Home Contests & Challenges Archives Low Poly Challenge

LPC vol2 #3 - Time Machine!

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  • dregoloth
    tardis.png
    final TARDIS. alpha for the light up top doesen't want to work with my capture softwares so I'll try to work around that.
  • gsokol
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    gsokol polycounter lvl 14
    dregoloth, what are you capturing with? Just try using print screen.
  • mradamw
    hey all - some updates on my guy.

    The astute among you may notice a small change in his back-pack apparatus - after looking at it for a while I recon the old Vorptank on his back was too big and cumbersome, (and everyone knows when travelling in time you need to be able to run away from mastadons or laser pistols) so have opted for two smaller tanks (i think they also give a pretty cool silhouette). I have been optimising the mesh a bit so the tri count has now dipped below 2k (if i can find something i can do with 10 tris ill be sure to add it :P)

    Ideas?

    lpc_timemachine_col_1.jpg

    Feedback time:

    amsmntparks - im not sure if ill be shunned for saying this, but haven't heard of that before so looking forward to seeing it!

    shrew81 - ill wait till i see some more (as not really sure what im looking at right now) but the dude is looking cool...what time period are you imagining this guy being from as right now its hard to tell simply by looking at him

    dregoloth - hey man - what style are you going for (ie are you shooting for realistic proportions or cartoony as this makes a huge difference when it comes to asking us for proportion feedback). Im gonna go ahead and assume you are going for a realistic human proportion - aim for 7 heads high for his total height ok. Also, the collection of tris on his thighs, that needs to be sorted out. I suggest you use either a 5 or 6 sided cylinder for your limbs (legs and arms) and even for your torso...focus on getting your silhouette down before adding in unneccessary loops. I will happily email you my model so you can see what i mean? Have attached image as some reference :)

    dregoloth_feedback.jpg

    The Scrub - hey man, reminds me alot of the Dire Straights music video :) If you have any lights in the scene I suggest you delete them for now as the harsh shadows in there make it very hard to see whats going on. Are you trying to use as few tris as possible? The 2k limit is pretty generous so maybe throw some more geometry into your guy to eliminate the blocky vibe (unless that is what you want in which case tell me to hush up)

    JimJupiter - yes please! you could shave off tries in the propeller (just use a plane there) and also in the door and window recesses (as they are not essential - you can fake it with layer effects in photoshop) i recon you could get that sucker to 2k without sacrificing too much :)

    dregoloth (again) - what about adding some grime and dirt to your phone-booth? I think it could add a nice travelled feel to it? Also what about something like some graffiti from different times? Could be a way of showing the booth has been around (so some tags from the 80's, some hippy flower power art, some eqyptian grafitti aka hieroglyphics)....just a thought
  • The Scrub
    OK so my to do list
    -make him less blocky
    -fix the lighting
    -get a better time travel machine I mean suitcase is fine for now but I don't know
    -make the character look more personal(less like a jaw hanging open automaton)

    considering how he looks like a Gentlemenne maybe a steam powered time machine.
  • sketch81
    Looking to recreate the time machine and traveler from the 60's movie The Time Machine. :poly124:
    0108thetimemachine.jpg
  • Zwebbie
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    Zwebbie polycounter lvl 18
    Modeling is done, 2000 triangles exactly. The ages are, clockwise from top left, gold, silver, bronze and iron, although they'd be hard to recognise, I imagine.

    TM3.jpg
  • gsokol
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    gsokol polycounter lvl 14
    Started work on Napoleon. Currently at 1300 tris.

    WIP_2.jpg
  • The Scrub
    gsokol wrote: »
    Started work on Napoleon. Currently at 1300 tris.

    WIP_2.jpg
    awesome looking forward to it
  • glenatron
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    glenatron polycounter lvl 11
    Think I'll have a beast at this one. Here's a rough sketch of what I had in mind

    (the swirlies will be coming out of the tv set, and there'l be loadsa betamax cassettes lying about)

    time_machine_concept.jpg
  • The Scrub
    "Hello Gentlemenne! anyone know where to get a cup of tea?"
    themaninthesuitupdate2.jpg
    steampowered backpack time travel
    because where we're going we don't need tea
  • Flow
    This is my first participation on a polycount competition.
    I find that Time machine is a good subject !!
    Here is my Time Traveler with is "Toilet" time machine.

