Samus Aran WIP

AgentBishop

Hello Polycount Forum,

Here's a project I have been working on and off for a little while. It's based on this Samus Aran fan art by Ivan Flores:

Some of my references:

Here is my progress so far:



Now I wanted to avoid doing the same mistake I did with the torso (adding too many details before I got the general shape and proportions right), so none of the pieces are 100% done. I had to change some of the original proportions since some of them don't make a lot of sense. I will post more screenshots as I go. Comments and critiques are welcome!

C86G

I´d really start working on a nude femle and get her shapes at least sooomehow right.
Maybe it´s jus me but atm it looks like there could never fit a normal female into that suit.

If you have the basic female shape done, it´ll be much easier to get the armor done.

Anyway, I will be watching this and wish you good luck!

AgentBishop

Small update:


C86G: Thanks for the feedback!

I changed some proportions, mainly in the upper body. I still have some tweaking to do on the legs.

Ace-Angel

Don't rely on pure anatomy to get the most out of Samus, her design is infamously known for 'barely' making the cut when it comes to 'how would a person fit in that suit, this image will hopefully help you.

Steve Schulze

She wouldn't be able to move at all in that thing without it breaking her arms.

I think your options are redesigning the armour so that is actually makes some kind of anatomical sense or just saying "anatomy be damned" and going with the classic design. trying to meet it half way isn't likely to work particularly well.

DashXero

Holy crap. So that's how they thought she'd fit into that thing...

I took a whack at trying to figure it out the other day, and could only come up with the below...



I figured there was either some kind of steroid delivery system that altered her anatomy to fit the suit (which would have been totally fruckin' rad); or that her arms just fit into the suit sarcophagus-style and the arms of the suit were just robot parts.

Ace-Angel

Yep, pretty much what you guys said, the funny thing is, the older games were much more leaner in terms of design, it's the modern ones that went with his new suit malarkey.

Also, if you look at the first Prime game, you will see that they very cleverly never show the connections from bottom to up under the armpits, and it's very bulgy, giving some 'room' to the idea of how that works. The later ones even have this weird 'pelvic' bend outwards.

Naturally, as Jack said, even so, she shouldn't be able to move more then a couple of clicks from her upper shoulder.

Also, Dash, I have to say, you're awesome because that's EXACTLY what I used to think her suit was like in the C image (before commercials ruined it for me :P ), infact, it would make sense considering one of her hands is literally a hot piping cannon blaster, and it's easier for us as humans to go into a fetal position when arms are crossed, not to mention, storage in her shoulders.

BobtheGreatII

I think it's fairly safe to say that you're going to have a bad time trying to stay with perfect human proportions. I also think that they always had her arms going to both the arm cannon and through her left arm, at least this was especially shown off in the Metroid Prime concepts:

pjtorres

nice concept ... i want to see it finish

AgentBishop

Hey everyone, thanks a lot for the feedback it is really appreciated!

DashXero: Wow that sarcophagus armor idea is actually pretty clever, never saw it that way.

Update: I decided to go with a more ''realistic'' design.

AgentBishop

It's been awhile since I last updated:





Unless there is something incredibly wrong with the sculpture, I will start retopologizing.

Head retopo:



Any feedback is welcome.

Liquid-Grievous

good work so far!. I am also starting a samus model, although mine is a redesign sense I always had problems with her design and practicality=/ lol.. Great work! I hope to see more updates!, got a blog etc????

_DeadPixel_

Looking cool!
I think you should work on her proportions a little more, right now she doesn't have the same sex appeal that Samus has.

AgentBishop

Ok so here is the last update for the high poly:



Here is the current state of the low poly (most of the pieces have been UVed):

Body:



Canon:



I'm still struggling with the hair (any tips/advice are welcome):




Once again, thanks a lot for the feedback!

pjl

very nice, can't wait to see texture on it

AgentBishop

Update: I decided to change the middle part of the torso


I also started texturing (diffuse and normal map only). The gray hair is temporary.

Marmoset screenshots:




Unfortunately, I'm having some problems with marmoset. Depending on the angle I take the screenshots I get these weird lines that are not present in the viewport.

RMeeks

Just a guess but it could have something to do with the nonplanar faces you have in those areas. Unless you have the mesh in marmoset triangulated... then I have no clue. :poly142:

AgentBishop

RMeeks: I triangulated the model before importing it in marmoset. Thanks anyway.

The hair still lacks a spec map but everything else has one now.

AgentBishop

Update:



Ok, so I spent way more time than I should have on this project. Unless there is something blatantly wrong, I'm going to take one last day to fix a couple of things and then finally move on to a new project.

Comments and critiques are welcome.

bigphun

Overall you've done a great job, but why the brown hair, Samus always has red/orange hair and the brown stands out as it doesn't exist anywhere else in the composition. If you want to be a little different use the black from the joints.

Secondly, she isn't nearly shiny enough, it appears that you're going for a more realistic aesthetic with the textured metal which is fine, but I would still amp up the reflections.

Otherwise, great job.

AgentBishop

bigphun: Thanks man. The brown hair was simply a personal choice. Here's a blonde version:



(I might change the color a bit)

Selaznog

Looks good, but texturing could use some work. Also I think more of a yelowy bright blonde could work better.