "yeah right, whatever".

And then it came out (Funny thing is, I've known about the possibilities of a blue-laser reader for 10 years now.  In fact, someone at IBM figured a way of using fibre optics to transform a red laser and compress it into a blue laser... about 10+ years ago.... took 'em long enough).

(2) image quality: ahh, BLADE RUNNER comes to mind.  Putting it in for the first time on my 27" tv... the expression was always the same: "WOW!  That looks WAY better than (vhs)!   And it sounds better too!"

Then came that first dvd release of BR, and we said: "WOW!  That looks WAY better than (laserdisc)!   And it sounds better too!"

And then came the blu-ray release: "WOW!  That looks WAY better than (dvd)!   And it sounds better too!"

Has anyone been demo-ing THE ROAD WARRIOR for their friends?  I can't believe how many times I've watched that on my 65" Toshiba.  I think most of the comments went like "HOLY SH**!  LOOK AT THE ASPHALT!"  Now it's just... well, that looks pretty good... yup.  (Sigh) How quickly we get used to things...

(3) problems: isn't it funny how some (like myself) will complain about a $25 blu-ray, when back in the day we were paying $150 (yes, that is 150 one-dollar bills) for just ONE movie.. like SCARFACE or BRAZIL?

And then there's laser rot, where all those wonderful multi-colored lines start showing up in the image due to the lamination starting to come off on the inside of the disc.

I think Babs has something just for this occasion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNEcQS4tXgQ&feature=related
(sniff, sniff...)

This brings up something that I've been starting to dread:

Ady has stated that his EMPIRE: REVISITED will be in 720p.  If it is released as an *.MKV file, does this mean others and I won't be able to watch it due to this snag with MKV conversion (because it also looks like the PS3 won't accept any surround sound audio encoding like DTS, which I've heard is the main reason a lot of uploaders use MKV to begin with)?

Doug Gorius:
Have you thought of uploading your GODZILLA 1985 dvd onto rapidshare or megaupload?

arc trooper said:

what about video but no sound?

To add to this, occasionally I get an error message stating:

"Some tracks not recognized.  This tracks was ignored.  File name: "C:'Documents and Settings\Desktop\Sword of the Stranger [BluRay, 720p,x264,DTS] - Yoroshiku-THORA.mkv"

What does this error message mean and how will it affect the conversion process?

Adywan said:

If you get audio and no picture then it has an illegal video stream and would need to be re-encoded.

How would one go about re-encoding the audio and video to correct this issue?

A few other things:

(1) does TSmuxer have any issues with porting over subtitles from an MKV file?
(2) how does your PS3 play TS muxed or m2TS muxed files?  I made muxing tests using both those options and neither worked on my PS3.  While the machine acknowledged the files, all I get is a black screen when played - no audio nor video.

I've read other forum sites and it looks like a lot of other people are experiencing the same thing.  Could the newest PS3 firmware upgrade be causing this?

Okay folks, I am having a set of problems:

A) I've been having problems regarding MKV conversion.  I found THORAnime's SWORD AND THE STRANGER 720p on tehparadox and have used many programs (winAVI, All 2 Avi, TSmuxer + IMGburn, OJOsoft Total Conversion)  and they ALL have problems with converting MKV to anything else.

I experience either:

(1) audio but no video
(2) subtitles won't transfer over (OJOsoft)
(3) I receive the same error with TSmuxer, yet despite the fact that after I create a Blu-ray file and can click on the STREAM folder and play the m2tc file within, when I put the dvd created with IMGburn into my PS3 I either get nothing at all or just the audio (and that is correctly setting the video to 4.1)

Is there any program out there that will convert a MKV file to something that will play on the PS3... and WORK?

B) even when you create a conversion (ala MKV to AVI file) how can you copy it to a dvd and retain the 720p/1080p settings?  Most programs like NERO downconvert to the dvd standard of 480x720 when you copy an AVI file to dvd.  I know TSmuxer will create a blu-ray folder set, but if the MKV isn't read properly (by TSmuxer during conversion) your PS3 will not be able to read the dvd created through TSmuxer.

I've been having a MULTITUDE of problems regarding MKV conversion.  I found THORAnime's SWORD AND THE STRANGER 720p on tehparadox and have used many programs (winAVI, All 2 Avi, TSmuxer + IMGburn, OJOsoft Total Conversion)  and they ALL have problems with converting MKV to anything else.

