WIP Character Model

Rico3k

Hello forum

As you may have guessed this is my first post and i'm looking for crits as i'm struggling with my character.

I have just started again as my last mesh just got so messy, it was going to be madness to fix it.

Currently a second year university student studying computer games design, and one of the modules is body modelling.

between weeks 1-7 studied and created the following:

Clothes sheet(s)
Expression(s)
Stance(s)
Anatomy and scale
Texture sheet(s)
3D construction sheet(s)
A model Reference sheet(s)
Body proportion and measurement
Research into body types Mesomorph, Ectomorph etc..
Psychology of character design
Physiology
(interpersonal circumplex, Agreeableness & dominance presented through facial features stance, build, culture, voice and engagement)

I'm not really into modelling characters so i'm relativly new to modelling them. But i do know its takes time and practice do come out with a good character model at the end of the day.

Below are the images for crit, which include reference and the new model started.

As i've already been told by my lecturer, that the reference i'm using can be very difficult if you don't understand what your doing.

Model Reference



Old character




Old Wires




New Rebuild and wires




The wires went a bit messed up in the last two images.

Dont hammer me to harsh please lol

Thanks

kunglao

Welcome!
Your model (both versions)have way to many poly's and the newer version lacks any shape.
I would advise you to trawl through sites like this and cgtalk and take a look at other peoples character art noting their workflow(you can learn alot by studying their wireframes).Sites such as 3dtotal also have great modelling tutorials.Look on their site for tutorial- "Swordmaster" Downloadable PDF Ebook available (cost about £8).
There is also a free tutorial called "Joan of Arc" which although dated will give you a good start on character modelling.
Good luck

Rico3k

Thanks for that.

I've been on a few of those sites and have been through the tutorials but got stuck at points and even scraped what i was doing, or looked at the tutorial and was scared to complete it lol.

But thanks for that advice i'll take that on board.

Rico3k

just updating the wires as i posted the wrong one's

Japhir

hey about that tutorial, i didn't feel like spending money on it and checked to see if there where any parts of it for free, so i could get an idea of what the tut was like. I found this correan version which was for free (i think it's the original) and by just looking at the images (or from time to time translating it on altavista.com) i got the main idea..
here's the link to the corean version:
http://www.xcloud.net/

Rico3k

thanks for that, deffo handy.

Rico3k

Alright guys back with a new update after starting the character again and using a completely different reference i've created a low poly character, which instead perfect by any means, and i started working on the textures, this is the first time i've started painting textures using photoshop. Also i have to fix the seems of the texture joining.

so some crits would be great thanks

Joseph Silverman

Would be an okay start, except you traced (or maybe filtered?) the texture sheets from the xcloud.net swordmaster tutorial instead of actually painting it yourself.


I'll have an image up in a moment for proof.

Joseph Silverman

Here're the pants, which you just copied, pasted, and filtered, and made a lot worse. There're even some leftover metal bits on the left from the uv layout:



Remember kids, stealing art from the most obvious sources possible is a horrible idea!

Edit:

Here's a (greyscaled, upped contrast so it's a little clearer) version of your texture map overlaid on Xcloud's map for the torso. Even the uv layout is exactly the same. Traced, obviously.



(both original textures from http://xcloud.net/)

Japhir

lol busted!!! :P geometry also looks a lot like the tut, but you did make progress, maybe next time mention that you used a tutorial. (and paint your own textures!!!)

Hessah

start over, remember there are no rewarding short cuts....

Rico3k

ok guys i dont feel busted as i know what i did as i'm struggling with the character modelling module i done basically what the guy over at 3dtotal had done which was used the original work as a guideline i did copy and paste the pants as i couldnt understand the tutorial method but for the body parts i created a layer and applied a skin tone colour lowered the opacity so i could then use the ref as guidelines to define the muscle groups and then attempt the shadow and highlights of the texture, sorry if you guys think i'm an ass or something but i'm at the very bottom of the ladder of this kind of thing and learning everyway i can.

cholden

What you're doing is fine. You are learning here. This is a case of replication for understanding why things built the way the are.

And HONESTLY, posting the tut, and calling "busted" when Rico did something similar is not very nice, it's entrapment.

Rico3k, continue as planned, and keep following the xcloud tut. It will teach you a lot. After you complete this character, do another, similar character, and keep doing it over and over until you get it right.

Rico3k

cholden thank you very much i'm continuing as planned its to late to start over again for what i'm doing, i'm planning to do another one over the summer after i have finished my second year of university.

Ninjas

It is good to learn early that there are some things that are a big "no-no" in this industry. Copying textures or using models that are not your own without crediting the author is a bad idea. Ironically, copying photos onto your texture is A-OK.

Just to be clear, what you are doing here is great, but how you did it (without giving credit for the texture) would get a more experienced artist blacklisted.

Rico3k

btw chris in your tutorial about enchance baked lighting were is invert after i have found the edges in photoshop

Japhir

i agree that this is the right way to learn, it helped me out a lot too in the beginning, but i think it would be nicer towards the author of the tutorial and textures to mention your using this particular tutorial. (also, if someone thinks: woow that guy has made some impressive progress, where did he learn that from? they can find the link for themselves.) now it seemed a bit like you came up with these great things all by yourself (yes it's great stuff, because the improvement is huge!!)
i didn't mean to sound harsh or anything, so sorry for that.

