Toon Steampunk Ironman: C&C and Questions

TomGT

Hey everyone, I recently finished this guy in anticipation for Age of Ultron. Although it is done, I do not mind getting critiques on his model/uvs/textures anything. It will help me improve my future work.

The model is made as a game asset, as something that would fit a toon handpainted environment like Wow and LoL.

Based on a concept art by Nikonov Aleksandr, with permission.

Sketchfab Link: https://skfb.ly/DYqV

Out of curiosity, does anyone know a good way to rig the cable/hose attached on his arm from the tank (without using dynamic systems)? I have him perfectly rigged except the hose. I'll appreciate it if someone can point me in the right direction.

Thanks guys!

.nL

I've very little rigging experience, but possibly a spline control along a chain of bones controlling the cable?

It's looking great. You've nailed the aesthetic. I might suggest that you add a few more tris to the shins, and check for unnecessary geometry that isn't contributing much to the silhouette, but those are just nitpicks. For the most part, it's superb.

BARDLER

Ha that looks awesome!

For the hose you could use a spline ik system similar to how you would rig a spine. For ropes and hoses this works great because the hose will maintain the smooth shape of the curve no mater how you pose it.

TomGT

@.nL, BARDLER

Thanks! I was unsure how to tackle the shins at first, since I was aiming for a model below 10k tris. I'll see if I can experiment further on the shins.

Initially I did try a spline, but I don't think I was quite able to work it out since both ends are attached, and the joint hierarchy goes only one way. Which means one end is going to need some complex constraining that I couldnt figure out. I'm not a rigger so I'd like to be proven wrong though.

BARDLER

TomGT wrote: »

@.nL, BARDLER

Thanks! I was unsure how to tackle the shins at first, since I was aiming for a model below 10k tris. I'll see if I can experiment further on the shins.

Initially I did try a spline, but I don't think I was quite able to work it out since both ends are attached, and the joint hierarchy goes only one way. Which means one end is going to need some complex constraining that I couldnt figure out. I'm not a rigger so I'd like to be proven wrong though.

My rigging skills are not the greatest, but this should work.
Create two unique joints for each end of the hose, one for the arm connection and one for the tank connection. Parent the arm connection joint under the wrist joint, and parent the tank connection one underneath the spine joint or tank join if you have one. That way the hose will always move as its connection points do. Create a spline between those two joints, connect each joint to the ends of the curve, hook the spline up to the mesh and controls, and should be good. The hose spline shouldn't need to be in the character hierarchy, it should be able to float independently as long it it is under the root.
However, if the hierarchy is causing you problems, then use a constraint to make sure the end joints follow the joints they should.

The cheapest solution is just do some crazy cool pose without the hose, and then just bend them into place manually afterwords.

Hope that helps.

Ged

cool, even wow and lol have basic reflection shaders on stuff, see what you can do to make it look a little metallic and you could probably run a sharpen on the texture to get more of a wow look. The render could also be a little less blurry, what are you rendering in?

MephistonX

The concept is awesome, and you really pulled it off, the proportions are great, its also quite a clever pose as usually iron man is standing in quite a powerful stance, so this shows a different edge to the character - i like!

TomGT

@BARDLER:

Hmm.. I'll give it a shot. Luckily I don't need to have him rigged or functional, it was just a personal aim. At the moment I have the hoses modelled in place just like you described. Thanks for the pointers!

@Ged:

I am rendering in Maya. I've pretty much toned down a lot of reflection since I haven't gotten the time to properly setup a quick cloud environment to mimic the concept art. Sketchfab does it well though.

The blur comes from lazy me resizing an A4 render of the model XD. Caught red handed there. I'll see to getting a less blurry result for presentation's sake. Thanks for pointing that out.

@MephistonX:

Thanks! The 'hulkbuster' in Ironman 3 inspired me to get him more hunched, than what the concept im using had. Glad to know its working out!

nickcomeau

Very interesting character I love the aesthetic! (Like everyone else too apparently). I would say you could use a bit more geometry in the knees and legs. I would probably take them off of the inside of the elbow joints, they're very small and don't define the silhouette at all.

Ged

oh didnt have time to look at sketchfab till now, its interesting but your cubemap is too shiny, like slick oil, to make it look metallic like the concept you may need specular colour or a subtle more blurry cubemap, or maybe both. But its all just final polishing, its a good model.

jhoythottle

looks like the texture is stretching on the knee and is getting a little distorted on the inner part. Might want to relax your uvs. Also, I'm not a fan of the way the red paint looks on the concept. It looks like someone opened up photoshop and just started squiggling and called it finished after 1 pass. You did a great job of replicating that look, I'm just not a fan of it. The rock he's standing on is lacking some definition. It's kind of blobby and too glossy. You should gather some more reference to create a better looking base. Other than that, the concept is solid and you did a great job re-creating it. Keep going.

wojciech

That's such a cool concept and really well executed in 3D. I love it!

ScottHoneycutt

Excellent job overall . One crit is I'm not a fan of the long faded scratch marks on the red areas. They seam a bit too long and randomly placed to me.

TomGT

@nickcomeau: That is a good idea. I am tweaking him at the moment and the extra geometry on the knee definitely helps.

@Ged: Yeah the cubemap is giving a slick oil effect I agree, though its already at its blurriest setting I believe. Probably need to go back and edit the specular map a bit. Was my first time with Sketchfab. Good eye!

@jhoytottle: Yeah it was distorted like you said. I've tweaked it further, hopefully I'll get the time to share the revised version. I agree the rock base can be improved, will be doing that as soon as I get the chance. Thanks for the critique!

@wojciech: Thanks man!

@ScottMichaelH: I suppose there are areas where I went overboard with the scratches. I can easily adjust that though, thanks for pointing that out.


Really great feedback guys! I will be revisiting the model again in a week or so to implement the stuff mentioned here. Thanks again.