[WIP] Ranger Scythe girl

Fenrind · May 2017

Hey Polycount!

Starting up a new portfolio piece from stratch, I'm aiming to make this a real time character. Figured i'd post my progress here!
Feedback is very much appreciated!

Completed!
model

Rig:

Sculpt:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/6d/tf5rs2yvut6y.png

Texture:

Retopo:

Thumbs

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/oy/53w6hq4qhnc9.png

Mood Board

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ao/zr24msdxycrm.png

Decided to go for this one after some feed back from some peers

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/x5/evjtdzew9h66.png

Quick Paintover

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/kw/wjjlygzxh4if.png

Fenrind · May 2017

Finished up the horns

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/r9/omcs4b23lf17.png

Fenrind · May 2017

jacopoS · May 2017

Looks like a pretty solid start!
Keep it up

Fenrind · May 2017

@jacopoS
Thanks!

Fenrind · May 2017

Tectonic · May 2017

she's looking too long. depending on the style you're going for, the height should be 7.5 to 8.5 heads tall. also widen her shoulders some more, that will give you more room for the top of her ribcage to widen as well and she'll look less tubular through her torso. keep at it

Fenrind · May 2017

@Tectonic
Yeah i am going for a taller looking figure so I'm trying to keep the legs a little longer than normal but i do see what you mean. The wider should make it look way more natural now, Thanks for the awesome feedback!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/g3/utwpnli6bhka.png

Fenrind · May 2017

Fenrind · May 2017

Recovering from a cold but managed to make the potion bottles!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/4w/vc0567og3gx7.png

Fenrind · May 2017

Fenrind · May 2017

Finished up the base model now for the Scythe!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/m3/6wvm3pb63mp6.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/08/n5gwo9azrhbi.png

Fenrind · May 2017

Quick box model for the Scythe

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/9f/ufv8ojb6jo66.png

Fenrind · May 2017

Michael Knubben · May 2017

Great start!
I'd simplify the scythe's detailing a lot, as it reads as a bit busy (and mushy), but the silhouette seems spot-on.

A tip I got recently, that's really useful for nailing down the concept early on: start adding colours sooner rather than later. I now add coloured materials as early as the blockout phase, and it's really helped me get a handle on where things are going.

Fenrind · May 2017

That's a really good point, I was having a hard time getting it to look like bark from my reference, hopefully a quick poly paint will help with that then, Cheers!

Fenrind · Jun 2017

Fenrind · Jun 2017

Finally finished the scythe!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/jv/pwxdxszzzgk2.png

JLeeD · Jun 2017

Hey Fenrind, really nice work

Personally I think that your weapon sculpt wise is letting the rest of your character down. You could really push the advice Micheal gave you a lot further and really simplify the handle down. I had a quick look at Dota 2 Weapons and I noticed that they keep the handles really simple, with a few small details to imply the material.

Image: http://orig12.deviantart.net/95ee/f/2015/045/1/2/dota_2_weapons_and_items_by_mgn_nikey-d8hy7xd.jpg

Dota 2 might not be the style that you're going for but notice where they are putting the shapes and detail, what in the weapon is drawing your eye. You want it to be the blade, not the handle. You could definitely push the shapes of the blade further. Your handle also looks like it is composed of several branches and I think this is a weak deviation from your concept. Other than the branch detail in your handle being distracting, it looks like the handle will just fall apart in half. If you don't want to completely redo everything, I would at least merge the branches or add a cloth wrap to make it look like something is holding it together.
To further back up my point but with a bit of a different style, I thought I'd pop in thanatos scythe from Smite aswell,

Image: http://img2.mmo.mmo4arab.com/news/2013/09/19/smite_thanatos.jpg

The rest of your character is looking absolutely lovely, I really like the detail on the props and arm gauntlets. Hope that helps and keep it up!

Fenrind · Jun 2017

Thanks for the awesome feedback, I see what you mean with the handle after i imported them into the same project. Since this is the main piece for my portfolio I think I'm definitely going to just start over with the scythe.

Fenrind · Jun 2017

A lot closer to the concept now, much more happier with it!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/10/3drvqan41gej.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/w4/ljy6qle88uxg.png

Fenrind · Jun 2017

Rough as guts colours before i jump into 3dcoat for retopo!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/hv/xh2evzg3dcch.png

inttruth · Jun 2017

I like her a lot! Great job!

Fenrind · Jun 2017

@inttruth Thank you!

