Sketchbook: TMDgamesart
WIP: Character Production - The Temptress
Hey guys. Completely new to Polycount so here goes, I'm currently a student in my final year studying Games Art. I am currently working on a module called 'Character production for Games' which involves researching into a particular culture and developing a character for a game with a chosen cultural influence.
I have chosen to look into Japanese culture, particularly focusing on Japan's 'Women of the Sea' also know as Ama.
These women would dive deep into the sea to collect pearls.This job was carried out mostly by women due to their extra layer of fat which helps protect them from the extreme cold temperature of the sea. As a result they often wore very little clothing as the clothing would take too long to dry between dives.
I wanted to combine my character with aspect of traditional Ama but also combine mythical aspects of Nymphs and 'mermaids' with the idea of these women being able to remain strong and independent at their job, but with the femininity to lure sailors of the sea to their deaths. As often depicted in tales of mermaid etc.
You can see more of my Ama inspiration on my Pinterest board: http://uk.pinterest.com/tiffanymelissad/ama/
I will 3D model my character in 3Ds Max and model the character in Super Sculpey Clay. My progress will be posted here so all suggestions/opinions and improvements would be really appreciated!
Before deciding on how my character would look I created some silhouettes in Alchemy before editing them in Photoshop. These silhouettes gave me a starting point for potential body shapes, clothing and accessories.
Here I have created some initial sketches with water colour to experiment with body shapes, positions and possible clothing for my character. Some of these concept are reveling and exaggerating to allow for some sex appeal that could be associated with any temptress character as this is something traditional Ama diver doesn't necessarily reflect.
Here I experimented with various materials and colours for the clothing. Many of the patterns were inspired by traditional Japanese fabrics and patterns.
In terms of the clothing that the divers wore, traditionally they wore very little and often remained topless. However I wanted my character to wear a swimsuit as a nude character just wouldn't be practical. As a result I looked into 1950's style swimwear for inspiration.I also experimented with colour and various potential poses that would help portray my characters attributes.
These two poses combine a range of accessories that I feel helps portray the character as well as two positions that demonstrate strength with a temptress feel. All of these four concepts show a lot of femininity that would be associated with a temptress style character, but at the same time these concepts still keep dominant aspects of the Japanese Ama culture.
These are the three final poses that I narrowed it down to and asked for opinions on which one would work best, kepping in mind I will be 3D modelling my character in 3Ds Max and in Super Sculpey Clay.
Here are the final Photoshop turn arounds for my character showing her final positioning and various clothes and accessories.I decided on a classic 1950's style swimsuit which is tied at the side to give my character more of edge. As well as this her positioning shows strength as show holds a blunt weapon in one
hand that would have been used to open clams and a large net in the other.
Hey guys. Completely new to Polycount so here goes, I'm currently a student in my final year studying Games Art. I am currently working on a module called 'Character production for Games' which involves researching into a particular culture and developing a character for a game with a chosen cultural influence.
I have chosen to look into Japanese culture, particularly focusing on Japan's 'Women of the Sea' also know as Ama.
These women would dive deep into the sea to collect pearls.This job was carried out mostly by women due to their extra layer of fat which helps protect them from the extreme cold temperature of the sea. As a result they often wore very little clothing as the clothing would take too long to dry between dives.
I wanted to combine my character with aspect of traditional Ama but also combine mythical aspects of Nymphs and 'mermaids' with the idea of these women being able to remain strong and independent at their job, but with the femininity to lure sailors of the sea to their deaths. As often depicted in tales of mermaid etc.
You can see more of my Ama inspiration on my Pinterest board: http://uk.pinterest.com/tiffanymelissad/ama/
I will 3D model my character in 3Ds Max and model the character in Super Sculpey Clay. My progress will be posted here so all suggestions/opinions and improvements would be really appreciated!
Before deciding on how my character would look I created some silhouettes in Alchemy before editing them in Photoshop. These silhouettes gave me a starting point for potential body shapes, clothing and accessories.
Here I have created some initial sketches with water colour to experiment with body shapes, positions and possible clothing for my character. Some of these concept are reveling and exaggerating to allow for some sex appeal that could be associated with any temptress character as this is something traditional Ama diver doesn't necessarily reflect.
Here I experimented with various materials and colours for the clothing. Many of the patterns were inspired by traditional Japanese fabrics and patterns.
In terms of the clothing that the divers wore, traditionally they wore very little and often remained topless. However I wanted my character to wear a swimsuit as a nude character just wouldn't be practical. As a result I looked into 1950's style swimwear for inspiration.I also experimented with colour and various potential poses that would help portray my characters attributes.
These two poses combine a range of accessories that I feel helps portray the character as well as two positions that demonstrate strength with a temptress feel. All of these four concepts show a lot of femininity that would be associated with a temptress style character, but at the same time these concepts still keep dominant aspects of the Japanese Ama culture.
These are the three final poses that I narrowed it down to and asked for opinions on which one would work best, kepping in mind I will be 3D modelling my character in 3Ds Max and in Super Sculpey Clay.
