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Portfolio quality?

polycounter lvl 17
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Squirmy polycounter lvl 17
Ive got this character Im working on for my portfolio. What do you guys think? Is it worhty, if not what would make it better.

tech specs:

4600 tris
one 1024 color with alpha
one 1024 normal

MermanProgress04.jpg

MerWire.jpg

mermanTexV3.jpg

Replies

  • Em.
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    Em. polycounter lvl 17
    I know this is off-topic, but I was just looking at your port and that SG house is seriously dragging it down. I do, however like this character, it's got style. Though, with the meshy-suit, I wonder if he sits in his mom's basement and listens to Nine inch nails while cutting himself. grin.gif Looks like this has better texturing than most of your other stuff, good going.
  • aniceto
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    aniceto polycounter lvl 18
    just had a look at your website and i think this is one of the better pieces. im also wondering why you have a character section when youve got characters in your gallery section smile.gif

    as for critique, the unwrap is pretty wasteful, nothing is mirrored and theres still some wasted space, so id either work on that or not show it at all in your folio.
  • Squirmy
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    Squirmy polycounter lvl 17
    The website has some old content that I need to update. Yeah that house is one of the first things to go. Thanks for comenting on the portfolio. I was thinking of breaking it up into more specialized sections. Like concept art, Modeling, Textureing, and maybe animation. Then for each concept have a link so you can follow a a particular model through the various stages.

    I had read in the documentation that Zbrush dosnt like overlaping uvs, so thats why nothing is mirrored. Of course the same documentation says tris are bad, but as long as you dont go overboard with tris I havent had any issues. Does anybody have tips for mirroring normal maps in Zbrush? also on the far right of the tex there is a blank spot for This guys spear.
  • aniceto
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    aniceto polycounter lvl 18
    its true that zbrush doesnt like overlapping UVs, but that doesnt mean you cant have mirrored UVs. just shrink the mirrored part way down, or move it off the 0-1 area before rendering the normal map in zbrush. easy as pie.

    as for your portfolio, take a look at this link
    http://boards.polycount.net/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=73945&an=0&page=0#Post73945
  • Squirmy
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    Squirmy polycounter lvl 17
    Right I see what you mean. Heres the new uvs, whatcha think?

    uvRev.jpg
  • Wells
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    Wells polycounter lvl 18
    I'm not really seeing any detail the normal map is adding. Looks sort of like you just put on a meshsmooth a couple times and rendered that as the normal. Thats how I made my first ones blush.gif

    could you put up the flat for the normals as well, so we could get a look at it?
  • Snowfly
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    Snowfly polycounter lvl 18
    Hey Squirmy you're free to put whatever you like on your portfolio, but if this piece is your showcase piece, then I'd pass you over if I were hiring. You lay out good UV's, but the character design, anatomy, color scheme are all subpar.
  • aniceto
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    aniceto polycounter lvl 18
    yeah those UVs are way better squirmy.
    about the normal map, its kinda hard to tell what you've normal mapped with that small render. i can see youve done the fish net and little bumps on his shoulders which is pretty cool. have you thought about adding little scales, veins or wrinkles in zbrush?

    what about a specular map? at the moment hes got this whole rubbery-smooth thing going on, it all looks like his body and gear are made out of the same stuff. a good spec map will help define the materials on your character.
    http://boards.polycount.net/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=81058&an=0&page=0#Post81058

    another thing i noticed is his texture needs more hue variation, especially in the face, its pretty much just the same shade of blue all over. it looks like he has red blood, so maybe a little red in his face and ears? dont have to go crazy with it smile.gif

    edit: im a noob myself, so maybe someone feels like elaborating on these points smile.gif
  • Squirmy
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    Squirmy polycounter lvl 17
    Sectaurs, The detail is a little hard to see from that distance, but its there. I might exagerate it a little so its more noticeable from a distance.

    MerCloseUp.jpg

    MermanNormal.jpg

    Snowfly, I dont know if this will be my "showcase piece" its more like my first zbrush attempt. I know its subpar, thats why im looking for constuctive crits. What is it specifically about the character design, anatomy, and color scheme that can be improved.

    aniceto, I was saving the the specular for last. Thanks for link it looks like a good read, ill go through it more thoroughly before creating the spec map.

    Yea, color variation is a must, I think some red in the face is a great idea.

    When I layed out the Uvs I ended up changing the vertex nubering as well, so right now im in a good position to make changes. Curently the vest is a bump map becuse I didnt have quite enough poly resolution in zbrush to make it smooth enough. What do you guys think about breaking the model into smaller sections, so I can have more polys for detailing? Then reatach everything in max, and piece the normal maps together in PS.
  • Snowfly
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    Snowfly polycounter lvl 18
    from a concept artist point of view...

    the eyes you've given him are the type you'd find in mammals, and not an amphibious creature like this guy seems to be. also, the shape of the eye socket needs tweaking, as his eyeballs look ready to slip out.

    regardless of the protruding fins everywhere, there's not much to suggest this guy would be a very good swimmer. his body is practically human, and i would imagine he'd have to put in just as much effort as a human to get around in water. large webbing, or even larger hands would've sold the idea better, but instead his hands and feet are standard human, and they're small. look up some picture of legged creatures and figure out why they're built as they are.

    the colors you've used this sort of dull toxic goo green for his base color, which may not be the best color choice for a marine creature, and also just looks bad. it may also be the colored lighting you're using that's ruining the presentation. most surface fish, which is what i'm guessing this guy is evolved from, are vibrantly colored.

    a loincloth is hardly practical for a marine creature. those things are loose, heavy, and can only slow you down in water.

    he has an upturned nose, amphibians and reptiles with nostrils normally have nostrils that turn downwards.

    the fishnet clothing is a cool idea, but reading into the design, he goes into war in that? unless you imagine he is quick enough to dodge every swing thrown at him, except for the fresh wound on his chest?

    so on and so forth... in fact, the whole design looks like it was never pre-planned, honestly it lacks cohesion.

    you can look up the anatomy on your own, no need for me to point out the flaws.

    Also, why have you normal mapped his scales, but not the fishnet thing he's wearing?
  • Squirmy
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    Squirmy polycounter lvl 17
    The eyes will be adjusted they do look like they could pop at any second. The hands were orginally designed with webbed fingers but I wanted to save polys, ill see what I can do about them. Ive never seen a human with feet like his, but Ill exagerate them some and make some defined webbing.

    The lion cloth looks like a cop out really, but I had to cover his balls somehow. The anatomy seems fine to me I made his head large on purpose, an Im fine with the somewhat long forarms.

    As far as the fishnet thing hes wearing, I explained that in the previous post.

    Thanks for your crit.
  • Zwebbie
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    Zwebbie polycounter lvl 18
    I think he could benefit a lot from some extra, small detail. Like a tattoo or tribal war colouring. Something to make it more than just a blue guy.
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