adywan

Now i did a little experiment on the videos with the added smile which has now proved something to me. It really doe seem to me that knowing that i used a static image is causing people to see just that: something static. Because it isn't. It has been mentioned that i need to add movement to the cheeks, well the cheeks, right up to a small section of the lower eyelids, are actually the 2004 version and is not part of the mask and they can clearly be seen to move when he speaks. Also the eyes have had movement added and the forehead is also animated. He now makes a scowl when he says "the son of skywalker must not become a jedi", his brow raises after the smile and it also has movement during the first shot . Also it has been said that the upper part of the head has a separate movement to the lower from the bridge of the nose. Well the static image used actually covers the nose and ends at the tip of the nose so the movement in the whole nose would be the same. Youtube and facebook's horrible recompression destroys a lot of the detail, as has been mentioned by people who have downloaded the high bitrate version and is the reason i really hate uploading video to these sites.

Even the 1980 emperor was very static during the front view shots. the upper part of his head has no movement at all, only up to the lower eyelids. It had to remain as static as possible so they could add the monkey eyes later, but the upper part of the mask does not move at all, even when talking. The blinks are slow because they slowed down the footage of the monkey to give it a strange look about it. But this would not work with Ian's Emperor because he is more human looking. But, as i have said before, adding blinks to creatures is one thing but adding them to a human will make it look fake because of the way our eye perceive real world objects. It's to do with recognition and its one of the main reasons why CG faces will never look real, because we will always be able to see that something isn't quite right.

You can find the AVCHDs over at tehparadox. just search for adywan in the movies section

brash_stryker said:

I've just downloaded the latest version. Is it just me, or does it look like the whole hologram moves lower as the smile goes back down? Is this actually happening or an illusion caused by how Ady had to manipulate the mouth, and therefore the hologram effect?

Also I'm assuming  the audio is only temporary. It seems perfectly in sync except for "...of Skywalker must not become a Jedi" where the mouth seems slightly ahead of the dialogue.

Seeing it in higher quality, it's just beautiful though :-)

If you look at the comparison video i posted the original 2004 emperor hologram lowers at that exact same point. I had to track the original to match up the overlayed mask so the movement needed to stay the same. The problem with the hologram beings semi-transparent is that the original background shows through, so if i tried to erase the slight drop of the hologram, the background behind the original face would look like it's moving upwards. But i might see if i can do something about it. If not then it will just have to stay as it is

Monroville said:

Another tiny point: the nose lights on the Executor from 0:54 to 0:58 are green (as opposed to the blue of the rest of the lights on the side)... just wondering if the lights will be blue across the entire side in all of the Executor shots...

The lights at the tip of the Executor have always been a different colour to the main lights. In the original they were an orange colour to match the stardestroyers lights, but in the 2004 version their colouring became green. The shot of the executor leaving the asteroid field hasn't had anything done to it yet, but the lights will be recoloured to match all the other shots of the executor, although they will be more of a cyan colour and not changed to match the other lights as i really like the difference in the tip lights.

Here's the high bitrate 720p mkv version of the Emperor scene with the correct front view shots.It's approx 80mb

http://hotfile.com/dl/99813929/0d6e092/emperor_revisited_proper_emperor.mkv.html

the link i gave to megui doesn't need installing as it runs direct from the folder once unpacked. It works perfectly on win7 pro 64bit because that's what i'm using

Dark_Jedi, you can use megui to encode a great mkv. You can download it here:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/megui/

That is the offline package so no need to install, just run it.

Once you run it make sure you are connected to the internet because it will look for updates. You will need these as it has a lot of presets updated all the time. It has a bitrate calculator, avs scriptcreator and everything you'll need and is very user friendly. I would use the script creator even if you are familiar with avs scripts. You can adjust the aspect ratio, scaling and everything in there.

