Work in progress

This is probably some of the best work of seen from you. Second one in particular is reallly tight, pro looking work.
Keep it up man :)

The second one has some really nice qualities it it's colour and tone. I would be interested to see what sort of 3d structure you are painting over to get an idea of process. It seem like a potentially massive time saving process for initial drafting of environments.

My new desktop at work.

Scott.

Lovely work. The colour work in the second picture is amazing, and it's great to see you're using more colours in your latest pieces [:)] I like the loose style in the first pic, as well as the colours, and I guess the loose style has very much been the charm of your work for me.

thanks guys

[img]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti/lounderreflex.jpg[/img]

some more pencils

[IMG]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti/040806.jpg[/IMG]

Love your work! Especially the one from 2/8/06. :)

Dale

cheers dalek, hey i'm a big fan of the civ games too.

17/8/06 from thismorning.
thanks for looking.

[IMG]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti/asst4p70010.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti/asst4p70011.jpg[/IMG]

migration WIP

a step by step , not finished yet. but soon
thanks for looking, thoughts welcome

[IMG]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti/migrate1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti/migrate2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti/migrate3.jpg[/IMG]

[img]http://members.optusnet.com.au/alti/smallerone.jpg[/img]

Such a delight to look at. Thank you, and keep it comin' @:-D

Your getting really good at keeping the balance between your style and clarity within the image. Love that building from the last pencil sketch

thanks guys, hopefully with this new job i'l have enough extra time to do more personal works aswell.

might be a little buisy for the next few weeks so if i'm not back for a while, thanks for looking in advance.
cheers
-alti

yeah! just revisited some of your images in the old thread. The line work is startig to look more confident and accurate. Still doesn't seem to be much thickness variation in you line work(!) if you haven't tried it - try setting both opacity AND size jitter to pen pressure.

-no cookie for me, no idea who the dude is :(

Oh as i said that linework is simply rough guidlines, as you can see in this WIP ive got that layer turned off. Im using them less and less as time goes by. The ear is one of the most refined sections here.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/MoonUnit/200672453526_shavo1WIP2…]

cookie still up for grabs then, heres a hint: know your alt rock.

That ear is looking sweet, your definetly putting to good use the new techniques you learned.

thanks man :) ive no doubt with everything else going on this projet will take a while but im seeing this one through thats for sure

And allthough i rarely have time to work on it, im sticking by that :P

An updated WIP shot:

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/MoonUnit/20068135427_shavo1WIP3…]

He's looking very airbrushed at the moment because i havent really gone ahead and added the wrinkles and spots and heavy detail that makes him look a lot more...real. The only really "completed" segment remains the ear though every segment of the face has atleast been touched and worked upon to some degree now which is great. Its just a matter of working on every corner untill it satisfies me i suppose.

Now since no one guessed it the cookie remains mine! But id like people to see the photo im referencing this from for more advanced criticism so you can find it here: http://www.soadfans.com/index.php?module=PhotoGallery&do=showpic&pid=24…

Its the bassist Shavo Odadjian from the band Sstem of a Down. Aye i like em, though im aware not everyone will. I just chose him because i thought he had an interesting face rather then doing stock standard short haired male life drawing model kind of character. Plus theres a certain different ellement to it when its a "celebrity" portrait, your capturing an ellement of character aswell.

Comments and crit as allways, appreciated.

maybe it's just me, but that's starting to look like vin diesel.... maybe I'm losing my mind though.

its the baldness

Aye people have been saying that (outside these forums). Once ive got the details and especially the beard im hoping itll be a lot more...shavo

quote:Originally posted by Neffy

its the baldness
no, it's the eyes.

comming along nicely. Something that i have recentily being doing (your not the only one that has been practicing heads with the tablet) is changing the colour of the background to mid/light gray and painting on a dark tone for the hair near that start of the process. I found that it was impossible to judge tone correctily otherwise. I bet when you add the beard you find that the shadow under his chin doesn't look dark enough anymore!