I experience either:

(1) audio but no video
(2) subtitles won't transfer over (OJOsoft)
(3) I receive the same error with TSmuxer, yet despite the fact that after I create a Blu-ray file and can click on the STREAM folder and play the m2tc file within, when I put the dvd created with IMGburn into my PS3 I either get nothing at all or just the audio (and that is correctly setting the video to 4.1)

Is there any program out there that will convert a MKV file to something that will play on the PS3?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI4tevra8Lg&feature=channel_page

Kurgan said:

Monroville said:

In regards to the close-up AT-AT head shots:




I concur that the snow could be removed from the AT-AT headshots,

I think the snow adds character, why remove it? It's not like machinery can't pick up snow... those walkers are tall and the wind is going to be blowing snow and flakes will accumulate as they move around.

(1) would snow clump up on vertical parts of machinery (especially when you consider heat from the lower guns would melt it, and the movement of the AT-AT would shake it)?  Ice maybe (DEADLIEST CATCH anyone?), but snow?
(2) is there snow on other parts of the AT-AT?
(3) even more important: is there consistency between these close-up head shots and the other AT-AT scenes where you can see the head?  If snow is going to remain on the head shots above, then you have to add the snow in the other shots showing the head as well.  That, or remove the snow in the shots above.  Either way.

adywan said:

AuggieBenDoggie said:

I will admit that I'm disappointed Ady has decided to remove the stretching starfield in his edit; however, it's removal  by no means will ruin the movie for me.  To be honest, I don't think anybody is really going to miss it after seeing what all Ady is going to do.

no, the stretching one is staying. its the 2 shots out of the whole saga where the starfield spins that is going. It is just down to personal taste and nothing more.  Originally i did have something planned for the falcons escape for ESB which would have meant that the spinning starfield would have had to go anyway because it wouldn't look right and because i wasn't over keen on the effect i decided that it wasn't needed in ANH.

And Jeyl, i have no problems with criticisms whatsoever but your posts came across as just plain rude. I welcome criticisms as they have changed my mind about many things in these edits but you have to respect that i do have a carefully thought out plan for the saga which not everyone will agree with. But that doesn't mean that there's a need for name calling and rudeness.

 

Okay, this is tripping me out:

(1) didn't we all discuss the whole "spinning star field" a few pages ago (as in: 20 to 40 pages ago)?

(2) didn't anyone learn anything from kurgan and me?

(3) does Ady have to keep bashing the obvious point here?!?

Ady, I really feel for ya here.  I say if any of us write anything that upsets you, just ignore it and save yourself the ulcer.  It seems the more people respond to the bitter arguments the more it keeps on going.

So.... have you thought about changing the AT-AT lasers to green? (WHOMP!)  OOWW!  Where did that hand come from?!?!

And as far as the star field goes, were you replacing the outside "spinning" with the "streaking" star field as seen inside the MF cockpit, or will the star field keep its clothes on? 

I think the main concern is that something needs to be done to give the visual sensation of speed; the MF just blipping off with the static star field was a little underwhelming in ANH:R and it would be nice to see something mimic that sense of speed and escape as originally seen.

Jeyl said:

adywan said:

I just love it.

 

Am I the only one who finds this effect change to be just a little bit ironic? The Ion Cannon is only used once in the whole entire movie saga and it's colored red, yet in the Expanded Universe (EU) it's depicted as being blue (The most case) or purple and does an electrical like effect to it's target. Doesn't this sort of trend into the EU territory that Adywan himself says he wants to stay as far away from as possible? Cause that's exactly what this looks like here and I'm sure a lot of casual fans will think the same.

I'm not saying Adywan is being a hypocrite about this because the new effect looks much more effective and I know that the EU isn't why he did this. It's just when he says that he doesn't want to put any EU stuff into his cuts, some of the things he does do tend to fit in with what the EU did perfectly compared to the original movies. Graphic novels depict blue ion beams, the Rogue Squadron games depicted blue Ion Beams with blue electricity sparking around when it hits and even blasters with Ion settings shoot blue bolts! (Oh, the Super Star Wars days). 

All in all however, everything is looking really nice Ady, but I still think your being a hypocrite about removing the spinning star field effect. :P

- Jeyl

I've done this myself and I know where you're coming from.  But I think it simply comes down to Ady's own answer, which I've pretty much edited down to the basics.

