#SOFTIMAGE 3D RESIDENT EVIL 2 SOFTWARE#
#SOFTIMAGE 3D RESIDENT EVIL 2 SERIES#
#SOFTIMAGE 3D RESIDENT EVIL 2 TV#

In the new version, they decided to base their designs off classical Western architecture and took many references for building interiors and exteriors from old photographs of American buildings. Mikami felt “ Resident Evil 1.5“, as it is now known, was “dull and boring” in gameplay and setting. They were roughly 60% finished with the game when Producer Shinji Mikami decided it was all crap, and they should start over from scratch. The final game looks very different from the original way it was designed. Stop-motion animations were shot for each cutscene using the maquettes, and rotoscoped using an animation program (probably Softimage). The pre-rendered FMV cutscenes were created through an interesting process as well: Maquettes (dolls, basically) were made for each main character (except Ada, who could not be finished in time and thus was not featured in any FMV). I mean, they were rendering at 320×240 for Pete’s sake. Most likely, there was some translation error when this information was recorded, and it actually took 3 weeks to render all images for the final production, maybe even the FMV sequences as well. There were over 1,250 images used in the game, and 3 weeks to render each image would have meant they were rendering for over 70 years… Plus, the computers they were using should have been able to easily render one image in minutes. It supposedly took 3 weeks to render each image, which I find a little hard to believe. Softimage has been used for many award-winning movies and games, including Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, and Titanic.

#SOFTIMAGE 3D RESIDENT EVIL 2 SOFTWARE#

This is what the software looked like that Capcom was using to build their assets and create the pre-rendered backgrounds. This is more than likely the computer Capcom used to create Resident Evil 2. I read that the program used to render the background images in the game was called, “O2”, but seeing as Capcom has used Softimage for every Resident Evil, it’s more likely that the computer was the “ SGI O2“, and the software on that computer was Softimage 3.7 (the latter of which has been confirmed by several sources).

It’s a really neat trick to get better performance out of the PlayStation rather than having fully-rendered realtime environments, which could end up looking quite ugly and killing performance. All you see when you play the final game is a desk, but there’s an invisible object there to tell the character, “you can’t go there”, and to tell the game, “hide this much of the character when they pass behind this object.” Essentially, it’s as if all the 3D geometry is still there in the game, it’s just invisible as a wireframe behind the 2D image. Then, it is deleted in the original 3D file and an invisible collision object is put in its place, and that information is also put into the game. That desk is rendered as a 2D image and placed in the game. The scenes contain data from the original 3D objects that were rendered out to 2D, but with wireframes denoting objects for collision and depth instead of fully rendered objects. Each “room” (including outdoor locations) is a scene using multiple cameras at different locations and angles, which the game switches between and loads a new image as the player moves offscreen. First, the images are rendered out individually in 2D and programmed into the game. It’s more complex than just slapping the characters down over a 2D image, as depth and collision need to be processed as well. I did extensive research into the methods Capcom used to create the pre-rendered backgrounds and place the characters in the scene. There is surprisingly little info on the making of RE2, but I’ve compiled here all my findings.

#SOFTIMAGE 3D RESIDENT EVIL 2 TV#

Romero, who shot a TV commercial for the game. The game had a $5 million ad campaign, and some of that money went to zombie king George A. The original RE had just jump-started the dying survival horror genre, and RE2 was the much-anticipated sequel that Capcom had poured all their effort and millions of dollars into. Resident Evil 2 came at a perfect time in the PlayStation’s life. Still, RE2 has dominated the hearts and minds of RE fans for over a decade, and is considered by many to be the best in the series. As of September 2012, it has been topped by Resident Evil 5, which sold 5.9 million.

#SOFTIMAGE 3D RESIDENT EVIL 2 SERIES#

It was the highest-grossing game in the series for years, selling 4.96 million copies worldwide.

Before 2009, if you owned one Resident Evil game, chances are good it was Resident Evil 2.

Softimage 3d resident evil 2