    TM_wip.jpg

    Actually 1730 tris but I think I shall add some props.
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    raul wrote: »
    So we can do anything we want, as long as we have a time traveler and a time machine? but no highpoly baking? Even for the ao?

    ao baking is a graphical technique, which is applied to the diffuse. Much welcomed.
  • Y_M
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    Y_M polycounter lvl 10
    time-machine-wip-01.jpg
    580 tris so far after around 2 hours chugging away. All of that is UVmapped, it just needs arranging once I've got the rest of the mesh.

    Its fun working out what faces can share uvs :)
  • amsmntparks
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    amsmntparks polycounter lvl 18
    Traveler model mostly done. Not crazy about the head, but we'll see how it turns out with texture...
    Plenty of room left for the "time machine" too.
    drdwires.png
  • Y_M
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    Y_M polycounter lvl 10
    Head looks ok to me, slightly longer and thinner snout perhaps?
    EDIT: actually, I'd make the machine on his back more like saddle bags, less likely to fall off or get knocked on something.
  • dregoloth
    thanks for the advice maradamw, it really helped. I decided to redo the geometry so that it looked more doctory.
    doctorredo.jpg
  • The Scrub
    I want him standing in an modern enviroment with a WTF look on his face
    update3m.jpg
    looks like he got his tea
  • Y_M
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    Y_M polycounter lvl 10
    Working on my time traveler. Just got the whole body complete. As I take a few steps back to look at the whole and produce my render to show you, I realise just how off the proportions are.
    Tomorrow's job is to fix up all the various proportions like bulking out his shoulders and legs as well as increasing the scale of the beak.

    professor-styraco-wip-01.jpg

    @ amsmntparks I hope you don't mind that I'm doing a dino too, I made sure I did something different to what you started.
  • willy-wilson
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    willy-wilson polycounter lvl 8
    Thinking about entering, funny i started reading the time machine just a couple weeks before this started, throwing some ideas around for a victorian era time traveler.

    ideas.png
  • boomz
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    boomz polycounter lvl 9
    Great stuff so far, looking forward to seeing them progress.

    My WIP: VW Bus + gigantic turbine generator thinger shoved in the back. This guy really wants to get back to the good ol' days...

    vwBus-04.jpg

    Sitting around 1900, so I'll have enough to play around with light beams and other FX / filler details. I'll probably optimize as I go, not sure how I want to attempt splitting up space between the psychedelic paint job of the van and the rest.
  • beezul
    Time traveling alien lizard pirate =D
    For the time machine leanin towards a mix between 4 and 5. i had a long ass post about everyones designs.... but pc keeps logging me out... so ill have to post later.. =/





    anupiratenew-liz.jpg

    anupiratenew.jpg
  • BadGeometry
    Hey everybody.

    Here's my entry so far.

    My time traveler is a professional time traveling photographer for National Chronographic.

    10mll51.png

    jtnvch.png

    His machine is a modified scooter based off the Honda Spacy 125. And I took many ideas from BTTF of course. Because we all know that Flux Capacitor is what makes time travel possible. :)

    I'm happy with where the scooter is at so far, but as with my photographer, well, he looks like a photographer, but not a time traveler.

    A friend of mine suggested adding a small, exotic pet. I settled on a feathered, dinosaur creature for that (not pictured in this image), but it's still not selling me. Maybe some futuristic clothes perhaps? Some futuristic gadgets? A robot arm was also suggested to me but I think that may be going a bit too far.

    Also, first post, good to meet everyone. I dig the entries here so far. Will post comments on them a bit later.
  • willy-wilson
  • butt_sahib
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    butt_sahib polycounter lvl 11
    mradam
    great silhuette, reads nicely

    Zwebbie:
    Will be so much fun to texture :)

    FLow:
    Character looks nice. Add more character to it!
    Youre wastig alot of polys on the toilet seat

    gsokol:
    Looking nice but youre wasting alot of polygons. Esp the face and the bottom of the shirt+groin area. You'd be better off using that geo for better joint deformation.
    Use triangles as much as possible.

