Young Genie/Gypsy Girl Model
polycounter lvl 10
This is my first time making a low poly game model. I need some suggestions. My biggest concern would be the joints area where she'll bend and if i have enough edge loops for deformation. Should I make this model all one piece, or should I break her up? Right now her shirt and torso are one piece. Her chest and neck area, hands and forearms, legs and shoes are all separate. Let me know what you think... Anybody...? Thanks!
Replies
The tri count is more important than face count. What count are you aiming for?
Completely my personal opinion, I would try taking out some of the edges in the torso, as its really dence compared to the rest of the body. And add some where the polys are long. especailly if your going to use a sculpting program.
The only reason I would break up a model is if it needs more texture space/detail.
As for the deformations of the character when you rig, I (personally) would rotate her arms to 45degree angles to her body. Otherwise you may have probelms with her shoulders when the arms are down.
You may also want to insert a loop where her elbow is. it looks like there 2 edge loops where it would be deforming, All joints should have 3 edge loops to deform nicely.
The hands look like they're 'spread eagle' you may want to rotate/tweek these to a more relaxed pose, as when you rig the fingers, and thumbs 'spread eagle' has a tendancy of making them look broken at the joints.
Hope that helped, maybe it will spark some more critque
I can see that you've tried to keep the geometry in quads, which isn't a bad idea. You can, however, lower the poly(tri)count by terminating some loops in areas that aren't going to be seen or areas that aren't going to deform(animate/move).
I think this is a solid model to bring into zbrush so you can smooth out some of the geometry and fix proportions and what not, then export from zbrush and import into 3d program you are using for UVing. Then back into Zbrush for detailed sculpting. I hope all of this makes sense. Solid start.
Neavah: I can understand the 45 degree angle, but what about her arms going up instead of down? I read somewhere about the importance of limbs sticking straight out for animating and rigging. Perhaps there's somewhere where you can show me about the differences? And what do you mean by "broken at the joints?"
Below is a lil concept art of her. I guess to clarify her character a little bit more cause there's confusion on what she's supposed to be without going through a whole history book about her, she is a genie/gypsy, but also a FIGHTER as well (hence the staff). So no scarves or sashes or long flowy dresses and veils. All of that will get in the way.
I don't have any access to mudbox or zbrush or any sculpting programs. I guess that's not an option for me now? So I"m gonna have to do it the old fashioned-ancient-times way. I do have the NVIDIA Tools Normal Map Filter for Photoshop. So maybe that'll help some. Will the trial versions of those programs work? I've never done any 3d sculpting. :poly122: :poly007:
I didn't want the classic genie/gypsy look for my character. So a young modern hip-hopish design is what I"m looking for. I understand the shoes are a bit "keebler elf" so I toned them down a little. I was going for more arabic... but arabic shoes that's in boot form. Kicking heads in I don't think you'd stick to slippers long, right? eh heh... I did shorten the arms as they were too long. The concept art below should help fill out the gaps for her overall outfit design.
As for colors/outfit, those are just blinns assigned a color as an outline for where her clothes and skin should be. Haven't done any UV's or texturing yet, and she has wrist guards too which will be in the texturing. But I am sticking to the green color scheme though. Let me know what you think! Thanks!
Her shoulders can afford to be broader too- wider than her hips if you look at the art, and this doesn't actually reduce her femininity if you do it- provided she cinches in at the waist before her hips then she still looks sexy
Hope this is helpful to you- it's a promising start!
~P~
1. to shoulders when the arms are at the sides look really broad, and almost seem to stick out too much, and bunch up... if that makes sense?
2. when the arms are down theres obvious intersecting polys in the area around the armpit/upper arm and the chest (made the arms lose alot of volume and look funny).
I've never had too many probelms with the arms going up, but I've also never animated a character with alot of upwards arm movement (that is 90degrees about the ground)...
Here's a thread I found about the Tpose debate:
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=54992
By broken at the joints what I mean is when the fingers are rotated to all point in the same direction (parallel, and right next to eachother) the knuckles (on the pinky especailly) make the character look like they're got really bad arthritis. (not to mention posing the thumb to look oposable can be a headeache)
i would suggest if you've got rigging concerns, rig and skin before you texure! nothing is more delightful than rigging after textures are complete, and needing to add and remove edges and verts, and having to redo the textures to follow.
Hope that helps
Some crits;
The looping around the tits and a bit on the arse doesn't look quite right http://www.imrankhalique.net/uploads/zilia_wire1.jpg
*if you could reduce her nose length a bit and make it curve inwards just before the tip she would look hot.
Detailed shots: