Do you guys think a Buff-a-whale is more Technomage? Doesn't seem like much of a War general with fins for hands an a tall dragging behind him slowing him down. I might for for a dark shaman or witch doctor, but shadow sounds like a assassin, corrupted sounds zerg/mob-like, and I don't really wanna go all techno, but it doesn't really mention technology or robot like in the description, so I may go with that.
Fleshed out concepts 1 and 3 from the first batch. I think I'm gonna go with #3 (now #2) in the end though. It might take more time fleshing out concept #1 to look less foot-soldiery and #2 is almost exactly where I want it, plus it seems pretty popular around here. I just need to do some more tweaking to make him read more as a Corrupted.
artquest: I really wanted to have #1 go for the War General class, but like I said, it needs a good deal more designing put in it to make it look less like a foot soldier.
BlackulaDZ: 5, 10, 13 are lookin' pretty rad.
slukas: The mesh is looks great! Can't wait to see the textures.
Harry: Your model looks really solid but I have to agree with DKK that it needs some more added to it to set it aside from, well, real Napoleonic era generals. You can actually play with the eyepatch idea and maybe give him a cybernetic portion of his face, like Kano from Mortal Kombat. Additionally you could also play around with the design of his uniform.
I re-worked my concept a little. I don't know if it's exactly in the dominance war spirit, but i thought it was kinda cool. It also fits in to my animation project, so I figure why not combine the two.
Hello, everyone! I'm joining the fight. After watching Dominance Wars for so many years I want to try it out! Love all the concepts coming along so far.
I have a strong idea of what I want to do but it's not very embellished right now. Basic plan is a Shadow class, lanky, female faun-type character with horns and non-deer-like features. I want to push the shapes so, for instance, the feet don't simply look like deer feet, etc. I thought about adding in some insectoid features, or even feathers.
Also, I have more difficulty drawing digitally than on paper. Oh well.
BadGeometry : I like the No 2 much more, nice attitude and i have to say it remind's me something. Anyway that's verry cool and it look like it'll be funny to make in lowres : ] .
Well , I've tried few concept and I've chosen the Technomage for this. I guess i'll start the 3D soon and design the details when I'll make them in 3D, like the gauntlet etc. It's just a base for the Art direction, tech style, attitude etc...
The concept is not that original, it's like a mage with power boosted with a sort of techno armor.
Anyway, that's very nice to have big contest with flat/hand painted specs, it's very cool to warm up for the DW!
great concepts so far ,i have worked on my sketches and will post tomorrow ,really like the polycount to start from here:)
Ithoual:super cool concept so far ziggy:like your concepts ,my favorite is no9
BlackulaDz:super great concepts and forms,i like no 5-6 and 8 but all of your shapes is so good
Chose my horns and rescaled a few things, and optimized my polycounts back under 3k.
I'm pretty sure at the amount of hugeness he has, this model will not be able to move his arms or shoulders very well. I want to work some more asymmetry into it, but not sure how or where. Ideas?
Right now I feel like my character is suffering from being really boring, I'm hoping a dynamic pose will fix it but I'm open to ideas, I'm planning on texturing it in the Blizzard hand painted style because I really want to learn that stuff so i'm hoping to jump into texturing asap.
Madmuffin, I might add in some asymmetry to the shoulderpads since they take up a lot of real estate on the character. Maybe resize one of them, make one different, just experiment and see what you like. Also, remember that you can work in some asymmetry in the texturing phase.
Kyalie, I'm digging the model, especially in the knee area. The concept looks pretty cool as well, but I'm not sure how I feel about the cross lines on her corset. Just a personal preference on that one.
OK so here is a really quick start still figuring most of the major forms in my head.
So yeah here's another technomage (they are just so damn cool) the main idea is that the ball behind the head is a holographic projector for the face, which will eventually become an alien head. up next is the legs
Got to do a little exploration of shapes. Going for War General. So far its going in a very typical hulked-out-meat-bag direction. The shoulders will need more refinement. They look a little flat at the moment.
