Little girl - feedback needed on edgeloops and optimization
polycounter lvl 15
Hi guys. I'm going back to study a bit of low poly modeling, and I'm needing some help of you. My intention is to do a simple old school model, about 3k, with 1024px diffuse and specular maps only. I spent some hours modeling, and there it goes what I have by now:
And my original drawing:
She is now with 3240 tris. Can you help to see where i can optimize to go under 3k? And what about the edgeloops? As I'm not an animator, I always feel confuse when i have to deal with this. They are good, and should be made in other way?
Thanks in advance!
And my original drawing:
She is now with 3240 tris. Can you help to see where i can optimize to go under 3k? And what about the edgeloops? As I'm not an animator, I always feel confuse when i have to deal with this. They are good, and should be made in other way?
Thanks in advance!
Replies
The most effective way is to apply a 100% black material, by rotating around the model, you will see polys that don't contribute to the silhouette...a bunch can be collapsed without affecting the "roundness" of the model.
Although I consider this done, I'd appreciate hard and soft crits, about the design, painting, colors, presentation, and everything. This will be veery useful on next projects.
There it goes her turntable:
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/1586/fka.mp4
Thank you!
Haha, that's like saying you like to eat fine steaks (Pior), expensive sushi (Ben), and chicken McNuggets (me). But thanks for the plug, and I hope the feedback below helps more than it hurts:
First of all, this is a pretty good model and texture already!
There aren't any glaring modeling problems that I can see, but I think you probably have more polygons on the head and face than you really need. Even if you are planning on animating the face I think you'd be better off simplifying the mesh on the head and redistributing polygons to other parts of the body. There are also a few triangle edges I'd be tempted to flip to make sure the polygon faces aren't going to be stressed too much when deformed, but all in all it's pretty good. I can see some quads on your model that are being twisted or "bow-tied." Be sure to examine your quad faces, and don't be afraid to split them into triangles if it creates a better form.
The proportions are pretty decent. It looks like a young girl, and I would guess that she might be about 10+ years old or something like that. I'm not sure if that was your intention, but that's my impression.
Some things that I might adjust are:
Like some others have said, the ears are too far back, and are shaped kind of oddly. They especially look awkward sticking out in the 3/4 back view.
The face is looking better from side view now, but there are some things you can do to make it feel younger. The eyes can move forward a bit so they aren't so deeply set. The nose could be a bit softer and more round (less of a nose bridge), and the mouth can come forward a bit for more of a "muzzle." Think rounder and softer.
The arms are a bit too long considering that they are also slightly bent. The neck is a little long, and makes her look more mature. The definition of her legs (knees, calves, etc.) also look too mature. She's got very young hands so I expect the rest of her body to be less defined and more chubby with baby fat as well.
You've got a pretty good start on the texture. Some things I would consider:
The way the contrast is right now, it kind of feels like the different clothing parts aren't under the same lighting condition as the skin. For example, there are some pretty harsh shadows on the skin, but the shirt is more neutral. You're at the stage where you should be looking at your model as a 2d image and thinking about what you need to do to make it read well as a whole. Personally, I would probably neutralize the skin, hair, and skirt to more closely match the shirt's lighting, but that's up to you as long as it's consistent.
As far as painting goes, I would recommend avoiding the soft round brushes. Those are good for certain situations, but I personally find that they create an overly digital airbrushed look. This isn't to say that you need to use fancy brushes that simulate natural media, but soft brushes can make things feel blurred and noncommital. It's the contrast of brush strokes that can add another dimension to your painting.
The skin looks unfinished in some areas. The belly button looks a little too harsh and not set into the body naturally. The lighting looks incomplete around the collarbones and the back of the neck. I would also lighten and warm up the lips a bit, and be careful of your values on the face or it may become too defined for her age.
I'm not totally sold on the pigtails. I'm not sure if you plan on using alpha or not, but I don't think open ended cylinders are going to give you a great result. Considering the stylization, you might be better off modeling out a more natural shape.
As far as the general design goes, it's a bit too plain right now. Even if this is supposed to be a background character, I think you can do a few things to make it more convincing as a character. I would look for little girl outfits for more inspiration on the clothing. If you want to keep the stripes, I think you should fix how the stripes are going down the sleeves (they don't look like they're following the cut of the fabric enough on the upper arms). You can add simple things like hair ties for the pigtails, and some other accessories to really sell the idea of what this character is like.
I'm not sure how many little girls wear shirts that show off their midriffs. I think a little showing is kind of cute, as if they're outgrowing their clothes, but the shirt she has now looks like it was intentionally made to show off which, again, makes her look more mature.
Again, this is a good model so far, but I think you can take it further. The design can be improved to clarify the character's purpose, and the proportions tweaked, and the painting can be cleaned up and polished. Good luck!
1. Her calves are too well defined and very unlike a childs.
2. Mid drift is too much...
3. Neck is just slightly too long.
Other than that it looks pretty good, but I really think you should fix these 3 things if you want it to look more child like.
I'll send you some stuff later. One very simple piece of advice tho : take the time to take screenshots of it and paint over it as an illustration. It will help you in the sense that, you'll be able to look at it outside of 'texture mode' and adress stuff easily. Then it's just a matter of finding good ways to translate that to the actual 3D piece.
There is some very good to look at in the indie japanese 3D scene. I'll dig up a few links asap.
Good luck!
Now? Looking good! Nice handpainted textures.
When you have them at an angle like the shirt front, when the texture is downrezed, those edges are going to get quite choppy.
Keep it up!
jramauri: Model is looking good! Like the proportions. The color scheme is a little frightening, though. The hot pinks and bare middrift are somewhat suggestive, and considering the character's portrayed age I do find that a little frightening.
I realize this is somewhat stylized from your texturing style, but your proportions are a little off. The hips are nearly as wide as the girl's shoulders. This is making her look older than she really is. Girl's hips flare and widen at puberty and their waist shrinks. Pre-pubescent girls' hips are noticeably narrower than their shoulders, and the waist and hips are much closer to the same width.
In other words, puberty gives a girl her curves, and we aren't just talking about breasts. Your model has too much curve or an hourglass shape for a preteen, and it is making her look older.
I know you're probably done with the model at this point, but just something for consideration if you ever model a little girl again.
girl is looking good I think the highlights are a bit strong tho