[!! V.3 RELEASED !!] DDRMAX-Extreme Videos Recreation Project 2013-2022

Ring3 has been finished, October 4th 2014.



The thing about this movie is it helped me identify the "glow" trick used by many movies I had been making incorrectly (Shape tunnels, cyber1, ring8, some others).

It is available in V.2.2's download. I also have its "parallel", Ring5.

By the way, how did you get that "xmv" extension? My "jftrnb" is an .avi file.

Ohh thanks, maybe I haven't found it because it has a different name


I've ripped them from ultramix series, the original extension is xmv, the file is mpeg, but I forgot to change the extension

If that's true, have you identified the 6-letter name of these 8 videos?



They don't have any confirmed name. I had a suspicion that they could just be pushing out other videos with the same name, but now I'm not sure.

I ask because I want to categorize these movies. I know star2 and heart1 are in the normal Max2 category (je), geometry1, wheel1, tunnel2, and fire1 are in the 3DTextura category (js), but I'm not certain about Ribbon2 and Stairs1. They look like they could be in both.

I want to know if my spark with the 3DTextura movies needs to cover zero, one, or both of those movies.

I've found those in the first DDR ULTRAMIX



The other 2 are missing on the ULTRAMIX series. They have a different set of videos.

Aha, I knew my suspicions were correct! And I had more suspicions that 5 of the names were incorrectly assigned in the "official-name" pack I got. I know what the last 2 videos are now that I've seen this. Thank you!

Update: As of September 29th, I've figured out a surefire way on how to do (what has turned out to be) polar coordinates. Place an image on a circle, unwrap the circle into a square, then wrap the square into a circle from the opposite direction. Kaliedoscope14 (overhaul) and Sphere1 (fixed) will have progress began on them tomorrow. Spiral2 still looks like a mess, and I have to see what Fireworks 4 is doing that gives the "bent" effect. First, sleep.

Wait... MadkaT?



One of the missing videos is clearly visible on here? O_o

Ohh yes, I've missed it, there is:



The only missing video is the fire ring

Those will work at any Stepmania Versions? Like SM5.0.7 and SM3.9?

Yes. I've tested the videos on Stepmania 5 and 3.9 and they work well.

Hi, I haven't worked on this in months, lol oops.

In any case, the reason why I haven't released anything in so long is because I've been hit with graphics block and I want V.3 to have 200 official videos overall, and I work to make *most* of the videos as accurate as possible. I do this mostly for myself. There is always going to be at least one detail in any movie I make that sets it apart from the original but I want them to be as accurate as possible because there's no other way to get them in HD, and I am the only person in the world that has the desire to remake them. It seems pretty likely not even Konami themselves might have the raw sources anymore (the videos weren't quite HD when Gamelan de Couple and bag were revived...).

I wasn't standing still since I released V.2.2 16 months ago.



Everything here is going to V.3. 3/4ths of these videos have either not have existed or have been updated since the release.

So, uh, the problem is that I'm stuck. I don't know what it is. I haven't cancelled the project, though (it's my most successful one).

This is the likely list of videos I need to finally release this (although there could be different ones). The render and also fix movies are ones I'm particularly trying to get (however I think one of them is a lost cause) and the 28 movies below are ones I feel will be in the final pack.

Left: 29

Bear1
Bear2
Blackhole1
Clouds1
Dance10
Fireworks1
Geometry1
Heart6
Light1
Numbers1
Numbers2
Orange1
Planet1
Ring1
Robot15a
Robot16
Robot18a
Robot18b
Snow1
Square3
Text11
Tunnel1
Tunnel10
Tunnel14
Vortex1
Wave2
Wave3

Render:

Conductors1
Numbers3

Also fix:

Disco4
Heart2
Heart10
Kaliedoscope5
Pills3
Rotation2
Rotation3
Rotation4
Rotation5
Star6
Text12
Text14

So, uh... I guess there's not much else that can be done now but attempt to get 42 of these done. Just wanted to update this in case you thought this was done for.

AWESOOOOMEEEEE DDD

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Why.

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2.7 months of a bump, adding nothing of productivity... We have a winner.

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Why not use Stoik Video Enhancer to upscale the BG videos to full HD?

Because that's not how upscaling works.

Oh dear.

Unfortunately I STILL haven't done anything useful in the past few months because of motive and because it's honestly starting to feel a bit harder to complete the rest of the videos. We have stuff like this;



That honestly? Someone could put together with GIMP/Photoshop and Sony Vegas/After Effects. No need for Flash/Anime Studio/etc.

