Sumea Challenge #7 - Palantir - Challenger #16

Which class are you making? I think cyborg will
be the way to go.

I?m aiming for the support class - medium armour, construction/engineer class guy.

Since I?m posting, here?s a tiny update:
[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/20054632640_concept02.j…]

Just a bit of tweaking ? lost the oversized shoulder pad and the backpack, and changed a couple of minor things. I tried a few different head types, and while a typical futuristic helmet suits him (ala Halo), I feel it?s too clich?d. Plus we?ve got 1024x1024 res to play with on the head, so I really wanted something with more detail then a simple full-faced helmet.

I?m a bit concerned with this guy actually since he?s so metallic and I?m inexperienced with painting metal. But that?s why I want to try it ? to challenge myself.

Right, onto the reference sheets then (and figure out what the rest of him looks like!).

Here are the reference sheets, with some minor changes. I?ve tried to make his proportions more realistic. I?ll still need to draw up some detailed images for both his head and his robot arm, but for now this should be enough to get me started on the 3D model. I?ll no doubt change things a bit as I add detail to the model.

C&C always welcome. [:)]

Well then, time to fire up Max.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/20054885015_ref_sheets_…]

Uninspiring end of weekend update. I?ve only begun to block out the general mass. Thought I?d show where I?m up to, since I probably won?t have time to do any more until next weekend.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/200541044816_update01.j…]

hahahahaha

i'm sorry but i find that picture really funny!

[:D] Thanks, a bit of silliness never goes astray.

Of course I assume your laughing at the ridiculous body proportions, not the beautiful face texture which I slaved over for hours. j/k

Update on my slow progress. At about 1500 tris ATM.

Wireframe:
[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/20054198627_update02.jp…]

And just for fun here?s a shadowy render of the weird abdomen section:

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/20054198656_update03.jp…]

looking neat, not a massive fan of that large heel though. looks like hes got "toes" on both sides

Good point MoonUnit, I think I?ll lose the heels. Thanks for the crit. [:)]

I made the changes and it definitely looks better. My original idea with that heel was to put a piston type thing going from the large heel up to the calve, but it looked too much like Robocop. I think this is a better design.
I?ve also started adding some detail to the legs.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/200542075621_update04.j…]

yea definitely better without the big heel.

I?ve started working on the robotic arm. Still working on it, but I thought I?d update my progress. I plan on having the mechanical hand on both arms, with the right arm being mostly flesh, and the left completely robotic.

It?s over poly?d and under detailed ATM unfortunately. [:(]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/20054289256_update05.jp…]

First off I'd work on the weight of your model a bit more, his looking a little off, his legs were the first thing I thought were off. I like the weight of your character in your original concept alot more then your model.

As for going over your limit. I noticed on your arm in your last post you have a wire on his arm at the front. When you see your guy in UT you are hardly going to see something as small as that so I would cut alot out of that, then when you are texturing it make it a brighter color so it stands outs so you can see it.

You might want to move polies to areas like the head and breast plate which are large areas that should have more detail in them.

-USF

Thanks for your comments USF, very helpful. [:)]

I think where I went wrong with the weight was making him too tall and slender in the reference images. Actually I didn?t realise how odd the legs looked until I focused on that small full-body image on my last post. Zooming out from time to time is probably a good idea. So I?ll play around with the general mass a bit more.

Good point about the small detail not showing in-game. I?ll definitely work on that.

Now I?m not so sure about having fleshy bits. Maybe making him a completely robotic-like character would look better?

I?ve done a few concepts for a helmet based head, and this is my favourite so far:

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/2005517637_concept03.jp…]

Any comments and crits appreciated.

It's got a particular Star Wars aesthetic to it, it's certainly an angry looking robot. What's the blue thing on his head? Some sort of scope? If it feels good, go with it.

I believe it?s some sort of scope/camera thing on his head, but I intended for it to be part of the glowing team colours. No good?

It does look a bit too Star Wars, doesn?t it? I was actually trying for a modern fighter-pilot style of helmet evolved, but I think Star Wars style got in the way.

I think I like the basic direction of this concept, but I think I need to experiment with it a bit more. I?ll probably lose the Darth Vader style mouthpiece for one thing.

About time I updated.

