2d (video) mix with 3d model for cutscene/gameplay

[orangpelupa]

hello,
long time ago there games that use 3d char combined with 2d fmv and it look awesome for its time.

If i remember correctly, its ff8 when squall being chased by giant robot.

What i think if current gen console/pc do this it can :
- make awesome quality cutscene (with video as background), and the character overlayed on top. This will make custom equipment also visible.
Maybe HQ video like ff xiii but with customizable character appearance just like 'resonance of fate'.

The gpu will only need to render the character model. Allowing high poly char and aa maybe?

- used to make awesome area/scene just like the squall being chased by giant robot in ff 8.

Why apparently no-one using this technique anymore? it look good for game with fixed camera


Is it hard to do?

Thanks

 

[Brad Grenz]

The Fear Effect games on PS1 made extensive use of this technique as well. I think it isn't used very often anymore for a few reasons. First, the cost of producing enough high quality CGI animations for your environments is prohibitive. Second, from a gameplay design perspective you are locked in to a fixed viewpoint. Too many games today require the ability to freely move the camera which would not be possible. Finally, disk space is still an issue.

 

[orangpelupa]

yeah, it will eat a lot of diskspace. The only console that have a lot of space only ps3. now wondering

as for expensive and fixed viewpoint, what if it not used for gameplay but exclusively for cutscene. some games using many fmv like FF XIII.
if FF XIII was using this method, we will able to customize equipment and shown at georgeous cutscene.

thanks, and sorry my bad english

 

[Grall]

FMV cutscenes and realtime 3D graphics gameplay have always been problematic because the quality of the FMV is typically so much higher than the realtime graphics; it throws off the player and breaks the suspension of disbelief. Or it does that for me anyway.

Also, spending a lot of money on rendering pretty cutscenes in which the player has no control over what happens is money NOT spent on improving the rest of the game, so it's still an issue from a financial viewpoint as well.

One game that did FMV backgrounds a lot was Bladerunner by Westwood Studios, released sometime in the late 90s. It used short loops that repeated to create movement and "life". It worked pretty well actually, but the game itself was rather crap IMO. And it came on a LOT of discs, 4 CDROMS I seem to remember.

 

[Danalys]

The only advantage you'd get over just having pre-rendered or recoded from engine cutscenes would be being able to change the character model for different costumes etc.

Then you might have problems with lighting since you'd need some kind of recording of the light on the character since the actual environment wouldn't be there to calculate from, or you could keep just the geometry in memory that will cast shadows on the character and the lights,