Female Game character from the ground up

Helixx

Well I decide to make a thread for this WIP so that people could give me some feedback on my progress instead of just being a blip on the WAYWO thread. I decided to create this as a basemesh that I can go back and use for other similar projects. The ears are easily adjusted to be normal human ears. Anyway, my plan is to make this character from the ground up with all the layers built as well. To many times have I seen poor textured nude/semi nude models in game when you remove armor. My goal is to make a model that looks good even down to her skimpies. I'm also going to be trying some new techniques for baking normals and stuff.

At the moment her hair looks strange because I'm planning on using planes and alphas to top the cone type things on top of her head and to end the braid. Without further ado.. here's a pic of her so far. Please feel free to post or PM me advice, crits, questions.

pangarang

I'm unfamiliar with starting a character in Z Brush - personally i just build a low poly model in Maya and export to Z brush and sculpt away. ANYWAY, this is about your work, lol.

The body is awesome but what really strikes me is how mannish the face is. Round off the jaw and cheeks, plump up those lips - raise them a little too, and enlarge those eyes to capitalize on her femininity. There's something about the trapezius/collarbone/deltoid area that's bothering me. But i can't quite put my finger on it ...

But otherwise, looking really impressive. I like it. Can't wait to see some armor on her!

Helixx

Hey pangarang, thanks for the comments. I'm still working on the face.. my women faces always look too manish and I'll work on it some tonight and post some updates soon. Sorry if i mislead you about my process. I modeled the low poly basemesh in Max first, then brought it into zbrush. Here's a shot in zbrush of the low poly basemesh.

Helixx

Update on the face and hair. Hoping it's looking a bit more feminine.

Mark Dygert

Looking great, I like the detail you've packed into the hair.

Crits:
- Her upper lip hangs too far over the lower lip toward the corners of the mouth.
- The clothing needs to hang like clothing. Right now it looks like you painted the edges of the clothing but didn't take into account how cloth hangs and stretches.
- The eyeballs might be too small for the eye holes.
- The hairline going around/above the ears looks pretty high.

Keep at it, you've got a really good start!

Ride

Nice start!

I'd move her lower jaw inwards, quite a bit. And make it alittle bit smaller / feminine.
And her buttocks could be alittle wider

Other than that, a great model!

Btw, first post. Yay me!

Helixx

Thanks for the replies, working on the lowpoly(for normal baking) in max at the moment. Decided to give normal baking in Max a try. I used to just use zmapper to create my normals but it seems like the more i read, the more people are using the software they use to render, to make the normals. It's not that I've had problems with zmapper or anything, I'm just experimenting to expand my knowledge. Anyway, I'm still working on the details of the sculpt and appreciate the comments. Doing a bit more work on the way the garments sit and still trying to tweak the face. I think I just need more practice with faces .
Hope to have something to show after tomorrow.

Helixx

Alright so my experience with baking in max was a little rollercoasterish.. I got angry, I was content for a bit, then I got frustrated, but now I'm pretty happy with the way it's working out. With a little help from Christian I got my first max bake to look decent. I still need to tweak out the low poly to take into account the eyeballs and utilize the uv space a bit better to maximize detail but this is a step in the right direction and I couldn't wait to show someone my result hehe.
Hopefully the next post you see from me will be a finalized normal map on my lowpoly mesh and maybe some planes where the additional hair pieces are gonna be.

Helixx

Started doing some texture work after I got the bake done to my satisfaction. Hoping to have this portion of the model done by the end of the week. I've roughed out some hair planes but those haven't even been unwrapped yet, however I did leave room for them on my uv layout. The current specular is just a max default spec raised to 94 specular, 34 gloss for now until I make my specular map. So far so good I think... Lighting rig is just a temporary one while I work(got it from Vig's old newb lighting post). Anyway, let me know if it's moving in the right direction.
Cheers.

System

Nice looking model Helixx, she looks very fit, the textures are working out well:cool:

My only crit would be in the face, the brow ridges look slightly too prounounced and the forehead is a bit too flat, just makes her look a tad manly. Another thing that struck me as of your previous posts to this latest one is the eye recession seems too shallow but here it looks fine. Just wondering, is that due to the shading alone or did you alter this?

Helixx

Well now that I have the baking working the way I want it to I've decided to start sculpting the armor and the clothes that make up the rest of her outfit. Here's where I'm at so far.. only get to work a couple hours a night so it's taking awhile longer then I had planned. Hope to do a good chunk this weekend.

TheSplash

I like the direction this is going, the clothes and body are looking really nice.
Are you happy with the face? The jaw is quite wide and pronounced for a woman.

pangarang

I'm gonna leave the face alone, it looks like you've been picked on enough about it, lol. But yeah, very nice details on the armor. One thing you didn't mention - or i may have glazed over it - what era is this woman supposed to be in? Are we ever gonna see her bra or panties?

I don't mean this in a perverted sense, but her underwear is looking really modern. Like skimpier version of what women wear in yoga classes or something. And then you've got this intricate ancient armor on top. The two styles don't mesh well at this point. I can only assume you intend for people to see her underwear otherwise you wouldn't have sculpted them in such nice detail. If this is the case, I think better make the era more consistent.

Jaco

Nice. The hands look a bit small maybe, and the wrists very thin?

Helixx

Thanks for all the comments guys, decided to dedicate tonight to fixing her face. About the undergarments, well... it was fun to make but we'll see what happens.

Johan Carlsson

I like the detail you've put on the shinguards or whatever you'd call them. But what I don't like are the shoes. They just look like soft and nice shoes you'd put on for every day use and just put a piece of something underneath it. Maybe add some more interesting shapes to them and not just round them off at the front and back. Or maybe put some leatherish armor bits on them too, perhaps.

Other than that, I can't wait too see her face fixed and the finished highpoly/lowpoly Looks like it can really turn out to be something cool

Helixx

Here's the latest shot of the lowpoly with the baked normals applied. Looking pretty much what I wanted, now to make the rest of the hair and the accessories and texture the whole lot.

Ruz

the most obvious thing is the lips. they are very thin and un femnine, like she is pursing her lips or something.
coming along nice though