Polycount - Generals - [Valandar]
polycounter lvl 18
Tossin' MY hat into this ring. 
And I'll start it off with this concept sketch:
http://valandar3d.fools3d.com/quakestuff/basepicFirst.jpg
And I'll start it off with this concept sketch:
http://valandar3d.fools3d.com/quakestuff/basepicFirst.jpg
Replies
Oh, and the head model:
He will have a pair of "Inquisitorial" cyber arms coming from his back, and arcing over each shoulder like evil scorpion tails.
Exaggerated proportions to make him seem larger than life.
fast work, keep it up!
Should I keep the WH40K style "purity seal" on his belt or not?
go for it soldier !!!
EDIT:
So how's this?
Current polycount: 4500 tris exactly. Leaves me a bit o' room to add in some details, like wrinkles and such, to be exxaggerated by the normal map.
I don't think I'll be able to squeeze the lower arms in with the poly limits AND add in the cables and other details, but I'll see what I can do.
by all means ignore those extra arms, i was just going mad scribbling. you could do a lot of stuff that would add more interest, i think
Final tally? ... well... 4978 tris.
Now it's time for me to map this puppy, then get to work with the normal mapping and other skinning chores.
The face's meshflow could use some work. The edges should flow around the deforming areas (eyes, mouth) in a circular fashion. This will make it loads easier and prettier to animate. There are lots of examples of head geometry on here that you can save and study. It looks like you extruded up from the head geometry to create the helmet. To save on poly's you can detach the hat from the head and just have it sitting on top of the head. This will let you remove some of those edges that were only there because they had to conform to the head geometry. Another note on the hat, depending on how important you feel the hat is, you can delete those faces that are facing toward the camera on the bill (the thickness of the bill). Lastly, you could easily remove an edge loop from the medallion thing on his chest (how I have it drawn, dont remove all those edges). It won't take much (if anything) away from the silhouette and a decent texture job can get the round effect you're looking for.
Here are some areas where you can remove edges from the mechanical bits. Example being the teeth on his Awesome-Death-Grip-of-Death-Claw. You can detach all the teeth then remove the unnecessary edges. Also the bottom poly of the teeth can be deleted because it will never be seen (seeing how its always going to be buried into the "jaw" of the claw). There are other examples on him, but hopefully you see the point.
Hope that wasn't too confusing. Now take those saved polys and make him totally badass. Overall I think you could push the concept more toward the year 3000 era, but this is an improvement over the original. At the pace you're going you'll have time for another! Keep at it mate.
Oh, and I hadn't originally planned on rigging the head for animation, so I concentrated more on just overall shape when I made it, and got a little sloppy, heheh. Must remember to never get sloppy.
Most of the work I've done so far is on the face, as if that wasn't obvious:
DEFINITELY gotta work on the wrinkles on the mantle, and maybe exxagerate the wrinkles in the coat... definitely lose the "cloth" texture, maybe give it tight spec mapping and a "leather" look. Also, better darken the slate blue quite a bit...
Could I put him in a black leather uniform rather than blue? I can certainly skin him up over the next week.
almost forgot: Email it to Vailias@gmail.com if you wish to send it to me.
I'll zip up the mesh in obj format, with wireframes at twice the size they're intended to be - he has three 512 maps and a 256 map... I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to work on a skin at two to four times the "final" resolution, then shrink it down.
Vailias, PM me an email addy to send the zip to.
EDIT: Okay, cool, got the addy.
Personally I work at the final res I will be using for the model. One part of this is just how I work, plus I know that the viewport renders will match the final product, and one part is Poop's vehemence on the issue.
I'm going to re work the UV's in a few spots, and change it to a single 1024. Might as well use the space we are given to make the model really pop.
Also there are a few more places around the model that could be optimized to save quite a few polies.
Fred/R13 (or any of the other persons who actually wrote all this out) if I (as a team partner) modify, and or add to, the iniitial geometry does that violate the teaming rules, or do we simply state in the end submition something like:
"
Valander: Concept and Modeling
Vailias: Optimizations, Textures. Riging
"?
Meanwhile, I've been toying with a second concept as well, since I can find nothing in any of the rules preventing a second entry for an individual. Some of y'all saw the concept in Chat earlier:
This is how far I've gotten him:
I am going to revise the head a bit, and a human face will be somewhat visible through the faceplate, and he'll have mostly further electronic warfare gear. He may also possibly have some sort of chainsaw blade for personal defense on one forearm or the other.
Lookin good so far. Keep it up!
Besides, the idea of a human as the "cpu" for a mech is great for an evil line trooper, but not for a mecha.
Now my big problem is... what to do for a weapon?
EDIT: Okay, got a weapon idea... a six-shot missile launcher of unique design.
Currently 4782 tris...
Still need to detail the armor and weapon (panel lines and vents and such, as well as the Polycount markings), add some grunge around the feet and lower legs, and make the bump from the final result.
Any C&C?
Basically, if it's a neutral grey, I either haven't done anything to it, or haven't done very much at all - the green and the slate blue-grey are the areas I've begun work on...
The weapon in the previous pics still "wore" the skin from the original version. I've just started skinning it, now...
new texture is looking cool.
Which is better - with or without?