Mecha Balrog

dproeder

Just Finished Mutant League so I'm jumping on a new Model. Lets put those hard surface techniques to use in the Character realm. Mecha Balrog!!!

UPDATE:




Found the work on Kotaku: http://kotaku.com/5863507/street-fighters-bosses-are-much-more-menacing-in-mecha-form/gallery/1

Contacted the Artist, Bosslogic, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Bosslogic

He gave me the go ahead to Three-Dee-Ah-Eyzzz it.



Got some of the Torso Already Built.


Mainly modeling this in Maya, then using Zbrush to "Crease" it, Smooth it, and Probably Paint.

Hope yall enjoy the progress.

JTerry

I can't understand why you would want to take this into Zbrush for anything other than maybe roughing up the edges a bit. Your 3d suite is going to give you way better results for something with simple hard surface shapes like this. You loose that fine control when you take it into zbrush unless you plan on using clipping and group loops techniques, but I think that would be a waste of time for this character.

dproeder

JTerry wrote: »

I can't understand why you would want to take this into Zbrush for anything other than maybe roughing up the edges a bit. Your 3d suite is going to give you way better results for something with simple hard surface shapes like this. You loose that fine control when you take it into zbrush unless you plan on using clipping and group loops techniques, but I think that would be a waste of time for this character.

This is true. I do plan on taking it into Zbrush to bang up edges and what not. I went into this character the same way I would when using my hard surface workflow. I will probably do most of the fine sculpt detail directly in Photoshop on my normal there.

Malus

Nice idea, look forward to seeing the result.

Btw, Zbrush is more than capable of hard surface work, its more about what you feel comfortable using really.

http://eat3d.com/zbrush_hardsurface

http://eat3d.com/zbrush_hardsurface2

zakhar2

I guess proportion-wise this is alright (its a little hard to tell since the perspective of the screenshot doesnt match the one in the ref), but most of your edges are waaaaay too soft.

dproeder

zakhar2 wrote: »

but most of your edges are waaaaay too soft.

Yep. I'll do it up right.

dproeder

More progress. The gloves were fun... Feedback very welcome!

dproeder

Another Update. I fee like his arms a little wimpy in terms of mass right now. I also need to come up with my own designs for the Shoes, and Back as they are not shown in the concept art. I will probably do the head in Zbrush.













The Armpit Cylinder under the shoulder plate will be smoothed correctly. Those creases snuck in through the wait staff door on me.

dproeder

Head Finished.

Snader

It feels a bit like you're mostly working with intersected geometry and very simple primitive shapes. That's probably not a good way to learn because it doesn't give you any problems to solve - with solutions that'll come in handy in more complex projects.

dproeder

Work Smarter not Harder. This concept doesn't call for anything more than what I've created. Why would I waste time splitting and sewing when I don't need to? Does Floating Geometry affect the Final Bakes? Nah. Also, This is just the high poly model. Why worry about anything other than the outward appearance? I plan on busting out optimized geometry for the low poly game model when I need to.

ysalex

Maybe, but you're not pushing yourself either. By limiting the model to simple primitives you are ignoring a lot of the complexity of the character.

You have little to none of the original form intact. Just because the original is a robot does not mean that you can represent him accurately with simple boxes. He has a form, a design, a flow to him that is not represented in your model. You'll need to find that before you continue if you want this to look half decent. Right now it is looking hap-hazard and boring, even for a robot. Good luck.

Snader

I'm not talking about an optimized lowpoly. I'm talking about not learning jack shit about subdiv polyflow with this method.

Are you up to industry level? No. Then why are you aiming for speed rather than quality already?

Not trying = not learning.

(Besides, if you're really going for smarter not harder, make a lowpoly, bake a lowpoly with good looking smoothing groups to a lowpoly with UV-splitted smoothing groups, paint a b/w bumpmap for all the creases and overlay. Done. Should be maybe just an hour of work on top of the lowpoly and still look as good as what you have now.)

dproeder

ysalex wrote: »

Maybe, but you're not pushing yourself either. By limiting the model to simple primitives you are ignoring a lot of the complexity of the character.

Could you clarify the areas in which I am limiting the model, and the areas where he is comprised of more than simple primitives?

AsaNYC

You seem to have the bicep and forearm bulges as low-lying, flat cutouts rather than larger masses on top of the boxy underlying structure. You also don't seem to be beveling a lot of this.

The U-shaped segment holding the knee seems to be thinner from the front than the concept as well

The fists seem longer than they are wide, as opposed to vice versa in the original.

The torso and arms seem smaller in your version as well. That may fix the head in relation too.

It's all about subtlety, so don't get discouraged.

Perhaps posing a simple skeleton with sections parented would help you checking how it looks posed as well just quickly by changing poses?

Are you going to post wires or is this in Zbrush? (in which case, disregard my posing suggestion)

Could you clarify the areas in which I am limiting the model, and the areas where he is comprised of more than simple primitives?

I think he is referring to most of the sections of the model where a seemingly boxy object like the upper arm is actually comprised of several masses of angled sections with inset and cutout segments angled and proportioned to resemble a humanoid silhouette or its function.

Even the front thigh plates aren't just simple primitives, they've been cut into with the larger angled mass by the inner thigh. This repeats throughout the model

I'm a big fan of his work and am definitely keeping an eye on this. If you didn't already know, he's Ustreaming from time to time so take a look if you can.

foreverendering

Even when modeling simple hard surface shapes, I've found that adding some thick bevels can do a lot to enhance the visual interest. It doesn't have to be every corner edge, even just one or two of the loops. It will read better in the normal map too.

For example, you have a thick bevel on the front of the shoulder piece. But, almost all the other sections don't include something like that. For the smaller plates, like the ones tacked on to the arm or leg, an extrude+scale would go a long way.

Rhinokey

are you going to just ignore the feet cause they are not shown in the concept? looks a bit silly just cut off at the ankle.

stoofoo

Yoyoyo bubbabub bub! This is a cool concept and a good start, but I fear you are losing something in the translation! While the concept is a lot of brick and boxes and simple shapes, be a little more critical of what those boxes are doing! Especially the arms. The artist who did the concept used simplified shapes to indicate muscle groups and maintained a really nice suggested anatomy. You've put the shapes in, but they still look like boxes tacked onto other boxes. Work it out! Make those shapes work for you!

Keep it up.

dproeder

AsaNYC - Thanks For all the Feedback. Really shifted my perspective as far as being more critical to the shapes. This is all modeled in Maya. Exporting to zbrush has just been a faster way to crease the edges and see a quick preview with nice render settings. I will clean up some shapes and surely rig him for poses. Should be pretty easy seeing how there will be no in depth weight painting involved.

foreverendering - Right now, I have inserted edge loops along the hard edges for the Sub-D smoothing to bevel them for me. I use Maya, and I am aware of the bevel function. I've just always inserted edge loops manually and sub divided the model.

Rhinokey - I have some feet modeled out right now, but I am not happy with them. He will have feet.

stoofoo - Thank you for the motivation. Sometimes its easy for me to get lost in the craft of models and lost sight on artistic notions such as form and rhythm. I work best on outside critique and iteration, as I assume most artists do.


I have been very busy at work, (where I do most of my modeling in spare time) so I haven't been able to get back on this. I think it has done me good to take time away and see so many encouraging critiques.