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Sci Fi Character

polycounter lvl 14
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octokitty polycounter lvl 14
So this will be my 2nd time posting a thread here, last time was about a year ago. Anyway, I've started something pretty new to me, that is a high poly character. I usually do low poly stuff, but wanted to challenge myself. I also one day would like to work in console/pc games so I know I need to start working on current/next gen stuff.

C4K9V.jpg
T7Umn.jpg

Sorry for the low quality of the concept... I did this a few months ago on paper. It's supposed to be a little stylized in the proportions, so it's not supposed to look super realistic. Also the suit is supposed to be made of mostly rubber and metal. I've almost finished the base low poly for now, although I'm expecting I'll have to make a lot of changes! I'm gonna be honest, I kinda don't know exactly what I'm doing... haha. What I've done is I've made the whole model basically one piece, except for the shoulder pads, gloves and head thing. I don't know if that is the right way to do this? Should I have every piece separate? Oh, and I would want this to be like xbox 360 specs. Right now it's around 10,000 tris, but i'm not sure if that's too many or not enough. And I know I probably need to move some polys around and stuff, but I want to know if I'm going in the right direction before I go too in-depth.

EGKEA.jpg
EwpDH.jpg
hkYdZ.jpg

Also, what do you think about the overall design? The head thing? Should I change that, I'm not sure how I feel about it. And the shoes... I'm not too sure about that either. I'm planning on finishing the base then taking it into zbrush once it's really good. I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks!

Replies

  • Goeddy
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    Goeddy greentooth
    so the overall design for me looks okay, i mean like nothing too fancy according to the shape and basicly this ripcage-to-hips chestline is the only hook. but you dont have to grab for the stars right away right?
    i think its a good character to get started and getting into the workflow. also you got a lot of space for playing around with the highpoly/texture, but if your gettin sick of the character you can also finish him kinda quick.
    one thing about the head though: i would place her lips slightly higher.
    in attractive faces the distance between mouth and nose is slightly shorter then the distance betwenn mouth and tip of the chin. + upper lips are mostly "smaller"/ tiltet further then the lower lips.
    well maby thats just my personal taste, your decision in the end.

    also making all that in onemesh shouldnt be a huge problem, if you know you´ll run out of resolution (dont know what your working with/your machine can handle) you should use polygroups in zbrush.

    abouth the x360 specs 10k are okay, but i think you could still get up to 2k out of here, escaciely at the back of the head and at the hands.

    edgeflow looks nice, though i always prefer to do a "sculptingbase" and then retopo the stuff when it looks the way i want it.

    hope this helps you.
  • Allan-p
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    Allan-p polycounter lvl 7
    I just want to say be confident. Know what you want and head towards it. Make mistakes and learn from them. I'd sit back and analysis why you are unsure about the head thing, the shoes or the overall design. It's a process of problem solving. So for example why are you unsure about the head thing? Is it the design? - Not edgey enough? - Not enough visual information? - too plain? etc

    My initial impression of the character was that it was giving off a very 2001 space odyssey / Lost in Space vibe. Perhaps you can pick up on those visual cues?

    Keep it up! I'm sorry I couldn't contribute much to the technical side of the model as I'm more of a 2d guy slowly breaking into the 3d realm.
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    Well any input you have is appreciated! I guess I should be more confident about my design. I mean, I am really excited about it and I know it's gonna be awesome when its done, I'm just a little stuck with the design right now, but I'll work on it. It's cool that it made you think of 2001 space odyssey/lost in space, Ill have to take another look at those and see if they inspire me!
  • Quasar
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    Quasar polycounter lvl 19
    Hi Octokitty,

    In most cases the workflow for current gen characters is to make a base mesh that is constructed for easier sculpting eg. all quads and no tris, even poly density and so forth. Once you finish the sculpt, you can export your lowest sub division to max/maya and rework the geometry so that it is optimized and deforms properly. What you have now is a great start and a good density, but I would definitely change a few things. For instance, it's always a good idea to split your base mesh into pieces that will become separate polygroups in z-brush, making sure that all your parts are capped with no openings. This makes sculpting easier because it allows you to quickly hide the parts that get in your way. The other big thing is to make a nude model of your character and build the clothing on top of that. Once you sculpt the nude model, making sure the anatomy and proportions are good, you can use it as a reference when sculpting the clothing and placinge her gear.

    And like Allan-p said, be confident. Once you start working in z-brush, you'll learn very quickly what works and what doesn't.

    Good luck!
  • Envart
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    Envart polycounter lvl 6
    I like this model and the style. It reminds me of an 80's sci-fi cartoon that I can't remember the name of. The proportions looks OK overall (I am no character artist and have little experience of anatomy) but I think the neck looks too thick. A more swan-like and linthe shape would seem approriate to me.

