Re: Transf :Re: [gluon] Gluon avatar!

[Ken Vermette <vermette@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, Jul 26, 2009 at 6:25 AM,  <istdasklar@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Thanks eugene, very nice!! I will do the application tonight!

Ken :
That's a good idea! For example we can do it like Icon Desktop! Many icon theme! ( Oxygen, Air, etc....) ! We just have to provide some FacePack! For example the facePack of eugene will be called : facePack-regular.
In this case we must set a standardization with a minimal feature : For example , 6 hair type, 6 nose type ....
I will do the application tonight ( seems to be easy, exept the color fill) , and I will send you tonight.



---------- Message transféré ----------
De : Ken Vermette <vermette@xxxxxxxxx>
Date : 26 juil. 2009 05:08
Objet : Re: [gluon] Gluon avatar!
À : gluon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc :


> On Sat, Jul 25, 2009 at 9:35 PM, Eugene Trounev eugene.trounev@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> OK attached is an SVG file with a few face parts. And an example of what an
>
> assembled one may look like (that's me :D )
>
> Start with this and we will add more later
>
>
>
> I've re-typed this paragraph 5 times, and I can't get the wording right; So bear with me while I try to explain;
>
> I think if we make some sort of avatar system, that the avatars it makes be based more on a spec than a look. For example, we could make a cartoonish avatar system, but it would only be good for cartoonish games. We could have a very sleek stylized look, but then the avatars might be out of place in a more fantastic style. I guess what I'm getting at, is that should we build an avatar system, it should be more like a shell for various avatars read from styles provided by games - based on a singular format, that should be backwards and forwards compatible.
>
>
> So, we have a gluon avatar system. The avatar system includes a base set of things like noses and the like, and configuration files on how the parts all fit together. The default look; Some sort of middle-ground style like the xbox avatars or the miis. Now, say I'm developing a game where the look is very stylized; I want to use avatars, but the default avatar set is nothing like the look I'm going for, and including the avatars that come with the system would ruin the look of my game. So instead, I make an avatar "Style" or "Skin" package, one that includes all the same parts as the original avatars. Because, say, the jawlines on my versions of the heads are slightly different than the jawlines on the default style - my configuration files are adjusted to match.
>
>
> Now, back in the avatar editor, when I preview my avatar I now have a drop-down that lets me preview my avatar as how it might look in different games, very much like how all the different card games on KDE allow you to change the style of the cards.
>
>
> The only problem with this is that it makes things more complex when it actually comes to producing an avatar in code; So if we did something like this, we might want a mini-library or function games can call that produces a pixmap on-the-fly of a given style of avatar. This will also help keep things consistent.
>
>
>
> Other than that, would we want to have the avatars include things like expressions (Happy, sad, angry), angles (because this is all 2D, sidescrollers might want a head for side-views, whereas some games might want front views) , and "set" clothing styles? And how do we want games to access gluon avatars? Do we want games modifying/creating avatars?
>
>
> Anywho, that's my 2 cents!
>

YAAAAY! I just manages to install linux on my new computer. Don't have sound though - Meh.

Anyway,
now that I've had a night to sit on this, heres some thoughts on how
this could go together, starting from the top, and working to the
bottom, this is how I think we can get the most variety for the least
work; I've tried to make it so we can use as much of Eugenes work as
possible. The idea with what I have below is that it covers the basics,
and with stretching/squishing, you'll get most faces. Also, it leaves
room open for interpretation between styles. For all facial features,
consider my list gender-neutral. The only difference male/female makes
is in the body.

