Svelta game character WIP

rdramsay1121

Hey guys, it's been awhile since I last posted - my last WIP was a generic female hero mesh I made for future projects. Well, that mesh has matured into a character, comments and suggestions welcome!

Summary
Count: 6621
Textures: Color, Normal, Spec, Glow/SSS, Gloss
Fully rigged
Normal maps generated in Zbrush / Zmapper
Rendered in Maya mental ray using JS Normal Mapper w/ very simple directional lights (no FG, multi-pass composites, etc)

(Initial concept art if anybody is interested: http://www.richardhirata.com/1211svelta3.jpg)

Here are the pics:



Beauty


Color Pass


Detail 1


Detail 2


Detail 3


Face Detail


Wire Pass 1


Wire Pass 2


Textures

Thanks for viewing!

jlewis

i have a pair of boots exactly like those.

rdramsay1121

jlewis wrote: »

i have a pair of boots exactly like those.

And I thought I was the only one, heh

vik

Cool stuff bud, I like it. Here is my take on what could be improved>

Proportions are nice, arms may be just a bit short. Stomach area, llips and butt could use some more work.

Butt needs to be bigger and show some weight (crease), lips dont flow with the rest of the face, they look like they were just glued on top it.

Eyes are too white you could add some veins. Shoulder area needs some more edges the silhouette is too blocky in that region. Specular is too strong on the leather.

I like the skin texture and shader, if you could fake a similar SSS effect in a realtime render that would be even better (not many games use mental ray...:) But if you go with MR add some negative light in the nostrils. FInally, the diffuse contains a bit too much shading information(blacks, highlights) which should be avoided.

Just my 2 pence anyway, all in all nice work :thumbup:

vj_box

i have a weird feeling about her silhouette. just take care of that shoulder area.
vj

rdramsay1121

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback. I'll see what I can do on the parts people mentioned.

vik

Proportions are nice, arms may be just a bit short. Stomach area, llips and butt could use some more work.

The arms were slightly bent to do that "ballerina" type of pose, although now that you mentioned it, they do seem a bit short. I got your advice on her rear - though I didn't get what you mentioned by the stomach (edge flow or normals?)

By the lips, did you mean I should dip the edges of the lips and give more volume to the area surrounding it? I've been wanting to tweak that area- somehow I think the face is not as compelling quite yet (I don't know if its the lips that's holding it back)

thanks again for the feedback - will post revisions soon!

dolemite

I need crack...

vik

rdramsay1121 wrote: »

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback. I'll see what I can do on the parts people mentioned.

By the lips, did you mean I should dip the edges of the lips and give more volume to the area surrounding it? I've been wanting to tweak that area- somehow I think the face is not as compelling quite yet (I don't know if its the lips that's holding it back)

Yes thats what I meant. I think lips are very important on (female) characters but are hard to get right. Loads of detail, many planes and the smallest change can make a big impact on the character. Using ref is also important. (Take a look at these http://i43.tinypic.com/2mpbslk.jpg)

I feel the stomach looks a bit inorganic and sharp. And I already mentioned the butt. (for that look up reference yourself )

rdramsay1121

Hey Vik, thanks for those refs, I've been looking for good lip references and that seems to be the best one so far.

As for her midriff / stomach, I went for the "comic heroine babe washboard" look so that maybe the reason for the sharpness. Will try to work that out.

I've been tweaking her rear end using refs - had no problem finding those, heh

Wendy de Boer

rdramsay1121 wrote: »

The arms were slightly bent to do that "ballerina" type of pose, although now that you mentioned it, they do seem a bit short.

Arm lenght appears fine to me, I think the problem is that they taper too much into too-thin wrists, with too small hands that are too flimsy. One thing you didn't capture is the ball of the thumb. I would recommend that you model the thumb at a natural angle, and not flat like you have. If you model the hand flat, you won't be able to capture its volumes properly.

Japhir

looks pretty cool!
imo the arm length is perfectly fine, but the shoulder with is creepy. waaay too wide.

woogity

hey i think the reason that the wrist looks strange is because the thumb is coming out of the hand too close to the fingers which is irreguarly elongating the flex area of the wrist. i like the overal design and the model is nice, but anatomy could use some tweaking in a few areas. overall nice looking piece tho rdramsay.


-woog

Josh_Singh

I actually think she looks better without the normal and spec turned on.

Ged

Josh_Singh wrote: »

I actually think she looks better without the normal and spec turned on.

I agree, maybe its just the style of character but it looks much easier on the eyes without the normal map to me.

rdramsay1121

Josh_Singh wrote: »

I actually think she looks better without the normal and spec turned on.

I suppose the color pass feels softer and comic styled (I usually spend extra time on the color map). But I was intending this to be my next-gen piece... I think I ought to render it differently (e.g. give her a softer look)

thanks for the suggestions!

rdramsay1121

Japhir wrote: »

looks pretty cool!
imo the arm length is perfectly fine, but the shoulder with is creepy. waaay too wide.

Really? Is it the hard angles maybe? I did measure and compare to references and they seemed ok, although I do admit they are rather broad for a female (heroic type anatomy - is that losing her feminine appeal?)

rdramsay1121

Hey guys, I've been tweaking a few more areas on the character, and I have some screens to show you. Main areas to note are her thumb, face, butt, and improved SSS map. The render's been tweaked a bit as well but overall remains the same (simple lights).

Still working out the face and midriff; can't seem to get just the right amount of detail without overdoing it. I did tweak the mesh as well so she has 20 or so extra tris now.

Again, appreciate comments and suggestions!



Beauty


Detail


Face

Ged

looks alot better to me, less shiny and lumpy

rdramsay1121

Ok, here we go, tweaked her a bit more after getting some help for ya guys, enjoy

(Thanks for all your crits and comments!)

Beauty


Detail 1


Detail 2


Wire 1


Wire 2


Tex