How would you make ostrich feather cards for games?

lkameen3 · Oct 2016

Im working on a character and he has a cavalier hat so I need to make a ostrich feather to go with it. How would you guys tackle the thick and flowing feather? I was thinking of having cards come off of a tube of geo that acts as the shaft with my transparency maps on that. photo for reference

edit: Im doing this in maya and rendering in marmoset

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/7y/b95bfb2b583w.jpg

throttlekitty · Oct 2016

I'd suggest just a small tweak: use curved cards (like layered fern fronds) for the main forms, and small cards flying off from that as you mention. I think you'll have an easier time that way.

http://cdn0.rubylane.com/shops/lilacvintage/113031.1L.jpg
http://g02.a.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1nGM5KpXXXXXpXXXXq6xXFXXXJ/Wholesale-font-b-Ostrich-b-font-font-b-Feathers-b-font-BLACK-Large-font-b-Ostrich.jpg

lkameen3 · Oct 2016

Okay I started trying to figure it out. The individual hairs coming off have really small spikes from the root to the tip so its like a bunch of small feathers bunched on one big feather. So today I did individual cards for each hair. the results are decent right now, the render certainly helps bail me out. I think im going to do @throttlekitty what you suggested next. I just really suck at trying to get them all bunched together on a single card.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/x7/pt8s4c3s4r0y.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/wu/qlaegda7xib3.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/z3/wirih26t9c6g.png

throttlekitty · Oct 2016

That's looking pretty nice! Looking again, there's a few other ways that may be easier. This one is a duplicate along curve with a bit of random rotation, pretty straightforward. PaintFX has a lot of power to do this sort of thing, but I've always felt that the amount of options also makes it hard to use without regular use.

How would you make ostrich feather cards for games?

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