The Energon Pub

While it was featured during PulseCon, the trailer for the next installment of the Netflix Transformers cartoon trilogy can now be seen on it's own and we posted it below. There is no official date for the release yet. It will deal with elements from the Earthrise toyline so the Quintessons, Doubledealer, the Coneheads and the Mercenary Faction. The Generations Selects toys also make a fun appearance, as you will see.
There is also a pretty great shot of Jetfire now fighting against the seekers.
You'll let us know what you think.

Is it just me or does Doubledealer look off somehow?

Cartoon Doubledealer’s shoulder missile is a lot smaller than on his toy, as are his twin blasters that correlate to the gun that forms the back of his ICBM in carrier mode. His face is also much rounder and he has knee joints not present on the toy version.

Looks cool.
I kinda expected them to update the characters models to match the toys.
I hope we get to see more of Earth in future trailers.The space adventure has potential,though.

Day 272 of waiting for Transformers Armada Masterpiece news.

Hope it'll be better than Siege.

~ Grim

Big Grim wrote:Hope it'll be better than Siege.

~ Grim

Siege was decent, but I'm looking at this whole trilogy as the parts of a larger "movie". Siege is act 1: introduce characters, some action, hit primary motivations, set up the over-arching theme and plot. For those goals, Siege did adequately.

I really wish that this was getting a DVD release. I live in a VERY rural area and our only internet option is satellite which, of course, has a monthly data "cap" (it says unlimited, but once you go beyond a certain download level, it is slowed to AOL dial-up speeds). In addition. since high-definition is considerably higher in data consumption, I am stuck with horrible graphics and pixelations and it kids of ruins the experience. It would be nice to view it in the 1080p it was filmed in.

I still have no compulsion to watch this. The voices are off, and I keep wanting to yell "TURN UP THE D@MN LIGHTS" at the screen.

To each his own, I suppose.

Hopefully when the trilogy is completed, there will be some sort of physical media release, I'd definitely be up for that. Shout!Factory was the main licence holder for most TF animated series, (not sure if that has changed) but they really haven't done anything beyond Rid15 season 1, and random Rescue Bots single DVD's (No Prime Wars, although CW was a bonus feature as part of the Target exclusive BRD of TLK), nor proper RB sets, no RB Academy, and no Cyberverse.

Earthrise looks cool, but it should be noted, it's about the JOURNEY to Earth, I don't expect Earth to be a setting until the very end. The show writers stated the map feature from the ER toys plays in very heavily. I'm not sure how many planets can be explored in 6 episodes, but I guess we'll find out. I don't expect the Ark to Crash on Earth until nearly the very end.

Also, as stated, I know the budget is limited, this works for TF's in many ways because there are so many mold reuses, but how hard would it be to get the correct heads?

I really like this show, but was thoroughly confused when Green ChromiaMoonracer died in Ep 5, if they had just changed her head, it would have been obvious. So now with the mercenary faction, all they had to do was change Exhausts face, not just give him Wheeljacks...

Siege was alright, loved Jetfire, but it’s looking like Earthrise is gonna be a step up. Eagerly await the release!

The Earthrise chapter is an interesting variation on the "flight from Cybertron" trope from G1's pilot. In that iteration, the pursuit by the Decepticons and crash on Earth were time-compressed, but visiting additional planets along the way -- Lost in Space- or Battlestar Galactica-style, if you will -- opens opportunities to collect or misplace cast members. I surmise the mercenaries they encounter are among Cybertronians who departed the planet prior to the war, while the spacebridge network (see also: Cyberverse) was still active?

FWIW, I happen to like the voice performance for this iteration of Megatron: weary and deliberate, rather than scheming and maniacal. His personality tends towards the Animated and Prime iterations.

I continue to be irritated by the slavish use of the toy models, which is very obvious with the hollow, ribbed underside of wings. It's like Energon all over again. What's the logic? Is it a production shortcut? Did Hasbro declare "the video portrayal must match the merchandise, to avoid buyer disappointment"?

The cracks on Prime's chest-windshield aren't convincing -- they resemble fissures in gypsum wallboard. With CG glass, cracks need to be modeled through the translucent depth; a surface texmap doesn't do it.

Lexomatic wrote:
The cracks on Prime's chest-windshield aren't convincing -- they resemble fissures in gypsum wallboard. With CG glass, cracks need to be modeled through the translucent depth; a surface texmap doesn't do it.

...damnit Jim, I'm a doctor not a CGI programmer!


That whole paragraph is beyond me. Perhaps you'd like to discuss pyelopnephritis?

First-Aid wrote:

Lexomatic wrote:The cracks on Prime's chest-windshield aren't convincing -- they resemble fissures in gypsum wallboard. With CG glass, cracks need to be modeled through the translucent depth; a surface texmap doesn't do it.

...damnit Jim, I'm a doctor not a CGI programmer!

That whole paragraph is beyond me. Perhaps you'd like to discuss pyelopnephritis?

I could -- anatomy/physiology is among my hobbies -- but since Transformers don't have kidneys or, apparently, fuel filters that can get clogged -- I can't see how it's relevant. Not past that one early episode of Robot Chicken, anyway, the PSA in which Prime dies of prostate cancer: "now, we Transformers don't have organic internal organs and can't get cancer, but you do...and you can."

But hey, I'm game (traditional art, CGI and technical writing are also among my hobbies). To expand:

One of the major elements of 3D computer graphics is simulating the appearance of real-world materials: how light bounces off the surface, at what angle and color at each point. Color is easy. Many opaque materials (plastic, metal, stone) are differentiated by their reflectivity ("specularity"), but translucent materials have depth and are characterized by how light refracts when passing through the front and back surfaces. To increase the visual detail of a CG object, you can either augment its physical geometry (number of "polygons" or "polys"), or apply various "maps" to the surface -- and the latter approach is computationally cheaper. There are "texture maps" ("texmaps") which are like decals that apply flat color, and "bump maps" which simulate texture (yes, poor choice of nomenclature by the pioneers) by tweaking the direction that light reflects across the poly.

