How Can I Take this Further?
polycounter lvl 5
update:
I'm going for the cartoony, pixar feel that Wildstar has. I wanted to get some feedback from polycount before I started the next phase of the process. I'm basically 90% there, but we all know that last 10% is a bitch.
I know I have to touch up the specular map. Its just the standard spec u get from nDo2 right now.
I'm going for the cartoony, pixar feel that Wildstar has. I wanted to get some feedback from polycount before I started the next phase of the process. I'm basically 90% there, but we all know that last 10% is a bitch.
I know I have to touch up the specular map. Its just the standard spec u get from nDo2 right now.
Replies
And yeah working out your material definition will be the biggest push. Get a gloss map in addition to your specular since the spec/gloss relationship has in my opinion the biggest visual impact.
And again, don't rely straight on the automatically generated map that nDo2 gives you. Think of your spec and gloss maps as number values rather than textures. There's a lot more to them than just highlights on edges and dirt being a darker shade of gray. Marmoset is super helpful in quickly prototyping values since it can read PDF files and automatically refreshes the textures when you save in photoshop.
Which platform do you use to bake AO with? I've used topgogun and maya before. Haven't tried the AO in xnormal yet though. I'm finding it more and more difficult to find literature involving advanced character texturing techniques. I've never seen a tutorial explaining the relationship between gloss and spec.
http://eat3d.com/forum/general-discussion/simple-description-gloss-map
The character is made of stone. Maybe reducing the bumpyness in my normal will achieve the effect you are talking about? But to be honest, I have no issue with the skin as it is.
So a gloss map is just taking your uv islands, and giving them a monochromatic value based on how sharp or wide their specular highlights are. That seems easy enough. I'll play around with that.
This was marmoset. I used the sunlight prefab. Typically I use dawn. I've played around with setting up lights in Marmoset. Maybe I need to set up a three point light setup.
- Pick a logical color scheme (as outlined in the DOTA art bible pdf)
- Bake a AO pass with my high poly, decimated .objs
- Bake a Point Light pass on the high poly .objs
- Hue Shift the Shadows and Highlights on these bakes away from Grey and into respective complimentary hues.
- Hand paint some subtle hue blends on areas of visual interest
- Use my specular and gloss maps to reenforce the surface materials of the model
- Choose a better lighting scheme
- Model/texture a sci fi saloon for him to kick back in.
Any other ideas polycount?
At the moment the diffuse is looking grey/de-saturated everywhere. As soon as you saturate the diffuse and get some contrast in there with strong highlights + shadows it will pop nicely. Oh never ever have pure black in your shadows btw.
Mmm next time maybe also post a still image so that we can really look at whats going on, slightly distracting when its always spinning + can't do a paint over. I know you can save a gif and split it up... but that shouldnt be required!
In instances where floating geometry sits on top or intersects with underlying meshes, what is the best way to ensure clean bakes. Increase/inflate the default bake cage size? Create a custom cage and only back on the inside of the cage? Here is my upper body piece. You can see lots of floating geometry here.
What is everyone's solution for issues like this?
I did a quick paintover based on your design. I hope it helps!
The major things I noticed are:
- Adding caps or trim to your character's armor will make it look more like a real object. ending abruptly is usually a sign of a broken or unfinished item.
- functionality. The broad strokes seem to be there for your character but the details are missing! add in stitching to hold some things together, buckles, rivets and bolts are some other things that really sell an item as real.
- Glowing blue orbs are fine, but only in small doses :P By putting them on your characters feet your eyes go down to them quite often. Like in the valve guide you generally want to direct the eyes back to the focal point of your model, in this case the head/chest area. Make sure it's the brightest area of your model so that the eye keeps coming back to it.
- Silhoutte and stylizing your character: The overall shapes need to sell the character before the details. Refine the anatomy and read of the shapes by making some mid level details that read well from a distance. Things like the horns on the skull and the pipes on his gloves work better when they are larger and more stylized.
I don't know whether to thank you, or curse you for showing me how much more work I really CAN do. I'm not a character artist by trade. I tend to gravitate more towards environment, so this project was a fun diversion.
As far as back story, I did put thought into this.
Hes a Cival War inspired Deserter turned gun for hire
Awesome! Thats a great jumping off point for your character, To make him extra interesting look for opportunities to tell his story through the visuals. For instance when doing the paintover, I imagined for some reason he decorated his armor a bit (the star) and the tally marks for some accomplishments he considered noteworthy. The more interesting marks of the character's history you bring to light purely through the modeling/texturing the more that character will come to life.
New textures look great, the stone skin could prob still be worked on. It looks more like elephant skin then stone. you should look at some references of stone gollems and actual rocks.