    If you want to zbrush that model, it would be best to break it up into components. Unless you have a higher end PC, you may have trouble sub-dividing the mesh enough to achieve a high level of detail. This is because a tool/subtool (zbrush vernacular meaning: object) has a maximum level of subdivision, due to the memory/cpu cealing of your rig - similar to polycount in max. This means that it is dificult to scuplt very tiny detail, or polypaint with small details.

    The model looks good for zbrush scuplting, because all the polygons are of a similar size, excluding the face and hands obviously. The reason why this is good is that when you subdivide the mesh, the detail will be even across the whole model. By breaking the model up, you can have more detail in the areas that actually need it. You also optimise your scuplting experience because you can hide elements of the mesh when required.

    I would break the model into the following groups: face head neck / shoulders chest upper arms / elbow forearms / hands / waist / pelvis upper thigh / lower leg shoes. In zbrush, you can load a base component such as the shoulders, then load the other elements as subtools, then append the base tool with the new subtool.

    There are a number of workflow options available to you. You could UV your model before importing, or after scuplting. UVing before allows you to use the UV map to control the creasing angles of edges based upon the UV island. For instance, hard edges are more easily defined this way, but there are obvious limitations. Problems can also arise because zbrush distorts the base geometry when scuplting which can lead to stretching of the UV map. UVing after the scuplt might be your best option. I'm no zbrush expert though, so others may well contradict me.

    Good luck on your model!
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    @Quasar: Luckily I did model the whole body and it's on another layer! I'm so happy I don't have to backtrack too much... that would suck.

    @Walrus: it's funny you noticed the neck was too big, haha it is actually proportional on the nude, but i made the hood wider cause i wasn't sure i wanted it to be skin tight... but that might end up changing.

    So I'll work on breaking up the different clothing pieces, thanks!
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    Here's an update. I fixed some topology and it looks pretty good in zbrush. I did the uvs and I know there's some extra space in the map. I tried to get is as tight as possible, and I've found in the past that having extra space is good in case i have to move things around when i start painting. So, I will start working on the sculpt finally!

    ul8pS.jpg
    3UFpY.jpg

    Oh also I decided to leave a few things out that were in the concept because they ended up looking weird on the model.
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    Ok, I've now finished the high poly and made a normal map for my low poly. This is the 2nd time I've ever done this, and the first time I've ever done it correctly, haha. It's not perfect but I'm pretty happy with it. There are some areas I'll fix as I move onto the texture, I just really want to get started texturing...

    vf1oV.jpg
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    Hey guys, just wondering... how do people get such perfect normal maps for their low poly models? I feel like the only way to make mine look really good now is to have zbrush create new uv maps for all the objects... but then when i want to texture I either have to texture it in zbrush or i have to use UV linking to create a separate map... but i'm pretty sure that's not something you can do for games? I'm really confused about that.
  • The Nasal Abyss
    I've found that the way I get the best looking normals is to create a cage and import it into xnormal, then bake them out using the cage. Look in the xnormal tutorials section on the xnormal homepage, it'll tell you how to do it.
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    cool, i'll try that thanks!
  • Goeddy
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    Goeddy greentooth
    yeah the xnormal thing normaly is the way to go, though it works fine in max too.
    dunno how much you know about texture baking, but thats the way to go here.
    theres some good stuff in the wiki here.
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    I'm finally back to working on this again! So I took you guy's advice and tried xnormal and it is amazing. So I fixed all the normals on the model so far and it is looking way better than before. Still a couple things I need to fix, but just about ready to start with the texture.

    dHPxN.jpg

    The face also looks kind of weird and creepy right now, but when I get to the texture I will fix that.
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    Update on texture. Blocking in colors and testing out some hair ideas... face is almost done. There are also a few places I need to fix on the normal map.

    ZdzWF.jpg
    DZadU.jpg

    Sorry for the huge images, I wanted you to see the EYES, haha.
  • MonkeyMHz
    I'm not sure if im a fan of the shin guards and the foot being like a high healed hoof.

    But that last face shot is looking awesome, the eyes have alot of emotion, I love them. I have to keep a eye on this ! :) :thumbup:
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    I know what you mean about the shoes... but I think they'll work once i figure out what I'm doing with the colors. but thanks, I'm glad you like it so far!
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    I'm really slow... here's a small update! So I did an ao pass, and am working on defining the textures. Also trying to work in some interesting details like the on the hood. Also sort of working on the spec as i go. So far I have only worked on the face, hood, shoulders and the shirt.

    ajatB.jpg

    With no lights:
    GdZfQ.jpg
  • Computron
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    Computron polycounter lvl 7
    The hair looks really sharp and nice.
  • imijatov
    The face seems wider height-wise than the original concept, could be just my eyes playing tricks on me. If possible, try experimenting with more voluminous hair since you're still in the development stage with that. Love the shape of the eyes and your texture painting in general! Try softening the ridge above the lips and below the nose - it's not very feminine the way it currently is. All suggestions, of course. Do you plan to give her eyelashes as well?
  • chrisradsby
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    chrisradsby polycounter lvl 14
    I really like it to me it feels like you're doing good progress without the lights. Keep going! It's looking really good :)
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    whoa computron, i really hope you aren't serious about the hair... you know it's just a place holder for now right? :)

    i'm gonna go back and work on the hair after i do a first pass on all the textures. I'm def gonna try to do something cool with that.

    imijatov, I decided to deviate a bit from the face concept, i used it as more of guidelines rather than something I had to stick to, so as long as the face looks good in the end I'll be happy. I do plan on giving her eyelashes, but I'll do that when I get to the hair. Thanks for the feedback!
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    I finished the torso for now. Pelvis is next!

