New Ant Lion vs Old Ant Lion

[BWMASTER]

I don't know about you but when I look at the new HDR video I immediatly spot out that this is a better build than all of the builds before it meaning it must be pretty current.

Now if the antlion got this makeover I can easily imagine other charachters that we have already seen get some more bumpmaps added to give new details.

:cheers:

 

[subs]

or ofcourse, the new antilion could have been only made for the Tech video to show off the specular/bump mapping, and might not be like that in final game.

or one could be a dx8.1 version and one could be the dx9.1 alien .

 

[Frank]

I liked the old one better. The other one is TOOOOOOOO shiny! So I don't mind having a DX8 card

 

[freddythefrog]

Were the E3 vids made in dx8 or dx9?
They surely looked rather unspectacular if you compared them to the hdr vid.

oh, brw, i dont mind the new one being so shiny. it gives them a slimy look, they look a bit more like huge insects now. And it would have looked good on the picture with water in the background, it would have strengthend the impression of the antlion coming out of the water...

 

[Axyon]

I like the look of both of them, but with the DX9 reflection technology on the newer one, it just adds an extra element of greatness. The new one appears to have a more pronounced torso, but it might just be that the old one was moving in a way that pushed it back. Meh.

 

[BWMASTER]

It doesnt bother me at all.
Ants in the real world are a bit shiny.

Just shows off the armor a bit and I'm sure the glossiness was a bit overexxagerated so that people could pick it up...

 

[Apocaliptik]

I like it shiny because it makes it look slimy. And you know...its an alien.

 

[LoneDeranger]

I love the new antlion. It would be a shame if they don't use it in the game.

 

[Axyon]

For the record though, this is the Ant Lion Guard

/fussy bastard

 

[BWMASTER]

I don't think they worked on the bumpmapp skin for nothing this time...

 

[mortiz]

to be honost , most people will be too busy shooting them to notice what they look like

 

[dawdler]

I still like the shinyness of it. Actually I love it. This is a game, not reality, its much more fun when it has extremes.

The texture has been really cleaned up too... So my vote goes on the new one! But then again, I have a card that can show it too, so that helps!

 

[BWMASTER]

then you go have a closer look and hit decals show you where the ant lion's heart is, then you maybe notice the wonderful work put in to make the ant lion this detailed...

 

[CordlessPen]

I think the reflection gives a bug-like look to the Ant Lion, and I love it. But I fear it may be just another ''Lens Flare'', something that'll be overused.

If you CAN do it doesn't mean you MUST do it. But I trust Valve. As long as the combine soldiers aren't as shiny as this Ant Lion, it's ok.

 

[FoB_Ed]

I liked the old one better. The other one is TOOOOOOOO shiny! So I don't mind having a DX8 card

it's shiny because it just rained, and the sun is shining on the wet carapace as it would irl

 

[BWMASTER]

I wanna see some shyny helmets on the combine.

Not some dull matte material.....

 

[OCybrManO]

Originally posted by mortiz
to be honost , most people will be too busy shooting them to notice what they look like

I love this logic... because if game designers followed this rule we might just now be reaching Quake graphics.

 

[Guest]

Cmon guys, why would the combine shine anyways? Except for the helmets, of course. By the way, Im pretty sure that the glossiness is specularity mapping and not bump mapping.

 

[BWMASTER]

yeah but you can see the veins on the ant lion.....and they shyne so thats because the bumpmapp made them there in the first place....

 

[FoB_Ed]

Originally posted by schweppes
Cmon guys, why would the combine shine anyways? Except for the helmets, of course. By the way, Im pretty sure that the glossiness is specularity mapping and not bump mapping.

ummm he never said anything about the combine soldiers shining except for the helmets

 

[Guest]

Bump mapping deals with lights hitting something at different angles, giving the illusion of depth. The specularity mapping does something close, but it only shines.

 

[PriNcE oF SpAcE]

just watched the new vid. it's great!

I think they've made the reflectings a little too exagerated and bright though...still looks great though.

