Aztec corpse WIP

TheGoozah

CURRENT STATE:




Hello polycounters,
this is the first character I'm modeling so need feedback from you guys!

At the moment I'm creating the base mesh. The final product will be a aztec figure that I'll use as a static mesh (it will be a corpse). But to make sure I'll be able to pose it, I must make sure the mesh/topology is correct. Now I'm not putting in alot of detail because I'll define the muscles etc in mudbox, but offcourse the base mesh must be good enough to do this! I'll go through the complete process and I'll pose wip's here. But eventually I want it to be something like this (style and appearance):


So this is what I've got already.
It's based on pictures from 3d.sk so I'm not able to post them.
Feedback is very welcome!!! Cheers!

TheGoozah

After posting my base mesh, some fellow students/artists debated about the topology. Is it really necessary to have a good muscle-based topology for sculpting?
I adjusted my mesh based on some stuff I found here on PC and the net... I'm not sure if it is much better... So some feedback would be very appreciated Thx in advance!

TheGoozah

Right... started to work on this piece again. Made the complete base mesh yesterday, trying to sculpt my character today. As mentioned earlier, this is my first character ever! C&C from you polycounters would be appreciated
Working on level 2 (46000 poly's) right now. Cheers

Tobbo

When sculpting organic objects. Make sure you build up form throughout the entire object, and gradually add in more detail throughout the entire object. Don't add too much detail too quickly (Get the entire form down first). Build it up uniformly, that way you can maintain the big picture. Because if you don't, and are like me, you get sucked into trying to perfect one section, and in the end waste a lot of time trying to match different sections up.

Just a few thoughts for you as you're sculpting. Had I known this at the beginning it would have saved me a lot of time and head ache.

Cheers! Looking forward to seeing this character progress.

TheGoozah

Hi, thx!! It is indeed tickles to focus on details instead of sculpting the entire form first.. I'll try to pay extra attention to it.

TheGoozah

Alright... having some small progress... Changed some little things on character and started to sculpt an armor piece. Base meshes are ready to be sculpted, but I first tested this skull. I just started with a box for this one I'll prob give the character a finishing though afterwards (texture in sculpt, tweak more stuff when I received some feedback )
So as always C&C very welcome! Cheers

TheGoozah

Continued my sculpt... Changed some stuff (face/head, arm, etc). I tried to make them more subtle. Also added first piece of clothing. Feedback would be very appreciated! Thx in advance

praetor187

The character is coming along but there are some general problems with the anatomy. The first thing that strikes me is the arm and back anatomy. The Chest muscles are oddly sculpted as well. And the hips feel a little too wide for a male character. But its getting there keep working at it. Ill see if I can do a quick paintover for you to help out my critique a little more.

TheGoozah

Yeah human anatomy is really hard ^^ I def need to do more studies and stuff like this, but I really liked the ride so far
A paintover would be cool and very appreciated!! Thanks for the useful comment! I'll keep working on it!

TheGoozah

Alright, tried to better define the shoulder/chest part. Not sure if it worked out better... I find it is a very difficult part of the human body. All C&C is very welcome!!

TheGoozah

Hey guys! I really need your help!!
I just made the low poly version of my character and did some test bakes. So, without paying attention to my layout except for stretching part (believe me it is not good:)) i just baked out my character as a test and countered some problems i've never had before!

So to give you guys a short description of what've done with it... I unwrapped the full head and only the right part of the body. Then i copied the right side of the body, mirrored it and welded all the vertices in the middle. I've done this so I would be able to preserve as much UV space as possible (based on unwraps i've seen made by other people).
Then i made sure they all were in the same smoothing group, and baked it out. I've encountered the following problem:


As you can see I've got some ugly seams, and they all rest on the spot were I split my UV.
What I also noticed is that the left side (right side of character), the part I mirrored has the most ugly artifact! As for the mirroring part, I've followed the procedure descriped on the wiki. Delete one half -> unwrap the half I've still got -> mirrored (first copied it) it -> welded all the vertices (double checked) -> gave the mirrored half an offset of 1 in UV space -> baked.

I also checked the low poly for seams and I don't have them. Checked flipped green. Check if they all have the same smoothing group. Checked welded vertices. Unified the normals. Etc. So, I really don't know what the problem can be! I've baked this model in max, rendering it with xoliul shader and also tested it in UDK (same issues).

So please, can anyone help me out with this one? Here are some more screenshots!
Thx in advance guys!

TheGoozah

Alright fixed the problems... I did my UV's again, putted the seams on more invisible places AND didn't mirror as much of the model as I first did. Ben Mathis' website was very useful in detecting my problems (Ben Mathis - Freelance Artist)! But I think a lot of you guys know this site already... I did, but never really read his tutorials!
So... I'll create better UV's later today, unwrap the full character (clothing, etc). Right now I just tested again. This is the result...
ps: never mind my ugly screenshots, will post some good ones when I finished the "final"
layout.

As always, C&C very welcome!!!!

TheGoozah

Alright... laid out the new UV's. This will be the final low poly character I guess (except hair)... Will start texturing soon!
PS: never mind the black pieces in the belt, but the alpha map isn't always transparent in max' viewport (depends on angle and distance I'm looking at the model)! Other people having this problem??

TheGoozah

Oke... tried to paint in the texture for the skin.
Not only do I need to improve in modeling, also texturing! I think texturing is my weakest skill in the whole process, so I really need to keep practicing and collecting tips & tricks... Because when I compare it with other people's work here on PC, I'm sometimes ashamed to show mine
How can I improve this and do you guys have some useful links for me? I found some tutorials about skin texturing, but most of them never talk about there brush settings, etc.
I also see a lot of guys painting in their textures... but is it possible to do this directly on the low poly? If so, is it a better way to lay out the basics? I also tried to put in some tones, but I'm not sure if it is visible enough and if the colors I used are good enough on the model.
ps: still have some seams, need to get ride of them

BARDLER

He doesn't look very corpse like... he looks like a perfectly healthy and fine living person. It looks like a good start, but what are your plans to turn him into a dead corpse?

TheGoozah

Haha yeah a few people noted that. He is going to be a fresh corpse... just killed a few minutes ago. Will add some wounds and blood to the texture. Offcourse i'll pose him too, probably "sitting" against a wall.
Cheers

TheGoozah

New screeny
Still need to skin and pose him... I'll finish him tomorrow so I can start modeling other stuff So C&C very welcome!

TheGoozah

Oke here is the "skinned" version. It has not been fully skinned, only the parts that are important. I call this one done I think... (background still WIP!)
C&C very welcome
Cheers