GOALS:
- Reasonably create a high fidelity, League-exaggerated human character
- Maintain/assert a strong League aesthetic style.
- Prove proficiency in creating complex and simple clothing assets, as well as managing many subtools.
- Practice effective PBR texturing workflow.
- Understand Substance Designer workflow.
If you have any critiques about what is going on, I'd definitely would like to hear them . Learning is still happening for me, as it were.
If you're trying to extrude the profile along the curve you can just, fill the hole, select the face and hit extrude, as schmidt said.
But i'm guessing you're attempting to repeat the object along the curve? maya afaik doesn't have an inbuilt tool for it like max. iirc there's a hacky method where you use motion paths in the animation set > create animation snapshot, but its not the best method.
Looking great! The whole thing is really coming together. The things that stick out to me are; her hands could be scaled up a bit and maybe her legs could be a bit thinner (depends on if you want to match the concept or in-game model more). She is veeeery lean/lanky. http://www.lolking.net/models/?champion=222&skin=0&page=2
Her shoes are a bit flat/wide. Her right foot in the concept has a really nice silhouette. Are you planning on having an expression on her face? Can't wait to see more!
I'd say eyes are way too big, back anatomy looks kinda weird. Would be better to jump back to a lower level, work on just the body for the moment, fix anatomy issues first and then work on clothing, seems like you're rushing ahead a bit.
Here's a quick compare to her in-game face and what you currently have. I'd say the face shape is pretty close, it's the eyes and the smirk that make her Jinx.
Haha, the size of the top eyelid and squint of the eyes are a bit too compressed for me, but I sort of see where the face is going. Might take some more noodling.
If anyone has any critiques, I would definitely like to hear them !
Clothing folds being blocked in as well as seams.
Face has gone through proportional changes. Changed the shape of the nose to reflect the shape seen in the League of Legends Jinx music video. Added preliminary eye shadow and blush, and skin texturing to give it some more volume, and to see if I can offset the strange look of the face sculpt.
Is it acceptable to leave the belts as a single planes in high poly? Right now, I have them sculpted on with only one plane, thinking I could just extrude it. I do plan to have the belts actually have thickness. Is there a way to extrude the plane IN Zbrush?
Good work, keep it coming - I saw you on the WYWO thread and noticed you asked how to add thickness to the belt you've made; in zbrush you can go to the Geometry Panel > Edgeloop > Panel Loops.
You can actually select you thickness using a slider and it'll create those new parts as separate Polygroups; you can then use the Crease Polygroups option in the Geometry Panel > Crease > Crease PG to reinforce those edges and make it hard edge
Seeking advice on another small detailing solution.
I want to add consistent, seamless leather noise across the backpack straps. I have alphas (both square, and blurred circles), but the jimmying I do in the Noise Plugin doesn't seem to get the seamless, overlapping I particularly want.
I'm wondering if I should just do this post-bake in texture maps, or is there a solution that I don't know about.
You could use the blurred circles in a brush and paint it on manually? Or maybe stencil it in with Spotlight if you can do that for height and not just color.
Looking good, though!
Edit: Her belly button is a bit low! Should be up towards the middle of her torso.
Additional polypainting of the face, using Ysalex's skin painting tutorial. Wish there was a direct reference about which areas are redder and which areas are bluer. I feel like I was just doing general differences in different areas.
Pick up the first vertex mag (I'll check this in a sec, might be wrong), that has ref for what undercolors go where!
Also I just noticed, but you might want to look up makeup ref for the 50's-60's look, rather than going with Jinxes cooler colorscheme (since you're going with the blonde rockabilly/housewife look, instead of blue and punk-rock). Most of the difference is in application, I reckon, but you might want to re-think the pink lips and go for something warmer/redder. Same with the blush.
Seeking advice on another small detailing solution.
I want to add consistent, seamless leather noise across the backpack straps. I have alphas (both square, and blurred circles), but the jimmying I do in the Noise Plugin doesn't seem to get the seamless, overlapping I particularly want.
I'm wondering if I should just do this post-bake in texture maps, or is there a solution that I don't know about.
Glad it worked,
I think I know what you mean, in regards to the leather noise you want to add. The noisemaker plugin tends to work a lot better should the subtool be unwrapped. Use the GOz plugin or even just export the belt to a unwrapping software (headus, 3ds max/maya) unwrap and retry.
Should I have mistaken what you were asking; it probably would be best to manually do it
Hey dude, I did a quick paintover for you. It's by no means perfect, but I hope it's helpful.