You know your probably right about that, especially when you look at the source photo. When you say "painting on a dark tone for the hair near that start of the process" Do you mean when blocking out the colour starting with a darker colour or what exactly.

Since i am going to tackle the beard next id appreciate any tips for painting hair

yes, at the stage of choosing and painting the initial base colours/tones of the face I have been putting in base colour(s) for the hair too. I choose a moderately dark colour and work in the super dark shadows and highlights from there ...I'm sure there are good hair tutorials online that would be work a look before taking on Shavo's beard.

Don't forget to add some subtle key feature freckles as a finishing touch! After reading comments on the SOAD site, I think people might find them a notable characteristic for making him look like him ...and not Vin.

Aye i have, im working on making the moles not look kinda random fuzzy circles. They sit on a seperate layer atm (at uni now so i might upload a shot when im at home) so i can manipulate them with brightness/contrast, hue, filters etc.

UPDATE: Heres the promised WIP3.5 update:

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/MoonUnit/200681583524_shavo1WIP3…]

So not much of an update, just uploaded due to whole make him not look like vin diesel effort :P just adding a bit more fine detail. As i said its been hard to not make the moles look like just random instances of the exact brush dotted about... might redo them :S thoughts?

the moles look okay to me... if you decide to redo them, you could try more variation on size (which I see you have to some extent) and darkness. But I think what you have works fine.

just came across a tutorial on hair and thought of ya Moonunit. I haven't used a custom brush on hair before but looks like it could work well. thinks I will have to give it a go.

http://www.2dartistmag.com/artists/forum_images/free_article.pdf

So yeah its been ages since i visited this thread, uni just wrapped up so its back to work on this damn thing! I actually went to work on the hair before re-vising the thread, seems that URL now points to something else unfortunatly though (painting wounds). Anyway heres my effort:

Im quite happy with the goatee bit on the chin considering i didnt actually study how to paint hair at all and just kinda made it up, but the rest seems sorta lacking. Theres not a lot of tonal variation in some of the "buds" in the photo (heres the link again: http://www.soadfans.com/index.php?module=PhotoGallery&do=showpic&pid=24… ) and its seemingly just kinda hard to do overall. Or am i being too critical (ive certainly got the "just one more brushstroke" fever) or can you offer some tips? thanks for any help.

Oh and the area where the hair meets the flesh i didnt really know how to tackle properly either, what do people think of that?

I dont know how much of the toso im going to tackle, im thinking about doing the collar area and just kinda fading it out, we'll see how it goes.

oh and by the way John, yeah you were right about the shadow under the chin hey :P darkened up the shadows around the ear to match it as wellMoonUnit2006-11-02 20:03:06

yeah, finally! I have been waiting for this :D
I think you could indulge your 'one more brushstroke' fever. with out looking at the ref. photo, I think there should be way more tonal variation in the beard (as you have said, but that includes the top). you could rework it in a new layer, then if you don't like the result it can be binned with out losing the original. The ear looks a little under worked compaired to the other features too - it still has line work describing it's shapes/forms rather than tone. If it were my painting I would rough in a torso down the the bottom of the beard. Keeping it pretty loose as the face wants to be the focus. The base of the beard also isn't quite working, as you have identified. The transition is too sharp, and should be 'hairy'... I think there are tutorial online that cover that detail, I think generally the aim is to do a soft transition of the colours and then blend them together with individual hairs. sorry for low detail description, posting in a few spare lunch minutes. If that doesn't amke sense let me know and i will try to clarify.

looking forward to the next post.

Looking at the ref photo though the beard really dosent have much tonal variation to it, my bit on the chin is an exaguaraion in itself. Im trying to keep some ground with the ref photo just so things stay consistant, yet i know the beard needs improvement obviously.

I think the ear is like it is because its one of the first things i "completed" and this is my first digital painting, itll undoubtedly get tweaked over time but ultimately all factors considered ill probably not stress too much as i recognize ill probably have a much bigger leap upon starting my next piece when i can apply what ive learnt from the beginning.

