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wondering if their expression (Smiling, angry etc.) change dynamically with Traits. So if someone is aggressive, arbitrary, cruel etc. then he'd be more Mean-looking.

Yeah, that's what I meant to ask...

Invocation Mode: Oh grand Facemaker, does thou hear our query? (Invocational Disclaimer: I don't know ye ol' English) :p
 
Well, consider the many required facial expressions if one was to have say 15 different eyebrows, and multiply them for the what...40 or how many traits are in the game, and add to that the same amount for women, for several looks (european, arab). That's 2400 eyebrows, if every trait was to have seperate facial features. Even with only half of the traits having distinct eyebrows it would be 1200 eyebrows in game, plus 1200 foreheads, ears, mouths and so on. Not very practical. So portraits stuff is either dna inherited or scriptable. Anyway, in real life a nice guy can be born with mean looking eyebrows, and a mean guy can look ever so kind, so it's realistic enough. :)

On another note, I like the fact that some people are now liking the portraits better, even though I asked that they not be too quick to judge on the last few images. The faces you see now is of the same batch of work as the last ones released. Hehe. Nothing has changed regarding the faces yet, so I'm glad you're liking them better. ;) But seriously, the women are coming along, and don't look too shabby. :D
 
I like the look of the new faces, with the added headgear. I was wondering in the Swedish image, why some mayors are bareheaded and others are wearing mail coifs? Does this reflect military education on their parts or is something else involved? Thanks.
 
It looks much better now. Don't forget to give some characters full beards.

They already have, just not in those screens. :)

I like the look of the new faces, with the added headgear. I was wondering in the Swedish image, why some mayors are bareheaded and others are wearing mail coifs? Does this reflect military education on their parts or is something else involved? Thanks.

It's scriptable, and there will be much more variety in the final game.
 
Well, consider the many required facial expressions if one was to have say 15 different eyebrows, and multiply them for the what...40 or how many traits are in the game, and add to that the same amount for women, for several looks (european, arab). That's 2400 eyebrows, if every trait was to have seperate facial features. Even with only half of the traits having distinct eyebrows it would be 1200 eyebrows in game, plus 1200 foreheads, ears, mouths and so on. Not very practical. So portraits stuff is either dna inherited or scriptable. Anyway, in real life a nice guy can be born with mean looking eyebrows, and a mean guy can look ever so kind, so it's realistic enough. :)

No-no, that's what I corrected you that he wasn't saying. It's not about their actual face, that's genetics. It's their expressions. For example in Dev6 THIS GUY looks very depressed and THIS GUY looks a bit surprised with his mouth open like that. That led to some questions about them reacting to their situation. So if someone gains a trait then his demeanor would change a bit (so if someone has content and happy traits he'd be smiling, but if he's sarcastic it could be a smirk thus contorting his normal smile sideways). Nothing with his actual appearance.

But since it's not true 3D I guess you compile the images after the fact (like the portraits in CK1, where you had things like the DNA-Maker that let you pick noses, mouths etc. Individual images), so contorting the face of a pre-existing character would be a lot harder? Just clearing that up, hopefully. Personally I don't mind a generalized "I'm feeling OK" look.
 
No-no, that's what I corrected you that he wasn't saying. It's not about their actual face, that's genetics. It's their expressions. For example in Dev6 THIS GUY looks very depressed and THIS GUY looks a bit surprised with his mouth open like that. That led to some questions about them reacting to their situation. So if someone gains a trait then his demeanor would change a bit (so if someone has content and happy traits he'd be smiling, but if he's sarcastic it could be a smirk thus contorting his normal smile sideways). Nothing with his actual appearance.

But since it's not true 3D I guess you compile the images after the fact (like the portraits in CK1, where you had things like the DNA-Maker that let you pick noses, mouths etc. Individual images), so contorting the face of a pre-existing character would be a lot harder? Just clearing that up, hopefully. Personally I don't mind a generalized "I'm feeling OK" look.

I understand what he meant, and what I tried to explain is that if in 2d layers facial expressions could vary in the many dna facial features, it would require a huge amount of images. For X mouth you'd need to have x= smile, x=angry and so on variants. I.e. most mouths will be "I'm feeling okay look", but some people have their mouth slightly open when feeling okay, others will have it somewhat hanging (in a frown), others will have a slightly psychotic smile. Heh. Short answer = faces are dna controlled, anything else would really require true 3d faces (or a bad solution where all sad people have the same face..not good).
 
What I loved from Crusader Kings was that my own family's COA was there but I'm not sure if I want it to be randomised. Will they be truly customised - in that I will be able to customise them?
 
What I loved from Crusader Kings was that my own family's COA was there but I'm not sure if I want it to be randomised. Will they be truly customised - in that I will be able to customise them?

That seems to be what the devs have said in the past. I always figured that it was entirely moddable, just like title COAs. So, let's say that you want to do a War of Independence-era Scotland mod; if they are not in vanilla, you can add COAs for the Norman families that are not so important in 1066, like the FitzAllans (i.e., Stuarts), Bruces, etc. If there is no COA on file for you dynasty, then a random one is assigned at campaign start.

I figured that the royal and ducal families in 1066 will get their historical ones: since Doomdark has said that many of the comital and baronial titleholders and courtiers will be randomly generated anyway, I thought that randomized COAs will dovetail well. But this is a lot of speculation on my part. Give a human brain one percent of the data, and it will fill in the details. Forever changing the future is.
 
I hope they are not properly 3D, but just look 3D. Does it say in the newsletter?
If they are actual 3D faces, I can probably put up with them anyway. :)

edit: There is a question mark over the image of that characters spouse which might suggest that we don't have the entire details of everyone's court, which is interesting!
 
I hope they are not properly 3D, but just look 3D. Does it say in the newsletter?
If they are actual 3D faces, I can probably put up with them anyway. :)

edit: There is a question mark over the image of that characters spouse which might suggest that we don't have the entire details of everyone's court, which is interesting!

See post #30, this thread, from the guy who is designing the faces for the game. They didn't go all the way with 3D faces, like in M&B Warband, which would have been nice I suppose. Faces are one of things that has generated a lot of fierce debate on this forum, and I am happy to see the beautiful results.
 
I like the new portraits a lot :) .... I was worried that they would end up looking alike somewhat. But these new screenshots seem to squash those worries :D And there is still a lot of time to improve even more. Looks good Danevang, keep up the good work.
 
On another note, I like the fact that some people are now liking the portraits better [...] The faces you see now is of the same batch of work as the last ones released. Hehe. Nothing has changed regarding the faces yet, so I'm glad you're liking them better.
lol.. ah perceptions, how the shift with time..

Short answer = faces are dna controlled, anything else would really require true 3d faces (or a bad solution where all sad people have the same face..not good).
That covers my question perfectly. Thanks for the answers. I think it is a smart design choice. Keep up the good work, and maybe you can leak us some pin-ups of Queens, Duchesses, and petty wenches ready to show it all ;P

I'm looking for a Greek wife, age 18-20, curly dirty brown hair, brown eyed. With a face that says: I'm a strong personality.
(We've all got our weaknesses) :]