I'd suggest taking a look at a few different things when you get a chance so you can really nail the face. Whatever happens with the rest of the body, the face is what's going to really sell this.
Anyway. Definitely take a look at Gil Elvgren's pinup work. He painted the exact type of face that you should be trying to get with this. You should emulate his work, and then inject a bit of the Jinx attitude into the final piece (complete with crazy grin!).
In addition, definitely check out Hazardous' girls for cues on how to get nice subtle sculpted shapes. Whatever you think of him, the guy is a master at subtle form and his faces are top notch when it comes to selling the idea of an attractive woman.
Finally, go look at models' headshots. A lot of them are pretty heavily Photoshopped, but you can get a lot of ideas about the appropriate amount of detail you want to put into things like skin from looking at people who are supposed to be beautiful for a living.
@Swizzle: Thanks, Xavier! It might be a bit before get to touch the face again, but I'll study over your critiques and advice once I can sit down and work on this again.
If I remember correctly, Hazardous has some of his articles in Vertex, right?
Looking at Gil's stuff, I definitely see what ya'll are saying. I want to edge away from the too powdery look, which involves the give and take with the pores and face details. I think I'll have to look into a compromise somewhere.
The makeup feels a little too painted on as opposed to blended in. Try lowering your intensity and de-saturating your tones before painting. Also, those pores seem a little too big. They should be smaller and not so deep. Everything else is looking really great though. I love those weapons. Super sweet.
Tried implementing the pin-up aesthetics. Rounded cheeks, thinned out and defined the nose a bit more like your paintover.
Regarding apple-rounded cheeks, is that a shape ide aonly, or a color as well?
Real-lfe example, is it something like this?
I'm going to remark that I still don't think I'm going about nailing a classic pinup female face. I should look into existing 3D sculpts, maybe I'm not seeing enough examples, even between the Elvgren paintings (which have much in silhouette and proportions, but not in internal details).
You gotta give her a smile if her smile lines are that harsh.
Remember that you also need to capture Jinx in this!
So, imo, the main things here apart from the smile are that the cheeks aren't raising the lower lids of the eyes. Jinx is "crazy happy", her smiles are very, very genuine. You can even see it in the concept you're going off, her eyes are like a semi-circle shape. If the cheeks don't raise the lower lid, it makes any smile seem fake, and and if she's not smiling it just comes off kinda plastic or like she's had some sorta injection to keep her cheeks like that all the time....
Additionally, I think the sharp line on the nose is... kinda weird looking, I feel it needs to be smoothed out to a plane change rather than a harsh line.
The nostrils are also a little wide compared to the bridge of the nose. I think getting rid of the harsh lines will probably help this a little, but idk.
I feel like in this case it's probably a fine idea to just have the laugh lines and stuff BE the default face. Will you ever need to animate her to convey proper anger or sadness? or just open mouth/closed mouth? This is probably not the type of piece where you show just how awesome your facial animation/wrinkle map skills are, tbh.
If you would rather have this sort of deformation be part of the rig, then you want to sculpt the default face without the smile-lines being pushed out and with the cheeks in a less extreme position, and sculpt another one of an extreme smile for a blendshape instead.
I think that head sculpt has opportunities for some polishing still. The eyebrows are really close together, and the forehead needs more forehead. The blush is too low, it should be on the apex of the cheeks, not below it. On that note, cheek muscles are a little low as well. the The radix, nasal bone is too narrow and shallow, making the face fall flat. The alar base is too wide and the nostril wings should lower a little, depends but it's not that high. The eye lashes, I hope they're place holders, and I think you should slightly move the eyeballs into the socket, just a smidge to show some depth. I think you need to show where the supraorbital meets the zygomatic, aka the corners of the temples. And I would soften the chin a bit, just a little, find that balance.
I hope this helps! Good luck!
I was taking after this Elvgren painting for the cheek blush. Here it looks pretty low to me, and still aesthetically pleasing as well, so that was why I originally had it there. I moved it up though, since it seems a bit more real.
The eyelashes are temporary.
Gave her more forehead space by moving her hairline up.
Adjusted her nose, made it slightly wider and account for the nasal bone.
Moved her cheek slightly upwards, hopefully this is what you were talking about?|
Also really looking for critiques regarding the clothing. I've been henpecking away at this, and without something like Marvelous Designers, I've been really debating whether those folds are too soft or too sharp, or accurate to where the tension points are.
