does he have bird-like legs? or just boots that are bird-like? i dig the chains as 'wing holders, but maybe u could take the idea even further and make a unique looking chain that fits the character's style? just a thought. sweet stuff!
corrosion: he has bird armor legs that his legs fit into. i see what ur saying about the chain...do u mean the actual chain links? or the armor plates?
I meant the links. Because right now they look like a regular chain - which is cool too, and also works if that's the impression that you want to give. But what I meant was that if the chain links themselves also followed the same design principles as the armor, then you'd have a much more interesting chain. Perhaps even, cheaper polygon wise. Let's say you make a type of chain link that has an interesting artsy shape (perhaps it could have a spikey thing?) and it's slightly larger than the regular chain link - you could have 1 link as opposed to 3 links of a regular chain. Now, the only thing I would be aware of if I were to do something like this, is to still make it functional enough - perhaps a chain is made the way it is because it's the most functional way a chain could be, so you can't stray away from that design too much.
Anyway I'm starting to ramble
i hope these comments give u some fresh ideas!
Alright! i've been building a generic base mesh to start my guy on. i also wanted to build something i could use int he future. my first actual attempt at modeling a person in quads...hopefully it works out alright. in any case, i am going to get rid of most of the geometry for this character since 90% of him is armor.
alright,i'm off to japan tomorrow but here's a screen before i go:) sorry about the crappy resolution, i'm screen grabbing on my tiny laptop screen. hopefully i'll get a lot of modeling done in the next week!
I would try and make sure the square-ness of your topology is more consistent, you seem to have some bunching up on areas of the mesh, mainly on his base mesh/body. The armor on his chest looks good so far though. And his face seems to be working as well. Keep it up!
Looks really good man, the only thing I notice that the face looks a bit flat compared to the concept sketch. Mabey add a bit of volume to the middle of the face and subtract some volume from the edges. It could be your intentions to have it the way you do, but like I said from the concept art his face is thin and more pointy, not flat at all.
Arix: i hear ya! im def going to fix topology after i delete the areas being hidden by the armor...thanks!
BradMyers: i see what u are sayin. i def didnt plan on the face during the concept...now that i take a step back, the face does look flat in the model. i will adjust that when im done wiht the lo poly model.
alright! big update..im pretty much done with my lo poly mesh...inc the lance and wings, im sittin pretty at 7500 polys. here are a couple screens i threw together. i plan on re sculpting the chest to be more lion like but other than that...on to UVing!
ok, i am really struggling. this is my first time using zbrush so i am learning as i go. my main problem right now is i am just trying to do simple designs on his shoulder piece and chest piece. when i bring the high poly mesh into maya and use surface sampler to create my normal map, it ends up lookin like ass. i am thinking the texel density is the issue since my wings take up so much space. can anyone help me out with this? i am thinkin about ditching the wings so that my normal map doesnt look so terrible. maybe i am doing something wrong. in any case, suggestions or further info would be great! i also have a lot of mirrored pieces...how do i get the normal map to work for these parts? help on this would be great as well. thanks!
You get the inverted normals just because you generated it with inverted UV's, one way to see if they are invereted is to do a unfold (if your using maya), youll noitice it at once if thats the case.
Another rule I follow is to try and avoid as many textureseems as possible. This will make it easier when your going to texture later on and zmapper wont have as much problems with it as well.
The UVs you had before would have worked fine, maby just making the wings a tad smaller. Thats how i would have done my moose. Later on as I said in my thread just copy the normalmap layer in photoshop and toss an overlay on it. That will help alot.
alright, after a couple of weeks of toiling with zbrush and having many many technical issues with it and maya, i have realized there is no way i am going to make the deadline for DW3 unless they delayed it by like a month and even then it prob wouldnt happen. i am still going to keep working on it...so far i only have the face and helmet sculpted and they look like ass. but i figure its my first time around and im just going to keep pluggin along for the experience. hopefully by this time next year i will have gained enough experience to kick out a quality character and make the deadline! thanks to all who commented on my thread...
hey kicker! i hear ya but the whole point of this is for me to learn zbrush and the pipeline that goes along with it. i'm not so hell bent on finishing the contest just to finish. i would rather keep going with the zbrushing and get that done even if it means not making the deadline. i will still finish on my own schedule and on my own terms for what i want out of this experience. ur already a seasoned vet but i'm still struggling to learn the tool! dont worry thought, i havent given up on this assignment just yet;)
alright, zbrushing a little bit at a time. there is just no way i am going to make this deadline but this being my first time around using zbrush, i want to do it right. here is where i am at on my high poly:
ok, i am zbrushing piece by piece and baking out the normal map as i go. ive done most of the upper body. i am prob going to go back and redo the helmet and add more details in the skin. still not going to make the deadline but i plan on finishing this project regardless...this has been a tremendous learning experience so i want to make the most of it. being my first time with zbrush, i am REALLY slow but its still a lot of fun.
Replies
Anyway I'm starting to ramble
i hope these comments give u some fresh ideas!
Keep it going SloSh!
BradMyers: i see what u are sayin. i def didnt plan on the face during the concept...now that i take a step back, the face does look flat in the model. i will adjust that when im done wiht the lo poly model.
Looks cool tho -- will be cool to see how it turns out
yeah moving from 256 to 2k is one hell of a jump! definantly gonna keep tabs on this one.
i changed his breastplate a bit before moving on to zbrush.
here are his UVs...i think they work alright. i dont plan on doing too much in zbrush so i figure this should work.
and post a pic of your problem
if you normalmap is in some way "inverted" try to flip the green channel in the viewer app or within the texture
the reduction of artifacts is explained in the tut and if you cant get rid of them you have to fix them by hand on the normalmap
strengh of the bump is set up in the viewerapp
I do most of my normalmaps in zbrush.
You get the inverted normals just because you generated it with inverted UV's, one way to see if they are invereted is to do a unfold (if your using maya), youll noitice it at once if thats the case.
Another rule I follow is to try and avoid as many textureseems as possible. This will make it easier when your going to texture later on and zmapper wont have as much problems with it as well.
The UVs you had before would have worked fine, maby just making the wings a tad smaller. Thats how i would have done my moose. Later on as I said in my thread just copy the normalmap layer in photoshop and toss an overlay on it. That will help alot.