Ye the armor is although really nicely rendered , the shapes seem very human and designed rather than formed or evolved.Sorry took so long to reply i couldn't remember your name but the image!
Thank you for your feedback, I am really appreciating the development of this character.
The orange spots indicate a type of organic demon sinew that will hold his hell-forged-metal plates together, and also sprawls a little bit over the surface.
1. I am struggling a bit with his legs and bicep design. Any suggestions? I want to keep his legs heavy set, and both regions armored. A brief paint over would bring joy.
2. We can discuss this more later, but I have never actually modeled a skull before and I think that the screaming skull plays an important role in the disposition of this character. Does anyone have any insight into getting the dimensions perfect for the cranium and mandible? (Consider that I will attempt to illuminate him from the inside as well, and perhaps we can discuss solutions to this too)
Triangle count a little high, I think I'll continue modeling and go back to optimize a bit more once I see the character silhouette near completion. Many tris are being used up in the teeth, anyone have a technique for low poly teeth?
Maybe somebody could point out some adjustments to be made to this mesh, or have a suggestion regarding the direction of this character.
You can make the front teeth simple planes with alpha and a open box for the back teeth ... these are 40 tris:
don't know what your planning (or what your usual workflow is) but if you want to use normalmaps then I wouldn't care about the polycount yet... make a highpoly with as much polys as you want and then mke a fresh lowpoly to bake it on...
OK cool, just a few more adjustments and then time to fix proportions in ZBrush.
Any suggestions regarding proportions?
I appreciate everyone's encouragement, thank you!
Anyone have any final ideas to add or alter on this character? I am almost thinking of swapping out the skull for a face and upgrade this abomination to a demon prince! Raarrr!
boucn beat me to it but yeah its definately very short looking. And i Dont know how large you want the skull by comparison but as is its pretty damn huge heh. You could probably go as far as doubling the length of the legs and elongating the arms a bit for a more knightly (8 head?) sorta size?
What is the best way to mirror sub tools in Zbrush? Can I paint one and see the mirrored duplicate update in real time? Or should I mirror at the end of sculpting phase?
I think I am going to take some time to make the face on the boot look a bit more contorted and tugged on by the sinews. Maybe wrap them around the boot like straps.
Also thinking of spreading some of the red sinewy fibers up to the mandible and cranium and pulling the jaw a bit crooked.
Face on the glove: Metal or Organic?
*Same question for the shoulder piece, should I make some of those parts organic looking as opposed to metallic?
notebookguy: I am feeling what you mean, my 3d technique is a bit too sloppy for my own good. The tools aren't really transparent to me yet, but I will make some more attempts to re-acquire the feel of the concept. Thanks for the advice.
hey man. i would say SLOW DOWN. you are bum rushing this character at the moment. you are putting in details when the bigger shapes arent flushed out yet. right now it is like a base mesh that someone scribbled on with a one pixel brush. just slow down...one step at a time. you have over a month still.
ok, so. shoulder piece, dope looking so far. i would say keep that piece in mind when doing the rest of it. chest vag mouth thingy- the tentacles coming out of it could be pushed a lot more. look at some carlos huante or something. those things should be plentiful and gross. i would even say go as far as having them coming out of EVERY orifice.
honestly, i would say start the rest of the armor over and really look at your drawing when sculpting. you have some good ideas in the concept
Decided to ditch a bit of the previous look, it just wasn't working for me. Still thinking of ways to detail the gloves and leg armor.
Also considering taking a break and making the weapon / worms in the stomach next.
Thinking of going asymmetrical too. Perhaps the weapon will be an extension of his arm as opposed to a hand held device. That way I could make one of the biceps an opaque tube, and the worms could be seen crawling through it and loading themselves into the chamber of the cannon. Grimey
is your characters supposed to be short or something? that why he looking up all the time? cause plus right now for how he is built. He appears to be really short. It all looks great though! keep up the good work.
This abomination consists of gnarling, loathsome, voracious flesh eating worms tangled throughout a skeleton. A demonic curse holds them together through the tortured soul of a fallen warrior, however the curse grants no magical abilities and is in fact oppressive by nature. It compels the soul to become a tormented, ruthless savage.
Where his blade slashes opponents open, the cannon will launch a couple chittering larva into the wound. They quickly burrow and feast towards distinctly pulsing vital organs such as the lungs, the heart, and often the brain. Their saliva contains a neurotoxin which immediately begins to reverse the victims blood circulation. Many living creatures painfully asphyxiate within a matter of moments, permitting the worms to devour the recently dead flesh. But in the circumstance that an antidote to the toxin can be hastily provided, the worms will still resist extraction and have been known to burrow deeper into vital organs to avoid removal. Their ultimate cause is to remain with the corpse until the flesh is consumed. By announcing the blasphemy of a mortal soul, a powerful demon could perhaps enslave and animate the new skeleton and continue the curse through a rapidly developing new generation of clustering worms. The demonic curse is rumored to be that of the flesh and blood; perhaps there is little evidence of this abomination affecting the robotic machines.
Hello, everybody! My sculpt is nearing the completion phase - I need to check in before I go much further.
I am planning to design the arms as gnarled worms, maybe some are crawling onto the gun to load themselves into the chamber. There will also be some worms spiraling up to support the skull where a spine should be. Worms will also be pouring out of the hole in the stomach.
Should I make some worms in the mouth too? Where would you like to see more worms?
The cape will probably be made out of studded leather with spikes or demonic runes in the pieces. Or I might make it out of stitched faces in agony - with their eyes sewn shut of course.
Ball is still rolling, I like your ideas too! Thanks for everyone's support!
No feedback yet? Lemme hear it! I don't mind if your criticism is cruel and unusual, just as long as its constructive!
Well, regarding another curiosity -
I saw the thread on rendering and beauty shots - I am a bit inexperienced with rendering in 3DS Max. Does anyone have any recommendations for shaders or settings? I've heard of Mental Ray, does anyone have a good online tutorial or advice on how to use it?
Perhaps there is another rendering software of choice for people to use? What have people used to render beauty shots for previous Dom wars? Do we know how Imrod or Bigun were rendered? They sure turned out nice!
Thanks all, would appreciate any feedback as I am taking a step back from my submission until later this weekend.
Well, I really like the overall design and the detail. The skulls and bones in the armour have a strong design, my favourite parts are the shoulder pads, they look great. The thing is, I think some of the proportions and posture let it down. If you brought the chest out a little and made it a little bit rounder at the front while adding a bit more arch to his back, and give the back of the legs a more natural line (particulary around the back of the knees) it'd look a lot better, it seems too stiff right now and doesn't seem natural.
Anyway, he's looking good so far, I'm interested to see some progress on the arms.
Yes, this is the notion that I am getting too! I was wondering how to fix it, thanks for the advice - in fact my concept looks a bit more like what you described and I am going to attempt to give him some better posture as opposed to sculpted cylinder look he has right now.
I'm also thinking of lengthening the top lip a bit. I think it makes the skull look less jokester
That knife hand is throwing it off. You should keep a hand (or a handish shape?).
The blade would work better a bit below or curved like in the concept.
Also, it's hard to read at an obtuse angle, should stick with 3/4 or orthoish shots, and leave crazy shots for the end.
Probably a less noisy shader too.
But this looks cool, I think it could really shine with some tweaking and polish. Let's see it
Alright, my computer is about at the limits of what it can handle so I feel like I am ready to move onto the polishing phase and begin the low poly.
Which areas would you like to see further polished / developed? Any specific suggestions? I would greatly value any insight into sculpting technique and quality - there are a lot of honorable W.I.P.s this year and I'd love to discover some of the other artist's approaches to sculpting! Are there any tricks I should know for getting higher sub division levels? Maybe breaking a single piece up into 2 sub tools some how?
I've got to add some more poly count worms to the stomach, some worm fingers on the scythe hand, and also some little poly count worm faces peaking out of the gun barrels.
Perhaps I will engrave some glowing demonic runes into the skull. Or add some horns. The head seems simple, like it could use some interesting details or a complete make over. I know that the personality of this character could be enhanced if the face was more.. fleshy and muscular. What do you think?
Finally, I must detail the cape! It's got to be tattered, thick-leathery fabric. Anyone have any alphas to share or ideas for alphas/brushes?
Thanks for stopping by to share advice and support. You guys rock! Go polycounters, keep up the awesome work and good luck!
VERY nice man- I gotta say when I saw the first pass in z-brush I lost a little faith- but now its all been restored! that last sculpt looks really nice-
It might be cool to have some of the worms going up the blade a bit because it does seem to stop a bit abrubt.
The only thing that really takes away from the piece for me is the feet. from the side they just look really doofy. to fix it you might want to look up some snowboard boots for ref, I know your not going for a snowboard boot look entirely, but it might give you some ideas for giving the boots more form.
just looking at the now I`d bring the top of the arch down a tad, turn the toe up a bit, and bring the inside of the arch of the foot up a tad too.
Got some base color laid out and moving in with some photo reference! Any critique appreciated. Maybe some advice on render setup too. (This is just max view port render)
what's with the head change? lol, that thing is crazy looking.
You know what, this thing is really retro looking. I dunno if you'll be offended by this, but it looks like something from 1998. I dunno why, the sculpting looked pretty good, maybe its just the texture. But I think since you're here, you should totally own that look. Get some over the top colored lights, a totally funky low res (but interesting, in its own right) background/pedestal.
Replies
"skeleton trapped in a space suit"
and imagine more akin to
"other wordly asymmetrical demon armor"?
Ye the armor is although really nicely rendered , the shapes seem very human and designed rather than formed or evolved.Sorry took so long to reply i couldn't remember your name but the image!
Thank you for your feedback, I am really appreciating the development of this character.
The orange spots indicate a type of organic demon sinew that will hold his hell-forged-metal plates together, and also sprawls a little bit over the surface.
1. I am struggling a bit with his legs and bicep design. Any suggestions? I want to keep his legs heavy set, and both regions armored. A brief paint over would bring joy.
2. We can discuss this more later, but I have never actually modeled a skull before and I think that the screaming skull plays an important role in the disposition of this character. Does anyone have any insight into getting the dimensions perfect for the cranium and mandible? (Consider that I will attempt to illuminate him from the inside as well, and perhaps we can discuss solutions to this too)
thats getting pretty good!
i liked the shoulders alot, maybe you should try something similar on his knees, demon like stuff
keep working on it
starting to look pretty demony
In terms of modeling a skull , if your using Zbrush there is a tut by pixologicc (linky : http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/Tutorial:_Sculpting_A_Skull ) tadaaa
Triangle count a little high, I think I'll continue modeling and go back to optimize a bit more once I see the character silhouette near completion. Many tris are being used up in the teeth, anyone have a technique for low poly teeth?
Maybe somebody could point out some adjustments to be made to this mesh, or have a suggestion regarding the direction of this character.
Scrumpy, the ZBrush tutorial was helpful!
Thanks!
don't know what your planning (or what your usual workflow is) but if you want to use normalmaps then I wouldn't care about the polycount yet... make a highpoly with as much polys as you want and then mke a fresh lowpoly to bake it on...
[edit]
oh yeah, nice concept ... keep it up!
Still roughing out all of the shapes before adjusting sub tools in Zbrush.
Thinking of a cape to hide the back side and relieve triangle count.
Gotta tuck the bottom plates back a nudge to give that V-shape.
What are your thoughts, opinions, suggestions?
Also, I can hear my hard drive spinning like a squeaky wheel. This may be the end soon. Backing everything up!
OK cool, just a few more adjustments and then time to fix proportions in ZBrush.
Any suggestions regarding proportions?
I appreciate everyone's encouragement, thank you!
Anyone have any final ideas to add or alter on this character? I am almost thinking of swapping out the skull for a face and upgrade this abomination to a demon prince! Raarrr!
What is the best way to mirror sub tools in Zbrush? Can I paint one and see the mirrored duplicate update in real time? Or should I mirror at the end of sculpting phase?
http://www.408underground.com/index/2/POLYCOUNT.html
I think I am going to take some time to make the face on the boot look a bit more contorted and tugged on by the sinews. Maybe wrap them around the boot like straps.
Also thinking of spreading some of the red sinewy fibers up to the mandible and cranium and pulling the jaw a bit crooked.
Face on the glove: Metal or Organic?
*Same question for the shoulder piece, should I make some of those parts organic looking as opposed to metallic?
notebookguy: I am feeling what you mean, my 3d technique is a bit too sloppy for my own good. The tools aren't really transparent to me yet, but I will make some more attempts to re-acquire the feel of the concept. Thanks for the advice.
ok, so. shoulder piece, dope looking so far. i would say keep that piece in mind when doing the rest of it. chest vag mouth thingy- the tentacles coming out of it could be pushed a lot more. look at some carlos huante or something. those things should be plentiful and gross. i would even say go as far as having them coming out of EVERY orifice.
honestly, i would say start the rest of the armor over and really look at your drawing when sculpting. you have some good ideas in the concept
thanks for stopping by the thread :P
http://www.408underground.com/index/2/POLYCOUNT.html
Decided to ditch a bit of the previous look, it just wasn't working for me. Still thinking of ways to detail the gloves and leg armor.
Also considering taking a break and making the weapon / worms in the stomach next.
