Rendered sprites

Rendered sprites 5.1

Overview Updates (13) Reviews (12) History Discussion
fink said:
Well if you want, drop a PNG (the before) and a BMP (the after). I'll see if I can work something out or not...I find this kind of stuff fun. If the input is always in the same kind of view, the output is as well so it should be possible to determine a fixed transformation to apply to all sprites.
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Sure!
Here is both the freshly rendered PNG, the finished BMP and also the PSD file containing the layers. :)
fink said:
Well if you want, drop a PNG (the before) and a BMP (the after). I'll see if I can work something out or not...I find this kind of stuff fun. If the input is always in the same kind of view, the output is as well so it should be possible to determine a fixed transformation to apply to all sprites.
Click to expand...
And also, thanks for looking into this. It would be really great if you could figure something out that could speed up things. Would help me a great deal! :)
 

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  • New renders 001.zip
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Vrark updated Rendered sprites with a new update entry:

Updated to version 2.0

View attachment 21621
I'm finally ready to release a new version of these! This time all of the sprites are rendered in the new and improved way, and I must say I really think they look better. You may recognise some of the sprites from my older uploads, and I'm sure you can tell the difference.
This first version with the new rendering style is mostly a futuristic/sci-fi/steampunk themed one, but I will continue with more medieval/RPG-style after this version.
And I want to...
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For anyone interested, here is my Blender scene that I am working with.
 

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  • Daz to Blender sprites.rar
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Vrark updated Rendered sprites with a new update entry:

Updated to version 2.1

I'm finally ready to release a new version of the rendered sprites.
The project is getting so large that from now on I will have to link to a Mega folder. If this causes you any issues, please let me know!
These haven't all been tested inside the game, but I did run a batch script to remove all 100% black pixels on the sprites. So unless there are any 100% white pixels, they should be good.
As something new, I have also included all of the renders as transparent PNG files, if people would...
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Vrark updated Rendered sprites with a new update entry:

Updated to version 2.2

This update adds over 600 new sprites. In this version you will find both medieval and modern/sci-fi themed renders. For now, the sprites are still divided into several archives, but I am working on sorting them, and once I am done, the newer versions will include the old sprites as well. I already ran a script to remove all 100% white and all 100% black from the older sprites, so once I'm done with the sorting, I will release those as well.
As I've done with the other versions from 2.0 and...
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Purple, red, dark blue Crystal walls would be cool been trying to make Underdark Drow buildings if ever read any RA salvatore books describes the drow buildings :)
 
Vert-I-Go said:
Purple, red, dark blue Crystal walls would be cool been trying to make Underdark Drow buildings if ever read any RA salvatore books describes the drow buildings :)
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Unfortunately I don't have any assets that could work as those you describe. :(
 
Vrark updated Rendered sprites with a new update entry:

Version 4.0 is finally here!

I know I haven't updated this in over a year, but it has been because I just never felt that the renders was as I wanted them to be. Also, when I was working on version 3, I encountered a lot of the black outlines that just didn't look good, and the only way I could remove them was manually, and that was just too much work.
Since then I have changed the workflow a bit. I added the 'freestyle' option in Blender which gives the renders a small outline to most of the edges. I also changed the...
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these are all seriously impressive! i want to jump into blender now that we have some tools and see what i can come up with for the community! keep up the good work my friend!
 
Apocalypse said:
these are all seriously impressive! i want to jump into blender now that we have some tools and see what i can come up with for the community! keep up the good work my friend!
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Thanks a lot!
I have a tutorial on how to do this in Blender, though it is a bit outdated, compared to how I do things now. So if you would like to have my updated .blend file, let me know and I will upload it here. :)
 
Vrark said:
Thanks a lot!
I have a tutorial on how to do this in Blender, though it is a bit outdated, compared to how I do things now. So if you would like to have my updated .blend file, let me know and I will upload it here. :)
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absolutely! i think i have most of your stuff bookmarked because I was gonna give it a hot but just haven't had the time yet. Ill gladly take any updated info as it seems hard to obtain these days!
 