There are many presets included. It all depends on what you want. I'm not sure if you can output an anamorphic mkv because there are a lot of players that don't recognise the anamorphic flag so would diplay it at the incorrect ratio. Your best bet would be to resize the video horizontally so you can keep the original vertical resolution. In the filters tab of the script creator change the resize filter to Lanczos4 as this is the best one.  I've only ever encoded non anamorphic video to mkv with this program so its best to try out different options. I would also crop the matte bars off the video as this will reduce the file size also.

once you have created your script then you need to choose your encoder settings. In the drop down box you will see lots of presets. I usually use the bluray preset then change the bitrate to the desired setting in the config box. automated 3 pass encoding will give you the best results but will take a lot of time depending on your hardware. Once you have your encoder settings sorted you need to change the "file format" settings to MKV (or MP4 whichever you prefer) then just click on "Enqueue" and this will queue your render. Now you are ready to encode. Click on the "queue" tab and you will see all 3 passes queued up. Now just click start and your done.

Once your video is encoded you need to add your audio track. For this you will need Mkvtoolnix. Only use v3.2.0 because later versions are causing problems with media players, but this version works the best. It's best to get the gui for this program MKVMERGE GUI. It may be included with the download but i can't remember.

Just load your video into it first then your audio and just output your muxed video, it's that simple. You can change the video properties if you want but most players will ignore most of them anyway in an mkv package.

Bingowings said:

Did you manipulate the smile by hand or did you take any elements from his smiles in the other films?

It's a nice touch.

It's all done by hand

Well i was just rendering the 720p high bitrate mkv and i realised that i only had the test layer for the front view shots enabled. So back to square one on the rendering. The high bitrate download WILL feature the completed version. That'll teach me to try and work on video on a machine that lags like hell on 720p lossless :(

ChainsawAsh said:

I noticed the smile - great touch!

Gotta say, Ady, it looks absolutely fantastic.  My only quibble - and it is minor - is that it looks a little too "grayscale."  The 1980 version had more of a clear "flesh tone" to the face, and you can clearly see color in the officers' holograms before you get to the Emperor scene.

Other than that, I'm stunned.  It actually looks like (gasp!) the Emperor now!

The main problem is that the face of the 2004 version is blue/cyan. I did attempt to add more of a flesh tone to it but it looked terrible IMO. Plus in the 1980 version the emperor had more of a greenish face. His ROTJ appearance he is very pale, almost white skinned in some scenes.

TML said:

adywan said:

So no one has noticed the creepy smile i added to the emperor when he says "yes, yes". at the end then ;) A bit of a nod the the original 1980 version there

 

TML said:

Wow, that new clip was just perfect. I love the new smile during the line "Yes... He would be a great asset". Just perfect! He actually shows some emotion, yet the unblinking eyes are just so creepy! I love it! A huge improvement over the other.

That was one of the first things I noticed, and is probably my favorite thing you added. :P

oops, sorry. i missed that comment.

Kurgan said:

Wait, so adywan, you're not using the recently discovered "Luke" sound byte from McDiarmand?

I guess no one ever reads the video information ;)

This video shows a comparison between the 2004 DVD Emperor and the newly tweaked Revisited version. As you will see the flicker is on the 2004 version and it cannot be eliminated because i have to match the brightness levels of the 2004 mouth with the new elements for the Revisited version so they blend together. You can also see just how static the original Emperors face is throughout the scene. I have tweaked the face of the Revisited Emperor since the last video. Again the audio is only a temp track and so may not be fully in sync and the dialogue is unfinished

So no one has noticed the creepy smile i added to the emperor when he says "yes, yes". at the end then ;) A bit of a nod the the original 1980 version there

I'll upload a high bitrate 720p mkv version to download later so you can see the revisited version in better quality.

ImperialFighter said:

adywan said:

I haven't touched the "interference" effect. It's exactly the same as the previous video

Ah, thanks for clarifying.  There seems to be a slight difference between this and yesterdays Youtube upload, where that's concerned.  Either that, or it was just me.  It's just that you said there were some tweaks since yesterday's version.

Really neat to have a moving side-by-side comparison with the SE version now. :)

It's been rendered at a much lower bitrate than yesterdays one to keep the file size down for uploading so that could well have caused the interference to look different

ImperialFighter said:

doubleofive said:

Your version looks SO MUCH BETTER.

