Generic Russian Soldier (Navy) Wip

ScreaminBubba

This is a character WIP that will be used for both a rendered movie and real-time. The uniform needs to be recognizable as russian, but it is not essential that it is "correct".

Face texture was made from photo references, I need to modify the shoes still, and do finishing touches to the model but I'd like some feedback at this point before I proceed to finish the texturing.



Thanks,

renderfox

looks pretty sexy so far, im assuming you just slapped on the photo for the face right? it looks great though. throw on ur texture maps wen u get a chance, or at least wat u have done. id maybe spread the legs out a bit seeing as how this is being used for animation purposes. im also assuming that he is going to be focused on his head too, by the way u used a lot more polies up there i mean, model itself looks great, boots need polishing but u already said that. texture looks good so far too, post sum updates wen u get them, keep it up!

ScreaminBubba

The xtra polys in the face is for lip syncing, he'll have a few bones in his head for jaw and eyebrow movement.

Face came from photo refernce, yes, but had to be modified alot to fit the uv's and such.

His uniform will be a challenge, I am not very good at painting cloth, most of the work I've done has always required heavy use of photographic refs, but I'd like to texture this model more by hand, less by photo.

A question for anyone: what's your preferred method of texturing, laying out uvs then texturing, or vice versa. I've done both ways, but I'm curious what kind of workflow people use, as there are very talented people here.

ScreaminBubba

Boots sculpted a bit more and UVs laid out.

ScreaminBubba

Update: base colors and layout done, wrinkles and details next (my weak area)

M3anBONE_sj_

Looking good!

Daz

Looking good, but Im not sure about the stark stylistic difference between the painted body maps and the photographic skin textures. Talking of the photosourced textures, I think they're worth manipulating. Warming up a little. He looks very ghostly right now, and that's mainly because you've used photographs taken outside, giving a blueish hue to the skin.

ScreaminBubba

My past experience has been using photo manipulation for texturing, but for this guy, I'm trying to improve my skills and paint more of his detail by hand, or at least to a point where he is consistent with the face.

I think I need the uniform to have a fabric texture to it, something to offset the dark grey.

Painting details into dark clothing seems more challenging than light clothing to me. I've started adding wrinkles and folds, and I also added more yellow/red to the face and skin, and made another head texture.

I may go ahead and rig him at this point, and put him in a more normal posture to make it easier to see if his details look "right".

Daz

Yeah dont get me wrong by the way. The work looks good. I dont have anything against photosourcing. Heck I use it where possible. But I just think theres a substantial amount of cleanup work required. Half Life 2 being an example of a game that didn't bother to do that clean up work. Zoom in on a characters hand. It's a messy business of all sorts of extraneous colour noise and UV seams.

/ducks for cover

This is looking good though. You're doing exactly what needs to be done to the face texture to get it more in line with hand painting the body.

ScreaminBubba

Went ahead and did his rigging, and also added a cloth texture (subtle) to the uniform. I need to make one final round of changes/enhancements before I have to move on, in order to meet my deadline.

I'm glad use of photographic reference isn't frowned upon, every employer I've worked for so far always wants photo-realism, but I don't want to be limited, and would like to get my skills on a par with what I've seen here at polycount, some incredible talent here.

Funny you mentioned hands earlier Daz, as I didn't spend too much time beautifying them. /my turn to duck

I still feel like this lacks that finishing touch, I just don't know where to proceed at this point, so any comments/crits are appreciated.

Scott Ruggels

Um. a few authenticity issues.

This is from the official book of soviet navy Regs (Current)


this is for a "Warrant Officer" which is the equivalent of the American Navy C.P.O. Note that his ushanka (hat) is black rather than gray. Also note that the opening of his coat is consistent above and below his beltline. If the split at the front of his coat is geometry, you may want to move it to the figure's right side, in line with the buttons of his coat (and overlap them the layers, or just portray it as a line on the map.

The belt buckle has a "Fouled Anchor" superimposed over a star outline. the buckle is no wider than the width of the subject's fingers across all the middle joints.


Current rank Insignis


WW2 Rank Insignias



Enlisted's Ushanka (Note the Naval star.



Officer's Ushanka Note the more elaborate Insignia


Hope this helps.

Scott

Bronco

Scott,just want to say,your military knowledge database acturally scares me!!

john

Cubik

ScreaminBubba: I think the problem lies in the folds in the cloth. I don't really see them as folds it just looks like airbrushed gray lines to me. I think that you should try and find some more reference and/or spend more time on the clothes. Everything else looks great, good job.

ScreaminBubba

Some good resource reference there for russian uniforms, I had trouble finding good sources of reference material. I wound up using this image for reference: (2nd and 4th from left, sort of a mix to keep it generic)



I knew I would be off on the authenticity of the uniform, I had mentioned in the first post that for this project it wasn't crucial that the uniform be perfect, just recognizeable as russian. However, I will make some of the changes you mentioned, and I appreciate the feedback.

The folds of the cloth I do need to enhance, I am not very good at painting cloth, but will revisit this to try and make the clothes look better.

ScreaminBubba

Changed the rank, ushanka (and emblem), and the skirt texture to better show the jacket fold above and below the beltline. These little changes made him look alot better overall.

Tried to enhance the folds a bit better with some shadows, most of the references I've found for dress type uniforms don't have many folds or creases, (or they're not noticeable) I don't want to overdo them, I still can't seem to nail em just right tho.

I'm gonna have to move on at this point to stay on schedule, the comments and feedback were much appreciated.