 - Object Name (Selections Available) *Dynamic Adjustments, #No of Parts

 - Hair-back    (Smooth-Short, Smooth-Medium, Smooth-Long, Messy-Medium, Messy-Long, Curly-medium, Curly-Long, Bun, Bald) #9
 - Hair-top    (Smooth-Short, Smooth-Medium, Messy-Medium, Curly-Medium, Thinning, Bald) #5
 - Hair-front     (Smooth-Short, Smooth-Medium, Messy, Curly, None) #4

Hair-Back is behind the head; on messy and curly there is no short
as it would look similar to "Smooth" anyway. Hair-Top is at the top of
the head, and additionally covers the sides in front of the ears.
Hair-Front-Bangs is the hair covering the forehead and eyes. "Smooth"
is the clean-cut look, gender-neutral, very much like something you'd
see when someone walks out of the hair-dressers. Messy might be more as
if Smooth-person just woke up and has bed-head and went to a
second-rate barber. Curly is more up to interpretation between syles,
whether it's a ring-style curl or more tubular curls, etc. With the
above, we get 180 possible hairstyles and require 17 drawings with 3
layers (not including bald).

If we look at Eugenes art, take the
complete face on the right; It would have hair-back:smooth-short,
hair-top:smooth-medium and har-front:none. The style of the person on
the left might be more like: hair-back:messy-medium, hair-top:thinning,
hair-front: none.

 - Ears (Round, Square, Attached) *Height *Width *vertical-position #3

Round
ears are what Eugene has right now. Square ears would simply be more
angular and chunky. Attached would ahve the earlobes connected to the
head as opposed to dangling.

 - Eyebrows (Thick-Rectangular, Thick-Angled, Thin-Styled, Thin-Unstyled, Thin-Natural, Bald) * Width *Angle *vertical-position #5

Thick-Rectangular
eyebrows on Eugenes pallett are those giant caterpillars he has going.
I suggest also having a curved version of the caterpillar eyebrows for
Thick-Angled. Thin-Styled are the second from the bottom he has. These
are obviously a femminine eyebrow, finely plucked. Thin-Natural would
be what you would see on the top of his eyebrows box; Natually rounded
of a medium thickness.  Thin-Unstyled are what he has on his face, thin
but more straight.

 - Eye-Lids (Almond_M. Almond_F, Round_M,
Round_F, Square_M, Square_F) * Width *Height *Angle *vertical-position
*horizontal-position *Pupil Size #6
 - Eye-Pupils (Large, Medium, Small) #3
 - Eye-Details (Young, Adult, Elderly) #3

If you look at Eugenes eyes, they are incredibly nuianced. I know him
and I could literally draw eyes forever and each one no matter how
similar, each one could easily go onto a different person. It's hard to
say "Keep it simple, have 3 eyes" because they are so unique, but you
can't say "Alright, 75 eyes!" because nobody in their right mind would
want to make a style pack with 75 slightly different eyes.

I'm not too sure about my eye-spec here - it might be too complex.
Call me out if it is. People relate most to their eyes, and that being
said it's probably the hardest to pull off either way. I broke eyes off
into their lids, their pupils, and their age. The eye lids come in 3
shapes and determine the positioning and angle of the eyes, each shape
with a male/female variety. Eye pupils, if you look carefully at
Eugenes work again, are not all the same size; Smaller pupils can
denote focus, larger pupils can give playfulness. Lastly, Eye-Details.
These are the last thing people look at, and they really stand for age.
Younger eyes have absolutly no details beyond eyelids; Teenagers
concerned for their looks may avoid these features aswell. Teens/adults
tend to get those little baggies and creases above their eyes. Someone
elderly might find crows-feet or laugh-lines in the corners of there
eyes. Unlike hair, eyes won't have as many varieties, because getting
the layers right for 17 shapes of eye would be difficult. Overall, with
the above we might get 54 different eyes, with 12 drawings and 2-3
layers.

Eye-Pupils and Eye-Details would ahve their widths angles and such tied to the Eye-Lids.

 - Nose-Tip (Square, Triangular, Round) *Width *Height *Vertical-Position #3
 - Nose-Bridge (Smooth, Large, Thin) *Width *Height #3

Noses are broken up into the point and the bridge; The tips are pretty
self-explanitory, with square being more chunky, tringuar being more
pointed and round being that button-nose look. Nose bridges; Smooth
bridges might not even receive a line, very much like in Eugenes
self-Avatar. Large nose bridges would be shaped more like "<>",
much like the far-left nose in Eugenes design. Thin nose-bridges would
be shaped more like ")(".

