Scifi old gentleman boss next gen character

Highelf

EDIT:

Latest :

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Hey guys, doing my first ever full next gen character.

Here are the orthos I did:


Without the helmet version:

www.jordylakiere.com/upload/charlesMlloyd/Charlesonly.jpg

Not much to show yet, but I started really roughly blocking out today:


(I'll tilt and position the head afterwards)

Atm my plans are doing a VERY rough blockout of the character in max, then bring it into zbrush and sculpt entirely, then retope that to the low, and do the bakes etc off that.

For the chair and helm I will model it subd in max, then make a low off that by working as organised/non-destructive as possible.

I think this is the best way to go, although I could model the low p char in max first, but I figured I wouldn't do that since its quite organic (even his clothes) and it might end up taking a lot longer I think (and looking worse, cause zbrush is alot more versatile) I like the balance between organic -> zbrush and mechanic -> max, in terms of the ammount of practise I'll get from it.

If you have any ideas on the design, tips, or maybe workflow tips, please go ahead and do tell! I really want this to be perfect so I finally have something I'm happy enough about that I can put it on my future portfolio.

One thing, I tried the zbrush 4 retopology thing, but they seem to have changed the opacity of the back wires and front wires which makes it REALLY really difficult to do. (even if I tweak the values under preferences) Is there a better way to retope a high poly? Other software that might be much better at it?

Thanks for reading! Updates will be coming in over the next few weeks.

POFFINGTON

Hey man this is looking pretty good, my biggest crit is the image size you posted this at took 2 and a half mins to load, on a fast connection. I might revisit the idea of the rim design on the wheel as well. Other than that keep up the good work!

Snader

Stephen hawking approves, but he asked me to tell you he thinks that the wheels look like those off of a dirtbike instead of a wheelchair.

ariofighter

I agree that the wheels are pretty off-roadish, but it does also look like that wheel chair has a VW motor strapped to the back of it. I like the idea and cant wait to see more.

Jungsik

Cool concept bro~

Highelf

Thanks, I got the crit at school that I should make them like oldtimer wheels.

I will probably make the spokes see-through, and make the tires themselves less wide.

POFFINGTON: sorry about the insane image size, I only noticed that after posting. I will change it to be less ridiculously huge later today when I'm home

Highelf

Okay I updated the model sheet just now. (see first post) I made the wheels less thick and seethrough and also rendered out a lot more stuff. (esp the wheelchair)

I will work more on the blocking out tonight after school!

Highelf

Update from in class today!

Here's the max basemesh so far:


And I slowly started sculpting out the head. I'm liking the feel of the side view atm but not so much of the front (tips to improve it welcome), this is just one WIP of many.

KyleH

I think your high poly sculpt is a great start. I believe that the bottom of your ocular rim is a bit too sharp. Im also not reading his cheek bones well.

I believe once you add some really deep sharp wrinkles it will add some great feeling to the character.

MainManiac

More cheek bone and a ball chin and it should be good to go :P

Highelf

Update! Lots more fiddling and changes to the sculpt, still searching.

Jungsik

it looks like he has bunny ears, but that could be due to his age : O, not really an expert in old people wrinkles, but i think he needs more forehead wrinkles?

ScoobyDoofus

Overall I think its a fun idea. You should probably work the entire character a little more before you get into too much sculpting of the face...that said.

The face sculpt is looking promising. I'd recommend looking at more photographic references for elderly males, even if you aren't going for photo realistic style.. Like these:

http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Video/090123/tdy_lauer_vigoda_090123.standard.jpg

http://www.lbnelert.com/wp-content/themes/default/images/lbnelert/090619_lbn%20see%20it.JPG

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6IDK_OzQUjA/TO8FULn3diI/AAAAAAAACbo/jQW1CxtFelc/s400/art.vigoda.gi.jpg

http://www.planetemerson.com/images/crashquotes/GeorgeBurns1.jpg

Highelf

Thanks for the crits and ideas guys!

I started on the shirt cloth, and did a basic assymetry pass on the head sculpt. (although its not done, I still have to fit the face on the monocle for example.)

Here is another update:


Crits very welcome!

I also did the wheelchair wheels in subd, but thats not really worthy enough of a picture. I'll post some WIPs of the hard surface later on when I have more to show.

Highelf

Update!





More coming quite soon.

Mark Dygert

Reminds me a lot of Von Bolt from Advance Wars. Cool stuff!

Highelf

That IS sort of similar Haha, nice find.

Anyway, another big update!








More coming soon again!

roosterMAP

locin that chair. cant wait to see it complete.

Highelf

Hey guys! Another update




I also sculpted the cushions, but I still have decimate them and stuff before I can add them. (I forgot to) Just noticed the weird seams on the gramophone too, gonna have to clean those up.

