New 3d Character

Darktalyn1 · Post by **Darktalyn1** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 10:35 pm

Hi,

I still need to do a little more work on the box-model before I start doing a Zbrush pass, so any feedback on the model at this time would be welcome!

I would like to begin laying UV's and Zbrushing in about a week.

Thanks

Iongchimp · Post by **Iongchimp** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 10:36 pm

Needs more buldge.

roid · Post by **roid** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 10:45 pm

Iongchimp wrote:Needs more buldge.

lol, you stole my joke. i would have said wang.
needs more wang!
it's just something about that posture - it looks so strange without some wang.

but *achem*... a serious suggestion:

a tail that muscular should have long joining muscles up the body. it should extend up the back somewhat.
the tail size reminds me of a kangaroo or crocodile, so perhaps looking at their anatomy will give some ideas on howto make that tail-join look more natural

SilverFJ · Post by **SilverFJ** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 3:32 am

Looks like a charachter figure that came standard with 3DsMAX3 samples. Did you get your inspiration from it?

Isaac · Post by **Isaac** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 4:14 am

Overall it looks good. I could give more advice if i knew what this model was going to be used for. The only thing i see that's unfinished are the spikey things on the back of it's head. I cant tell if they're supose to be horns or clumped hair. Try adding some more detail there to define what they are. The detail could be more consistant... the center of the body would look better if it had the same LOD as the hands, feet, and face, but i think you're waiting to put this into zbrush before adding that.

WarAdvocat · Post by **WarAdvocat** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 9:07 am

Nice work there. I agree that the amount of work it needs really depends on what it's going to be used for.

Darktalyn1 · Post by **Darktalyn1** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:22 pm

Thanks for your comments guys!

I'll be touching up the box-model this week, so I appreciate the crits... I've started fixing up a few things now that I'm home from work and will keep at it through Friday

As for the details, a lot of it is going to be coming from Zbrush. I think I may have over-modeled this guy a bit much in Maya actually, but I guess I will have to wait and see. I haven't done much in ZB beyond tinkering around to this point.

The eventual plan is to use both displacement mapping and normal mapping on this character and create a small rendered animation with him. He will also have some gear/accesories but I'm holding off on that till I can figure out my personal pipeline with Maya->Zbrush->Displacement + Normal mapped renders.

So right now he is kind of my guinea pig

Thanks again

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 10:45 pm

his hands look a bit large proportionatly. Great model. Your work always amazes me Darkt!

Top Gun · Post by **Top Gun** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 1:45 pm

It's a Gorn!

Seriously, though, that is an amazing model

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:29 pm

The musculature to support the reverse-knee isn;t big enough. The front of the quad muscle needs to be much larger to support that heavy body.

But apart from that: awesome DT

Edward · Post by **Edward** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 5:11 pm

The horns really need work.

Darktalyn1 · Post by **Darktalyn1** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 8:13 pm

Hi, thanks again for the comments so far..

hands : You're right, the hand looks a bit big in the shot but I'd set the perspective on my camera from 35 to 30, which made his right hand look bigger because it was a little closer to the screen. I'll be doing a second pass on them Thursday or Friday night though and will scrutinize a bit more though, just in case.

quads : Thanks Mobius, I will try to bulk it up a little more

horns : A couple people have commented on the horns, but I'm holding off details for them till I get to ZB. I don't think I can adequately box model the details I want for them in Maya. I also don't want to add a ton of box-modeled detail to that small section of the head, because then when I subdivide in Zbrush my mesh will become densely concentrated in that area which will lead to problems elsewhere on the head.

Many details are missing at this point, wrinkles, veins, scales, horn details, etc etc. I am planning to do all these little things, I love to put details into my models, but all of that will be coming in the displacement map, and the normal map. I'm trying to hold off a little bit so the box model will be easier to bind & animate

Thanks again everyone, I will post an update of the finished box model before I start Zbrushing. Then the real fun will begin

Edward · Post by **Edward** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 4:46 am

One more thing. You may wanna look at the feet there is nothing "wrong" with them but they do look a little long and should have a bit more ground contact.

Isaac · Post by **Isaac** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 11:34 pm

[quote="Edward"]One more thing. You may wanna look at the feet there is nothing "wrong" with them but they do look a little long and should have a bit more ground contact.[/quoe]

No.

Darktalyn1 · Post by **Darktalyn1** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 8:38 pm

Some updates & a wireframe. Going to start unwrapping next, probably tomorrow night.

Phoenix Red · Post by **Phoenix Red** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 2:01 am

I think if he is going to have a hunched sort of posture, he will need a longer neck. But that will depend how caveman his stoop is when you animate him.

The detail on his face strikes me as weird. It doesn't really follow where any muscle or bone should be. It kinda looks like he has a sinus infection.

Also the new tail/back muscles are better but they don't look like they anchor anywhere. They also sort of conflict with the ass muscles since neither is on top of the other.

Fantastic as always.

Darktalyn1 · Post by **Darktalyn1** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 9:51 pm

Hi everyone, I am still working on Zbrushing the head. This isn't finished but just to give you an idea of how it is going...

This is my first time using Zbrush. It has been pretty tough so far

WarAdvocat · Post by **WarAdvocat** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 6:37 am

Looks pretty darn nice.

Just my 2c worth here: IMO, The horns would be badarse as hell if they were smooth, shiny bone-colored. I noticed you made 'em kinda bumpy. Try 'em both ways.

The only other comment I have is that he looks kinda st0ned... I think it would be a good idea to tweak the eyes a tad. Maybe enlarge them, or do something with the eyelid?

Like I said, just my 2 pennies, and probably that's all it's worth.

will_kill · Post by **will_kill** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 7:46 am

That is friggin nice! hey, I would'nt touch a thing besides the eyes (nice call WarAdv.

