Polycount - Generals - [Ninjas]
polycounter lvl 18
Here is a start- many iterations to go
I have been training up to do a full fledged, finished, real-time character. This couldn't have come at a better time.
People feel free to use old concepts I have done or request a new one.
I have been training up to do a full fledged, finished, real-time character. This couldn't have come at a better time.
People feel free to use old concepts I have done or request a new one.
Replies
I still have work to tighten up the shoes and weapons.
I had thought about that later... originally I was thinking about solving that with back story ("He was given troops, but he killed all of them in all on one combat, thus deciding that they weren't tought enough to earn the right of being commanded by him") but I think it would be much more interesting to actually make him a commander looking character.
I thought it would be cool if he was the commander of the assassin squads. That, however, doesn't make much sense. As far as I know there have been tank, army (troop/artillery) and airforce generals. Maybe Mr. Ruggels can give some insight.
Plenty of time left. I think my next concept will be pretty original and fit the idea better.
I think this is more or less final. I'm going to do a few detail sketches when I get around to the sword, gun and shoes
If I'm not too bogged down by real work tomorrow, I think I may be able to do some iso drawings of the complete final design.
Looking forward to what you can pull off!
Keep it up!
all generals are going to have not only some sort of unique characteristic, but also show that they have a lot of proven combat experience. so youth is out of the question with few exceptions... your newer sketch does a lot more to address this. wearing medals into combat is silly, especially for a stealthy guy, but if you swing it right it could be a really excellent visual.
more than anything, i think you're going to be able to express this character's seniority, experience, and overwhelming lethality through how you you represent his kit.
think of a line soldier: starting out, he's all stock gear, a couple of things just really aren't that good, he doesn't like how his tactical harness fits, his rangefinder is uncalibrated, the springs in his extra magazines are off, etc. etc. now contrast that with the seasoned veteran, which a general is almost certainly bound to be: throughout the years of his excellent service record, he's steadily replaced and tweaked out portions of his gear, so that he knows exactly where all his gear is at all times and that all of his equipment is like a well oiled machine, all dialed in and ready for killing. he's still going to have some of his original kit, but it's going to be older or properly broken in, and a lot of it is going to augmented to suite his individual habits.
anyhow, i'm sure you get the idea, cause you're on the right track already. if you keep thinking in the above described manner, you'll be able to really bring this character up to a great and obvious General character without necessarily having to resort to the common visual shorthands of generalship. keep up the great work, i know this guy is going to look great at the end of this process.
There were a few ideas I liked but that I didn't like quite as much as this character. I did some sketches for some of these ideas and I thought maybe some of my teammates would like to take a crack at them.
An idea for a mount... not a character in itself obviously!
If anyone wants to use these let me know.
I think I am going to get back to working on my own entry now!
Maybe you could develop some ideas with the dinosaur theme on them. Take a look at some enciclopedias and get a cool dinosaur to mutate. I can think on things like a big cannon inside the mouth or claws like saws.
Whatever you do, for sure will be one of the strongest entries on this WAAAAR!
Good luck!
Here are the weapons I was thinking of... I'm not too sure about the sword. I think the gun will stay the same, but the handle may be wood grain, or ivory in the final version. I'll need to do some color tests soon, but I have a pretty good idea of the color scheme already.
I think that the sword looks very cool too, but probably lacks a bit of shape. I mean, from a far distance would look too much like a sable laser from star wars.
Keep it up!
They call him The Man That Cannot Be Killed. If everyone in the universe flipped a coin until it turned up tails, the study of statistics tells us that there would be one person who would keep flipping heads until he died of old age. With untold billions upon billions killed, he is the one that had to survive.
A born soldier, it is his focus on doing "what works" that has allied him with the forces of evil. This way he doesn't have idiotic and self defeating rules getting in the way of him doing his job; killing as many enemies as possible.
The only thing I thought about was that the guns barrel seemed to small. A little fatter barrel would give the gun some more wheight, and maby some more bang! Well thats just my taste.
Keep up the great work and CGchat will fall for sure!
I tried to keep him with an understanable motive. To be the best at what he does. I was thinking his weapons are used mostly to protect himself from his own troops and to shoot deserters. Really, I was originally thinking of something more heroic (kind of a adventure loving "loose canon" general loved by his troops), but doesn't that go against the idea of being evil?
Ancient Alien Robot: "Buzz buzzuz"
Crab Monster: "Skree!"
Ancient Alien Robot: "Buzzzzzz"
Crab Monster: "Skree! Skree!"
I have come to terms with my evil character, and here is my final concept. I think I know every inch of this character now.
Crits and suggestions are welcome, but I am pretty happy with how he is now.
That's a good thing
Put some badass polys to that babe and catch the place you deserve!
Keep it up!
I have started with the modeling, but I'm a bit slow getting the correct flow on the organic parts (for me), so I probably won't have any updates tonight.
Thanks again everybody!
Get modelling!
-caseyjones
turnaround (a quicktime movie)
4165 tris. Probably I can trim this down to 3800 when I get to cleaning things up.
A few more accessories that come to mind: a tall, face (skull) shaped shield, a sword/rifle and pipes coming from his face mask leading to a tank on his back.
Here is the current version.
Image
I'm running out of things to optimize, and I still want to put detail into the weapons. I am still working on the shoes so maybe I can cut some polygons there.
Thanks for the input!
I was thinking of taking this concept in a 1940's era pulp science fiction direction... right now I don't think I would win with this entry even if I do a great job on the normal map. I am going to complete the character. That is for sure. If I have the time and energy I may revisit the dinosaur general, because I like that one a lot, and with some tweaks, I think it could be a winner.
if you get some spare time after you've finished this guy would really love to see some developement on the dinosaur carrier, feels like such a fresh idea, think it could make a really nice talking peice.
I just started painting the maps today (alpha, normal, color and spec.), so colors etc. may not be final, and I expect it will take me another week to get all the details I want into the maps. Trimmed this down to 4200 tri's. Rendered with 3 lights, no shadows, 20% self illumination. I don't have a decent enough graphics card to get screen grabs. After this I'll do the weapons and if I still have some triangles, I think I will do some extra straps.
Looking good, but the texture is a tad blurry. I'd go in with the sharpen tool and push some areas, especially the paint chips.
Perhaps a little more contrast variation in the colour and spec maps will help it sing that little bit more.
His head seems a tad big maybe?
The pouches look unfinished and blurry. Did you normal map them in zbrush? I'd suggest cloning that part of the mesh, then making a high poly version of that section and generating your normal maps from that.
This is a useful technique to clean up areas - just duplicate what you need and fix it.
Where the black rubbery thigh things join the thigh pads, you might want to indicate how they are attached - studs? Buckles? Glue?
There are several areas where the texture is blurred between 2 materials. Mike taught us to take there areas where things meet, make sure there is an edge there, and break it in the UV maps so that there is no bleeding on the texture. This will help ont he hands where the gloves meet flesh (or just sharpen the texture), and in the black inlay panels on the chest armour.
The paint chips on the armour also look blurry - don't be shy in getting the sharpen tool in there.
Rick: Thanks for the awesome suggestions! I'll get to work on those areas. Right now I'm not using ZBrush. I painted the details for his belt pouches and used the PS plugin to generate normal map details. I'll see what I can do about the blurry paint chips. I have tried a couple things already, but I'm going to make sure that gets resolved before I'm done.