[UT 2K4] - child & ghost -

NCE

Hello,

I’m one of the HEAJ student. (Remember me ? I’ve done the red girl for Quake3)
Now, we are slowly working on one model for Unreal Tournament 2004 (between other works)

My concept is a boy that can generate a sort of ghost around him. The boy will fight with a stick while the ghost will take the gun.





What do you think of this ?

-jerome-

Sean McBride

Thats awesome, reminds me of the WoW Warlocks ;D

Thumbs up from me!

Cant wait to see the texture.

rooster

looks quality, only thing I notice is the ghosts biceps look a bit beefier in the concepts, and maybe the ribcage muscles too. Should look really cool with a WoW style texture like the concepts!

Ramucho

Really like the overall style of the model!! I'm so jealous that you guys are really making a lot of improvements! cool pose too ^_^

Texture these puppies now et "bon travail!!"

Eclipse

that looks really nice man, great work, I would check the side view of the kid again, his shirt looks either really baggy or too far back

Illusions

Two problems I'm forseeing right now, none of them are with the modelling themselves, but mainly with implementation in UTK2004. First off...the hands on the ghost are incredibly beefy, and might cause a problem when it comes to actually holding the guns (as they are probably going to be no bigger than the childs legs in size). Secondly, if you want to have independent animations for both the child and the ghost, you're either going to have to have one hell of a complex single skeleton, or two skeletons (which may present more challenges). Otherwise, its quite a cool concept, and I really like the execution from 2D into 3D. With the right texture and UT2004 shaders (mainly for the Ghost), should make this really standout.

poopinmymouth

Very nice model and concept. i think the thing I dislike the most is the side profile of the ghost. Its really flat and doesn't really have a dynamic to it at all. See if you can get a better flow going on the side. The little guy looks rocking. Keep up the good work!

Wells

love the idea and concept behind this. no crits other than whats been said.

Scott Ruggels

Very good concept. your model should more closely follow it, but generally the mesh is good, and and the geometry looks like it will accomodate animation well. Good Job!

Scott

Moz

just remember to use some awesome shaders on the ghost. Maybe use a cube map with alpha so that the edges of the ghost are transparent and its more solid towards the center at any angle, like the cell shading effect, but with gradients and alpha masking.

NCE

Thanks for all your replies.

-poopinmymouth- I'll try to modify the side of the ghost.

-Illusions- I was thinking using one biped for the child and customs bones for the ghost. But maybe (if it's possible) doing
to different model and grouping them with some sort of script can be interesting... But I need to do all animations of UT and I think
that it will be easier to have the "complete" model in one file.

-Moz- I don't already know all the feature of the UT engine but i'll look if I can program my shader (or maybe it already exist) ::
I want to calculate the opacity of the triangle based on the angle between normal and viewing vector (>yes I'm a programer lol<) )

but what will be realy awesome for me is to display the ghost only with particles (but I think I'll kill the engine lol)



-jerome-

Etienne

Animation:
Good luck. Start working now, if you want your model to look right you will have to make your own sets of animations. I don't see how you can use the normal rigs to make this work without you model destroying itself.

Texturing:
Shaders on models are hard to do but not imposible for the UT engine. I would recommend working on materials. Use alpha layer for the ghost. It's tricky...

Software:
What software are you using?

Etienne

Etienne

I forgot something ...
The UnrealEngine does not like not triangulised objects, so you'll have to triangulise your model when you export to the UnrealED.
You model will become something closer to 6.5k and 8k triangles. (don't have too many of these runging arround the map).

Etienne

moose

looks pretty cool, you should be able to pull that stuff off in 2k4.

pretty sweet concept too!

i think you may have put a little *too* much detail in the boy thing model, that could be pulled of in the texture (shirt folds around the colar, etc). wouldnt hurt to optimize it a bit.

some added shape to the fingers couldnt hurt.

and 1600px wide image?!?!? why!? asaggrh!

stoofoo

hey man. I wanna see that ghost as an additive texture. I have done a lot of effects on DDO in additive texture adn you can get some rad effects. Looks very ethereal and is more potent than just being alpha'd out. Im pretty sure you can do this in ut=)

Love the design as well--the side profile is really weak on the ghost, though. It looks marvelous from the front but youve got almost no silhouette to speak of from the side. heh. work on that!!

Again, nice work. Original idea and fun. Keep that shit up.

ElysiumGX

great idea, and nice work so far. you class should have more freedom with this assignment, so I'm waiting to see some amazing work.

NCE

Thanks all,

-Etienne- :: yes animation will be a big work... I know
don't worry for the triangles, I have 3880 triangles. The wire is in quad but I counted it in triangle (my limit was 4000 triangles)
I use 3dsmax6

-moose- I'll try to remove some poly from the boy to put some other on the hand of the ghost. (sorry for the image, next time it will be smaller (or in height) )

-stoofoo- I'm working on the side of the ghost


I'm working a little on setuping, I don't know if UT accept spline as bones? (I'm using reactor for simulate physic on the rope of the belt) Or maybe it's possible to set a rope directly with physic simulation in UT?


-jerome-

NCE

little update :

Etienne

NCE:

I'm looking at the polygones, and I see a whole bunch of squares. This normally means you model wasn't triangulised. The number of polygones you are getting rightnow are the nomber of "faces" and not "triangles".

Good luck for the animation... Show us more when you have done more ... Updates are cool...

Etienne

PeteJ

my only comment is the ghost neck appears a little funky in the side view.
nice idea though, would love to see a rendering with some wild materials applied to the ghost, some kinda transparency etc

Wells

ghost is looking much better from the side.

etienne: there are easy ways to count triangles on a model with polygons. if he says he's counting triangles i'd be inclined to trust him.

Scott Ruggels

Yes, you can put in an opacity chader based on Normal direction as a shader in UT2K4. I did this back in late 2003, when researching Fresnel effects on surfaces in the engine. That would be a good effect on the ghost. All you would need would to select a base color,However if the ghost was facing you, the ponytail would show through the front at some angle s looking like a nose, as would the edges of the opposite arm shough through the torso on a side view. The effect would still work well, but looks more like FF:Spitist Within, rather than Casper.

Scott

moose

nce: you can use reactor, but you're going to have to bake the data to the bones so you have keys. Actor X will not pick up that procedural data by itself.

texture it! go!

Pseudo

Cool concept. Personally I think the pony tail looks a little cheap. I prefer the bald look like you have in the concept. Thats probably personal preference though

HotHead

I'm liking it a lot. The concept is a great idea. Reminds me alot of the Tekken Tag Final Boss. It was some weird chick with a Werewolfe ghost controlling her. I liked the idea then and I like it now. Can't wait to see it finished.

Etienne

Where are you now in the project?

Etienne

NCE

Hi Etienne, I've unwarped UV's and I'm skinning...
I'll hope doing some animation test for tomorrow.

Don't worry I'll show you
(but that's not my only work and I've not so much time)

-jerome-

NCE

Hello,

I've done a little animation to test my skinning.
Finally, I've deactivated all physics of reactor and I've animated all by hand (I prefer have a full control over my animation)



-jerome-

Wells

no comments yet? i think this is fantastic so far. great personality in them.

vahl

nice design here and great animation

though, you'll have fun doing all those 85 anim sequences needed for ut2004

NCE

thanks guys,

I hope find the time I need to do all those anim lol

-jerome-

Illusions

The Ghost doesn't do the slow bob up and down like I'd expect him too (I guess this is from seeing so many hovering creatures do this over the years), but otherwise looking cool.

Dhin

I'd like to see it fade in and out almost like smok or vapor, But still it looks gook I think the way it's coming along