Gex
polycounter lvl 11
Soo, i finally decided to bring one of my alltime favorites from the ps1 era:
Gex, that sneaky gecko. I had this idea for ages now and since i need to get some work done for my bachelor of arts i think its both, a good training and (if it works) something good to present.
Also i need to fill up my portfolio...
so, heres some reference, a quick sketch i made years ago.
and, my current state of modelling:
I tried to do something between the old design and my new one, what do you think?
I guess it is possible to import the game ready model into zbrush, texture it and then export just the unwrapped textures for the gamemodel without doing all the retopo`?
would be nice to hear some c&c
Gex, that sneaky gecko. I had this idea for ages now and since i need to get some work done for my bachelor of arts i think its both, a good training and (if it works) something good to present.
Also i need to fill up my portfolio...
so, heres some reference, a quick sketch i made years ago.
and, my current state of modelling:
I tried to do something between the old design and my new one, what do you think?
I guess it is possible to import the game ready model into zbrush, texture it and then export just the unwrapped textures for the gamemodel without doing all the retopo`?
would be nice to hear some c&c
Replies
need to retopo but i think i'll import the model into zbrush to work there.
Thank you
Yes, i wanted to create a mix of the old and my new design. but i think i'll make it look more like the old one.
changed his head, made him smile, changed alot of proportion and his arms
making the retopo for detailing
His neck isn't long enough - it currently looks like a man wearing a lizard mask as opposed to an anthropomorphic lizard. His arms seem slightly too long, and his fingers far too thin in that last shot. Altogether, I think he should be slightly stockier.
im currently remodeling in zbrush and compared to the original psx model it looks fine to me.
the pxs model got very long arms as you can see he slightly bends them.
with the fingers, i agree that they look kinda thin but ill fix it when the retopo is finished.
i havent got alot of time left to finish the model but i'll try to be as accurate as possible.
thank you fpr the critique
im kinda stuck with the topo, can anyone give me some help?
Yeah, retopology is like a puzzle game that you never really get good at. One thing I've learned is that you always want to follow the forms of your sculpt when doing retopo. Let the lines come out naturally and then find a way to work the geometry around that instead of trying to force it.
And a good friend helped me alot with the topo, now texturing
some details may be changed later but for now im quite happy with the result.
now on to 3dsmax, modelling the mouth, eyes and tongue.
im currently experimenting with gameplay in unity, began to tile up the level but im not very happy with it. first there gonna be way too many objects when i try to set up the level with tiles as in the original and secondly it just doesnt look good. shurely i could touch up the tiles alot but i think im gonna set up the level less generic.
heres a little test screenshot
You will get subtle light and shadow information without the need of in editor lighting, and it will improve the visuals a lot, especially for nice round shapes. (pro bonus: use gradient overlay to change the white to a neraly white yellow and black to a nearly black purple)
thank you for the info
can i also take the lightmap from zbrush?
im not shure wether it will be significant since the character will be set into a 2d platformer scene. thus he wont be as near to the camera as that all the details can be seen.
but i will try it out
made the lowpoly in max, did an quick unwrap and sliced it into squares. then imported into zbrush.
now on to unwrapping, any suggestions how to easily unwrap this thing?
With regards to UV Unwrapping, what modelling package are you using?
In Maya, I have set a hotkey for 'AutomaticUnwrap' with these settings:
This splits up the UVs into uniformly-sized UV islands based on a cube projection.
Then I have a hotkey for 'MoveAndSew', where I systematically select the edges that I want to have joined, leaving the least important edge(s) open.
Hope that helps!
i use 3ds max and for manual unwrapping i use the unfold mapping option to get even maps and then stitch them manually into position. at least i use this method for easy and hard surface models. i tried zbrush too but im not that good at painting within that program.
unwrapped the tv, pushing my handpainting skills a little bit.
since its mosty front viewed at a distance (2d platform) i dont need to make fine details for the sides.
whadda you folks think?
3 Models, a line, a corner and a link making it possible to make borders
thats why ive been experimenting with extreme low poly models, as shown here with the skull. very lazy work this time, just testing. still need to put in details and proper texture.
Also started learning to animate. Heres my first animation:
what do you folks think`?
yes indeed, the animations is too fast, still it it my first try and i will redo the whole thing when im a little more experienced
also, with the moving/slippery feet animation, i dont know why its moving because in maya the animation looks fine without feet moving >_>
maybe something went wrong while importing into Unity ..
all animations in unity are fk unless you add ik solvers to joints, it's amazing your feet are as planted as they actually are..
what you need to do - in your animation file, is to bake the animation on the joints, then delete everything in the scene except for the joints (even the character, all you need are the joints) and then import it into unity again.
that will transfer all the animation from your rig to the fk skeleton
you can also set a checkmark in your fbx exporter.
Also, check in unity under animation compression. That can cause some jitteryness as well.
i'll test it now
otherwise, ive made some progress with detailing the level:
That's how I idle when I am just standing around too.
ive found out that you can add dynamic shadows within the directional light in unityfree.
made the platforms move and added lives. yet i have to add an proper gui with a collectible counter.
i also set an respawn point near the waterholes at the end of the level. (screens maybe later)
so, what do you folks think`?
also scripted alot, like unlocking levelexit by picking up the remote or fallout respawns.
need to model the levelexit tvscreen, add music and sound effects and its finished
At the moment, your screenshots are very dark compared to the original so it might be worth kicking up the lighting first of all.
Then I'd suggest bringing in that contrast by making the foreground area textures that little bit brighter, like in the original.
A good thing to remember is that a diffuse texture is what colour the object will be when fully lit.
If you have an almost black texture it doesn't matter how much light you shine on it, the object will still look dark.
It's coming along nicely though, and it's pretty impressive that you're doing all the scripting too
i've placed some more lights at the front.
also, thank you for the advice at diffuse textures, i'll keep that in mind
im currently working at composing the music, but i fail at getting the right mood. i need something in between cartoonmusik and dark-ambient music. oh well, i think i'll just keep the original for now. >_>