Work in progress

Looking good so far, let's hope the texture will turn out just as good

Looks nice, keep it up, can't wait till I see the Texture.

was hoping you where a 'gold digger' comic fan.... (some rather amusing characters in that series where wererats)

looks cool, though from this angle it looks like his lower legs are paralell with the ground (allmost) :S

Forgot to add, you'll need DivX and the models aren't mine.

Hey, I'm an amateur/student animator, I don't see much animation on here so I thought I'd have a look. They all looked quite good to my eye, but the wrists seemed a bit stiff to me, could loosen them up a bit more. I would expect the recoil of the handgun fire to make your wrist rotate back as well as how you've made it push back the arm. The hands attack was much looser, and i liked the tension making the hands vibrate. It actually reminded me of dragon ball z for some reason, like he's doing a ka-ma-ha-maha. But the motion was much looser and more natural on this animation, which i liked.

the hand attack was really good, not sure whats supposed to be happening to his apponent but animation wise it was good, the reload looked a bit odd though, like he was just bashing the gun. Was there even a clip modelled?

They dont look to bad, but none of them really have any secondary motion, it makes them look really stiff

For example, in your gun attack the only thing really happening is the gun raising then lowering. You must be able to rig it up to have finger and slide control so you can get the slide kicking back, and the fingers gripping when the gun kicks and his index finger pulling the trigger. Also the kickback needs a little more snap to it right at the beginning so that it appears that he uses his arm to decellerate the kick of the gun and bring it back down.

The reload also really needs some secondary motion, or acctually its probably more primary motion since we all associate the slide locking back after a clip has been expended. The clip needs to be modelled and dropped out from the bottom of the gun as he brings it up, but before that a little flick of the thumb to release the clip, aswell as a little lossening on his fingers. And dont forget depending on the if the slide is back or not to either flick the thumb to click the slide back down, or pull it back to load the first bullet.

The hand attack looks alot nicer, but whats going on at the end?

Hmm acctually now that i mention the hand attack you must already have the hands rigged to do that, so adding the extra motion should be easy. Basically its not really your primary motion that makes an animation look good and life like, its everything else you do that nobody really looks at. Like for characters little twitches, breathing, swaying... or more so little imperfections. Keep working at it, its sort off a bit of trial and error and stuff, if you get stuck somewhere try acting it out yourself. Sure depedning on what your doing you could look like a complete tool, but whos going to see you :) and it really helps, just make sure you pay attention to your every move while your doing it. And in general try to watch other people and things in everyday life and all the motions that you never acctually notice until you paying enough attention, youll be amazed how much people and things move when you think that there doing little to nothing at all.

Hope that helps

Cool, thanks for the feedback guys, guess I should explain a few more things.

Hand animation- the brief was to create a 'mana drain' attack where basically the character sucks the lifeforce out of his opponent, leaving them unconscious, so the snap away at the end would be when all of the opponents energy is drained.

Gun- I would have loved to put in an animated clip and slide on the glock but the lead artist told me not to do it at the time cause he wasn't sure how the engine handled moving parts on weapons. Bit of a bummer. Guess I could go back now and do it anyway but I've moved on to other things.

Avalanchex- thanks for the tips on the gun firing such as tensing up his fingers when he shoots, I'll keep that in mind if there's a next time.

But for now I guess you need to imagine the clip falling out :(

could always animate the hands pulling the slide back anyway? would still add alot to the animation

Looks goood. When I saw this I thought of the Sims for some reason.
I think you could be more subtle with your colour work, for example there are some pretty strong patches of blue (particulary in the faces) that are standing out.

Very cool sketches. Were you doing this with anyone else at the time?

this is some of your coolest stuff alti. I love the colors.

we were in an Open canvas session so there were up to 4 people on the one huge canvas- however all that is shown was my section of the canvas- so all this stuff is mine-

you can see on the screenshot with the finished rider thing and tall the sketches areound it- there is a little preview window where you can see the other dudes sketch being done way to the right of mine-

wow that sounds like fun!
great looking pieces here :)

The fur looks really nice. It is hard to really tell though as it is so dark :)

That is looking sweet. Love the leg muscles.

looks great, if i remember correctly i think ive seen beserk, all though all i remember was really funny outakes on the DVD :P

Looking cool, abit hard to see as its very dark.

thats what i tell him he just say my moniter is to dark if u brighten up the pic a bit u can see shit

so its not just me smo.... i have a folloing or dark moniter ppl

./me kicks rastus

shush :(

[img]http://dynamic5.gamespy.com/~ef/zodd.jpg[/img]

almost done!

Those images are very dark.

From what i can see the texture looks pretty good. How bout some specs ?

Id be interested to see that things skull as the horns seem to be growing at a very strange angle - compard to a bull, cow or even goat.

ja the anime/mange gives him homax horns ;/

heres a lighter view and a more complete version cos i forgot he had wings lol

[img]http://dynamic5.gamespy.com/~ef/final2.jpg[/img]

huge image srry

Heaps easier to see :)

The texture rocks. I really love the leather look on his wings.

great work all round :)

yaaay o/ thanks!
I'm rigging him atm :D

I like it [:)]

Nice palette range, but I'd like to see you try higher saturation in your darker areas, especially your warm shadows

Hey!! I know her!! [:P]

Arrow is on the wrong side of the bow. [:)]

I don't think it is.

Um, it is on the wrong side. [:)]
Google is your friend.

r u sure about that Malus?

im convinced it is on the right side...if it was on the other side it would shoot off sideways...

Thanks for the comments guys, will hopefully post a bit more stuff here in the next few days (Im on holidays wheeee)
As for the arrow thing, it is on the wrong side in my picture, I had a look at the reference and it was on the other side (just hard to see due to bad compression on the ref pic)That being said its also my fault, I have shot a bow on more then a few occasions myself and I should have realized I put the arrow on the wrong side.
For those who don?t know in the western European style of archery, the arrow sits on the opposite side of the bow from your thumb (silly me :0 ).

Pantmonger

good job on the painting [:D] I've always liked that pose.

Cool speed paint! If it's daily, do u have anymore? I need to get motivated to do something daily too.

Sometimes I do them daily, when I?m not being slack, or a little down on my work (as I am at the moment). Trying to get back into it at the moment. If you want to do some speed painting and we can get some additional interest happening, we might be able to get a speed paint sticky started here.
Anyway, feeling a little de-motivated and feeling the need to get back to basics so here is a couple of shadow studies.

[img]http://www.pantmonger.com/speed/ink_cam.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.pantmonger.com/speed/ink_girl.jpg[/img]

Pantmonger

[img]http://www.pantmonger.com/speed/speed_spitfire.jpg[/img]

Spitfire.
45min, Photo referenced, Photoshop CS.

Pantmonger

[img]http://www.pantmonger.com/speed/speed_spitfire2.jpg[/img]

Spitfire the Second
50min, Photo referenced, Photoshop CS.

Pantmonger

lookin good pants :)

[img]http://www.pantmonger.com/speed/speed_me.jpg[/img]

Thanks MoonUnit

Todays speedpaint... its me :)

1 hour 15 min, Photo referenced, Photoshop CS.
Pantmonger

Wow the guy in that paint is Hot :)

[img]http://www.pantmonger.com/speed/speed_nude02.jpg[/img]

1 hour, Photo referenced, Photoshop CS

bullet21: Thanks :P

Pantmonger

[img]http://www.pantmonger.com/speed/speed_dalek.jpg[/img]

1 hour, Photoshop CS, Photo referenced.

I am one with my inner nerd.

Pantmonger

Exterminate!! Exterminate!! [:P]
looking pretty cool man.

Great paint job! You've got some cool stuff :)

ha ha great work pants

Man, you are becoming the king of speed paints around here [:)].. Great work!

I'm hoping to get the Sumea PaintChat thing happening later this week, and it'll definately be fantastic to see how you work in there!

[img]http://www.pantmonger.com/speed/speed_cyberman.jpg[/img]

Cyberman
1hour 30 min Photo reference, Photoshop CS

Thanks for the complements guys, glad to know some people are dropping into this little speed thread ?o? mine now and then.
Souri: Looking forward to it, with the usual free time pending.

Pantmonger

[img]http://www.pantmonger.com/speed/speed_ace.jpg[/img]

Continuing the Dr Who theme
Sophie Aldred ?Ace? from Survival
1hour 10 min, Photo Referenced, Photoshop CS.

Pantmonger

[img]http://www.pantmonger.com/speed/speed_ship_underwater.jpg[/img]

Pirates of the Caribbean
45min, Photo referenced, Photoshop CS

Pantmonger

caribbean one is pretty cool, thats a damn fine underwater effect for a speed paint.

[img]http://www.pantmonger.com/speed/speed_that_yellow_bastard.jpg[/img]

That Yellow Bastard
Photo Referenced, Photoshop CS, 1hour.

Sin City is coming and Im more then a little excited.

Pantmonger

[img]http://www.pantmonger.com/speed/speed_sincity_bruce.jpg[/img]

Photoshop CS, Photo referenced, 1 hour.

Continuing the Sin City Theme, I want that movie now.
Got together with a few friends on line and decided to try and do a speed paint a day till Christmas in the hope of self improvement.
If you want to join in, feel free to post in this thread.

Pantmonger

sick dude sick.. I always love the quick work... nice and full of raw power!

[img]http://www.pantmonger.com/speed/temp_tori.jpg[/img]
Photoshop CS, Photo Ref, 1h 15min

[img]http://www.pantmonger.com/speed/temp_riddick.jpg[/img]
Photoshop CS, Ref, 45min.

Not particularly happy with either of these two, I lost a bit of the swing of things here, oh well posted for the sake of completeness and hopefully I can get back into the flow of things on tonights.

Pantmonger

I wish my work that I?m unhappy with looked like that![:P]
They are still pretty good for speed paints.

heh, a speedpaint everyday till Christmas?!?! wow, my hat is off to you if you can pull it off.
I would like to join but I barely even do one a month [}:)] Though would sketchbook stuff count?
Anyway, some good work here, really like the underwater Pirates one :)

updated :D im having fun with the details :D hehe

about 7k polys as ive done some optimising :)
tested it ingame yesterday looks rather nice

[img]http://mathewstwins.customer.netspace.net.au/wip/fighter2.jpg[/img]

I love the canopy. It looks like it could be part of a real air vehicle. I reckon the wings need some more detail. Perhaps showing some assembly lines or depressed areas on the surface, although you're probably going to show that through textures. I think the model is a bit too front heavy, it needs some sort of counterbalance at the back. Maybe make those tail fins larger or something. Anyway, it's progressing very nice!

looking nice, like souri said a bit front heavy, perhaps create a larger engine housing compartment that fits with the helicopter style cockpit.

Looks good, but could you post a wireframe of the model ? I just cant figure out where 7000 poly's / ~14k tri's are.

if i remember right, finall poly count was about 8.7k

older wireframe
[img]http://mathewstwins.customer.netspace.net.au/wip/fighter2_wire.jpg[/img]

and a new render of the model
[img]http://mathewstwins.customer.netspace.net.au/wip/fighter3_underside.jpg…]

[img]http://mathewstwins.customer.netspace.net.au/wip/fighter4.jpg[/img]

and started texturing a bit....
[img]http://mathewstwins.customer.netspace.net.au/wip/texture1.jpg[/img]

damn cant find the edit button
but er i count polys as triangles so

8.7k of triangles is actually correct :) polys is easier to say [:o)]

I really like it. I don?t think it?s front heavy at all. Firstly, it?s a spacecraft (right?), not an aircraft, so it operates in zero gravity and it?s shape has no affect on flight performance. But also, looking underneath the whole model looks more balanced. I get the impression that the tail is just a stabilizer, where the bulk of the crafts weight is where the engine starts ? about dead centre.

Though I do think the poly count is a touch high for the amount of detail. It kind of looks like you could cut down the poly?s without much loss of detail in the rocket launcher things, and the engine intake? But then, it depends on if you need it to perform in real time or not.

Looking good, anyway. [:)]

yeah its a space craft :)

its supposed to stress test the engine also. currently we have 20 of them flying around(ai)

so them and the scene makes 310,000 polys all up rendering at 60fps(1280x1024 resolution with v-sync on)makes 18.6million triangles per second through the engine on a radeon 9600XT.

Still engine needs optimiations but of course there wont be that many on the screen at once, well not likely!

LOL, that's great, I can just see mr nig bad wolf packing himself. This guy wants blood for all the torment that has been caused. Nice work mate.

hahaha thats great. good work :)

good stuff, nice touch putting the graves in the bg

i like it because it has a history that we all know and a future that we can all predict! :P
I always like images that tell stories somewhat.
the title... the door plaque... gw! :)

Neat pic, Mr Teddy has a small head tho :P but the girl looks great

Lol :) I like it. Your always welcome to blame good ideas on me!

[IMG]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti3/daily/lowom.jpg[/IMG]

Love the top one, abstract to the max, makes me work at figuring out what it might be.

Love your style, you gonna enter the comp?

Trippy, but in a good way, keep it up.

more of what i had in mind-

[IMG]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti3/daily/sketchcull02.jpg[/IMG]

thanks for commenting so far-

here are a few more - abit weird but meh- i'm a weirdo

[IMG]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti3/daily/loklaaad.jpg[/IMG]

Weird = Stylish :D

They look cool. The robot looks heaps cooler since you added in more detail :)

yeah i gotta admit the robot is looking really nice now

I dont know much about normal mapping, or if turning edges is important for it, but in the low res one without normal Mapping, i can see heaps of edges that could be turned to tidy it up. The fingers also look too uniform, you should tweak in a few knuckles or what have you same with the top of the hand.

Other that that it looks good. Great effort.

EDIT: Just noticed something else, those bumps on the torso are Ribs i pressume, i think they are to big and should be moved up a little as well.

These are just guidelines and are in no way absolute.
http://www.fineart.sk/photos/loomis_heads/017.JPG
http://www.fineart.sk/photos/loomis_heads/022.JPG
http://www.fineart.sk/photos/loomis_heads/039.JPG
http://www.fineart.sk/photos/loomis_heads/040.JPG
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14119

I think you need to establish some proportions. At first you should just get the general shape right...like the placement of features and then add the details of those features. It is a waste of time to decorate something that is the wrong place.

Its good to just draw lots of heads, don't bother erasing because its good to see how and why you've improved.

thanks for the links :)

You can draw a lot better than i can, i'll give you that, but nice to see you are really practising, i personally am to lazy. My favourite one is the one in the lower right. He has got such a dont hurt me im just a puppy look on his face.

I agree with Leviron, good to draw lots of heads. concertrate on the basics - getting the proportions and angles right. once they are in place the rest will be much easier.

edit: I'll make some proper constructive crit on the weekend... or at least I will if I remember too... send me an email if I forget :)

any comments on the existing ones john? and bullet: yeah hes my fave too, cause hes the most photo-realistic

also if anyones got any tips for drawing lips theyd be much appreciated, any time i put detail on lips or even an outline i get that cartoon women look.

just a tip for u never draw from a pic.if u have,nt got anyone to draw get a mirror and draw yourself .. or get some mirror sunnys nad go get a coffie and draw the people around u this way they carnt see that u are looking at them .. [:D] this may sound stupid but it works

i like the sunnys idea :P but why do you say dont draw from a pic?

First off. Nice pics. Unfortunately all of them do look like slightly different people :)

A lot of people don't like drawing from photos, as there can be some lens distortion. Drawing from a mirror wont have that.

One thing we had to do in Life Drawing class helped a lot.
1. Get a mirror.
2. Look at it straight on and have a ruler ready.
3. Make sure you hold the ruler out at the same distance from your face all the time. Nose distance is best.
4. Look at the ruler and take the measurements in between all your facial features.
5. Place the ruler on your page and place the measurements down.
6. Draw in the details to fit.

The trick is making sure you have a big enough sketch pad, and trying not to look too serious through it :)

...or don't use the sunnies and watch the tables around yours empty out (yes, I talk from experience).

Drawing from life is quite a different mental process than drawing from a 2D reference. Generally you will get a better understanding of the subject if you study it in life(3d) rather than a 2d image. This has to do with understanding the 'hows & whys' of representing 3d objects in 2d space...and they are the skills that will make you a better draftsman :)

That said I do see merit from drawing from photo reference and even from other artist work. Doing this releases you from the duties of the draftsman (ie the 2d interpretation is already there) and allows you to concerntrate on other aspects of the illustration process - techniques, style, media, colour etc.
**BUT to be a good artist/illustrator, draftsmanship is the key (in my opinion) and drawing from life is a very good way to improve these skills.

--comments on the portraits: I think they are a good start. the general proportions aren't wayout, features more or less line up, the mouths and eyes make parallelish lines, all good things for a beginner. You could work on refining these features, as they have all be described quite briefly. Spend and hour per eye and really closely observe your model/reference. The other approach I think you could take is to practice the basic forms of the head. The above samples don't suggest that you have a firm grasp of how the face and features curve. Leviron's links have some expamles of how you could go about this, many books on the topic too. You could also benefit from some excersises on light/shadow. Rather than using line to depict your model use tone. Get a blunt stick of charcoal (can't do fine detail with it), strongly light you subject and just block in the shadow areas. This will help with understanding forms.

Everything that I have mentioned is in many books, so library time for you if you want more details.
We expect 20 'basic construction' heads, 3 eye,nose and mouth studies and 2 shadow studies (one must be lit from below to make your model look like a zombie) by next week [;)]

i do take life drawing classes, these were just done one weekend when i was bored :P
Aven: yeah i know that technique, i use that and similar sometimes at classes
JohnN: thanks for all the critique :) yeah all of the features on my characters are more or less simple. Im sorta slowly working on putting the real life detail into them (i didnt use to draw pupils of any sort in eyes). On the shadow thing, i used to have a paper stump but i think ive lost it :( I find if i use things like charcoal i get results like the one on the bottom right, the shadows look dirty and blocky, but i could work on it.. :D
oh and forget about that deadline, school starts tomorrow and ill be stuffed for a while :P

screw school just draw in every class. thats what i use to doo .. um hang on I'v got a crap job now but boy can i draw good .. so dont do that

too late, i allready do ;)

oh i got another tip for u .. thanks to john for explaining my last one for me.. the secret of the human form is in the ear .. the ear contains all the shapes of the human body so masery the ear and master thae body ... if u dont beleve me take a look at nay old masters work ,eg Raphael hand have a look at the ears there perfet.. this is an ancient technique past from master to aprentice so dontn think im talking crap.. this is the real shit u wont get this knowlage in OZ mutch.. i have more of this stuff but u have to gain more skill befor I'll let u in on the rest of it ..so work hard ane the greeat secret will be yours some day .. or go study in china or under this guy like i did http://www.users.bigpond.com/SCHIP/gallery.htm

Moved your post to exhibition, hopefully it'll get more reponses here.

Nice portfolio, the design and layout is great, but the quality of teh images leaves a bit to be desired. Hmmm maybe that reads wrong, your images are great but they're really aliased, and there's jagged white edges around some of them. I think a little more work in the presentation of the images would really help polish this up.

Stu

Yeah the image qaulity is suffering since you probably want the filesize pretty small.
The artwork itself is pretty darn good, though more full colour work would be good for it.

I absolutely love the design of the portolio. It's simple, uncluttered, and clean. *Great* job on that.

You've covered a variety of areas of concept design, but I think I would have loved to have seen more on character design. I know the Sumea portfolio tips article says not to include TOO much, but I think more than 2 characters is essential. You're quite capable of filling them in with colour as well, so some characters with colour would be ideal.

Probably to slant the portfolio more to game development (and something you'll most likely do as a concept artist) is to mock up front and side profiles of character designs (making sure that their details match up accurately), ready for the modellers..

thanks for the feedback. Regarding the 'jagged white edges' I have assumend that they are the bits around the orc and ogre- problem fixed (but not uploaded yet). The general image quality is a bit of a balancing act. I want to keep the file size about 1 meg, this means all images at 72dpi. Its looks fine at 100% size on screen but gets chunky with any enlargement. At the end of the day the image quality is no better or worse than if I used a website instead of a PDF and I can do print quality pdf if needed for 'in-person' presentation and the layout control is better/more flexable

More colour work- check. if I could finish off that damn character protrait quick activity i could do front and side views of that character and it would make a nice addition too.

Souri, thanks for moving the thread and the comments too :) I did browse the thread about matching front and side pics on character sheets and the associated moddelling issues.

Why do you want it at 1meg? Most companies would have high speed internet so they wouldnt worry about filesize.

They look nice, but I think maybe the planet in the top image might need some haze or something to give it an atmosphere, unless it doesn't have an atmosphere...

I like the design but it just looks a bit flat, maybe try punching out more of the highlights in the metals etc and give the guy some scratches decals etc, he's got a personality show it off. [:P].
Also the colour palette is very monochromatic, could use a splash of colour.
Great job though man.

monochromatic it may be its still a very good looking texture :)
given more time i reckon you could have really made something amazing with that

It is a bit flat isnt it. Highlights are something that I need to work on.
Something puzzles me is that I when I render the colours turned out muted. Viewing it in user mode everything was fine. It wasnt a whole lot, but becuase the colours I used were fairly monochromatic, it turns out worse when rendered.
Anyway thanks guys :)

Not bad, just a few quick crits on the model though, his legs seem way too thick at the top in comparison to the rest of his body, also his lower legs seem too short.

Upper body looks good, maybe scale down his quiver a bit, looks too much like he's got a mini bazooka strapped to his back ;) Keep at it.

I'm not much of a texture head but to me the amount of space you've used for the character doesn't reflect the amount of detail in the texture. I recon you could probably squeeze the entire thing into one 512x512.

One more thing, his face should have some shade thrown upon it from his hood, it'd look ace if you just darkened it up a touch.

Cool one Rastus, really like this guy, I have a couple of crits/suggestions though

Knees look to be a bit low, and I agree with Wizendoldman in regards to the texture? Any chance you could post the flats?
From what I can see, I would suggest maybe adding a bit more colour variation - maybe putting a desaturated green or a browny colour around the joints, to indicate wear.

Model could probably have been optimised a bit, but thats no real biggy, I guess.. Main observations are lack of straps for the quiver, and the feet.. Well they seem a little odd :) Poor bugger is running around in a brown pair of socks.

Next, I have a couple of comments on the design.. Not sure how useful these will be - but I'm an archer(there is no non nerdy way of saying that, I'm afraid), and there are a few things that jump out at me.

Firstly, the quiver. It's way small :) Arrows are generally a little longer than the arm (from shoulder to tip of fingers).
Second (and this is a little anal), but flappy clothes really don't go well with bow shooting. Well they can, but they usually have a brace over the top - not to protect the arm, but to hold the cloth down. It's something I have run into more often than I would like to :/ Short sleeved shirts on a windy day are the worst for it, I ended up having to stick it down with eletrical tape it was so annoying.

But yep, nice job so far!

I like this character [:D] Its your best one I think. I also agree with the comments made above, especially regards the texture space.

Bobs an archer - heed his words. [;)]

quote:Originally posted by Sorceror Bob


Second (and this is a little anal), but flappy clothes really don't go well with bow shooting.

"We're men, men in tight *tight* tights" hee hee sorry couldn't help it.

I agree with all the comments made here, also I'm not sure why you modelled hi with a big toe and then drew shoes on him. You could save yourself a few polys by simply modelling his feet as a boot.

Stu

i think those shoes are meant to be samurai style =P

i want to see a wire,,i recon there's heaps fo wasted poly's in there,

http://www.polarhome.com:793/~rastus/wip/archer.gif thats for the wire image might go down

wbout for the clothes and such im not going back to change it now if i get round to getting the demo together ill just model a new character as this model is hell old :P

the head looks pretty high poly compared to the rest of the model

and i definatly agree with what everyone else said about the texture - lots of space for the amount of detail in it.

looks pretty cool though

Very nice indeed, is it some kind of tank or APC?

and yeah i could tell the figure was you as well, i've never met you :P

cool looking vehicle you have there :) what program did you use to make the top images (coloured ones).

I like it, a little more detail would be cool. Not sure what.

Yeah, an APC/light armour sort of thing. Although I didn't get around to adding doors/hatches for troops to get in and out... I mean they are on the other side :P

I've added a little more detail since posting - rivets and more detail in the track area. I think I might fancy up the cannon barrels and add some stencil style markings. Hopefully it will look more finished off then.

the diagram style pics were done with Freehand (camo paint job was created in Photoshop). Makes for a very clean finish.

Man that marker rendering is rockin.
You make it look to easy

Thanks Makk. If you look closely they are a bit patchy in spots, my markers are running out...again! Was going to do a tank track detail as pen and marker but ended up converting the pencil sketch into another vector illust (in Freehand again). Wish I could draw line work that neat by hand [:P]The extra little details on the front + side view have made the diagrams more finished I think...at any rate I've run out of ideas for more finishing details.

The images are setout nice and orderly because it is becoming a page for my current illustration portfolio.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/simages2/258_Light_Armour2L.jpg[/img]

He John those concepts are awesome. Would you mind if I tried converting them to 3d? You'd get full credit for the design of course.

Stu

Firstly i'd, like to say that for your first 3D effort, you are onto an excellant start. It took me heaps of trys to do some thing even as half as good, and i'm still learning.

I'm not sure about this, but i'm quite certain that the faces ARE the number of trianlges(Poly's) in your scene, but correct me if i'm wrong.

Don't worry to much about how it will bend when you rig it at the moment, it's only your first model and you're already of to a great start. If it doesn't bend properly later, you can easily fix it later with a few edge divide or cuts(Are you using MAX?), but seeing as you are aiming for mid poly you shouldn't encounter to many probs.

Quads aren't a bad thing, the only thing about them is that, when you work in Editable Poly, it's mainly quads and because of this you get incorrect poly counts (seeing as a quad is mad of 2 tri's). Otherwise, they are ok.

Finally, I can't see any problems the proportions and so on look ok, the fact that you ar a 2D artist helps a lot with proportions. I have heaps of trouble with Proportions cos i can't draw very well.

Thanks bullet! I've modelled two other things before. My bedroom and a pumpkin (tutorial, boring stuff). However this is my first time trying to model something as one whole mesh for animation. What is "Editable Poly"?

Also, in todays game standards, what is considered low poly, medium and high poly? I've heard people say around 3000 is the approx for low poly?

Here is the concept drawing of what I am modelling:

[img]http://users.bigpond.com/jason129/swksheet.jpg[/img]

nice, ive just finished making a character in maya myself (my first character also :P ) and to me it looks like your doing great :D

only real crit is that the upperarms need to be thickened out a bit atm but otherwise i looks great to me (though id be interested to see what his abs look like when you dont have the wirefram (deselected in object mode) because they might look like just a lump on his chest...).

as for skeletal work im not to sure as i used a pre-created skeleton and skinned my character to that.

keep it up!!! :D

quote:What is "Editable Poly"?