Absolutely, but am I right in thinking the 'interference' lines seem more prominent now compared to your previous version adywan, or is it just a Youtube thing?  The 'interference' effect seem to be subtler in the previous clip, but it may just be me.

I've no idea how anyone could be less than delighted with what they saw yesterday, to begin with, considering the final soundtrack wasn't in place yet.  It was awesome work.

I haven't touched the "interference" effect. It's exactly the same as the previous video

The Golden Idol said:

Looks awesome, although I noticed that you shifted his gaze and now the Emperor looks slightly crosseyed. Or is that just me?

it's just you. the emperor is looking directly ahead and slightly down so his gaze would be fixed on Vader

New Emperor comparison clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyxwJ_cqNZ4

You will see it has had a few tweaks since the last video. But this is the final version. I will not be doing any more work on it.

I'm rendering a new version of the video now. I'm going to add a comparison with the 2004 emperor so people can see the movement and flicker and just how static his face actually is. 005 is almost spot on how i've had to do this. I have to match the brightness, position etc to that of the 2004 lower section of the face frame by frame so they match. I can't reduce the flicker because it wouldn't match the original footage i'm using. I have tweaked the emperor slightly since the last video i posted, but it taking so damn long to render each shot on the wifes laptop. How the hell does anybody work using a laptop i'll never know. Can't wait to get the PC back up and running

the grain matches perfectly on the new elements. You are watching a highly compressed video and grain gets eliminated/blurred. you can clearly see the grain is there if you watch it in its 720p res, plus if there wasn't heavy grain on the background there wouldn't be the amount of moving video artefacts on the background. It would be almost still as there would be no movement.

And adding movement to the face was tried but it looked fake. It may work on an alien but on a human face it becomes noticeable due to the way we recognise real life objects. Besides, there is zero facial or eye movement in the 2004 version so i really don't see what the problem is here.

Ghostbusters said:

Emperor hologram looks great Adywan. Are you sure the lip-syncing is accurate? It seemed a bit off, but if that is the best you can do I am fine with that. So is this the final version, on facebook you said it was another rough draft, but on here you say it is the final version?

no, on facebook it says its the final version also. and on both youtube and facebook i state that the audio is only temporary. I won't even begin to touch the audio track until the video side of things is 100% complete

Loconut said:

Great clip! On another note, I hate to 're-post' but does anyone have confirmation on a fix regarding:

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/STAR-WARS-EP-V-REVISITED-EDITION-ADYWAN-CHRISTMAS-CLIP-NOW-AVAILABLE/post/466574/#TopicPost466574

Thnx.

you mean this:

As for the dots, i haven't bothered doing anything with them

And ImperialFighter, the emperor scene has changed a little more since i sent you that pic

You can now view the finished Emperor scene on youtube in 720p:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eStsTNOaED8

For those that have facebook you can also view it on the ESB:R site:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=316830255423&ref=mf#!/video/video.php?v=1815604587668&oid=316830255423

people who have seen the donators version will notice it has had a few changes since that video was done.

head over to tehparadox.com and search for adywan. You should find rapidhsare links there (you'll probably have to register)

doubleofive said:

 

Look's like I need to update this again:

Ady, can you add this shot from the AVCHD and theatrical reconstruction, and maybe even a hint from ESBR? ;-)

 

here you go:

It's actually the one part that hasn't changed much

Harmy, are you sure that is from my AVCHD? It looks like there's been very heavy DVNR added to it, which i didn't use on my AVCHD

Jaitea said:

Would you have any images of this Ady, I've never seen this variant before.

J

If you look at the HD version of ESB you can clearly see that the wings are slanting outwards on Needa's shuttle

Jaitea said:

This subject of TIE bombers keeps regurgitating all the time, ILM designed a shuttle for SW which was unused in the final film, it was used in ESB to transport Needa for his Execution, the Shuttle model was modified (it is differentiated by an arm or chute below the transport side of the shuttle) for a TIE Bomber...which because of its close-up shots bombing the asteroid of the hiding Falcon, everyone thinks when they see a twin pod TIE that it is automatically a TIE Bomber........gasp!