As i said with the torso ill probably work from the colar down and just see whats important/looks right as it goes.

Now onto important hair talk, i dont really know how to give it the right kind of feel. I drew the lower ones from scratch (that is no colour blocking) using pretty much a 1pt brush the whole way, with some variation from the swatches seen there. Trying to mimick the lines from the source photo. What transistion are you talking about exactly? in the thickness? (so like the quanitity of hair in the bud) the colour you said? Cause i actually worked of the same swatches the whole way down, just applied them at different quantities and whatnot. I suppose i need the clarification yeah. thanks for helping out

yeah that is fair enough regarding following the reference pic. I think if you give it a really hard look though (paste the photo into photoshop and zoom into the beard) that the tufts get significantly lighter in the centres, especially near the bottom.

I wouldn't blame you for finishing the torso and calling it done. Seeing where you started and why you did this project I would have to say it has been a 100% success.

Well trade show madness got in the way of this again (im working on a video project i dont really want to unviel to this audience untill we have a proper site going, some people will know it allready) but ive finally spent the last hour or two im going to spend on this project today. Its totally not perfect but for my first major effort im super stoked. So heres the final:

thanks for all the help people, comments and crits appreciated

Entirely hand digi-painted, photo reference.
original photo: http://www.soadfans.com/index.php?module=PhotoGallery&do=showpic&pid=24…MoonUnit2006-11-23 23:56:06

I'm very impressed with the effort you have put in to this Moonie, and i think the hard work has really paid off, you should be super-duper stoked.

thanks heaps man, and thanks so much for all the advice you gave over the course of this project. It was a great help :)

Is the terrain going to look like that in game?

Almost, the base image was produced using the engine. It was then tarted up in Photoshot to make it more dramatic. (Atmosphere, arrows, dramatic lighting)

The following image was produced from the engine and has no post effects.

[img]http://www.moxy.com.au/screenshots/Global_060703_Singapore.jpg[/img]

You can see some more images here: [url]http://www.moxy.com.au/screenshots_060603.html[/url]

i'd like to see the arrows arc higher, so they're clearly above the terrain arcing up into the upper atmosphere.

looks great though. nice work aaron.

I second that comment. Arcing higher could allow more dynacism (is that I word... did I spell it correctily?)...more dynamic I mean. would be nice them arching higher enough to see some underside, this would allow some of the setting sun colours to break away from just the horizon and be reflected in these surfaces.

also...I personally would make the arrowheads wider and increase the rate of taper as they receed into the distance - Just to help emphasise the distance they span.

I honestly think you should be thinking about redesigning the whole interface of the game (and website) with a new design that uses more complementary colours, to begin with.

I don't like the crop much, draw the rest of her arm in.
The gun pointing up needs some skin colour relfections on it like the other one.

Some parts of the clothing has really smooth shading while some other bits are a bit rough.
The v shape around the hip area... it looks a little odd. Speaking as a girl, I'm sure it doesn't go up that high.

From personal preference a lighter lip colour will make her look a bit prettier.

The work on the face, hands, and gun is brilliant. Very nice work there. Proportion is slightly off in some areas, I think, looking at the size of her head compared to the length of her shoulders (I dunno, maybe it's just me. What does anyone else think?)

thanks for the feedback Frostblade/Souri. I haven't looked at this piece for a while (I did revisit some bits that frostblade commented about though). I do intend to recrop & paint in a better background and agree their is something subtly wrong with the figure also- might try and find a friend who will 'strike a pose' so I can get a reference shot to compare. But I am determined to get more done on other projects (ie modelling challenge) before I continue this one.

The mesh is very cool, and the texturing is well done as well. I think the area between his nose and cheekbones needs lightening up though, there shouldn't be harsh shadows in that area. Overall, nice work.

