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cyi · Apr 2007

**NEWEST STUFF AT THE BOTTOM**SCROLL DOWN**

So my intent is to flesh this concept out and model it. Here is what I've sketched so far. I need to add some more hard surface elements into it. I was thinking about having some sort of tech/armor somewhere on the shoulders. I am also not so sure what I should do to the feet. Feel free to do paintovers/whatever you like. Any ideas will be appreciated very much.

StJoris · Apr 2007

I'll do a paintover when I get home, perhaps add a hole for the eyes so he can see?

Japhir · Apr 2007

looks hot but i would increase the sise of the front feet and shoulder area a lot, so it looks more brutal.

cyi · Apr 2007

StJoris: Cool, I am looking forward to your paintover. The reason there are no eyes is because I was thinking it looks creepier. You can see the small holes for him to breathe/exhale. He's supposed to be like a high tech attack dog, so I was thinking he'd have a super good sense of smell and hearing to make up for the lack of sight, maybe he has some sort of other sensors too.

Japhir: I'll try out your suggestion and see how it goes. I'm really trying to make him look lean with a huge ass head and neck like a pitbull.

cyi · Apr 2007

Small update:
(The claw on the foot is supposed to point upwards, but I think it kind of makes it look like the perspective is way off in the drawing.)

Japhir · Apr 2007

cool, the "helmet" looks very clean and strong!

Wells · Apr 2007

The over all musculature of the legs don't look quite right.

I might do a paintover to better show what I mean when I gets some time.

3D-j · Apr 2007

Cool creature concept, only thing i would say is that he seems pretty stiff. I would try a more interesting pose or maybe a full turnaround with 3/4 view? Im looking forward to the model.

cyi · Apr 2007

Another minor update...rendered out the head a little more

Someone please tell me what is wrong with his leg muscles!

Psyk0 · Apr 2007

maybe this could help:
http://www.highgategreyhounds.co.uk/PDF/dog_muscle_sheet.pdf

cyi · Apr 2007

Thanks for the ref Psyk0! I was looking all over for a decent reference, but couldnt find anything that large/detailed. Looks to me like I have his ankle structure wrong as well and need to mess w/ the shoulder a bit. Otherwise, he's supposed to be bulkier than a greyhound, so I think Ive got it correct.

StJoris · Apr 2007

Good progress
Unfortunately I got ill, the flu:( , though I could still try to do a paintover when I get better.

Rens · Apr 2007

coming along nicely

Ged · Apr 2007

[ QUOTE ]
maybe this could help:
http://www.highgategreyhounds.co.uk/PDF/dog_muscle_sheet.pdf

[/ QUOTE ]

oh my! that is exactly what Ive been looking for for one of my models. I hope this concept turns out well, mine has wierd anatomy cause I couldnt find a nice reference

cyi · Apr 2007

Ok, almost done with this concept and ready to model. I know it's going slow, but there are only so many hours during the day. One more chance to tell me what sucks about it before I start sculpting. I know there's no color variation, I'll play with that a bit after I finalize his rear robo-legs...not terribly original, but whatevzzzzz. Thanks for looking!

cyi · Apr 2007

Final concept and very beginning of the base mesh:

conman44 · Apr 2007

Wow dude ur freaking awsome lol i love the concept and the mesh look very nice and clean right now.

Japhir · Apr 2007

coming along nicely!
one minor crit: i think the robo leg doesn't go that well with the rest of him, the rest is all very smooth and aerodynamically and the leg seems just so... squarish :P
keep it up!

cyi · Apr 2007

conman44: thanks dude, I'm glad you dig it

Japhir: I think you're right! I'm going to have to mess with the concept when I get home tonight and make the rear legs more aerodynamic looking. I want to keep the cyber legs as cliche as they might be so I can be like "look I can do inorganic + organic stuff ;P " so hopefully I'll figure something out.