 - Mouth-Lip-Top (Thick, Thin, None) *Width *Height *Vertical-Position #4
 - Mouth-Lip-Bottom (X-Thick, Thick, Thin, None) #4

Overall, mouths would be about sizes. No lip would be the look most
people get when they suck their lips against their teeth. Thin would be
more for men - where you would get the detail-lines of lips existing.
Thick is crossing into the realm of the fairer sex - where you get the
detail of the lip, and additionally the look of applied lipstick or the
naturall redness of the lip. X-thick for the bottom-lip is where the
lip begins to fall away from the detail lines and become "Pouty". The
actual "mouthline" would be tied to the bottom lip. We get 12 styles of
lip with 7 drawings.

 - Hair-Mustache (None, Shadow, English, Wax, Fu-Manchu, Handlebars, Toothbrush, Mustache) #7
 - Hair-Sides (None, Shadow, Mutton-Chops, Sideburns, Long-Bangs) #4
 - Hair-Chin-Neck (None, Shadow, Soul-Patch, Curtian, Goatee) #4

....
Alright. Shadow, on all facial styles, should be obvious; end of the
work day there's a 5pm Shadow. Onto mustaches. "English" is really
anything moderatly thick you see above the lip. Waxed is that
pointed-look you see in things like brittish comedies. Fu-Manchu is the
style most associated with, well, Fu Manchu or Confusious. Handlebars
go down towards the chin, and Toothbrush is a little patch under the
nose. And finally, the traditional mustache. For the sideburns, we get
mutton-chops, which is full hair going down to the below the
lip-corners. Sideburns is the sort of traditional male
halfway-down-the-ear thing. Long-bangs is more for the ladies, with the
long in-fron-of-the-ear hairline. Laslty, the chin area; The soul-patch
is a patch under the lip. The curtian was famously worn by Lincoln
(spelling?). The goatee is a patch on the chin.

Combonations of the 3 can make the rest of any style; Handlebars+Goatee
will get the full goatee effect, for example. Overall, for 15 drawings,
we get ~200 facial styles, but probably around 40 usable combonations.

 - Heads (Round, Oval, Squarish) #3
 - Chins (Pointed, Athletic, Squarish, Jaw-Heavy, Square) #5
 - Body (Male-Athletic, Male-Average, Male-Large, Female-Athletic, Female-Average, Female-Large, Child-Thin, Child-Large) #8

Basically, the jaws are in rough order that they appear in Eugenes
work. The I discounted one of the two middle heads because of their
similar jawlines. If we wanted to, we could probably discount having 2
pieces make up the heads, in favor of simplicity. If we wanted two
parts to make the heads, the top and bottoms of the heads would meet at
the ear. I hope I don't need to explain the bird and the bees for the
bodies - childrens bodies would probably be gender-neutral, and because
squishing/stretching down't play nice with anatomy, height would be
equal for men and women, with children being ~2/3 size.

Extras: (@ = option for either left side, right side, or mirrored)
 - Freckles (Sparse, Dense, Centered, None) #3
 - Hair (Hairbands, Headbands, @Clips, None) #3
 - Glasses (Round, Square, None) #2
 - Blush (Cheeks, None) #1
 - Makeup (Eye-Shadow, None) #1
 - Piercings-Ear (@Rings, @Studs, @TearDrops, None) #3
 - Piercings-Nose (@Stud, Ring, None) #2
 - Piercings-Eyebrow (@Stud, @Ring, None) #2
 - Piercings-Lips (Stud, None) #1
 - Mole (@Under-Eye, @Beside-Lip, None) #2

In the end, exactly 100 smaller drawings would complete a theme, if
everything here were done. Mostly, it would be easier things like
mustaches or moles; And a large number comes of parts from things we can
probably cut down, like facial hair and extras. Many of the parts would simply be altered versions of other parts, too.

Anywho, I'm about done for the night. Hope that helps.

-Ken Vermette