00:00Musik
00:59Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
01:28Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
01:30We know it's been a long time since the release of the last one, and what we managed to do
01:34during all this time, we will show you in the next update.
01:38This time, we're going to show you our progress on the Balrog.
01:42In the next, much bigger video, we'll show you the progress of recent months and make an announcement regarding an
01:48important decision.
01:49We've been looking forward to making this decision since the second half of last year, and we expect it to
01:56positively affect the development of the game.
02:00Durin's Bane, a demon of the ancient world.
02:04The Balrog is among the most powerful and fascinating beings of Middle-earth.
02:10As such, he requires extra care when it comes to his creation.
02:14It began with a fantastic sculptor from Australia, making a high-poly model of him,
02:21maintaining the right body proportions and taking care of all the needed surface details.
02:45Then, another of our team, Rita apologized it.
02:48She made a low-poly model of him, so it could be optimized for the engine.
02:53This is a super important job, as such models have to capture all the details from the high-poly model,
02:59fit it for animation, and ultimately be optimized enough to not cause lag.
03:05Once we got the optimized model, we could unwrap it, transfer all the high-poly details, and then texture it.
03:12We gave the Balrog a sword and a whip as weapons, both of which, of course, are flaming.
03:18The whip with many thongs, as in the book and the movie.
03:22At some point, we even made a few alternate swords versions, cooled and heated.
03:27Then, our best animator began doing his part.
03:31His contribution is super valuable, and we're lucky to have him with us.
03:37Once we got the Balrog animated, we could finally get to VFX.
03:40This was a really big challenge for the team, because the Balrog is a huge unit, with beautiful dynamic effects.
03:48Like the flames on his back, they burn not just from a single source, but they erupt from multiple fissure
03:53-like areas.
03:54The fire of his sword has to be beautiful, but not too excessive as to not blot out the sword
04:00itself.
04:00But it is the smoke that was the most challenging part.
04:04Essentially, it's a cloud of darkness that doesn't go up, it flows down, shrouding the Balrog where it should, and
04:12at the same time, it reacts to wind and turbulence.
04:15You may notice that even the wing membranes are made of it.
04:19Hundreds of attempts and hundreds of hours spent just to make the smoke good enough.
04:24A bit more time, and the Balrog would probably haunt the VFX designer's dreams forever.
04:30Fortunately, we got it right in the end.
04:32The Balrog cannot fly, according to the law.
04:35Do you think the Balrog should have the short flight ability that he used to have in Battle for Middle
04:40Earth, or should we discard it?
04:43Would you like his whip to be a permanent weapon that could be switched with the sword?
04:47Please let us know what you think in the comments.
04:50Thank you for watching.
04:52Please leave a thumbs up and a comment down below, and many thanks for all the donations.
04:58Until next time, Reforge Team, out.
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