Fenrind · Jun 2017

Slowly making some progress in my downtime

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/83/hnuui96a00o1.png

Fenrind · Jun 2017

Fenrind · Jun 2017

Finished up the retopo. I Decided to go for a higher end polycount sitting at 22,929 tris, now to UV this

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/kc/sl4xhqpkblxt.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/x5/jc8fpaa59clt.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ej/haatoqhiho78.png

Fenrind · Jul 2017

Finished up the UV's and baked out everything looking forward to texturing her!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ks/cl6pif6k36ep.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/4i/caae6h1sixu6.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ye/x2ky0fixsk6i.png

Fenrind · Jul 2017

Finally found sometime to work on this!
Got my gradients to a point I'm happy with for now and started up the detail

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/n7/a2fwj1yoebsd.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/bk/jhp7bf7eutr0.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/8o/k4yoqviynebl.png

Fenrind · Jul 2017

Finished up the details and decided to have an interior mesh for the potions, feeling pretty happy with it!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/fh/ks3o2v3mk4p4.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/tp/qsqdjjxahc88.png

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Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/yr/9kh2qxsw6kfa.png

Larry · Jul 2017

i kind of think that her feet and boots are too thin overall to the body... Also the bottom part of the trousers could use some more gravity.Minor details, you dont really have to do those.I love your concept, overall the character is very nice, i'm digging it! And one last thing, the wooden part of the weapon looks more like clay than wood, you have too soft edges there!

Fenrind · Jul 2017

Thanks for the feedback, i don't want to get too detail heavy on the boots since i want the attention to be centered on her face and hair. I do see what you mean with the wood on the scythe, looks a lot more like wood now!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/yp/toq6ocqxuldb.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ol/cjbv789mcdwq.png

Pandan · Jul 2017

really interesting and fun character!
I look forward to its eventual completion

Fenrind · Aug 2017

Cheers @Pandan should hopefully be done soon!

I got her into UE4 and started up on her materials. I'm pretty happy with her skin thanks to this awesome post by Dzung Phung Dinh https://80.lv/articles/secrets-of-human-shaders-in-ue4/

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/fn/b2rb308xaze5.png

When i got to her eyes i was not happy with the state of the texture, it been low res and went away from my original concept.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/31/x7xauojhnnch.png

I decided to give the eye a separate texture, keeping it low res at 256. Kingdom hearts 3 came to mind when i was painting the eyes again and I realize that how they did highlights and reflections in the eye was pretty similar to how i wanted.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/5r/wbv58x4jwr3g.png

I got the eyes diffuse to a point im pretty happy with my only problem was in UE4, I was having trouble getting the highlight to mirror onto the other eye. I'm still not sure exactly why it wont mirror across(their the same UV's) but I think it has something to do with how UE4 does lighting.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/pi/ldej1xdjiyad.png

After spending sometime watching trailers and gameplay of various UE4 games i decided to try out creating extra geo just above the eyes and making a mask.I found this gave me a lot more control over the shape and detail of the highlight. I then also add a Fresnel mask to the opacity mask to give the illusion of the light shining when the camera or eye moved.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/8x/42fabmj5aumc.png

Pandan · Aug 2017

This might be a nit-pick but, is the UV islands for your characters face the same size as everything else? It seems to lack some much needed pixel density.

Fenrind · Aug 2017

Yeah that's something I've come to realize as well but at this point I feel like it is to late in the project to go back and it's something I'll need to keep in mind for the next one.

Fenrind · Aug 2017

Finished up the materials!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/kk/wxdpk8l6o466.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/w7/75ek0k6ocjsh.png

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Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/p8/qcbu19s7gsox.png

Fenrind · Sep 2017

Hey guys and gal's, finished up the rig for her, getting so close to the end i can taste it!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/do/egarac821ka3.gif

This is a skeleton based rig and since I'm aiming for a game end budget, no blendshapes. Instead i built a library of poses and keyed them to a nul group.

I decided to leave the arms and legs as just IK's due to there been no real need to make an IK-FK switch and for the poses and animations i have in mind IK would make it a lot quicker to animate.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/pd/u502hu02anz3.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/gg/qfoojbldx9ey.png

Redczech · Sep 2017

The facial rig is what brought me here. Great work!

Fenrind · Sep 2017

Thank you!

Fenrind · Sep 2017

hey everyone! I've finally finished up a 4 month long project. I put a lot of blood sweat and tears into this and i hope you like it!

Special thanks to everyone who gave awesome feedback over the past months!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ux/58w9qhgtjlwj.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/jp/qjskxhubzbbe.png

model

I'm pretty happy with how her weapon, hair and rig turned out, but i do feel like the face needs more resolution. I also feel as if she missing something to really give her that final push towards her character, maybe some small trinkets or such to show her story.

Check out the High res on my artstation: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ALV5z

[WIP] Ranger Scythe girl

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