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nulo.

hey everybody, i've been around checking out the forums for some time, but never posted anything.
i've never worked with games yet, but its something I really want to try out.
so what better way than getting feedback from the pros right?!

to start out ill be making 2 characters i came up these days, a young boy that lives in a post-apocalyptical world, surviving how he can. and his "bodyguard", a frog that grew a little too much (toxins of this post-apocalyptical world), so the boy makes a horn headband for the frog and hopes that this way he will look a little more menacing (besides the size) for possible enemies (wild animals and stuff. no evil monsters and zombies sorry!!)
well bla bla bla and all that. just for you guys to get a little idea.
ill post some of the drawing to give a better idea latter on.

this is where i am with the frog atm. i was hoping to make a wii game res model (something between old-gen and next-gen) only body has normal map, the horn headband will be next.

wip1.jpg

some technical issues.. the whole texture is mirrored, except for his face. how would you guys approach this? (having the high-res model and extracting normals to the mirrored UV's, and handling seams and all)

well ill keep you guys updated!

Replies

  • Dante1217
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    lol, looks cool, and looks like more fun that what im modeling (clouds intrecuit 6-piece sword) its annoying, but the one thing i noticed is that the front legs look.... more likethey were just streched out of the body, rather then actual legs, but if thats what ur going for then...nice work ^^
  • aesir
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    aesir polycounter lvl 18
    I enjoy your model's design, but I feel like if you spent more time on the normal map and worked in more big details rather than just a bunch of wrinkles, it would be a much stronger piece. I do like it though.
  • Pedro Amorim
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    ahah, i actually like this model. i dunno. i just get the felling he is a stupid demon dog haha
  • SHEPEIRO
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    SHEPEIRO polycounter lvl 17
    nice design got a slightly ghibli shape to it, no bad thing
  • machuca
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    thanks for the feedback guys!! and woah.. ghibli.. what an honor =)
    aesir - about the details on the normal map. my intention was for him to be "blobby" like, and not have any defined muscles or anything like that. if you check some frog close-ups you'll see what I mean. but thanks anyway, glad you like it!

    well, some update on the little friend. i added some polys to smooth some areas and added the rope tying his "headband" to his head. now i need to decide how ill "glue" the horns to the wood sticks. any ideas?

    what you guys think about the color?! tried to make something happy but still strange, to accompany his stupidness.

    512 normal and difuse unfiltered.

    wip2.jpg
  • Laheen
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    Laheen polycounter lvl 18
    Cute. :)

    I see a texture seam near the middle of the mouth though. Might want to fix that up. With the colour - is it supposed to be painted on, like camo-paint? If so, you might want to hit up some references and get the paint looking more believable, make it look like someone smeared it on, or he stuck his head into some mud, something to make it looks believable to how and why he has it on!
  • machuca
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    yeah laheen, the normal map is still giving me some crazy problems.. oh well.. ill try to fix that up.
    the idea behind the color is something like this
    http://www.seaworld.com/assetrepo/media/images/sandiego/Press_images/large/Aquarium_4frog.jpg

    supposed to be his own skin, not some paint or something.

    one thing i forgot to ask is what you guys think is better fitting the character
    the small eye texture or the big one?? (the big one gets closer to reality, but i like the extra stupidness that the small eyes give.) what you guys think?
  • machuca
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    calling this one finished. if you guys have any critics please make cause since this is a personal piece i can always get it better.

    final1.jpg

    now to the "hunter boy"!
  • SHEPEIRO
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    SHEPEIRO polycounter lvl 17
    i like but put him in some beter lighting, thats horrid
  • Baddcog
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    Baddcog polycounter lvl 9
    I think he's pretty good.

    Maybe larger feet (back especially) just to help clarify he's a frog.

    I think the normals and skin are good.

    I kindof like both eyes. Would be cool if they were small, maybe when he's in danger the pupils 'swell'.
  • Proxzee
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    Haha this is fun! I would recommend reducing the contrast on the bump on the horns and wood. a bit too much noise coming from there. Kinda pikmin-ish. Right now it's leathery. If you want amphibian style skin, adjust the specular drop-off so you get really hard highlights.
  • machuca
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    thanks for the feedback guys. ill lower the strength of the normals on the horns and woods and adjust some more the spec on his body.
    the lighted screengrabs are from maya's viewport, any ideas of a better way to get nice lighting on the viewport? or even another program? (has to run on mac os x)

    heres the start on his partner, the bug catcher. also the concept for you guys to have an idea of where ill be taking him.

    wip1-1.jpg
  • SHEPEIRO
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    SHEPEIRO polycounter lvl 17
    lighting, still using mayas viewport, press 7 then add a couple of directionals and a point light, to get a nice solution.

    try this
    http://www.3drender.com/light/3point.html
    with your point light as the key, and dont use white lights, maybe a yellowish key, greenish fill and blueish back
  • machuca
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    thanks for the feedback shepeiro.
    for lighting, is the spot light the only viewport shadow casting light in maya? or is there a trick or something? and also, the shadow artifacts, is there a way to get crisp shadows without them?
    im not sure atm if the best way to present game models is in the viewport or should i just render it with mental ray.

