EV Tribute Animation

Hey everyone,

I'm aware that gravedigging isn't appreciated here, but I've done a search and seen that this kind of topic hasn't come up in a long while.

I'm working on an animation for EV classic that will be a cartoon - 3D flash animation. I'd expect that most of you are familiar with flash animation, but for those of you who aren't, a couple of good places to check out and see what it is are www.biteycastle.com and www.newgrounds.com . I'm using a 3D animation program called Swift 3D and a flash animation program called Macromedia Flash 8 in tandem to make this.

Basically it is a space battle based on how I play the game. I go to an uninhabited system with no stellar objects present and no comets and blast the heck out of pirates who come into the system and board them, taking their money. So, this is just an epic battle that becomes more and more intense as time progresses and stronger ships enter the system.

I've made all the 3D objects I will be needing for sure, but if anyone has their own ships or weapons that they think I might have use for then I welcome them with open arms and many thanks. Preferable format is .3DS or .DXF. So far I've incorporated a light freighter, clipper, rapier, kestrel (and the resulting lightnings), gunboats, confed cruiser (and resulting patrol ships), rebel cruiser (and resulting mantas). I've had to take some liberties from the ships that you see in game-play to make them actually functional. Such as I gave launch bays to the cruisers and adjusted the ships' sizes so that they have the scale I desired for them. So far the storyboard (as much of one as a battle could have anyway) has the movie at about 6-10 minutes long and I'm estimating 20MB or so... So, I'm going to have to work something out with Newgrounds about that <_<

Any other resources that anyone has such as sounds or concept artwork or plain old images will also be very useful. I could use some help on designing what the explosions would look like as well as the engaging shields as they protect against said explosions.

The real work won't begin on this for another few months since I'm having to wait for the release of the updated version of Swift 3D, so if anyone wants to make objects to contribute then that's great. OH! And I will of course give full citations in the credits to all who contribute (if it's your own work that you're contributing).

With the little bits that I've done I think the final work is going to be spectacular and wildly popular among the flash community and will also give new life to my favorite 2D computer game... of course... this is IF I ever finish it... I'm painfully aware of just how ambitious this venture is.

Ask any questions you have. Critique my plan. And/or e-mail me at EVTribute@gmail.com

This post has been edited by Astronomerob : 04 September 2007 - 04:36 PM

I certainly would be interested to see it when it's finished.

I'll send you a link

Well I'm going to move this to the EVDC, by your request for a place this might get more response at. No promises, but there are more of them and they do development with EV.

Good luck. I loved the original, it was what gave me my love for the EV series, though I must admit EVO is my favorite.

... Oookay... Not much response here...

So, let's try a different approach. Does anyone know where I might find things like concept art and/or the other aforementioned materials?

Thanks!

I've got a weapon caled the bio-round that's completely done in Photoshop. You can se the outfitter picture by clicking on the Nebula website link in my sig and clicking on "screenshots".

This post has been edited by Cosmic_Nusiance : 12 September 2007 - 07:55 PM

Thanks for the reply Cosmic, but I didn't see the item you were talking about.

I've uploaded several pictures of what my ships currently look like. They are in a raster form, but when it comes time to make the movie I will publish them in a vector cartoon form. Here's what should be a link to it

(url="http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php?automodule=gallery&req=user&user=25592&op=view_album&album=165") Ship Album (/url)

. Enjoy!

Since you couldn't find it, I'll do what I should have done all along and post the image itself!

droppedImage_2.jpg (5.1K)
Number of downloads: 29

@astronomerob, on Sep 12 2007, 11:58 PM, said in EV Tribute Animation:

I've uploaded several pictures of what my ships currently look like. They are in a raster form, but when it comes time to make the movie I will publish them in a vector cartoon form.

Wow. Hard to believe those old ships could look this good.

That kind of response is what makes it worth the time! Thanks!

Oh, and thank you to Matt Burch (that is his name, right?) and his team for coming up with the original designs!

True Dat. I love the Kestrel.

Yes, that is his name. We know who he is, we just need him to release the source code.

@cosmic_nusiance, on Sep 13 2007, 04:41 PM, said in EV Tribute Animation:

We know who he is, we just need him to release the source code.

What for? That would only be useful for fixing bugs and perhaps making minor adjustments. If you want to make EV4 the EVN source code is not the place to start.

I guess you're right. I would like to make some adjustments, though...

Astronomerob, I might have some models that are of use to you.

Shortly after I played the original EV I created models of many of the ships.

Many of these models are ten years old now, meaning it was a wee lil BluePlanet who did them, so they may need some tweaking.

Also, are you looking for ships that fall within EV canon, or would you take some ships that are my own creations?

Here are some examples of each, from 1997 for the record.

From EV, everybody's favorite cargo carrier:

bulkfrieghter.jpg (28.86K)
Number of downloads: 39

And a faster, toothier version of the confed carrier:

confedassaultcarrier.jpg (12.02K)
Number of downloads: 42

The rebel's latest fighter, The Vulture:

rebelvulture.jpg (24.68K)
Number of downloads: 40

I have several more ships from the original EV modeled, if you're interested.

--BP

Those look pretty good, especially for a wee lil' BluePlanet.

Thanks. Can you believe I was going by BluePlanet back then too?

If I recall these were designed on a teal iMac, as in the first one.

1997... Escape Velocity... Chrono Trigger... Sliders.... Good times...

--BP

Good graphics, BluePlanet.

Thank you!

I've hardly done ships since then, maybe I should start again.

I hope I can get into this animation project.

--BP