    Scrub:
    hehe looks nice and different :)
    Is there a reason why you dont have any smoothing groups applied to the model.
    I suggest rotating the arms and legs 45 degrees vertically (arounf vertical axis i.e.). That really makes the sillhuette look alot better and not so blocky

    Dregoloth:
    Is there a reason why only the head is triangulated?
    Remember to push the sillhuette as much as you can!
    Fix the shoulder area! :P

    willy:
    Looking smexy! :D
    You coud use thirding (atleast thats what poopie calls it) on the pencil/pen to save uv space. I know it seems un-necessary but you could use that to give relatively higher pixel density to the journal
  • Y_M
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    Y_M polycounter lvl 10
    update on prof. styraco:

    professor-styraco-wip-02.jpg

    proportions are waaaaaay better now :D

    Those hands aren't up to date. I re did them after taking that.
  • The Scrub
    butt_sahib wrote: »
    mradam
    great silhuette, reads nicely

    Zwebbie:
    Will be so much fun to texture :)

    FLow:
    Character looks nice. Add more character to it!
    Youre wastig alot of polys on the toilet seat

    gsokol:
    Looking nice but youre wasting alot of polygons. Esp the face and the bottom of the shirt+groin area. You'd be better off using that geo for better joint deformation.
    Use triangles as much as possible.

    Scrub:
    hehe looks nice and different :)
    Is there a reason why you dont have any smoothing groups applied to the model.
    I suggest rotating the arms and legs 45 degrees vertically (arounf vertical axis i.e.). That really makes the sillhuette look alot better and not so blocky

    Dregoloth:
    Is there a reason why only the head is triangulated?
    Remember to push the sillhuette as much as you can!
    Fix the shoulder area! :P

    willy:
    Looking smexy! :D
    You coud use thirding (atleast thats what poopie calls it) on the pencil/pen to save uv space. I know it seems un-necessary but you could use that to give relatively higher pixel density to the journal
    smoothing groups would be my undoing... maybe
  • willy-wilson
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    willy-wilson polycounter lvl 8
    butt_sahib wrote: »
    mradam
    great silhuette, reads nicely

    Zwebbie:
    Will be so much fun to texture :)

    FLow:
    Character looks nice. Add more character to it!
    Youre wastig alot of polys on the toilet seat

    gsokol:
    Looking nice but youre wasting alot of polygons. Esp the face and the bottom of the shirt+groin area. You'd be better off using that geo for better joint deformation.
    Use triangles as much as possible.

    Scrub:
    hehe looks nice and different :)
    Is there a reason why you dont have any smoothing groups applied to the model.
    I suggest rotating the arms and legs 45 degrees vertically (arounf vertical axis i.e.). That really makes the sillhuette look alot better and not so blocky

    Dregoloth:
    Is there a reason why only the head is triangulated?
    Remember to push the sillhuette as much as you can!
    Fix the shoulder area! :P

    willy:
    Looking smexy! :D
    You coud use thirding (atleast thats what poopie calls it) on the pencil/pen to save uv space. I know it seems un-necessary but you could use that to give relatively higher pixel density to the journal

    Wouldn't i have to add more geo to do that?
  • Youngblood
    TimeTravelMonolith.png

    A sketch, I'm not really happy with where it went, but it's a start at least. I'm going to rework it completely next time around, especially because it needs so much dang texture space. Thoughts, comments and critiques greatly appreciated!

    Oh and also note...that's a generic character from XSI for reference. He doesn't represent my character much at all.
  • willy-wilson
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    willy-wilson polycounter lvl 8
    Hmm im not liking it, not at all.

    Capture-55.png
  • mradamw
    hey guys,

    just a quick update from me on this one - sorry no time to give feedback as im popping out with the lady for a while :)

    Not sure how to go about fixing the seam issues with the cell pattern (so may just leave it for now and pose him in a way that you wont see it :P)

    using the xoliul shader - 1 light

    lpc_timemachine_col_2.jpg
  • Y_M
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    Y_M polycounter lvl 10
    Feedbacks:

    @wilson: both the journal and the bag look good, though I can't envisage how the straps are working, though that's probably just cause it's a single colour still.

    @mradamw: That hexagonal suit looks great. I like the orange but I think it doesn't work well with the light blue glows. It's creating a bit of a murky colour between the two at the mid-range alphas.

    @youngblood: those rings can be done without using much texture space at all. If you make the ring a flat loop, you can put each poly's uvs on top of each other so you can make the whole set as you see them there, but with only using ~128^2 diffuse+alpha and a few hundred polys.

