3D Modeling for a year, want critique and advice.

rankopfpro · Feb 2015

I started teaching myself 3D character modeling in Maya about a year ago now. I've made about three characters, which I still actively work on and learn with. I also participated in a game jam in October and did some environment art.

I was hoping to get some critique on one of my characters. It was the first one I made and I've probably put the most time in it. I've made and fixed a lot of mistakes, but I'm sure many still exist. I hope to one day use this as an in-game playable character. The textures are super basic, that's a whole other area I still need to learn.

The model has about 51.8k tris.

[SKETCHFAB]b4d552884c9f4926a6b6f8d3e24d25ed[/SKETCHFAB]

PyrZern · Feb 2015

There are multiple ways you can improve from here. Depends on which direction you wanna go too.

1. 51k tris is pretty high for a simple-looking character. You can cut down a lot without losing silhouette of the character.

2. Joints can have better polyflow that will deform better and use less tris.

3. Decide if you want to hand-paint characters, or go sculpting and baking details.

rankopfpro · Feb 2015

I am planning on sculpting details in Zbrush and baking it down to a normal map eventually. For the joints, could you give me some advice on how to give it better polyflow?

dpadam450 · Feb 2015

The mouth area looks weird. I think it needs to be more spherical.
http://img-new.cgtrader.com/items/50407/cartoon_monkey_rigged_3d_model_ma_mb_3e26da99-ab1d-4998-a190-cbd95f73958c.jpg

51K tri's is really high. If this were to be used in a game, that would be overkill.

Note in the link I posted, the chest and stomach color doesn't go up to the shoulders like you have yours. It should only cover the breast and maybe under the chin. Definitely not the side of the neck.

rankopfpro · Feb 2015

Thanks, the chest and stomach is actually a different fur shade and not skin, a little different than some monkeys. That being said since it's a texture that is easy to change. Right now I'm looking more for advice on the geometry.

PyrZern · Feb 2015

Hmm I can't find that website right now (it has jpg mini tutorials to build very nice topology for chest/shoulder/elbows/etc). I'm sure someone here has it though.

Also this. I call this 2.5 loops. [2 loops inside, 3 loops on the outside]

rankopfpro · Feb 2015

Ok, something like this?

TomGT · Feb 2015

The last example (most right) from PyrZern is what you have, and what you want to avoid, because it collapses the model's volume. As the picture says, you want to at least have two loops in and out like the middle example.

rankopfpro · Feb 2015

Ok, that makes more sense. That will teach me to not read text just cause it's blurry. Thanks for the clarification. I'll post again once I've update the model.

rankopfpro · Feb 2015

After re-reading the instructions, I get what you are saying. In my previous rigging attempts I always tried to prevent the joints from eating another, but never had any luck. I fixed the model to work like the first example, and it works much better.

Thanks for the advice.

3D Modeling for a year, want critique and advice.

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