I've been waiting for this... THE WEEKEND! :P This thread is bout to explode with even more awesomeness. Can't wait to see how everyone's projects progress.
@ mettlefish: I very much like where your technomage is going I love the hologram for the face idea.
Seems some people are having a little bit of trouble optimising fully so i threw this little example pack together. Its just an obj with some examples on how to optimise. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14950157/Muzoptimisation.obj
* Use less geometry on the inside of limbs as they are seen a lot less than the outside.
* On the inside of the curve it is ussually safe to collapse edges to save on tris.
* It is harder to unwrap these meshes because of the collapsed loops but the savings are worth it.
Seems some people are having a little bit of trouble optimising fully so i threw this little example pack together. Its just an obj with some examples on how to optimise. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14950157/Muzoptimisation.obj
* Use less geometry on the inside of limbs as they are seen a lot less than the outside.
* On the inside of the curve it is ussually safe to collapse edges to save on tris.
* It is harder to unwrap these meshes because of the collapsed loops but the savings are worth it.
* On the inside of the curve it is ussually safe to collapse edges to save on tris.
This is a misleading piece of information without adding "except on articulatable joints."
With elbows, knees etc, the opposite is actually more efficient, assuming you will be rigging and posing the thing.
anyway as for my progress, i took on board what a few have said about my guy needing to be less "standard" for his epoch.
I agree with this, but I also want to try not to use any high tech or magic elements, because i feel like i can distinguish my character a bit by abstaining from that path, and it's an interesting thought exercise to solve the problem of making the thing more unique without giving it a jetpack and optic camouflage.
So, I have decided as a nod to Snake, i will give this guy a rocket launcher.
I suppose a period name for it would be a "Congreve 6pdr. infantry pattern"
I still need to design a workable sighting system for it, I'm thinking just a panzerfaulst style ladder sight.
I think an eyepatch will help a lot, and once i get some colour onto it i think it will look much less like a conventional napoleonic uniform. I considered some kind of eyeglass stuff but patch would be better for tri count
@Muzz Good point, but I also think the biggest attraction to DomWar to myself personally IS the learning things we might not have picked up on our own/at college/tutorials/etc and gain a lot of knowledge and push our skills as far as we can.
@Harry I'm digging the period rocket launcher, it looks bad @$$.
So I delved into concept 7. Here she is, my TechnoMage. She uses a "Microchip Staff" To pull summons out as Data to fight for her because of her inability to fight for herself. I thought the "microchip" staff was a fun idea, so here is an example of delving further into it. Basically her legs are wrapped in cloth or pants and bound. I included the original hand sketched doodles to look at in reference as opposed to just my lacking digital skills (not that my traditional skills are much better). Any critiques or ideas would be great. I'm trying to pick and choose what I like out of each.
Hey edoran89, just some tips for optimising your model.
It looks like that your extra spectacle things are a hexagon shaped, you can save some tris by using one quad and then texture and alpha the spectacles on it (it will even be more rounder this way). You can use the leftover tris from doing that by improving the silhouette or adding some other detail.
nobody SHOULD or SHOULD NOT be attempting dom war, you elect to participate yourself. and if it can be assumed they dont know to collapse inside curves, it can be reasonably assumed they dont know how to make a joint which deforms well - which is why I was clarifying it for people who did actually need/take that advice
Oh geezus mate, settle down, i was just offering some help to people who were obviously stuggling a bit, no need to call me out for missing a little bit of information or to be a dick about it.
Muzz: Thanks for the links on concepting, as well as your optimization tips. You definitely saved me some time I would have spent thumbnailing without much direction. I really like the head design for the mount in the second concept you linked to. Good luck.
Der Hollander: Love where you are going with your character.
Swizzle: Thanks for your input on thumbnailing. I really like your design and the modeling progress you've made.
Justin_Meisse: Love those heads. Protherion's is cool, it looks like he could just pop an assault rifle right off his helmet. Good luck.
