Sumea Modeller Challenge

HE HAS NO HEAD!

-caseyjones

like the idea of a raver :P but its gotta be those incredibly huge pants covered in stars and whatnot.

Cool. That drawing reminds me a bit of one of the characters from Farscape. :)

Dargo is cool that style makes for a cool fighter look

You're going down! You and Jacob! :P
Actually... lets team up against him! TEAM EDIM UNITE!
Good start to your concept, looking forward to seeing some more. I'm doing some normal map test and will make a mini guide for you to sus out to help you on your way.
Keep it up dawg!

-caseyjones

uve started a war now fanboy
EDIT: thats casey not u blue black jack

BRING IT!

-caseyjones

Concept Tag! You're it!
Posted my concept, your turn to post some more shit!

-caseyjones

Haha USF I think you where the first to reserve your place last time too! [:)]

Ok.. I really just wanted to be first on the board you got me.. well a few minutes ago I was a little board so thought I'd draw up something and try and crack this model out in record time.. pft easy :P (you never going to see a model :P) so yeah here is my 15 minute drawing [:D]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/UniqueSnowFlake/20068269712_quic…]

Oh well guess I did get a bit of modelling done, see if I can finish off the rest tomorrow. stupid wooden chair. anyone want to buy me a nice computer chair [:D] Night all

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/UniqueSnowFlake/200682611928_Sum…]

Just an update.. lunch time

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/UniqueSnowFlake/2006826234752_Su…]

lol, you better pump it out if your gonna make it! :)
Off to a good start but you might want to widen the torso unless your going for a skinny look to him.
GO! GO! GO!

Just another update.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/UniqueSnowFlake/20068274713_Sume…]

and Another

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/UniqueSnowFlake/200682773835_Sum…]

and one more [:)] Oh done.. apart from the 3000 other polies I forgot to use.. guess I'll throw in some more detail

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/UniqueSnowFlake/200682783957_Sum…]

wow, less than 24 hours between concept and model.... nice :)

ok... This render is just for laughs.. Well really I did it for Sorceror Bob. Because he loves the style so much [:p]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/UniqueSnowFlake/2006827928_Sumea…]

so fast 0.o

thought I should post another update. doing the feet first. So much to go on it.. but here it is so far.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/UniqueSnowFlake/200682911739_Sum…]

Hey USF [:0]! Remember me?[B)]Your model is going great! I think you should scale up that sword a bit thou it looks a little small [;)]

bump!

:O a bump with out an image ... you had my hopes up and everything :(

I've updated my first post Neffy I guess I should of said that

Let me know if it didn't work

ok

thanks

The metal in that sword could make three sydney harbour bridges.

Congratulations, you're challenger #6!

Ok, we usually have 3 days to correct, make clearer, and refine the guidelines before they are set in stone, so let's have it.

Prizes will be announced closer to the finishing date.

quote:(yes, we're leaving this pretty open), *except futuristic*.
that sux?? get rid of thet part ...mortal knombat has futuristic characters?

i take that to mean sci-fi and space marines.

I have a question about the concept: can we have someone else sketch it for us, or does the whole comp have to be our own work?

Though a character must be bipedal are characters that use non-conventional stances allowed. For example, ape like stance where they are bipedal but walk on all 4. This stays within the human category but allows for a wider variety of conceptual ideas.

'required (model) : 6000 polygon (tris) maximum (one single mesh).'

So what if I want to create some geometry that clearly isn't part of the characters anatomy, like a big chunky pauldron, loose dangling belt, or even hair on seperate planes? Does this mean every part of the model must be attached vertex for vertex, or does the model just have to be one complete element (right-click "attach" :D)?........ or have I missed the point on something? Anyway, Just thought I'd double check before I go to work since I love characters that gear themselves up like crazy.

EDIT: and does 'Your character must be bi-pedal (two arms, two legs), human' mean no dog, goat, or lizard legs?

I reckon concept/concept sketches should be your own. The challenge tests your imagination as well as your modelling skills and while the concept art doesn't appear to be judged, the concept itself is (see judging criteria).

The character must be bi-pedal? Or the character must be human?

If it's just bi-pedal, then it's a lot more open. I assume the main rules would be - 2 legs, 2 arms, 1 head. Numbers of fingers/toes/eyes etc optional? Wings/tails/other animal body parts allowed?

quote:cannot be from any other games / films

Just to clarify, our concepts can't be based directly on or set in other games? Of course I can't steal characters directly from Street Fighter (etc), but can we base our original concepts in an existing game?

Also, I've had a quick hunt on Google and apart from the standard gi-wearing or shirtless dude I can't find anything on Exploding Fist/Fist II characters. Unless there's some interesting Fist II stuff I haven't seen this seems kinda pointless. Am I missing something here? I'm trying to get Fist II up on the Flashback page but my connection ain't happy today and it doesn't seem to be working.

/edit Oops, almost mised that bit - as the previous poster mentioned, does human mean humanoid or specifically human? No mutants or undead or anthropomorphic wierdness? No fantasy stuff? No 16th century steam-powered robots or ancient ninja golems?

OK....HI guys

Even though I am totally scared of all this normal mapping stuff...I'm in.

I think the brief sounds pretty good too Souri :)

as for the sci fi char part...I don't plan to do one, but...if it Mortal combat styles allowed... cyrax ect...were futuristic... might wanna clarify it a bit.

'required (texture) : one normal map, and one diffuse map (all textures are to be either 2 * 1024 x 1024 or 4 * 512 x 512)
optional (texture) : any other texture passes you want (specular, gloss, alpha, emmissive, translucence, reflection etc)'

so can i have 2 * 1024 x 1024 of diffuse, and 2 * 1024 x 1024 of normal, and so on? or is it 1 * 1024 x 1024 of diffuse and 1 * 1024 x 1024 of normal?

The questions I need clarification on were already asked, so just waiting on the answers.
BlackJack... GAME ON! :D

-caseyjones

quote:
Your character must be ? human

Would it be more accurate to say ?humanoid??

For example, genetic mutation/engineering on animals seems to be a recurring theme in combat fighting games, and the same with robots/cyborgs They are usually just variations on humans (they are humanoid), but they are based on animals or robots.

Virtually every fighting game has it?s share of non human characters, so I think we should consider allowing them in the challenge ? provided they are humanoid.

Or are we worried that people might just create variations of Ninja Turtles?

-Great challenge brief BTW :)

Maybe people should be able to do a futuristic/semi-futuristic humanoid if they can justify it in the context of an existing franchise. Eg - Tekken has some futuristic characters (the cyborgs Jack-5 and Bryan Fury) as does Mortal Kombat (Cyrax, Sektor, Jax with cybernetic arms, even Kano had some cyber stuff going on with his eye).

Wouldn't someone who choose 4 x 512x512 texture space be at a severe disadvantage compared to those who chose 2 x 1024x1024?

2 x 1024x1024 is equivalent to 8 x 512x512.

good spotting! typo me-thinks.

indeed. my calculator agrees

at least its finally started!

Does this challenge require milestones? ie do i need to show a concept or can i just get cracked into the modelling?

Thats what I thought too Troy :)

As for the whole humaniod thing, I would assume as long as it has two legs, two arms and one head it wouldnt really matter if it was a lizard, zombie looking thing so long as it FITS the THEME of the challange.

Ive already got my idea and am going to start concepting it soon. Wooo! :)

edit: I think its only fair that its your own concept as well. So no concept art by any other artist except yourself. Though you dont have to actually doing some concept art you could go straight into the modelling aspect.

no milestones go at your own pace. doesn't mean other wouldn't like to see a concept/s from you. Plus its good practice in doing a concept if you don't usally, what these challenges are about. [:)]

Can't wait, just read all the details and I'm drawing some concepts now, I have been so eager to start.

Hope to post my choice of character with the related concept art tonight(by which I mean tomorrow).

No milestones, but it's good form to show your progress. Criticism from the community helps no end.

sounds great and definately challenging.

rigging the model is optional, correct?

bi-pedal human I take to mean, literally, a human being.

If it were bi-pedal humanoid, I would take it to mean a humanoid creature (two arms, two legs) that walks predominantly on it's legs.

I'm fine with the comp being humans only, complain all you want about it limiting creativity, but I think that's rubbish. There's plenty of creativity to be had with just humans. And I've seen too many comps where the criteria has been so open that few of the entries resembled the theme they were supposed to be based upon in the first place (the polycout/cg chat "Generals" comp for instance - just how many of them could you actually identify as a war general?).

Whoops, the 2 * 1024 x 1024 texture sheet was a mistake, it's really 1 * 1024 x 1024.

No futuristic style - we had a futuristic theme last challenge, and so I'd rather we not repeat any of it for this challenge. No space age metal armour, robots, and all that. I haven't really followed Mortal Kombat since #2, so I didn't know about the characters after that (and frankly, when you think of Mortal Kombat, you don't generally think of futuristic characters).

Bi-pedal - ok, I should have just left it as human. So no monsters, no lizards, no creatures with one eye and two mouths etc. No double jointed limbs either. I know it sounds a bit restrictive, but the reason why I wanted this is so that we have at least some level of common ground for all the entries. There's still a tonne you can still do with these rules.

Concept idea must be your own, so you can't get someone else do come up with the idea for you. Your concept drawing is't required for the final submission, so the judges won't be judging on your concept drawing. You don't have to create something that is really "far out" and a totally original design - I mean, it could be a modern day character with a few design adjustments to make them looking a bit unique and aesthetic. A few of the characters in, say, Street Fighter 2 are pretty general looking characters (Zangief (wrestler), Guile (marine)). Although if you do take that path, I do suggest that you add something a bit more to sex up the design a bit (insignia's etc).

1 Question Souri, can my entry be undead or for example a pale vampire type - like the bloodrayne chick for example.

Yes I was going to ask the same thing, the whole "Human" guideline..seems like it could be open to alot of things.., like a Zombie, mutantthing that was previously human would be ok?.. hopefully:)..

hmm to add to the whole human only debate - there's lots of room for creativity with your basic human beat-em-up character. Most fighter characters have one "hero" element -- Something special about them that enables them to fight at the level they do... a special ability which usually has physical roots. That can either be transparent visually or visually obvious. Dhalsim is an obvious physical human oddity with stretchy limbs, but ryu doesn't have any physical difference to enable him to use the dark hadou. Likewise with mortal kombat, you have a flaming skulled ninja with a harpoon. Obvious. But sonja really doesn't look physically different from a 'normal' tight slacked blonde bimbo.

