[WIP] Lowpoly Girl

Wex

NOTE: THIS IS NO LONGER LOWPOLY.

Current:


Hey guys!

This is only my second character model. Sort of dove into it blindly... I've gotten to the point where I really need to come up with a firm concept to move forward, but treating this as a base, is there anything that needs fixing before I build on it?

EDIT: I'm currently at 786 tris, just FYI.



WIP Concept Art:


Thanks in advance,
Wex

JGcount

Hey there

I think this is really good for a second model. Really...mine was terrible...maybe they still are?

ANYWAY, in order to crit, it is important for us to know as much about what it is you are trying to do. Is this a stylized model? If not, then the proportions need some work? Is this your final topology? If it is, then that needs some work as well.

Other than that, maybe start looking and some photos and drawings and get an idea of her type and what clothes she would be wearing(if any)

And show it to us

gl with it

Wex

Thanks!

It is definitely meant to be stylized, but not too over-the-top; anime influenced, but more grounded in realism. Jade from Beyond Good & Evil exhibits a style similar to what I'm imagining. The topology is not final! Any crits in that department would be much appreciated.

Clothing concepts coming soon! As for as for the type of character, she's the protagonist for an action/adventure game. She's ~19 years old and should appear spry but not overtly athletic nor battle-hardened. I'd like her to be alluring, but not sexualized. Her disposition is friendly but determined. The setting is a fantasy world where magic and technology co-exist.

For a weapon, I've been tossing around the idea of giving her chunky leather gauntlets that channel magic energy. I think they would lend the model some personality...

I welcome suggestions.

Wex

Sorry for the double post, but I'm concerned about what needs work in terms of the topology...? I'm not sure I understand all the criteria yet of good topology at my skill level.

Wex

New concept art:


I'm not sure If I like the T-Shirt. I know the corset shouldn't wrinkle like that at the bottom, but I'm in a rush to get feedback. No legs yet...

haikai

T-shirt + corset. Interesting design.

The mesh looks okay although I might make another cut in the back of the shoulders, and around the elbows and crotch areas.

Snader

Rounder boobs.

mdeforge

Rounder boobs.

To each his own! I think they are fine the way they are!

Wex

Actually, the latest piece of concept art would make the boobs look rounder due to the shaping of the corset. Originally I was imagining soft cloth stretch over the breasts, but depending on the final design, I'll change (or not change) the mesh accordingly. Thanks for the feedback!

haikai, interesting as in good? :P I'm not completely sold on the combination... I'll add those edges you suggested. Thanks!

Snader

Stradigos wrote: »

To each his own! I think they are fine the way they are!

You're misunderstanding me. I'm not saying larger or smaller, I'm saying the model is not round enough. It looks a bit as if someone chopped off the nipple area.

Wex

It's just a matter of low polycount versus smoothness then. I added another edge to the breasts and it looks a lot better, but it adds 16 tris. Worth it?

Wex

Smoothed the boobs and tweaked a bunch of little things. I tried to smooth out the butt too (which was similarly angular) but the mesh looks really wonky and I think I'm using way too many polies, given the LOD of the rest of the model. Please help me fix the butt! I've spent FAR too long on it already... :poly127:

Wex

Better?

Wex

Getting started on the hair:

fuxer

that's a better ass
Nice update btw

Wex

Thanks! My confidence level is low, so positive reinforcement is great to hear!

Here's a quick color test on the model. What do you guys think of the palette?


Also, tight-fitting pants or cargo pants? I can't decide.

Heartless

Your topology seems good.

The character design seems a little uninspired though. Cargo pants and a t-shirt under a corset? Sex it up, bro. I'm almost positive that right below this thread there is either tits and/or penii. Remove the t-shirt. Add some skank shorts that say "slut" on the butt, and give her some hooker heels.

Wex

Thanks about the topology. The character design is still a work in progress. I can't tell if you're being facetious, but if you'd read the previous posts, you'd know she's not supposed to be a sex object...

Heartless

I may have been being slightly facetious.

You seem to be able to draw, so I'd draw out the character in full before even opening your modelling app. It'll probably save a lot of time and frustration.