OneLungLewis: Really enjoying your contributions so far. Looking forward to your progress.
Artquest: Nice general. Awesome armor and sweet render.
Slukas: Amazing concept and nice start on modeling. Keep it up.
BlackulaDZ: Sweet designs. Voting 4, 10, or 14.
VodkaTonic: Really like your last sketch. Reminds me of Wayne Barlowe.
SturmFury: Lovely thumbnails. Bottom left seems interesting.
Everyone I've Forgotten: Good luck!
As per Muzz's suggestion, I stopped thumbnailing and thought out my character a bit more. I came up with a mutated human Technomage: It's left arm is a prosthetic which ends in a set of electronic tendrils used for both melee attacks and casting magic. It slithers on a forked tail - the result of an ancient familial curse. The entire creature, both its organic mutant parts and the machines which augment them, is powered by fusing with a rare crystal - the whereabouts of which are known only by the members of a secret order of mages. Unfortunately, while these crystals grant this Technomage great magical power, they also cause its organic components to deteriorate. This dilemma troubles the character, and when casting deadly spells on his foes isn't enough to calm his frustrations he gets up close with his crystal-bladed dagger.
Would love to hear everyone and anyone's thoughts or critiques. I've learned a lot from the people here who take the time to help out others. Great stuff so far, everyone! Good luck!
@.@ I don't really think anyone was trying to offend one another. Besides the battle is against the other forums not each other ^_^
Speaking of which, wanna bash away at my revamped concepts I just posted? I don't wanna just nag and stuff so I don't know if I should reply or something or if I should just move on with the challenge in the 3d portion.
@Cdizzle I would probably aim towards looking at how you can make that "tail" have more of a unique design. Look at things like beetles and armadillos and things to see how the plates are and you can maybe add some fun patterns, glowing objects, texture to the scales to really bump it up. Unfortunately because the tail is so small compared to his body it doesn't look like it would hold him up very well. To help with silhouette and to make the character look more menacing I would probably put the detail and emphasis on his bottom half and beef up that "tail", and keep the top as sort of your place of rest. Just my opinion though.
Azuryon: I think that 7.B is your best bet. I'd say keep drawing for a bit until you are sure of the shapes you want, then go to 3D. But if you know the shapes you want and trying to draw them is slowing you down, then by all means. Either way, keep it up!
EDIT: Also, thanks for the tip. Looks like my tail needs work. Cheers.
Azuryon, id be a bit careful of going with a floating character, they can be hard to make feel weighty, im probably alone on this opinion but its my first thoughts.
I think im liking your b design the most, mostly because of the head design, see if you can work the rest of the body to match the cool head?
See if you cant try and solidify these a bit though, they are still a bit too rough to give you that much feedback other than that stuff as i cant tell what things in the concept are supposed to be.
cdizzle, looking pretty cool.
Personally i would extend the tail out more and perhaps exxaggerate the length of the arms to make him seem a little more deadly. Its just that the proportions dont feel as epic as they could. Also about the mask design, it feels a bit too boxy for my tastes, i would try and make it feel more organic with some curves and intersecting forms.
if you want a paintover just ask and im more than happy to oblige.
@cdizzle: I'll definately be putting out a final render (or as final as my limited skills can get me) before moving to modeling, thanks for your input!
@Muzz: On the subject of the floating character, I agree, but I believe the bend in spine and the way the arms/other objects hang and float will help with this effect. Who knows though I could get to 3d and it look like complete shiz. I believe Slukas did a floating character as well, but I'm hoping mine is different enough from his to not get any flak for it.
I'll be sure and revamp B's design then and repost tomorrow. Thanks for your advice and I'll start tweaking the design immediately.
Muzz: Thanks for the feedback. Would making the transition area from spine into tail more of an S-curve help the proportions and weight? I've been looking up some reference for respirators, but I've never made a low poly character before and am not sure how much detail I can get away with. That's the same reason I kept the tail pretty simple. Anyway, thanks for taking the time out to help. If you have any ideas that would kick my concept up a notch, please let me know.
