Homm3 Hero Portrait Remaster: Demoniacs

Original Heroes of Might and Magic 3 hero portraits remastered using Stable Diffusion with DreamShaper checkpoint, img2img pipeline and 2-3 hours of manual work per portrait with Affinity Photo.
Get the full-resolution images and game-ready files in here:
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UOknolSHMciw9T8yaVurQtVvb3OjEuJl
Thanks for watching!

[@alexjaeger3897]

We want a remaster of HoMM3 with THESE portraits !

[@Igor369]

Remaster? Just mod them into HoMM3 with HD mod...

[@alexjaeger3897]

@@Igor369 Well, the best thing would be to really have the ENTIRE game completely redone with this rendering, like all the units and cities redrawn like that, that would be amazing.

[@Igor369]

@@alexjaeger3897 Ok but... units, heroes and buildings were not DRAWN. They were RENDERED. That is why old heroes have this specific art style... prerendered graphics are not used by anyone anymore.

[@alexjaeger3897]

@@Igor369 Rendering is for animation and superposition, but in 2D everything is drawn, they are sprites. Besides, for the HD version of Steam, the guys from Ubisoft have redrawn each element by hand, and it shows, you can put any HD mod next to it, none of them reach the level of the HD version which is not absolutely perfect either.

[@Igor369]

@@alexjaeger3897 PRErendered.

[@Valintinus]

1. Pyre is great 10/10 0:24 2. Calh is better than expected! 11/10 0:44 3. Octavia is great. 10/10 1:11 4. Marius is okay, but you have lost her crooked yellow demonic teeth 8/10. 1:36 5. Xeron is better than expected! 11/10 2:02 6. Fiona is great. 10/10 2:34 7. Rashka is great. 10/10 2:56 8. Ignatius is different, no need to try fixing his foolish asymmetrical horn. 5/10 3:24 9. Nimus is great. 10/10

[@alexjaeger3897]

Marius is fine, he didn't whiten his teeth either. But we agree about Ignatius... without his strange horn it's empty and the portrait frame no longer works.

[@UNIT01-Evangelion]

Мариус посетила стоматолога.

[@Igor369]

Is Ignatius' horn really assymetrical? The longer I look at it the more it looks like a perspective issue. Also I am fairly sure heroes portraits were prerendered so it is logical it is assymetrical in his model.

[@Urkoth]

I never get bored of your HoMM3 remasters 😄

[@LiquidValor]

About asymmetry, which is a topical with demoniacs. Normally I treat asymmetry as flaw, and in most cases it's justified. Usually human faces don't have that much asymmetry, but lately I've been on the fence of whether asymmetry and distortions should be "corrected". In some cases it feels appropriate, for example with Verdish's right eye in witches video. But here I left a bit of asymmetry for Nymus, and for Gretchin in barbarians. What kind of distortions can be considered character traits instead of flaws? Is there a facial trait that I ended up "correcting" that you thought was and innate part of the character?

[@Nyiffnyaff]

Don't know if you can come up with a rule for that, gotta use your intuition. I think in most cases it's evident when a flaw is intentional and thus they become a proper part of the character (like Ayden's weird head shape) and you nailed them pretty well.

[@wanderingdemon1192]

You probably know way more than I do about this, but I think human faces are never really perfectly symmetrical either and that makes them interesting and beautiful... Granted in homm certain heroes' portraits take it to the extreme and they can get away with it cause they're more like impressionist art, basically meant to be more so perceived as an overall image from some distance rather than examined closely for all the little details, and they do work that way pretty well (probably one of a few genius ways this game takes advantage of limitations the devs were facing and turns them into strengths). But I guess once you try to nitpick them the image falls apart. I think you've done a great job preserving the overall vibe of the majority of the heroes while adding more depth in a non destructive way... And obviously you do what you deem best, but if you're just asking for an opinion I think I would try to preserve the asymmetries when appropriate. So I'm glad you've decided to leave some asymmetry for Nymus as they're one of my favorite heroes and I feel like their asymmetry is among the things that create their appeal... Overall I'm really glad you've finally made demoniacs, I've been waiting for them for a while and I think they've turned out really nicely... All of them really, but especially Nymus, Fiona, and Rashka

[@Vytautas1430]

Wow!! I really look forward to the last week of every month, just to see your next refinished portraits. Honestly, I was hoping for the druids, but you've impressed me with this work on the demoniacs. Congratulations! Now I can't imagine Heroes 3 without your portraits. I think the asymmetry is perfect for now. Not related to your question, but I'd like to see a rework of Sanya and Caitlin someday. As a Christian, I'm sorry that the cross signs were lost in the new portraits... Otherwise, everything is perfect!! Will you do HotA's portraits too?? Thanks for everything!!