    F7Xld.jpg
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    I've finally gone over all the textures and they are pretty much done! The spec map is also done. I changed the skin tone and tried making the face a little more realistic with an overlay. I also played with the lights for fun, but ill probably change them later. I still am messing with the eye color... the irises look like metal right now, rather than what they're supposed to look like. I like them, but I think they could look better.

    So here's where I am now. I still need to figure out the hair and eyelashes, and I have some interesting ideas to make this look really cool. I'll try to post a concept for those ideas soon!

    qMQVo.jpg
    tFz87.jpg
  • DietCoke
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    DietCoke polycounter lvl 7
    This is really great! Her face is amazing. The shape of her eyelids and lips are especially impressive. You could try laying some VERY subtle textures over the various parts, I think that might bump it up a notch. Excellent UV packing, by the way!
  • dustinsomething
    Wonderful model. I really like the flesh you created.
    The eyes are twined and the pupils are placed that gives a somewhat cross eyed look.

    Still very nice.
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    Thanks! I will fix the eyes cause i agree, they look a little crossed. I'll look at doing some more layovers as i move on to the next phase! And here is the idea have that i think will be awesome:
    pj97l.jpg
    So they're like veins, attached and coming out of her. I want them to follow the flow of actual veins in some areas, like the hands and feet, and I want them to glow a little. I'm also thinking of a weapon for her. Something along the lines of deadspace-ish... She would hold it in her right hand and I think it would be cool if it blended with the veins, like her weapon is attached to her. I'm really excited about where this is going.
  • DietCoke
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    DietCoke polycounter lvl 7
    Hmmm, I don't know about those veins... They're sort of gross looking. Are they going to be "energy" of some sort? Are they going to be all organic and shiny like real veins?
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    i guess i sort of like creepy things, haha. I don't want them to be realistic looking though. I'm thinking more like glowing, so they're more like energy? I think my inspiration for that is coming from the metroid prime games, here's an example:
    1284068485278.jpg
    The veiny looking tree roots there are what I'm talking about.

    So they'll be red and sort of like see through and glowing? Hopefully that makes sense. If it ends up looking bad i can always take it off once im done!
  • DietCoke
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    DietCoke polycounter lvl 7
    Ok, I can dig it! I am eagerly awaiting your next update.
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    Cool, thanks! Ok here's an update.

    PnZyo.jpg

    I finished the hair and eyelashes, and just started the veins.
  • Scampbell
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    Scampbell polycounter lvl 7
    ya amazing job on that UV pack i can never get any thing as close as that. good job
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    oh thanks, haha i forgot to say earlier I actually ended up redoing the uvs, so they aren't as good as before... :(
  • DietCoke
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    DietCoke polycounter lvl 7
    Wow man, the hair is fantastic! I have yet to successfully make hair. I have tried the "hair helmet" approach, but without great results, and I haven't really had success with alpha transparency tenchiques either.

    The "energy veins" are definitely not creeping me out. It's way more subtle than I was imagining.
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    thanks! i actually had trouble figuring out how i was gonna do the hair, but then decided i would just model the hair using planes and put a hair texture on it (no alphas). I'll post what i did later :)
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    Finished the veins! So at this point I am finished texturing everything and I am really happy with it. Next I'm planning to rig and pose it, and i am giving her a weapon :)

    ZJv6y.jpg

    Also, here are my texture maps. I'm a little embarrassed about them cause i used pelting tools and i usually don't... I usually just unwrap things manually, but I had to redo the uvs after making the high poly and retopologizing things... haha, oh well:

    9WqEV.jpg
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    Ok peeps, this is finished. I rigged and posed her and gave her a gun (it's not the most detailed, but it's not the focal point anyway, so i didn't put too much effort into it). Anyway, hope you guys like it!

    h5eKa.jpg
  • DietCoke
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    DietCoke polycounter lvl 7
    Great work man! This is really fantastic. That gun is bad ass. How long did you work on it? Is this just something you banged out really quick? I think it's an awesome design. It reminds me of a Combine weapon from HL2.
  • octokitty
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    octokitty polycounter lvl 14
    Thanks dude! Yea I just did the gun really quick, i think it took a day or 2? The concept actually came from the Dead Space pulse rifle, haha i just took that and turned it backwards and it worked! But the gun is just there to make the overall pose and everything look more interesting. Anyway, thanks for following, I'm glad you like how it turned out :)
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