Great work so far, I'm loving it every step of the way. Has anyone thought about really porting these finished models to TF2? I can get you the actual skeletons used for each character from the SDK (if someone hasn't already done that).
Anyway, I showed this thread to a friend of mine and he got crazy about it. He isn't a member yet, but he asked me to do something together (he's a great concept drawer and I can pretty much model anything, although I can't draw shit), so I thought we could tackle the Davy Crockett/Daniel Boone sniper if nobody already started working on it.
If you think there are already too many hands on your project, it's ok, it's your initiative and we'll respect that.
considering the time period I'd like to see the Soldier shouldering one of these bad boys and using it as a rocket launcher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carronade
It was his idea in the first place and I don't want him to get annoyed since we all seem to want to jump in because it's a terrific idea. I can help with the skeletons anyway, they are going to need them to model around them if they want to see their babies in-game eventually.
I don't care if other people join in, do duplicates, whatever. Honestly, the more the merrier. I didn't even intend for this to become a community project, but it suddenly has and I think that's super awesome. If you guys want to do something that somebody else has, the only person stopping you is yourself because I know that this can only produce something extremely cool.
Y_M, you're crazy. In the extremely unlikely event that you're not crazy, thank you. And even if you're not crazy, I still think you're crazy.
YO!
IF ANY OF YOU VALVE FOLKS ARE ACTUALLY READING THIS, CONTACT ME AT XKOSTOLNY@GMAIL.COM
SERIOUSLY.
Ahem.
Snake:
Since these characters have pretty different proportions from the actual TF2 characters, using them in-game would require a standalone mod. If you tried to use them as skins, the hitboxes would be super messed up.
itismario:
I sculpted rough head bases in Mudbox and then just dumped them into Modo for retopo. There are no normal maps for the heads; it's all straight Phong shading in-game, just the same as the Valve models.
Scudz:
That's about fifteen thousand times better than it was before and waaay different from my interpretation. I really, really like it.
I didn't get too much work done last night, so I only have the low-poly head to show. I'm not crazy about this, so I think it's going to require more tweaking. I ought to have the low-poly body done or close to done sometime tonight.
aha I'm not crazy. Just send Kathy an email if you're as interested as that extremely large text text implies. It certainly can't do you any harm (unless you type so much you get carpel tunnel syndrome...)
As far as I'm aware Valve look for the drive to finish a project and being skilled in multiple areas far more than x qualifications or y years experience. You're covered.
Anyhow, back to critique of your awesome work: The comic's heavy has more definition in the eyebrows and [can't tell due to angles] more of a forward lower jaw, also squarer.
Swizzle, some awesome work here for sure!, and I think Y_M was giving you a gentle nudge in saying it never hurts to try:) You have the ability ( easily shown by your work ) and companies like Valve are pretty busy so it doesn't hurt to go, ehem excuse me, I would like to work for you please:) Well good luck, and don't forget the little peeps here at Polycount when you do.
Y_M:
The main reason I haven't contacted them (and probably won't for a while) is that I lack anything resembling an organized portfolio and this thread and the Polypack entries aren't exactly a great representation of my skills. Being able to jump from one project to another is important at Valve and other game studios, from my understanding, and this stuff only shows that hey, I can make some TF2 things. I don't want to be viewed as a one trick pony, so I'd like to get things organized pretty well before I start sending out applications to various studios.
As for the jawline and eyebrows, you're right. I've been tweaking the face since I posted that and I still have a long way to go until I'll be satisfied.
Maybe there's a way to adapt the 1850 concepts to the actual models proportions-wise, so they can be rigged and exported back to the game. Although I'm not familiar with exporting player models to TF2 I don't think it's impossible by any chance.
Maybe you want to stick to the concepts and you don't care about being able to finally port them, which is perfectly understandable.
I already started some rough concepts on a skinny Davy Crockett like sniper on paper, which I'm going to post as soon as I have a more polished idea.
Sorry for the rough draw over, but I'm new to my tablet and I still didn't get the hand of it. What I'm trying to tell you with the legs is to go ahead and exaggerate a little more the features, even do some wrinkles on the end of the trousers like when they rest over your shoes.
Also, the jacket's neck, which folds to the outside and goes all the way down to buttoned part should come out a lot more, like trying to catch your attention from far away.
Another thing that comes to my mind are the forearms and the hands. All TF2 characters have either large hands, large forearms or both thing very large.
Overall is coming almost spot on with the original drawing.
Buddy, when I was born, I sucked at walking. In time I got better, but I'm stuck at sucking at soccer. So don't worry if you suck at drawing, you will get better (I still didn't though, haha). Good stuff.
