Holo Me needs a "Photo Booth" at the end of the character creation process to give players more varied portraits.
As it stands every time I go through local or friends list I always have to turn my head and check the portraits aren't staring at something interesting over my shoulder. They all share the same blank faced stare and every portrait is shot from the same angles. The only variations are female avatars looking the opposite way and people with helmets on have a helmet on to go with their blank stares. All that would be needed are a handful of animations for the pilot to strike some poses such as a salute while taking their portrait through Holo Me. Basically look at Soul Calibur (Dragon Age Origins is also a good example) and do what they did at the end of creation. Let us choose backgrounds and maybe add some filters to the portrait. And then when all is said and done you confirm the portrait and any later changes to the avatar will be reflected in the portrait as they are now while still retaining the chosen pose. It wouldn't even need to be that complicated actually. It could be as simple as portrait face left or right, up or down and a couple of backgrounds colors. (Maybe even a Faction symbol for achieving rank) something like 8 different angles could really add some variety to these portraits. Also it would give an opportunity to work around that awful glare that clear helmets get from blocking peoples faces.
(While I am talking about helmets. Does anyone else see the potential for color tinted helmet glass DLC? I would like a nice shade of green myself. And there certainly looks to be room in the UI for them between black and clear.) Back on topic. Just being able to turn the head slightly or point where the eyes are looking could make a holo me feel like its not just Hologram#2257 off the line and more like an actual person. And that is the point of this after all. As far as the creator goes people feel human up close and pretty far from the Uncanny Valley in most respects. All that really needs work is portraits.
Another thought on humanizing these portraits. Can CMDRs potentially smile or even make other human like expressions right now? If we were to look under those lips would there even be teeth rendered?
As it stands every time I go through local or friends list I always have to turn my head and check the portraits aren't staring at something interesting over my shoulder. They all share the same blank faced stare and every portrait is shot from the same angles. The only variations are female avatars looking the opposite way and people with helmets on have a helmet on to go with their blank stares. All that would be needed are a handful of animations for the pilot to strike some poses such as a salute while taking their portrait through Holo Me. Basically look at Soul Calibur (Dragon Age Origins is also a good example) and do what they did at the end of creation. Let us choose backgrounds and maybe add some filters to the portrait. And then when all is said and done you confirm the portrait and any later changes to the avatar will be reflected in the portrait as they are now while still retaining the chosen pose. It wouldn't even need to be that complicated actually. It could be as simple as portrait face left or right, up or down and a couple of backgrounds colors. (Maybe even a Faction symbol for achieving rank) something like 8 different angles could really add some variety to these portraits. Also it would give an opportunity to work around that awful glare that clear helmets get from blocking peoples faces.
(While I am talking about helmets. Does anyone else see the potential for color tinted helmet glass DLC? I would like a nice shade of green myself. And there certainly looks to be room in the UI for them between black and clear.) Back on topic. Just being able to turn the head slightly or point where the eyes are looking could make a holo me feel like its not just Hologram#2257 off the line and more like an actual person. And that is the point of this after all. As far as the creator goes people feel human up close and pretty far from the Uncanny Valley in most respects. All that really needs work is portraits.
Another thought on humanizing these portraits. Can CMDRs potentially smile or even make other human like expressions right now? If we were to look under those lips would there even be teeth rendered?
