Fictional surviving Triceratops diary

Phil101

For my advanced modelling in the games engine module at Stafford University I was given to brief to model a dinosaur of my choice and have it animated for UDK. It does not have to be true to life in the sense that some students are doing robot versions if they prefer hard surface modelling.

For mine I have chosen a Triceratops that of course survived extinction and has been tamed by a Comanche tribe.


Above is my current concept. I am thinking it might be improved with more war paint?


A start had to be made on the base mesh given this years time constraints. To help with any rigging the base pose will be with the back tail raised.
I am finding the biggest challenge with doing a dinosaur is that all the references I find are different from each other since no one has seen this animal in the flesh for real.


Here I have just done a rough possibility diagram for how mesh could flow but the areas I have highlighted in blue are the parts I will really need a good edge loop structure for given this model needs to be animated. Any thoughts on where I could go from here?

mminnitt

I really wouldnt worry about the low poly geometry yet, assuming you're going to take this into Zbrush I'd get a base laid down and sculpt it up before worrying about the topology too much. Ideally I'd say make it entirely in zb, but that depends on how comfortable you are with zbrush.

Personally I'd push the native american thing and beast of burden themes more, ive done a quick paintover showing a possible direction to take it. Bit noisy but gets the idea across. It's probably worthwhile making a few bags and other details like feathers or animal pelts that you can duplicate to make the model seem more detailed.



When you sculpt the skin detail it's worth adding lots of details like bigger scales dotted around which can break up the otherwise vast area of flesh.

p.s. I'm Staffs alumni - good luck

Phil101

mminnitt wrote: »

I really wouldnt worry about the low poly geometry yet, assuming you're going to take this into Zbrush I'd get a base laid down and sculpt it up before worrying about the topology too much. Ideally I'd say make it entirely in zb, but that depends on how comfortable you are with zbrush.

Personally I'd push the native american thing and beast of burden themes more, ive done a quick paintover showing a possible direction to take it. Bit noisy but gets the idea across. It's probably worthwhile making a few bags and other details like feathers or animal pelts that you can duplicate to make the model seem more detailed.



When you sculpt the skin detail it's worth adding lots of details like bigger scales dotted around which can break up the otherwise vast area of flesh.

p.s. I'm Staffs alumni - good luck

Thanks very much, I love the suggestions, I can draw but I'm not the most adventurous with my drawing ideas. I like the added war paint and pagenest branches it really gives it a lot more exaggeration. Good to meet another who went to Staffs, everyone I know in the industry went there too.

Phil101

I started again and tried a more conservative version of those new ideas. Starting to really enjoy this project.

Orangeknight

How about something around the eyes and the horns.

Phil101

So here is some progress on the Comanche Triceratops. I added some buffalo stomach ration bags to the other side.



The sculpting is almost done, just need to sort the legs out. I was told I can use a separate texture map for the man made stuff so this should give me a bit more room with the animals unwrap but I guess it could still do with a once over with the detail to reduce what will be lost.

Phil101

Here's just a quick photo mash to illustrate the idea behind it all.

Eric Chadwick

This is a really cool idea. I would go a lot more extreme on the skin folds, as the fine detail you have now will just get lost in the final bake, and especially after the diffuse texture is added.

Phil101

Eric Chadwick wrote: »

This is a really cool idea. I would go a lot more extreme on the skin folds, as the fine detail you have now will just get lost in the final bake, and especially after the diffuse texture is added.

yep, all the detail at the moment is going to get another once over. Thats all it should need, a test bake has already been done and not as much as I thought was lost, another detail pass should solve this.

I think when I graduate this summer I would like to come back to this idea and maybe get a playable version in UDK. Animating it for UDK is part of the project but it would be cool to actually play as a comanche riding it.

Eric Chadwick

Your concept has much deeper skin folds, I would work these into your sculpt at a lower subdiv level, to keep your fine detail. As it is, it kind of looks like a plastic model. Deeper folds would lend it more weight and massiveness.

For example.
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?52216-Next-Gen-Rhino-Warrior

Great work so far. Can't wait to see this evolve.

Phil101

Eric Chadwick wrote: »

Your concept has much deeper skin folds, I would work these into your sculpt at a lower subdiv level, to keep your fine detail. As it is, it kind of looks like a plastic model. Deeper folds would lend it more weight and massiveness.

For example.
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?52216-Next-Gen-Rhino-Warrior

Great work so far. Can't wait to see this evolve.

Cheers for that, nice find.

Phil101

Here is some progress on the poly paint work after extra folds were added.

Phil101

Couple more updates, been trying to stop it looking too friendly in the face, could do with less fat on the back legs too this week.

Phil101

Feedback would be really appreciated, I want to get good at modelling and of course I'm still learning.

SHEPEIRO

your skin doesnt hang enough off the bones, its also looks far too much like painted plastic...firstly because your not using the skins bump to alter the colour enough and secondly because your spec needs a lot of work

Eric Chadwick

This is coming along nicely. I think you could go more extreme with the face, as in heavier overhang for the eyebrows, bigger jawline, folds around the mouth, etc.

http://wallpaper.imcphoto.net/animals/rhino/old-rhino-picture.jpg

Also I feel like the leg/body folds could be deeper and more impressive. Push it further than you think, since it is after all a modeling portfolio piece.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Triceratops_-_JuraPark_Baltow.JPG

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2361377#post2361377

Phil101

SHEPEIRO wrote: »

your skin doesnt hang enough off the bones, its also looks far too much like painted plastic...firstly because your not using the skins bump to alter the colour enough and secondly because your spec needs a lot of work

Its in zBrush at the sculpting stage, I'm not working on spec yet.

Phil101

Eric Chadwick wrote: »

This is coming along nicely. I think you could go more extreme with the face, as in heavier overhang for the eyebrows, bigger jawline, folds around the mouth, etc.

http://wallpaper.imcphoto.net/animals/rhino/old-rhino-picture.jpg

Also I feel like the leg/body folds could be deeper and more impressive. Push it further than you think, since it is after all a modeling portfolio piece.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Triceratops_-_JuraPark_Baltow.JPG

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2361377#post2361377

Cheers, pretty good references.

Phil101

Progress from week 4, now trying to finish up in zbrush and try out different warpaint versions.

Phil101

Ok got quite a bit of feedback of my tutors and so on and decided to go for a more conservative design with the war paint. At least having them as alphas on brushes. Hopefully I can get this retopped now for its animations in UDK.

Eric Chadwick

Looking good. I think it needs a specular map. Also everything looks a bit too clean and pristine, not like a battle-hardened war beast. Otherwise looking great.