Here are some grammar school scribbles about the sniper concept:
Ok, I'll make the legs bulkier for the next concept. I also think the last jacket is the best so far, although it looks too clean and flat, but I'm going to work on that concet from now on.
This is just base colors with some AO. I still need to do the normals for the clothing and actually put some work into the textures, but it's getting there.
Adam:
I sampled the skin tone from the demo's head texture, but there were lighter areas I could've sampled from. The tone you see there is the main head skin tone, though.
In my opinion the last one has the least amount of personality of all the stuff you've done. I don't want to insult the model let me make it clear that it's obviously really good, but it just doesn't have the same personality of the other 2.The first sculpt of the head was really looking great but I feel the exaggerated design was lost on the low poly which is a given but I think TOO much of it was lost, and not much of it translated to the clothes and so on. I know it's not done yet though.
I like how he is all shiny, hmmm.. shiny! but yeah haha, the face needs a bit of work, the jawline could be way sharper! I actually liked the face from your mudbox sculpt better then the current one!
I agree about the lack of personality. And right now I'm facepalming because I was trying to think of what exactly that thing around his neck was, anyway, and I realized DUH; it's a big bandanna.
So it still needs work. More work is what I'll give it.
I agree about the lack of personality. And right now I'm facepalming because I was trying to think of what exactly that thing around his neck was, anyway, and I realized DUH; it's a big bandanna.
So it still needs work. More work is what I'll give it.
Yea, it's definitely a bandanna, but honestly, the way you have it now is pretty awesome. And I guess I'll ring in on the personality as well. The characters look amazing to say the least, but they seem like blank slates at the same time.
Umm Swizzle from what I can tell on the portrait of the classes the Heavy's rolled up sleave things appear to be a continuation of jacket not the shirt and the jacket appears to be a dark team color.
Not that there is anything wrong with yours but it I just think it looks like that.
maybe a white shirt instead of that bright red and a dark red from the TF2 palette for the jacket
Well... instead of Heavy Rain we are going to have Chocolate Rain now. Try using a lambert shader instead of a phong (or some equivalent with less glossiness). The white collar looks more like a hoody which can completely cover the head right now. The rest is TF2 spot on just like with your other models.
PatrickL:
That's an interesting point about blank slates, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. Take a look at the original TF2 models without actively thinking about their personalities. They could have almost any personality you wanted because their looks are fairly ambiguous.
The Scrub:
Just like with the engie and the solider, I'm only going for a loose interpretation of the design in that group image. If I think I can add or change something so that it looks better on the model, I'm going to do it even if it doesn't match the concept.
Snake:
That last screenshot was taken directly from the model viewer viewport and the model had the standard TF2 character shader applied to it. The only reason it looks so very shiny is because I haven't adjusted the spec.
Sectaurs:
People keep mentioning the color palette and how it should be different, but that just seems kind of silly to me. The TF2 palette is in place for gameplay purposes; every color is supposed to help you identify which team the character is on. If I change that, the readability of the models will suffer.
I went back and revised the bandanna so it *GASP* actually looks like a bandanna. I also added a few other details. I think it's looking a little more solid now.
Again, this is just straight base colors and AO. I haven't edited the textures at all. And, just like before, there's no spec map, so he looks like a big chocolate bar.
Bravo good sir! you are by far one of the best modellers I've seen. I really REALLY hope your polycount pack(s) win the contest. (especially the demoman one; I want a grenade on a stick dammit!)
Replies
It's getting my fingers itching to join in...
looking nice!
and that response from valve is probably going to have some consequences, preferably good ones
Anyway, I showed this thread to a friend of mine and he got crazy about it. He isn't a member yet, but he asked me to do something together (he's a great concept drawer and I can pretty much model anything, although I can't draw shit), so I thought we could tackle the Davy Crockett/Daniel Boone sniper if nobody already started working on it.
If you think there are already too many hands on your project, it's ok, it's your initiative and we'll respect that.
who said naval cannons can't be rocket launchers?
I think I'm going to push it more toward the sketchy style from the old trading cards.
I think he uses mudbox, the superior sculpting tool :P
Guys.
I don't care if other people join in, do duplicates, whatever. Honestly, the more the merrier. I didn't even intend for this to become a community project, but it suddenly has and I think that's super awesome. If you guys want to do something that somebody else has, the only person stopping you is yourself because I know that this can only produce something extremely cool.
Y_M, you're crazy. In the extremely unlikely event that you're not crazy, thank you. And even if you're not crazy, I still think you're crazy.
YO!
