[DS2] Axe, Zelldweller

zelldweller

[LAST UPDATE]

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Yup,
I'm starting today joining the competition
Hope I still have time enough to finish, hehe. I've been thumbnailing today and coming out with a few ideas, and up to now this are my three better. Probably, I'll spend the rest of the day seing what else I can think of and start defining the concept better tomorrow.



Which one do you think is the better up to now?

Maneak

I like the dreamcatcher idea! There's not enough Crow stuff in this competition. Also I'm always a fan of asymmetry.

zelldweller

Another 2 ideas

AimBiZ

Go for thr dreamcatcher but the design needs refinement. Make the dreamcatcher a centerpiece and have a much bigger blade, preferably in a different shape than the one you have now.

Habboi

I like goldenbeard because of the colour scheme however Dreamcatcher has more personality and uniqueness.

Di$array

I have to say I'm a fan of the "Holycow" design. I look forward to seeing which one you'll chose. Good luck.

zelldweller

I'm focusing in the dreamcatcher design. Just thought that the stony like prehistoric blade didn't fit too much... changed the shape of the dreamcatcher strings and added some self-litted beads to draw some atention to it.

zelldweller

Still need to define much better some parts :P

zelldweller

Gosh, I just would like to know... Do you guys think that with this dreamcatcher thing I might be going too far from darksiders fantasy style? Because the little I could see about crow temple aesthetics reminds me of that, for me its like totem stuff... crow bones, feathers, wood. It makes me think of indians, I can't help it...

Impala88

see what you get if you replace the feathers with spikes, i think it's those that's pulling it towards native American styling.

zelldweller

Yes, removed all the feathers and its fittin better into the style.
Changed the blade and the feathers trying to make it fit into the shape of a wing and tail. Looks like if the dreamcatched had catched a 3 headed demon crow

zelldweller

Giving an oportunity to the holycow design. I was not convinced 100% with the crow temple axe I was doing, neither I am with this one, but though it would be fresher in the end.
I dont know, i has good things, but I dont really dig the wheel in the middle...
Maybe it would be a good mace instead removing the axe blade...

Sukotto

The dreamcatcher idea is pretty cool, but people will always associate dreamcatchers with native americans. Darksiders is based off the Bible so having Native American myths won't jive too well.

zelldweller

I had this new idea, a friend that saw my concepts sugested that I go for a circular axe. Looked like a perfect solution for the fact that the dreamcatcher seemed like not being 100 per cent part of it. But I didn't want to lose the typical axe shape that for me is so beautiful and so cool... So I put the knots in a way that resembles it.

So now this is it! I'm much happier with this one:


The lower part tries to be the shape of a crow skull partly in negative space...

zelldweller

Maybe I'll keep the asimetry in the border

zelldweller

F*ck, this is looking cool in the end I just need to polish it and add some details. I need to finish this sculpt tomorrow, the deadline is at hand...

Orb

do you know we don't have alpha maps right?

zelldweller

W.T.F????????????????????????????????????
I think I read some guy saying that 1 bit alpha maps were allowed! Is that true?

Habboi

Actually we're allowed 1bit alpha aka only white and black. It's not in the rules but there's a quote in my thread. Personally the tone of Bobo's comment made it seem like you should avoid alpha anyway. Probably because weapons are meant to be chunky in nature.

You know a piece of art is good when the creator expresses how cool it is But yeah I agree it's a neat design!

zelldweller

Ahhh, yeah, I found it in the QA. You guys gave me such a fright! Well, 1 bit alpha should be enough. I wish its enough and I dont end up with too much jagged edges, I know there's some dangers...

Thanks!I'll give it a though, anyway.

Habboi wrote: »

Actually we're allowed 1bit alpha aka only white and black. It's not in the rules but there's a quote in my thread. Personally the tone of Bobo made is seem like you should avoid alpha anyway. Probably because weapons are meant to be chunky in nature.

You know a piece of art is good when the creator expresses how cool it is But yeah I agree it's a neat design!

zelldweller

Habboi, I was like about to give up the fight this evening when inspiration came to me. My spectations were going so low and in the end...

Habboi

I'd have been disheartened if you did quit. If you put the effort in you can always crack out a good design. So keep it up, 4 days left.

zelldweller

ready to start retopo

Astral_Drive

Your most recent update on the crow temple axe looks pretty amazing, I must say. I love the fully circular design motif. Basically yours and my axe are the only ones I've seen using that.

zelldweller

Thanks Astral_Drive!

... I got some jaggies because of my alpha mask, and probably some future alpha ordering problems hahaha. But well, could be far worse. 1634 polys, counting the net that has duplicated polys for the backsides...

Habboi

All things considered I'd say you did a good job keeping it within the tri count. With some colour those jaggies will be much harder to see.

zelldweller

Nearly finished. I only need to fine tune the texture a bit

I had to sculpt again the whole ring around the net, the shapes I had before was somewhat lazy. I defined the shapes 100% now and its much better.

dproeder

Hey Awesome Works so far but I'm concerned about your use of Transparency. I was reading the Q and A thread in which BoBo was answering questions, and I think he said no transparency. I might be wrong, but It might be worth investigating.

zelldweller

Well, in the end the thing is you can use 1 bit transparency. 100% opaque/100% transparent

zelldweller

Final entry