German Shepherd

Jacob W.

This is what I have been working on.

I am currently retopoing but all crits on anatomy and such welcome. I have been staring at this a long time so fresh eyes are awesome.

My goal here is to create a game model. I want my tri count to be no higher than 8k. I will most likely land lower than that because that is what happens. I will keep it as low as it needs to be to have a nice shape.

I don't plan on using alphas or sculpting out more hair. Although alphas can be great for the silhouette, They can get messy. As for the hair I only sculpted the main clumps because I feel that when you sculpt out the strands, the normals get too noisy and fur begins to look too much like concrete. I will be defining the rest of the fur with the spec in the end.

DashXero

I freaking love German Shepherds. I can't help but think that the hind hip could slope down just a tiny smidget more. German Shepherds are badass dogs, but they're weird in that they're genetically more likely to develop hip displasia. I remember reading that it was a combination of their hip placement and genetic heritage.

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out! Subscribed.

Jacob W.

Thanks for the reply. I agree with you about the hip. I am going to make some adjustments. I am aware that hip dysplasia is very common in this breed but I was trying make a healthy German Shepherd. I am using multiple references and it is tough cuz all dogs are different.



I am going to make some adjustments to him based off of this profile. Also keep in mind that the hip will drop a little bit when I pose him at the end.

Cheers!

Caldria

Hey this is looking great so far. However, I feel the eyes/brow and snout area of the second iteration read more as a German Shepherd than how you have it in the third.

The snout reads a bit too "boxy" and not as sharp as you had it before and as GSD snouts tend to be.

The brows too could be a little less "boxy", and flow more with the overall shape of his head/snout like you can see in that latest reference pic you linked. Your brows seem to jut out a bit too much.

Anyway, it's looking great so far - I love German Shepherds! Keep it up.

Jacob W.

Thanks for the feedback @Caldria.

I have made some tweaks regarding some of the concerns you guys have had. I dropped the hips a little bit and pushed the legs back too. It does feel better that way.

As for the Snout I made it a little more narrow. As for the eyebrows I adjusted their profile a little bit but I exaggerated them on purpose. I made his eyes bigger as well. I want to bring more character and focus to the face. In the end he will read better from a distance.



Thanks again!

Back to retopo!

Jacob W.

Here is the retopo so far. It's 4k now and I think it will be about 5k when I am finished. I still have the eyes, claws, teeth, and tongue to do. Next up I will be laying out uvs and be texturing by this weekend.

Aga22

very nice. are you gonna use any cards with opacity?

_DeadPixel_

This is looking great!
I'd say the stifle joint looks too low, also the fibia seems shorter than the femur, but in the anatomy charts they're the same length. Maybe if you lengthen the tibia it'll help push those joints into a higher position.
Also, the only time I see the legs so far back in the pics is if it's moving - two comparisons of what I mean:

Hope this helps.

Stance


Motion

Jacob W.

@Aga22, Thanks! I will not be using alpha cards on this one.

@_DeadPixel_, Thank you for your crits. I can easily make the changes you spoke of. The hind legs are especially tough because all references I have are different. That however does not excuse the bones and joints being the wrong length

I am going to make the fixes to his hind legs that you suggested and then try to shoot for in between the two photos you posted as far as it's stance goes.

Cheers!