IF ANY OF YOU VALVE FOLKS ARE ACTUALLY READING THIS, CONTACT ME AT XKOSTOLNY@GMAIL.COM
SERIOUSLY.
Ahem.
Snake:
Since these characters have pretty different proportions from the actual TF2 characters, using them in-game would require a standalone mod. If you tried to use them as skins, the hitboxes would be super messed up.
itismario:
I sculpted rough head bases in Mudbox and then just dumped them into Modo for retopo. There are no normal maps for the heads; it's all straight Phong shading in-game, just the same as the Valve models.
Scudz:
That's about fifteen thousand times better than it was before and waaay different from my interpretation. I really, really like it.
I didn't get too much work done last night, so I only have the low-poly head to show. I'm not crazy about this, so I think it's going to require more tweaking. I ought to have the low-poly body done or close to done sometime tonight.
As far as I'm aware Valve look for the drive to finish a project and being skilled in multiple areas far more than x qualifications or y years experience. You're covered.
Anyhow, back to critique of your awesome work: The comic's heavy has more definition in the eyebrows and [can't tell due to angles] more of a forward lower jaw, also squarer.
Spark
The main reason I haven't contacted them (and probably won't for a while) is that I lack anything resembling an organized portfolio and this thread and the Polypack entries aren't exactly a great representation of my skills. Being able to jump from one project to another is important at Valve and other game studios, from my understanding, and this stuff only shows that hey, I can make some TF2 things. I don't want to be viewed as a one trick pony, so I'd like to get things organized pretty well before I start sending out applications to various studios.
As for the jawline and eyebrows, you're right. I've been tweaking the face since I posted that and I still have a long way to go until I'll be satisfied.
Tumerboy:
Let's talk dowries.
Maybe you want to stick to the concepts and you don't care about being able to finally port them, which is perfectly understandable.
I already started some rough concepts on a skinny Davy Crockett like sniper on paper, which I'm going to post as soon as I have a more polished idea.
Swizzle for Valve employee!
Also, the jacket's neck, which folds to the outside and goes all the way down to buttoned part should come out a lot more, like trying to catch your attention from far away.
Another thing that comes to my mind are the forearms and the hands. All TF2 characters have either large hands, large forearms or both thing very large.
Overall is coming almost spot on with the original drawing.
I suck at drawing, and I can't get the head at all.
Here are some grammar school scribbles about the sniper concept:
Also, the last jacket looks the best IMO.
it makes it look less like a jetpack and more like the pyro tank
This is just base colors with some AO. I still need to do the normals for the clothing and actually put some work into the textures, but it's getting there.
Or it could just be that its all the bases.
I sampled the skin tone from the demo's head texture, but there were lighter areas I could've sampled from. The tone you see there is the main head skin tone, though.
ZacD:
GAY! (me too)
Kind of echoing the "lack of personality" thing. But I think that might have to do with the lack of a proper texture and the overall WIPness of it :P
Keep up the great work Swizz
I'd guess a towel.
So it still needs work. More work is what I'll give it.
Yea, it's definitely a bandanna, but honestly, the way you have it now is pretty awesome. And I guess I'll ring in on the personality as well. The characters look amazing to say the least, but they seem like blank slates at the same time.
Not that there is anything wrong with yours but it I just think it looks like that.
maybe a white shirt instead of that bright red and a dark red from the TF2 palette for the jacket
I like the heavy - he's got a great innocent look to his face.
I'd love to see the palette revised to fit the theme as well, instead of strait-porting TF2's colors.
Thanks!
PatrickL:
That's an interesting point about blank slates, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. Take a look at the original TF2 models without actively thinking about their personalities. They could have almost any personality you wanted because their looks are fairly ambiguous.
The Scrub:
Just like with the engie and the solider, I'm only going for a loose interpretation of the design in that group image. If I think I can add or change something so that it looks better on the model, I'm going to do it even if it doesn't match the concept.
Snake:
That last screenshot was taken directly from the model viewer viewport and the model had the standard TF2 character shader applied to it. The only reason it looks so very shiny is because I haven't adjusted the spec.
Sectaurs:
People keep mentioning the color palette and how it should be different, but that just seems kind of silly to me. The TF2 palette is in place for gameplay purposes; every color is supposed to help you identify which team the character is on. If I change that, the readability of the models will suffer.
I went back and revised the bandanna so it *GASP* actually looks like a bandanna. I also added a few other details. I think it's looking a little more solid now.
Again, this is just straight base colors and AO. I haven't edited the textures at all. And, just like before, there's no spec map, so he looks like a big chocolate bar.