Reyne - Workshop

Reyne

Hey everyone

I am on polycount everyday but I rarely post anything but I have figured that I am going to have to if I want to get any better.

I have made two 'eh' items for Sven already and I would like the one I am currently working on to turn out a little better.

Concept:


Early attempts at sculpting:


Once I got this far I got a little concerned about how I was going to make the low poly version of this because there are a fair few curves to try and maintain. :poly122: I am considering redesigning the blade to be a basically flat....Any advice?

Neox

thats nice

though i'd bevel the edges more so they can catch more highli like in the conceptght

Reyne

A small update of my attempts to finish this off.






Really need to work on the textures/get the masks to work out...

Prosomogy

Cool, so nice look like ;3

Witblitz

Can you make the actual blade a bit bigger? More to scale like the default weapon? Or is it, can't really tell.

Reyne

Another update, I am about to upload this to the workshop and see what kind of feedback I will get for it

lotus

I like this a lot!

Oroboros

Very nice! Looks great in game.

Reyne

Thanks I am glad you like it.

Reyne

I have begun work trying to make similarly themed items to the sword. I had an idea for a whole set but abandoned it because I didn't feel I would be able to complete it. I have since decided that I wont get any better if I don't try to do harder stuff So I am going to at least try to make a helmet to go with it.

Hindered by my inability to draw I have produced a rough concept of what I want to produce for a helmet for Sven. I think that I will try and refine the concept to make it a little more geometric/metallic.

Reyne

I worked on that Sven set idea for a while but I think i need a little more experience with simpler projects to start with. Here is an Abbadon concept I'm working on:



The core was going to have a spiral running through it to look a bit like the Death Coil ability but I couldn't think of a way that looked right to me.

Reyne

Here is what I got out of zbrush, still struggling to make stuff that doesn't look like melted wax....


And the wire for my low poly...also kinda shit. I'm going to try some baking after I sleep just to try and get a workflow down, then I will probably redo most of it.



The name I have for it, if i ever finish it is 'Blightshard' the idea is that it leaves chips of the blade in Abbadon's victims, cursing them.

Reyne

Some in game tests. After I figure out the correct way to do the particle effect I will upload it to the workshop and see what people think.

reallymadmaveric

Have you tried making the blade solid in the middle, that should greatly reduce the polys to make the small poly model. You could then look bring out the inner detail with textures or you could look to take a pair of curves out perhaps the first small ones off the handle

Reyne

Thanks but I'm not looking to take out tris really. I am already under the maximum tri count. Making the middle solid would only save me 16 tris (at most) and would remove a majority of the effect I was going for. Thanks again though

EDIT:saw my earlier screenshot had stats that read quite high, I must have had a duplicate in the scene at the time and not noticed....

The item is up if anyone is interested:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=183146360

Reyne

Logged some procrastination time with these new concepts. Really need to focus on my drawing. The top one might not work because of animations and such and the bottom one might not suite Abbadon. Will still be good practice for me. I am hoping too get a little more adventurous with my weapon designs before moving onto sets.

Vextrakt

Your Curse Stone design is probably your best bet just because of the mass of Abaddon weapons that were made since his addition. They are all good, and barely distinguishable. Your Curse Stone stands out a lot more than your lance does, if you simply must do another Abaddon item...

Vayne4800

Curse stone is awesome and different from rest!

Reyne

@Mdk, they are both pretty shit names. I guess that is what I get for naming stuff when I should be sleeping. I will be sure to avoid that name if I end up making it.

@Vextrkt, right I am just practicing to get a little better. I have some ideas for heroes with very few items, I'm just not sure I have the skill/time to do them at the moment. If anything I made got in game, that would be great. But for now skill is mainly what I am trying to develop. Escpecially in Zbrush.

@Vane4800, Thanks it is nice to get some positive feedback.

Thanks to all of you for the feedback I will clean up the mist-crystal-rock-curse concept, then figure out how I am going to make the high poly.

Reyne

Cleaned up the crystal one to the best of my abilities. I'm still just trying to get faster at all of this stuff...

I am just trying to figure out how whether sculpting or modelling it is the best idea. I feel like if I tried to do it in zbrush I would just make a mess. At the moment I'm testing just polymodelling it all with symmetry and then adding a few non symmetrical crystals on the top of the sword.

I also uploaded the one with the long handle. I have some issues with it but at least it got me to use zbrush a little more.