[@sheogorathoftamriel191]

Well, that's truly beautiful. Fiona's portrait is the second best of all human faces (Charna is still the best IMHO). Calh and Xeron are also amazing. Great job!

[@Magick_Monere]

Очень хорошая работа, как и всегда.

[@kellbrom3054]

Your work is excellent, and always appreciated!

[@Negling]

Man, your Fiona is smoking hot, i mean, yeah, its inferno, but still! Great job!

[@RammmFan]

no pun intended yeah, firee af!

[@rcmlg4897]

Great! Willl you do the single player campaign portraits too after finishing this?

[@jeythecount6546]

Man, Ignatius looks smug as hell. Pun intended.

[@nathanielparson2615]

These are incredible, once again!! So sad when I went to download these into my HOMM3 files, MMArchive keeps saying my bitmap.lod file cannot be opened :( We NEED this with HD MOD!! Even as a togglable option in settings, these are incredibly faithful and such an advancement!

[@ThePawcios]

As always, great job!

[@modernmoonlight7350]

Wonderful work. A must have in my game. Waiting for the wizards and hopefully Tarnum?

[@mikaeusbznd744]

SOOOO GOOD!!

[@UNIT01-Evangelion]

Рога на шлеме Игнатуса стали похожи на каких-то червей.

[@ika8640]

great job!

[@aisains983]

Well it looks like you inputed remastered ones into the AI. I wonder how'd look like if you've inputed the original ones

[@mosheelbling7184]

Amazing

[@aisains983]

Surprised Xeron face

[@UNIT01-Evangelion]

Нимус избавили от пятен под глазами.

[@dungvuanh6417]

I wish they can keep the origin pictures because I heard 3DO was used image of their staff to create a heroes, Yep! They all are heroes to me... I buy shadow of death 3 times

[@DenisBulgakov]

Криганы классно получились )

[@BrotherDimon]

what is this neural network?

[@kuprusa]

Mutare Drake pls

[@kno6ndg7]

Fiona, perhaps, is the only character who was remastered 100% accuratly between all the videos. Right eyebrow a little low compared to original, but face overall is great.

[@WARlam311]

Fiona 🤤

[@АндрейСоколов-ц5т]

2:20 Gina Carano?

[@KallenSC]

Ignatius didn't look good, rest is nice!

[@korkronwarlord]

Just when you thought the waifu Nymus couldn't get any hotter....

[@michelromero1412]

You made Octavia much older than i imagined her. . Pyre is beautiful and Fiona is such a fox ! Great job. I remember once buying that hero and having her explore with just her hell hound units divided in a few stacks, and she defeated every enemy heros the computer through at her from out of nowhere ...🙃 Xeron is very stylish ! Marius could be improved, his eyes for example. Of course, send him to the dentist as well . In general you did percieve the evilness of those characters !

[@RoaringOrange]

Can you also remaster all castles and objects on the map. I would LOOOOOVVEEE to get that udpate on HOTA

[@madgoatsoldier]

Back in the day I thought Cher was an inspiration for Pyre's looks 😀 And my oh my, you've made Nimus so good that now she would definitely outshine even the most comely succubi. Well done!

[@Zhuravliov]

Что у Игнатиуса с рогами?

[@williwacker2774]

perspective correction. Now it's symmetrical.

[@petervlcko4858]

@@williwacker2774there is a lot of symmetrical correction in this video but i prefer demons misfigured. It makes their faces grotesque and with strange shape.

[@Kustabo]

We need to remaster not the portraits, but the units!

[@TyphonLeTitan]

Waiting for my boy Solmyr.

[@dollarsex9020]

hey i love this. Druids please!

[@ПростоКосмос-я5ш]

Octavia 👎. Ignatius 👎

[@d.f.7397]

Excellent work!

[@GoranXII]

Hm, I wish we could have gotten a look at the inscriptions of Pyre's and Fiona's helmets. Also, I'm pretty sure in the original Xeron had his teeth clenched. Good otherwise though.

[@dravforge]

Teef >:3

[@鲤鱼-m6x]

I love Fiona ❤

[@dezmond8416]

Wow!