I just doodled some quick shapes over the top, might give you some ideas.
I think for the worrying about the amount of detail you can do i say make the complex forms, but when you get into the 3d if they are too complex it should be pretty easy to cut back on.
Azuryon, my vote's on A, I dig the pose and the shape a lot.
Muzz, thanks for sharing the optimization tips, they saved me a ton of tris in the back hosework.
cdizzle, thanks for the compliment I'm digging your character's concept as well, looking forward to seeing more.
Here's my stab at modeling my concept, bricks were being constantly shat about the tri count, came in just under the wire at 2988 tris. I apologise in advance for the large image and crappy Maya screengrab, but it's farkin' late and I wanted to get this wrapped up for critique.
Made some thumbs and a rough time plan when i want things to be finished, aiming to get over the rough concept stage this weekend, so will make my final decision on what to do tomorrow evening.
Thumbs:
Liked #10 so far and started to do variations on it.
Will make this for 2 more thumbs and then pick the most appealing, let me know which ones you like.
@ Der Hollander: great progress, like the asymmetry, what you could work on are the legs, maybe some difference between them too?
@Madmuffin: I think the horn looks kind of weak/undefined in shape but the new overall form is much more powerful/tanklike, like that
@Ziggy, Ithoual, Slukas: Strong entries, looking forward on the progress.
@XenoKratios Thanks! Hope to see your entry in 3D soon. It looks wicked!:) @slukas Thanks! Loving your entry! You know what? I decided to go with the thumb you pointed out.
I suck pretty bad at drawing but still went ahead and did some exploring with the thumb.
Think it came out looking like it will fit with being a Corrupted. :poly142:
Replies
Fleshed him out a bit and changed his gear. Much better silhouette now.
So i improvised this one directly on XSI, this concept is more "cartoon style" and i change technomage for shadow
Maybe some sketches come soon for his fight posture and the pedestal
Fleshed out concepts 1 and 3 from the first batch. I think I'm gonna go with #3 (now #2) in the end though. It might take more time fleshing out concept #1 to look less foot-soldiery and #2 is almost exactly where I want it, plus it seems pretty popular around here. I just need to do some more tweaking to make him read more as a Corrupted.
artquest: I really wanted to have #1 go for the War General class, but like I said, it needs a good deal more designing put in it to make it look less like a foot soldier.
BlackulaDZ: 5, 10, 13 are lookin' pretty rad.
slukas: The mesh is looks great! Can't wait to see the textures.
Harry: Your model looks really solid but I have to agree with DKK that it needs some more added to it to set it aside from, well, real Napoleonic era generals. You can actually play with the eyepatch idea and maybe give him a cybernetic portion of his face, like Kano from Mortal Kombat. Additionally you could also play around with the design of his uniform.
I have a strong idea of what I want to do but it's not very embellished right now. Basic plan is a Shadow class, lanky, female faun-type character with horns and non-deer-like features. I want to push the shapes so, for instance, the feet don't simply look like deer feet, etc. I thought about adding in some insectoid features, or even feathers.
Also, I have more difficulty drawing digitally than on paper. Oh well.
Trying to push my guy further. Wasn't reading techno-mage-ly enough, so I'm going with circuit-runes all over his left side.
I think I've got my design now. I love it.
Well , I've tried few concept and I've chosen the Technomage for this. I guess i'll start the 3D soon and design the details when I'll make them in 3D, like the gauntlet etc. It's just a base for the Art direction, tech style, attitude etc...
The concept is not that original, it's like a mage with power boosted with a sort of techno armor.
Anyway, that's very nice to have big contest with flat/hand painted specs, it's very cool to warm up for the DW!
Been toying with various fancy headdresses. Not sure which set I like, any suggestions?
