These voxelized Doom sprites are incredible

[CodeImp]

On 5/18/2022 at 1:47 AM, user76828904 said:

@ketmar Excuse my naive approach. If we render our voxel model as cubes, that means we need two triangles for every visible cube's face. Is that correct? As you say, that's a lot of triangles to draw. Is there an advantage to use a voxel model over a polygonal one or it is just a matter of aesthetics?

There is actually a drawback to using voxels as they require much more geometry to render than an optimized 3D mesh. This problem can be partly mitigated with the use of geometry shaders such that you only need 1 data point per voxel and the GPU will generate the cube meshes, but I'm not sure if that gets any close to the performance of 3D meshes.

[Gez]

It's pretty impressive how the voxel enemies look just like their sprites when they're afar. It's only at close range (or when they're dead...) that it becomes obvious they're not flat sprites anymore. The demon bite looks a bit weird, probably a perspective issue; its mouth being closer to the camera than implied by the sprite animation.

[Shepardus]

On 1/26/2022 at 7:34 PM, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

Speaking of asses, when is @Maes going to be able to lay his eyes on Cybie's fine voxelized buttcheeks?

On 5/18/2022 at 2:07 AM, Azuris said:

I am really looking forward to see the Cyberdemons Backsite.

 

Edited May 21, 2022 by Shepardus

[Koko Ricky]

This is easily the most visually appropriate way to bring the speites into 3D. It looks seamless when integrated into maps. 

[user76828904]

15 hours ago, CodeImp said:

There is actually a drawback to using voxels as they require much more geometry to render than an optimized 3D mesh. This problem can be partly mitigated with the use of geometry shaders such that you only need 1 data point per voxel and the GPU will generate the cube meshes, but I'm not sure if that gets any close to the performance of 3D meshes.

 

Thanks for your answer. One more thing. If I understand correctly (at least in in this Doom project) we need one different voxel model per every frame of animation. This makes animation with voxels a lot harder, right?


Also, there is that healer guy:

 

[raymoohawk]

2 hours ago, user76828904 said:

 

Thanks for your answer. One more thing. If I understand correctly (at least in in this Doom project) we need one different voxel model per every frame of animation. This makes animation with voxels a lot harder, right?


Also, there is that healer guy:

 

i'm clapping like a seal at that, it's so great :D

the same artist also made some of the blood monsters

 

Edited May 22, 2022 by raymoohawk

[Rudolph]

I love it! Voxels basically solve the issue with dealing with sprite-based flying enemies, which plagued recent titles like Ion Fury. Retro-style first-person shooter developers should definitely take note!

Edited May 23, 2022 by Rudolph

[Gez]

On dimanche 22 mai 2022 at 4:40 AM, user76828904 said:

If I understand correctly (at least in in this Doom project) we need one different voxel model per every frame of animation.

Yes, a voxel corresponds to a single frame. They're really just like bitmapped sprites, except in 3D instead of 2D. (Voxel: volumetric pixel.)

 

Traditional models are easier, conceptually, to animate because you can twist and deform them. If a voxel is a volumetric bitmap, a model is a volumetric vectored graphic. So you can take individual vertices, attach them to others, give them a weight so they'll follow the movement of the vertex they're attached to with a varying amplitude, and the entire thing can then be deformed however you want. No such thing for a voxel. A pixel is just a pixel, even if it's a 3D pixel. It cannot move, because it's defined by its coordinates.

[user76828904]

On 5/22/2022 at 1:57 AM, raymoohawk said:

the same artist also made some of the blood monsters

That Blood monsters look neat. I guess the author must have power over voxels.

 

 

1 hour ago, Gez said:

Yes, a voxel corresponds to a single frame. They're really just like bitmapped sprites, except in 3D instead of 2D. (Voxel: volumetric pixel.)

 

Traditional models are easier, conceptually, to animate because you can twist and deform them. If a voxel is a volumetric bitmap, a model is a volumetric vectored graphic. So you can take individual vertices, attach them to others, give them a weight so they'll follow the movement of the vertex they're attached to with a varying amplitude, and the entire thing can then be deformed however you want. No such thing for a voxel. A pixel is just a pixel, even if it's a 3D pixel. It cannot move, because it's defined by its coordinates.

It sounds like a hard problem to solve.

 

The horned thing can walk!
 

 

[user76828904]

Our hero.

 

 

[NightFright]

That guy is on fire. And he is crazy. At the same time, he is also incredibly talented. When all of these character traits come together, exceptional things can happen.

