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Village Chief

_DeadPixel_
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_DeadPixel_
Hey guys, I hope you all had a groovy weekend.

I finally got over the trauma of losing my last 2 projects due to a fried hard drive. The new pc has 3 HDDs and a solid state, so I won't be losing anything again soon. Live and learn!

This project is an art test from Gameloft, so unfortunately I can't post the original concept art.

Provided guidelines:

Model in Zbrush the concept below
Create a texture + normal map
Create a low poly model in Max, aim for 3500 triangles / 1024x1024px texture

I plan to have the texturing finished by next week....If I can kick my WoW addiction until then... :poly115:

Hopefully I'll have my low poly and initial bakes posted up around Tuesday.

Because the specifications are so low I'm keeping him quite symmetrical and was planning to model the hair straight in as opposed to planes.
If you guys have any different thoughts on how to approach it I'd appreciate your opinions.

All feedback and crit is welcome.

Cheers!

EDIT: Added the concept art. Will keep it up unless I'm asked to take it down.
villagechiefconcept.jpg

vc01t.jpg

frt01.jpg

bk01b.jpg

s01iy.jpg

c01p.jpg
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  • _DeadPixel_
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    _DeadPixel_
    Here's an update on this guy I made over the weekend, been too busy the past week for much progress. Some cool news is I've been offered a 10 month contract at a studio here, which I feel privileged for considering all that's going on lately.
    It's sad to see Dreamworks losing so many this week, they have such an amazing studio and some of the most inspiring movies.

    If you guys haven't already, I hope you can check out the Facebook link below and help raise awareness about what's going on in the VFX industry at the moment.
    http://www.facebook.com/VfxSolidarityIntl

    I'm currently baking the normal maps on the model but it's almost 7am here and I'm faceplanting my keyboard, so I'll leave it for today.

    The low poly model is 3538 tris.

    Here are some images, but if you click the link below you can see an interactive turn-around of the low poly model including wireframes etc.
    Click it!

    (Interactive link) >>>>> http://p3d.in/iQEQ6

    Cheers.
    villagechieflow01.jpg

    villagechieflow02.jpg
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  • _DeadPixel_
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    _DeadPixel_
    Initial normal map bake. 1024x1024.
    I'm pleased with the amount of detail captured so I'll spend the rest of the day cleaning it.
    I'm thinking of baking the belts straight into the pants; I'll see how that looks later.

    There are some weird artifacts down the center of my model and I'm assuming it has something to do with the shared UV space. I'll hopefully fix that problem later in Max.
    normalmap01.jpg
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  • Popol
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    Popol interpolator
    Right now the biggest issue is the topology of your limbs. If animated, the arms and legs of your character would collapse on theselves!
    Look at some examples here : http://wiki.polycount.com/LimbTopology?highlight=%28\bCategoryTopology\b%29
    Same for the fingers and the face topology could be improved too.
    I know you have already have too many triangles but by removing some tri in areas that don't need them you should be able to stay under 3500 tri with a better topology
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  • _DeadPixel_
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    _DeadPixel_
    Hey mate,

    Thanks for that link, there's some really useful info in there!
    I was a little unsure of the fingers too. I was using another low poly model from the net as reference, but I guess their topology was also wrong.

    I've cleaned the limbs along with the face and added a loop to the finger joints.
    I baked the belts into the pants and it looks fine, so I've removed those and now the model sits at 3498 tris, 2 tris under the recommended guideline.

    Thanks for the feedback! ;)
    vctopoedit.jpg
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  • Popol
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    Popol interpolator
    The topology looks so much better, great improvement! =)

    Can't wait to see it textured!
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  • _DeadPixel_
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    _DeadPixel_
    Thanks again for the tips, Popol!

    I didn't get a chance to work on this guy since my last update, but I did spend last night cleaning the normal map and blocking in some colours.
    I've never tried the whole "hand painting" textures approach before this, so if you guys see where I can improve do let me know.

    Trying to get white to look interesting feels as though it's going to be a total pain, do you guys know any tricks?

    I came across a tutorial website last night; I've only seen 2 or 3 of the videos so far, but I found them really helpful.
    Check it out.

    https://matt-kohr.squarespace.com/

    colourblockingv01.jpg
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  • _DeadPixel_
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    _DeadPixel_
    Hey guys,
    I’ve been too busy to work on this toon through the week, but I have some time this weekend.
    I figure with the title “Village Chief” and his armour composing of many pieces that his village must be some remote craphole, which forces the people there to salvage and use what they can.
    I’m trying to get all the white to look as interesting as I can, but I feel some of the wear and tear is too much.

    I’m rigging this guy in Max atm and planning to animate a simple idle animation for a turntable. Hopefully I’ll be able to import that to UDK for some extra brownie points on the test, but we’ll see.
    Does anyone happen to have a normal map colour picker I could rob? I’ve looked all over the place and can’t seem to find one.

    Hope you’re all having a good weekend.

    texwip01.jpg
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  • _DeadPixel_
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    _DeadPixel_
    Took a break from texturing and learned how to rig in Max last night.
    Rigged and skinned this guy last night and threw a quick pose on him to test mesh deformation, seems to do the job.

    I'll animate an idle/walk cycle animation on Wednesday and stick it in UDK, but here's a quick turntable for now.
    villagechiefrig.jpg

    Pose turntable:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=B-GEMzqw6t8
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  • _DeadPixel_
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    _DeadPixel_
    Forgot the stills.
    villagechiefpose01.jpg
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  • _DeadPixel_
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    _DeadPixel_
    I managed to animate an idle animation during my lunchbreak at work today.
    I've downloaded UDK and had a play around. I managed to import the mesh and animation in and got it all working smoothly, I'm quite shocked how easy it was considering I've never opened a game engine before. haha

    The animation is a little rough because it took me about 30 minutes, so I'll go back and polish it later, this is just to test the Max-UDK animation pipeline for the first time.

    Here are some stills, I've also included a video of the animation in the engine on the youtube link below:
    villagechief.jpg

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2oHUpup_i8"]VillageChiefIdleAnimation_Test - YouTube[/ame]
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  • _DeadPixel_
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    _DeadPixel_
    Wanted to spend a bit more time texturing this guy but I don't have it.
    I've kept them waiting long enough so it's time to hand in and start something new.

    I didn't really like the concept they gave me for this art test, so I think I'll find something cool that I'll enjoy next.

    villagechiefcharactersh.png
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