Goblin for small dungeon crawler release

Tamarin

Hey all,

Just started a new character for an independent game. It's supposed to be a goblin. I haven't sorted out the loin cloth/ garment yet.

concept:
WIP:
***image removed***


The muscles might be funky because I have never done much character modeling or taken the whole muscle thing seriously. I might actuaally finish this one!
Let me know what you think.

Baddcog

He's pretty cool overall. For 1,000 polys you could probably go with a 256x256 tex but it depends on what specs you're working with. The older games I've moded for used 256 on models around 1000-1500 tris.

Probably wouldn't hurt to 'get serious' about muscles. Do a little anatomy study. Back muscles don't look like that at all, his rib cage should come up in the middle front.

You probably want to add anothe rtorso segment under the ribs. His torso is short and it will twist better.
I think torso lenght is main problem with model.
I looks alot like pic but in pic he is hunched over giving appearance of short torso.

He's very bow legged, the thighs should be rounder, the outside of them is good but the inside is missing.

nipples should be solid color not outlines.

What'cha gonna do about hair? alpha map?

Back of heels should roll up, not point into ground. Pull those 2 verts up a bit and it'll be good. Big toe maybe a little too big, rest of toes too small.

I like him though, would like to see pic without wires.

Tamarin

This is why I love polycount. All of your suggestions are spot on. Thanks.
I think the biggest thing was the hunched over aspect of the upper body that I missed.
I didn't add another torso loop but I will if there is trouble animating.
Hair will be alpha mapped.
The whole muscle thing I'm learning. I actually worked from a reference back drawing for those back muscles but I agree they still need work. The diffuse is about 50% complete so its going to change.

Here is a pic without wire.
***image removed***

Michael Knubben

The texture has very little colour identity because you've shaded with black and white, and it's doing a very poor job describing the material. I take it you used dodge/burn on parts? While I wouldn't discount it completely, it's rarely a good choice of tool. I'd suggest just laying down a dark colour (dark green, brown, whichever undertone you want) and painting the big shapes (muscle-groups etc) as big blobs, for placement, and then shade those with a handpicked lighter shade, taking into account the sort of light there'll be on him. One nice things for the shadows is to give them a bit of colour from the ground, as if light bounced off the ground and onto the creature. I could upload the psd for my latest texture if you like, so you can have a look? I don't claim to be an expert, but it's always nice to take a look at how other people build up their stuff.
What game will this be going into? Will it be a free dungeon crawler?

Finally, you could also shave off some detail in the ears, forehead and feet, I reckon. I suggest leaving quads as quads untill you're ready to export, at which point I'd fix the triangulation. It gets a bit hard to work with triangulated meshes, I think. Someone else might suggest the opposite for other reasons thoguh, so if you've got reasons to work this way, that's good.

Tamarin

You nailed it. Its a black and white painting with a green soft light. I'm going to try the approach that you describe. The idea here is to learn something.

I've actually just started working with a programmer and this project is in its infancy. The idea behind it was to add some legitimacy to what I am working on. The project might be completed at some point in time and released as a free game.

Baddcog

Looking better.

I still think the hunch is wrong. It looks more like you just moved the top of body foward, I'd suggest rotating it slightly foward s othe lower portin of back goes straight up from hip, then angle forward to bottom of shoulder blade, then anlges foward at shoulder blades like you have already.

So the back is arched and the stomache is concave. You'll probably have to bring the neck up a bit more to adjust, it's almost too far foward as is.

I really like how the eyes are so sunk in.

I think you are doint the tex the right way. a green layer overlayed on black and white?
What I would do though (after all details are layed out-keep working just like you are) is to adjust the contrast of the black and white so it's not as strong. That will minimze the white adn black while still keeping the depth.
When the details are done go back to the green layer and add touches of brown, ect...

Hard to say without seeing you UV layout and you might not want to change that but there are a few ugly seams. I know it's WIP, but there are a few seams you could hide better.
Mainly the brow line. I'd make the enntire front of head one piece and put the seam behind the ears, there's not alot of detail there so it would be easier to match up and it will be behind ears and harder to see.
Right now you are trying to paint facial details in 2 spots and it's gonna be almost imposible to get those lines to run smooth across that area.

I'd also get rid of the strong line curving around the hand between thumb and fingers, let the polys describe the fingers/thumb.

I like the underroos, I say keep em

pliang

For the skin...add some leprosy

Steve Schulze

He's mighty unhealthy looking. I suppose he's what one would expct a goblin thats been locked in a dungeon for years to look like, but I can't imagine he'll be much of a threat to the player.

With regards to the colour, you're far better to use a gradient map on an adjustment layer than trying to overlay a single colour. You access the adjustment layers from the black and white circle button at the bottom of the layer window. From there its just a matter of tweaking the gradient until you get something you're happy with and going in for a touch up afterwards.

Tamarin

I'm reworking the texture from a dark base. I think I like this better. I also set the seam behind the ear as suggested. Thanks again for the crits.
***image removed***

Tamarin

Had some more time to work on this today. Still a WIP.

Baddcog

Nice, getting some good details in there.

Tamarin

Ok,

Back at it again today. At this rate the game will be released in 2020. I've spent most of my time looking at muscle bound men to try and learn the human muscles. My wife thinks I'm going gay. I could always just look in the mirror...

Oh yeah, the texture is 512x512 and I've added an additional 256x256 for hair and clothes. Diffuse only, and the 256 has an alpha.

Baddcog

Major improvement on the rib cage.

His eyes look to kind though, the concept looks really mean.

Slum

I really like some of the colors you're using. The rendering of the muscles could use a lot of work though. You're painting them with highlights at the edges, making each muscle seem very very flat, almost like rocks stacked laid on top of each other.

I like to look at some of the older works of people like dH and bobo for good reference for painting solid musculature.

here's a really good piece to illustrate what I mean about your muscles looking very flat.

http://www.bobotheseal.com/personal_work/textures/bunker-final.jpg

Michael Knubben

You're definately improving with your colour-choices, I'm quite liking those. Slum makes a very good point though. It's starting to look like a patchwork of thick pieces of material rather than muscles. I'd also show some more bony-ness in the material. The muscular texture is at odds with the mesh at a few points. You've improved a lot though, so keep going! If anything, keep all of this in mind for a next model if you don't want to take this one much further. I also agree with the comment about the eyes being too kindly, by the way. He looks like a gentle old man in his face.

Tamarin

Ok,

I'm at the point now where I want to start rigging. Thanks to everyone for their help. I know its not perfect but I feel like I've learned some new things.

***edit***
I moved the image to the first post