    @betelgeist: Love the character concept. I also like #1 of the machine concepts. Being carried by an animal is a great idea, though it will leave you short for polys. Though out of the ones you like, 4 and 5, I like #4 since it looks like an awesome pirate ship with the mast+sail :D


    Started a quick bit of texturing on the professor:
    professor-styraco-wip-03.jpg

    I just want to check, if I have an alpha channel for something, that has to come out of my 512^2 pixel budget right? I've currently set aside 128^2 for an alpha channel for some foliage.
  • willy-wilson
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    willy-wilson polycounter lvl 8
    Im not really sure either tbh. The two outside straps seem useless.
    9511.jpg
  • Y_M
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    Y_M polycounter lvl 10
    It looks there like they've just been tucked into the loops to keep them neat, the owner of that bag probably doesn't use them, so just tucks them out of the way.
  • Piflik
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    Piflik polycounter lvl 12
    Ok...after reading the first post about a bazillion times and finally realizing that I still have time because the deadline is not the 1st of July, I decided to try and build my own time machine...it is a bit low tech...and I cannot guarantee its functioning, but its pilot (not yet modelled) has full faith in his creation.

    Here's the machine and its 'engine'...a baby dwarf mammoth...

    Currently at about 1350 triangles...let's see if I can create the pilot with the remaining 650...I am caonfident...

    Time_Machine01.jpg

    Edit: Traveler done...together 2000 Tris exact...

    Time_Machine02.jpg
  • ocarian
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    ocarian polycounter lvl 16
    Hi all

    very Cool design mradamw :)

    "...what about putting some kind of face under the clock hands? Just a big 1 plane cylinder or something? Or maybe have that like above the hands and below the cockpit so the spinning clock hands don't turn his machine into time machine death harvester...?"

    Thanks for Advice :)
    We have a good Budget on Polycount so I make a lot of detail with modelisation ;)

    New up, the traveler

    Wip_ModCharacter.jpg

    1090 Triangles. Perhaps more later :D

    And first step on texture

    WIPCOLOR_01.jpg

    Voil
  • premium
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    premium polycounter lvl 13
    Nice stuff guys! Too bad I have no time to jump in this.. :(
  • Flow
    I've start the texture of my model.

    It is only the beginning, it still stays many thing to do.

    TM_wip5.jpg

    Good luck !
  • Piflik
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    Piflik polycounter lvl 12
    First couple if models textured...

    Time_Machine03.jpg
  • butt_sahib
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    butt_sahib polycounter lvl 11
    ocarian:
    Excellent! :D my fav entry so far (though its really hard to decide :))

    great work piflik, this idea was my second choice XD
    I think the modeling is nice but IMO you could have distributed teh polys abit better. Eg. the circular discs on that electrical capacitor should (A) have lesser sides and (B) be lesser in number. The big wheel should have atleast one more edge. The mamoths tusks should also have another edge. Not much you can do about now, but i just thought id share my ideas.
  • Piflik
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    Piflik polycounter lvl 12
    Thanks...yeah...I could save some tris on the capacitors...might actually do that and give the wheel some more sides...not sure about the tusks, though...personally I think 3 sides look more roundish than 4...

    Anyway...I textured the 'engine' and The Doctor and his Sonic Screwdriver... :D

    Time_Machine05.jpg

    ...I still suck at texturing...might revisit them after posing the figures.

    Edit: Reduced the sides of the Capacitor-Discs from 8 to 6, saving a wopping 80 tris...increased the sides of the Wheel by 66% (from 12 to 20...still have to even out the UVs, but other than that it was an easy fix)...still have 16 tris...I'll see where I can put those...
  • Millah
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    Millah polycounter lvl 18
    I'm diggin the entries so far. Keep up the good work everyone!

    timevendor.jpg

    I dunno if I was hungry when I was thinking of what to do for this comp or what but I had the idea of a character with a time vending machine. To transport through time he enters the date into it and the machine spits out some tasty treat that upon consumption takes him to a different time. Crits welcome. Sitting at 992 triangles so far so still a good be of freedom to try out different ideas. :)
  • Millah
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    Millah polycounter lvl 18
    timevendor2.jpg

    small update. Shortened arms and moved head shape around. Cut in some different fat forms. Give him some teeny shoes.Bulked forearms and made a rough watch. Cut in vending snack area.
  • BadGeometry
    Update time.

    11b6muo.jpg

    So here he is. The whole thing is at 1870 tris while the time traveler and his camera weigh in at 1128 tris. I'm a little worried about his shoulder joint though. Somehow I think the topology could still be improved there. Any tips?

    I've also been thinking about adding a sidecar and having that be the the time traveling device. I did a quick mock up and it really adds a lot to the silhouette, but I'm gonna need to shave some detail from the scooter, namely the exhaust vents.