Apocalypse said:
absolutely! i think i have most of your stuff bookmarked because I was gonna give it a hot but just haven't had the time yet. Ill gladly take any updated info as it seems hard to obtain these days!
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Sorry for the late reply, but here is the .blend file I am using now. I have included a free 3D model just so I don't re-distribute any of the Daz models.
If you plan on doing it the same way as I do, you will need to set the render scale to 400%, and then scale the renders down to 25%.
You may also want to change the number in the 'freestyle' section.
And if you find the lighting to be too strong, you can also adjust the exposure and gamma to your liking.
If there is anything you'd like to know, don't hesitate to ask me! :D
 

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  • UO sprites 002.rar
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Vrark updated Rendered sprites with a new update entry:

Version 5.0 preview

View attachment 26495

Finally an update to this project!
I know I have not updated this in a very long time, but it has mostly been because I have been much more focused on creating animations. You are always welcome to check out my Discord server where I and others post our work. It is mostly art, but there are also a few other thing there such as scripts etc.
The link is in my signature and on my profile. :)

Anyway, this project seems to be a never-ending trial of making...
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Vrark updated Rendered sprites with a new update entry:

Updated to 5.1

I have now updated this project to v5.1 with around 600 new renders.
However, these new renders also has a bit of the issue that has been a problem with the older renders as well; a lot of them has jagged edges, and almost all of them has an outline. I once again changed the way I rendered the sprites, and for some reason that again created the outlines/jagged edges. It is not as bad as it has been on older versions, and the over-all quality and detail are still better. I may revert to the...
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They are looking very nice! If I may offer a suggestion. It feels as if some props are missing the slight hard shadow on larger surfaces, which is coming from one direction all the time. While this does not apply to all shapes, you may see it a lot on original walls and columns. Check some original sandstone walls and columns to see how hard the light hits, giving a clear left/right cut.

What I did on statue renderings was a couple of things:
a) lot of AO (ambient Occlusion)
b) rotating the mesh, not the camera/light when rendering different directions
c) (optional) Posterize down to 32 colors. This may add a tad more painted style to the renders.
d) adding artificial noise in Photoshop. Like the posterize, this may help break up the "clean-render" look a bit and make the graphics more... Should I say UO gritty/dirty.
 
Velicious said:
They are looking very nice! If I may offer a suggestion. It feels as if some props are missing the slight hard shadow on larger surfaces, which is coming from one direction all the time. While this does not apply to all shapes, you may see it a lot on original walls and columns. Check some original sandstone walls and columns to see how hard the light hits, giving a clear left/right cut.

What I did on statue renderings was a couple of things:
a) lot of AO (ambient Occlusion)
b) rotating the mesh, not the camera/light when rendering different directions
c) (optional) Posterize down to 32 colors. This may add a tad more painted style to the renders.
d) adding artificial noise in Photoshop. Like the posterize, this may help break up the "clean-render" look a bit and make the graphics more... Should I say UO gritty/dirty.
Click to expand...
Thanks. :)
I tried boosting the AO, and that actually helped a lot! I never thought of doing that.
As for the shadows, that is a bit more tricky, as I am using four cameras. I have made a script that renders all four cameras in one go. Each camera does have its own light attached to it, but getting a hard shadow on one side with all of the cameras can be a problem.
But I can already see that the AO setting has helped a lot with the output, so I think it may be fine this way. I'm not really sure how I can go about adding that shadow.
As for the last few steps, I am actually going for a more KR/3D rendered look. I guess I could do an action in Photoshop to add those effects, and save out the PNGs if people prefer that look.
Anyway, thanks a lot for the tips! :D

And just to show a before and after the AO setting:
untitled1.png
 
How about.. instead of having 4 cameras, just have one static camera.

Then, you make a little invisible/small box and animate it 4 frames, starting with 0, then 90° rotation with each of the other three frames. Then you just need to put the Item you want to render as child. (Not sure that works out of the box in Blender, I am using Cinema4D).

With that, you just created a turntable where you put any object and get the four frames rendered in order with the same camera and one sunlight (sunlight may give the hard shadow, if wanted).

Alternative way: Adding an empty layer in Photoshop/Gimp, make it 10-20% visible. Then just paint black over the parts where you want the shadow to happen. For sure not acurate, but sometimes easier and better from an artistic point of view, where a real rendering might add shadows in an uncanny looking way for small objects with a lot of details.

Note: When I see the afterimage, just never forget to check black values or brighten it up a bit in the end. Guess you know... I just forget it a lot, then having a lot of fun with UOs deleted pixels due to having some too dark or bright. :p
 
The problem with that is, that I have hundreds of models, and having them parented to a model, and manually painting them in Photoshop is just a bit much work.
I am trying to automate this as much as I can. But with the AO boost, it definitely is an improvement, and I can live with the shadows the way they are.
And I am running an action in Photoshop that removes all 100% white and black. I batch that to all of the renders.
 
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