And really, isn't that pretty much the reason for doing this?

vaderios said:

Monroville said:

In regards to the close-up AT-AT head shots:

Yes! Blacken the gun holes will be a big up! I like the idea of some crew indication if the shot is long enough so the eye can see them.

What do you mean with the texturing?


-Angel

Bingowings said:



Adding a degree of noise to indicate the ice mist and falling snow which still would fall infront of a close view might give it a bit more depth.

Well, not so much the ice and snow stuff, but the actual texture of the model panels on the head.  Its like those wonderful GODZILLA movies from the 60's and 70's, where the models... well.. looked like models (due to lighting, detail on models as well as their size, etc.).

While the STAR WARS movies did a lot to improve the use of model effects, there are still those moments where the model "gives itself away" so to speak.  The AT-AT head shots give it away, maybe due to the lighting as well as size.  Thus in order to correct this (if one so chose to do so), what to do?  You could:

(a) modify the lighting in some way or darken the skin of the model (be it the overall model or parts as say shadows of clouds move overhead) - looking at the head shots, maybe the light on the head itself could be a bit darker, being that it does seem a bit bright.

(b) texture the "metal" on the model to help increase the scale.  Again, think of something big like an aircraft carrier or how rough the skin of a tank looks.  I can see that the model makers did try to do this to a good degree, but it is again probably the lighting that is giving the model away.

(c) modify the head ala the H/Ks in THE TERMINATOR:
- add some spotlights on the bottom of the head and above the 2 lower guns (or darken/blacken that area, or add some extra detail)
- do something with the "window" between the 2 lower guns, whether to blacken it or add sensor pods ala an Apache helicopter or something

In fact, things like tanks would be a good reference as far as how the metal panels/texture would look, but also what kind of extra detail would conceivably be on a war machine.

I would also factor in ALL shots of the AT-ATs that are very brightly lit in regards to seeing what you could do to improve their sense of scale and how the lighting affects their appearance.

Here are some examples:




this is a good example of what the AT-ATs could look like if steam/smoke was coming out of the engines as it moved across the plain.



could add more fire and smoke to the battlefield as well as improve some of the AT-AT laser explosions (less fireball-ly, more like the upper left explosion but with snow), ala above.  In fact, when the AT-ATs first fire and the first laser beam hits the snow, you have a fireball go straight up into the air.  Maybe you could take an explosion from another war movie that looks like the above but also have the explosion angled to account for the impact angle of the laser bolt itself.



Here is an example of metal texture.  Not so much the "orange" but notice how the paneling adds to the sense of scale to the battleship.  Again, like what they did with the Enterprise model in ST:TMP and WOK.



another thought could be to have the AT-ATs have a missle/rocket battery on top of the main body, either firing long-rang munitions at the rebels or laying down a smoke screen - ala the dropship landing in the first fight in STARSHIP TROOPERS.  This is also to show the sensor array on the nose of the Apache too, as far as what could be added to the lower head area above the 2 main guns.

Lastly, a shot of the HKs from TERMINATOR in regards to model detail and spotlights:





Granted, I understand these are night time shots, but it is just to give the overall concept of the AT-ATs having spotlights and other sensor arrays on the head.  Again, nothing too bulky or junky looking, but the idea of adding running lights or other small details to help give the impression of a much larger vehicle.

In regards to the close-up AT-AT head shots:




I concur that the snow could be removed from the AT-AT headshots, but would you consider showing the crew INSIDE the head through the window (or at least something to indicate there is something/someone inside)?  I guess that is one of the main reasons I loved the red cockpit idea.  Even without the "red", to add some lighting in the cockpit with something there to indicate it is a working head and not a solid model would be nice to see.

You may want to also blacken the holes on all 6 guns where the lasers come out (the second shot isn't as bad, but the first one you can tell they are a little "model-ly" in how solid the barrels look).  Also, is it just me, or is the head model a little "rough around the edges", at least in that first shot (notice the area right above the 2 lower guns and how the front face plate with the window seems to be angled/sliding down to the left compared to the rest of the head)?  Another thing could be to add some texturing to the head to help increase the scale.

To add to the "more lasers" issue, maybe you could have the upper side guns shoot lasers along with the longer barreled side guns, or even make them more like mini-guns for close-in defense - you could even have the small gun barrels "spin" when they fire off a laser burst.  Even so, you could still retain the 4 laser firing rate for all long distance shots by keeping the smaller side guns for close defense.