Please check herePost 20840

 

J

Sorry, but you are slightly wrong. The shuttle designed for ANH was the one used for the bomber. But Needa's shuttle isn't the same as a  TIE Bomber. The wings are placed the opposite way. Instead of slanting inwards, they slant outwards. So every time we see a bomber in ESB, then that is exactly what it is meant to be.

seven said:

Not sure if it has been mentioned before (sorry if it has), but in this shot of Vader looking out the SD window, we see a TIE Bomber is flying backwards.

All the TIEs in this shot have been redone. Not only is that bomber flying backwards but it has also been flipped

Asteroid-Man said:

Hey man, just a quick question, are you planing on keeping the original project files for this so that you can do a 1080p version later by just replacing the source files?

Cheers!

I'll be hoping to keep all the original files, but it won't be for a 1080p version. As i found out after i had to delete all the original files for ANH, there could well be things that i will need for future SW edits

PaulisDead2221 said:

Hey Ady,

I wanted to congratulate you on everything you've done so far with both ANH and ESB.  I've been following the thread for a long time.

Have you found any use for cloud tank effects?  I've been shooting some cloud tank footage for a short film.  I have files at 720/60p and 1080/30p slowed down to 40% and 80% respectively to create 24fps cloud effects.  They composite easily with a luma key and could be a great resource for nebula and other cosmic phenomena.  Some of the footage could also spruce up cloud city a little bit (although I've seen the progress you've made already).  They're all in easily manageable .mov files that Vegas 10 takes like a charm.

no, i don't really have any use for these effects.  I have lots of footage taken from above cloud flights from artbeats that i have been using.

gurgle1624 said:

Hey Ady, got a question for ya.

I was watching the Original version of Empire tonight and something kept bugging me...so I put in the SE and figured out this was something that may need to be fixed, or not.

After the battle of Hoth as Luke is telling R2 "get her ready for take-off" a pilot ( think its Wedge) say's "Good luck, Luke. See you at the rendezvous."

What I noticed by playing the Original and the SE simultaniously is the SE has different timing on that particular phrase.

In the original version Wedge makes the "Good Luck" comment as he starts to wave but the SE has him state the same comment after he completes his wave.

Now I know this may be a minor thing to some but to me this is the kind of thing that bugs me about how Lucas has messed up the OT. I had the privilage to see the OT as they were released from day one so the SE and all the subtle changes kinda bug me, but not as much as the coloring   ;-)

I'll never understand why they re-timed this line for the SE. But even in the original version the line comes a little too late as Luke has already reacted to something at this point and turned his head. I'm hoping to retime it so the pilot shouts sho luke turns his head to react.

Another thing i noticed about that scene is that Luke has clearly hurt his arm in the fall from the AT-AT

The Golden Idol said:

Is it possible to fix the white soles of Chewie's feet that are visible when he is running from Cloud City with Leia and Lando?

Already fixed

muddyknees2000 said:

 On another note I think the "Vacation Fund" is a great idea

lol. Vacation? What's that? Last vacation i had was in 1996

Something i have forgotten to mention is that the colour pallet for ESB:R will be a lot different to my AVCHD or theatrical reconstruction. The colour correction was never 100% completed when i did those, so you will see a difference in most of the movie, but especially the Hoth scenes

The one thing that makes the troopers looks really fake is when they have their helmets off. Placing a real head on a CG body just didn't work and the ones where they are fully CG their faces looks so fake.  Why the hell didn't they just build a few costumes for these shots?

I'm hopefully going down the real-trooper route when i get to the PT. Also they won't be clones of Jango. Jango will have been hired to recruit the best mercenaries from all over the galaxy for the cloning process so there would be a variety of clones and you can have different voices, which would tie that into the OT where the stormtroopers don't all sound the same

Welcome Xizor. What sort of costumes do you have because i will need extras for ROTJ:R. Do you have any pics? You don't live too far from me either. Drop me a PM

Jaitea, where did you get the extra background buildings from?