Sectaurs + 3d-j + Rens: Sorry I didn't acknowledge your input a ways up. I am rather spacey at times, and definitely appreciate it. I was hoping you'd do a paintover sectaurs

PolyPutty · Apr 2007

so do you model with just 1 reference sketch? I was woundering what is a good way of modelling with 1 sketch seems like a lot of guesses would be made about the actual form?

cyi · Apr 2007

PolyPutty: Yeah, usually when I model I am constantly rotating the camera making sure the edgeloops and form look good from all angles. I don't always think model sheets are necessary since this is my own design, so I don't have to adhere to any strict guidelines. I think there are a lot of modelers that do it this way, but I could be wrong.

So I decided having just the rear legs as mechanical looked dumb, so I made his front forelimbs mech to add some more continuity to the design. Here is the new concept and the base mesh ready for mudbox:

Japhir · Apr 2007

that is definitely a better concept! looks great!

cyi · Apr 2007

Japhir: Thanks!
Made a little progress on the sculpt. I'm still trying to learn the ins and outs of mudbox. It took me forever to figure out how to lock objects because I'm retarded.

cyi · May 2007

Moving along slowly but surely. I made some slight adjustments to the front leg mechanics to make it seem more functional...trying to keep it somewhat simple, but the pneumatic parts look strange to me. I'll mess with them some more, then on the the back legs. Comments/Crit is very welcome. Thanks for looking!

http://mburbank.com/ldrsculpt2.jpg

cyi · May 2007

Here is the finished high poly...anything that I should change before I do the low poly?
http://mburbank.com/ldrsculpt4.jpg

StJoris · May 2007

As far as I can see it looks fine:)

Rhinokey · May 2007

Helm looks thicker and more curved on the concept, seems more aggressive. I personally liked the first helm concept better. But thats just my opinion I guess.

Japhir · May 2007

great stuff! maybe you could give him a techy tail? now it looks kinda bold.

IronHawk · May 2007

This looks badass Cyi. Sweet concept and high poly.

I also agree with Rhinokey about the helm. Looks more agro in the concept.

cyi · May 2007

Thanks all for your helpful crit/comments. I have tried to address most of them, and I also made some general proportion tweaks and changed the legs a bit. I wasn't happy with how they were previously, and I think this is an improvement. I have also made a little progress on the low poly, but it's still very rough. Thanks for looking.
http://www.mburbank.com/ldr_high1.jpg
http://www.mburbank.com/lowpoly.jpg

cyi · Jun 2007

I decided this sucked, so I went back and made a bunch of changes and added more detail. Low poly is done and unwrapped, but I'm modifying it slightly. Here's the new high version(sorry for the large image):

Jaco · Jun 2007

That's looking awesome, he even has a bean bag!

The styling of the armour plate could be a bit more aggressive and exaggerated though, slightly longer, the spikes on his spine too.
Looking forward to more!

cyi · Jun 2007

Jaco: Thanks man! I know what you mean about the armor, and I adjusted it a bit. I know it's not perfect, but I need to finish this guy some day

So I FINALLY got the low done with the normal map applied. I also have an occlusion map applied to the color channel. Model is at 5092 tris. There are a couple small normal map seams/glitches, but its about time to start the texture. Comments/ Crit is always appreciated.

http://mburbank.com/dogocclusion2.jpg

Rob Galanakis · Jun 2007

I'm sorry I didn't point this out before, as its too late to change, but, with the rear-legs inverted, how is he going to walk/run? I mean, I guess he can run dog-style with the unison of both front and then both rear, but how will he walk? Usually legs (and hind legs) have the knee facing forward, so the foot bends up to the butt. Quadrapeds and bipeds are both like this. The front I would imagine can be either way (like on a cat vs. a horse). I may be missing something, but I don't see how he can walk, assuming I'm interpretting his anatomy correctly.

Otherwise I dig the model.

EDIT: the rear legs, I think, would also help with having him take a more "aggressive" stance. He looks violent but with his ass as high as his whithers/shoulders, it makes him look... strange.

cyi · Jun 2007

Prof: I see what you mean, and I really struggled with the anatomy of this thing. I think the main problem is that I placed the knee too high. The "knee" is indeed facing forward and is supposed to be where the two circular things are where the flesh meets the metal part of the back leg. I think I made the lower leg too long as well. I can probably go back and fix it, but I'm getting tired of this model : ) I agree I should probably have the butt lower like you said.