A female character can have sex appeal without being a sex object. Jade from Beyond Good and Evil had an exposed midriff. Do something to add interest. This is your protagonist. Make her stand out.

Wex

New concept art:


I feel like the sci-fi half of the sci-fi/fantasy aesthetic is nowhere to be found. Any help in that regard would be much appreciated.

haikai

I like the new concept a lot more. It feels more purposefully designed and more like a specific character now.

One thing I would consider changing is the leather top thing. It feels like a bra worn on the outside or something. I'd either make it longer like a mini corset or just get rid of it altogether and find another way to work leather into the shirt (like maybe it's just around the shoulder areas or is only on the sides of the torso, etc.).

Wex

Thanks a lot for the feedback, haikai. I've adjusted the leather top thing to make it more of a mini corset. I've also come up with an alternate shirt design to modernize it a bit... I can't decide which I prefer.



Updated the mesh in a lot of ways. Mainly smoothed out the legs and tweaked proportions. The gauntlets and hair are still WIP.

Heartless

Definitely likin' the updated design.

I'd lower the wraps around her arms to be below her elbow.

Wex

Thanks, Heartless, I think I'll do that. I'm moving forward with the latest design.

General question about hair: What do you think is the best approach for my model? Should I sculpt the pieces fully or use alpha planes to define chunks?

Heartless

Tough call. Really depends on the style you are going for and poly limit. I'd probably go for a bit of both. Mostly geometry, then some alpha planes in areas like the bangs and the tips of other places that stick out. But like I said, it's a style thing, so theirs no "right" way really.

krisCrash

I am personally a fan of alpha mapped hair (if you want inspiration, check out some of the later Final Fantasy games for nicely done alpha hair). Your concept looks more like that, but I will say though for her looks and the blue hair, what you have modelled fits quite nicely!

I liked how the shirt was striped (knitted?) in the second to last concept - if you find yourself lacking texture you can go back to that!
I really like her proportions, what a cute character

gilesruscoe

Nice progress man be sure to post it in the web and mobile thread once ur done, i think you'd get some extra comments in there! diggin the overall design and topo is great, i agree, move the wraps below the elbow (to strengthen wrist instead of limit elbow movement!) will be interesting to see how you go about making the fire on the hand!

Wex

Thanks, guys!

Ugh... I'm getting frustrated with the hair. I think I'm way over-sculpting it, but I don't know how else to go about it.

Niea

Not really a crit on the model it self but moreso regarding the concept: her boobs are huge and are (surprise) a bit too big to be believable. The concept drawings have a better ratio of size of boobs vs size of body. Eh I dunno, maybe it's because I have a thin body type and as a result no boobs (no one I know who is thin has boobs that big). Also corsets fucking hurt. If a character wears one and is also supposed to be an action/adventurer it would seem silly to wear one... I have to not breath in order to fit in to one, so imagine trying to jump, run, fight, cast spell, whatever in one!

In a more technical domain, if you are considering animation might i suggest you model not in a T-Pose but instead in a pose whereby the major joints are midway within their area of rotation... like the the elbow has about 170 degrees of rotation? So instead of having it at angle 0 (straight out) maybe try 85 or so degrees? This will help mitigate extreme stretching/bunching on the mesh and UV.

Wex

Finsihed the hair:


I updated the mesh which included reshaping the breasts and incidentally making them a bit smaller. I'd post pics now, but I'm kind of short on time. Gauntlets are finished and I'm now working on the boots...

Thanks for the tip about the arm positioning - fixed.

Wex

Finally getting back to this. I started polishing up the concept art, then decided it probably wasn't the best use of my time... Back to modelling!

Wex

Does the hair seem like way too many tris? It's 452 alone...

Snader

That's roughly 1/3rd, right? I think that's a bit much, yes. Have you thought about just using planes?

Wex

Actually, I'm totaling almost 2000 tris now, so it's roughly a 1/4. I've definitely thought about using planes, but I don't really know where to start, especially considering the thick, piecey style I've conceptualized.

Snader

The style would be done by the painting technique. You can have realistic looking planes, but also very stylized ones.
http://cghub.com/files/Image/004001-005000/4485/944_large.jpg
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2009/341/0/8/Bike_Girl_by_alienfetus.jpg (the forehead/temples, you could use some alphamapping as well)
http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?t=55278 a lot of models with stylized hair, though using thinner clumps

So in terms of planes being capable of doing what you need: they are.

However you could keep the model as all geo, it would probably fit better stylistically and it'd save you from using an alphamap. I reckon you should lose most of the clumps though, and pretty much just have vvvvv on the lower edge, and perhaps 2-3 jumpy clumps all the way on top. Here's a very very quick example of what I mean:

Weighs in at 202 triangles per sphere.

Would also be a helluva lot nicer to unwrap and texture.

Wex

Thanks, Snader, that was really helpful! Would it be feasible to shape the hair with a combination of geometry and alpha maps? I'm think about creating a geo base like your example with a few alphamapped planes jutting off.

Aaaugh, it's painful to scrap the geometry I spent so much time on... T_T

Wex

Updates:





Still procrastinating on the hair...

It looks like my finished model will be around 3000 tris. I was wondering, at that size, is it generally expected to have fully sculpted facial features (e.g. eyes)? In any case, I think I should bump up the detail of the face to make it more easily animatable.

Wex

Started detailing the face. Just the mouth so far:



I think the body mesh is basically done:

Rezghenth

Hi mate,
Awesome work so far, really like the concept and work done so far.
Looking at the topology around the elbow and knee joints, have you thought any about how its going to look when you pose / animate it? I've posted this one already once today, its by Ben Mathis, available here.

Wex

Thanks, Rezghenth! I fixed the elbows and knees so they should deform better now.

Update on the face:


The eyes are obviously undone and the nose still needs work...

Wex

Hmmm.... should the corset be slightly extruded from the torso for definition? Or would that be a waste of tris?

Wex

Update:


Is there some special trick to doing eyelids? Nose still needs work

Gallows

For a second model, you're off to a great start. As far as eyelids go, I generally make sure the vertices line up from top to bottom in case you actually deform them, you won't have to worry about odd little overlapping. It looks like keep topology in mind quite well, and your hand paint textures look pretty nice, you definitely have the basics down. As far as the nose I'd just say give it a bit of a crease so it doesn't look like it's just a hump on the face. Keep it up

Wex

Thanks, Gallows!

Aww, I thought I was so clever modelling the eyes with a concave iris beneath a convex lens, and then this happens:


Is there any solution, or will I have to make the surface of the eye flat?

Muttt

This is looking really great, especially for your second model. As for the corset, I wouldn't extrude it out at all. It looks fine how it is with the style you are going for. Keep it up!

Wex

Thanks, Muttt! That's the direction I was leaning.

For the eyes, I think I'll normal map the irises, so the geometry isn't problematic, but they'd still catch the light correctly. Is it possible for the specular map to use a different normal map than the diffuse? That would be convenient. And if I can do it in Maya, does anyone know if I can do it in Unity...?

I'd be interested to hear any other eyeball iris/lens ideas or (even better) known solutions...

Wex

I made it in Photoshop using a tablet. If you don't have a tablet, I'd recommend doing your concept art on paper and then scanning.

drelectro

i am also interisted on how to fix the iris issue.
there must be an other way then normal mapping!?

Wex

But even normal mapping presents the problem of the specular map (for the highlight) needing a different normal map then the diffuse map, which I don't even know is possible!

Wex

Back to work after a few weeks:


I think it's starting to look pretty good, but due to my inexperience, my confidence about the topology is nil...

Wex

Totally re-did the chest:


How does her posture look?


Legs still need a lot of work. I'd really like to get the face locked in so I can stop obsessing over it and move...

PS: Still looking for a good eye shader solution. A layered shader with a normal map for the iris and a different normal map for the specular highlight looks good head-on, but not the side. I think a parallax/relief map for the iris would work perfectly, but I haven't been able to find a parallax shader anywhere.