Honeymoon – Star Fox Assault Cutscene – English [4K]
Before we get to the exciting conclusion of Star Fox Assault, let's take a step back and look at THE most requested Star Fox Assault cutscene. I figure it's as good a Krystmas present as any!
This is the now-famous Honeymoon cutscene, where Fox and Krystal meet up with a grown-up Tricky after fighting off the Aparoid threat on Sauria together. Tricky mades a casual mention that Fox and Krystal should come back for their honeymoon. Fox reacts with embarrassment, while Krystal laughs at his plight.
As some of you know, Star Fox Assault features several pre-rendered cutscenes. There are ten, I think. Even though the cutscenes appear to use the in-game engine, for whatever reason, they implemented these scenes as 30 frame per second, heavily compressed video, at a mere 640 by 336 resolution. But they did even worse, because that 30fps video is set to run at 60fps, doubling each frame. Except for some parts of the video that is running at less than 30fps, yet still displayed as 60fps video. Then, the video got vertically stretched to make it slightly taller. The compression they used left very big artifacts on the screen too.
What can we do about this? First, instead of recording the video off the screen, I instead pulled individual frames of video as textures. This allowed me the pure data of each video frame: no stretching, skips, or duplicates. This had the added bonus of showing more of the video, because some sections during fade-outs are handled by the game, not by the video frames.
Next, I tried all sorts of different high quality upscaling techniques. I tried every scaling filter ffmpeg has trying to find the best one, which turned out to be 'bicublin'. I also researched some paid upscalers. Ultimately, thanks to some advice from juiceps, I rediscovered a project from 2015: waifu2x.
Waifu2x is a GPU accelerated image upscaler that uses Neural Networks to increase the resolution of an image, particularly drawn images, without losing detail. The idea started with a Chinese research paper, Image Super-Resolution Using Deep Convolutional Networks. From there, it was implemented as open source software by nagadomi from Japan. There is even a project for automating and bulk-processing the upscaling technique with fully customizable settings with the project waifu2x-caffe. Visually, the technique has the effect of detected edges, and redrawing them as sharp lines, then taking everything else and smoothing the gradient of color so that they appear clean and free of artifacts. Waifu2x is FAR better than any other upscaler I've ever seen.
Here's what the process was like:
- Record the frames using frame dumping (also record the audio and the cutscene normally as a video to match against
- Use ImageMagick to bulk crop out the subtitle section, leaving the visual frames
- Run all the cropped frames through waifu2x-caffe, using the upRGB algorithm at Level 2 strength, and scaling the image up by 600% to make it 4K width (this process takes approximately 6 hours per 1 minute of footage)
- Use FFMPEG to convert the frame images into a 30fps video at 4K resolution
- Import the video into Final Cut Pro and edit it using the original recordings as a guide, doing any necessary frame speed retiming
- Finally export as a h.264 high quality video
Needless to say, this is a tremendous amount of work for each video. That's why they take so much longer than the other kinds like briefings and other scenes. But I have it figured out now, so future videos of this type should be coming more quickly.
For the 4K version, I removed the subtitles, since there wouldn't be much room for them anyway. However, I also made an original version, below. It uses the frames at exactly the same resolution as they exist in the game data, so it's maximum resolution is 640 by 480. I did record slightly higher resolution subtitles, though. Also, the frame timing and fades are better here than in the real game video. But put this video in full screen, and then compare it to the 4K version. The difference is staggering!
I will post the Japanese version of these scenes soon. But for now, I'm going to take a break for the rest of this week to celebrate Christmas and New Years. I hope you will also take some time to relax, hang with family, and reflect on the year past. See you in 2018!
Merry Krystmas 2017
Hey friends! Merry Christmas to you and yours this year. I hope you all are spending time with family and friends. Before I make the next post with your present, I just wanted to say that it's been a great year running the Krystal Archive and I've loved seeing your participation and fan works. Thank you all!
After the next post, I will be taking a break from posting until New Years. I hope you all will have an opportunity to rest and prepare for 2018 as well.