My assumption is that you can still "stretch" the rules within the domain of a human fighter like these examples. I'd say common sense dictates what's in those restrictions, but otherwise you're not limited to simply bare-chested muscle man who punches and says "hya!" a lot.

I don't think that anyone is actually complaining about the human restriction. I think it's safe to assume that most of us are simply looking for clarification - it's the same question I would have asked my art director if given this brief. I'll have to modify my concept but that's part of the job, I'm easy either way. [8D]

At this point I'm assuming that human is definitively homo sapiens, including no vampires, demon-possessed swordsmen, demigods, chainsaw zombies, undead ninja, genetic freaks, werewolves, etc. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Can I just reiterate the steampunk thing? I was going with kind of a 17th century inventor with a massive steam-powered arm - sci-fi but not really futuristic. Is this stretching the brief too far? If so it's cool, I just want to be clear before I start on my concept.

I too was considering a steampunk avenue but with the whole HUMAN ONLY - NO ROBOTS rule, now I'm having doubts. Though it would have just been more mechanical than robot but oh well.
Souri, you never got around to clarifying the questions about single mesh restrictions. Are single planes for hair allowed and/or are we able to use geometry that isn't actually welded vert for vert but very much apart of the model (sun glasses/piercings/buckles/straps/loose items)? Thanks.

-caseyjones

A few people have been asking me what about the texture space as well. I think it needs more clarification - for example.

1 x 1024 Diffuse OR 4 x 512
1 x 1024 Normal OR 4 x 512
1 x 1024 Specular OR 4 x 512
1 x 1024 Reflection OR 4 x 512
1 x 1024 Translucency OR 4 x 512

Would I be right or wrong in saying that I am allowed this much pixel real estate?

A steampunk robot is definitely not human, so I'm afraid that would be out. A guy with a steam-powered mechanical arm is certainly human, but I'm more concerned about the spirit of the futuristic restriction - technically it's not but some might take exception.

I'm pretty sure that's dead on for texture space, although any passes beyond normal and diffuse are not required (most of us are gonna do 'em anyway [:)]).

Yaay! @:-D

Really have to make sure that I do this one and finish. Still ages away though, have to see how busy I am when June comes along.

Whoho!
I was hoping it would be around June - being uni holidays.

Normal map this time? Not that I have ever done normal mapping before.

Cool. Normals should certianly be allowed as an option.
As for a topic, maybe something simple yet open to interpretation like "RPG character".

I've also been thinking about producing a certificate for the top 5 placements on future Sumea challenges as something that challengers can put into their cv / portfolio. I'll have a look into that as well, but something snazzy nice gold embossing would be awesome. [:)]

Oh boy oh boy oh boy....

Yep, as always I'll be in this one too, should keep me up at night during the World Cup.

I'd like to see a normal mapping challenge too, but I'm sometimes worried about the participation levels or drop-out rates when people have to learn extra things and on top of that, cope with software quirks (or at least I'm at that point now). Is there a way we can fairly run normal mapping as an option? It is quite a time consuming extra step.

I'm all for those certificates Souri - this comp is getting a lot of industry recognition, and judging by the quality last time, I think anyone would love to have a Sumea certificate on their wall - framed ofcourse.

ive got 2months to learn modelling...lol

i may join in on this 1, great entries last challenge. [8D]

Souri said:
quote:
I've also been thinking about producing a certificate for the top 5 placements

That would have to be worth more then any prize. :)

Makk said:
quote: As for a topic, maybe something simple yet open to interpretation like "RPG character".
That definitely sounds like a good idea. Anuxinamoon also mentioned a similar idea a while back that was pretty cool ? create a class for an MMORPG.

It would be good to give people the chance to design a detailed character where anything goes, rather then restrict all entires to a single genre. It might also encourage some 2d/concept artists to enter.

+1 on the normal mapping. we all have to get into it some day, right? :)

Awesome! I'd like to have a go at entering this, but if the time frame is too short you will see many people dropping out, especially those in the industry. (I'd love to see more industry people having a go on the challenges too)
Those certificates are an awesome idea too Souri!

Totally agree with Steph on that - way too much work at the moment to even think about doing personal stuff, but I'm just itching to do something still. Longer term and structured comp would be great.

On a tangent, when I say structured, something to bind it all togethor to keep peoples entries not falling apart or being completely neglected and gather dust would be a great motivater... maybe like a milestone gauge which entrants update as they go along, and include all the entrants gauges on a centralised competition page? Just an idea at any rate [:)]

yeah i would like to enter to, but if it's short lik the polycount/cgchat one i entered i wont have time to finish (but that was very short compared to previous sumea comps to start with).

another +1 to the normal mapping

and i like the idea of milestones, as long as you dont have to stick to them, but if they are there it may give people goals to work to and we may see more completed entries.

normal maps should be in for sure... although they may cause a heap of greef for people with older software and cards.. let alone for people who have never done them before... so maybe they could be optional...

as for theme.... i kinda like Makk's idea ... of a simple rpg character... but maybe we could add to it.. ie.. like 'The Journey Begins' challenge XIX at cgtalk .. and focus on a character that has just began out on a quest... or maybe has just returned from a lower level quest sporting a trophy of some description like a +2 weapon of flamebreath or something?

That way the character would be interesting enough to model.. yet not overly saturated with massive armour and weapons as to not not be able to personally identify with the character...

would be cool to try and get everyone to stick heaps of personality into thier character rather than just go 'ape' and normal map everything from thier shoelaces to thier tonsils.. :)

Heck yes[;)] im in, cant wait!!!!!!!

create a charater representing a (local) game studio
create a forum avatar
create what you would look like in a computer game

Just a note since it's been finalized, Micro Forte will be sponsoring this challenge with prizes.

...mmmmmmmmm prizes....

I like the forum avatar/you in a game thing. Show us what your handle represents or some such.

And since I've been playing too much Soul Calibur, here's what I'm thinking. A character in a fighting game style (Street Fighter, King of Fighters, Soul Calibur, DOA, etc), based on your Sumea forum handle, armed with an appropriate weapon or fighting style to defend your honour in the mighty arena of Sumea Challenge Numba 8! Cheesy, cliched, completely over the top.

/edit

Here's a few examples for a clearer definition of what I mean by fighting game style. From the Guilty Gear series, the pirate chick, a typical anime babe with a pirate hat, armed with a massive ship's anchor. From Powerstone, the English flyboy, wears a bright red flight suit, scarf and goggles, turns into a mech in a WWII fighter/bomber style. Soul Calibur tends to recycle its concepts - the big, musclebound axe guy was originally Rock, then was recycled into Astaroth. Street Fighter's simplest examples come from the older games - the sumo wrestler, the flashy Vegas boxer, the Spanish ninja, the everyman martial artist hero, the evil supervillian, and so on. Essentially the style is a very simple concept, take a few key words, use them over and over, layer it on as thick as you can.

Am quite a big fan of the fighting game idea. The fighting genre has brought out some iconic gaming characters and some very strong series. The genre has seen some decline in recent years, so it'd be good to see some new designs.

The original Streetfighter 2 series and the Mortal Kombat series had some damn impressive designs. So did the King of Fighters (who ripped a bit from SF, but who cares?).

So yeah, I'll put my hand up on this one.

Jono

Keep the ideas coming, I'm interested in hearing something different for the challenge.

I like the old adventure games like Monkey Island.. cartoon style and fun. It'd make an interesting challenge to create a loveable comic-style hero like that, same for paper mario style characters.

monkey island rocks.. great artwork ... well at least in 3 and 4..
i played them all..
translated well into 3d as well... up there with my favourite all time games

If your using normal maps, you would need high detail on your characters - to the extent of gears of war or Project Offset. So if your having normal mapping in this challange, I say make it for next generation, unreal engine 3 type stuff, with 8000 tris and 2x2048 textures :)

*drools*

yeah high polycounts would be fun, but 2x2048?, i'm not a texture artist to start with - i dont know what i'd do with two of them! [:)]

a stylised character for the fighting game genre is a cool idea.
what about making a boss character for a side scrolling beat'em up (double dragon, battle toads, streets of rage), they usually have special attacks that were reflected in their design.

im not so sure about the normal mapping idea now. how many noobs do you know that can produce good quality unreal 3 spec characters?
we could go for quake 4 specs like the polycount+cgchat challenge, normal maps optional. but there were still a lot of people that dropped out of that challenge.

im with shika

I?m also questioning the normal mapping thing now. If it was compulsory, I imagine there would not be very many completed entries. Making it optional could work though ? if your dead keen on trying to win, then normal mapping would be essential, but if your just in it for the challenge of completing a model ? like many people ? then having the option to bail on the normal map might mean more completed entires. Besides, many people don?t have the necessary tools for normal mapping.

As far as ideas, in a similar vein to the fighting game character idea: create a super hero/villain. That could be pretty open to interpretation.

Modeller "Challenge" being the key word here. I do believe for the last 2 years or at least the previous 2 modeller "challenges" alot of the senior more experienced people would like to also be challenged, have suggested normal mapping tech but it has been pushed back due to alot of people simply not willing to have a crack at it at all.

Normal maps have been in development cycles since 2001 in studios worldwide. Its 2006 guys, and your still not ready to have a crack ??

I dont mind what angle, or idea it is - but my vote still stands firm as it has for the past 2 years that Normal Maps should 100% be apart of this challenge, optional or not is definately fine. But please, at least have that option for people who want to create them.

Of course that opens up a whole new area of judgement so I'm not sure how that would be handled. Maybe a Dual Challenge with 2 areas, which has been previously mentioned. Pro / Novice sections perhaps ?

i totally agree Hazard, i'll admit to being one of the 'lets not do normal maps yet' supporters in a past challenge - but that was two years or more ago at least. It's definatly time to get into it if you havn't already (if it wasnt already time two years ago).

I understand that normal map noobs might feel at a disadvantage. well to that i say - if you've been modeling for a while and havnt seriously touched normal maps yet, that's your own fault (i'm upset at myself for being included in that lot), and if you're a new modeler altogether, and feel you couldnt posibly compete, well, to put it bluntly, if you're a noob you probably wont win anyway - which of course brings up the point of: if you're only entering this for the prize you're missing the point of the challange in the first place.

Sorry, a little harsh, but i'm being just as harsh at myself in this as at anyone else.
Make them optional if you must, but involving them (normal maps at least, if not spec and what not aswell) is a must.

