Dark Elf Sorceress
ngon master
Finally got round to posing and lighting the Sorceress i made for the practice 1 module of semester A in my masters degree.
http://www.therookies.co/projects/next-gen-gaming/dark-elf-sorceress/
Definitely looking for critique on lighting/composition... as i'm terrible at that.
Definitely looking for critique on lighting/composition... as i'm terrible at that.
Replies
I agree, your work is looking awesomely moderate @almighty_gir.
For realzies though, I'm really diggin' this girl - fabulous work. Any chance of seeing her in a Marmo scene file so we can check her out in a bit more detail?
As for the skin, you're right. I've been writing my own skin substance and experimenting with it to see what kind of results i can get. I'm largely happy with it, but it definitely feels synthetic, so there's still some work to do.
Terrifically decent, i agree.
Sure thing, she's up on my site now, big file size though, i'll see if i can bring that down in future: http://www.crazyferretstudios.com/
I think the hair looks great! A bit of variation on it and it'll look even better. I can see you put a lot of details in the chains and cloth, which is good, but lets that show off more a little bit, by making them more noticeable but subtle. I say keep it up man, and keep practicing and noticing how to push your craft even more. Good luck.
Great crits from you both. thanks.
I'm probably not likely to come back to this any time soon (too much to do, so little time.. ugh). But i feel like i should let you know why i made certain design decisions. Looking at it now, i definitely see what you're talking about with materials and how they blend together at a distance. I'll try to make sure trims are a bit bolder in the future.
As for the face and torso shapes. As briefly mentioned, this was a 3 week project (which ran alongside various other essays and freelance work so... fml lol), called "Memories and Nostalgia", one of the practice modules for the MA degree i'm currently doing. The character is essentially a remake of one of the characters i used to play in Warhammer Online.
Along with the in-game design being the main visual reference i used (i even went so far as downloading the client and running it on the only known private server the game has... which is actually pretty bitchin', they've managed to get almost the entire game up and running again!) I also have... a LOT of warhammer armybooks and novels to fall back on. And there are several traits that the elves all share:
Long of body, thin of waist. Faces alien and beautiful.
I'm always questioning myself (and probably rightly so) when it comes to making "beautiful faces". because it's an incredibly subjective thing. I initially wanted to really push her features further into alien territory, similar to the way the army books often depict elves:
But i found that it was really difficult to do this and keep her looking pretty. The further into those hawklike features, long face, almond shaped eyes that i went, the more difficult it became. So i pulled her back to a more human form, but tried to keep some of those qualities that made her look a little... "off". But i definitely took the body proportions to heart and tried to keep them as close to the originals as possible.
The skin has been an interesting challenge. As mentioned before, i've been trying to come up with a procedural skin substance, i've used it on two models now, with varying results. I'm going to continue to push that direction until i can at least get a solid base (which i feel it's close to). But you're right, it definitely can't be used on it's own, without manual tweaking.
Thank you both for the feedback, i want you to know it's not ignored.
now, i respect you Gir, and im actually pretty convinced that you take these excellent points to heart. but you are essentially riding of your good name here on the forums, if a first time poster answered in the same manner, it would have been viewed as defensive.
now please dont be offended by this, i just wanted to point out that you did two of the cardinal sins in critique receiving;
1. saying you are not going to work anymore on this.
2. offering a explanation, giving the feeling that you are satisfied with the current state of your work.
these two is really off putting when someone is deciding if its worth writing a critique giving post. and it seems like you basically know this since you write "i want you to know it's not ignored".
anyway, eventhough i agree with the critique, i think the character looks cool, so keep up the good work and all that! i really dont want to come of as hostile in this post, just offering my perspective. if you dont agree, feel free to ignore it
In fact, i'm pretty sure Slosh would back me up on that one, as he's witnessed it.
Maybe you're right, maybe that post does come across that i don't accept what they're saying. If that's the case, i'm sorry. That's not my intent at all. I just prefer dialogue to ignorance... If i'd not replied to them at all, i'd have felt bad, because i thought it worth recognizing how good their feedback is.
edit: i do frequently tell people, by the way: "Don't be like me...".
The cloth has apex physics in UE4, which is why they're clipping through the legs in maya.
To me, when someone vigorously defends the design choices they made, it shows that they have actually thought about the process through to its entirety and they have spent the time to explain why they did things they way they did. That's 100% better than just pretending to agree with what they said and then not implementing the recommendations.
If the same comments were coming from a first time poster then yes, it could have been viewed as possibly defensive, but Lee's been on here for 12 years or something stupid, so his comments have a certain amount of weight behind them as we know he isn't a n00b.
Having said all that, I think Lee actually got the proportions pretty spot on when you check the concept art from Warhammer Online and FMV trailer for it.
ofc, camera angles and such shenanigans will change the proportions somewhat, but as others have said the work is sufficiently tolerable in its adequacy.
feel like you could def. push it a bit more
Sze Jones' original cinematic model is fantastic in all aspects, especially the skin shader. Yet I like yours a lot more because of that subtle alien / non-human vibe it gives. I also love that it's a lower poly model that still captures a lot of gesture and grace. Overall, I think it's a successful piece for the amount of time put in. If you ever decide to push the whole piece further at some point, the comments here do give some good ideas.
now please dont be offended by this, i just wanted to point out that you did two of the cardinal sins in critique receiving;
1. saying you are not going to work anymore on this.
I'm not sure thats a rule I've ever heard. You cant work on something forever, and you shouldn't. This is where "finished, not perfect", comes from, and its good advice.
I'm personally a fan of the fix what you can, apply the rest to what's next philosophy. Otherwise you can quite easily get bogged down noodling details, something can actually inhibit growth by losing sight of the larger goal. Always keep moving forward!
Walk cycle test in UE4 =]
Again, i suck at lighting
I'm not an animator so I am not quite qualified in commenting in it. But her knees/legs feel stiff and her hip movement isn't quite as natural as I'd like to see it.
looks good though otherwise
It's getting there for sure, but I agree that the hips are a bit unnatural...maybe even a little serpentine.
I would probably look at some catwalk ref for the walk cycle a bit.
General ref:
Side ref:
Also, though not directly linked to the walk, I would alter the ground speed for the next video. ATM shes moonwalking a bit.