I have a couple days of free time so Ive decided to take another shot at character modeling. So far I have a rough base and Im getting ready to start sculpting!
Well, what are you planning on sculpting. I normally save sculpting for cloth and organics. So, all you have is a bit of the face showing and the red robe thing.
I think you should do the majority of your hard surface detailing in your modeling application. That's what I would do at least. I look forward to seeing what you do here.
BradMyers82: As far as sculpting I want to engrave the breast plate, side leg plates, and shoulders, but I think adding that as a bump map on the high poly then baking that into the normal and diffuse map would be much easier. I guess Ill just touch up the face a bit and call the sculpting done.
killingpeople: How do you know its not a chick? There could be all sorts of things hiding under that armor.
Changes Im considering:
- I may have overdone the rivets on the feet and crotch plate.
- Llooks too symmetrical. Im thinking about redesigning one of the shoulder pads.
- Weapon looks boring, but I may be able to fix that with textures.
The reason I was going to use a bump map is that I was planning something more along the lines of this http://flickr.com/photos/xylonets/1213459157/sizes/o/ for the engraving. But seeing that panda again has me inspired!
Just to make sure that I have a handle on the work flow for that sort of engraving, Id first trace out the pattern in polygons, retopo it onto the highpoly, then extrude and sculpt to add the details? I guess Ill play around with it a little bit and see if I can figure something out.
The engraving is mostly worked out (at least the technique, not sure if Im in love with the design yet). Blender does not have the skin modifier that Squirrely used, but I believe I was able to get the desired effect using the shrinkwrap modifier on three levels of vertex groups. Ive included a picture of the modifier stack just in case anyone is interested.
Coming along nicely!
The details you added on the high poly don't look subdivided. If you want to get a nice effect with the normal map (Like I mentioned Squirrely Jones had), its going to have to be more than a fancy looking extrusion. By this I mean, the details you added are all flat surfaces, like extrusions. You could hypothetically get the same results using nvidias normal map filter in photoshop.
I suggest you look up some references of armor detailing, and try to mimic it. Get nice details going which you subdivide and then you'll get the gradient affect in your normals that your after.
So Keep going!
Replies
2) reference
3) z brush
These will help make your character really stand out. Other than that, I'd say you have a solid base to work from
I think you should do the majority of your hard surface detailing in your modeling application. That's what I would do at least. I look forward to seeing what you do here.
BradMyers82: As far as sculpting I want to engrave the breast plate, side leg plates, and shoulders, but I think adding that as a bump map on the high poly then baking that into the normal and diffuse map would be much easier. I guess Ill just touch up the face a bit and call the sculpting done.
killingpeople: How do you know its not a chick? There could be all sorts of things hiding under that armor.
Changes Im considering:
- I may have overdone the rivets on the feet and crotch plate.
- Llooks too symmetrical. Im thinking about redesigning one of the shoulder pads.
- Weapon looks boring, but I may be able to fix that with textures.
That's what Squirrely Jones did in last years dominance war: http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/events/3/team2/preview_finals_1_1876.html
Anyways, nothing wrong with doing it the way you plan. Get after it!!
The reason I was going to use a bump map is that I was planning something more along the lines of this http://flickr.com/photos/xylonets/1213459157/sizes/o/ for the engraving. But seeing that panda again has me inspired!
Just to make sure that I have a handle on the work flow for that sort of engraving, Id first trace out the pattern in polygons, retopo it onto the highpoly, then extrude and sculpt to add the details? I guess Ill play around with it a little bit and see if I can figure something out.
I dug up last years dominance war WIP thread. He explains everything around page 3 or 4.
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=52149
Good luck!
The details you added on the high poly don't look subdivided. If you want to get a nice effect with the normal map (Like I mentioned Squirrely Jones had), its going to have to be more than a fancy looking extrusion. By this I mean, the details you added are all flat surfaces, like extrusions. You could hypothetically get the same results using nvidias normal map filter in photoshop.
I suggest you look up some references of armor detailing, and try to mimic it. Get nice details going which you subdivide and then you'll get the gradient affect in your normals that your after.
So Keep going!