Arenanet creature - WIP

TimPogson

Hey everyone,

I had been trying to do the Arenanet internship challenge awhile back when it was going. I ended up running out of time and it went on the backburner because of a lot of school projects.

Here was the beginning just my base colours.


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/57184600/CreatureWIP.JPG


I wanted to go for more of a scaly look on it so here it is so far. I will be creating a base for it soon once im done my textures. I really have to work on my spec map but I'll be updating as this is a WIP, C&C is very welcome!



Here is the original concepts, I'm sure youve seen these before. :poly124:

TimPogson

Just wanted to update my thread, I've finished my creature and now I'm blocking out my base that I want him standing on. For the base I might try a small tropical scene, kind of like he is stalking through the brush.







I still need to block in the grass and some big rain forest like plants. I will be updating soon.

Any C&C is more then welcome!

m4dcow

I don't see any images, make sure they are in the dropbox public folder.

TimPogson

Sorry about that Here are the pics lol :poly124:

TimPogson

Hey everyone,

A little slow but this is almost done; I'm working on my post-process in UDK, all my materials are final, just trying to edit the last little bits. I'd love some crits if you see that I can improve anything it would be great.

I will be posting the final probably with a turntable and actual renders(not just screens).

Frump

Pretty cool. I don't really have any specific crits.

You should post the concept it's based on so we can give you more concise crits.

TimPogson

Here is the Concepts that you chose from for the creatures, I did the top one.

D-Boy

Like your small scene. Keep on the good work.

Joshflighter

SasoChicken wrote: »

I kind of liked the snowy turntable you had earlier

I think that turntable was untetxured; hence the snowy look?
Or are you referring to one of the pics that won't load anymore?

Great stuff man! The little environment is awesome too

Beanwright

Looks good man. It can be hard to get the concepts and the final pieces looking really similar but you've done a good job of it here.

TheWinterLord

Thats impressive! Good job with that pedestral, makes a good solid model complete!

One crit though, taking extra attention to scale is important, and I think you did a good job with the base model, but, after that is done its almost equally important to take into account the smaller stuff. To me it looks like those teeth should be a tad thinner. Its important because while the concept looks a bit sinister and mean the thicker teeth on your model make it cartoony. So little does a big difference to the viewer, its really hard while working on your own model because after a while it all seems right and you stop looking for differences, (and you might even like the small changes yourself) I do this a lot, so I let numbers decide if Im right or wrong, I take a step back, choose a tiny detail (could be some nails on a treasure_chest) that is throughout the model, then I measure it comparatively to the concept. adjust.

This will save you and your art director a lot of time. If he does not like how the 3d model turned out, let him know the things you found out while modelling it. (perhaps bigger teeth are good after all) :P

Good Luck!

Jungsik

I think you should start over

TimPogson

Thanks everyone,

SasoChicken, The snowy base idea is really cool I have never really thought about showing it like that. I would have to do a different diffuse, make him look cold have the scales other colors and stuff but I would love to do it if I had time. The problem I'm running into is that its becoming really hard to juggle all my school work so If i have time I want to try it.

TheWinterLord, Thanks for the crits man, I see what you mean about the teeth being to wide and its a pretty quick fix so I definitely do it asap.

I will post soon with actual renders and the teeth fix.

TimPogson

Small update,

I thinned the teeth out a little and finished my post-process in UDK. Let me know if you see anything weird, Thanks

JGcount

Too much PP for my taste. Everything seems watered down and flat. Also, the eyes and the scales "shine" too much for me as well. I would also be careful of showing your env from the angle on the bottom picture since mirroring is really clear from that view.

I much prefer the "crispness" of the bottom picture in your fourth post.

TimPogson

I changed the PP, messing with the filmic stuff also toned down the DOF, I changed the base so you cant see the mirroring as much. Also the eye shine I found was in the bloom so i got rid of a lot of that as well. Thanks for pointing that out.

Tigerfeet

I would recommend a different color of background. It's brownish and your drake is also brownish. This model and platform looks really nice, but have a very warm palette, so I think you should use a cool color to really make it pop.

TimPogson

Quickly changed the background, you were right the brown did seem to flatten it.

Thanks a lot

JGcount

Cool that you changed it so fast. Really big improvement imo. Looking cool

Tigerfeet

Oh my gosh that looks 10,000x better! I can't believe how much nicer it looks on the blue Now I actually notice the drake first instead of the plants!

TimPogson

Thanks a lot for all the help figuring out colors and my PP, It really helped. I really like the composition now.

Ged

its fun post processing and a good model but it might be a little too over saturated now, maybe check out some arenanet games for ideas of how to make the post processing sell it as part of thier game world?

dirigible

I did a paintover to show some of the changes I would suggest.

Green background to reinforce the jungle (?) environment, and to pop out the red drake (green being red's compliment).

Desaturate every red object BUT the drake, especially the rocks. The extra red broke the strong sillhouette of the drake and made the drake feel less unique/important.

Turn down the contrast on the plants, they were drawing my eye away from the drake.

Turn up the vibrance and brightness on the drake.

Mcejn

Good job so far, however I feel all these tweaks aren't really helping. The latest screenshots are just too saturated and my eye doesn't go where it should - the creature. I think the first render you posted is the best.



Followed by the more dense variation in your 5th post, just needs a different colored background and possibly a bit more intense rim light on the creature itself.



It feels murky, and maybe that's the environment this creature inhabits, but you should experiment with the lighting and avoid overwhelming it with rendering effects. (ie. bloom, saturation, etc.) Those should be kept in control and remain subtle.

TimPogson

Ok, so Ive made some more changes I tried to create rim lighting (not sure how good it is) and desaturated the grass and the creature.

dirigible, I really appreciate the paint-over man but I really don't know about the green.

Personally I really like the one with the blue background but maybe i can get rid of the over saturation and bring back the crispness. Anyway Here are some screens of what I changed.

dirigible

I wasn't 100% sure about telling you to make it green, and I think you're right to want to stick with the blue. I would still nerf the hell out of the rock's saturation, though. I'd also up the saturation on the drake to make it pop out more.

Mcejn

I think that's a positive improvement. I don't know about desaturating the rock, it seems fine. Same goes for the creature.

My remaining critique of this thing is that the rocks and dirt (even the plant to some extent) seem to be too glossy, giving them a plastic/rubber aesthetic. The creature could use some tweaking in this regard as well.

The roots (or fungus?) coming from underneath the rocks is also standing out. They're way to thick to be grass roots and simply don't look natural. Check out the roots in this picture (not the giant tree roots).



The lighting is working better, but could be dropped in intensity or perhaps moved a bit higher in its position. Right now, the entire underbelly receives nearly as much light as the top. (At least in the first shot) Would you mind posting a shot of the lighting setup?

Other than that, this thing is really coming along and will definitely end up making a sweet portfolio piece. Keep it up!

TimPogson

Hey,

Mcejn, Thanks for the help, here is my light setup I have my dominant light set at 6 and its the highest of all the lights. I dont really know a lot about lighting in UDK I'm finding it hard to get a nice crisp rim light on him.

The roots that I have done I can change, whether it be scaling them down or I could easily drop them out of the scene totally.

TimPogson

Oh and the light right underneath him is really low its at like .75