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Magic Mouth

Posted: 20 May 2008, 17:19
by fate
Hi,

here is a first attempt at a `magic mouth'; the visual representation of a spell that speaks some simple phrases:
First shot at a `magic mouth'
First shot at a `magic mouth'
magic-mouth-textured.png (1.07 KiB) Viewed 4132 times
Honestly, it looks wrong, but I cannot quite figure out what the issue is. Any help would be appreciated! :-)

Re: Magic Mouth

Posted: 21 May 2008, 21:06
by Dr Wahl
It looks a little too 2 dimensional. IMHO, there needs to be more "meat" added to it. I think the issue is that they look paper thin. This could be fixed with some shading, but I could be WAY off here.

Re: Magic Mouth

Posted: 22 May 2008, 14:46
by fate
Good point; it did look rather flat. Here is another attempt:
Basic mouth
Basic mouth
magic-mouth-big.png (1.07 KiB) Viewed 4038 times
After marbling:
Marbled
Marbled
magic-mouth-big-textured-2.png (1.48 KiB) Viewed 4039 times
A little better, perhaps, but now the rather simplistic top-down shading I used is more apparent. Still, it's supposed to be `magic', so maybe some odd shading might be appropriate... any thoughts?

Re: Magic Mouth

Posted: 22 May 2008, 16:45
by Dr Wahl
I think another issue with that made it look so flat was the black outline. I did a quick hack job to try to show the difference between the image with and without the black outline. The shading needs to be redone around the border where I hacked off the outline, but I hope this helps you visualize the direction it should go a little better. Having a darker shade of than the lips can help define the edges, however, black is too dark and makes it appear 2 dimensional. I just copied some color that looked close for the top half and the bottom half, however, they definitely need to be darker in order to define where the edge is. I hope this helps!

Re: Magic Mouth

Posted: 22 May 2008, 17:01
by fate
Thank you for your feedback :-)

It does indeed look better without the outline (which is arguably not needed anyway, due to the `aura' effect.) I will give it another try tomorrow.

Re: Magic Mouth

Posted: 22 May 2008, 17:11
by EJlol
the lower lip should be sticking out. Also maybe add some highlight to the lower lip:
http://www.wallpaperscreensavers.net/images/lips.jpg (first two lips)

Re: Magic Mouth

Posted: 24 May 2008, 21:14
by fate
Hi,

as suggested by Dr Wahl, I eliminated the outline within the aura effect, then tried to better approximate the lips EJlol referenced. As suggested by EJlol and Black Don, I also went for a highlight effect. Here is the base image:
Base image
Base image
magic-mouth-2aa.png (1.17 KiB) Viewed 3880 times
Here attempt #1, trying to apply a `marbling' effect again (less then convincing, to be honest; I will have to give this another try later):
Marbled image
Marbled image
magic-mouth-2aa-marbled.png (1.55 KiB) Viewed 3881 times
Attempt #2, trying to first apply a `lip' texture, then twisting the colour to look not grey but still sufficiently unnatural to suit a `magic' mouth:
Coloured image
Coloured image
magic-mouth-2aa-n-purple.png (1.35 KiB) Viewed 3883 times
Thanks again for the numerous suggestions, it seems to be getting a little better! Any further thoughts and/or suggestions?

Re: Magic Mouth

Posted: 24 May 2008, 23:00
by Vink
Much better! :D But maybe the lower lip could be a little fuller?

Re: Magic Mouth

Posted: 25 May 2008, 19:02
by Hexico
I think it looks great. Worthy to be featured in TMW, at least in comparison to the rest of the artwork.

Maybe this is off-topic, but what do plan to use this for? A spell for speaking?

Re: Magic Mouth

Posted: 25 May 2008, 23:27
by leeor_net
It's actually particularly good, but I have the same question as Hexico -- exactly what is the intended use of this... object?

Re: Magic Mouth

Posted: 26 May 2008, 00:15
by fate
Hi,

It is for a `magic mouth', as per

http://wiki.themanaworld.org/index.php/ ... gic_system

Please note that this is a PROPOSAL only at this point. While the patches referenced within are operational (or at least were operational the last time I tried them), they need more testing, and might still be partially or fully rejected for being inherently broken in some previously unobserved manner or breaking the game balance.

-- fate

Re: Magic Mouth

Posted: 26 May 2008, 01:35
by fate
Hi,

updated images. My attempts at marbling have decreased in quality lately, though I have decided to blame that on the richer scale of grey I have been using. Anyway, here is the base image once more, with a slightly fuller lower lip (as suggested by Vink):
Magic Mouth (basic)
Magic Mouth (basic)
magic-mouth-3.png (945 Bytes) Viewed 3754 times
Here is the purplish version with `lip texture':
Magic Mouth (purplish)
Magic Mouth (purplish)
magic-mouth-3bc-purple.png (1.39 KiB) Viewed 3755 times
And here is an `ethereal' version:
Magic Mouth (transparent cyan-ish)
Magic Mouth (transparent cyan-ish)
magic-mouth-3bc-ethereal.png (1.52 KiB) Viewed 3755 times
Which one best fits your ideas of a `magic mouth'? Or do you have any alternate suggestions as to how it could be coloured/textured?

-- fate

Re: Magic Mouth

Posted: 26 May 2008, 02:00
by leeor_net
I vote for the third version.

Re: Magic Mouth

Posted: 26 May 2008, 03:42
by AxlTrozz
I like the gray version, more details, nice texture

Re: Magic Mouth

Posted: 26 May 2008, 05:19
by Jaxad0127
I like the first. I think the color of the second clashes with the aura (the cyan/aqua). The third looks like a negative to me.