TRON - PLAYER - tristamus

tristamus

Okay! Here is my WIP so far of a "Player" for the Tron LP Contest.

It is based off of the image you see as my reference in the pic here...



So, I am not totally sure about the silhouette, whether it's really that interesting enough or not. It's just that this is my first low poly character ever, and I'm not sure if that really matters too much concerning how LP it is.

Anyways, please let me know how I can further advance the model, if at all!

As far as I can see, it's really all about the textures anyways...Imma call the model done unless you guys suggest otherwise!

tristamus

quick update. Last one for tonight.



I just wanted to get the absolute maximum polycount. I pushed in the sides of the face a bit to make it more similar to the reference image.

hopefully, texturing by tomorrow or day after!

Baddcog

typically low poly should really focus on silohette but as you said, it's really more about texture and how they flow on this one.

Looks pretty good anyway.

tristamus

Okay guys...here's where I need some help..

I'm terrible at doing UV's for character models, and this is primarily why I don't do Characters!

However, I'm trying my hardest to overcome this challenge of mine, and am wondering what the best method may be for this model?

I also plan on using the seams as a part of where the emissive / illuminance will occur on the texture. Best means of hiding them, I guess?

Here's a pic of my current UV layout and model...

Thanks for any feedback guys

MattQ86

Very nice modeling, the only critique I have is that the mandibles (chin?) are a bit rounder.

As far as the UVs go, for something this low poly you're going to want to do a lot of stacking. Both gloves, both arms and both legs look similar. The patterns on the torso and face look symmetrical as well. I can't tell from the reference what's going on with the back but I assume it's similar to the front. Cut this duder down the middle and mirror the UVs. Actually you could probably get away with just deleting half the mesh and then mirroring the geo so it's already stacked.

Here's my entry's UVs as an example. There's plenty of smarter and way more talented people posting here who might have better examples. JGcount's Dracula for one.

renderhjs

the reference looks very symmetrical and if you go 100% for that you could just as well mirror the UV sides and save almost 50%-60% of the texture space that you are using now, which means less painting work and a more crispy texel resolution.

Enderstaley

Hey buddy, what are you using to unwrap this guy?

Neffy

I agree with the mirroring the uvs as well as making the uvws more straight. In your model see how the image twists arround the legs because you have them laid out in an inverse V pattern on your sheet. Realigning them so they are more up and down like in the example matt posted should help when you paint the texture as well.

Also to save some polys id make your arms 4 sided and your legs 5 sided instead of 6 sided and reallocate the geometry to the gloves and shoulders.

renderhjs

Enderstaley: looks like headus UV layout

tristamus

Yep!! Headus....

I really like it because of how interactive it is when doing UV's. Took some time to learn it a while back and it's become my favorite way of unwrapping...using it along with the Maya tools I find it very efficient.

Anyways, okay, so, I'm gonna go along with the whole mirroring UV's deal. Seems like the most efficient technique atm, plus, you guys would know better anyways, I don't do characters normally.

@Neffy: Yeah man, I was actually taking another look today at the model as a whole and realized those extra poly's could be better distributed elsewhere.

And good call on the UV stuff, I definitely want my UV's to be easier to paint in the end ;D

tristamus

Also, Matt, could you please show me visually where you made your cuts on your model? I need some kind of reference as to where the best areas to cut are....that is where I am having most trouble. I would assume the best cuts are inside of legs / inside of arms / back of head and back? I have it this way so far, but I am so stupid when it comes to doing UV's for characters...