Oh, and zoom in the model a bit more next time. You have enough empty space [;)]

Sorry. Stupid cow got in the way. it should have been:

http://www.threedy.com/site/forum/showthread.php?t=42953&highlight=buil…

it defies all graivity and sense, hurts my brain and is really really awesome :P I know its great because i look at it and wonder what itd be like to be over there and how you'd get to there. Im allready immersed :)

Wow, incredible work with so much detail everywhere. But where are all the citizens or any sign of activity? [:D] It might be cliche perhaps, but I guess I'm used to seeing the crowds of people and all the floating cars that come with futuristic city scenes. It's probably not you were going for though. I think the buildings could be more distinguished from each other (more variations in architecture), with all the things that help better set them apart (signs, different shapes/window arrangements etc)- but then again, that's probably not the look you were going for either because what it has now definately has a certain feel associated to it, particularly with the buildings being alike and of similar earthy colour.

Go Go Go Rizo!
I always look forward to your posts and this one is no exception. top stuff :)
Tiny crit would be to add some different coloured buildings. Like blue and grey and green, etc

Thank you guys for your comments, i'll put my hand to work in your critics to make some arragments before uploading the image in my online portfolio, About the building shapes, yeap.. i think i put too much effort in the floating city than the lower one... but i'll keep that in mind and the tonal colours variations, so again, Thanks Souri, Makk and MoonUnit for your replys :)

Whoa alot of work gone into that! What a great piece. I wouldnt be able to resist overlaying some stone textures and dirt which may add an extra element of realism. Top stuff.

looks great and a bit scary seeing something of that scope without barrel distortion (looks like 2 point perspective?) but then again it is a pain to emulate it.

you presumably already know of the paper architect lebbeus woods who has the occasional fetish of modern gravity defying spaces and building shells.

like the transition of the colour in the layout too.

Hey, that's look pretty sweet. I know it's a WIP, and it's a little rough in areas with texturing, but it's coming along very well. I love the proportions and the styalised look to her face as well.

Thankyou for the reply <3
The texture is coming along when ever i get the chance to work on it >.<, just getting in some basics for now so i can see how it looks all together then refine it all later. Probably wont be able to work on this gal for the next 2 weeks but after that ill sit down and really finish her off.

Here is my latest update :) i got alot of time to work on it today, added in her weapons just gotta finish texturing >.< i think i get there then something else comes along that needs tweaking or fixing hehe.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v105/Nefquareiel/frontback_ranger.jpg…]
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v105/Nefquareiel/perspsides_ranger.jp…]

Aww! I kinda liked the weapons on the conpect piece better - they were reminicent of bats in shape, tying in with the ranger theme a little more... personal opinion only though.

Her body shape is really good, and looks great in profile. I initially thought her hands were a little too big, but realised that I was judging them against her head size, which might be a fraction small?

Well i finished my ranger, i even rigged her but i cant come up with a pose :( i guess because she is a random character i created for modeling ... i havent drawn her in 2d to get a sorta personality or feeling for how she should pose. I may keep working on it but for now she is done ^_^ i dont have any recent renders on me tho there all at school haha suckers.

Anyways new character woot !

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v105/Nefquareiel/jbrett_modelsheetcop…]

Interesting allthough for a seemingly demonic princess getup she has a bit of childrens cartoon tv friendly face. Lets see a scowl! :D

As you wish !

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v105/Nefquareiel/posedcopy.jpg[/IMG]

XD im gonna change the flames to skeletal arms in the finished version of this (if i get round to it)

Start of a model wheeeeeeee
5000 polys

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v105/Nefquareiel/all3.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v105/Nefquareiel/allviews.jpg[/IMG]

Textures ^_^ its not finished i just wanted to try being more professional in the presentation of my work.

Coming along well Neffy, i like the design.
Somethings to consider are the height at which the eyes are on the face. At the moment they are too high up, also the bridge of the nose is might want to be less distanct (Eg- the shadows at the sides are a bit too strong).
Could do with some more contrast, some darker shadows especially to help things stand apart.

