Uni Project - 3d Character WIP

Tophies

Hey Guys, Im new here so... Hey!

Anyway, working on a piece for school and was hoping for some of the much appreciated polycount C+C.

It is a "current-gen" game model. Aiming at about 18k tri's (Probs end up around 16k).

Need advice/crit/damaging words from a loving mentor figure on;

Edge loops and general topology, proportions (even though it is stylized would love feed back), general advice and anything else you guys can think of! It is due in just over two weeks so I have a little time left for fixing anything brought up, unwrap and texture (hopefully)

She is not water tight atm (hair, sandals and skirt thingy seperate). Still deciding which way to go on that as well....

Thanks in advance.

PS: I know she is skinny haha.

Turnaround Video of dooooooooooooooooooommmm!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TDxcwxxda8[/ame]

Screenshots for those who are videoist...(plus its a low quality vid haha)



[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TDxcwxxda8"][/ame]

Tophies

Fixed the topology on the shoulder. Better deformations now.

Tophies

Aww I feel unloved guys. Really need some input!

She is fully unwrapped now. All quads and ready for sculpting.

throttlekitty

Looks good overall, but less cutesy than the sketches, maybe it's the muscle tone in the midsection? The feet need a little more work, the arch on the top of the foot looks very unnatural, and the toes look like an inflated rubber sock.

Wex

It looks like you've got waaaay more vertical edge loops than you need. Also, your polygons are really unevenly (and seemingly arbitrarily) distributed. For instance, why does the small of the back have a TON of tris but the butt is really low poly? The edge flow could be relaxed in a lot of places, especially the lower abdomen and the thighs.

If I were you, I would cut way back on the polycount of the entire model, relax the edge loops, and then subdivide to get a controlled, even polygon distribution.

Sorry, if this came across as harsh; I hope it helped. I'm really digging the style.

jave56

Hey! Good start! Welcome to the world of organic topology. This is going to sound a bit harsh but I would suggest starting over at this point. This model has lots of weird topology and your edge loops are not going to deform properly. When the shoulders move for example there should be a flow of edges... almost like a shawl that moves when the arm is lifted or turned... check this video out (it has a lot of edges but generally correct edgeflow:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=681b1UdoXE0[/ame]

organic topology is very interesting and bottomless thing to learn. Though cg talk is a bit more film oriented than game...i would suggest looking here:
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=25&t=38469

at the research people like Stahlberg have done on the forms of the body and how to most efficiently create organic shapes. I know you were going for a stylized look but you need to research muscle groups and how the mesh will deform.


As a general rule try and place poles in places where there is going to be minimal deformation. On the face, for example you can take create some poles that loop back into other edges to minimize the polycount around the back of the head as the skin there is not going to deform very much.

http://www.pushingpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/files/HDRI%203D%20Issue%208%20-%20Go%20With%20the%20Flow.pdf

this is a really great intro to organic modeling. check out how there is a nice flow to all the loops around the mouth and eyes. Things that deform a lot. Notice how even though there are very stylized creatures in the mix, the flow of loops generally follows a similar format.

Also keep your edges spaced evenly so turbosmooth smooths them without all that weird black shadowing you have. turbosmooth is your freind. Turn it on and click "isodine display". Even though you wont be using it in a game... it can show you mistakes in your edge flow because it doesn't do well with bad topo.

Keep your edges spaced evenly where you want smoothness and close together where you want a harder curve.
here are some more reference images.
http://i26.tinypic.com/4g69mg.jpg
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/874/polyregionsif6.jpg

You should build up a library of reference images because it will help you with both remember your proportions and keep your edge loops in the right spots. If you know anyone at your school who has ever skinned any organic forms they can tell you what is good or bad. A good rigger in any pipeline would not take a model that doesn't have proper edgeflow.

I really would suggest starting over as you will learn much more that way and to be honest, this model has so much edge flow all over the place you will spend more time fixing it than just starting again with better knowledge. Good luck!

Tophies

None of that was harsh. Better to hear the truth than keep going blindly.

Thanks guys awesome stuff. Yeah as you can prob tell I have only done prop work and low poly stuff in the industry so have a heap to learn about character modelling.

Preferably I would of sculpted the whole damn thing and just re-topologized after but it wasn't on the cards this time *sigh*.

Thanks again. Will update soon

Tophies

Ok had a chat with Teach and some dudes at work. They reckon not worth it to completely remodel so I have the fun task of welding and retopologizing as best as I can.

Test rigged her and fixed the shoulder, knee and elbow loopages. Chucked a few diamonds on her head (under hair) to reduce edges down the back, like Wex said way to many vertical edges. Geometry on the stomach/abs area mostly for the clothes but will review it when I get the chance. All quads again so I might do one more test rig and fix, then post the wires back up for some more advice (if you guys are up for it).

Again really appreciative for all the help. I need some sleep now haha. NIGHT!!!

Wex

Look forward to seeing your progress!

Awesome post, jave56! There's a lot I can learn from those links as well...

achillesian

could always smooth the mesh, and do a nice easy retopo with a tool like topogun or 3d coat, thats what I would do.

ariofighter

I think the 'problem' that is jumping out at me is you modeled in her clothes, but then gave them the same smoothing group as the rest of her body. So it reads like an odd abdomen or bust line. Yet what it really is the bump from her clothes that are shading the same as her skin. Your going to sculpt and I would assume this will show better once its subdivided, but I'm not 100% sure if it will. Keep it up, its a neat concept.

Tophies

Working on the normal map. Getting there slowly

Her breasts still looking a bit polygonal so working on that. Edgeloops around mouth still getting fixed but im running out of time.

Sidenote: Work buying us all copies of 3dcoat So yay for my next assessments haha.

Tophies

Color Test:

Got some stretching issues but getting there. What ya think?

Tophies

Just noticed rigging shitty and arms are kinda of sagging. will fix that asap.

Tophies

haikai

Especially for normal mapped work, it's important to have a clean and defined sculpt to work from. Your sculpt is probably affecting your bakes because the textures are somewhat sloppy. Edges that should be straight are wobbly or indistinct and the texture just has a "dirty" quality to it and lacking finesse.

Good effort though. I'm sure what you learned from this will help you make your next model that much better.