I?ve been a bit uninspired with the cyborg concept, so I?ve gone for more of a straight robot kind of thing ? well, less flesh, whatever it is (I?ll know for certain when texturing).

I played around with some different concepts for the head and liked this style the most.

This is pretty much what it?s going to be, I just need to make a few adjustments to various areas, and then go tri chopping mad ? it?s about 250 poly?s over budget as is. Should be okay though, because I can see several areas over-detailed, I?m just happy I?ve got the bulk of the model done.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/200551584548_update07.j…]

I like the idea with the spine.

The legs seem a little short, they're also a little dull compared to the rest of the body.

I think you should have no problem cutting down tris.

cheers.

Grrr, still progressing slowly. I really need to spend less time playing Guild Wars and more time working. Evil mmorpg?s? [}:)]

Lechy, thanks, yeah the tri culling was easy, leaving a fair bit of room for tweaking, especially with the arm redesign. I gave up on those complex arms after wrestling with some animation tests. And I?m not sure what happened with those legs, but I?ve fixed them.

Anyway I thought I?d post the update before I begin the unwrap:

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/200552934013_update08.j…]

Edit: It's at 3496 tri's.

Sooooo?
I?ve got to get back to Guild Wars now; I?m almost level 20!! [:0]

Edit to include poly count

Hi there Palantir

And thx for the feed back, he is looking tops im looking forward
to seeing him textured, best of luck with it.

Ergh *grunt of frustration* - I think I should win the slowest worker award [:(]
I finally got it unwrapped and packed:

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/20056984718_update09.jp…]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/20056984759_wires.jpg[/…]

It took even longer then usual because I?ve never packed for two textures before, so had to figure out how to do that. I don?t know if the way I did it was the best way or not. After unwrapping the UV?s I packed them into two separate sections in the edit UV window, then converted to edit mesh and selected every poly from one of the unwrapped sections and then detached them so there are two meshes. I can then reattach them when I?ve finished mapping. But this seems like poor workflow, there must be a better way? That?s the only way I could figure out how to do it, anyway.

Well then, looks like I?ve got 2 weeks to learn how to paint metal and get this sucker textured!

I?ve tried a bunch of different colour schemes, and have decided to go with a simple blue and grey worn metal look. So far I?ve just really worked out the colour scheme and began some detail on the legs. I?m not sure what I?ll do with the eyepiece though; maybe just straight black would look better? I really need to get moving now.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/200562375158_update11.j…]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/20056237538_update10.jp…]

Hey Palantir, its looking good so far. I like the idea with with the exposed sections.

Dont forget you could play with shaders in UT2K4, for example a nice reflective shader might look good for the eyepiece. Dont know anything about ut shaders so I cant help you there buddy :)

Also dont be afraid to up the brightness in youur highlights. picking a yellow-ish white and going in with a 1 pixal brush and painting in highlights where any sharp edges catch the light can help.

Goodluck with it and I hope you get it finished :)

Thanks for the tips Makk. I did find that exploring a broader colour range gets a much better result, especially in the highlights. I don?t know anything about UT shaders either, so I?ll leave that until the end ? if I get time.

I went back and made a few changes to the mesh, I?ve unwrapped and repacked half the model again, and now I?m just started the first texturing pass again. [:P]

Probably not the best move to go back, because now I?ll really be pushing to get something complete by Sunday, but I just wasn?t happy with some of the model. I have a reasonably good idea of what I want now, so if I apply myself I?ll get there.

Here's a render of the modified head with just preliminary texture sheets set up:

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/20056291460_test_render…]

wow a interesting change, i think its got my vote over the original actually, wd

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/200563073527_update14.j…]

ah! I was going to agree with Moonunit, but with the visor it makes sense - and looks good.

like Makk said regarding metallic stuff - real bright highlights is a good start to indicating hard, smooth surfaces like metal.

Whoa it's dark, hard to see the detail with that lighting, but it's starting to look pretty neat.

Thanks guys. I?m still stuffing about with the mesh, which is probably bad considering the looming finish line, but it?s still got things I?m unhappy with (I could use another month on the mesh alone!). My last image is WIP, I didn?t want to show it in detail yet, but just to clarify the idea for the head.

Now onto some texturing ? eek!!
I guess I?ll just try to think about the highlights, about where the light source would be coming from, and remember to vary the tone more.
?Should be a fun weekend! [:D]