Bleeding Edge [WIP]

Digital Cantina

Latest update - Fixed a few items, glow maps fixed



Hey guys. I started this character yesterday at 5am and worked for the whole rest of the day on it. I need a few new sets of eyes for crits if possible. Its based on the new Iron Man armor by Ryan Meinerding. Thanks!

Digital Cantina

Heres another update:

Tits

I think you could rework you proportions a bit to make it way more impressive.
You make the shoulder way bigger with a bigger rib cage, smaller waist.
Leg with amplified curves

MrHobo

He's a bit long in the torso, which I think is throwing everything else off.

ladyknowles

I think if you fix the line in the middle and the torso, he'll look kickass!

theslingshot

If you are going for a look like there is in the concept, yours kinda look like the teen version of the concept one, cause it's seriously more "buffed up". If not, I think yours has the shapes of a more "normal" Ironman, kinda like the movies.

Digital Cantina

Wow thanks for all the crits, I really appreciate it.

@Ladyknowles, RiotForQuiet - Yea that's cause the two halves of his body arent combined yet. Itll go away once I combine and merge verts and soften the normals.

@Tits, MrHobo, theslingshot - I think you guys are right. Im gonna keep fussing with the proportions till I get it more like the concept. Broader soulders, Bigger chest.

Thanks again everyone, Ill post an update again tomorrow morning.

Digital Cantina

Heres another update:

Digital Cantina

Alright guys, I need your help. Ive built 4 different faceplates. Help me pick one. Thanks!

Paunescu.Daniel

2

ewHurtado

Hmmm, i like 1 or 4, leaning more towards 4... great stuff so far! I myself am not a character artist, so unfortunately i cant provide crits... any useful crits...

uncle

1 but without the upper indentation.

Digital Cantina

Thanks for all the feedback! Since 2 was such a winner (I also asked around other forums and twitter) Ive created another version, Let me know what you think

Digital Cantina

Heres an update with my first texture pass

Digital Cantina

Heres another update.

tristamus

LookIng good man - keep it up buddy

Digital Cantina

Heres an early morning update:

Pancakes

u got this

Overlord

The proportions are off. The head and chest are too narrow and the deltoids are bulging too much. The torso is also too long. Fix that and you'll have an awesome Iron Man.

Digital Cantina

Okay here's another update. I toyed with the proportions a bit more to shorten the torso and shoulders a bit.

Digital Cantina

Update:

Digital Cantina

Heres another update with the spec map in:

Shiniku

Looking nice, keep at it. I have a few quick crits though.

-Not specular enough.. look at the reference, it's a very shiny/reflective metal. Diffuse should probably still be darker.
-Chest light thing is too high up. Compare to reference.
-Proportions looking a little too child like, not heroic like the ref. head is too big in comparison to body.
-You're missing a lot of the smoother anatomical details present in the armor in the reference - I feel like the anatomy and forms could be pushed further.

Digital Cantina

Thanks for the crits Shiniku! I have a render that more matches the concept but it wasnt looking right. Ill post it later. As for everything else: Your right, the main chest rt is too high and ill lower it and make the head smaller. Ill also try to make it as smooth as I can.

Digital Cantina

Heres an update:

Digital Cantina

Heres another with some Ps retouches

Digital Cantina

Long wait but heres another update to the materials:

Mischievous

Looks great, but there's just something, dunno unimpressive about it. Not the mesh or modelling work, that's amazing, I mean the actual look taken as if this thing'd be standing in front of me in real life. I don't know if you're going for a 1:1 copy of the original, but Iron Man has that awe inspiring figure. I suppose that shortening the torso might help a lot, but again I don't know.
Also looking at the back, you seem to have some weird polygons there, at the tights?

AlphaMeow

To me it looks like the metal suit is to thin. He looks like a man made of metal rather than a man in a metal suit.

How would his knees bend? I see no fold in the armor for his knee to bend.

The piece of plat on his wrist lacks sold form.

Digital Cantina

Thanks for the input guys.

The problem with this suit is that in the comics (which is where this comes from) Its a weird kind of liquid metal I think. It supposedly creates a metal musculature over his skin. I do agree that he does seem a bit thin, I could beef him up a bit.

Quickel

I like the overall thing but normal maps to make all your edges not so sharp would have been nice to see.

Digital Cantina

@quickel - Yea I know, Im actually thinking about going back and creating a high poly to genereate maps from

lamar McHaney

You have a great start to your model but you need to work on the proportions if you want it to look similar to the concept art. The suit looks half organic and half metal, there are curves inside of the metal that would not be there. When translating concept art to 3D, you would usually try to separate what looks cool and what is actually functional.

Not adding the cuts in the joints just makes the suit look like a toy. I really do like where you are at with the suit though and it has come a long way since your start, however you still have somethings to fix.

