crits and help please

Amouro

i recently started a model based of the Pandarian brewmasters of Warcraft 3.
http://www.thepraetorianguard.com/~amouro/panda/pandahead2.jpg
http://www.thepraetorianguard.com/~amouro/panda/pandahead3.jpg
http://www.thepraetorianguard.com/~amouro/panda/pandahead4.jpg
http://www.thepraetorianguard.com/~amouro/panda/pandahead1.jpg
heres a quick crappy texture i made for the face, very early on.
http://www.thepraetorianguard.com/~amouro/panda/pandahead5.jpg

as you can see i have not modeled the hands yet.
last year i played around with Milkshape a bit and managed to get a model i made into Unreal Tournament(original). but now im using 3ds max. my major question is, where do i begin adding bones in max? its realy confusing compaired the milkshape. i want to make it a UT 2003 model, can i use the default skeleton? if so how?
my other question is what is exceptable for textures, as far as size? and can i have multiple textures on the same model?
after that, how do i actually import it into the game?

i'm a pretty big noob to all this stuff so i REALY need some help. oh and if you want to critique the model, please i'd love to hear it.

cholden

Some quick things: this post will probably be moved to the pimping and previews section.

Also, it helps to also post the front/side with wires. You only really need one perspective shot.

For textures and ut2k3, up to 1024x1024 is a big texture map, and multiple textures are ok. For this character, I suggest of 512x512 for the body and one 256x256 for the head. I'm sure you could get away with less, and easily abuse more.

Amouro

i wasn't quite sure where i should post it, so im sorry if i was wrong to post it here.

anyway, heres flat shaded pics of it.
http://www.thepraetorianguard.com/~amouro/panda/pandaflat1.jpg
http://www.thepraetorianguard.com/~amouro/panda/pandaflat2.jpg
http://www.thepraetorianguard.com/~amouro/panda/pandaflat3.jpg
wasn't sure how to render a wireframe of it though. i guess i could have taken a screenshot of my veiwport but it seems like i should be able to do a render. please help me on this if you could aswell.

im sorry, i must really seem like a dumbass.
but i've had the desire to learn this stuff for a while now. i have alot of artistic thoughts, but im only a mediocre 2d artist. i feel i could better realize my ideas in 3d. im just having a hell of a hard time with it. most tutorials i find are either far to basic or far to vague.

cholden

Hey Amouro,
Don't worry about sounding dumb on the forum, you're new, it's not a problem.

Posting models for crits, first of all, you've done everything right in the sense that you got your images posted and that's fantastic. Now, the next step is being a bit more efficient with your images to get better crits.
Let me show you an example with one of my recent characters:

http://chrisholden.net/warrior01b.jpg
http://chrisholden.net/warrior01bwire.jpg

The first shot is a couple of perspectives, you'll also notice I tossed in small black profile shots of my character. That's a little something extra I like to do as it shows the characters siloette from a distance, proving strength of profile (easily recognizable at a distance). Anyway, the 2nd shot is front/side wireframes. All these images are screen grabs I pasted into photoshop and assembled into nice looking character sheets. The purpose is to display as much character information in as few 'clicks' as possible.
For example, you're less likely to get crits because people have to not only click to see your images, but also have to click several images to get the full idea. Yea, I know, it sounds lazy, but you have to consider how many people are pimping their work and how little actually gets solid, helpful crits.

All that aside, I'll make a quick look at your model...

Ok, here's what I did, a quick screenshot paintover
I marked your original edges in RED. These modeled in edges you have add nothign to your mesh, they are just wasted polygons. I painted in green on the left side how you can easily adjust some verts at get way more character out of your mesh:



Also, you side profile could use a lot of work, character seems to fall flat here. Pull the shoulders back a bit too, it's basic anatomy, and will help the characters weight.

If you want, I can keep going with this, more and more specifics, but I think you need to catch up.