    some detailing of the bug catcher, his body is still very wip.
    what you guys think?

    wip2-1.jpg
  • SHEPEIRO
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    SHEPEIRO polycounter lvl 17
    shadows? viewport? didnt know it could do it, i would just have none
  • machuca
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    yeah, you can turn on shadows on mayas viewport, but unfortunately self shadows tend do generate some artifacts.

    lowpoly with difuse and normal. still have to work some more on the difuse of the rest of the body.
    still have to model his teeth
    baking the normal of the accessories.

    wip3.jpg
  • killingpeople
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    killingpeople polycounter lvl 18
  • _Gr9yFox_
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    _Gr9yFox_ polycounter lvl 10
    machuca, it reminds me of the guys in Tekkonkinkreet in a good way.

    tekkonkinkreet.jpg
  • machuca
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    thanks guys! definitely Tekkonkinkreet's influence is there somewhere!

    5202 tris atm. still need the net thingy to catch bugs and the bottle-stick thingy too.

    i was kind of hoping for some ideas of how to make the hair. im starting to try smaller hair pieces in bigger quantities but it just gets to chaotic and doesnt work so well on the silluete.

    wip4.jpg
  • Smirnoffka
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    Smirnoffka polycounter lvl 17
    Spec in the hair is a little off imo. Work on a more contrasting spec map, and also get some normal details in there and it should look alot more convincing. Other than that, its looking really rad!
  • Neox
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    Neox godlike master sticky
    now he just looks like eminem xD
    love the style, definitely cool work
  • Baddcog
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    Baddcog polycounter lvl 9
    He needs a white hoodie :)

    Awesome work
  • machuca
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    thanks for the feedback smirnoffka, neox and baddcog.
    actually his hair is supposed to be something for like the concept, and is somewhere like this right now:
    wip5.jpg
    im going to try larger pieces of poly to get fewer pieces of hair. there are no spec map still, only difuse and normal.
  • FAT_CAP
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    FAT_CAP polycounter lvl 18
    I love the style of these two guys! Good work so far.

    One thing I would suggest is bumping up either the colour of your shadows or the emissive a bit. At the minute the shadows are pure black which makes the characters look a bit dead - also if you render on another colour than pure black we will be able to read the silhouette better as a tthe minute the pure black shadows are merging into the pure black background.
  • Microneezia
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    Microneezia polycounter lvl 10
    This is really great! love this work very much. Good jobby!

    tekkonkinkreet rulz. watched it twice this month!
  • killingpeople
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    killingpeople polycounter lvl 18
    you gotta fix his arm pit wrinkles, just smooth them out or resculpt those puppies. i also would suggest using some ambient lighting in ur screencaps, i think it may help ur presentations ;) the black in the normals is hard on the eyes.
  • DrillerKiller
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    DrillerKiller polycounter lvl 11
  • machuca
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    fat_cap, microneezia, killingpeople and drillerkiller, thanks or the feedback guys!!
    ill definitely pay attention to the background and shadow color. and also ill smooth out the normals on his armpit. still have to finish him off, but work is killing all my time.

    and to get my mind off of him this is just something im working on:
    sylvia from "no more heroes" completely plagued by umbrella's virus =)

    wip5-1.jpg

    i wanted to go diffuse only to practice my texturing skills.
    well, any comments and critics are very welcome.
  • HonkyPunch
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    HonkyPunch polycounter lvl 18
    machuca wrote: »
    fat_cap, microneezia, killingpeople and drillerkiller, thanks or the feedback guys!!
    ill definitely pay attention to the background and shadow color. and also ill smooth out the normals on his armpit. still have to finish him off, but work is killing all my time.

    and to get my mind off of him this is just something im working on:
    sylvia from "no more heroes" completely plagued by umbrella's virus =)

    wip5-1.jpg

    i wanted to go diffuse only to practice my texturing skills.
    well, any comments and critics are very welcome.
    Is this in response to the news that Suda51 and the resident evil guy are working together on a game?
    Because both are awesome.(model and gamestuff)
  • machuca
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    its a mix of suda's new project with ga.org "zombify a video game character"
    just finished playing no more heroes, so i definitely wanted to make a sexy zombie out of sylvia.
    i kept the gore and bones to a minimum to not loose completely the sexy woman that's inside her. =D
    any ideas about the model and or texture?
  • machuca
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    my entry on ga.org zombie all stars
    fredericomachuca.jpg

    and to continue with the little boy
    wip6.jpg

    what you guys think about the hair? im not completely happy with the silhuete on the front view yet.. any ideas?
    5532 tris with hair and eyelashes.
    also, ill probably separate both arms on the uv because of that nasty seam im getting on the left arm.
  • Eric Chadwick
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    If you have any control over the vertex normals, you might try aligning the normals for the undersides of the hair planes with the normals for the topsides... basically point the bottom normals upwards. This will help the hair seem more transparent, less extreme-dark underneath.
  • Mark Dygert
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    Looking great, love the style!

    don't forget to blend just about every edge of poly hair with opacity maps. Along with some well painted flat scalp hair you can really make the most out of what you have.
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