Artwork by AvaikaofStarfox, used with permission.
Happy Krystmas to All!
I have a gift for all of you that I'm excited to give you on Christmas day. So be sure to check in on Monday. Meanwhile, Christmas Eve is tomorrow and I still have a lot of prep for family get-togethers. I wish you all a Merry Christmas if I don't get to talk to you in the next few days.
The very festive Krystmas photo from Ayano Harumaki is from the 2016 Ayano Krystmas Photoshoot.
Queen Confrontation – Star Fox Assault Cutscene [4K]
After the Star Wolf team pull off a distraction, the Star Fox team enters the Aparoid Queen's chambers to be faced with mind games and visions from the past. This week's Star Fox Assault cutscene is once again higher than 4K resolution with its 4:3 aspect ratio.
In these type of in-game cutscenes, there's no difference between the Japanese and English visuals, save for the on-screen text. But I've included the Japanese version anyway.
Updated Krystal Sprite Tutorial for Cladun Krystal Mod
CommanderD posted some updated Krystal mod spritesheet tutorial images for his Cladun mod, which works with both Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku! and in Cladun X2 (both available on Steam).
CommanderD says that creating this spritesheet in-game should be straightforward, but will require a bit of copy-pasting. If you want to see the mod in action, and how to create the Staff weapon, check out the original post about it.
XCABAL Received His Krystal Sculpture
XCABAL managed to purchase a Krystal sculpture that appeared on eBay a few weeks ago. After receiving it and re-attaching the tail, he sent out some photos. He's very happy with the purchase.
Atherin’s Krystal CloudRunner Arwing Model
3D modeler Atherin posted his recreation of Krystal's CloudRunner, her custom Arwing with twin laser guns and a single lock on torpedo from Star Fox Command. In that game every character had a different ship with different attributes. Krystal's craft was designed to resemble the CloudRunner pterodactyl species from Sauria. Atherin's model even includes a textured cockpit and an Command-themed Krystal pilot.
Atherin has TONS of other Star Fox related models, such as the Orbital Gate from Star Fox Assault.
You can view and download the model on the 3D Warehouse Listing. The model is available as a Collada or SketchUp file.
Somehow, I only recently found out about this model, but it has apparently been online since 2013. Thanks to Wreckingcanon for letting me know about it.
Custom Krystal Guitar
DeviantArt user jaeha2714 recently posted the rockin' result of a two month project. He made a custom Krystal guitar, complete with custom art from chibi-oneechan. Unfortunately, she has not yet posted the art to a her gallery, though she may in the future. jaeha2714 used the Storm Guitar service to do the printing and creation of the custom pickguard.
Hopefully we'll get to see more of this project in the future. Thanks to Mr. Brownstone for letting me know about this.
Uninvited Guests – Star Fox Assault Cutscene [4K]
This week's Star Fox Assault cutscene is just after Peppy's sacrifice (spoilers) and the Star Fox team have entered the Aparoid Homeworld seeking the source of the invasion. Star Wolf follows them to join them in the final attack. This video is actually higher than 4K resolution with its 4:3 aspect ratio.
In these type of in-game cutscenes, there's no difference between the Japanese and English visuals, save for the on-screen text. But I've included the Japanese version anyway.
AJLethal’s Krystal Need 4 Speed Car Mods
She's a little hard to see in the video, but modder AJLethal of Costa Rica has placed a modified version of the Krystal Trophy model from Super Smash Bros Brawl in about a dozen of his Need for Speed car mods. He currently has the most mods on the entire site, so Krystal is getting some exposure through this she might not otherwise have.
You know, this is not what comes to mind when you think of Krystal game mods, but this is actually really clever. It's a subtle nod to the blue vixen that can be added everywhere without spending too much time handling weird edge cases with model rigging and Krystal not looking right in some parts of the game. As the driver, she always works.
Here are all the Krystal mods I found. They can all be downloaded from these pages.