But stuff like this....



Is not all that cut and dry.

Byo_Kizuki, I know it's been 20 months at this point, but unless someone else decides to join in, V.3 not really going to come faster. I'll get it done eventually, though (hopefully before 2017), I promise.


Oh, trust me; While not the same program, I've TRIED directly enhancing the videos in the past, even though it'd kinda take away the fun I have when I manage to reanimate a video. But unfortunately, I don't think it's possible.



The animation set in this clip is a tunnel made of one item that gradually twists. But the problem is this video is so artifact-ed that around the center of the "enhanced" clip it'll probably be a blurry mess. A computer simply can't always predict what exactly a pre-rendered clip has.

I've tried at least 3 programs. This is the best effort from the best one and it's not much of an improvement, sadly.



No nagging artifacts... But it's all blurry.

I spent 14 solid days on the pixel texture, and, while the placement of all of the bubbles is barely even 3%, it's obvious which one wins.



I obviously don't do everything perfectly but this ALSO allows one to fix any nagging details in the original clips that bother them (does a video clip at the start and end wrong? are some 3D objects naggingly polygonal?). This original clip has the bubbles polygonal, but they are all smooth in the version above.



Bump: Just tried "Stoik Video Enhancer". Not only does it not make the videos HD, the program is a piece of shit; It freezes when I attempt to access my beware videos folder and it crashes whenever I try to export anything. I wouldn't recommend it, really.

Just wanted to say thank you so much for working on all of this! These look so good, I wish I could help but I know nothing about graphics.

For the remaining ones maybe you can shoot for something similar enough using techniques that you can do, then later on if you find a way to make it closer to the original video you could append it?

V 2.2 is almost three years ago at this point, haha. I've improved immensely since then (I posted screenshots all around on Discord) but I still haven't reached my 200-video goal yet. Almost, though.

More previews for those that don't know:

Newest one. Started and finished 6 days ago.
This and wheel4 (available on my TAKE A LOOK AROUND simfile from SS15) completes the wheel category (but there's still 3 videos that need work).
Work in progress. Hopefully this gets in V3 but something about it is pretty tedious. It's finished. And so is tunnel1. Expect a release in July. :3
This also owns now.

.gifs:

Personal favorite (why is it only used in two songs? :( )
Miles better now.
Custom clip. Probably very polarizing.
Another custom clip.

So basically. you are remastering bga's in order of what game they were in? (can't wait to see chase1)

So...

Yeah, this project is probably dead now.

I mean, it's NOT, but it's pretty damn close.

Why? Mostly because I've hit a wall with what I can create with pretty much all of the existing videos, especially the 3DTextura ones (which were mostly the driving force behind this project). All of the remaining ones are pretty difficult and it's hard for me to remain motivated consistently to make it through a single one because my free-time is being jacked on a consistent basis. I have no guaranteed time to relax and concentrate, which is what got me through the 200 or 250 that I DID create.

The thing is, I STILL don't think what I made for this right now is ready for a release. Because a lot of the the clips, if they not amongst the few that look flat-out badly made (kaliedoscope14), seem to be missing something that makes it appealing to look at. I don't know how to describe it, there's something the original videos have in most cases that gets lost with my HD recreations.

Another contributor to why I haven't released it yet is that I feel like there's still certain videos missing from my current line-up of videos that are necessary for a release such as geometry1.

Since I released V.2.2, I had three noticeable bursts of video energy: The first one was in about September-November 2015, the second was May-June 2017, and the third was April-June 2018. And then there were a few videos that were made outside those time periods. However, come 2019, and all of my motivation seems to be gone. It feels like there's huge diminishing returns with creating this, partly because all of the remaining ones are difficult, and partly because of how hard it is to get a hold of uninterrupted free time.

I just think it's sad that it's been over 5 years since I released V.2.2 and it's looking likely that it might end up being the final release (which is quite lame).

Is this going to be the end of the project? I certainly hope not, but there's only so long you can pretend before you have to face the cold, hard truth.

I don't know what to do with it at this point.

I know what you feel. Years ago I released the PSX BGAs project and with delays or not. I felt it to the point to not hurry over it. And still through the years no official release or whatsoever. Let's be honest that projects themselves require a lot of projection and that's not on sight if you're learning each day or each time you try to create something new. I hit the wall too, and I took the decision to focus on other stuff or give myself some time from it. And then the motivation came back. It's slow even if you're the only one working on the project.

Good luck.

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