Moon boot chickadee - SDK inside!

NuclearTes

*Edit*: I've released a SDK!

You can download it here: http://members.lycos.co.uk/nucleartes/Kaiesdk.html


Hiya, I haven't been posting a lot of art on these boards lately - but now I'm here to reveal the 'secret' project, I have been working on for ages: a chick with boots.

Ok..I know..it's not a very original subject matter, but I never made one myself before, since this is my first 3D model. *Blushes*

About the model:
I wanted to make a female model, because I always wanted to be able to skin a model I made myself, instead of only skinning other people's work.(And I really like female characters, because I can identify myself better with them).

I already told you this is my first model and I hope it doesn't show too much. I really did my best to make a decent and versatile model, but I must say the modelling process had a lot of similarities with torture.

She has two different hair-dos and an optional headdress to increase the skinning possibilities (mix & match!). Some people may recognize her head, since I already posted an older version of it in the 128/head division thread.

Anyway, what do you think of her? She still needs a name, so any naming suggestions are welcome too.

Model statistics:
Vertices: 1028
Triangles: 1820

Things I want to do next:
1. Make a good skinmap for her - done!
2. Release a SDK
3. Make skins
5. Export to UT2004, UT and Quake 3 if feasible.

Pictures: - Click to enlarge

poopinmymouth

Looking really good for a first model, and nice poly usage too. It has a nice style to it that you should be ale to carry off a good skin with. I especially like the curvature of the boots. She has a very busty ribcage however, you might want to slim her down between the boobs and the lats, so she has a bit of an armpit, and that will make her look a bit more feminine.

sundance

looking good girl!

KDR_11k

Strange, when I saw it (I'm one of those who skip the poster names) I immediately thought that was your doing. I thought you posted models before... Well, maybe that's because you have a style very similar to DP's. Did she teach you how to model?

NuclearTes

Thanks for the positive replies everyone. And thanks for the feedback Poop: I will try to make the ribcage a bit more feminine.

KDR_11k: Actually I've learned how to model largely on my own (because I found out that works best for me when learning things), but my sister did give me some feedback (the arms where a tad too long). I never posted a model on polycount before (except for an earlier version of her head), but I've posted several skins.

The style of the model is probably similar, because our drawing styles have quite some similarities also. We have been influencing each other for years. I've also made skins for DP's models, so I know how they look like. However I didn't look at her models while modelling this, because I wanted to find out what works best for me.

Edit - I've tried to make her ribcage a bit more feminine. Does it look better now?

EarthQuake

Thats look better the body looks great, especially for a first model but i REALLY thing you should add more detail to the face and smooth it out. Its really holding it back from being a really cool model right now with all the sharp angles and stuff.

NuclearTes

EarthQuake: Thanks for the feedback, I've just added a few extra polies to the head. I hope it's an improvement.

EarthQuake

If it was me i would make some drastic changes to the head and pretty much remodel it, add atleast double the detail it has now. But thats just me, and its great for a first model the way it is.

Wendy de Boer

[ QUOTE ]
If it was me i would make some drastic changes to the head and pretty much remodel it, add atleast double the detail it has now. But thats just me, and its great for a first model the way it is.

[/ QUOTE ]

Considering the very low resolution of the chest, that would be seriously overkill, IMHO.

There seems to be a trend of spending half the polygons and half the texture space on the head, but really, the head is not THAT important. You never get to see it up close ingame, anyway. According to Steed, spending a fifth of all resources on the head is more appropriate.

That, and a hi-res head on a low-res body just looks off.

NuclearTes

Thanks for the input, but I think I'm satisfied with the head now. So I'm not planning to change/add any more polies. I don't think a high poly head would be consistent with the the rest of the model. That, and I'm already trying to skinmap her.

Hey DP, nice to see you again!

NuclearTes

Ok, my model has a name now. I've decided to call her Kaie. It's a Celtic name and I think it's very suitable for a game character, because it means "combat".

I've also released a SDK - you can get Kaie_SDK.zip here: http://members.lycos.co.uk/nucleartes/Kaiesdk.html

Note that there are two versions of my model in the SDK: An Unreal Tournament version mapped on 4 textures of 256X256. And a UT2004/Quake 3 version mapped on 1 texture of 1024x1024. (Textures in original UT can not be bigger than 256X256 pixels and it's better not to have more than 3 textures in UT2K4)

To convert your UT2004/Quake 3 skins to an Unreal Tournament version, you will only have to resize the 1024X1024 texture to 512X512 and slice it up in 4 equal pieces.

Slash

sweet.. im gonna have a go at her. right now!

NuclearTes

@Slash: I'm glad you like her, I'm really looking forward to see your progress pictures.

I'm also working on a texture for her now. Here's an early W.I.P picture: