Never built a rig before, complete w/ controllers.. I found a good book that i believe taught me some good basics.. I can now start the changes in the mesh.. then start skinning
hehe thanks KP.. yeah, I like what I have too.. but some people here have valid design points.. for instance, Jakelere is right about the position of the spines.. they would be pointed and swooped down to make rolls, sonic spins, and the rolling bounce attacks look more accurate in game.. my design would be more like Super Sonics.. dont get me wrong tho, I like my design purely for shape of the silhouette, and the colors.. I know it's Sonic because I built him.. but if it's not reading like Sonic to others, then I guess I have some problems to fix
there is absolutely no mistaking who this is meant to be. it can read as nothing other than a version of sonic. it's down to just a matter of personal taste.
the only things that really bothers me in your design are his eyes. that solid slimer green just looks bad with the rest of him. it also looks as if his pupils are actually over his eyebrows a tad. I can't help but stare at them!
It's moving in a direction now - you just need a cohesive style, right now you've got reasonably anatomically correct hands with giant anime style eyes. Either go for realism all over, with a more convincing facial structure to match the style of the hands, or fatten and shorten the fingers to make them more cartoony like the face.
His eyes don't seem like they are eyeballs at the moment. They look like they are just painted on his face which is giving them a weird mask/creepy look.
I think your best bet would be to cut holes where the eyes are and put spheres in so they aren't just textured to the skull. Also this would give him a much needed eye sockets and brow line.
There is a lot of other things with the style and direction of him that need to be re-thought, but I think everyone else has been commenting on that enough already.
a little more progress today.. made a number of changes to the face itself.. the spines, the actual geo of the eyes, and over all hair style.. not too much w/ the texture just yet. but more to come..
my design isnt too much different than this.. other than him looking more anatomical.. but i could definitely change the color of his hair.. i donno tho.. i still really like this sky or turquoise coloer i'm getting.. i'll play w/ the color change tho.. Sephiero's paint over looked pretty nice
Big update tonight.. made a lot of changes to the fur, hands, and facial features.. and added a little grunge to the boots... heh.. found a new fur color that i think i like. it was a happy accident that occurred tonight that i think fits well w/ with the side of Sonic i'm trying to sell.. initially i was going for the post that Sephiero made a while back, but this is what i ended up with.. lots of areas to fix yet here.. the eyes especially.. and i'm still getting issues w/ my smoothing groups.. u can see it up on the top middle fin on Sonic's head
anyways.. i think i'm getting there.. figuring out how the eyes actually work.. if they worked in real life... they've been a bit of a challenge for this project.. i think the pic of the rendered sonic i posted actually has one huge eyeball that has two pupils that move independently from the eyeball itself.. keeping the white of the eye perfectly rounded, while the two pupils glide across the white.. i donno.. but i dont think what i have could work, or else i just delete the geo, make an eyeball with it's own material and work the rest of the face from there
also, been reading up on real-time shaders.. i'm no coder by a long shot.. the two ideas that i came up w/, with the help from Kovac was either i build up the hair in a volumeteric fashion, or just make hair planes, and scatter them around.. however.. the problem with either of these options, would negate my normals..
i like the way i have my model now, but i feel like hair planes would push it further.. any suggestions? crits/ comments welcome.. thanks
Color on his fur looks a little flat though, any way you could do some gradient overlays to make his spikes lighter or darker at the tips? Maybe do the same for the bottem of the legs too.
Also the top of his head looks a little flat, would be nice to see that top spike be a little more prominent from a head on view.
i think the colour is quite important to him actually being sonic, as alot of the other crap characters in his universe are just coloured versions of him with slightly different accesories, so to me this isnt sonic its his off the rails brother, or pervy uncle.
plus you have alot of shading issues with the normal map.
one eyyeeeeee, one eeeeeeeyyyyeeeeeeee, one eeeeeeyyyyyyeeeeee.
Just like the orphans on Futurama say, I think he'd look stellar with one eye; like his predecessors and the posted image above!
I love those shoes very much, oh yes.
haha, GugloPWN Oil Ocean was one of my favorite zones in Sonic 2.. actually because it lead up to Metropolis Zone which i liked even better!.. i'll keep ur comment in mind and perhaps brighten up the color a bit.. plus the color variation and highlights.. Cant be Shadow tho, because Shadow is all black with red stripes, and white patches going through him.. however.. this mid-night blue color could work for him, i think.. i'll have to post a pick, but i found my original box from generation 1 Sega Genesis, and it was a Sonic Pack. So it had a picture of Sonic, w/ about the same color blue on his fur.. i'm still playing with the fur a bit, to see if it all comes together.. thanks for the commets all.. you've been a great help
another update.. fixed a bunch of stuff.. my smooth groups!!!! turns out the UV's were being a little funky.. but now they work properly for the engine.. grunged up the boots a bit more, more bare skin color variation, and more variation in the fur...
the eyes still need work, and there are some wicked seams now.. hopefully zbrush wont be a bitch every time i use the projection master to fix my seams.. we'll see how it goes tomorrow.. er.. later today.. after i've slept.. i'm still up and it's 6am..
i think what JohnnySix posted makes a huuuge difference
that's something i wouldn't have thought of, but it really makes it work so much more, in my eyes, at least.
cause the fur in the eyes would need him to always wipe the hairs off his eyes. i think that paintover gives the eyes area a much more distinctive look. i'd definately go for it
I agree with JohnnySix's little change. It really ads a lot more life and drama to the face. that and the hair resting on Sonic's eyes just looks painful in the original shot.
This is an amazing concept and it's a direction I never imagined sonic going before. The dark fur, muscular redesign and all the other subtle little changes brings back the attitude that sonic of late has been without. I'd love to see the official games going this direction but I guess the best I can hope for is you putting this in a game (a side scrolling game devoid of werehogs)
Great concept. Reading this thread and watching him evolve was very interesting. Also, stoner sonic... priceless
ah johnny that's a good point.. I think I tried reducing the hair around his eye-lids a few days ago.. today I finished his skinning... this is my first time skinning anything proper.. so I did the best I could
as fast as fast can be.. ya cant catch me, mutha fucka
yeah, Whats_true.. i know.. i've had that issue since day 1.. an i tried painting it out of the normals and looking over my texture to find issues there too.. perhaps it's the lighting
It is the lighting, you need more fill light. The underside of his mouth, the bottom of his shoe and his general right side is too dark. You could use a rim light too. Are you familiar with the 3-point light setup?
Replies
the only things that really bothers me in your design are his eyes. that solid slimer green just looks bad with the rest of him. it also looks as if his pupils are actually over his eyebrows a tad. I can't help but stare at them!
interesting direction!
I think your best bet would be to cut holes where the eyes are and put spheres in so they aren't just textured to the skull. Also this would give him a much needed eye sockets and brow line.
There is a lot of other things with the style and direction of him that need to be re-thought, but I think everyone else has been commenting on that enough already.
my design isnt too much different than this.. other than him looking more anatomical.. but i could definitely change the color of his hair.. i donno tho.. i still really like this sky or turquoise coloer i'm getting.. i'll play w/ the color change tho.. Sephiero's paint over looked pretty nice
That is the funniest thing I've ever seen.
anyways.. i think i'm getting there.. figuring out how the eyes actually work.. if they worked in real life... they've been a bit of a challenge for this project.. i think the pic of the rendered sonic i posted actually has one huge eyeball that has two pupils that move independently from the eyeball itself.. keeping the white of the eye perfectly rounded, while the two pupils glide across the white.. i donno.. but i dont think what i have could work, or else i just delete the geo, make an eyeball with it's own material and work the rest of the face from there
also, been reading up on real-time shaders.. i'm no coder by a long shot.. the two ideas that i came up w/, with the help from Kovac was either i build up the hair in a volumeteric fashion, or just make hair planes, and scatter them around.. however.. the problem with either of these options, would negate my normals..
i like the way i have my model now, but i feel like hair planes would push it further.. any suggestions? crits/ comments welcome.. thanks
Color on his fur looks a little flat though, any way you could do some gradient overlays to make his spikes lighter or darker at the tips? Maybe do the same for the bottem of the legs too.
Also the top of his head looks a little flat, would be nice to see that top spike be a little more prominent from a head on view.
Coming along great!
plus you have alot of shading issues with the normal map.
keep going on this, I think if you add a few more subtle details it will be a pretty solid character.
Just like the orphans on Futurama say, I think he'd look stellar with one eye; like his predecessors and the posted image above!
I love those shoes very much, oh yes.
http://www.kombo.com/article.php?artid=10303
and i couldn't help myself:
[ame]
matches the darker tone your piece has
the eyes still need work, and there are some wicked seams now.. hopefully zbrush wont be a bitch every time i use the projection master to fix my seams.. we'll see how it goes tomorrow.. er.. later today.. after i've slept.. i'm still up and it's 6am..
here's the progress
Also he shouldn't have fur on the rims of his eyes, should just be skin for his eyelids.
Here's a really messy, cross-eyed paintover of what I mean :
that's something i wouldn't have thought of, but it really makes it work so much more, in my eyes, at least.
cause the fur in the eyes would need him to always wipe the hairs off his eyes. i think that paintover gives the eyes area a much more distinctive look. i'd definately go for it
This is an amazing concept and it's a direction I never imagined sonic going before. The dark fur, muscular redesign and all the other subtle little changes brings back the attitude that sonic of late has been without. I'd love to see the official games going this direction but I guess the best I can hope for is you putting this in a game (a side scrolling game devoid of werehogs)
Great concept. Reading this thread and watching him evolve was very interesting. Also, stoner sonic... priceless
as fast as fast can be.. ya cant catch me, mutha fucka
I like the ring.
I use blender so I'm not sure how max's rigging works but it should be an easy tweak.
I really love this project. Are you going to release the model? I'd love to render a nice spritesheet with this guy and/or see him in a game!