Ithoual:super cool concept so far
ziggy:like your concepts ,my favorite is no9
BlackulaDz:super great concepts and forms,i like no 5-6 and 8 but all of your shapes is so good
I'm going with a shadow character (i might twist the proportions)
There we go:
knockin out some ideas
Swizzle- Looking great so far
I'm pretty sure at the amount of hugeness he has, this model will not be able to move his arms or shoulders very well. I want to work some more asymmetry into it, but not sure how or where. Ideas?
2997 Triangles
Difinitely gonna call this guy a General
Kyalie, I'm digging the model, especially in the knee area. The concept looks pretty cool as well, but I'm not sure how I feel about the cross lines on her corset. Just a personal preference on that one.
So yeah here's another technomage (they are just so damn cool) the main idea is that the ball behind the head is a holographic projector for the face, which will eventually become an alien head. up next is the legs
@ mettlefish: I very much like where your technomage is going
* Use less geometry on the inside of limbs as they are seen a lot less than the outside.
* On the inside of the curve it is ussually safe to collapse edges to save on tris.
* It is harder to unwrap these meshes because of the collapsed loops but the savings are worth it.
Hope it helps.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e305/muzzoid/optimisation.png
very nice.
This is a misleading piece of information without adding "except on articulatable joints."
With elbows, knees etc, the opposite is actually more efficient, assuming you will be rigging and posing the thing.
anyway as for my progress, i took on board what a few have said about my guy needing to be less "standard" for his epoch.
I agree with this, but I also want to try not to use any high tech or magic elements, because i feel like i can distinguish my character a bit by abstaining from that path, and it's an interesting thought exercise to solve the problem of making the thing more unique without giving it a jetpack and optic camouflage.
So, I have decided as a nod to Snake, i will give this guy a rocket launcher.
I suppose a period name for it would be a "Congreve 6pdr. infantry pattern"
I still need to design a workable sighting system for it, I'm thinking just a panzerfaulst style ladder sight.
I think an eyepatch will help a lot, and once i get some colour onto it i think it will look much less like a conventional napoleonic uniform. I considered some kind of eyeglass stuff but patch would be better for tri count
@Harry I'm digging the period rocket launcher, it looks bad @$$.
So I delved into concept 7. Here she is, my TechnoMage. She uses a "Microchip Staff" To pull summons out as Data to fight for her because of her inability to fight for herself. I thought the "microchip" staff was a fun idea, so here is an example of delving further into it. Basically her legs are wrapped in cloth or pants and bound. I included the original hand sketched doodles to look at in reference as opposed to just my lacking digital skills (not that my traditional skills are much better). Any critiques or ideas would be great. I'm trying to pick and choose what I like out of each.
Little update on the base mesh before bed... still need to buff him up quite a bit I think, I want his shoulder pads to be very menacing in the end.
It looks like that your extra spectacle things are a hexagon shaped, you can save some tris by using one quad and then texture and alpha the spectacles on it (it will even be more rounder this way). You can use the leftover tris from doing that by improving the silhouette or adding some other detail.
Hopefully others will find this useful
nobody SHOULD or SHOULD NOT be attempting dom war, you elect to participate yourself. and if it can be assumed they dont know to collapse inside curves, it can be reasonably assumed they dont know how to make a joint which deforms well - which is why I was clarifying it for people who did actually need/take that advice
Der Hollander: Love where you are going with your character.
Swizzle: Thanks for your input on thumbnailing. I really like your design and the modeling progress you've made.
Justin_Meisse: Love those heads. Protherion's is cool, it looks like he could just pop an assault rifle right off his helmet. Good luck.
OneLungLewis: Really enjoying your contributions so far. Looking forward to your progress.
Artquest: Nice general. Awesome armor and sweet render.
Slukas: Amazing concept and nice start on modeling. Keep it up.
BlackulaDZ: Sweet designs. Voting 4, 10, or 14.
VodkaTonic: Really like your last sketch. Reminds me of Wayne Barlowe.
