Calamity Jane

mtmckinley

Hey, guys.

Working on a new book, and the featured model will be this kinda Firefly-ish Western/Sci-Fi gunslinger character. Got the modeling mostly done. Going to replace the hands and might add a few doodads here and there:



360 rotation a little further along:
http://www.mtmckinley.net/book2/jane360.avi

Suggestions always welcomed. With two guns, she's at about 8500 tris.

Original concept here - http://www.mtmckinley.net/book2/bookconcept1.jpg

LiveWire

nice. wireframe?

FunkaDelicDass

Hey man, that's looking nice. There's already a lot of personality in the model, and the concept is very nice.

My only crit would be on the upper arms. Actually, the arms in general look kind of man-ish. I think it's the armor piece on the bicep area. It's pretty bulky and kind of unnatural compared to the rest of her outfit. Slimming down the arms could help with the exaggerated proportions you already have going.

EarthQuake

Nice model dude

moose

thats awesome great character and feel to it. digs it.

looks like she will be a freakin blast to skin

*cough* you should release an sdk *cough*

.... did i say that?

ElysiumGX

Her large arms appear very odd compared to those tiny knees.

stoofoo

No real crits. Oodles of character and fun design. I digs, sir. Frigging textturrreee her!!!

mtmckinley

Thanks for the comments! I replaced her hands and thinned her arms some. I think she definitely looks better and it makes it look like the metal things on her upper arms are there to kinda hold the sleeves in place, like the coat was too big on her or something, which is neat.

UVing next!

mtmckinley

Here's a new vid and a wire shot:
http://www.mtmckinley.net/book2/jane2.zip

Lee3dee

cowgirl looks cool. I used your first book in my class last semester. I think the students got more understanding of rigging, than using the Maya 6 learning book. LOL. Look forward to reading your next book

mtmckinley

thanks, Lee3dee. Cool that the book was used in your class! I hope it did the trick.

Got her all UV'd:

KDR_11k

Wouldn't it make more sense to split her into alpha/solid bits?

vahl

I'd follow KDR's advice, because if going into a game (which seems to be the point of your book) alpha mapped polygons won't cast shadows (in general, maybe not in really up to date engines)
now the number of textures depends of the target platform, but maybe it would be better to re-organize everything to get 2 or 3 maps (head, body and alphaed polys)

nice model BTW, good luck with your book

spider2cool

i look at the reference and I think "calamity jane", i look at the model and I think "shamika". she passes off more of an african ethnic than a white ethnic. maybe i am the only one who sees it. she might be a better model if she is of an african ethnic origin, but i don't think that is where you were going.

edit: another thing i noticed on looking again is that her belt sags down on one side where there is no gun-and-holster, and it is up where the gun-and-holster are. I think that the weight of the gun should be bringing the belt alittle down. so the gun-and-holster should be on the same side that the belt is sagging. or sag the belt in the other direction. feel me?

Darksun

I'd have to agree with spider.
The ref is really nice, so it would be a shame to lose that quality. As it is right now, the model doesn't look too caucasian.

stoofoo

I'm glad that spider2cool and darksun agree on matter ethnicity. However, I think they are both loons. Please ignore them.

rooster

no they have a point, compare the ref lips and nose to the model. the tip of the nose is thin in the concept, and the lips are small and tight, rather than large and full.
Still, great model I like it

stoofoo

shrug. I disagree entirely. He has smoothing groups on the lips to right now but its not as if lips actually have a hard edge there. Also the concept her lips are certainly posed. No one is perma-elvis curled unless they are paralyzed. haha. Come on. :O

Darksun

[ QUOTE ]
the tip of the nose is thin in the concept, and the lips are small and tight, rather than large and full.

[/ QUOTE ]
yeah, I noticed it especially in the lips. The take up nearly the same space as the ref does with the lips appart and curled back. Great model, I just think it would be even better if you pulled more of the ref into it. or you could just call her Shamika!

spider2cool

don't get me wrong, i think its a very good model, go either way with it. the trouth will come out when textured. you could always make an alternate version where one is black. another thing, i can not figure out why the gun-and-holster is on the outside of the coat. the gun should definatly be attatched to the belt and the coat should drape over the gun and holster.

ebagg

Awesome work, more junk in the trunk please.

mtmckinley

Thanks for all the comments, guys! Hope you all had a good Christmas.

Funny to see some of the suggestions now as I have actually done a few of them. Her lips had bugged me for a while now and I thinned them a bit, and I did go back and redo the UV layouts to have just the one alpha texture! Glad to see others are catching this stuff too!

Anyway, small texture update: Hopefully have it done in a couple days. I think the textures may be a tad dark right now. Lots of leather and such.

mtmckinley

About 50% done or so, give or take...

mtmckinley

killingpeople

very cool i like it. for some reason the sci-fi elements make me think toejam & earl.

EarthQuake

We gonna get an SDK for this or what?

poopinmymouth

Dag on Steve can bust out such awesome concepts, I miss working with you two. Model is coming out nice, and fairly consistent with the concept. I'd like to see a bit more wrinkles and details painted into the texture, but you might not have gotten to that level yet.

