male hero character

rooster

I'm making a male hero kind of character, haven't decided what direction to take it in so I'm just building a generic base at the mo, any proportions/edgeloop advice would be most welcome cheers

MoP

Hmm, cool start, I like the way you've blocked it out with see-through boxes, nifty trick.

Personally I'd model him in a more arms-out pose (45 degree angle) since it's a better medium for the geometry to be in for rigging (and I think it's easier to model the armpit section when the arms are raised higher).

The edge loops could probably do with following anatomy more, the chest/shoulder area doesn't really look anatomically correct yet, might wanna get some more muscle ref images and try to match the edge flow to the edges of the muscle shapes, I find that usually results in a nicer-looking mesh, and deforms better - at the moment if your guy was to raise his arm 90 degrees, the polygon between the pecs and the upper arm would get stretched HUGELY.

Good start though, keep it up!

rooster

does this look better? more polies in the armpit area?



edit: heres an update

Rick Stirling

I'd advise you to strip that back for the minute. You have a lot of polygons there, and not enough shape. You started off well with the blocks for showing the mass, and you might want to try building your mesh in the same method.

what i mean is, build the entine model now as one big contigous low polygon mesh, following your guide blocks. Then go and cut the detail into it.

Also, you are suffering from a dose of "Square modelling". Practically every polygon you have is a square, with all your edges being either horizontal or vertical. you can bend those loops of edges into curves that flow around the shape of the model.

rooster

I hear you man cheers, proceeding with poly-stripping

rooster

sorry for spamming the board



now I've got more of it down I plan to focus more on fixing the edgeloops and trying to get more bang for buck in terms of poly useage (I know the density is a bit outta whack too)

MoP

Yeah, it's looking better now, although you're right, the density needs a bit of work - those upper legs have too many polys.
What's your target polygon count?

Oh, and what Rick said is still happening here - most of your polys are pretty close to regular squares, it'll probably look more organic (and maybe save polys too) if you allow the polys a bit more leeway to be more odd shapes...

wunder

yaeh your poly usage needs some work. what i keep in mind as i model is the fact that "every vert should add to either the silouette or animating possibilities"

basically, if a vert doesnt add to the shape of the model, scrap it. the only reason to keep it is if its needed for proper bending when posed or animated.

rooster

mop; aye i was just getting it a bit more fleshed out before addressing the squareness, I've tried to fix it somewhat this revision. I'm struggling a bit with the forearm and legs, I tried making the loops of the legs follow muscle paths but it turned out kind of ugly

as for the polycount, hmm I'm not sure yet.. I think 5k or thereabouts maybe? I don't have anything specific in mind for it

wunder; I tend to just plonk down some polies then fix things afterwards, so I am keeping vert efficiency in mind as I tweak it. IMHO some area that isn't a big part of the silhouette could still benefit from definition because of the way its lit (I'm thinking something like clavicles) but I do agree with you

MoP

Back's looking nice there ... good progress overall. I agree with you on your point about more poly definition for the way it's lit, but at the moment your guy has no clavicles, so where's your argument!?
Actually the whole top of the chest (pecs up to the neck) seems a little high to me.

Keep it up!

rooster

hehe no arguement! I just meant that lighting could also be a factor in that equation. I think you're right about the chest, sometimes it gets hard to judge when I model for long periods

rooster

still looking kind of squarey
I'll have a think about who he's going to be while I tweak

steady

excellent work rooster! keep it up