Thinking of going asymmetrical too. Perhaps the weapon will be an extension of his arm as opposed to a hand held device. That way I could make one of the biceps an opaque tube, and the worms could be seen crawling through it and loading themselves into the chamber of the cannon. Grimey
360 turntable
Where his blade slashes opponents open, the cannon will launch a couple chittering larva into the wound. They quickly burrow and feast towards distinctly pulsing vital organs such as the lungs, the heart, and often the brain. Their saliva contains a neurotoxin which immediately begins to reverse the victims blood circulation. Many living creatures painfully asphyxiate within a matter of moments, permitting the worms to devour the recently dead flesh. But in the circumstance that an antidote to the toxin can be hastily provided, the worms will still resist extraction and have been known to burrow deeper into vital organs to avoid removal. Their ultimate cause is to remain with the corpse until the flesh is consumed. By announcing the blasphemy of a mortal soul, a powerful demon could perhaps enslave and animate the new skeleton and continue the curse through a rapidly developing new generation of clustering worms. The demonic curse is rumored to be that of the flesh and blood; perhaps there is little evidence of this abomination affecting the robotic machines.
360 View
Hello, everybody! My sculpt is nearing the completion phase - I need to check in before I go much further.
I am planning to design the arms as gnarled worms, maybe some are crawling onto the gun to load themselves into the chamber. There will also be some worms spiraling up to support the skull where a spine should be. Worms will also be pouring out of the hole in the stomach.
Should I make some worms in the mouth too? Where would you like to see more worms?
The cape will probably be made out of studded leather with spikes or demonic runes in the pieces. Or I might make it out of stitched faces in agony - with their eyes sewn shut of course.
Ball is still rolling, I like your ideas too! Thanks for everyone's support!
Well, regarding another curiosity -
I saw the thread on rendering and beauty shots - I am a bit inexperienced with rendering in 3DS Max. Does anyone have any recommendations for shaders or settings? I've heard of Mental Ray, does anyone have a good online tutorial or advice on how to use it?
Perhaps there is another rendering software of choice for people to use? What have people used to render beauty shots for previous Dom wars? Do we know how Imrod or Bigun were rendered? They sure turned out nice!
Thanks all, would appreciate any feedback as I am taking a step back from my submission until later this weekend.
Anyway, he's looking good so far, I'm interested to see some progress on the arms.
I'm also thinking of lengthening the top lip a bit. I think it makes the skull look less jokester
The blade would work better a bit below or curved like in the concept.
Also, it's hard to read at an obtuse angle, should stick with 3/4 or orthoish shots, and leave crazy shots for the end.
Probably a less noisy shader too.
But this looks cool, I think it could really shine with some tweaking and polish. Let's see it
Alright, my computer is about at the limits of what it can handle so I feel like I am ready to move onto the polishing phase and begin the low poly.
Which areas would you like to see further polished / developed? Any specific suggestions? I would greatly value any insight into sculpting technique and quality - there are a lot of honorable W.I.P.s this year and I'd love to discover some of the other artist's approaches to sculpting! Are there any tricks I should know for getting higher sub division levels? Maybe breaking a single piece up into 2 sub tools some how?
I've got to add some more poly count worms to the stomach, some worm fingers on the scythe hand, and also some little poly count worm faces peaking out of the gun barrels.
Perhaps I will engrave some glowing demonic runes into the skull. Or add some horns. The head seems simple, like it could use some interesting details or a complete make over. I know that the personality of this character could be enhanced if the face was more.. fleshy and muscular. What do you think?
Finally, I must detail the cape! It's got to be tattered, thick-leathery fabric. Anyone have any alphas to share or ideas for alphas/brushes?
Thanks for stopping by to share advice and support. You guys rock! Go polycounters, keep up the awesome work and good luck!
It might be cool to have some of the worms going up the blade a bit because it does seem to stop a bit abrubt.
The only thing that really takes away from the piece for me is the feet. from the side they just look really doofy. to fix it you might want to look up some snowboard boots for ref, I know your not going for a snowboard boot look entirely, but it might give you some ideas for giving the boots more form.
just looking at the now I`d bring the top of the arch down a tad, turn the toe up a bit, and bring the inside of the arch of the foot up a tad too.
7 day extension no more rush
You know what, this thing is really retro looking. I dunno if you'll be offended by this, but it looks like something from 1998. I dunno why, the sculpting looked pretty good, maybe its just the texture. But I think since you're here, you should totally own that look. Get some over the top colored lights, a totally funky low res (but interesting, in its own right) background/pedestal.
Just go crazy in the awesome that was.
Make people go 'wooo' no matter what.
lol
Fun project! Thanks for everyone's input, I had a great experience