Don't worry about it if you use Maya, i don't think it's in it, but in max it's a way of manipulting your object and still keeping it in quads.

quote:Also, in todays game standards, what is considered low poly, medium and high poly? I've heard people say around 3000 is the approx for low poly?

I just copied and psted this of the 3dbuzz web page, though 5000 does sound a bit excessive.
Generally, low poly models have less than 5000 polygons. Low polygon models are mainly used in games and anywhere real-time rendering is required. In Half-Life for example, the maximum suggested amount of polygons on the screen at once is 3000, so a Half-life model could be up to 1000 polygons if no more than 3 of the models are on the screen simultaneously.

To answer your original question. Maya doesnt differentiate between types of polys. You just have polygons. A triangle is the base type. But a Quad and nGon are also polys. You can see the invisible edges by going to Display > Custom Polygon Display (Option box). In the section labelled 'Face', just check the Triangle box. In Maya, you can't affect invisible edges and they will automatically be turned to try to make the face plannar. If you want to affect an edge, you have to draw it in. To work in quads and find out the tri count in Maya 5 and earlier. there are two methods. First is install Bonus Tools. It come on the Maya CD or can be downloaded from their site (requires reg). It has a bunch of free Scripts that have been made over the years and Alias just refuse to include with Maya :/ There are only about two Scripts that come with it that I find useful, so installing the whole thing is a waste of time (as there are other scripts that will slow down load time when I wont even use them). The other option is...

www.highend3d.com

The best source to look for free scripts, plugins and shaders. Here is a direct link to the area that you want.

http://www.highend3d.com/maya/mel/?group=melscripts&section=modeling&so…

Just Ctrl+f and search for 'triangle'. There is a triangle counter there.

As for more detail around deformation areas. Depends on how many influences you are allowed to use when skinning. If you are allowed to use a few, then more detail is generally a good thing. If you only have one bone influence per vert, then you may not want to have too many polys around there. You will probably start to get some odd folds happening.

Looks good dude.. just be aware of the facing poly's on the inside mesh, Quads are the only way to go with maya.. tri's are just as fine.. with the way maya is setup up for modelling, keeping everything as quads really makes it easy to see the poly flow.. or the way the edges flow around the hull of the model.. this also carry's over when creating extra detail for the deformable areas of the mesh... I usually lay down new edges/faces along lines of topology that follows where the skin might possibly fold or deform.. like wrinkles... but you know it all depends on preference..

bullet: Thanks for the info. Only 3000 polys on screen at once for HL? HL is pretty old though, I assume the number of polys has risen considerably?

Aven: thanks for your advice. I will check out those scripts once I finish modelling. When you talk about 'how many influences I'm allowed to use' do you mean the complexity of my skeleton? I will have a basic skeleton and I am considering learning how to rig the hands too however that might be way too hard!

Me109: Thanks for the help, what could be wrong with the facing polys on the inside of the mesh? I had a look inside the mesh and there were some weird faces in there and I deleted them... I hope that's not a bad thing because I'll have to start again... Or did thos faces serve a purpose? Sometimes I'll move a vert and it'll turn out there's another vert underneath it and all of a sudden I have another 'layer' or face underneath?? I didn't get what was going on so I deleted some...

I hope it's going to be ok. I really appreciate everyones help, here's an update of my progress:
[img]http://users.bigpond.com/jason129/update.jpg[/img]

Top model dude.. you have a real nack for how something should look in 3d. good show old chap!
nah the facing poly thing was to do with when you duplicate the two halfs of the model you still hadnt delete the 'inside' faces, which I think you found and deleted now anyhow..
Looking at how things are going I reckon once you finish, you'll have about 6k poly mesh too..
if you want to keep it low.. its easier to rip out the access poly once you finish!

nice!

Thanks Me109! 6k polys? eesh. Gotta try to keep it at least below 5K.... But you're right, I'll get rid of the excess later. Once I finish modelling, I don't need to use the smooth tool or anything like that right? What you see is what you get isn't it? Because I tried using the smooth tool and it looked ugly...

I've been modelling this assuming that I'll texture it straight after. No other tweaks etc. Is this what happens in the game industry? or are there some special things that must be done to it before it moves on to texturing/rigging/animating etc?

This is your first character model? Wow, great work! I?ve been modelling for over a year, and my characters still don?t look that good!

This first model just goes to show how important traditional art skills are in 3D art (as in you have a good sense of proportion, anatomy, etc). [:)]

yeah some of the tools can be a bit... pffffttttt... to use.. ie. the sculpt polygon tool... Now maya dosent use smoothing groups for polygons.. so you have to set smoothing by the angle of normal to the adjacent polygon normal.. 0 --> 180 degrees etc... look in editpoly-->normals-->softhard

anania and freind-

[IMG]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti3/daily/d5.jpg[/IMG]

I like your friends, I just hope they're real ;)

[IMG]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti3/daily/loshipzz.jpg[/IMG]

a ship in lo orbit

That ship is awesome, once again unique [;)]

THat just looks like the bottom part of the ship. If so, that thing must be huge :D

That ship is really cool, and the birds are a nice touch. The face of the chick with massive headphone in the bottom right of the first pic is really cool, had to rightclick save that one.

funky character.

texture coming??

yep texture and animation comming soon :)

He looks very cool. Although I would like to see the texture, I am really holding out for the animation :)

Hey Gibbz, sorry to put a spanner in the works but that character is from Metal Arms [url]http://www.metalarms.com/[/url].

I guess you'll have to label it fan art. Nice job though.

quote:Originally posted by Gibbz


Concept i found online...