 

[Mackan]

yeah the shining has nothing to do with bumpmaps

 

[Guest]

Originally posted by CordlessPen
If you CAN do it doesn't mean you MUST do it. But I trust Valve. As long as the combine soldiers aren't as shiny as this Ant Lion, it's ok.

I was talking about this guy, FoB

 

[scribblehead]

Dx 8.1 Antlion guard= Old and busted

Dx 9.0 Antlion guard= New and fresh

monkeys...

 

[Grimsrud]

The annual Quote Of The Year ceremony have just chosen year 2003's winner:

"Ants in the real world are a bit shiny."



The man behind the quote is BWMASTER. A big gold coated ant is being sent to his home adress.

 

[el Chi]

Is it not also a tad shiny because, as we see in Bugbait, it's more than a little bulletproof?
Halfway through writing that sentence I realised it didn't make 100% sense, but you see my point as bullets twang off it in a metallic fashion.
Personally, I quite like the shininess. If HL1 had one graphical technique that made me want to cry at the beauty (and as far as I remember the electricity was damn fine too) it was the chrome effects... Oh and they even worked in software mode... Ooof.
However the shininess in thse videos is a wee bit too much but maybe it was to show off? Maybe not. Who knows.

EDIT: Grimsrud - have you ever seen ants? BW's right. Sorry. Besides, it's a sodding alien so it can be whatever Valve make it... But that doesn't stop you from losing. Bad luck.

 

[mortiz]

Dx 8.1 Antlion guard= Old and busted

Dx 9.0 Antlion guard= New and fresh

Yes, if you are attracted to shiny things like a 3 year old, but for the rest of us who just want to play the game and not masturbate over pixel shaders and character bump mapping, there's really going to be hardly any noticable differences.

 

[subs]

what? i saw a huge difference btwn these 2 ant lions and EPECIALLY in motion.. Dont be in denial.

 

[MacGraham]

all i can say is....what a shit font!!!!! Its awful, then again I am a graphic designer so maybe I'm being picky

 

[scribblehead]

Originally posted by mortiz
Yes, if you are attracted to shiny things like a 3 year old, but for the rest of us who just want to play the game and not masturbate over pixel shaders and character bump mapping, there's really going to be hardly any noticable differences.

shut up asslion!!

 

[Direwolf]

I just rewatched the video to look at the antilion, and I noticed something else. There's a ton of background noise going on, which I believed was mostly just the wind whipping past (an incredible effect too), but I began to notice something rythmic in the background. Does it sound like the ocean to anyone else? There's this sound at irregular intervals that sounds an awful lot like waves crashing.
Am I nuts or does anyone else hear this?

 

[Gorgon]

Mortiz, negative.

not every second in the game there will be 10 aliens trying to eat you. you will have alot of time maybe hours of exploring things such as graphics, world, water......etc.

so it is very important to have the latest cards (9800P) that will give you the ex candy for your eyes.

 

[Mackan]

i still think its that shiny because it has rained

 

[Gorgon]

Originally posted by Direwolf
I just rewatched the video to look at the antilion, and I noticed something else. There's a ton of background noise going on, which I believed was mostly just the wind whipping past (an incredible effect too), but I began to notice something rythmic in the background. Does it sound like the ocean to anyone else? There's this sound at irregular intervals that sounds an awful lot like waves crashing.
Am I nuts or does anyone else hear this?

yes look at the skyscraper

the aliens are eating it.:cheese:

it is true.....

 

[Direwolf]

Naw, it doesn't sound mechanical though...much more natural. The more I hear the more I'm convinced.

 

[Gorgon]

direwolf check the skyscraper in the background you will see some parts of it are coming down slowly.

 

[BWMASTER]

Thats the combine fortress....its devouring the city....

 

[PriNcE oF SpAcE]

that's the combine tower

 

[mortiz]

The thing is, the only really different thing I saw between DX8 and DX9 is the character bump-mapping, the water effects and some of the pixel shading makes no difference to me, I couldn't tell why one was better than the other.