Reyne

I am leaving that Abaddon one on hold for now. I have decided to spend more time working on concepts before moving onto the modelling and taking more time on every stage of the process to see if I can increase the quality of my work. My newest attempt at concept work is this Naga Siren weapon:



I'm not sure about the filigree stuff on the blade (that is why it is still messier than the rest) but I will begin modeling this soon. Any feedback would be gladly received ^_^.

Vayne4800

Bend it like Beckham!...err... I suggest you add more curve to the blade and maybe make it a bit longer.

bosasoxi

Bend it like Beckham!...err... I suggest you add more curve to the blade and maybe make it a bit longer.

DestroyerGR

If you have more concepts and you are willing to work with me,pm me!

Reyne

Thanks Vayne4800, I will model the blade a little more curved than that concept. I will also look at making it a tiny bit thinner and longer to get it a little closer to her other weapons.


DestroyerGR: I prefer to do the bits I can by myself and I'm not really that good at concepts/2d art anyway. If you can link me to some of your work though I will keep you in mind if I ever do have more concepts than I can manage. ^_^

Reyne

Well I thought about Vayne's advice and decided to start reworking the idea. This is the general thrust of the new curvier version. I mainly need to work on surface detail stuff unless anyone has any other suggestions to improve it.


(The straps are just a side thought at the moment)

Reyne

Almost finished a base mesh for Zbrush. I might make a few changes to try and unify a few of the shapes because It turned out a little different in 3D. I also made it a fair bit longer.

Reyne

Struggling away at a high poly version. I'm still nowhere near most of you guys but I am fairly happy with this sculpt so far.


I just need to figure out a way of detailing the middle of the blade, fix up a few bits and ill move on to the low poly ^_^

Vayne4800

How did you manage to do such smooth lining on the blade face?

Reyne

It was just a test I did...I'm not sure if it is the right way to do something like this.

I made an alpha and then used it with the drag rectangle setting to make a mask.
then I just dragged over it wit ha a standard brush.

I am not very confident using the brushes in zbrush to do geometric stuff. So I thought this might work for me.

MagnoHusein

Really liked the sword pearl concept! Awesome modeling too! Looking foward to see this in game

Reyne

Thanks Magno I really appreciate the positive feedback.

Here is what I am thinking is my final sculpt:



And here is my attempt at a low poly. It is 450 tris, I know I could get it lower (or maybe shift some from the grip to the hilt) but I have no idea how to go about doing it. Any pointers on retopology would be gratefully received.



EDIT: Is the low poly worth keeping or should I try again and make an 800 tri one for portrait view too?

Reyne

Well I finished the model and I'm working on the material now.


..I really need to work on my rendering skills.

Anyway here it is in game so far.



I have been trying to get the pearls to stand out a lot more. I think playing with the metalness mask will help me in this situation.

Here are my maps so far. A lot of work to go but I think I am going better with this item than previous ones ^_^

Reyne

Fiddled with the masks for a couple of hours today and couldn't progress much. I uploaded what I had anyway because I think it will just take a bit more experience to figure out how they work.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=200403753

That is what I ended up with.

Oddin

Looks good man!
Masks have me a little confused as well

If you want to make the pearl stand out more, maybe give it a very subtle glow?

Reyne

Well that last one was not popular. I know I am not at game quality yet but the better I feel I'm getting the less popular my stuff seems to be on the workshop. A little disheartening. Anyway: Onwards!

An idea that I am working on for Skywrath Mage. The idea is that when given a sword he decided it would be better suited to channeling his spells.



That is the idea so far, I am going to refine it a bit more before I move on. Any advice wouuld be warmly received

Reyne

Had a go at sculpting it. Still struggling with zbrush. I'll get there eventually


Not sure if people would find a sword appropriate for Skywrath but I am enjoying just getting some more practice in.

AndrewHelenek

Reyne wrote: »

Had a go at sculpting it. Still struggling with zbrush. I'll get there eventually


Not sure if people would find a sword appropriate for Skywrath but I am enjoying just getting some more practice in.

It be interested to see how that looks in game, I dont know how I feel about a sword on Skywrath, but I'm excited to see the results

Reyne

Thank you for the encouragement.

I love your animation work ^_^

heboltz3

Hey Reyne! I really like the sword, I think the understated nature of the silhouette will be a fun contrast to skywrath, and it should work well conceptually.