I can see what you mean about the eyes and nose, thanks ill fix that up asap
yea i always forget to use dark shadows, ill attempt to do darker ones as well

thanks for the feedback ill try my best to put it to good use :D

I know its not that big a thing, but I really liked how in the concept, the spikes on the skirt were curved. In the model though, they are all straight and stuff and don't have that same awesomeness...... its a minor detail though I guess.....

Apologies if this gets long, I've been meaning to give you a thorough crit for a while.

Neffy -- you're improving quite rapidly which is great to see; your strongest point you're demonstrating here is definitely design. You've got a lot of interesting elements working well togethor to form a cohesive and cool looking character, very good job. Secondly to this your low poly skills look sound - modelling/unwrapping/texturing.

Having said all this, the areas I see that you could benifit from focusing on are your texturing and art style; Your texturing mainly is to do with contrast and material consistency (at the moment the hair is the only surface that looks visually different besides just its colour). Style is a pretty hard thing to approach -- you're developing your own style and it's working. This is good. But this can also be a problem at the same time; if you're doing this as a career then it's a very important skill to be able to conform and match to generalised set styles.

I hope this feedback has given you something to think about, keep it up -- I think you're doing a fantastic job! [:)]

I'm really digging the style in the first character. I'd love to see an entire game based around it.

But to make my critique as succinct as possible.

What Joel said.

Shane: After looking at it for awhile now I tend to agree with you, ill see how curvy looks when I get back to school I have a feeling it will be better though!

J.I: I agree with what your saying, the texturing is something I'm trying to improve on alot its being difficult. I guess my aim for the end of the week will be to add more contrast. With the materials do I need to make them more different from each other or more similar? Some are just basic colour atm others have faded bone/material textures slapped over them. I think it?d benefit if I make those more pronounced so you can tell that yes this is metal and that?s bone and that?s material. Is that what you where getting at or have I just confused my self hehe :P
I do plan to make a career in 3d one day, I?m a bit worried about my style being too stylized, I might do some models in a more generalized style to prove I can do them for places I?m applying for.

Bob: Awesome ! I?ve grown to hate her -_- the skirt and belt where such a bad idea now I?m trying rig her up.

my 2 cents on the style thing that JI has mentioned: keep practicing design basics- anatomy,colour theory, perspective, composition etc. If you can master these basics you should have little problems adopting any styles/techniques that suits your needs in the future (handy in a commercial artist sense). Understanding these basics will also help you attain a new richness in your own style, as you will have a better understanding of what to stylise, how to stylise it and what effects these stylisations will have on your overall design.

...but it looks like you are taking this approach more or less anyways :)

quote:Originally posted by Neffy
J.I: I agree with what your saying, the texturing is something I'm trying to improve on alot its being difficult. I guess my aim for the end of the week will be to add more contrast. With the materials do I need to make them more different from each other or more similar? Some are just basic colour atm others have faded bone/material textures slapped over them. I think it?d benefit if I make those more pronounced so you can tell that yes this is metal and that?s bone and that?s material. Is that what you where getting at or have I just confused my self hehe :P
I do plan to make a career in 3d one day, I?m a bit worried about my style being too stylized, I might do some models in a more generalized style to prove I can do them for places I?m applying for.

Definitely sounds like you're getting my meaning -- At the moment your textures are reading too flat, and not communicating what the surface type is very well. So cloth could be near the same as skin, or leathers. At the moment your texturing ability is simply lacking knowledge and study, two things that are very easy to improve upon with a bit of practice. For hard theory that's been written to be more relevant and directly usable for artists, check out Prom's tut here:

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

I seem to be recommending that resource a whole heap recently, it really is a good cheat sheet of all the important info you should learn. Get some coloured shades into it, and texture variations in hue and tone. Give it a bit of history (the bone on your last character for example -- bleaching and staining areas would give it a whole lot more life as well as differences between rough areas and smoother bleached areas etc.) Giving it some specularity (both sharp and gloss) helps describe differences in surface too. Anyways, have a read up on that tut I posted, and maybe give a few things a try on your texture? I hope it helps you out, you're doing really well Neffy! [:)]

JohnN: I am trying to venture into areas I don?t draw often, like males and animals hehe ill keep up the practice on the areas u mentioned as well for sure.

J.I: Thanks a heap for the tutorial, I skimmed over it and I can definitely put all that knowledge to good use, its just what I think I need ^_^ it all seems so confusing atm and a heap of work but ill get there with some time hehehe

Anyway here?s and update, unfortunately I found out she?s due on Friday and I still haven?t imported her into unreal XD (one of the assignment requirements) so I had to stop on my texture work with only a little bit of stuff added based on feedback. BUT NEVA FEAR this is not the end of necromancer girl (gawd she needs a name)

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v105/Nefquareiel/LEft2.jpg[/IMG]

are you going to post any videos of her? she looked very cool in UT....

i dont know where to upload movies :*(

*Edit*

I was able to upload it to Deviant art (you need to click download on left hand side of page - orange icon )
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/39105010/
its just showing her of in game doing alot of the unreal animations

you tube? I think they let you upload vids for free

Looks cool, really professional

Thanks everyone !!

I?ve been working on stuff for my demo reel so here?s a few quick renders I?ve been doing along the way.

The alien dude is Gabe :) you?ll hear more about him soon -_^

Gotta catch them all !

Ive been waiting for pokemon foreeeeeeeevvvvvvveeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr now and just ordered it off some website :P so to help me pass the time im modelling the main female player.

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:DP_lead_characters.png

looks like a solid start neffy, keep up the great work!

looks good and cool design,



the side profile worries me a bit, the arms seem a bit thin front to back (bit more depth for the bicepts?) and the back of the skull seems a bit small for the face (i am predjudice to have eyes halfway up the face, changing this ratio makes expect to see a larger back of head to put the brain in...)



sometimes there are little clasps or weights to help hold down the ends of tassels on fantasy skirts, and i wasn't going to mention the width of the thighs (not use to seeing leg muscles go out that far unless sitting down, standing up they seem a bit big, but she might do a lot of leg work so i don't know....



i have a bit fetish about global illumination shadows being burnt into textures to help spatial association of masses, and think that could help visually distinguish the layers of the design....



but cool work, more developed than any of my designs

FYI, the above comment was made about images of Nefquareiel on the first page of the thread, i had not noticed that there where several mode pages (my bad)

Is there any other place you can host this animation at? I don't think most people are eager to register for a once-off to service just to get a file. Rapidshare?

Sorry hopefully this works, just scroll down to the bottom

http://storeandserve.com/?downloads/download_page2

http://storeandserve.com/download/292996/Clouds_of_the_Sun_by_Daniel_Le…

btw you don't need to register, search for button saying 'Download This File Now'(should be on the side)

Whoops, sorry. I've never used that service before and the download link is sorta lost under all that.

Found the link, but now I keep getting a "Sorry all servers are busy at this time.
Please try back later" message.

I got it downloading after a few more goes. Well done it looks great and fits into the music very well. Parts of it remind me of eve online. Why did you cut it off at that point in the music, is there still more to go?

nice work, if you can mix a nice gin&juice your going to go far[:D]

The realism is nicely done in these pics there just really pretty overall. The character sheet is nice too although i do think her torso looks a tad too skinny in the full body side image, i guess thats personal preferance tho.

You seriously need to do more!
No more Vanilla Slices for you until youve got some new work in your folio! [:P]

I am with Hazard on this one. I wanna see more work [:)]

Coming along great, i cant suggest much for the surface detail what your doing seems to be working well.

Hey Neffy,
Cheers for the reply. Checked out some of your stuff on your website. Love the drawings. Especially the one of the girl sitting on the wood floor.

Not much I can add, other than to say that it's very nice work [:)]

Hey souri,
Thanks for the compliment. Hopefully work will ease up and I will get some time to continue on it soon and keep you all posted with upgrades.

