Dissertation Work - DX11 Tessellation, Character Model

GoldBlackWolf

Hello all, I am currently working on the final part of my degree and in an effort to push my learning curve further before I finish my work I thought I would keep a thread on here to show what I am doing and get some feed back for improvements and the alike.

So what am I doing (or at least attempting to do)? - My aim for my dissertation is to produce a character, display it using tessellation and displacement mapping and have that mesh morph from one look to another; all in UDK, on one mesh, in real time. I also intend to produce a reformed workflow; creating characters for tessellation and displacement maps.

So far my research is pretty much done and I have carried out some tests to implement my idea (see link below). I am currently making my model and would like some advice and of course criticisms regarding what ever I post up such as the base mesh below

My case study: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgt02wqT2do&quot;]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgt02wqT2do[/ame] < apologies it not a perfect example of my work, but it gets the idea across (hopefully). Essentially the Samaritan.

The base mesh: This is only an hours work; looking rather squashed in places and the symmetry has given it a pointy head. Allot of the work will be done in Zbrush (I find it easier working in that way) however I have tried to ensure the facial loops are in the right places and will aid me in sculpting rather than hindering.



The concept I have come up with (I use "I" loosely as it is a mish-mash of concept art from Bioware's the Old Republic) is a soldier type. My focus is on the skin and arms as this will be easiest for me to alter. I did some draw overs for the face and altered the look to give an idea how it would change and for what reason...

I won't plaster up a load on concept stuff here, but to see what I am waffling about below click on this link (it will take you to a website that I dump stuff on for my own needs).

http://danielwebster3d.wordpress.com/spare-of-the-moment-quick-projects/concept-page/

Face one: Armour Plating. The idea being similar to that of the "Samaritan", that he could activate an armour skin mode. Though I want to so some originality with this idea so...

Face Two: Battle Scarring. A triggered event (i.e an explosion) would shred and burn the face skin and clothes.

Face Three: Disease. Some sort of toxin is released and causes the skin of the trooper to blister and dehydrate.

Still a bit of tweaking to do on the base mesh, next step will be to form the body in Zbursh (nothing major just to get the form) and then bring it back to 3ds Max to create the clothes.

Like I said before, If anyone has any suggestions or comments please just say (Or else I will proclaim myself the greatest modeller that ever lived as nothing I will of done will have been critiqued :poly142:)

mikezoo

Sounds like you got quite a bit of work ahead of yeah!
Is this somthing that you more intrested in tech-wise or art-wise?

Right now you topology leaves much to be desired. Check out the PC wiki for more: http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryTopology

Next, your proportions are a lil off. Though the head is what needs the most work. Find a real life reference of somebody and stick with it. Such as a model from 3dsk or somewhere. Really study them. The face is super complex. If your looking for good information check out the books by Philippe some of the best stuff is from him.

keep at it! your going to learn allot from this project!:thumbup:

GoldBlackWolf

Cheers Mike, I agree. My base mesh is rush and off target - I will do better.

I am approaching this project with the aim to improve my artistic quality, though the tech side does interest me allot too. I guess I see this project as the amalgamation of all I have worked at for the past 3 years - slowly improving on an area each week. With any luck and the next 8 sleepless weeks, I hope to prove I have some talent for being a character artist and produce something quite cool for people to see.

Thanks for the quick response too, your advice has been taken on board

GoldBlackWolf

Whilst the flow isn't perfect on this new mesh it is a step in the right direction (at least I feel it is).

I have had a crack again on the mesh, this time only focusing on the head. There are a couple of areas that maybe need some more attention to the flow and the ears are dense though give no real shape (maybe too big?) - my intention being to sculpt in the deformation rather than play around with it in 3ds max. The symmetry used also creates some pinching especially on the nose but this is eaisly tended with the use of soft selection relaxing in 3ds max or indeed the smooth tool in Zbrush.






There is allot of work to be done to this mesh in sculpt and 3ds max to bring out the features and correct the geometry (the rounding of the surface), like the neck for example.

GoldBlackWolf

It's been a while since I have posted anything up, but I have been working on this project. I am cutting it a bit fine for some feedback as this project is due for handing in in a month (roughly) and I have yet to get it into engine, let alone do the other sculpt.

Here is an update dump of my work:















Super contrast (sorry about that)


Leg movement:




Took it further: trying to find balance and a more uniform design for the character:



And the bit where I am now:

Gave the upper arm the same black material as the legs. Introduced the large gauntlets.





- so sorry for the image dump!

Im looking for some feedback on the model and also id anyone has some advice on have to enhance the design be it model or texture. I think it's too rusty atm - but im not sure what I should do next to improve that.

Thanks for your time

Donavonyoung

Definitely post some wires on this guy. Yes the rust is far too much! When texturing grab a ton of reference, I mean a ton. Not to pull textures from but to understand how it would actually form in the real world. On your piece it is just to haphazard. You also need to rework the anatomy and the form of the model. Really focus on the underlying connection of the arms. How the muscles connect to bones is so very important. also note that your arm does not turn in from the elbow. It actually goes out the other way. Another problem is that your metal is too soft looking. If I were you I would grab a bunch of reference for this piece ad start completely over, and post progression shots along the way so that people can help guide you in the right direction early on. Don't take this the wrong way, I do not intend to be harsh. Keep up the work, and I hope to see you post here more often.