Highelf

Another update, this time not 3D though! Had to paint a colour modelsheet of the head:




Due to some odd timing/planning mistakes by school and myself I ended up making the 2D modelsheet AFTER the sculpt, so yeah. On the other hand I had the luck that I could use the sculpt as good ref though.

Highelf

Final SubD wheelchair



Let me know what you think!

Keep in mind theres a bunch of details I left to the photoshop nvideo filter for the normal maps, like that pattern that is missing in the plate where the legs would rest.

Cyrael

Awesome work on the hands and the wheelchair looks amazing. The cloth still needs a lot of work though, especially in the torso area, it looks really blobby and uniform.

Great job so far though!

Mark Dygert

That's awesome! I love the wheel chair, the detailing on the back is great. The gramaphone is a great detail but its looking a little blurry and under defined, is the UV shell scaled smaller than some of the other details?

You might want to thicken up the axles at first they looked like just more cords hanging down, maybe some mechanical looking ball joint or sock absorber?

You might want to pull the skin out from under the monocle, from what I understand it gets pinched between the eyebrow and the cheek? Right now it kind of looks like his eyebrow is holding onto it?

Highelf

Thanks for the crits man! I had to wrap the high poly up for a deadline, but I will definitely can and will apply some of your crits still before I do the low poly and stuff! Particularly agree with the axles/balljoint thing. I will make the monocle fit in there more too near the end.

Anyway to wrap it up I brough the wheelchair into zbrush, and fitted the char in it. I also made the shoes in max, and resculpted a few areas. Obviously I reposed his arms too for easier rigging and retoping eventually, and sculpted the areas under the arm and stuff






I'm supposed to be done with the low poly version of it within the next two weeks, so updates coming soon! The max tri count is 15k, I have absolutely no idea what to expect here (too little, too much) as I have no experience in chars etc, but I hope I wont run into any major shortage of polygons.

Highelf

So after some pauze in progress, I finally finished the low poly! Retopo'd inside max using the graphite tools for charles and then manually lowered from the high poly for the chair:



Hope you like it!

Next up is unwrapping (yay! /sarcasm) then baking and texturing obviously. I really hope to get it done before next week, but I dunno yet how time consuming the rest will be.

Highelf

Did the unwrap (ohmygodworstmosttediousunwrapever) and the first real normals bake ever!



Here's a viewport grab. (hence not insane quality anti aliasing etc)
The normals are still a bit rough, some artifacts here and there, but I'm getting close to the actual texturing. Crits welcome!

BlvdNights

I think everything's turning out fantastic, but the cloth. The folds still aren't doing it for me.

Art-Machine

Something about the back wheels doesn't sit with me.

Maybe it's that they look too beefy, like he's about to be seen drag racing across a desert. Maybe it's because of the spokes, you don't see wheel like that too often anymore even in modern society. When you think 'future wheelchair' you think hoverpads, or something slick like the wheels on professor X's chair in X-men the movies.

Builder_Anthony

Make a joystick for his wheelchair?

Don Karnage

Holy crap he's creepy :P
Lovely hi-poly stuff so far though!

Jungsik

man cant wait till its textured - only crit would be that the jacket / sweater he is wearing seems to be a bit too saggy

Skillmister

This is really nice. The high poly wheelchair is fantastic

Highelf

Started texturing! Did the face and the shirt so far. No spec and glossiness yet though, only diffuse and normals.

He's supposed to look ill and the shirt should have a satin-ish look although I'm having trouble realising that for realtime stuff without any special shaders or anything

Crits very welcome

MEGALOS

Looking awesome so far man, I love the look he has through his eyes. I think his clothes and hands need some more detail though. Are you going to use an AO map?

Highelf

Thanks! Theres already an AO map baked and on there actually, and yeah I agree, the clothes are really basic and even the folds aren't really right. I'd like to add more stuff but as far as the shirt I don't know much I can add, except maybe a chest pocket or something? Its supposed to look like a satin pyjama anyway, not sure how I can improve!

Ideas are very welcome.

MEGALOS

ah okay! Well its not really shown on the parts where his jacket overlaps the other jacketparts and also at his neck area. I think the base is looking really good so far, perhaps you should focus more on stuff like stiches etc.

Highelf

Alright, got the exam coming up so here's some more stuff!

This will probably be the final for Charles, but I'll work on it more after the exams for portfolio material, so definitely crits are still welcome.




Chair texturing tomorrow!

roosterMAP

somethings wrong with the eyes. they look dead. maybe increase the specular on them? Also, the ears are too flat on his head.

Highelf

Thanks for the crits - I changed the eyes and ears a bit. I got a whole boatload of good crits and couldn't resist apply them, so here's the ... new final :P Sleep now.

Highelf

And the final for my exam:

PatrickL

Floating arms?

Highelf

Yes, he's in a neutral pose.


Rigging him to a biped for some posing is on the ToDo list though.