Fanboy

_Gr9yFox_

Hey everyone. I decided to give 3D a go and I started learning Maya. I picked up this sketch:


I made this mesh (wich I later altered to make everything exist in one object and to eliminate two or three five-sided polys):


And now I'm trying to learn how to make lay out UVs and create textures. This is where I am so far:


The model has 1750 tris and a 512x512 texture. I still have to make the big fan on his back and I am trying to figure out how to do it without using up too much polys.

pliang

One main issues I see in the edge loops staying too far away from where the actual joints should be...its prolly gonna have deformation issues when you bend the arms with the joins pretty much next to the shoulders and all.

Vitor

eh l

t4paN

It's very good for a beginner actually! You could use a smaller polycount for the shoes, but then again, in 2007 this polycount isn't big anyway. Maybe you could try to go for real low poly as an exercise?

BTW, his smile is psychotic, I like!

Acord

No no - lower polys is always good, as long as you can get away with it. Makes the model significantly easier to uvmap. I wish some of my first models had looked that good.

_Gr9yFox_

Thanks for the feedback guys! Hey Vitor!

The edge loops...well, I suppose you're right. I am still learning the ropes and I'll see what happens when I rig it. The corners in the hat made me think for a bit. You're right, it could be rounder. Some of those actually have a polygonal look but maybe it's too much in this case. In the shoes it's quite the opposite really.

As for the smile...well he is a fanboy! He's currently waiting for MGS4 and his stare grew weirder the last time they delayed the release date. If Konami does it again who knows what may happen.

I wanted to keep the overall mesh below 2500. I have thought of a way to make the fan, let's hope it works.

_Gr9yFox_

Hey guys, now it's time to work on the fan. I didn't spend a ot of time on it because I wanted some advice. The idea is to block out the fan area and use a transparent texture (maybe this is not the correct term) for the pieces of metal that compose the cage. The blade will be inside and it will be visible. I have never done that, but I am doing this to learn so the more techniques I use the better.



My new poly limit is 2000 and it's final. It seems more than enough and it will probably let me include a few more edges on the hat.

_Gr9yFox_

I started texturing the fan and I got some weird bugs. It's the first time I'm using an alpha channel on a texture so I am saving it as a targa file with 32bit and loading it in the viewport.The transparency works but I get some clipping issues . Things that are behing the oject clip the texture and appear over it.

What am I doing wrong?

After you answer me you'll get some screenshots of it working. I think it's worth it.

Mark Dygert

I think you are encountering the classic Maya transparency sorting issue? Maybe a screen shot of the problem could confirm it?

_Gr9yFox_

Here goes. I hadn't heard of such a thing before. I hope it's not fatal.



Note that the blade is IN the fan.

pliang

In the Maya view port...on that white tab on the edge of the persp view port you can prolly fix it by going to the "view" tab to check "maya transparency sorting" to have those alphas show properly.

It seems you are using the alphas so I'd try that first if you haven't already.

The feature was introduced since Maya 8

_Gr9yFox_

Awesome pliang! It was in "polygon transparency sorting". Now I can go on with it. I removed the lights and it looks better, now I just have to create some more manual shadows in the textures.

As a result, here is your reward and thanks again.

Japhir

pretty cool! but i would make it match the concept a bit more, since the concept is cooler than the model. so shorten and thicken his legs a little, make his shirt more baggy and shorten his arms slightly. I hope it helps!
keep it up!

_Gr9yFox_

Well..I picked up this model again. It was my first model with a polycount in mind and it was the first time I made UV maps and textures. I look at it and I think I could improve it but as a beginner I should start new pojects other than spending the rest of my time finishing it.

Comments are welcome but the useful advice will probably just come into play in my next model.