I haven't played much skywrath, so technically I'd just be wary of the weight he puts on the weapon in animations, poses, and if he ever doubles up his hands for casting a spell or something. Like I said I don't play him too often, so I'm sure you are already aware

Keep it up man!

Reyne

Thanks heboltz. I really appreciate your feedback and encouragement

I have not played him much either, I guessed how long the straps needed to be for both hands and I am slightly off, but that should not be too hard to fix.

I am encountering a problem at the moment. Every polygon in my mesh is behaving as if it has intersecting geometry/is flipping its normals constantly.

I have never had this problem before so I am a little unsure what to do. It is only occurring in-game, not in the load out view. Any suggestions about fixing this would be great.

Reyne

Some progress:








Not sure where to go from here but I do feel it could be better.

One idea I have had was animating the 'tears' so they rotate and drop up and down. I'm not sure if I can do that though.

The flickering problem still happens sometimes...I am thinking it is a lighting thing...

heboltz3

Oh, woah this makes way more sense in context. Totally thought it was going to be a one handed weapon haha. I would suggest taking another pass at the materal definiton of the blade. It feels more like ivory tusk then sword at the moment., but at the same time the coloring is real dead on to skywraths scheme...hmmm... tricky..

MagnoHusein

despite the idea being very unique and cool, the shapes didn't look much prominent in game, maybe add more curves or do some variations in the actual shape. About the particle on the top crystal, it's pretty much consuming it, and looks like a ball of energy instead of crystals, my workshop partner had the same issue for a staff we did for skywrath mage.

Reyne

Thanks for the feedback guys ^_^

@heboltz3
haha, yeah I am not great at drawing...need to practice more. I should have been more specific about how it was wielded or tried to draw it in situation. For the blade I was trying to go for a similar silver to the highlight in his helmet. I'll see what I can do to make it more metallic.

@MagnoHusein
I started with some more crazy shapes, but the ideas I had would have interrupted with it being a useable sword. I could have a go at redesigning some of it to make it a bit more prominent. The particle effect was a bit of a test, I need to see if I can get a better result with less vertices or maybe change the placement after I possibly redeisng some parts.

Anyway, I will get onto finding a solution to some of the problems you have mentioned. I was already thinking I need to make the hilt a little more detailed, maybe just a small thing to break up the flat gold curve but now I might try something a little more ambitious.

Thanks again!

Reyne

Reworking the idea with your suggestions in mind.


One thing I am wondering about is whether I will be able to make the tears move. I know you can do custom animations but I would want them to move during all of the time. I think they would look a little strange completely locked in space.

I think it is probably more trouble than it is worth. Maybe I will just put a big particle effect at the top and a single vert at the top of each tear.

Any advice would be great

Reyne

Got the new model together, need to tweak the diffuse a little, then start on the maps and then experiment with the particle effect a little.

Oh and the clipping issue, I might have to tweak the grip bit



I am not done yet but I think this new one is an improvement already. Thank you Heboltz3, AndrewHelenek and MagnoHussein for giving me the push to take this futher than I would have otherwise.

More soon, but sleeps first.

heboltz3

It already reads WAYY better then it did before. Feels sorta- future-egyptian. I like it alot man! Keep it up.

Going with the color thing, of darker colors being at the bottom, maybe it could rust or change tint at the bottom reinforcing the whole "Useless as a sword" thing. Like a darker blue patina or something. Just to keep visual interest at the top of the weapon. Justification could be magic... because.. magic....

Reyne

Small update. Scaled it a bit, got the shader masks working pretty close to how I want.

I tried the blue patina and I couldn't seem to do something that I liked so I just used a bit of a gradient to the warmer colours in skywrath's belt/leg bracer things.



Still need to get the particle effect to do something hat looks nice.

And then the marketing thumbnail thing. I am dreading that part. My renders are always awful.

Reyne

Calling it finished. I think this is the best submission I have made so far. Still not up there with the best of you guys but an improvement that I am happy with.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=207816707



Thanks again for your help guys. I really appreciate it.

Reyne

Didn't seem to get a big response on the workshop yet. Big thanks to everyone who did support it though

Trying to think a little outside of weapons for my next one. Considering some springtime hair for Crystal Maiden.



Will do some higher resolution images with different angles if I decide to make this.

I am also bringing together some ideas for a Chinese centaur...