Rob Galanakis · Jun 2007

Actually, all you need to do, is fix the bottom of the leg, so the knee bends backwards. Move that bottom piece to the front of the knee.

Also, once the anatomy is fixed, you can just lattice the whole thing to get a more proper shape... of course you'll lose some quality and have some stretching, but it might be worth it (if you don't want to adjust the high poly).

cyi · Jun 2007

I'm willing to go back in and adjust the high poly, but I'm not sure what you mean by move the lower part to the front of the knee. I think I just need to move the knee down and make the lower leg shorter.

cyi · Jun 2007

Just so we're on the same page, here's an image of the anatomy I'm trying to emulate. I think I have it kind of right, I just need to adjust the proportions. Am I missing something here?
http://mburbank.com/doggy.jpg

Rob Galanakis · Jun 2007

Thanks for clearing that up.

I know that the bottom of the dog leg is only the 'toe' and the 'heel' doesn't really bend much or at all, I guess the confusion is from the design... I don't see how the actual knee will bend, on the other hand, the heel looks like a more feasible place. I think alot of the confusion stems from the thigh, actually, it should be slanted forward, so the knee can bend back... in your model, its slanted backwards, so there's no real bend in the knee, and instead the heel seems like it is bending.

Overall I think you can use a bit of re-emulation of the anatomy. Or maybe just re-posing it correctly would help interpret it. Also, I don't see how the knee as you have it would bend... it just seems like there's no real form to the knee that would indicate a joint, and in fact the really bulky rear of the leg at the joint doesn't indicate a joint.

Overall I would turn the model's heel into the knee and I think it would solve the anatomical problems, but perhaps there's another solution involving less tweaking.

cyi · Jun 2007

OK, I think I fixed the knee issue more or less. I might adjust the proportions a bit more, but we'll see. Ignore the fact that his head armor piece is white.

This is the normal map witha temp specularity map as well. Comments and crit are appreciated!

roolie · Jun 2007

This thing is bad ass! Its like a cyborg pig lizard.

{scumworks} · Jul 2007

Looks totally pimp. Only thing I might crit is its back. The spine running across is very straight, adding a lil curvature might give it a less "rigid" look. Other then that, its

indian_boy · Jul 2007

oh wow. looks like pinky's cousin! [pinky from doom 3...] real great work man! but yeah i agree about the spine needing a curve to it.
great stuff though!

cyi · Jul 2007

Thanks, guys. I really appreciate the kind words. I adjusted the curve of his spine a bit as advised. Here is the texture so far. I am just working on the skin right now. I'm not the best with color combinations, so if it looks dull so far and you have a better idea, I'm all ears. Thanks for looking!
http://www.mburbank.com/dogz2.jpg

seforin · Jul 2007

man bear pig

haha no serial dude, its looking awesome, I cant wait to see the metals texture!

Would be cool to see some hazard lines on this guy

cyi · Jul 2007

Thanks seforin! What are hazard lines?

indian_boy · Jul 2007

i really love the texture so far, but i would imagine the red parts being a bit wetter... that might be on your to do list, but in case it isn't...

Slipstream · Jul 2007

Some additional colors would help adding some variation in the beige part of the skin. A touch of blue's and purples for a little bit of discoloration.
Altering the the spec map so that the tops of the scales recieve more of a highlight and the grooves in between them receive less would also make the normal map pop more

seforin · Jul 2007

http://www.devonline.gov.uk/safety_sign_hazard_dangerous_locations.jpg hazaard lines, but the yellow black ones

cyi · Jul 2007

Getting close to done I think. There is a spec on there but I still need to adjust it. Any suggestions for things to add? Decals or something?

poopinmymouth · Jul 2007

Looking really sweet. I'm a big fan of the color scheme, but I do think it looks a bit too isolated from the blue to the red/brown areas. Try adding a bit of rust or blood, or even dirt to the metal to bring in the brown color, and see if you can bring in a bit of the blue metal color to the flesh areas somehow. More color interaction = more better. :-) It really is looking nice.

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