Grandmaster - Bird-guy thing
polycounter lvl 18
Massive Update-Get! Freelance work has been slowing down a bit, so I've had a chance to charge forward with this guy again. Here are the latest shots (updated thread deets below)
Heya all!
I originally wanted to get this guy started for the Mudbox "Warriors" challenge over at cghub.com, but ended up getting a contract job right around the time it rolled around. This is my first stab at a non-human character. Eager to hear your thoughts!
First up are the concept sketches for the character scanned from my sketchbook.
Getting the base mesh set up in Max. Trickiest part of this was figuring out how his fingers and hands blended into an actual wing-like arm. Looked at Disney's Robin Hood a lot for reference.
Wireframe. Since doing character rigging and animation for my last job, I have a whole lot more respect for proper meshflow. Hope I'm doing it right. :P
I think my biggest challenge with this guy will be the feathers. I checked Matt's feather tutorial on his site, and I'm not sure how I will tie it into a character sculpt. If any of you guys have any experience with it at all, please let me know!
Heya all!
I originally wanted to get this guy started for the Mudbox "Warriors" challenge over at cghub.com, but ended up getting a contract job right around the time it rolled around. This is my first stab at a non-human character. Eager to hear your thoughts!
First up are the concept sketches for the character scanned from my sketchbook.
Trying to figure out proportions, costuming, etc.
Getting the base mesh set up in Max. Trickiest part of this was figuring out how his fingers and hands blended into an actual wing-like arm. Looked at Disney's Robin Hood a lot for reference.
Wireframe. Since doing character rigging and animation for my last job, I have a whole lot more respect for proper meshflow. Hope I'm doing it right. :P
I think my biggest challenge with this guy will be the feathers. I checked Matt's feather tutorial on his site, and I'm not sure how I will tie it into a character sculpt. If any of you guys have any experience with it at all, please let me know!
Replies
And the head detail (with wireframe overlaid)
Eager to hear what you all think!
I would however maybe look into tweaking the torso a bit more, especially around the groin/stomach area. Nothing wrong with it now, I just think you could perhaps give it some more character.
Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.
Screenies from Mudbox. Still stubbing in the feathers. Not sure how this is gonna turn out yet. :P
@cmcisaac - My current plan is to sculpt the major feather structures, and supplement them with alpha cards. I'm still unsure how the final effect will work together, but I figure I gotta try it somehow.
Updated with more plumage. I think I'm gonna see feathers in my sleep!
It's been a long time man! This is really coming along. Feathers are coming nicely as well. What's the plan w/ the hands? Thinking about adding some cards for tufts of hair as well?
-Tyler
the sculpt looks a little busy though, i guess we'll see how he ends up. loving it so far.
Heya Tyler!
My hope is to continue the feather line that's going along the back of his arm into the fingers, so it completes that illusion that they're both feathers and fingers. I'll probably have to do some experimenting to see how it looks.
I was also planning on cards for the area around his neck and his eyebrows. We'll have to see how they play with the normal map.
@Rick_D
Thanks dude! I'm really glad people are digging his design. I'm a little concerned about his feathers becoming too busy on the model. It's a tough balance for sure! If there's one thing I've learned from this piece, it's that it's no wonder why there aren't a lot of bird-like characters in games; they're tough to make!
I tried Mudbox's paint features for the first time with this guy, and was amazed at the quality you can achieve. It was also way more intuitive painting directly on the model, as-opposed to loading up a flat image in photoshop, saving it, then updating it in Max to see the results. Mudbox also has the handy feature of being able to export your paint layers directly to a PSD file, making assembly in Photoshop extremely easy.
After his base body textures were laid down (no specmaps yet), It was armor time.
Armor was laid-out in 3DSMax, then off to Mudbox again for a sculpt pass.
He's still got a ways to go still, but he's really coming together well. I'm hoping to make some more progress on him and show him off during Comic-Con this week in the hope of landing a job somewhere. Wish me luck!