I think what you have is good enough to start painting from. I'm not sure if you have done this but make a convexity map and layer it so that it highlights your edges more ( Try "screen," "colour Dodge," or "linear dodge"). Since we don't get spec or normal maps, it's up to the diffuse to really define the edges and give off the feeling of volumes.
I'm a huge fan of this redesign and sculpt, but I'm not sure the bakes did the sculpt justice. What workflow did you use for generating the maps? also what maps did you use? In the past I've used a couple different methods for a base textures. You can all ways try using a normal map thats grey scaled alongside the ao or sometime even displacement map overlayed in ps. Even if you move forward with the map you have if its anything like the sculpt it will look great.
i like the elongation and bulky top in the silhouette, and the claws look creepily fantastic!
I don't know how well the AO came out in terms of the fur, but just a base right? Can't wait to see the textures
Any tips for baking process specific to hand painted work - what I can do to improve would be great thanks!
Bake the normals in object space then extract whichever channel that represents the vertical axis. This will give you a good base for a zenith type of lighting and also indicate which direction surfaces are faceing on the model.
Here's how I'd go about the process if that's of any help. http://unlitart.com/blog/archives/steam-knight-process-gif/
Baking a gradient over the character as you've done is a really good thing as well. Will help with readability from the top.
Seems like some of the fur detail is disappearing in the bake. Don't know how far gone you are on that but would definitely be good to simplify those chunks of hair I think.
Otherwise really nice work so far.
That's quite a solid start. It's almost as if you could just slap colors on there and call it done.
The fur still bugs me though. Maybe it's the filtering on the screenshots but it looks like you have some strands or very thin chunks defined that dissolves when zooming out.
Actually, the more I look I think the problem is that the fur doesn't actually appear that much in the silhouette. I think they could follow more along the line as the claws which are really well defined. Would add to the threatening feel about him, not spiky though. You have already established a good flow. Just needs to give the form more purpose. Hope I'm making sense here.
The rest reads really well, armor, face and ears.
Give the fur some extra love. It's a big part of the character.
The fur reads a lot better now. Not sure how you went about it but anyway.
Actually, the entire character reads much better. Good move with separating fur and armor with cool and warm colors. Gives it a nice vibrancy that draws attention.
Those stripes on his shoulder pads. Would be cool if they where rougher and pointy at the ends, like if the werewolf smeared paint on with his fingers.
Good direction to those lines anyway. They flow with the direction of the fur on the back. Makes it look dynamic.
His upper arms, fingers and thighs look rather thin actually. Maybe they could be thickened up a bit.
painting is looking awesome! my only crit would be to add a couple more poly strands on the tail...for being such a large silhouette feature, it's a bit basic.
Looking solid so far. More definition in the fur would be great, not too small but maybe just some darker tones to show some separation if that makes sense.
You pretty much have the painting down imo, I would say more detail to the dark fur around his head, maybe make some lighter strands go from one group to the next instead of clean parallel strands in clean clumps. It is however irrelevant and unnoticed within the game but that is just my take.
hey I really liked your model but I feel you lost some of it's awsomeness on the baking and texturing phase. I Did a quick paint-over to point out some of the problems that i might see. keep in mind that the only reason I did this is because I believe this can be an awsome piece! Cheers!
JRancourts paint over is spot on with the changes I would suggest. Reducing noise and increasing the chunkiness of things to help with readability. A change not in the paintover that would also help is reducing the number of stitches on the leather skirt and increasing their thickness.
Yea, I like the subtle fur in the face and I would mimic that on the back of the head and the tail. right now they look like 2 different fur styles being painted. Still, great progress!
Looking much improved already, would be cool to see some old school style painted in reflections for the metal elements - also there's a lot of orange centered around the middle, don't want to mess with the design too much but maybe the claws could be metal instead? Would also be nice to get the cloth to read more like the material its meant to be, maybe leather for the loin cloth? With that colour it reads a bit like clay to me at the moment.
Thank you for posting your textures, really awesome!
i would recommend looking at how they did the fur on nidalee's cougar form, and try imitating that if you're having trouble. I like the fur under his pauldrons but the tail feels off. great work with the armor and leather though!
Since I'm nearly done I'll look around a bit more and try to help people out if I can. If you are really stuck on something and need help PM me with your thread link. :poly003:
wow ill be sure to annoy you with messages haha :poly136:
this is some super awesome texture man
Replies
I don't know how well the AO came out in terms of the fur, but just a base right? Can't wait to see the textures
Bake the normals in object space then extract whichever channel that represents the vertical axis. This will give you a good base for a zenith type of lighting and also indicate which direction surfaces are faceing on the model.
Here's how I'd go about the process if that's of any help.
http://unlitart.com/blog/archives/steam-knight-process-gif/
Baking a gradient over the character as you've done is a really good thing as well. Will help with readability from the top.
Seems like some of the fur detail is disappearing in the bake. Don't know how far gone you are on that but would definitely be good to simplify those chunks of hair I think.
Otherwise really nice work so far.
The fur still bugs me though. Maybe it's the filtering on the screenshots but it looks like you have some strands or very thin chunks defined that dissolves when zooming out.
Actually, the more I look I think the problem is that the fur doesn't actually appear that much in the silhouette. I think they could follow more along the line as the claws which are really well defined. Would add to the threatening feel about him, not spiky though. You have already established a good flow. Just needs to give the form more purpose. Hope I'm making sense here.
The rest reads really well, armor, face and ears.
Give the fur some extra love. It's a big part of the character.
Actually, the entire character reads much better. Good move with separating fur and armor with cool and warm colors. Gives it a nice vibrancy that draws attention.
Those stripes on his shoulder pads. Would be cool if they where rougher and pointy at the ends, like if the werewolf smeared paint on with his fingers.
Good direction to those lines anyway. They flow with the direction of the fur on the back. Makes it look dynamic.
His upper arms, fingers and thighs look rather thin actually. Maybe they could be thickened up a bit.
THIS IS SICK! HOLLY...
Only nitpick the Nails/Claws still look a bit flat,
Killer job though ^^
Thank you for posting your textures, really awesome!
wow
this is some super awesome texture man