) they need to look a lil' more evil...mebbe bring the outside corners up a lil' bit and open his eyes a lil' more. Everything else is your creation...from feet that only need 1/4 contact (for speed obviously) to the non-functional horns on the back of the neck, (prolly left-over from the quick evolutionary transformation into an upright predator)...all the way out to his oversized hands (for that extra bit of smashing and tearing a creature of his ilk is inclined toward

)everything looks exactly like the artist intended, excellent work my friend!

bravo!bravo!

edit: my pennies worth

Darktalyn1 · Post by **Darktalyn1** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 9:13 am

Hi guys, thanks for your replies... I somehow messed up the eyelides in Zbrush and I need to fix them... You'r right!

For the horns, I couldn't decide if I wanted to go with bumpy or smooth. I finally decided I would make them bumpy for now so I would have them that way for the displacement + normal maps. If when I am texturing I want them to be smooth, I can just paint that detail out of the maps!

Thanks again. I will try to finalize the head and start the torso this weekend

Darktalyn1 · Post by **Darktalyn1** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 11:10 pm

Okay so it's been awhile since my last post...

Basically, I decided to totally revamp this guys proportions and also completely scrap the Zbrush work I had done up to this point.

Here's the new (still very work in progress) proportions and some of the gear I've been modeling for him. A lot of the gear is still proxy-models though.

He's not rigged, I just picked sections of mesh and ripped them into a quick pose for the hell of it tonight, cause I was tired of seeing him standing in the "T" position.

[]V[]essenjah · Post by **[]V[]essenjah** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 11:44 pm

Oooooh purdy.

Somehow I like the old version though. I don't know why but I do.

Would it be possible to get a low-poly version of the original model in 3DS format? I would like to try animating it, using Blender and maybe sticking it in Morrowind.

That is, if they get around to finishing the character rigging part of the exporter. :\

will_kill · Post by **will_kill** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 12:33 pm

ok, now how about some texture and color?
lookin' good tho'...keep at it

Darktalyn1 · Post by **Darktalyn1** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 9:17 pm

What's up guys,

I did this quick paint over tonight after work, kind of to help me visualize where I want to eventually take this character.

Darktalyn1 · Post by **Darktalyn1** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 9:53 pm

modeled a buckle that goes on his chest armor after work tonight (not much but hey - its better than nothing)

Money! · Post by **Money!** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 11:19 pm

Lookin' great man. I'm still liking the fourth pic you posted though the most.

[]V[]essenjah · Post by **[]V[]essenjah** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 7:14 am

"Trogdor was a man..... errr wait, maybe he was a dragon man!! Errr.... maybe just a dragon.... but he was still TROOOOOOOOGDOOOOOOR!!"

I guess that was a no? :\ Ah well.... the first guy would be perfect for Morrowind.

will_kill · Post by **will_kill** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 10:12 am

excellent work man...wow, I'm jealous

I like the 'lunch-on-the-belt' idea...can't wait to see the finished work.

Darktalyn1 · Post by **Darktalyn1** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 11:19 am

Whats up man...

The thing is, there is no lower poly version of that model. It's box-modeled to the level of detail you see in the wireframe shot. It's a bit too high for a gameres model, I would think.

As for the Zbrush work, don't worry I'll return to Zbrush once I have the model blocked out the way I want

And hopefully my second attempt will be even better than the first. That first Zbrush head just wasn't up to the standard I wanted to achieve.

Thanks for the replies...

Darktalyn1 · Post by **Darktalyn1** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 10:07 pm

Another quick modeling session after work

Model for the fish that will hang from his belt

roid · Post by **roid** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 11:21 pm

what stats does the fish-weapon have? +50 slap

Darktalyn1 · Post by **Darktalyn1** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 7:57 pm

Starting to work on the midsection, once again I forced the mesh into a ghetto pose for fun

will_kill · Post by **will_kill** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 10:15 pm

roid wrote: what stats does the fish-weapon have? +50 slap

it's the guards lunch

roid · Post by **roid** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:47 am

hmm, now that i think about it... it would be quite hard to manually catch fish with large webbed hands like that. Those hands are better suited for moving water aside to propel you forward. To catch fish however you need something that can slice through water quickly without much drag (ie: long thin fingers would be perfect). Perhaps he caught it with his mouth.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 2:06 am

That's what the +3 battle spear is for.

will_kill · Post by **will_kill** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 6:41 am

roid wrote:hmm, now that i think about it... it would be quite hard to manually catch fish with large webbed hands like that. Those hands are better suited for moving water aside to propel you forward. To catch fish however you need something that can slice through water quickly without much drag (ie: long thin fingers would be perfect). Perhaps he caught it with his mouth.

...or perhaps he caught it with his spear

Darktalyn1 · Post by **Darktalyn1** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 7:29 am

...Or with a net

Although my idea is that they would pass them out as rations at their battlecamp

will_kill · Post by **will_kill** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 7:55 am

Darktalyn1 wrote:...Or with a net

Although my idea is that they would pass them out as rations at their battlecamp

yes...nice

Mr. Perfect · Post by **Mr. Perfect** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 8:49 pm

You should imbed a little net humor in your model and make the fish a trout.

Darktalyn1 · Post by **Darktalyn1** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:21 pm

Here's an update for tonight... I decided to elaborate on the shoulder armor and to design a standard that will be hooked up to his back.

Evenutally the standard will be comprised of bamboo shoots, stretched leather, banners, a turtle shell, and possibly some horns...

His belt is going to have some storage pouches (currently 3 cubes), a canteen, and the fish... They're just floating there for now but will eventually be attached.

Thanks for the comments so far...