Perhaps instead of banning normal mapping alter what sway it has in the overall marking score. Im not exactly sure how you would structure this myself but perhaps just have it have less effect on your final score, but not so little as to make it pointless to include. So those that have done their research will be at an advantage, but there similary wont be no point for those who havent to enter (for whatever reason, myself im a student and would like to participate in such a task to keep myself working in the 3d enviroment but have simply not had the time nor the necesary experience needed before on the lower rungs of the ladder).

Oh and on the topic, im in favour of some with a bit of an edge towards non photorealistic rendering (so you know, cartoony and the like). Just to buck the trend :P

congrats to goodgod, lechy and tojo.
i'm certainly looking forward to the next one

EDIT: Sorry, forgot to thank the judges who once again did a great job giving some very detailed critique, and of course Souri for organising it again

Yay, the results are in!

Congrats to Goodgod, Lechy, and Tojo ? best of the best, as always. [:)]

I?d like to give a quick thankyou to the judges, especially Troy for going to such effort with the constructive feedback on everyone?s work. It?s very much appreciated guys!

Yeah well done everyone and congratulations Goodgod, Lechy, and Tojo. Great work!

Thanks so much to the judges for the valuable critique and ofcourse Souri for your hard work in organising the whole thing.

And so ends another challenge (reflective silence)....

It was a lot of fun and I hope to see y'all again next time!

Congrats to the winners!!! :)
Yeah, a big thankyou to the judges, souri and dont forget lava injection studios for donating prizes for the lucky winners.

Whoa!, I can finaly get rid of my shitty old acecat tablet.

Congratulations to everyone that competed, it was a fun ride. Big Congrats to Good God who just missed out in the last competition.

Thanks to Souri and sumea, also the judges and Lava injection studios.

I'm over the moon.

ok time to go to work.

congrats to all!!!

yeah it was fun, i'm gonna be there for the next one, that's for sure.

goodgod nice job, u really good, alweys at the top, and now the winner, big congrats!!!!

nice job lechy and tojo!

hoooowwr. what a first prize! and not a bad 2rd and thrid prize either! make sure you put them to good use!

congrads to goodgod and lechy..well deserved!!

big cheers to lava injection for the great prizes!!

big cheers to the judging panel

big cheers to souri... the man

big cheers to everyone who participated... some really great entries..

cant wait till the next comp..[8]

Well deserved goodgod Im glad u won, I was a bit scared that u weren?t going to win because of last challenge (u defiantly should have one that time), but I think the judges where really crap like always (exspecially some judges in the last comp) besides troys. The whole competition should have been judged from just troys judging because his was the only one with the fairest and the most unbiest results and he gave good feedback, the last competitions ended badly because of bad judging.

Congratulations to all, that comp had some really interesting entries. Hopefull ill actually have time to participate in the next one. Congrats again

Congrats to the winners and all the entries, really fantastic Work. Thankaz to the judges and sponsors, espically you Souri, awesome organiser.

Congrats to all who participated in the comp, the sponsors, judges etc, and most of all Souri.

pop

Yay, one place outside the prizes, story of my life hey :)

Congratulations to everyone involved! Good work and thanks to Souri and the judges.

Can't wait for another challenge.

Congratulations, you're challenger #13!

Just thought I should add some closer shots for judging purposes (Can't really see a whole lot at that res). The images are on full illumination.

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/a harvey/20057574440_FIlegs.jpg"]FIlegs.jpg[/url]
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[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/a harvey/20057574512_FIface.jpg"]FIface.jpg[/url]
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[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/a harvey/20057574531_FItorso.jpg"]FItorso.jpg[/url]
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Just thought it might make things a bit easier.

I should say all WIP for this project are available if anyone wants.

Alex, man! u got an entry into the comp! wow!Very nice btw, That armor looks painful, always great to see ya work, cya soon.

pop

hey all I dont think im going to make the deadline but here it is. it is 3500 tri exactly.

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/roadrunner/20057354525_h_marine…"]h_marine.jpg[/url]
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if you can texture this in three hours i'll certainly take my hat off to you. nice model as well, i like the big hands and interesting design. lots of luck

Hey all Im officially giving up. If I had 1 more day well who know but its not happening so not going to beatt around the bush.
Sorry Popwheelie couldn't get this finished. I will post it up as a game art piece so look out for it.
I will also make it properly. Intially it was going to cross class the head detaching as a sniper recon unit. So basically it could hide the mech sneak up to the enemy in the head sentinal part and activatethe beffy part of mech and attack with long rang weapons. Also if it take too much of a beating the bran matrix detaches for a quik getaway or it can suicide and take out whole base as the recon unit is also a bomb.

PopWheelie Good luck. Good luck to everyone who entered. Im going to see my mrs and get a massage. Need one after this comp. I will definatly enter the next comp.

its a pity, that was looking like a great model. good luck with completing it in your own time

It looks good so far. I can't really crit on the mesh, maybe someone else will pick something up. Looks like mad rush to the finish line for you. cheers

heh, indeed it will be Lechy

arm...
[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/Makk/200562305611_sumea_robo_wip…]

lookin good, got anything down for concept sketches or ideas at all or just going for it?

almost done...

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/Makk/200562395422_sumea_robo_wip…]

at 3462 polies

Moonunit: No concept just making it up as I go along. Though Ive been looking alot at Sparths work (www.sparth.com)

'moonrise' shoulder profile reminds me of the aliens (monochiwan?) from the fifth element.

Awesome man, hope you have enough time to finish it.

interesting design, looking pretty cool! good luck getting it finished in time!

i really like the feel of the character, very nice and weighty. knowing your texturing ability it should be great. good luck finishing

thats looking fantastic makk.

Thanks guys, between work and a billion birthday parties I may just get this finished.

However I have ran into a problem.
I cant get the highlighted areas of the mesh to join up...

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/Makk/20056270025_sumea_robo_wip0…]

Since the rules state that its supposed to be all one mesh, this may prove to be a bit of a problem. Any ideas on how to connect them up, Ive got about 20 polies left on my budget.

Maybe make it 4 sided it wont be as round but it looks fearly hidden and I dont think it will be that noticeable.
hope that helps.:)

I thought that you can have seperate parts as long as it is all one mesh or object or something, damn I'm confused. Someone better clarify this for me.

One mesh should mean that it's all one object. But you could have two cubes totally seperate from each other and still call them one mesh. In Maya you just select your objects and go Edit Polygons -> Combine and you have a single mesh. I would hope that's a correct interpretation of the one mesh thing...

Got it fixed now, all I needed to do was cut some edges into the inner side and wield, so now it is all physically connected up.

UV mapping now, very boring stuff! :(

I hope you can unwrap and texture faster than me Makk, otherwise you won't be finishing in time.

I'm glad to hear some one else describe uvmapping as boring, I though I might have been doing it wrong!

UVW Mapping is definately boring - but for that mech it should only take about 90 minutes to unwrap at the most so just whack on your favourite Music CD and headphones and go for it - by the time the cd is over youll be about halfway done! [:D]

JohnN hehe, yeah dont worry Im slow as hell with it too!

Haz, hahaha! You DONT want to know how long it took me to do it!!

Finished now and onto texturing, yay!

Are you using Max 6 or 7? Can't you let it unwrap it for you?

huh?
Im using max 6.
I just pretty much used planer mapping for the whole thing, then just stitched up certian areas.

Ok, here is my final submission-

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/Makk/200572112822_robo_ortho.jpg…]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/Makk/200572112952_robo_ortho_wir…]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/Makk/200572113344_robo_uvlayout…]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/Makk/200572113235_robo_texturefl…]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/Makk/200572113455_robo_moneyshot…]

The final polycount is 3442
Im so glad I got this finished :)
This is the first time that I have taken one of my models, uv mapped it and textured it.
I have learnt alot from this, so now I cant wait to start on another character.

[:D]

great work Makk! well done!

pop

awesome work, i knew your texturing would be top notch, its good to see your modelling really improving a lot too. i'll be looking forward to your next model as well

You're challenger #4! Congrats!

thats great work makk, well done on taking it all the way aswell. im curious though, what kind of rounds is he(it?) supposed to fire from those arms? good luck!

Thanks guys :)
Moonunit, I was thinking that it would shoot out some plasma beams. Was going to go with one giant big one but decided it would look better on the texture if it was broken up into smaller ones.
Goodluck to everyone that entered.
Cant wait for the next one as well! :)

Very cool model there Idaho. I really like the way the legs are armoured. You?ve still got plenty of tris left in the budget, so it will be good to see some more detail.

Glad to see you in the comp, good luck. [:)]

Heres an update, geez I better get cracking!

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/idaho/200561910237_FS_002.jpg[/i…]

wooOOoow thats looking great, seems like youve put those polies to good use. Also i love the helmet, reminds me of WW2 german helmets, id love to see it done with a similar texture (it ofcourse your model though).

love those boots!

Model complete

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/idaho/200562411940_FS_Views_web…]

Once again paid work has gotten in the way of me completing my Sumea challenge... Sorry guys!

Ah, that?s a shame man; I was looking forward to seeing this guy develop. But I guess heavy work periods are just a part of life. If you don?t have time to finish for the comp, do you plan to texture him anyway?

Thanks Palantir, yeh I will get him done, just not in time. Ill post a render when hes complete.

yeah do give us a look once you do have him complete, sorry you couldnt make it through the comp

So... the work in progress pics:
[img]http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/junk/male-032-smooth.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/junk/male-053-wires.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/junk/male-076-wires.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/junk/male-076-smooth.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/junk/male-003b-texture.jpg[/img]

I'm currently working on his rig/weights
And I'm over the polylimit so I'm probably gonna go in, delete some faces I don't need, and maybe get rid of some of the utility belt items... maybe... at least for the comp.

sweet. i like him. reminds me of The Incredibles.

Haha, excellent, thanks!

This is a little comic I put together after I tried to stick him into UT2004 using the default rig and animations.
The rig stretched his legs, and I forgot to place the weapon bone so I bound the weapon to his root joint, just a test.
He's actually using a custom rig and custom animations. I've just finished painting the custom rig's weights today.
Enjoy!
[img]http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/junk/mgc-ingame.jpg[/img]

lol thats funny stuff, neat character.

Thanks!
He's now rigged! Just need to fix the placement of two UVs.
[img]http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/blog/wp-content/mgcyay.jpg[/img]
Hurray!

You know looking at him again personally id change the colour of those light blue straps. They stand out too much and sort of mess with the colour scheme a bit, not to mention are impraticle (sp?) if your tring to be a bit camoflauged. neat pose :P

[img]http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/blog/wp-content/tinylegs3493.jpg[/img]

Yep, I got him down to 3493! Hurrah!

