Sword Of A Thousand Truths- WIP- Critiques Please!

gannonroader

Hey guys, I've been deep into skyrim the past couple days, and it's really screaming at me to make some mods for fun and portfolio pieces, but mostly for fun. I started by making the "sword of a thousand truths" from south parks "make love, not warcraft" episode. I was hoping you guys could give me some constructive input on what I have so far. I would like to be able to take this into mudbox and start adding some fine details but I don't think the existing model I have right now is going to be much use in there as it won't subdivide properly.


Any help is appreciated, and please don't tear the model apart too bad. This is my first time doing something like this, so I would be amazed if I get it right first try, but hopefully by the end of this, I'll have an awesome sword to give to the community. I know the creation kit hasn't been released yet either.

gannonroader

really? nobody?

Cody

Haha, I'll bite then. With a name like that, it should be more epic. I'd make the blade bigger. The skull looks a bit cutesy. I'd lay the the image over the model and see how you can make it look meaner. Get to it, son!

Santhem

The main thing to make the eyes meaner is to to make it curved. You'll want the section of the "eyebrow" to be sticking out, the eyes hiding under that. Then make extra attention that the V shape above the nose sticks out, and you will be sure to get a much meaner facial expression.

Same goes for the mouth, make the nose stick out compared to the mouth.
Your biggest flaw here is the skull being too flat, a skull is rounded!

Good luck!

//edit. that was just some idea's for the skull to look mean.
As for the rest of the model, i dont see the horns helping in this design really. Its getting a bit cliche, and without them you have a cleaner, in my opinion prettier design. If you want to go for more epic, defently increase the blade length and possibly the handle lenght too. Two handed swords always look epic, so big handles sell that for me .

gannonroader

hahaha yeah, I agree, but I want to make the exact sword from south park. I'm going to play around with the ideas you guys gave me, and post an update when it's ready.


Thanks guys, anything else you feel could use work, let me know. I have no problem with criticism as long as it's constructive. Pick away

Tigerfeet

How many polys is this guy? It looks like you've got way too many in the skull. I also think the skull is a bit flat. The reference you posted is only from one direction (and I know southpark is a 2D medium) but I really think the brows, nose, and forehead need more depth.

gannonroader

working on that now, but you might be right about the poly count. It's a little over a thousand right now. I started with the intentions of bringing it into mudbox, so I wanted it to be able to subdivide but i have some n-gon issues. This really isn't the style of modeling i'm used to doing so i'm expecting some hiccups. Might have to remake the skull, or sculpt one in mudbox then build a low poly around that?

Tigerfeet

From what I understand a number of artists start with the high-poly and then decimate and re-topologize after. This is something I've never done myself though, so I can't offer any advice on that.

gannonroader

Ok, so I went with that. Sculpted a skull I was happy with, brought it into max (along with the low poly version), and started to optimize the low poly. Now i'm used to max 2011, and there seems to be something in 2012 that i'm unfamiliar with. Sometimes when I delete a vertice, the material goes all wacky, I managed to fix it by applying 2 normal modifiers to the object, but when I baked out my textures, it's still showing up. Heres a pic.


I'm sorry if this is a known issue, or something that's been discussed before. It's new to me.

Gannon

re-transfer after you optimize. Don't mess with your model after you do a transfer, it screws up your UVs and that's why it's distorting.

Mclarke92

I think the handle looks too thin and the sapphire too large, Good luck ! skyrim rocks

gannonroader

Mclarke92 wrote: »

I think the handle looks too thin and the sapphire too large, Good luck ! skyrim rocks

McLarke92, I agree, that's something else I was planning on fixing. After I get this skull fixed



and Gannon, the uv was made after the optimization. What do you mean exactly by re-transfer? Cause i'm stumped! hahaha

gannonroader

I've wrestled with this for days now and cannot figure out why i'm getting this weird black patching on my mesh, and in my bakes.

achillesian

bad uv's maybe, especially possible if you used automatic mapping.

gannonroader

nope, uv's are great. I never use auto unwrapping. An example I just came across literally minutes ago. I deleted some edges, decided it was the wrong thing to do, so I hit ctrl +z, and all of a sudden the model looked like crap. The geometry was changed BACK to the way it was only seconds ago, but now it looks like trash. Its something to do with max 2012, i've never had this problem before.


here's the model i'm currently working on on an unrelated project of the sword that will illustrate my point.

gannonroader

Just a small update, I was workin on another model. Built half, and used symmetry, and one half looks all funky look the model on the right, while the other half is normal. What the hell is going on?

Jowens

idk what the problem is but whenever i get weird stuff, i usually make sure my normals arent locked and facing the right way and if that doesnt help, export as obj and reimport.