I dont think he was trying to claim the character...

The model looks great, you've managed to bring the concept through really well. I cant wait for the textures.

Stu

yeah just found that out a little earlier

quote:I dont think he was trying to claim the character...

Yeah I realise that, I was pointing out that it's not just a concept he found, but an image from an actual finished project, no biggie.

yeah thanks anyway :) i would never have foudn it

Looks sweet, i can see all the women shouting "he's so cute" How many poly's?

lol, hes a tiny bit over 5100triangles... my budget was for 5k so im a little over...

yeah metal arms is a great looking game, the character design is pretty cool.

none the less your version of "glitch" (yup thats his name) looks really good :D

ok just for the hell of it, a render of the uvw section :P
yeah i finally got around to it...

[img]http://mathewstwins.customer.netspace.net.au/wip/uv_robot.jpg[/img]

That texture looks great [:P] he could be a stunt-double for a bag of licorish allsorts!

Dont mind me gibbz, he looks great [:)]

Delightful little character- V.good choice for something to model (I think there is a certain skill in the choosing.)

Eeep why don't people just use checker maps!! My eyes....

ok started skinning, this is a render using a reflection and bump map to see what it would look like in a engine with per pixel lighting..

[img]http://mathewstwins.customer.netspace.net.au/wip/bot_reflect_bump.jpg[/…]

I will add some worn out metal to the model, does anyone know any good tuts for the worn out look, as my techniques kinda rusty atm :S

i know there's a good tutorial at 3dtotal.com

Looking good, keep it up.

thank ill check those tuts out too :D

ok done a bit more
this is a render withh 100% illumination(no lighting)

[img]http://mathewstwins.customer.netspace.net.au/wip/robot_render.jpg[/img]

and for those that want a large render

[url]http://mathewstwins.customer.netspace.net.au/wip/robot_render_large.jpg…]

okay finished
the animations been put on hold as i have more important things i need to stick on my resume and stuff...

[img]http://mathewstwins.customer.netspace.net.au/bronson/3dgallery/bot/bot0…]

the rest of the redners are on my resume

i'm getting red crosses

me too *shakes fist at photobucket*

Why dont you just use sumea to host them?

How do I do that?

i made 1 of those jeeps for a mod i was working on .. tho it did hav guns n stuff

what poly count u got on it?

lookin nice btw

Hey they came up, the jeep's looking good Cody, you been using a reference pic for it? What's the poly count on these two?

The man is off to a good start, however, it seems as though his arms are way too long. I think if you were to shorten his upper arm things would look sweeter. It'd be better if you could post a pic showing him up closer cause at the moment it's hard to make him out. Obviously you'll be fixing the top of his head.

I had no Reference Pictures for the Jeep, as you can see it is unaccurate. So far it is around 1536 Polygons, but I need to Optimize the Wheels.

For the Stealth Characer, yes, the Arms need to be shorter. So far it is around 1451. If you want me too, I can post the Reference Picture I drew up for that Character.

Also, the Link for the Mod is http://dynamic3.gamespy.com/~dday/ .

Of to a great start, a couple of crits, as mentioned above the arms are way to long and also his waist is to thick, you can't see any hips or anything. That's all i can see from a quick glance. The jeep looks good as well.

Yeah put up the referance as well, i just want to see progress

It looks as though the arms and hands on the human male model, are the arms and hands from the 'calisto' supplied to you with the "How to model a character in 3dsmax" - But thats just an observation.

Also I think its a case of both the arms being a bit long and the legs etc being a bit short.

Yeah, his waist is a bit thick, as he is going to be wearing a Vest and Belt. Yes, they are the Arms of that Callisto Model, modified though. Didn't really think I should make new arms when it is Low Polygon and I already had them, so I chucked them on. As you Guys and Gals said about that Proportions, I have to fix them up, my drawins wernt't exactly, but I tried my best. Anyways, here is the Reference Picture I Drew Up, needs some work in a Paint Program, but you can see what I am trying to Achieve from this Picture; [IMG]http://img6.photobucket.com/albums/v19/codyalday/Pict0001.jpg[/IMG]

Just found out how to do Shadows in Renders, nothing really special, just showing off.

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/codyalday/200481445843_Jeep_Scen…"]Jeep_Scene.jpg[/url]
16.85 KB

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/codyalday/2004814502_Callisto_Sc…"]Callisto_Scene.jpg[/url]
15.5 KB

Get back to work!!!!!! [:P]

Looks good !! but I think she could use some buttock definition.

Get back to work?!?
What the???
ITS ONE IN THE MORNING! Im going to bed! [:D]

You and Aven should get together, your style is very similar - I likes it!

Nice stuff going on here, I like the details in the hair and the wings are very funky.

Couple of nitpicks, the thigh seem a little to thick and formless, it needs more definition under the buttock and where the top of the leg joins the torso.
Also on the hand that is behind her back , the thumb is in the wrong position ie the hand is the wrong way around. When the hand is in that position the thumb should be close to the body.

Pantmonger

your getting realy good steph but then u were always good :D

*busts some funky dance moves*

update??

Ver' nice :) The head piece goes very nicely with her hair.

Whach you talkin bout Bob? Who doesn't like to draw a half nekid lady? ;)

ah yeash i see the buttocks area thing, hazard kidly pointed that out to me last night and proceeded to tell me on sumea as well :P
im working on trying to get the hip bone to show more but havent been working on it sice i first put stylus to tablet the other day.