    2wf8yn4.jpg

    A friend of mine commented that I might be better off sticking with just the scooter since I'm a bit too short on the polydollars to bring its level of detail closer to that of scooter's. Right now it weighs in at 222 tris.

    What do you guys think? Yay or nay on the scooter? If Nay I'll just add more detail to the Traveler and the scooter.


    Millah
    Great job on getting his fatness down. Is the whole thing, Character and Time Machine, 992 tris? I'd suggest doing some more concepts for the vending machine since I think it's silhouette is a little weak. nothing major since it is based on something box shaped, but maybe some tubes or something just so it looks like it's more than just a vending machine.


    Piflik
    I think you're off to a good start with your texturing. I'd say for your cave man, make the darker areas of his skin a little warmer. Rather than adding black to your skin tone, add some dark red or orange to the skin tone.

    Everyone else, looking awesome so far. Keep it up!
  • butt_sahib
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    butt_sahib polycounter lvl 11
    willy wilson:
    Would u mind posting a wireframe of that pencil?
    I thought you might have geometry for thirding. However, if you dont have geometry to spare, you can still reduce the size of the texture space for the yellow part of the pencil as its a constant colour (almost). It would work even if you have the yellow part 1-pixel wide (as i dont see any markings/writing on the texture). Just think you could use a larger space for the journal :P

    Bad Geometry:
    Looking excellent :D
  • Mike Yevin
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    Mike Yevin polycounter lvl 11
    Wow, tons of great entries in here, makes me kinda nervous to even attempt. I'll probably bust out quick concepts and block outs tonight.

    mradamw and ocarian, I absolutely love both of your character designs, can't wait to see the finished products
  • beezul
    thanks Y_M
    def goin for a piratey boat feel =D
    would love to model the skeleton horse.. maybe another time though. I will be using this character for an indie game that I'm working on... so there might be room to model the Horse too.

    did you ever figure out if the alphas have to be put into a seperate space that counts on the overall map space? or can we just pop em reguardless.

    Millah- hilarious concept. cant wait to see some greasy looking maps on that guy.
    Ocarian- very cool old dude. really diggen the wip maps.
    Mradammw- awesommeeee. wish i knew how to fix that seem problem... i tend to stay away from tiled surfaces. if you were painting in modo you could easily fix that by just handpainting over the seem... dont know any other way.

    an update... managaed to hit exactly 2000... PHEW.
    now itll be hella challenging to fit all this on that map..



    andddd i just realized i forgot his should piece..... so now i have to get rid of about 21 tris


    timemachinebetelgeistwip.jpg
  • gaganjain
    So many awesome work :)
    Here my W.i.p Right now it 731 tri
    lowpoly.jpg
    lowpolyhead.jpg
  • Simmo
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    Simmo polycounter lvl 12
    Man tough competition.. really nice work here.

    I started on mine tonight, I hope I can get it done on time. I'm doing this machine from Invader Zim: oitDr.jpg

    Technically it's not a time machine in the classic sense but whatever, mine will be :-p

    So tonight I got Zim modeled. It's my first character, and it's not rigged. He's not unwrapped yet, these are just coloured materials in max atm:

    3mrI2.png

    I'll start on the machine tomorrow.

    Again, so much great stuff here. I just wanted an excuse to do some lowpoly.. man it's fun.

    If I have enough tris left I'll do GIR too :D
  • Millah
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    Millah polycounter lvl 18
    timevendor3.jpg

    sitting at 1914 tri's. Probably gonna save the rest for fixing stuff I find as I texture and for maybe adding effect alpha polys.


    BadGeometry: Thanks. I took your advice and pushed the design of the vending machine a bit more to have some fun :)

    Your scooter dude's looking pretty cool. Keep it up! :) As far as the scooter goes I'd say that exhausts vs. scooter is a toss up. Both seem like great ways to add character to the piece depending on how you flesh them out. One thing I would say is that there are definitely some polys you could be saving in the wheels on the scooter. at this low of a rez there's not much point in having a center loop on the wheels.

    BetelGeist: Thanks man. :)

    Simmo: Haha nice Invader Zim. Really nailed the style.
  • dirigible
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    dirigible polycounter lvl 8
    Hey, all. I'm gonna try my hand at actually completing one of these. I'd post pics of my progress, but...it won't let me. I think because I just created my account? Anyway, cool challenge!
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