Nintendo has shared a quick video via Twitter, giving us a behind-the-scenes look into the workings of Princess Peach's 3D face model. This is all well and good, of course, but taking away that glistening, polished exterior reveals the rather creepy looking tools hidden inside our favourite characters.
As you can see below, the character model's different facial expressions are made by manipulating the locations of various points under the surface. It's interesting, and extremely well done, but knowing that the glorious princess we all know and love started life as the image on the right is rather haunting.
These expressions come from Super Mario Odyssey, in which Peach can be spotted in various locations throughout the adventure. You might not ever really think about how much work goes into little details like this, but the end result is certainly worth the effort.
If nothing else, we've now provided you with something to watch on a loop while we all patiently wait for the Nintendo E3 Direct (if you're reading this in time), and you're very welcome.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 20
Super Peach World confirmed.
Or at least Peach DLC for Odyssey...
Actually character DLC for Odyssey could work really well if it mixes up the standard gameplay enough. Imagine Bowser Jr. in his clown car, zipping around levels... Count me in.
Or......or....screw new characters and just add new levels like Isle Delfino. I'd much rather have new worlds to explore than new characters.
@holygeez03
She looks scared/sad. Could be Peach's Mansion.
That character is so cute. Too bad she's often the dumb princess who gets "captured" by Bowser. I think she does it on purpose because she's cheating on Mario with Bowser.
@patbacknitro18 @NinjaAceTrainer Or both. Just say both. We can (probably) have both.
Man, Nintendo’s been on the ball with these behind-the-scenes look things from SMO! Very interesting and insightful.
@patbacknitro18 Why not both? A DLC that adds Peach and a small map. Say, the size of Hyrule in BotW?
So she’s basically a mii
Peach Vacation DLC would be easy to add... and Isle Delfino seems likely to coincide with that...
Super Mario Odyssey’s art style is very good-looking, in my opinion.
@holygeez03 I said this months ago to my friend. She already has Tiana (I don't remember her name), so why not make Peach playable with new kingdoms.
@patbacknitro18 @NinjaAceTrainer why not both 😝
Don't ever play a horror game if you find 2 eye holes cut in a piece of paper creepy.
It's not as creepy as some other games.
Some like World of Final Fantasy have multiple expressions premade and they just slide in and out of the character's face!
Adorable. Can't wait to show my daughter. I want her to be more involved with development and understand the inner workings of the game world.
Lol, she's a robot.
Thank heaven for modelers/riggers/animators.
That thing on the right is a standard facial animation controller. Well, a bit more personalized (they look a lot more generic usually, without eyelashes or crowns), but if you downloaded any of the standard animation exercise models and opened it in Maya or Blender this is what you'd see floating next to their faces.
There's also a bunch of other controllers floating near her joints. 3D models are essentially very advanced marionettes.
Facial animation was one of my favorite things back when I was trying to get into 3D animation.
That is so hot.
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