[UE4] [WIP] FF7 Aerith Gainsborough

stororokw

During the process of working on my Cloud Strife model I managed to learn a lot along the way, but I realise that my work is still crap and far away from the industry standard. So, I think I need to spend more time practising to improve on the overall process of character creation.

This project objectives are to:

• Improve on human anatomy.
• Try to get closer to the final fantasy stylization.
• Come up with a better workflow for the hair.
• Create an attractive female character.

I will be working on the character Aerith. She is one of the female protagonist from Final Fantasy 7.

Not sure how this is going to turn out, but please help me along the way.

stororokw

I have been working on the anatomy and face block out in ZBrush. Ignore the hands and feet.
C&C welcomed.

happybell

To improve anatomy, get some anatomical body references. I don't think the blocky old aerith models are a good ref for any part of your study given that there are much better versions to study from. The hair at the sides are not braided, they are loose curls. 

Also, not too sure if it's worth doing aerith since her clothes hides 90% of the body, in this case I will concentrate more on her face. Her face looks good, I would collect some images of FF's more recent games from 10 - 15 for a comparison. I would make her neck less thick for a feminine touch. Boobs look squashed vertically which might affect the cloth over her. Her nose needs more refining when viewed 3/4.

stororokw

@happybell
Thanks for your detailed and thoughtful critiques. Really helpful.
You make learning anatomy sound easy . I wish it was that simple for me.

Even if 100% of her body was covered I would still refine/model the body because I personally think it is just good practice to do so regardless and, many open world type games (ffxv, horizon zero, ff13, witcher3 etc.) have various character outfits. I feel that having a polished body will make that process easier. But, I agree that in her original outfit the face is more important so I will spend more of my efforts on the face for the time being.

_____________________________________________________
Updates:

• Replaced front hair with curls
• Refined the entire face and added polypaint for better visualisation.
• Made proportional changes to the body.
• Made the neck thinner
  

stororokw

An update on the sculpt:

• Refined the body and face.
• Adjusted the proportions to make her a little bit skinnier.
• Finished the first pass on the hands and feet.

C&C welcomed.

stororokw

I was only able to work on this over the weekend. I am trying to push through and keep on practising, posting all the crap work and hopefully I will see some improvements later on after my nth character.

Update for this week:

• Worked on the clothes and face.

stororokw

I continued working on the face, hands, and miscellaneous accessories.

stororokw

Another weekly update.

• I did the retopology for the body and head.
• I brought the model into UE4 to get a better representation of what it actually looks like so that I can start to iterate on the face.

C&C is welcomed.

stororokw

I re-projected the new topology onto the zbrush sculpt, played around with the materials, and made the following changes to the face:

• Smaller chin
• Added in more cheeks
• Made the lips smaller
  
• Smaller eyes

stororokw

Hey all. Only a small update since I am trying to learn substance designer to do environment/props. I have been working on changing the master hair material, I added:

• Depth to fake the appearance of small/medium hair clumping.
• Pronounced the secondary specular highlights.

I also added a separate mesh for the caruncula and a border to blend the eye with the skin.

Mark Dygert

Kickin ass! Keep up the good work!

stororokw

Thank you for the words of encouragement Mark.

stororokw

Had a day off from work today so I have been working on the hair. I am currently just trying to get the right volume and shape.

Vergil

Great work! This is my favorite one of all Final Fantasy games.
I have the feeling that her body is meant to be more stylized in the games. So you have to change the body proportions of your model. I think she should be thinner as well. Also check 'Dissidia' for more reference.

samnwck

Well there's also his interpretation as well, I still see the resemblance as a more realistic model, however the midsection looks a bit thicker than it should but not a big thing. One thing that bothers me is the model looks a bit too low poly, I see it particularly in the hair. Hair on a modern day character can be very Poly heavy (20k+ tris sometimes), Also I'd try to get those bangs on the right side (her left) lifted up a bit as well, somewhat iconic to her look.

stororokw

Thank you both for the critiques; it is really helpful to get other peoples opinions.
I think the style I am shooting for is something like ff15 and also the ff7 remake. I will try to make her a little bit more thinner.


For the hair I like working from large hair planes to smaller ones because I feel that it is easier to iterate, get the volume, and shape correct without worrying about the details. But, I agree it looks like crap at the moment, so until I am happy with the basic shapes I wont be able to start replacing these larger planes into smaller ones with layers and variation.

ID map

I am aiming for 10k tris for the hair because I have a budget of around 40-50k for the characters.

• Moved the left side of her fringe higher.
• Added more of a fringe.
• Made some changes to the lips and chin.