GoldBlackWolf

I don't take any offence what so ever. I can see the areas I have just brought forth from my magic hat of modelling woe. I am working on it to salvage to model (not that I think it the worst thing ever) ;though what you have said warrants change.

- Thankyou for the feed back. I'll post up my changes when I can.

GoldBlackWolf

Had a paint over done to highlight some improvements to the design. I have been working on this sin my last post. So as not to run off too far ahead - figured I'd use that advice previous for some more feedback

Paint over: (Thanks to Greg for this)



Chopepd it up and applied some of the ideas to my model:



Looked at too adding plates for the armour to break it up and making it look less like it was all manufactured from single pieces. Also some lighting for the character.



Took it a bit further added an inner helmet light on the face and finished adding the plating. Did a paint over for the lights.



Thanks for looking

theonebutcher

Hey man,

Thought that some of this might be good inspiration for your hard surface stuff and for proportions etc.

Hope this helps:







They are very typical space marines but there is some nice HS examples especially from bulgarov in there. Its worth taking a look at Jes Goowin as well for workshops take on the space marine.
Realise that yours is a miner dude but some of it might be nice to take a look at.

Keep at it. :poly142:

GoldBlackWolf

Cheers fella. This makes me want to go back 4 weeks and start from there again!

GoldBlackWolf

I have unwrapped the model and dropped it back into Zbrush from some light sculpting and painting. I also did a quick paint over to try out a different light idea. It kind looks like Tron or a bit like Dynamo from The Running man (cause he is lit up).

I quit like the rounder plates on the armour though I might go back to corners if it looks too soft.



Normal Mode:



"Morphed" Mode:




The hands look very soft, so I'll probably just drop the iteration drop after texturing in Zb to export the harder edges.

GoldBlackWolf

I have been working on the texture, trying to make it look used and worn rather than the super rust suit prior to this.

You will note that I have not textured all of it this is because this is just an update and because some of the UV space like the arms for example share the same texture space on the lowpoly.

**update**

**update**

some feed back I did get were that the hands were too big. I intend to fix that once the maps are made then I'll just scale them down a touch.
Lots of work to still be done.

Thanks for looking.

PaulP

Nice progress, the ware texture pass is adding alot to your character. You might want to add some red into the blue textures to create a more purple/voilet hue. Its clashing with the yellow texture atm. Also stick to a grey background or black>grey gradient to show your model. The colour you currently have as your background is horrible and makes your character difficult to look at.

GoldBlackWolf

Thanks, I realised that I soon I a posted ^^ I promise I wont do this again!!

GoldBlackWolf

Just a bit further on texture wise. I have a couple of bits left to texture still and I might do another pass over of grime and dirt to make the dirt itself look less uniform across the armour.



Thanks for looking

GoldBlackWolf

Compiled my separate texture bakes and normals from xNormal into their 3 respective Mat IDs. Im using the three materials ID to control the head, the suit and the glass. I am pretty happy how well the texture and the normals came out on the low poly.

I have set about in UDK preparing the model for morphing later on. Though the focus atm fixing some issues with the texture. I even did a quick test with the head to apply the tessellation.



(test tessellation - it doesn't do anything yet, though for my own benefit im showing I have it applied to just the head.)



no texture or normal:


with texture and normal:


no texture or normal:


with texture and normal:



I need to go about fixing up the texture, a few issue to sort out like the skin saturation and the missing textures on the suit. I have yet to roll out some AO or cavity maps but they will be done soon.

Thanks for glancing slightly

GoldBlackWolf

Just an update on my rig. As well as getting him into engine and looking pretty. It seemed to me a good Idea to present him in more than just an a-pose. Here is a test anim for the rig I have skinned him to.

It rolls through some shaders in max - sorry about that!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtboZpHnNyE&amp;list=HL1334103176&amp;feature=mh_lolz&quot;]CANARY Walk - YouTube[/ame]

Seirei

The animation looks nice, but I'm not sure if you realy need a 46 video to show this 2 second walkcycle.

I'd also like to mention that he realy walks very casualy with this heavy plating on him. It would be nice to see that the heavy metal pieces actually make an impact and put a little bit more 'weight' into his movements.

GoldBlackWolf

You need a 46 if you want to annoy people nah your right of course!

I like the sound of this, did you have anything in mind for me to aim/ compare too?

Thanks for the feedback

GoldBlackWolf

Got my displacement work on the face of my model now and they morph nicely too. I haven't done a video yet but I did a screen grab to give an idea.

Displacement 1:


Displacement 2:



These both have normal maps on them too, or else thee wouldn't be all the little detail. So far im pleased with how this is turning out I have managed to make the face morph from one face to another using only one mesh in real time. I need to polish him up a fair bit for presentation and write up the results from my research. Hopefully I will get an anim set in too

I'll do a video to show what actually going on soon.

Thanks for looking

GoldBlackWolf

Today is my Birthday - woo! I just wanted to say that despite it being my birthday I am working away on my models, my degree and doing furious battle with unreal code to one day get into this awesome industry!



-post over, back to work.