Here are the final Photoshop turn arounds for my character showing her final positioning and various clothes and accessories.I decided on a classic 1950's style swimsuit which is tied at the side to give my character more of edge. As well as this her positioning shows strength as show holds a blunt weapon in one
hand that would have been used to open clams and a large net in the other.
Replies
To begin my base model I started with a cylinder for the torso with approximately 8 sides and re-shaped and adjusted the vertices to mimic the outline of the anatomy for my character. Similarly I created the arms and legs in the same way with varying size cylinders, but keeping them as separate objects before attaching them to the body.
Using symmetry I was able to model only ones half of the body, saving time in comparison to modelling all parts separately. As well as this, it allowed me to make sure the body was even and all body parts were kept to the same scale.
Throughout the basic modelling process it was important to consider the Topology of my character and add loops that connect muscle groups together and mimic realistic movement in the character in preparation for rigging and animating them in the future.
HANDS AND FEET
When modelling the hands it was important to consider the joints and ensure the wrists have the same number of edges as the end of the arm enabling them to be attached correctly.
By extruding, scaling and adding edges I was able to use a basic rectangle with numerous segments which I extruded to create the individual fingers and adding loops around the fingers where the knuckle joints would be to allow the fingers to bend.
I modelled the feet by using a rectangle scaled in at the bottom to act as the underside of the foot and also creating the slope of the foot from the ankle down to the toes. To create the toes I extruded them from the base of the foot by adding in extra edges. As my character doesn't wear any shoes it was important for me to include more polys in the foot and toes than may have been necessary on a character that wears shoes.
Once I had modelled the hand and foot I could then attach them to the arms and legs. This is where having the same number of edges is important to making sure they attach to each other properly without effecting the topology of the rest of the body. However by adding in necessary vertices and edges the hands and feet can be still be attached with a bit more work.
CLOTHING
As my character is wearing a swimsuit I wanted the clothing to follow the flow of the edges on the body that I already outlines and judges would be where the swimsuit would be places. Here I was able to select the area of the body where the swimsuit would be places and copy this part of the mesh and detach it as a separate object allowing me to add extra details such and cups which will later be ruched in Mudbox as well as modelling the knot on the side.
Initially I was able to use symmetry on the basic shape of the swimsuit but then symmetry was removed when I modelled the knot on the right arm of the swimsuit.
In order to model the face I initially took a picture of my own face and imported it into Photoshop to allow me to draw the appropriate Topology ontop of the image, making sure I included loops where necessary and the face generally has good flow.
Once this was completed I was able to import the image in 3Ds Max and place it onto a plane which allowed me to used it as reference and using the Line tool I could draw the individual sections that make up the face until they could all be joined up to create a full flat plane of the front of my face with correct topology.
After finishing the basic front of the face the next step was to start extruding the face out to make it 3D. I found extruding the face out quite difficult, especially when trying to achieve a young feminine look for my character. This process was altered considerably as the 3D model progressed until the face eventually reached a stage that I was happy with.
Once the front of the face was extruded out and looked more lifelike, I then needed to create the rest of the head and attach the front face to it. To create the head I used a low poly sphere and removed one half of it where the front of the face would be attached. The main challenge here was ensuring that the topology of the face continued around to the back of the head without altering the face too much.
Although ears will not be that noticeable due to the hair on my character I still modelled them with the option of removing them if I needed too.
HAIR AND HEADBAND
To create the hair I used the basic head shape at the top and extruded some of the faces downward and over the head to create the appearance of a hair flow. As the hair on my character is long I was able to delete most of the back of the head to save on polys and this cannot be seen due to the hair. This plane of hair can be further sculpted in Mudbox to create much more detail.
The headband was created by simply extruded a band of faces at the top of the forehead and extruding areas of it out to create the appearance of a knot keeping the headband together.
ROPES AND WEAPONS
In my initial concept my character has rope attached around her which I also need to 3D model. To do this I created a segment of rope made out of 4 eight sided cylinders and duplicated and attached it where appropriate removing any 3 or 5 sided shapes. This then gave me a long cylindrical tube which I then used the Twist modifier to add a slight twist in the cylinder to create the appearance of rope.
In order to get the rope to wrap fairly naturally around my character I used the line tool to create the initial path of where the rope would go and how it would hang off the body. This also enabled me to try and mimic the appearance of bow more easily then trying to bend a 3D object into that shape.
From this I was able to get the rope that I made and make it follow the lines I had draw around to body where I want to rope to go. This can be done by selecting the rope and choosing the modifier Path Deform and choosing the line as the desired path to be followed. Once selected the rope can be adjusted in X Y and Z values until the rope was the correct shape and thickness I wanted.
My character also holds a blunt metal weapon that was used to prise open the clams they found in the sea. This was a very basic model and the object themselves were not detailed at all and were often just make-shift pieces of metal.