Blocking in the hair while I wait for additional critiques on the rest of the body and face.
Also crosspost from my other character model thread, does anyone know what tool I should be using in Maya to get my hair braid to conform ALONG a CV curve? Can't use Attach to Motion Paths in this instance it seems.
Hey JadeEyePanda! To be honest it looks way too high poly (it looks like it has been zremeshed to me).
If you simply want to pose your character for a maquette/render/still pose, sure it's ok.
But if you want to rig your character or show it in your portolio, I would do a clean topology before baking my highpoly.
Keep up the good work, it's coming along nicely. Cheers!
While it is clean for sculpting (even quads), it could be improved a lot if it's gonna be use for animation. It's a little hard to see since it's at an higher subdivision, but I still can see a lot of stars that are either too close (which would cause problem when the face would deform), or that you could get rid of altogether (the ones in the forehead region are totally useless for example, and you could have a clean loop instead).
It really comes down to what you want to do with the character!
Sorry if I wasn't clear enough in my initial post. Hopefully that was helpful!
@Jean-Pascal: Sounds like I'll just have to retopologize. I am planning to have some semblance of facial animation. Either me learning how to do so in the future, or if someone else is going to do it.
Replies
Character Block In Proportions looking okay?
HIghpoly for the Mini-gun and the Rocket Launcher
But i'm guessing you're attempting to repeat the object along the curve? maya afaik doesn't have an inbuilt tool for it like max. iirc there's a hacky method where you use motion paths in the animation set > create animation snapshot, but its not the best method.
WIP 06
Spent a lot of time on the backpack.
Her shoes are a bit flat/wide. Her right foot in the concept has a really nice silhouette. Are you planning on having an expression on her face? Can't wait to see more!
Redid existing base meshes.
Made the oxygen tubes in the back thicker, as well as the nozzle insertions.
Perliminary sculpting done to clothing elements.
Something feels off about the face, but I'm not too sure what.
About the eyes, I can't get away with saying it's the style / how the illustration looks, can I?
Here's a quick compare to her in-game face and what you currently have. I'd say the face shape is pretty close, it's the eyes and the smirk that make her Jinx.
Also a T-pose for general comparison.
If anyone has any critiques, I would definitely like to hear them !
Clothing folds being blocked in as well as seams.
Face has gone through proportional changes. Changed the shape of the nose to reflect the shape seen in the League of Legends Jinx music video. Added preliminary eye shadow and blush, and skin texturing to give it some more volume, and to see if I can offset the strange look of the face sculpt.
Additional detailing on the clothes for folds.
Is it acceptable to leave the belts as a single planes in high poly? Right now, I have them sculpted on with only one plane, thinking I could just extrude it. I do plan to have the belts actually have thickness. Is there a way to extrude the plane IN Zbrush?
Good work, keep it coming - I saw you on the WYWO thread and noticed you asked how to add thickness to the belt you've made; in zbrush you can go to the Geometry Panel > Edgeloop > Panel Loops.
You can actually select you thickness using a slider and it'll create those new parts as separate Polygroups; you can then use the Crease Polygroups option in the Geometry Panel > Crease > Crease PG to reinforce those edges and make it hard edge
Hope this helps. I'll be watching this thread!
Seeking advice on another small detailing solution.
I want to add consistent, seamless leather noise across the backpack straps. I have alphas (both square, and blurred circles), but the jimmying I do in the Noise Plugin doesn't seem to get the seamless, overlapping I particularly want.
I'm wondering if I should just do this post-bake in texture maps, or is there a solution that I don't know about.
Looking good, though!
Edit: Her belly button is a bit low! Should be up towards the middle of her torso.
Will get on that bellybuttong adjustment.
Additional polypainting of the face, using Ysalex's skin painting tutorial. Wish there was a direct reference about which areas are redder and which areas are bluer. I feel like I was just doing general differences in different areas.
Also added pores and wrinkle detials on a Layer.
Also I just noticed, but you might want to look up makeup ref for the 50's-60's look, rather than going with Jinxes cooler colorscheme (since you're going with the blonde rockabilly/housewife look, instead of blue and punk-rock). Most of the difference is in application, I reckon, but you might want to re-think the pink lips and go for something warmer/redder. Same with the blush.
EDIT: yeah, Vertex 1, page 214!
Golly this is fantastic! Thank God, it's super explicit! Thank you so much!