Edited May 28, 2022 by NightFright

[user76828904]

37 minutes ago, NightFright said:

That guy is on fire. And he is crazy. At the same time, he is also incredibly talented. When all of these character traits come together, exceptional things can happen.

 

He must see the world in voxels.

[Shepardus]

 

[Koko Ricky]

I didn't know it was possible to do smooth movement like that with voxels! Could this be used to make the animation more articulate?

[Ludi]

These look so cool! I can imagine they would look super aesthetic in 640x400 or even 320x200. As said above, these give off a Build Engine vibe that I totally fuck with.

[user76828904]

Six nipples creature is coming.
 

 

[Ludi]

They look kinda like the models used to render the original sprites. I wonder if that's intentional?

[user76828904]

3 minutes ago, Sr_Ludicolo said:

They look kinda like the models used to render the original sprites. I wonder if that's intentional?

 

I think it is.

[Koko Ricky]

At this pace this project is going we should see the first actually good 3D model pack!

[user76828904]

5 hours ago, Koko Ricky said:

At this pace this project is going we should see the first actually good 3D model pack!

 

IMHO, as fans, we are really hard to please.

[princetontiger]

Way cool!

 

I still remember thinking how incredible Doom I/II was in the mid-90s: 2D renderings that appeared 3D based on camera angle.

[Koko Ricky]

57 minutes ago, user76828904 said:

 

IMHO, as fans, we are really hard to please.

Agreed...but it's worth noting that 3D model packs have either looked a bit too amateur (from the Doomsday/Risen 3D days) or are incomplete (Doom Ascension, which looks fantastic but has been halted). This looks like a project with enough momentum and talent to actually see itself through. 

[user76828904]

On 5/30/2022 at 9:48 PM, Koko Ricky said:

Agreed...but it's worth noting that 3D model packs have either looked a bit too amateur (from the Doomsday/Risen 3D days) or are incomplete (Doom Ascension, which looks fantastic but has been halted). This looks like a project with enough momentum and talent to actually see itself through. 

 

Was the person who make the models for Doom Ascension a professional?

E2M3
 

 

[Koko Ricky]

It sure looked like it. Clean, high quality models. Too bad the links are dead on the site...

[TasAcri]

This is the best on-going DOOM project so far.

[user76828904]

Giblets.

 

 

[Wilster_Wonkels]

Wait a minute, what the heck is this guy doing with an ssg in the Shores of Hell?

[fraggle]

So I like the look of the voxel models, but I noticed that in some of the videos I've seen, it looks weird when the user is strafing around the monsters. I think it's just that I'm used to the sprites after years of playing with them, so it's weird to see arms and guns "popping out" in full 3D.

 

So I had an idea, and I wonder if it's been considered at all. Would it be possible to render the models in an isometric view rather than a perspective one? ie. always render the model at a right angle from the side, although you'd scale the whole result down to match the distance. The effect would be like playing with sprites if it was possible to have an infinite number of rotations. This could be nice for folks like me who would be curious to be able to see monsters from any angle but are still attached to the sprite look after years of playing that way.

 

Obviously this is a coding question rather than a question about this project, but maybe there's someone who knows who coded the voxel support?

[Bauul]

I completely agree that some coding inclusions to help the voxels act more like the original sprites would add a better sense of authenticity, and be less jarring.  It's no critique on the voxels themselves, more an observation of how voxels act differently to sprites.

 

Another example is the death animation: Doom's original sprites don't have any rotation angles for the death animation, so in effect always rotate to face the player when the monster dies.  But by default the voxels remain at the angle the monster was facing when it died, which feels odd for two reasons. 1) It's different to the original sprites, and 2) the monster will always fall backwards regardless of the direction it was shot.

 

Ideally, some coding that either a) makes the monster always face the player the tic it dies, so the voxel death animation matches the look of the sprite, or 2) face the direction of damage so at least the monster falls backwards in a more realistic fashion, would go a long way to making them feel more naturally integrated.

[Dragonfly]

32 minutes ago, fraggle said:

So I had an idea, and I wonder if it's been considered at all. Would it be possible to render the models in an isometric view rather than a perspective one? ie. always render the model at a right angle from the side, although you'd scale the whole result down to match the distance. The effect would be like playing with sprites if it was possible to have an infinite number of rotations. This could be nice for folks like me who would be curious to be able to see monsters from any angle but are still attached to the sprite look after years of playing that way.

 

If I'm not mistaken this kind of tech is used within Prodeus, pretty cool effect imo!