MoonUnit: Thanks for the comments. I know what you mean, the violently blue straps came up when I was modelling him and I thought about switching them to gray, or some more destaturated colour, but in the end they've grown on me. Yeah, terrible for camoflauge.

Good One Kizza, awesome effort mate...

The comic is a nice touch too...

and go maya!

Took a bit of a break, modelled Gir from Invader Zim, and rigged a friend's character.
With the deadline looming I started his weapon models. The first of two the big gun.
[img]http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/blog/wp-content/mgcgun002.jpg[/img]

The second, the small pistol, is coming next, and is using the blank UV space.

Also thinking of revising his back, and the backpack on it.

Left it 'til the last minute, but I got it done. (All I had to do was the images)
[img]http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/junk/tinylegs_shaded.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/junk/tinylegs_wires.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/junk/tinylegs_uvs.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/junk/tinylegs_textures.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/junk/tinylegs_final.jpg[/img]

well done, one of the most charismatic characters in this compition. good luck!

Nice work! You're challenger #14!

like this one the best so far myself, but level of humor may not be universal

Awesome. Thanks alot to everyone for their neat comments.

one of my favorites. best one? dunno, but one of my favorites.

Ah I got it! He reminds me of Duff man! Just muffle his voice under that gas mask and bam! "Tinylegs wants to party down" ---mmm bow bow chika chikaaaah.

Great character, good luck to you.

Hahaha.

Thanks guys.

[img]http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/blog/wp-content/tinylegs_guns_large.jpg…]
I chucked together a quick turntable of Tinylegs if anyone's interested.
http://www.jackethead.com/kizza/blog/?page_id=38

Neat concepts, hope you get time to finish :)

looks like you are going to make a fine modeler.. your concepts are great..:)

can already see them in 3d in my head..

Yeah, nice concepts. even if you dont get them modelled in time for the comp, you should do them for yourself, i think they will look great. Good luck!

I think I have more or less finished the basic model! pics below are front/side/back and 3/4 views. Current poly count is bit over 2700 so there is room for some details to be added... like some glowing lights or something... but where to put them? any feedback and/or tips on the model would be appreciated.

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/200561345638_heavyArmour_m…"]heavyArmour_model1.jpg[/url]
66.74 KB

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/20056134584_heavyArmour_mo…"]heavyArmour_model2.jpg[/url]
26.75 KB

Hey John, sweet work there, coming along well, only thing that catches my eye are his legs, I notice in the concept he has some sort of piston type thing, will you be putting that in? Maybe try putting a bit more shape into them too, from they front they look blocky and could benefit from a chamfer on those inside edges.

thats a damn fine effort for a first model man, well done

Cool!
Give him dual guns and a tail!! acutally, 4 guns and a tail!!
Maybe beef the legs up a little, they gotta support a lotta weight.

I've held off critiqueing in here for a bit, but I'd just like to say your progression is great to see John! Since you posted your original portfolio up to now, you've had a steady and constant improvement, and it's really showing in your latest pieces. Your concepts have gotten cleaner, better designed, more aesthetically pleasing, and most importantly practical and viable for game designs/assets.

I love seeing models from people coming from design/visualisation/concepting backgrounds - the translation and execution always seems to be nice and fluid, and this is no exception. You're doing great, keep it up! [:D]

at last! I think the model is finished (apart for some technical details.) You will see there are some minor tweaks and 1 major change.

I revisited the upper legs and confirmed to myself the piston + ball joint was not quite the right look and the boxy legs conveyed slow, solid and strong better. I also beefed up the upper legs a little but skipped the tail (sorry Makk[;)])

The big change is the gun - the jumbo blaster was bugging me, I thought it looked like a plastic jobbie you would get from Toys'r'us. So it was replaced with a triple barrel minigun. More realistic and much more suitable for the overall style I think (I'm thinking about shortening the barrels and adding a flash suppressor at the front... ?). For those wondering, the boxy bit at the back with handles will (fingers crossed) appear as a removable/replacable ammo box.

3/4 view:
[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/2005614102132_heavyArmour_…"]heavyArmour_1_14june.jpg[/url]
38.66?KB

front side and back:
[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/2005614102227_heavyArmour_…"]heavyArmour_2_14june.jpg[/url]
56.58?KB

edit:edit:edit: had some question about mapping but I think they are sorted.

--thanks for the kind words JI. When I started posting at sumea I wanted to redirect my skills (and career) towards the CompGame industry. Whilst I haven't succeeded in securing a day job as an illustrator thus far(I do get the occasional freelance contract), I think I have made huge in-roads on my own skills and on understanding the industry (Due to a large extent on the existance of this forum and it's members.)

Fingers crossed it will only be a matter of time before my career shifts too.

I'm actually hoping that having some modelling skills will improve my chances, being the primary reason why I entered this comp.

maybe a little late, but I think you may still be quite interested in it as design referance -- the heavy design reminds me of the pka mecha designs;

[img]http://www.imasy.or.jp/~kiyo/model/pow_mel/melu_s.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.imasy.or.jp/~kiyo/model/safs/safs09s.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.imasy.or.jp/~kiyo/model/fireball/fb__02s.jpg[/img]

The link to the site these come off:
http://www.imasy.or.jp/~kiyo/model/index.html

edit! and another with english: http://users2.ev1.net/~jimbobwan/gij82sf3d.htm

...? thought I had replied to you last post JI... oh well, thanks for posting the cooool mecha designs. I promptly tracked down the larger versions and saved them off the for collection.

Thanks again to all who posted answers to my questions regarding the texture maps too - I would have possibly never figured it out and definitely not in time to finish the comp. As you can see the advice was not in vain [:D]

so this is where I am at - just starting the textures. My initial plan was to go with a 'Desert Storm' kinda cammo pattern BUT The competition rules suggest 'tried and true' team colours should be avoided and I suspect standard military colours may get the same frownie treatment come judging... so I'm thinking of getting some inspiration from classic racing cars (!) Not practical in a military sense but could work in a Futuristic 'Robot Wars/Running Man/Gladiatorial arena sports' kinda way.

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/200562410147_heavyArmour_2…"]heavyArmour_24june800x600.jpg[/url]
76.01 KB

I think some racing stripes on the mech would look pretty cool and original.

bit of an update: I think I have been tinkering pattern variations too long - I thought I was really happy with the basic pattern design until about 30seconds ago... now I think it might be too busy... I might try a more minimal pattern scheme before continuing with texture details. any comments regarding this point would be appreciated.

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/20056271241_heavyArmour_28…"]heavyArmour_28june800x600.jpg[/url]
83.71 KB

the orange and white pattern dosent appear too busy at all in my mind.

I agree with Moonunit, if you go for a minimal pattern, it may end up looking a little less interesting. I like the pattern you have now

It may need a number and some sponsor logos.

only kidding.

Thanks for the opinions guys. Whilst Leachy says he is kidding about the logos and sponsors, I felt much the same way, The robot was ready to take the court with the Harlem Globe Trotters! So I did end up redoing the basic pattern - some thing a little more dignified, but more appropriate I think.

It's actually very close to finished too [:D] Just need to add some details to the cream paint and left arm and gun body and anything else people point out... actually its a long way from being finished isn't it!

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/200562892221_heavyArmour_2…"]heavyArmour_28june_v2_800x600.jpg[/url]
54.47?KB

edit: and a quick update before I pack it in for the night...now it is getting close.

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/2005628122459_heavyArmour_…"]heavyArmour_28june_v2_800x600.jpg[/url]
52.38 KB

yeah right now it seems you need to get all that surface detail down, good luck!

Here it is. I'm going to look at it for a day before I declare it finished, but I think it might be.

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/20056292220_frontSideBack…"]frontSideBack.jpg[/url]
53.84 KB

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/200562922514_3quarter_uvun…"]3quarter_uvunwrap.jpg[/url]
90.09 KB

Hey John, I dig the colour scheme that you went with, really nice.
Have you tried overlaying a photo texture or something? At the moment its a bit to clean and there is really no surface material to it.
Congrats on getting finished :)

well it is finished[:D] final touch of a very little texture on the flat areas, maybe could have introduced a little more tonal variation but time is up.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/20057312051_HeavyArmour_Mo…]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/20057312217_HeavyArmour_mo…]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/20057312313_HeavyArmour_wi…]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/20057312427_HeavyArmour_UV…]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/20057312526_HeavyArmour_te…]

I was really looking forward to your effort here JohnN, Like JI Mentioned earlier on in this thread seeing a concept artist or traditional 2d artist make the leap over to 3D is often a really nice smooth process.

The modelling came out pretty well - you actually did a really good job there for a first (??) attempt. As far as the textures go though - I thought you would have really got stuck in and attacked the sheets with some lights and darks - a bit more contrast etc. Overall good job man - you should be proud of that.

Next time I'd really delve into the texture and try to bring out and define what makes up your model a bit more in terms of materials and how light would present them. [:)]

You're challenger #6!

Yeah Haz, as I progressed with the texture it became apparent that extra tonal variations could be incorporated. I initially thought that the modelling would provide all of the basic tone but discovered that it wasn't really the case - cast shadows, hot hightlights etc. But i'm using ignorance as my defence! This is the first time I had even looked at a 3d package (I bought a book on 3dMax at the start of the project) and same goes for the texturing too. So I figure I did pretty good just finishing a model for the comp :)

Taking nothing away from your entry at all man - The style you picked was perfect for a first shot.

Unfortunately like most newbs my first had to be the coolest character I could possibly think of - and of course it was also the trickiest son of a bitch to work on at the time and the result was a nice design, executed with skills from a negative dimension. I should have picked something like a mech which is basically extrudes and bevels.

You show wisdom and restraint beyond measure for picking something easy to do first up - and nailing it on your first go also.

Full marks from me [:)]

cool concept, but yeah, you'd better get cracking alright!

are you going to model the vulture as well? That would be pretty neat. I like the boots.

Nice one, hope you do the vulture too. I like the whole feather thing around the neck, that could look really cool. Maybe give him a hooked nose and longer face so his features resemble a vulture's. What's the thing on his back?

Yeah I plan to model the birdy 2! And I will hook the nose up, thats a great idea!!! thanks[;)]

for some reason, makes me think of a hybrid of a futuristic shaman. looks cool, I agree with the others the vulture will look sweet modelled too. Good luck!

Any chance of a wire-frame screen-grab? It?s hard to judge it?s true dimensions without wires.

Keep working, only a month left!! [:)]

Heres is a wire view...I know theres alot of needless polys in the chest which i plan on cutting down...all i need to do is a head of some sort..and a bit of tweaking i think.

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/melvosh/20055319311_screen22.jpg"]screen22.jpg[/url]
110.62 KB

woah. that's waaaay to any polys. you'll be approaching the limit now if you havnt already passed it. you dont need that many to make it look smooth. i would recomend referencing some other models if you're usure as to how dence to make it.

Well actually its just on 3000..so 500 for a head/helmet...Plus i did say i would cut down the chest which could give me more to detail the head...but poly wise im not worried. So thanks for the tip but no i dont need reference on density...

Adam

3000 poly?s? Are you sure your counting tris and not quads? Because that looks way to dense to be 3000 tris. It kind of looks like it would be closer to 10,000..

I know you said you don?t need it, but here?s a little reference I did with a couple of my models to show what I mean.

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/palantir/20056161345_reference.j…"]reference.jpg[/url]
50.04 KB

The one on the left is 1000 tris, the middle one is the same with mesh-smooth at around 10,000 tris, and the one on the right is almost 20,000 tris. Compare the poly density to your model and it does look like your over budget.

Of course those models of mine are complete, so the poly count would be much less without the heads. But even if your model?s body is 3000 tris, you?d really need another couple of thousand just for the head, to keep the poly?s evenly distributed over the whole model. Basically that many poly?s for a low-detailed game model is poor design.

I don?t want to sound condescending or anything, I?m just trying to be helpful, but it really looks like you need to reduce the number of poly?s. [:)]

Hope the reference helps.

Yes well actually the number is 3132..TRIANGLES..so other than freeing up polies for the head its all cool in that department even if they arent exactly evenly distributed...
LOL i actually wanted you guys to knock the proportions of the model or crit that itself rather than the poly count :)

Adam

Does your model have shoulderpads? If not then it looks like it's shrugging as there seems to no trapezius muscles(thats the bit that goes from your neck to the shoulder). I'm not sure about the rest, you should post more angles of your model. cheers.

Just curious, are you using Milk Shape 3D? You should check out GMAx, google that.

Yeh the character has shoulder type pads, prolly cant notice it to much from the angle....
Yes im using milkshape 3d, yes i have gmax and i even have max, but for some odd reason despite its features i still use MS3d for stuff...

Adam

Ok pretty much finished except i dont like the back pack very much...
But might just start texturing so i do atleast finish.

Adam

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/melvosh/2005634648_screen23.jpg"]screen23.jpg[/url]
60.07 KB

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/melvosh/2005634737_screen27.jpg"]screen27.jpg[/url]
34.5 KB

From the angle you have shown it looks like the legs are a bit awkward, but I'd have to see it from other angles to give a proper crit.

Also the body dosen't seem very interesting, maybe if you added some cool bits of armor to spice it up.

cheers.

Ok, i think i should just finish it like this, didnt turn out how i really wanted i guess but if i dont start texturing i wont finish.
Im really wanting to just add a shoulder pad or 2 but....time..
I think he is a little to slender in the torso...

Cheers
Adam

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/melvosh/200561464354_screen123.j…"]screen123.jpg[/url]
50.25 KB

Great work pauly. You may be able to whack off a few polys from the shield thing though. cheers.

cheers mate, yeah, i had the sheild thing in mind to get rid of a few polys!

Looking good pk, its good to see you on bord. [:)]

Hi all,
Here's an update, I believe that the model is finished unless I get lots of feedback saying that things need work! and onto unwrapping, texturing and rigging. I think I should find out the go about UT shaders too! The model is 3499 polys (tris).

The gun is 600 polys - is this too much for this type of game?

Insert Image: [img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/pk/200552003034_soldier-wipx.jpg…]

Insert Image: [img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/pk/20055200318_soldier-gun-wipx…]

Insert Image: [img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/pk/200552003142_gun.jpg[/img]

He's looking real good now, I especially like his hair dryer. I got 800 polys to spare on mine and I don't know what to do with them, any ideas?

lookon' real nice. dont worry about the gun count, that's fine for UT. i think most 3rd person weapons in UT2004 are around 500 or so.

Sweet, this guy looks like he could kick some ass in a fight. Just wondering, is the thing on his back a shield? And can it move around and rotate to front or something if it is a shield?

Hi all, thought it was time for an update... When upwrapping I was able to get rid of about 40 polys, and then put them into other areas. The polycount is now exactly 3500. I have now started texturing, and have a base texture for most of the main model, just need to start the back shield thingy and a couple of other bits on the back. I will probably get time next week to finish the texturing and touch up what ive started. Certain parts need it a lot.

Cheers for the feedback so far...
DamienP - cheers, yeah the thing on the back is a shield, its a good idea to have it setup to rotate, i didnt do this and probably too late to go back. But i'll keep it in mind if i do something similar again.
Livewire - cheers for the info on the gun count
3darty - cheers, your model is looking great finished
lechy - cheers, hows ur model going? u better get it finished, i reckon u have a good shot at winning if u finish it.

Insert Image: [img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/pk/200569234137_wip-pksoldier.jp…]

looking good, my only crit is that the texture looks very blurry. with the amount of resolution we've been fiven for the comp, you should be getting a much sharper texture. can you post a shot of your unwrap wires and texture flats?

Very nice, I'll agree with that about the texture, could be sharper.
Are you rending with multi-pixel filtering? I turned that off and instantly got a sharper render with my textures.

The model is really neat.

Nice work, IMO, could use some wear on that armor, a scratch and a dint makes it look more realistic. other than that keep it up :)

Hi all, here's an update...
nearly finished character texture, still needs touching up in some areas. I have done a rough skinning job on him so i can 'pose' him. I have started texturing the gun and will post an update of that too.

Cheers for the comments Kizza and Livewire, sorry for the blurry image i posted b4. Hopefully this new one will show the texture clearer/sharper. i changed the method of rendering for it. I will post the unwrap and texture flats soon.

Cheers popawheelie, here's an update with some more scatches etc on the armour.

Insert Image: [img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/pk/2005616232616_soldier-wip-pos…]

cool model :D

Try rendering with Catmaull-Rom. I beleive it gives the best and sharpest rendering :)

Good Luck !

Cheers Anuxinamoon,I agree with ur comment about rendering with Catmaull-Rom. This last pic I rendered using it after my mate pic-poc recommended it to me. I can definately see the difference, i think i will check out the different methods of rendering and see what is better for film/tv too. There's definately still areas that need more detail in the texture itself, i will do some touchups when i have time next week.

looking good! keep it up

pop

Another update... I have tried to put a bit more colour into the character, and also sharpen the texture. I am liking the chipped metal look of lechy's character and might try to do the same a little with mine. Can we use spec maps? if so I might do one too.

Insert Image: [img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/pk/200562419441_wip-pk-soldierx…]

Not bad Pauly, Definetley and improvement over the last one, I'm not sure if the chipped paint will work the way you want it to because your texture is already pretty busy, but give it a go. I really like the look of the head. The gray middle chest plate has a fuzzy line going around the inside of it, I dont think that should be there as it looks a little odd. I still don't know about the specular maps so I'll just texture mine without for now. cheers

Nice pk, looks great, I like the colours you've used, and I'm pretty sure we can't use a specular map.

Finished!

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Well done, you're challenger #10!

Great to see the model finshed Pk, Great use of polys, awesome UV, and solid work on the textures(good to see someone else that loves to use burn and dodge). Well done!

pop

cool!! i like it,
maby make the character controlling it look more like a soilder. aswell make the robot have a bit of cammo, just an idea.
but looks cool has potential.

The concept looks really cool!
I wonder if it's possible to make this into a vehicle...
would it be possible to make the mech so that a inner human model and outer robot model have two seperate skeletons that are running exactly the same animation?

Cool, thanks for the replies!

Good idea Shath. I painted on some quick camo and it looks better imho. (who would pilot a bright yellow robot into battle anyway? hehe). I was just trying to bring in some sort of non red-vs-blue team colour, but maybe the colour can come out in a more subtle way, like painted-on markings, glowy bits or coloured smoke?

[img]http://users.tpg.com.au/edwarddv/concept-heavy2.jpg[/img]

Kezza, that would be cool if there was a way to make the robots skeleton react/align to the human's, you can do it in max with reactions...maybe unrealscripting?

For this challenge, I think i'll have to rig and animate it as one big character, but it would be alot more useful if it could be used like a vehicle . Maybe playing the characters movement animations at the same time as the mechs (or only the top half of the player like in a normal vehicle?). Are there already any good mech mods for ut2k4? I'd love to play a good mech mod...with missiles and jetpacks! :) hehe

[img]http://users.tpg.com.au/edwarddv/modelscreen.jpg[/img]

Here is a screenie of my current modelling progress. The tri count is already up to 1500 and thats just the blocking in without any arms, or details, or the main human character, so i might have to simplify some things.

Thanks for the feedback!

I'm off to cook some dinner.

To my knowledge there is one mech mod for UT, never tried it though.

Sweet concept man. These are the two tutes I used to get my guy into UT:

http://www.neomagination.com/tutorials/

http://www.planetunreal.com/identitycrisis/cabins/intertwined/htm/Tutor…

Nice idea Puck, like the concept.

You'll be fine with the 3.5K limit.

you could afford at least 1500 for the human and the other 2K for the mecha since its the focus.
In fact, you'll probably find you have some left from the mecha to go onto the guy if he needs it, since hes not really clothed hes not going to be too expensive.

a awesome concept man, if that thing can actually get in game itll be brilliant. A thought on texture though, the basis behind the mod was urban jungle wasnt it? so jungle camo wouldnt really serve a purpose amognst concrete.

Still, dark green camo is better than bright yellow :)
One option is to use a material combiner class in unrealed or unrealscript to apply camo/colour on a level by level or user selection basis at realtime. However this (like the vehicle idea) is outside what's asked for in the compo and so it's probably better to focus on other things.

Looking pretty cool, I like the idea.

Thanks for the tutorial links Damien, very helpful! I've always been a bit intimidated by 'game' 3d because of all the restrictions, but it's not that bad once you learn all the 'rules'.

Malus, that seems to be the ratio I'm going for at the moment, I've trimmed the mech down to 2k and am only up to about 500 for the human (no face, hands or feet yet though!). To keep the Mech under 2k ive had to trim so many things though; like the pistons and the 'eyes' above the pilots visor, but at least it retains the silhouette. I think, if anything, the human will weigh in a bit less that 1.5k so i might be able to go back to the Mech and "decorate" him. Low-poly modelling is a great challenge, it's like a puzzle, seeing where you can remove excess detail while retaining the shape. :)

[img]http://users.tpg.com.au/edwarddv/modelscreen2.jpg[/img]

re: texturing, I think the cammo will look cool, but like you say Moonunit, it doesn't really fit into the setting, although perhaps like Kezza suggests i could eventually make several textures on a level by level basis (urban cammo, hi-tech metal, decorated for 'tournaments' etc). Now that I've started I'm getting really excited about eventually making into a drivable vehicle, but thats for another time.

Thanks for all the support guys, It's really great to get all this feedback and suggestions, I wish i had discovered internet forums earlier :)

If anybody has any ideas on changes/improvements, please voice them and ill give it a test run, it's alot easier to make changes now then when its almost finished.

Hey puck

I really like the overall shape and feel. Purely from a conceptual point of view though can I suggest a little heavier armour on the human?

Being a heavy guy you expect it to take on bullets, torpedos, explosions and what not and you may think it's being anal, but people actually pick that up the fact that a human should die in that scenario and it loses the fantasy abit.

Case in point is the scene in the third Matrix movie where those squid robots take on those humanoid mechs. It looked cool, but you sorta realised that running around bare chested against some heavy ammo isn't such a great idea. Those humans deserved to be shot!

Anyway that's my view. Keep going though, it's coming along well.

That's a very good point IronhideNT. hehe, it is pretty silly, i mean, this giant gun toting machine stomping towards you and all it takes to put it out of action is to shoot the pilot, one bullet, the end.

It's something which I've been thinking about from the beginning but can't think of a good workaround for. Because it would make much more sense to have an armoured chest, but then you wouldn't be able to see the pilot...

[img]http://users.tpg.com.au/edwarddv/018.jpg [/img]

In Shirows Mech's, the front is completely covered and the pilots' arms have their own little tube-like armour as well, which still looks pretty cool (and Shirow is pretty anal about believability, which i think makes his work so cool. In the above pic you can see the front of the machine opening up to reveal the pilot). I just don't want the 'heavy' to go too far towards the machine end of the scale and lose the human aspect.

If i put an armoured chest on, it would save polygons because then only the pilots head would be visible. And maybe i can have more clear glass-like panels so you can still see the pilot a bit... I'll give it a try now and see how it looks.

Thanks for the input!

Ps: heres another pic with a different treatment of the 'enhanced' human/mech. I think the art direction of Tribes Vengeance was awsome, very proud of Aussie Irrational for that game.

[img]http://users.tpg.com.au/edwarddv/phoenix-heavy-logo.jpg [/img]

i don't think u should change it, it looks cool and for this mod thats all that matters, if u did wanna add some sort of protection u could have a transperant sheild around the human in tha shape of the mech's body, also that could be used for the team colour. if that make's sence, although that will add poly's

i don't think u should change it, it looks cool and for this mod thats all that matters, if u did wanna add some sort of protection u could have a transperant sheild around the human in tha shape of the mech's body, also that could be used for the team colour. if that make's sence, although that will add poly's

The main problem with any shielding is the arms, it's pretty easy to cover up the body, but because the arms need to move (to control the robot's arms) they either have to be armoured seperately or left uncovered.

Shath, i agree it has to look good first and foremost, because, realistically, most of these ideas arn't possible or practical anyway (I mean, if you really think about most sci-fi concepts, its easy to pick apart alot of their premises, but who cares if it's cool! -> Although, while im ranting, it really bothered me that the space marines in DOOM3 didn't wear armour on their arms, I mean, you're walking around on the surface of mars with bare arms! talk about getting a healthy raditation tan).... but, now that im playing around with the idea of armour, I'm starting to like it.

Infact, after looking at Shirow's work again, Im contemplating regressing into my teenage years and making the pilot a scantily clad woman... With curved peices of armour covering up all the rude bits...after all, to conceal is to reveal [:0]. Do you think that's a bad idea?

Heres a screenie of unfinished body armour (am i posting too many pics for dialup users?).

[img]http://users.tpg.com.au/edwarddv/modelscreen3.jpg [/img]

Looking very good, keep it up, awesome concept. I prefer the yellow colour, has a good feel to it for some reason, not sure though. By the way, easy to load the pics with 56k.

since were talking sci fi perhaps one of those good ole invisible sheild type things that only shows up when the player gets hit (think MC in halo) or you could even just have it visibile and concentrated on the pilot and mostly transparent. I dunno im sure you could play around with that idea im sure

Yeah Codyalday, I'm missing the yellow a bit as well, but I haven't really thought about the texture that much yet, so anything goes! Hot pink maybe?

That's a great idea MoonUnit, because I'm still not sure about the armour, and even in the version i have now, there are plenty of spots where bullets could get through. Do you know a way to implement that "visible on impact" shield? Like the super shield... (maybe that can just be implemented in the mod? like the heavy starts with a slow-regenerating super shield).

Here's some modelling update pics... I've been moving away from realism (and the initial concept sketch) at the moment and am just having a bit of fun, possibly at the expense of the character? [?][?][?]

[img]http://users.tpg.com.au/edwarddv/modelscreen4.jpg [/img] [img]http://users.tpg.com.au/edwarddv/modelscreen5.jpg [/img]

I'm not sure if I'm going down the right path with the "sexy girl in big robot" cliche, so any opinions on this would be great. Should i try to make it more realistic? or stylise it up? Go back to serious male soldier or continue with seksi anime chick? [?]

I may be biased on this, but for me it's seksi anime chicks any day of the week.
Not too sure about the headplugs though...

As for the shield, that's something that the mod can handle easily. It will probably need a surface mesh for collision and graphical purposes though. As for the effect on it, there's alot of flexiblity given to materials and emmiter effects in unreal. Even limited use of render to texture is allowed.

personally i liked the look of the more flexible combat proportions/version of the original sketches. As for the pilot i dont think it matters too much but im not a huge animie fan

will she be naked? this is just a personal oppinion, but i find shamless sex appeal in games tacky, unless it's meant to be funny. i'm not saying that this is about sex apeal, it could have some deeper meaning than that.

also, can you post some wireframes.

In all honesty, personally I think the "sexy chick in mecha suit" thing is a lazy design option.

I prefered the guy with the wires.

There are more than enough people out there who use that ridiculous female stereo type as a crutch for bad design skills, don't join them. [:(]

Thanks for the great feedback, it's really easy to get side-tracked without it.

I've really been enjoying modelling some feminine curves for a change (after learning to use max by modelling muscular men[:p])... but I think the girly-girl has to go (sorry Kezza!, i love em too).

Having a girl pilot just skewes the idea too much towards fantasy/anime and kinda ruins the futuristic soldier type theme. And in the game, it could make the model too specific/unique, making every heavy seem like the same woman rather than many different soldiers. (plus, the textures could be changed alot easier for variety). So, im going to start again on the pilot, this time going for a more realistic generic soldier type.

---
Kezza, that's good to hear about the over-shield, so maybe if i modeled a transparent 'shielded area' around the front for collisions and effects? I'd like to make the most out of the capabilities of the engine, like in the programming sticky you mention having particle-emmiting bones for smoke etc? Do you know of any tutorials or guides outlining what's possible with the engine?
---
I agree with you MoonUnit about the original design, especially the legs. In the concept the legs kind of folded back a bit so they could 'spring' up with each step, ill try to rework that area on the model. I also had to scale-up the middle section of the mech so the human could fit in, (in the concept, the pilot looks kind of curshed or leaning over, something which i had trouble translating to 3d).
---
Deeper meaning Livewire?!!?? What could have a deeper meaning than shameless sex appeal! [:D] hehe. (she was going to wear a skin tight suit with straps to hold her in and an electronic pattern across the surface as in the initial sketch [seen on the legs]) But it's going to be a man now, so no id regression for me [B)]. Wireframes are below (although they're not very easy to read), the mech weighs in at 2212 tris, and the woman was up to 744(unoptimised), although i think I'm going to make the new pilot part of the same mesh as the torso section of the mech to possibly save on tris. Also, i think I'm going to keep the pilot pretty low poly so i can use the extra detail for the pistons and other widgets on the mech.
---
Malus; agreed, it is a bit lazy and unorignal, the woman is about to take a serious dose of male hormones to break free of that sexist stereotype (although i have to admit that i do occasionaly enjoy a few sexual stereotypes [:0])
---

Thanks again for all the feedback, it's really appreciated.

[img]http://users.tpg.com.au/edwarddv/wireframe1.jpg [/img]
[img]http://users.tpg.com.au/edwarddv/wireframe2.jpg [/img]

Hello y'all

I'm sorry about the lack of updates... I've just started working again (i was on a break before) and i just can't seem to find the time to finish this character. I will try though, seeing as we still have almost a month to finish it, but i can really only work on it on the weekends now (don't get home until 8pm :( ). I don't want to let this entry fall by the wayside like i did with my CGtalk challenge...

That's all, thanks for all your previous support.

-Ed

Ps: I've modelled in a bit more (hands, feet etc),but the pilot is still a woman, and if i want to finish it, i might just have leave her like that.

Good start Tojo, no concept to show though? First thing that stands out for me is the dudes neck, looks way too thick and I'd pull his throat back too. Interesting way that you've modelled him too, in segments like that, I imagine you'll weld him all together when you need to.

He's got a good solid weighty look to him, makes him look well planted to the ground. Can we get a front on pic of his face and maybe some wires? Looks like he has butt implants ;)

thaks for the comments Wizen i agree with you on the neck... although probably wont pull it back until i am sure on this guys size.. may make him even more stupidly bigger

he is all made from primitives.. hence the tight butt..

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/tojo/200553184711_004.jpg [/img]

ok.. the model is finished and has been unwrapped..
pretty happy so far..

got to get into the texture now

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/tojo/200562210058_019.jpg [/img]

Man, that looks great! Texturing it looks like it will be fun.

pop

Killer!!!
Love it Tojo, the propertions are nice and meaty!
Reminds me of the dude from RE4 (Krauser?)

bring on the TEXTURE!!
:)

lol youve made it look so effortless dude, well done. Allthough as an actual wearer of berets (i love hats :P ) is say bring the rim of the hat down a bit on his head, maybe it's just the angle but it looks like its barely sitting on there.

Hi Tojo, great model. The face reminded me of Malcom (from UT200X), especially with the beret. Sorry, had to say it. You might wanna even out the sizes of the different parts of the uv map. So they all get equal pixel space, and you wont get parts that look blurry against parts that look sharper when the texture is on the model.