Gargh hands will plauge me forever! lol i was trying to go for a twisted arm look but i think i might redoo it as it look strange and doesn't look that gracefull.

ill update some more soon. well as soon as i get a new monitor.

nice character [:)]

Yeah, give her some ass, and bring that arm around a bit.

I'm no expert on painting, but maybe some more contrast? and some red tones in the skin.

Nice, I saw the whole twisted arm thing when I first looked at it, then couldn't work out what Pants was talking about.

Stu

I understood that the arm is twisted so that the back of the hand is facing forward (relative to the character) what I was saying is if you adopt said pose you would see that your thumb should be on the ?closer to your body? side of your hand. As it is drawn it appears (well to me at least) that the thumb is on the side of the hand closer to the viewer, indicating that she has two right hands.

Sorry if Im wrong about this, its just what it looks like to me.

Pantmonger

I actually totally agree with Pants, the hand doesn't sit naturally at all, even if you meant it.
The perspective would make the thumb smaller as it goes into the distance, Pants is spot on when he said it looks like 2 right hands.

One other thing, try twisting your arm like that, doesn't feel right does it? Maybe you should place it so the back of the hand is visible?

well i have fixed all the problem areas everyone has mentioned. i gave more shape to the thy and buttocks, and i have also fixed up that left hand opting to go for Dean's tip [;)] thanks Dean!

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/simages2/323_avariel2.jpg[/img]

i gave her a new colour job. re-painting the skin and now going for a golden touch.
could use some suggestions for the colour of the tiara and if i should use a blue hue in her white hair or just a grey, or even golden?

anyway more crits plz :)

ps. the colours may look odd as my monitor is about to have a meltdown

oooo purdy

i like the 'golden touch'

hair definatly needs some sort of colour tint to it

[img]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti3/studio/lospeks.jpg[/img]

Great work, as always. [:)]
Are you doing any work on some sort of graphic novel? I'd love to see your work come together to depict a vivid world/story. That mech universe you started a while back was great, I'd love to see more of that! [:D]

those ones in the spiral note-pad are great! good stuff

i really like the last one... just reminds me of old comic books/Dune :)

incredible work [:D]

Alot more detailed then some of your other stuff I've seen, i love it

Good luck in finding work!

Very very nice, first thing I thought when looking at them, was how Hawkprey they are. (www.hawkprey.com) That is a good thing :D

Anyhow, looking good!

wow thanks bob :)

The second and third ones on the first post just kick ass x5 alti :D
The composition on the third one is especially striking.

The second one just looks tough. Make a lunch box out of him :)

[img]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti3/studio/loreapme.jpg[/img]

Cool version of Death :D

damn thats great, you should make a wallpaper version :D

Wowso, that's really ace. Love the stuff coming out of his eye.

indeed- wallpaper version with another character too-

[IMG]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti3/studio/loinfernalduo.jpg[/IMG]

neat! but its not quite the right dimensions (it will stretch horizontally if applied).

wooooooo i got published in PCgamer UK and PC gamer Jermany-

[img]http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v288/expjames91/bwa.jpg[/img]

DUDE!!!!! Congratulations, that's awesome.

Stu

Nice one mate. I hope that game goes good. I wish I was in a magazine.

wowzers, good work! :D
great publicity for your site and project

Its only the beginning. Youll find youll get more and more exposure because your work and style is unique.
Well done Alti [:D]

hey thanks guys :) i hope it's the begining.

That's very cool. Congradulations.

a project i hope will be liked- :)

thoughts ?

[IMG]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti3/studio/loDoScomic1.jpg[/IMG]

abit of a rethink-

what do you recon now ?

[IMG]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti3/studio/loDcity.jpg[/IMG]

i like the new one better, the first is too confusing

framing idea-

[IMG]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti3/studio/loDcity2.jpg[/IMG]

wow, that is one polished project! i need to upgrade my brain modules to include your attention to detail! ;)
havent seen director used like that in a while, youve tapped its potentials well.

the reoccuring spinning giant rock animation was getting a bit much, was there any way to skip it?

what kind of marks did you get for it? im putting my money on 'aced it' ;)

No, there's no skip for the big wheel :) ...sorry, it was more "look what I did in D3D" rather than a quick page skip option.

Dunno the results yet! :P

lol love the warcraft 3 dude.

what do you mean by "get the "normal guns" inside his", i might be able to help

I haven't looked a great deal into it and won't untill I get him textured.. anyways. I'll try and get the weapons to be used from the built in gun on his arm. Which would mean changing the weapon to his left hand rather then right and then some how scaling the guns to fit into his arm so you can't see them. I'm not expecting it to work out but just asking if one of you UT L337 people know.

I love the samurai, it looks great, you've done an excelant job with the qrmour espoecially. The UT guy looks cool as well, very original and for the warcraft version of yourself, it was funna as. I never thought i'd see an orc with nike shoes.

Top work with the Samurai. I love the render, could you tell me how you done the, well, the clay style thinggy please mate?

Any chance of a profile view of the sammy's head?

The Sumurai ended up looking really cool. He definitely looks a lot cooler with the helmet on B)

snowflake: to my knowledge it might not be actually possible, im not saying it isnt but from what i know weapons are attatched to the "bone weapon" joint and so theoretically you could put that inside your geometry but the weapons would still be sticking out, and even if you could scale it down the bone point on each weapon where it actual emits its bullets/slime/rockets (etc) is different so you could end up having stuff falling out of his forearm and probably running into some collision detection problems. That being said the Uengine is pretty flexible if you have extensive knowledge of unrealscript which i do not, so there there might be a way, but youd probably have to get someone from epic of the phone to find out :P