Glad it worked,
I think I know what you mean, in regards to the leather noise you want to add. The noisemaker plugin tends to work a lot better should the subtool be unwrapped. Use the GOz plugin or even just export the belt to a unwrapping software (headus, 3ds max/maya) unwrap and retry.
Should I have mistaken what you were asking; it probably would be best to manually do it
Keep it up!
Belt detailing done.
Zipper added to the right boot.
Added additional bolts to the backpack.
Also started some retopology on the MiniGun model!
Any critiques?
Fixed proportions on Minigun. Need to add the back cable clip.
I'd suggest taking a look at a few different things when you get a chance so you can really nail the face. Whatever happens with the rest of the body, the face is what's going to really sell this.
Anyway. Definitely take a look at Gil Elvgren's pinup work. He painted the exact type of face that you should be trying to get with this. You should emulate his work, and then inject a bit of the Jinx attitude into the final piece (complete with crazy grin!).
In addition, definitely check out Hazardous' girls for cues on how to get nice subtle sculpted shapes. Whatever you think of him, the guy is a master at subtle form and his faces are top notch when it comes to selling the idea of an attractive woman.
Finally, go look at models' headshots. A lot of them are pretty heavily Photoshopped, but you can get a lot of ideas about the appropriate amount of detail you want to put into things like skin from looking at people who are supposed to be beautiful for a living.
If I remember correctly, Hazardous has some of his articles in Vertex, right?
Looking at Gil's stuff, I definitely see what ya'll are saying. I want to edge away from the too powdery look, which involves the give and take with the pores and face details. I think I'll have to look into a compromise somewhere.
Tried implementing the pin-up aesthetics. Rounded cheeks, thinned out and defined the nose a bit more like your paintover.
Regarding apple-rounded cheeks, is that a shape ide aonly, or a color as well?
Real-lfe example, is it something like this?
I'm going to remark that I still don't think I'm going about nailing a classic pinup female face. I should look into existing 3D sculpts, maybe I'm not seeing enough examples, even between the Elvgren paintings (which have much in silhouette and proportions, but not in internal details).
Remember that you also need to capture Jinx in this!
So, imo, the main things here apart from the smile are that the cheeks aren't raising the lower lids of the eyes. Jinx is "crazy happy", her smiles are very, very genuine. You can even see it in the concept you're going off, her eyes are like a semi-circle shape. If the cheeks don't raise the lower lid, it makes any smile seem fake, and and if she's not smiling it just comes off kinda plastic or like she's had some sorta injection to keep her cheeks like that all the time....
Additionally, I think the sharp line on the nose is... kinda weird looking, I feel it needs to be smoothed out to a plane change rather than a harsh line.
The nostrils are also a little wide compared to the bridge of the nose. I think getting rid of the harsh lines will probably help this a little, but idk.
Could we see a side profile?
If you would rather have this sort of deformation be part of the rig, then you want to sculpt the default face without the smile-lines being pushed out and with the cheeks in a less extreme position, and sculpt another one of an extreme smile for a blendshape instead.
Been following this tutorial: http://www.3dtutorialzone.com/tutorial?id=110
I hope this helps! Good luck!
In the effort to make leaps and bounds in progress, and stop henpecking at the main body model, I decided to finally get started on the Zap! gun.
I was taking after this Elvgren painting for the cheek blush. Here it looks pretty low to me, and still aesthetically pleasing as well, so that was why I originally had it there. I moved it up though, since it seems a bit more real.
The eyelashes are temporary.
Gave her more forehead space by moving her hairline up.
Adjusted her nose, made it slightly wider and account for the nasal bone.
Moved her cheek slightly upwards, hopefully this is what you were talking about?|
Also really looking for critiques regarding the clothing. I've been henpecking away at this, and without something like Marvelous Designers, I've been really debating whether those folds are too soft or too sharp, or accurate to where the tension points are.
Also crosspost from my other character model thread, does anyone know what tool I should be using in Maya to get my hair braid to conform ALONG a CV curve? Can't use Attach to Motion Paths in this instance it seems.
If anyone has time, I'd definitely would appreciate a looksy over the body sculpt. If there's anything out of place, needs improvement, etc.
If you simply want to pose your character for a maquette/render/still pose, sure it's ok.
But if you want to rig your character or show it in your portolio, I would do a clean topology before baking my highpoly.
Keep up the good work, it's coming along nicely. Cheers!
It really comes down to what you want to do with the character!
Sorry if I wasn't clear enough in my initial post. Hopefully that was helpful!