Rico3k

i'm sorry for not crediting the author and as you can guess i am a newbie and that was one of my first mistakes

Joseph Silverman

[ QUOTE ]

And HONESTLY, posting the tut, and calling "busted" when Rico did something similar is not very nice, it's entrapment.


[/ QUOTE ]

He still has the copied and pasted parts of the xcloud texture in his final product, and since he is using this for a school project (and, logic would suggest, whatever kind of portfolio he's putting together as school ends) I think that's enough to call him on. Replicating other art to learn is definitely okay, but outright stealing it to get a good grade isn't.

PeterK

I tried to read his post, but the complete lack of punctuation made it very difficult.

Some advice if you want help from people on this board:
1) Learn to write properly.
2) Don't steal art, reproduce and site the reference (that's understandable).
3) keep working hard on your art, and don't rush it. Decent 3d art is very difficult, and should be taken seriously. It requires skill, study, and practice.

Rico3k

Jesus, to begin with this is not the final piece i'm learning for crying out loud.

I didn't understand the tutorial method for creating the pants and the boots so just for posting here and checking how the mapping was looking i did just copy and paste them over to check how things were developing.

I feel hurt that you guys feel i'm stealing, i'd never steal from a shop, never steal items that you'd pay for so i would never steal art to gain a good grade as that is classed as plagiarism.

I'm merely using it to help me try and understand as someone pointed out before of how things are built up.

I know decent 3D art is difficult and requires lots of practice, skill and study which is hard to find in a 12 week course.

rooster

yeah that sounds fair man don't worry about it, just keep in mind that its a subject that can get people very shirty. Just make a point that if you're using someone elses work in any way to credit it, and you shouldn't have any problems
keep it up!

Joseph Silverman

[ QUOTE ]
Just make a point that if you're using someone elses work in any way to credit it, and you shouldn't have any problems

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, if you'd explained that in the first post I wouldn't have said anything.

PeterK

I only say it because I love you, whoever you are.

cyi

Don't feel too bad Rico, I first learned how to skin models by editing existing quake 2 textures. Polycount is actually a pretty friendly community, so don't get discouraged. Everything else that needs to be said has been said here already, so I'm gonna leave it at that.

Rhinokey

The Community here is kind of touchy about stolen art and that is for a good reason. altho it is obvious you are learning and people should be more civil and nurturing. if you are learning then i don't care how you do it, trace copy pretty much anything. just never claim it as your own (posting something without giving credit is the same as claiming it as your own.)

On a seperate note better grammar may help you get your point across. but anyone who won't help you with your art because they don't like how you write is pretty shallow and should be on some linguist forums somewhere.

StJoris

[ QUOTE ]
I only say it because I love you, whoever you are.

[/ QUOTE ]

How sweet

The Umbrella Man

I'm going to go ahead and critique your model. I'll start with anatomy. He has an 8 pack of abs, while it would be cool to have an eight pack, and be the first kid on the block to get one, real world anatomy only allows for 6. The lines you drew from the abs up the ribs are supposed to just be little bumps, were muscle overlaps the ribs, not long lines like that.

My suggestion is to do a bunch of anatomy studies, spend a half hour each day drawing from a book like bridgemans anatomy, Loomis, or Hogarth. You will start to see what is wrong and be able to better identify what you need to model. Also look up some tutorials on poly flow, AKA edge loops, because your flow is all over the place. I hope this helps.

Also when someone gives you a critique it's better to just clam up and take it like a man. We type paragraph long critiques because we want to help, not because we are souless dream crushers. Hope that all helped.

Also here is a link to my sketchbook. It shows pretty effectively my progression since I started anatomy studies. The stuff at the top is about a year old, and after that post is my newest sketches.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=94003

Hessah

http://www.scifilm.org/images3/cyborg3.jpg

the eight pack.

Rico3k

Thanks for the crit back so far, i was attempting to show shadow and highlight in the texturing thats why i think those lines look as bad as they do, as with most of this thread everything is first time.

To be honest it aint really an 8 pack as it stops just after the belly button so the rest is just the stomach.

But thanks for suggesting the bunch of anatomy studies i'll do them over the summer as my course finishes this week.

The Umbrella Man

[ QUOTE ]
http://www.scifilm.org/images3/cyborg3.jpg

the eight pack.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nope it's still a six pack, the muscle at the top is not part of the abs, it muscle that overlaps the floating rib.

Reference to drive the point home. Notice how the top row of muscles follows the outline of the rib cage.

sama.van

Hell.. if Jeong know that .... And Korean community too.. OMG

Just learn, learn and learn... Everybody had his first day one time...
Only work can help you to learn.

Nothing else to say. just begin it since the beginning.

Quickel

I don't understand a word he said there.

East

It actually is an 8 pack, with the linea alba dividing the rectus abdominis in 2 parts, making 4 pairs of section, thus technically creating the 8 pack. Not that it is too visible, unless you are extremely genetically endowed / predisposed / fit :P