In order to UV Unwrap my character I used the point to point seems tool to create seems in appropriate places on my character, which then allowed me to use the Pelt Map tool to unwrap individual parts of the body.
When using the Pelt Map tool it can be helpful to think of the body as a textiles pattern in order to decide where would be best to put seems on the body allowing the unwrap to be 'cut' in this places. For example a loop around the top of the arm is a good location to place a seem which continues to run down the inside of the arm and around the wrist.
After unwrapping my character in 3DS Max I was then able to export the mesh as an OBJ and import it into Mudbox ready for sculpting.
BODY
Initially in Mudbox I subdivided my character to level two to enable me to start to add in the basic details of the body such as the collar bones, neck muscles, knees and elbows before subdividing the mesh to a higher level to add details such as pores and wrinkles.
Once I had sculpted the initial body parts I was able to subdivided my mesh to level 5-6 and begin adding in details such a pores on the body using stencils I had created from my own images. Initially I used the sculpt tool to draw out the eyelids and increase the indentation of the eye sockets and adjust areas such as the nostrils and nose. As well as this I was also able to sculpt out the lips and add cracked lip lines using my stencils. For the face I created a range of stencils that I would be able to use on higher subdivisions to add details such a pores and cracks in the lips.
After the sculpting had been completed I then began texturing the body using a stencil of my own skin tone that I was able to apply to the body using the Projection tool. This tool enabled me to project exactly what the stencil including including the details and colours. As well as this I was also able to use stencils of my face to achieve sculpting and colours from areas such as the lips and coloration under the eyes.
Colour Stencil
In order to sculpt the hands I used the sculpt tool to bring out the nail from the hand, whilst using the pinch tool refine the edges of the nails. I also used this same technique with the toes nails on the feet.
When sculpting the feet I tried to add slight details such as the appearance of tendons and ankle bone on the feet.
CLOTHING
Although my characters swimsuit was very basic in 3Ds Max I was able to use the sculpt tool to create a rouched effect across the cups of the swimsuit. This slight detail tries to add more femininity to my character and is a prominent feature and my character wears very little clothing at all. In higher subdivisions I was able to use the pinch tool to add extra detail to the appearance of the creases.
In order to texture the swimsuit I used a combination of the paint brush to give a overall basic black coat and also used the projection tool to project the texture swimsuit material onto the clothing.
With the hair I started on the 2nd subdivision to sculpt out the general flow of the hair adding in the basic appearance of waves using the sculpt, smooth and pinch tools. It was important on this low level to ensure the hair was completely smooth as finer detail will be more prominent on top of this layer in a high subdivision.
Hair Stencil
On high subdivisions I used a stencil of my own hair to try and sculpt the appearance of individual hairs as well as adding colour to the hair using the paint brush and projection tools.
Once the texturing was completed I was then able to create a normal, diffuse, specular and ambient occlusion map in Mudbox for my character by going to UVs & Maps > Extract Texture Maps > New Operation and then selecting the maps that I wanted. After this I was able to right click on the diffuse, normal and spec maps and export them to PSD. Once in Photoshop the diffuse map also contained a layer for the ambient occlusion map that I overlay on top of the diffuse to embed it into the texture.
Diffuse Map
Ambient Occlusion
Diffuse with AO overlay
To create the specular map in Mudbox I created a new paint layer and set it to a 2048 x 2048 map and changed the setting to specular rather than diffuse. This then enables me to paint onto the model using a range of black, white and grey values where the whiter the value the more shine or gloss would appear on painted areas of my model.
Spec Map
When my normal map was created in Mudbox I wasn't happy with how it turned out as it added many random values across the character which added bumps on unnecessary parts of the body. As as result once I had exported it into Photoshop I edited the Map and removed all the areas I did't want to bump map to show on by painting over them with the similar pale blue tone associated with the parts of the map that don't add bump to the mesh.
Normal Map
Once these maps were exported and saved I was then able to reduce my Mudbox file down to it's lowest level before exporting it back into 3Ds Max. In 3Ds Max I was then able to add the texture maps to the character that contained all the high details from Mudbox but placed onto my lower poly character.
After exporting my character back into 3Ds Max and adding the various texture maps and making alterations where necessary, I could then export my character as an OBJ to render out images in Marmoset Toolbag 2.
Initially I was happy with the basic sculpting and 3D modelling of my character, however I feel the final texturing lets the model down considerably. To improve my character I would like to alter the fall and flow of the hair and perhaps add alpha maps for hair planes in 3Ds Max to create the illusion of hair flowing around the face which is sketched in my initial concepts of my character.
As well as this I would also like to develop my character further and feature her with the rope, bag and weapon which I initially modeled, but were too high poly to incorporate into Mudbox. My character would also benefit from being posed into the position that I initially drew her in standing on a rock face in a more dynamic stance.
I would also like to add more details to the hands and the feet including the nails and tendons as my character wears very little clothing and these areas of her body would stand out compared to a character wearing lots of clothing where the details in the fold and creases are more eye catching.