Also also, no biggie on this one but an extra idea none the less.  Whether the AT-ATs are powered by fusion, fission, coal, or harsh language, I was wondering if you had smoke or steam coming out of either the tail pipe or panels on the AT-AT as the engine vents as the vehicle moves. I don't know how that would look (and definitely not something necessary), but just another idea to throw out there.

Triple also: in regards to the "AT-AT death by hand grenade "scene - a good reference as to how to modify the explosion would be the destruction of the Enterprise in STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK.  You could extend the AT-AT death a few seconds (nothing major) by showing the side paneling venting some of the internal explosion as the skin almost evaporates.  You could also show:

(a) the central engine fall from the bottom before the AT-AT makes it's leftward fall

(b) show snowtroopers jumping out the side hatch on fire as they try to escape.

(c) definitely modify/ re-film the head explosion

(d) add sparks and internal electrical fires within the smoky neck area or even take the far-off flaming Enterprise shot from ST3 (when it is entering the atmosphere) and blend it with the neck, so when the AT-AT makes its fall you have a nice trail of flames coming from the neck where the head used to be (as opposed to just smoke)

(e) making elements of the explosion "bigger" by making the flames appear .. not smaller per se, but you know how a massive fire looks coming from a building or airplane as opposed to a model 2 to 5 feet tall.

adywan said:

 

a still shot isn't really the best way of seeing just how well this new effect works. it looks so much better in motion

i'm also going to have the stardestroyer firing at the escaping ships and destroying one of the x-wings before it gets blasted by the ion canon bolts

 

I like the electrical bolts coming out of the ion cannon hit. It would be nice to see some more bolts and maybe some that are more pronounced (like the Vaderios' image), as well as a slightly bluer explosion.  Regardless, it looks fantastic and like everyone else, I can't wait to see it in action!

As another suggestion to add to this scene, maybe you could:
(1) have the SD lights do something similar to the scene in METROPOLIS (1927) when the underground machine is destroyed and the city lights surge and then shut off, as well as:

(2) have the SD not just drop downwards when the rebel freighter goes by, but have the SD go into a slow spin downwards (not enough to make a complete circle, but enough that it lists to one side before the freighter flys past).

I like the sequence "as-is" albeit with the Vaderios'/Your electrical-blue ion blast addition, and I know there is PLENTY on the plate as it is.  To do more with the de-powered SD would be interesting but not important.  Again, just something to think about how it would look in the scene.

Here is a consolidation of HOTH suggestions as well as a few extra bits to consider (some of which have been already pointed out):





(1) consistency of backgrounds - like someone mentioned, this is going to be a hell of a lot harder than adding Yavin in the background, but still something to attempt.  Also, is that laser crooked on the top AT-AT in the upper right?

(2) add squadrons of snowspeeders in the background doing strafing runs or fly-bys, not just for the visual aspect but also to account for the large group we first see when they come over the hill and fly over the trenches.  Could also consider showing the AT-ATs shooting down more snowspeeders, as seen outside Luke's (or other snowspeeder pilot's) canopy as well as other shots.

(3) more laser fire from the AT-ATs - this may not need to be done, and even so it may be a matter of adding a few extra pulses or add more bolts coming from the side turrets (as mentioned by ImpFighter).  Maybe if a stronger bass track could be added to the laser fire to give them more oomph in the sound mix.





(4) a lot of shots need more depth in the background elements, via Vaderios' last set of recreations.

(5) also need consistency of the ground elements too - in the falling AT-AT shot, the snow is broken.  In the second shot, there is wind blowing across the snow.






(6) you could simply make the radar guns into smaller ion cannons (not make the dish-guns spherical, but just change the energy glow on the dish to blue) and change their laser bolts into the electrified blue bolts as seen in Vaderios' ion cannon shots a few pages ago.  Maybe you could also show the effect of an impact where the ion blast seeped through the armor and a leg stops moving or begins to stutter or slow down - Vaderios: I was wondering if you could create a mock-up of this concept with the above pictures.

(7) also consider showing damage from the various ion/laser blasts from the rebel cannons, as well as show the small arms fire of the rebel soldiers firing at the AT-ATs.

(8) all damaged or destroyed AT-ATs need to be added in the background, as well as possibly the other 2 flanking AT-ATs seen in the prior "routing of the rebels" shot.  Could also consider adding more flames and smoke to the destroyed laser turrets and maybe even bodies of rebel soldiers.