Lord Raptor - Critique needed!

Toxic929

So I need some serious feedback on this model. It feels lacking and I'd like this work to be pretty top notch. If you guys would be so kind as to fill me in on where I'm lacking in modeling, texturing, posing, presentation, rendering. I want to push this model into something that superbly stands out.

Count Vader

The sculpt looks pretty sick to me, it's hard to discern the texturing work however since the lighting is so...... not good lol. What are you lighting/presenting it in?

SaboR1996

Aww, I was expecting a Velociraptor, I am not disappointed though, not at all. Great work, and yeah I agree with Vader, the lighting does need some polishing!

Toxic929

ah good point. I'm having a difficult time lighting this properly. Its all in Maya/MentalRay. One of my main concerns was lighting the hair so it had depth and not blending together which the harsh light had done but I'll try again maybe with a more neutral lighting. If you guys have any tips on lighting lemme know!

Count Vader

Is this meant to be a game model? If so you really shouldn't be rendering it in mental ray.

You should get marmoset toolbag.

It's totally worth the price, but if you can't afford it they offer a 30 day free trial. Set your scene up in marmoset with real time lighting and shading.

Toxic929

Well I was going for more of a cinematics model to display that I can do hair. I definitely want to get marmoset though

Toxic929

Redoing the shaders and lighting. Spending more time actually trying to get the materials to feel proper and detailed properly. getting really tripped up with spec/gloss.

Found something really odd with the body being that the SSS wasn't initially working. The normal map was applied and they looked sunken in instead of popping out. I flip the normals and its proper but the SSS didn't work. turns out I had to flip the R and G values of the Normal map and it all works properly.

D4V1DC

1st I am a fan of the dark stalkers, love lord raptor for one reason or another he is the one I liked most but they all are awesome, imho.

If your going for a zbrush only cinematic sculpt with normals and textures how high are you going with the textures? I was thinking 4096 but first thought was 2048.

What are you using to render out the maps? AO, normals ect.
I'd try to stay away from a really dark background, i have that bad habit myself.
Guess it really all comes down to the lighting, your using a 3 point lighting system?

Is he rigged up to be in any pose cause i saw an alternate pose on your DA.

Your using Maya or max, can't really tell cause i don't use Maya much if at all.

Nice work otherwise great to see him again.

Toxic929

Thanks D4V1DC! Yeah I'm pretty much going for cinematic quality. My textures are at 4096. I try to get a cavity map and am now playing around with a curvature map. Cavity map ends up making the creases light instead of dark like I'd like them.. I'm trying to make the DIF lighting neutral as possible. Is there any maps that I should be trying out?

I really do need to change the background. I have a graveyard background that I'm going to be working on for the final pose and render. but for now I'm not sure what to do. The lighting for this last render was just a 2pt lighting with HDR env for reflections.

Hes not rigged but instead I just pose him in Zbrush. then send it into Maya to render with Mental Ray

Toxic929

Toxic929

Finished my Lord Raptor rendition. Modeled in Maya and Zbrush, textured in Photoshop and Mudbox, rendered in Mental Ray and post processed in Photoshop. Crit and Critique still welcome as I always go back and polish previous stuff from time to time.