SturmFury: Lovely thumbnails. Bottom left seems interesting.
Everyone I've Forgotten: Good luck!
As per Muzz's suggestion, I stopped thumbnailing and thought out my character a bit more. I came up with a mutated human Technomage: It's left arm is a prosthetic which ends in a set of electronic tendrils used for both melee attacks and casting magic. It slithers on a forked tail - the result of an ancient familial curse. The entire creature, both its organic mutant parts and the machines which augment them, is powered by fusing with a rare crystal - the whereabouts of which are known only by the members of a secret order of mages. Unfortunately, while these crystals grant this Technomage great magical power, they also cause its organic components to deteriorate. This dilemma troubles the character, and when casting deadly spells on his foes isn't enough to calm his frustrations he gets up close with his crystal-bladed dagger.
Would love to hear everyone and anyone's thoughts or critiques. I've learned a lot from the people here who take the time to help out others. Great stuff so far, everyone! Good luck!
Speaking of which, wanna bash away at my revamped concepts I just posted? I don't wanna just nag and stuff so I don't know if I should reply or something or if I should just move on with the challenge in the 3d portion.
EDIT: Also, thanks for the tip. Looks like my tail needs work. Cheers.
Azuryon, id be a bit careful of going with a floating character, they can be hard to make feel weighty, im probably alone on this opinion but its my first thoughts.
I think im liking your b design the most, mostly because of the head design, see if you can work the rest of the body to match the cool head?
See if you cant try and solidify these a bit though, they are still a bit too rough to give you that much feedback other than that stuff as i cant tell what things in the concept are supposed to be.
cdizzle, looking pretty cool.
Personally i would extend the tail out more and perhaps exxaggerate the length of the arms to make him seem a little more deadly. Its just that the proportions dont feel as epic as they could. Also about the mask design, it feels a bit too boxy for my tastes, i would try and make it feel more organic with some curves and intersecting forms.
if you want a paintover just ask and im more than happy to oblige.
@Muzz: On the subject of the floating character, I agree, but I believe the bend in spine and the way the arms/other objects hang and float will help with this effect. Who knows though I could get to 3d and it look like complete shiz. I believe Slukas did a floating character as well, but I'm hoping mine is different enough from his to not get any flak for it.
I'll be sure and revamp B's design then and repost tomorrow. Thanks for your advice and I'll start tweaking the design immediately.
I just doodled some quick shapes over the top, might give you some ideas.
I think for the worrying about the amount of detail you can do i say make the complex forms, but when you get into the 3d if they are too complex it should be pretty easy to cut back on.
It's sitting at 1870 tris at the moment, the head and chest area might be a bit "poly heavy" I'll fix it if I run outta tris.
Muzz, thanks for sharing the optimization tips, they saved me a ton of tris in the back hosework.
cdizzle, thanks for the compliment
Here's my stab at modeling my concept, bricks were being constantly shat about the tri count, came in just under the wire at 2988 tris. I apologise in advance for the large image and crappy Maya screengrab, but it's farkin' late and I wanted to get this wrapped up for critique.
Made some thumbs and a rough time plan when i want things to be finished, aiming to get over the rough concept stage this weekend, so will make my final decision on what to do tomorrow evening.
Thumbs:
Liked #10 so far and started to do variations on it.
Will make this for 2 more thumbs and then pick the most appealing, let me know which ones you like.
@ Der Hollander: great progress, like the asymmetry, what you could work on are the legs, maybe some difference between them too?
@Madmuffin: I think the horn looks kind of weak/undefined in shape but the new overall form is much more powerful/tanklike, like that
@Ziggy, Ithoual, Slukas: Strong entries, looking forward on the progress.
@slukas Thanks! Loving your entry! You know what? I decided to go with the thumb you pointed out.
I suck pretty bad at drawing but still went ahead and did some exploring with the thumb.
Think it came out looking like it will fit with being a Corrupted. :poly142:
Any critc are welcome!
I can't decide, legs or no legs?