At 1:02 in the trailer, Optimus is behind Doubledealer. His hest-windshields (a prominent and signature feature of his look) are damaged -- but the CGI technique used is incompatible with the illusion that those panels are made of glass with thickness. I'm sure most of us have experienced a damaged windshield or drinking glass; this doesn't match scratching (as seen on Doubledealer's metal shoulder), nor pitting, nor cracking/fracturing. Both the shape and color are wrong; this feels like the amateur failing of "draw what you think it looks like" rather than "actually look at your model."

The depiction is thick white lines across a blue background, which IMHO looks like gouges across a layered material like wallboard, foamcore board, framing mat board, or slate. Conversely, a crack across glass exhibits distinctive angles and junctions, and is visible by the way it changes refraction -- it adds surfaces that bend the light a few extra times. You can't entirely fake that with a texmap, but you can do better than this.

This isn't the only questionable technique in this production, IMHO. Every surface on every character is damaged, except for the faces of the female Autobots -- that also jumps out at me.

Lexomatic wrote:

First-Aid wrote:

Lexomatic wrote:The cracks on Prime's chest-windshield aren't convincing -- they resemble fissures in gypsum wallboard. With CG glass, cracks need to be modeled through the translucent depth; a surface texmap doesn't do it.

...damnit Jim, I'm a doctor not a CGI programmer!

That whole paragraph is beyond me. Perhaps you'd like to discuss pyelopnephritis?

I could -- anatomy/physiology is among my hobbies -- but since Transformers don't have kidneys or, apparently, fuel filters that can get clogged -- I can't see how it's relevant. Not past that one early episode of Robot Chicken, anyway, the PSA in which Prime dies of prostate cancer: "now, we Transformers don't have organic internal organs and can't get cancer, but you do...and you can."

But hey, I'm game (traditional art, CGI and technical writing are also among my hobbies). To expand:

One of the major elements of 3D computer graphics is simulating the appearance of real-world materials: how light bounces off the surface, at what angle and color at each point. Color is easy. Many opaque materials (plastic, metal, stone) are differentiated by their reflectivity ("specularity"), but translucent materials have depth and are characterized by how light refracts when passing through the front and back surfaces. To increase the visual detail of a CG object, you can either augment its physical geometry (number of "polygons" or "polys"), or apply various "maps" to the surface -- and the latter approach is computationally cheaper. There are "texture maps" ("texmaps") which are like decals that apply flat color, and "bump maps" which simulate texture (yes, poor choice of nomenclature by the pioneers) by tweaking the direction that light reflects across the poly.

At 1:02 in the trailer, Optimus is behind Doubledealer. His hest-windshields (a prominent and signature feature of his look) are damaged -- but the CGI technique used is incompatible with the illusion that those panels are made of glass with thickness. I'm sure most of us have experienced a damaged windshield or drinking glass; this doesn't match scratching (as seen on Doubledealer's metal shoulder), nor pitting, nor cracking/fracturing. Both the shape and color are wrong; this feels like the amateur failing of "draw what you think it looks like" rather than "actually look at your model."

The depiction is thick white lines across a blue background, which IMHO looks like gouges across a layered material like wallboard, foamcore board, framing mat board, or slate. Conversely, a crack across glass exhibits distinctive angles and junctions, and is visible by the way it changes refraction -- it adds surfaces that bend the light a few extra times. You can't entirely fake that with a texmap, but you can do better than this.

This isn't the only questionable technique in this production, IMHO. Every surface on every character is damaged, except for the faces of the female Autobots -- that also jumps out at me.

Weird. Now that you mention it, I can see it. Cool! Maybe this isn't final version and there is still some "tweaking" to do?

Lexomatic wrote:One of the major elements of 3D computer graphics is simulating the appearance of real-world materials: how light bounces off the surface, at what angle and color at each point. Color is easy. Many opaque materials (plastic, metal, stone) are differentiated by their reflectivity ("specularity"), but translucent materials have depth and are characterized by how light refracts when passing through the front and back surfaces. To increase the visual detail of a CG object, you can either augment its physical geometry (number of "polygons" or "polys"), or apply various "maps" to the surface -- and the latter approach is computationally cheaper. There are "texture maps" ("texmaps") which are like decals that apply flat color, and "bump maps" which simulate texture (yes, poor choice of nomenclature by the pioneers) by tweaking the direction that light reflects across the poly.

At 1:02 in the trailer, Optimus is behind Doubledealer. His hest-windshields (a prominent and signature feature of his look) are damaged -- but the CGI technique used is incompatible with the illusion that those panels are made of glass with thickness. I'm sure most of us have experienced a damaged windshield or drinking glass; this doesn't match scratching (as seen on Doubledealer's metal shoulder), nor pitting, nor cracking/fracturing. Both the shape and color are wrong; this feels like the amateur failing of "draw what you think it looks like" rather than "actually look at your model."

The depiction is thick white lines across a blue background, which IMHO looks like gouges across a layered material like wallboard, foamcore board, framing mat board, or slate. Conversely, a crack across glass exhibits distinctive angles and junctions, and is visible by the way it changes refraction -- it adds surfaces that bend the light a few extra times. You can't entirely fake that with a texmap, but you can do better than this.

This isn't the only questionable technique in this production, IMHO. Every surface on every character is damaged, except for the faces of the female Autobots -- that also jumps out at me.

Nicely explained and yes the "fake cracks" caught my eye as well. For some reason I think it's kinda cute though.