Rogue Trooper News…!

[Jim_Campbell]

Surely we've grown up a bit now.

I'm not saying it's the correct approach, but it's still quite common:

I think we need to be a little careful before leaping straight to cries "lazy trope" — the High Evolutionary, for example, isn't a villain because he's disfigured, he's disfigured because he's a villain.

(In the absence of spoiler tags, I'll refrain from explaining how he ends up in this state in GotG3.)

[karlos]

That Wilson commission is incredible

[Funt Solo]

Surely we've grown up a bit now.

I'm not saying it's the correct approach, but it's still quite common:

I think we need to be a little careful before leaping straight to cries "lazy trope" — the High Evolutionary, for example, isn't a villain because he's disfigured, he's disfigured because he's a villain.

(In the absence of spoiler tags, I'll refrain from explaining how he ends up in this state in GotG3.)

In the absence of a Like button, I'll just say good point.

[Keef Monkey]

The Rebellion Films studio seems to use similar tech to the volume used on the Star Wars shows (which I'm pretty sure also use Unreal Engine to render the environments and backdrops that they shoot the actors against), so given that and the showreel stuff they've put out I did assume this would be a mix of CG and live action when I saw the announcement.

I'm sure everyone here will have seen this stuff already, but found it interesting to watch and imagine how a Rogue Trooper production could look.

The casting does give the impression it's a mocap and voice situation mind you. I'm really thrilled this is happening, as much as I got excited about the idea of a live action Rogue movie an animated version done right could end up being really special, can't wait to see it!

[pauljholden]

The Rebellion Films studio seems to use similar tech to the volume used on the Star Wars shows (which I'm pretty sure also use Unreal Engine to render the environments and backdrops that they shoot the actors against), so given that and the showreel stuff they've put out I did assume this would be a mix of CG and live action when I saw the announcement.

I'm sure everyone here will have seen this stuff already, but found it interesting to watch and imagine how a Rogue Trooper production could look.

The casting does give the impression it's a mocap and voice situation mind you. I'm really thrilled this is happening, as much as I got excited about the idea of a live action Rogue movie an animated version done right could end up being really special, can't wait to see it!

If I could cash in my career and do-over, I'd be working in visual effects. Since I first saw a Ray Harryhausen film I've loved all that stuff.

[Steve Green]

The Rebellion Films studio seems to use similar tech to the volume used on the Star Wars shows (which I'm pretty sure also use Unreal Engine to render the environments and backdrops that they shoot the actors against), so given that and the showreel stuff they've put out I did assume this would be a mix of CG and live action when I saw the announcement.

I'm sure everyone here will have seen this stuff already, but found it interesting to watch and imagine how a Rogue Trooper production could look.

The casting does give the impression it's a mocap and voice situation mind you. I'm really thrilled this is happening, as much as I got excited about the idea of a live action Rogue movie an animated version done right could end up being really special, can't wait to see it!

The LED wall Rebellion used for Percival was just a temp hire one summer - they have something they call the volume but it's a motion capture volume (basically their mocap division, audiomotion moved in a while back and is set up in their main stage.

As for Rogue, it's definitely motion capture CGI, although some of it will be keyframed too - they've done the main facial mocap of the leads, but still have a bunch of mocap for bodies etc which they said was being done down in Poole. (They were recruiting a few roles recently and are still looking for an Mid-level Unreal bod)

I went to a talk by Treehouse Digital back in November and they showed sample facial motion capture of a grizzled old guy, guess it could have been a Nort or something unconnected.

They talked about their pipeline but this was before the announcement, so didn't show much.

is something along the lines they showed - basically Unreal has a system called Metahuman Animator which makes this kind of thing very quick and a high level - you can get good results even with an iphone and head rig.

As for a career in VFX - it's like games - crunch periods, insecure - the past year with the strikes was particularly bad, although hopefully picking up...

[Keef Monkey]

Ah thanks for the extra info, that's interesting. That metahuman example is really impressive, will be curious to see if they go for that kind of photorealism or something more stylized. Always thought I'd be most into something that looked like the comic art come to life but looking at that demo I think I'd be bowled over with whatever approach they take! Exciting times.

[Steve Green]

No problem!

It might be more stylised - I think they mentioned something about that side, but they showed another (non-Rogue) project which was much more stylised - so I might be getting the two mixed up.

The grizzled guy/maybe Nort was a bit grotesque, but not massively stylised - I guess if you've a blue lead character with blank eyes, you might want to push it anyway - Dave Gibbons mentioned that he cross-hatched Rogue's skin to give it a more reptilian look, to go with the Cobra looking helmet but that kind of thing passed successive artists by.

Unfortunately the panel wasn't recorded (AFAIK) and they asked people not to, but it was interesting (from a tech point of view)

[The Legendary Shark]

I imagine Rogue's skin to be many shades of blue, shifting chameleon-like in the chem-haze as a constantly shifting (and/or consciously controlled) genetically installed camouflage. A soldier looks into the swirling mist, part of it looks a little odd, like a will o' the wisp, and then two white eyes appear...

[Proudhuff]

I think a one & done. The Quartz Massacre storyline. & Rogue walking out into the distance at the end. or something akin to a Mad Max movie. But I think the idea of disfigured villains now? Surely we've grown up a bit now.

You make a good point.  Ugly and scarred = evil is incredibly clichéd at this stage of the game - Heath Ledger's Joker was possibly that trope's last great hurrah.

Trump?

[JayzusB.Christ]

I think a one & done. The Quartz Massacre storyline. & Rogue walking out into the distance at the end. or something akin to a Mad Max movie. But I think the idea of disfigured villains now? Surely we've grown up a bit now.

You make a good point.  Ugly and scarred = evil is incredibly clichéd at this stage of the game - Heath Ledger's Joker was possibly that trope's last great hurrah.

Trump?

Surely not. I mean, Elvis was a handsome fella, and they're practically doppelgangers.

[The Legendary Shark]

Donald Trump as the evil Agent Orange.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Heh. Surprised there wasn't an Agent Orange in RT - there was no shortage of punny names.

[Dash Decent]

there was no shortage of punny names.

I'm still waiting for a Ronnie Barker to show up in Kingdom.

[Link Prime]

If we post here enough, will we get our names in the film? 

Finally, my time has come.

We'll give you that one.
Still, not the same league as nouveau A-listers Rogue Judge, Rogue69 or Trooper McFad.