Keep it coming man, we need more book writers out there.

mtmckinley

Thanks for all the comments!

Yeah, Ben, Steve's the bomb! I agree that it still needs a toooon of work, but due to my schedule, I gotta put her down and get back to the writing. I plan on going to town on her again before it's published so I can get a nice cover out of it, if nothing else.

Here's a test pose I put her in. As for an SDK... it'll be included in the book, so I can't hand it out. Sorry, guys! But buy the book! It'll have over $3000 worth of cool art stuff for people to play with that was custom made for the book.

Zatoichi

When is the book due to be published?

mtmckinley

Can't... resist... posing! Ok, that's it! Gotta sleep! lol

The book should come out approximately May 2006.

spider2cool

i said something about this earlier in the post, but i guess it was missed or missunderstood. i made a ref to show what i am talking about. 2 things, first thing; the weight of the gun should be pulling the belt down. second thing; (a question/comment) shouldn't the coat drape over the gun and holster. it looks like the coat is going right through the gun. maybe make the gun a collision object.

rooster

great! the face and hair turned out really nice, really tight. Minor nitpick, I think the metal on the arms and backpack looks a little flat, but feh cool stuff

mtmckinley

Thanks for the comments. I'll see what I can do, regarding the suggestions when I get another opportunity to work on her. As for the holster/coat relationship, once it's rigged, it won't intersect.

b1ll

That book is a joke right? Cause that thing Scare the bejesus outta me.

poopinmymouth

Please pay no attention to the peanut gallery Mike. B1ll is of the opinion that someone must be a Picasso before attempting to share knowledge with others. I've seen your training material before, and I can tell it's a boon to those who are trying to get into the technical side of things.

B1ll, keep your snide comments to yourself. This is a repeat offense of yours, where you feel you have free reign to be as crass and insulting as you feel like, when you don't like the persons artistic abilities. I'm sure this book is focusing on the *technical* aspect of the software, and is not attempting to explain the finer points of fine art and painting. There are already tons of books and schools that can do that already. However many people have problems learning advanced software like Maya and Max. Mike has years of experience making tutorials, longer than myself actually. I've also worked with Mike and can vouch for his hard work, his good attitude, and his ability to work well on a team. All of which I think make him perfectly suited for creating training materials for others.

Also it should be noted, that this will be Mike's second book of this nature, the first of which already has nation wide distribution.

b1ll

Oh noes the Great Poop Knows all!

BLOX!

ElysiumGX

b1ll: try writing a book yourself, or take a seat.

mtmckinley

lol, no problem, and thanks, Ben. I realize my texture work isn't the best, especially when I'm rushed, but luckily, the book isn't about how to texture.

I'm looking forward to your texturing book, b1ll! I'm sure I can learn a lot from it.

Zatoichi

Well, the model looks great and the texture work does the job. Does your book go into UV unwrapping?

mtmckinley

Thanks.

No, but the first book does go over it.

b1ll

I dont understand ur point ElysiumGX, I think u should take a seat .

I mean no offense mtmckinley, Im just honest anyway, And I just feel that in my eyes I guess , That by looking at such a wacky model I dont think I would learn anything. But anyway, My opinion. I think it take a certain Skill and Art Ownage,to make a book on how to do artzzz, But then again that is me.

And like i said in m_d ZE b1ll ART book 1 soon FUCKERAZ! har har

mtmckinley

No offense taken, b1ll. I was merely teasing with my comment above. I wouldn't expect anyone who is currently working in the industry to learn much from it either. The book, like the last one, is mainly geared at beginners, at either using Maya or just beginners to game art itself.

Oh, I forget if I mentioned it here I think, but Calamity Jane isn't the only model in the book either. There will be 3 others of differing polycounts and body types (quadraped, insectoid, etc). lol and don't worry if my cartoony style doesn't apeal to you. Other artists are making the other 3. So, hopefully, there's something for everyone's tastes in the final product.

In my own defense though, the book isn't an artistic display book, like Expos

b1ll

Point taken

Go on then.

Brian Reynolds

For what it's worth I greatly enjoyed reading the first book and look forward to the second as well. Good show!

mtmckinley

There's still a TON I want to do with this, but time and my move and my new job just didn't let me do too much. I tweaked her skin tones and her face a little and give her some better lighting, but overall she's missing a lot... haven't touched her gun or coat and still have some ugly shadows, but oh well... here's how it's going to be for the book. Hopefully I can finish her up and allow an updated texture to be downloaded from my site for those who buy the book.

yeluis

even though you are missing some work on this I love how its looking. reminds me of my attempt at a cowgirl. never got it to look this cool. Will you keep working on her though? or just calling it quits?

ebagg

I like it the character, though I didn't know they had thongs in the wild west...

mtmckinley

Thanks, guys. Yeah I do plan on finishing her one day. The textures are only about 50-60% or so. I recently had to move from Texas to Oregon plus starting a new, very demanding job, PLUS finishing the book... argh!

Steakhouse

Welcome to the hayfever capitol of the world! What's the job?

mtmckinley

heh, thanks for the welcome, steakhouse. I'm working for Buzz Monkey Software now up here in Oregon.

Steakhouse

What sort of games do they make there?