You have this awesome detail on the edges of the legs but no where else. You should put that type of detail everywhere on the suit and then add some light scratches in the spec map. Have fun with all your maps, you will see nothing but great results. Adding a lightmap for the blue lights around the suit would add some nice detail to your characters texture.

good work, looking forward to seeing more.

Digital Cantina

lamar McHaney - Thanks for all the suggestions. Part of the reason why you can see curves and musculature is that's how its supposed to be. In the comics, its liquid metal that forms over his body like so:

So there are supposed to be curves and musculature. Ill try and clean it as best I can to make it clearer. As for the scratches, I'm still working on them. More need to be added and will post an update when they're ready. This was more of a test render really. Ive added a glow map for the lights, is that what you mean?

lamar McHaney

No sir, a light map is when you bake the light effect on to your model. It's similar to baking Ambient Occlusion however, what I was suggesting was to place a light similar to the color of your glow map, bake it on a white texture, and multiply it to your texture. Here is polycounts Tutorial on light maps:

http://wiki.polycount.com/LightMap?highlight=%28\bCategoryTexturing\b%29

I will add a little bit of blue bloom around the rim of the light. I suggest this because I think it would look dope.

I know the armor, its for the new invincible iron man comic. It looks similar to the extremis armor. I understand what you were going for however take in to account the amount of cuts in the armor. Your model has a solid gold plate across his bicep. You also have muscle definition in the wrist, it makes your model look more fiction than functional. Again, I like your work but this needs to be pushed a little bit further to make it something great.

Digital Cantina

Update! Ive added some more damage and dings to him as well as refining the spec and gloss a bit.

Fnitrox

nice job so far! for a crit, what is turning it a little down for me is the metal... If you look at your concept it looks much more contrasty and crome-like, you should maybe try to darken your diffuse a lot and give it more contrast through the specular map.

That's more or less how crome materials are in real life, dark color and high specular values

Snader

The biggest issue IMO is that the design just doesn't seem to work at all when any kind of movement comes in. The torso is locked in to place by the piece that goes over the abs and along the pelvic ridge, the knees are stuck because they're surrounded by a single hunk of metal and the ankles also don't look like they could move, the hands are also encased by one large piece of metal - in short, it looks like all he can do is stand still in place and flap his arms a bit.

Digital Cantina

Fnitrox - Yea the concept is really chrome like Ill try to push the metal a bit farther, thanks!
Sander - Yea, its not one of his most mechanical suits, I may add a few lines in for detail, joints, well see

Digital Cantina

Another Update!

JoshWilkinson

Your scratches look like they're on the right track but the consistency is killing me. Have you seen the Avengers? The closing credits nailed the textures. There are light scratches, dark scratches, dirt scuffs and liquid streaks. If a hero like Iron man is engaged in combat (where his primary weapon causes explosions), there would be materials flying around all over him and those would all take a tole on his suit.

Let your scratches tell a story. I don't know how mirrored your UVs are, but if they're unique, really show off your texturing prowess with asymmetry. And I'm sorry in advance for the obnoxiously huge fie coming up.

Digital Cantina

Another update - This time with more battle damage

Intervain

cool progress... the scratching feels a bit random and also rather 'organic'. It looks more like scratches in flesh than in metal.

also I'm not keen on the feet - they feel like rubber boots with all the roundness going on...

Digital Cantina

Intervain - Yea I see what your saying, they do look organic. I wonder if I sharpen them myabe it will help or maybe just take the normal off completely on them. Ive also never been happy with the feet on him either but sadly its not a top priority, hopefully Ill get around to them

konstruct

You need bevels. All the plates have abbrupt, 90 degree edges. making them look intangible and paper thin. If you added bevel information to your plates (in the highpoly) the light will catch those bevels, defining the forms much better. Your shapes will look more like chuncks of forged metal vs. the paper look it has now.

Digital Cantina

I most definetly need bevels Konstruct, Im working on a HP build in tandem with the textures. Thanks for all the help guys

James R Jenkins

You need to give him some joints you have to think of him as a robot his suit is made of iron and will not be able to bent you need to give him a joint at the arm and at the knee for sure it makes him look as is he is wearing a spandex suit the way he is at the moment look at the knee and arm joints here.

tristamus

Excellent work Andrew. The thing people are saying about the 90 degree corners, I agree with. I understand it may be hard to go back to that point to add them in, but it would dramatically increase the "feel" of the character's stature.

Digital Cantina

Thanks Tristamus! I miss you bud, you need to make your way back to the Midwest sometime! I'm working on a high poly sculpt so that I can get some good normal's off of it. Ill post it later maybe.

Jenkins - Thanks for the input. I know he looks like hes in spandex, I'm working on messing with his materials so he looks more metallic. Its funny you should mention the Mark III, Im working on a version of that as well:

Digital Cantina

Latest update - This time with even more battle damage

mospheric

Can't wait to see a high poly. Are you planning on using Zbrush to make the scratches? I recommend at least bringing it in Zbrush for dents and what not. Post your high poly progress when you have something to show