Man that is a cool mesh. It looks like it has volume and weight.

thanks dudes..

i think you are right about the beret moonunit.. ill squash it down some.

animal - looks heaps like the guy outa unreal now that i have started my texture.... just nowhere as good

here is my big tuff hard ass character..

i have worked on him all weekend solid.. and i am a bit over it..

am happy with it.. although.. ran out of tweak time..

he weighs in at 3480 tris.. and i have used no photosourcing..

didnt have time to push him into ut4 .. probably will later on in the week if i can..

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/tojo/20057394222_flatren.jpg [/img]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/tojo/20057394257_texren.jpg [/img]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/tojo/20057394331_uvs.jpg [/img]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/tojo/20057394636_01.jpg [/img]

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/tojo/200574192927_money2.jpg [/img]

Good job it looks sick Tojo, came together good :)

Paul
www.farmergnome.com

truly awesome man, love the whole bulky feel about it and that beret came off tops. i gotta ask though, whats with the section around his mouth that makes it look like it came from a seperate uv map? theres a drastic change in tone and such

great work tojo, a nice model brought out by some brilliant textures. the glow on the face is particularly impressive. all round its a very refined model. good luck

cheers moony..

i am not sure what you are talking about..

i imagine it is his facial hair? ?? are you talking about his stubble? ??

he has a 5 o'clock shadow from kicking ass all day..

cant be a hardass without the shadow!

Well done, you're challenger #17!

below the left and right corners of his mouth theres small circular like patches of skin which arent in the same tone as the areas around them.

yes.. they are the bald patches of the beard... and i have done them in a slightly illustrative way..

that is why they may seem out of place..but it was intentional.. i always strive for a round about 85% realism..

they perhaps could have been blurred in a bit more.. but that is kinda just my style..

i actually really rushed the texture.. especially the face.. it was something that i was meant to polish a little more before submission..

heh i wouldnt worry, the textures actually pretty solid its just that bit that confused me. the face especially is tops otherwise (that glow!)

Wow, awesome textures man, definitely one of favourite entries in the comp.

cheers dude... i kinda needed another day to bring the best out of the textures.. but am happy all the same

before the competition started i had planned on modeling a fantasy hero.. big sword and all... so i might use this guys base model to start on that ..

not a big fan of sci-fi so it was good to do this challenge..

awesome concept and a very good explanation, i particularly like the armour, its got a very nice look and flow to it. i'm certainly looking forward to the model, it should be great. i dont know whether you have thought about this ( u probably have), but make sure you plan out the shoulder armour properly for animation. i also tend to make bulky armour for my models and its a good to think about it beforehand. good luck

I love the kitten logo :)

Hi all, thanks for the compliments :)

Conundrum- Hopefully the armor will deform properly, i believe (fingerscrossed) i have enough geometry for a appropriate deformation. ive made mistakes with over ambitious armor before :(

Thanks Kezza, im gunna put some more graphic images in the textures, a spin on WW2 nose art on planes.

Attached is an updated screen of the 3d model. Im trying to design the armor to form a shield when the character is in a firing position. I have modelled this figure very quickly (4-6 hours,how time flies) placing armor over the top of the initial figure to get a rough idea of how it proportions etc.. The proportions of the thigh, width of the hands etc, are a little off, and the character has no hair at the moment, (also the 2 sides of the face arent joined.) Anyways, any comments/crits most welcome.

To the left of the image is a rifle, its design incorporates itself into the armor, in particular the shoulder guard, (it bracers against it.) To the righ of the image is a hooded poncho for stealthy business.

[URL=http://www.imageshack.us][IMG]http://img134.echo.cx/img134/9277/sniper2…]

Ill post up some better wires soon. :)

hey guys, heres some updated renders...havent had much time to work on it, but here we go..

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/popawheelie/2005533132_sniper-re…"]sniper-renderfront.jpg[/url]
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[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/popawheelie/20055331436_sniper-r…"]sniper-renderback.jpg[/url]
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[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/popawheelie/2005533158_sniper-re…"]sniper-renderface.jpg[/url]
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On the side, covering the ear, is a gadget for communication, enhanced hearing and is so technologically advanced that it has less poly's than an ear.[:)]

Still got a bit to go,I'm close to the poly count,(3400) but once i got all the detail in, i'll distribute some poly's to give some better difinition to things like the shoes and other bits :)

theres also a cloak/hooded thingy that sits around here shoulders..dont think its in the shot.. :/

It looks good, but it looks like it has more than 3400 tris. Are u working in editable poly or mesh?

Nice model, I like what you?ve done with this. [:)]

Though, if you want constructive comments and crits, you really should show the model with a wire. Without the wire it?s hard to judge the poly flow, but it does look like your basing the count in quads and not tris - though it could just be the lighting.

Ohhh, maybe im making a huge mistake, the brief says 3500 polygons, but then its has in brackets tri's....hmmm
... Im gunna have to clear that one up quick..

Lechy-Im using editible poly. I find it easier than a mesh, more options..

Palantir- I'll post up some wires.. :)

Popawheelie: I hope this clears it up.

"A polygon is a closed geometric figure that consists of points (vertices)which are connected by straight line segments (sides or edges).

Generally the terminology is as follows, a triangle (tri) is a 3 sided polygon, a quad is a four sided polygon and an Ngon is a polygon of 5 or more sides.

For clarity when someone say 1000 "polygons" in the context of games, you can be pretty sure they mean 3 sided polygons as its the smallest unit of polygonal measurement, this information is used in conjunction with many other factors, textures size, vertex count, stripping etc to help judge the meshes overall memory cost. "

No offence to you btw but it scares the hell out of me that so many people don't even understand this yet want to work in CG industries.

Is it just me or are your renders really blurry? It's coming along well, keeping to the concept design , but yeah, would be good to get some wires and some better renders up, will be easier to assess.

editible poly rocks.... that is how i model as well... just give yourself a bit of space and dont go too overboard on the topography and you should have no problems culling it back...

your model looks awsome!

it has a great silouette and relatively even poly distribution.. shouldnt be hard to get a good tri mesh out of it at the end..

and just to state the obvious... tris can be treated like an end product thing.. as long as you are aware that the mesh is meant to endup in tris... the modeling process doesnt need to suffer for it... quads are a great way to model for both game and cg..

quad modeling from my experience can give you a more congruent topography and can tri-strip better in the long run...sometimes (correct me if i am wrong cos im learning as well) better to have a 10% higher poly count and something which tri-strips 30% better than the other way around..

keep up the good work...

Malus said:
quote:
No offence to you btw but it scares the hell out of me that so many people don't even understand this yet want to work in CG industries.

I know what you mean; it?s such a fundamental thing yet many people miss it. I spent a year studying game development with my Diploma, and through the many character creation classes we had (modelling classes/tutes), they didn?t once teach us about polygons. I only learnt about tris and 5-sided polys from this site.

I spent all that money to learn how to make games, and they didn?t teach us basic optimisation principles. Now that?s scary!

Malus-My mistake, Im working on 4 projects at the moment, all of which are around 3000-3500 polys, 3 of them are in quads or normal polys, (A polygon in which all the angles are equal and all of the sides are equal. ) One of which is in tri's, this one..

Wizenedoldman-true they do look a little blurry, i cropped em in PS, and then used bicubic smoother which would have done it,

Tojo- Yeah, im a bit fan of edible poly, i used to work with mesh a bit, and found it to be limited in tools.

I think ill just start agian with the model, It'll be easier(for me) to start agian than to strip a hell of alot of polys. Guess i just wasted 6 hours. This model is over, ill whip up a new one soon.

quote:3 of them are in quads or normal polys, (A polygon in which all the angles are equal and all of the sides are equal.)

Quads are normal polys? Never heard that terminology before.

As for the definition, a quad is a polygon with 4 sides, they don't need to be equal, infact you'd be wasting polygons just trying to keep everything equal.
I don't know how you could ever efficiently model something with all the edges and angles being equal.

Doh,i meant regular polys,not normal. :/ Its a mathematically term for the shape, basically its a 4 sided poly (quad), A polygon is basically defined as a closed plane figure bounded by straight sides. Anywho, u know that. its all much of a muchness, I messed up. I've modeled up another.

Heres a wire from the new model, its a rough start, the proportions look a bit squat in the jpg, its just under 2 hours work.(the helmet looks a bit well..not right

Hes the same light class solier, i'll make him look more agily as the model progresses. I got to head off to work.. :(

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/popawheelie/200553224451_newone…"]newone.jpg[/url]
130.99 KBts

quote:Originally posted by Wizenedoldman

Is it just me or are your renders really blurry?

I had that problem about a year ago and couldn't figure out why all my renders came out blurry on my PC at school. It turned out to be the smoothing option in the 'JPEG Image Control' dialog. (Appears in 3DS Max when you save a render as a jpeg). I have it set to 0 by default now. Just thought I'd mention that in case anyone didn't know. [;)]

ok, gotta get crackin on this! been so busy with other projects.

After much contemplation on the topic of space marines...I think a space marine character really needs a ride, hell, everyone need a ride..Space marines, and i'm being quite general here, are the evolution of the Knight. I see the future battlefield of space marines to be a rough terrian, where a trusty steed, or wheeled vehicles can't cope. Inspired by nature ( and early ciivilisations), space marine engineers have look at nature to conquer the landscape and the battlefield.

Covert trooper, agile stalker
[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/popawheelie/20056710144_rider_ti…"]rider_tiger_low.jpg[/url]
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I designed a Heavy mount(sorta cute lookin', i need to put on its angry eyes)

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/popawheelie/20056710232_rhino_lo…"]rhino_low.jpg[/url]
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Im gunna stick to my previous class and go covert..

Update REAL soon!

OK, Currently around 3100 tris, gunna cut in some more to take some nasty edges off. Its all unwrapped, started texturing (adding in some tone, just finalising the texture look. AT the moment, i'm thinkin' the metal work on the tiger will be inspired by WW2 planes and 1950-60's american cars. So basically riveted metal panels with some stylish trim. (No chrome thou, being covert and all) Although, i was thinkin of having some glowing bits behind the leg joints, so u can see the glow from behind but not from the front. The look of the rider will be a mixture of the tiger's metal panels and materials/plastics. Gunna add some decals to the tiger aswell, for giggles.

Crit/comments most welcome.

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/popawheelie/200567104230_TR_pers…"]TR_persp.jpg[/url]
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I'll post an update soon as i start finalising some textures.

hey poppy!!! it looks OKAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY :P

Darkangel :P

WHAAAT?... :))))

I see u like the dave chappelle show too :)

nice, allmost a starwarsy (im thinking of all the various weird animals they rode like tuan tuans? man i wouldnt have a clue how to spell that).

Great idea, should be fun to animate.

Very cool, looking forward to seeing it textured!

Thanks guys,
Ill send thru a mid textured piccy soon :)

Hey guys, started texturing, wacked a rough coat on the head of the tiger. Quite fun to texture this model, im used to working with 256x256.

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/popawheelie/2005613134758_tex_st…"]tex_start.jpg[/url]
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pop

looking good wheelie popa!

That looks pretty cool. I was wondering how you give it that reflective metal texture because that?s the look I?m going for and I don?t know how I?m going to do it?

Goodgod- The reflections are just photoshop tricks, real easy to do.

Firstly- U MUST have a wacom, from there in Phopshop, you lay down colour and then burn and dodge the edges. I paint from estimating where the light source is coming from. Also, u can try overlaying or multiply layers to get nice effects.
I usually work with minimal colour and then overlay a texture to give it some zing.(the above attachment hasnt been thru this.)

I'll update in the next day or so. Nearly done...............sorta

Oh, i forgot to add for reflections and shiny business, i use the smudge tool, with a textured brush, actually most painting i do is with a textured brush. Alot of ppl dont like the smudge tool, i love it. I used to do alot of chalk/pastel/oil painting when i was studing visual arts, so im kinda used to it. It can get muddy looking so i tend to retouch with the paint brush for a sharper image.

pop

Thanks for that. That sounds like a good technique. I think I'll try it. I don?t really know what you mean when you say texture brush though.

Sorry, should have been clearer, by textured brush i meant,a non uniformed brush, eg. splatter of dots. It makes it look less handbuilt, and more realistic. Kinda hard to describe, give it a shot.

pop

Alright, here's a question for you then since this whole game engine thing is something I'm clueless on. I'm having some trouble with the glowy bits in my design. Ordinarilly I'd just ignore that but from what I've read they have to be there as a way to tell the teams apart. So then I got to thinking about smoke.

Would it be possible to have part of a model, say the eye sockets, emit coloured or glowy smoke? I'm thinking that may be one way to solve my problem without covering the figure in little lights.

I'm working redesigning the head at the moment so hopefully I'll have some drawings for you to get an idea of what I mean.

apparently you can attach particles to certai bones, or sounds to certain keyframes, and other suhc things. so i dont see how what you want could be a problem. better confirm that with a coder first though cos i donjt know how to do it, butr it cant be too hard.

It's very easy to attach emitters (which cover most effects) to extra bones on a mesh. If the effect uses or has to be oriented to face a certain way (such as wall hit effects) then the bone must orient itself in that direction.

This can probably be rigged up even just using property settings in unrealEd, though i'm not sure if 100% of effect types are visible in the editor views.

you can also have "emmisive" materials and submaterials that are applied at full brigtness regardless of lighting. This effect is present on the walls of many levels (such as phobos2, where a texpanner and alpha mask are used to make a glow that runs up the cracks in the walls every second or so)

Can I use Skin to rig a model, or does it have to be Physique?

I don't know much about that area. You'll have to read up the ActorX plugin documentation to find out what's allowed.
Here's a tutorial on how to use ActorX in 3dsmax: http://udn.epicgames.com/Two/ActorXMaxTutorial

It appears that you're able to use either.

either should be fine as far as i know. i've only used physique, and that's what the UT characters use, but i'm pretty sure skinf works too.

also, i have a skin-physique converting script if anyone wants it:

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/LiveWire/200543054625_phy2skin.t…"]phy2skin.txt[/url]
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works in both max 6 and 7 (and is quite reliable too!). rename the .txt file to .dlu after you download it

.dlu?
that's no script! it's a full blown plugin!

whatever, you put in in max and it all does the same stuff :)

You mention emitting light trails from glowy bits, I'd love to know some more about that.

Light trails can be managed using either a billboard or trail particle emitter that is attached to a bone.
For example the speed combo effect causes the player's feet to emit a bright yellow trail effect in this way.

looks really cool, actually reminds me of some of the models form the warhammer40k spin off game inquisitor

really nice concept, i like the suit, especially the waist region and the shoulder armour. i'm looking forward to seeing it in 3d

Step one in my endless noodling of a design, just a quick sketch I've done in the last hour. Right now the chest and upper arms are bugging me. I'm thinking the chest may need more detail and the arms need to just look cooler while remaining funtional. The cut lines in the thighs will probably get some work too. Once that's all done it'll be time to noodle out all the details no one will ever see. Basically I'm trying to do the thing that usually kills me on these things: making something that looks cool and functional. I think if I just concentrated on cool for 80% of the time I might be better off.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/Azazel/scan_03.jpg[/IMG]

Great concepts!

I like the ninja concept. pretty cool.

You?ve got some really great concepts going here. I was going to say that the ninja is my favourite, but that heavy concept (concept number 1) is really good too.
So far I think the ninja would probably make the most original in-game model.

I'm glad some of you guys seem to be digging the ninjas as well since that's pretty much the one I'm going with at this point. I like the big hulking one as well but the big armoured guy seems to a popular topic so I thought it'd be a bit more challenging to do something a little different. Regardless of what happens I'd still like to have a go, at a later date, with making a heavy armour guy based off samurai armour and the sniper/medic (if I'm remember the brief right...I'm tired).

So anyway, here's the final drawing of the day. I'll probably have a go a colouring it later, I'm not sure if I'll try and design the back first (I'm going to see if I can try and apply the automotive design rule: "It should look different going than it did coming"). I've still got to go back and see exactly what this character class was meant to do, engineer/demolitions type of thing if I remember right. That means bags and pouches and the like for tools and stuff.

The swords are most likely a temp thing for my own kicks, they'll wind up being replaced by some sort of bull-pup rifle, might keep 'em though. Reminds me, I should really give him some sort of neat looking side arm for completeness sake.

God, I'm doing that rambling thing again.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/Azazel/scan_04.jpg[/IMG]

Back to work today so I can't give as big an update. Doesn't help that I spent more time on this one than I meant to.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/Azazel/paint_02.jpg[/IMG]

Done in Painter 8, maybe two hourse, possibley longer. I wasn't really paying attention to the time. I actually did the opposite here of what I meant to. I'll switch to greyscale to be sure later but originally I meant to make the banded metal pieces the darkest bits and the solid bits of armour the lightest, it looks like I've done the opposite here. I'll have a go at my original attempt in Photoshop, just to switch things up a bit.

I'm still not too sure on what final colour I'm going to go for, either a deep red or a very dark blue. I'm also going to add some sort of symbol to the left side of the chest and possibley the shoulder pads, most likely some sort of kamon.

What's left now is the back design and the gear which I hope to have all finished by the end of the weekend.

i like the top right one's armor, but the way u've gone is cool definetly the best concept so far and most original

Awesome! Can't wait for the model.

I love ninjas. I love robots. I REALLY love NINJA ROBOTS.

super sweet.

hear! hear!

The head's been bugging me over the weekend so I've had a go at redesiging it. Originally I was trying to simulate the look of the hood and mouth scarf you'd normally see in ninja attire but I had a go with doing it without the hood and I'm not minding the look.

This has sort of helped solve the lack of glowing things problem as now the exposed side of the cranium is leaving itself open to glowy, wirey madness of some description.

Aside from these four I did one with the mouth expose which would have been the main glowing area. I'm still not too sure about since it just look more evil and demonic which I'm not exactly sure is the look I'm going for here. I might go back to it later, howere.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/Azazel/scan_05.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/Azazel/paint_03.jpg[/IMG]

I like all the new heads that you've done. Personally I like your original the most though - probably because its the most ninjaesque (yay! I made a new word!) of them all.

They are still all very cool though.

c.

the new head look's pretty good but i don't like the big green bit because he would wanna go stelth and that would just give him away in the dark, plus it looks a bit like a mortal kombat characters head, but other than that its still sweet.

Finally - I've stumbled upon your thread! Robo-ninja is progressing very nicely - surely it would work best at a sniper/assasin class. I was really expecting to see light armour and dark metal banding as I scrolled down, and think it might look cooler than the reversed tonal combination.

I also noted that the design is progressing toward more traditional ninja looking details rather than a tech-future look. I really liked the 20/04, 16:51 post where the ninja reference is almost just the outline and the details are smooth, uncluttered curving forms.

Hi Azazel, i am really liking ur concepts, and to me if the model look a little futuristic Mortal Kombat-like, its not a big deal, it probably appeals to me even more, and I would like to play as that character! but thats just me! Hows the modelling going?

I assume your going for the heavy then? Concept looks good; my only crit is that with all that heavy armour, it does look a little weird having the head so exposed. Maybe turn that mouthpiece into a helmet? You could still leave the eyes open, I just think it?s a bit odd giving a soldier all that armour but not covering his melon.
Just a suggestion, anyway. Nice concept, and good luck with the challenge. [:)]

but it dosn't matter because it happens alot, like alot of the soilders in warhammer 40000.
but i do think it looks to generic.

i have decided to can the heavy trooper concept, and finalised on a robot entry (did this a while ago just didn't update), this render is a bit old as i have done some more work on him and started to texture but it shows the basic model. any crits/comments are welcome. currently at 3334 tris [img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/bluexcess/200562611281_robot.jpg…]

well... the texture is coming along, a bit hard when you've never used photoshop before apart from a bit of photo resizing, anyways here is my current state of progress. please crit/comment

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/bluexcess/20057185613_perspectiv…]
[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/bluexcess/20057185531_front.jpg[…]

interesting, colour variation is good and i can see your keeping consistent with browns and greens but id suggest watching how many different tones you do put in. it does make it look a little confusing when theres quite a lot of colours present

finished... sigh... as a first model it took a bit longer than i expected, had to do a few very late nights but got it done in the end, so here it is.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/bluexcess/20057375920_models_wir…]
[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/bluexcess/2005738130_textured_mo…]
[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/bluexcess/200573824_wire.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/bluexcess/200573847_texture.jpg[…]
[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/bluexcess/200573144151_money_sho…]

nice entry, the pistons coming out of the back a a really good design choice. the model is very good but some of the texturing can be quite confusing at times. great work though and good luck

Can you post your money shot please? Thanks. You're challenger #12.

yes, i also agree about the texture work, the main reason i didn't change it was that this is the first time i have used photoshop and I didn't have the time to go back through and change things. I also had my computer (a laptop) crashing at regular intervals from overloading with both photoshop and 3dsmax running, i think it crashed about 5 times in 30 mins at one stage, factor in re-boot time and there you have it.

(Thats why the money shot was late Souri, sorry)