...and my mate gordy
[img]http://www.dudleybirch.com/sijun/gordy.jpg[/img]

we so lucky! Does Gordy know you are using him as a painting model? I think you might have to show us some model release forms Speculart! ...Although seeing Gordy is an Artist I doubt he can afford to 'Lawyer up'so I guess you will probably get away with this potentially unauthorised use of his image :P

thanks for posting them - really enjoyed viewing.

hey speculart, :) awsome work mate. love the use of the textures and confident strokes.

ta bumskee.
John..shh!

I know these pictures haven't garnered enough comments, but I'm sure everyone is at awe of the craftmenship they exhibit. Incredibly lovely work!

I have to say I enjoy your straight painted piece of Gordy most -- the blocked colours are harmonious and efficient. Good job man. The only thing I think detracts from the piece is the change in brush strokes from the cleaner blocked majority to the spattered ones of the hands (although that does add something when used to break up the lines of the background to defocus it).

Thank you both its great to get a bit of feedback.

i'd say it's a safe bet you can post this stuff here.

freakin awsome.

yep, awesome

Thanks! Didnt think anyone would be up....Whoa Mexico just scored!!

Thats incredible stuff, well done. What i want to know is how do zombies allways manage to turn over cars and set them on fire...

Really nice, good job :)
Did you use many (any?) photo elements, or is it all hand painted?

MoonUnit ? I think it?s generally the terrified people that do all the car crashing, burning, rioting etc. Poor zombies are so misunderstood. All they want to do is wander about and eat brains. [:D]

it's really awesome. top image, buildings on the left, they're photos, aren't they? they look a bit like a photo taken on sunny day and just darken alittle in photoshop, i think u could fix that a bit, but it's great anyway!

palantir Thats photo and painting fire is mostly paint and smoke and some of the buildings mid distance on left also the highrise on right the road surface is painted and textured foreground cars I textured up. PICPOC foreground hotel on left are photos yes as they are in the light shining from the right they needed to have sun on them the shadows of the cars on right indicate its beaming in there so I thought they were sitting ok.
Moonunit, Zombies are misunderstood all they want to do is make friends.

Does anyone out there use much matte painting?

i see now, it's just that bright area at the very top got me abit mixed up. thought that's the main light source but i see what u've done there.

You need to put a closing tag after that part... and it's done by adding a / before the i.

[img]http://www.google.com.au/intl/en_au/images/logo.gif[/img]

When you write a post, there's a link which says "Click here to attach a file to your post" just above the message box.

model looks nice, can't wait to see it textured. i've checked your website and i know it's gonna look great once it's finished. just one thing the lower part of the building looks a bit plane compare to the top, maybe u could add some more details there

thnx picpoc... yes i am gonna add more detailing to the entire thing...there is still lots of model still...

I can tell theres a lot more detail to come, its looking really great. I like it that youve made some attempts to keep it from being too repeated with adding a little damage to the mesh grids. Should be a great piece :)

It's coming along great, rocker. Some very nice detail in there!

lookin' cool - I'd love to see some cloud details on that globe though -- and for gameplay purposes having a faded center on view of them so you can see through them still. looked at your website, sounds like an interesting project!

could use a specular map and make water shiny, thin layer of atmosphere maybe? but it all could be annoying in the game.
I think all these statistic graphs (or whatever they are) shouldn?t be transparent and should be above the red and blue territory indication layer, but then again I don?t know how this works in the game, maybe it?s better this way

The plan at the moment is to add atmosphere / fog effect to the horizon which will give the impression of clouds and will catch the sunlight as the sun moves behind the earth. Like all good space based art, its important to get the star burst / lens flare effects a good working over.

At the moment with the teams current work clouds, over the centre of the globe are difficult to do so they look good, and will hide the action going on underneath. In the longer term we hope to add real time weather (which can be downloaded off the net) and used in a detailed battle mode to affect the game play.

I agree with the stats layer, the rendering sequence is wrong at the movement, and the icons generally need to be tightened up.

The decision to make them transparent flowed from the metaphor we are using generally of photo realistic earth, with a 'holographic overlay' that the player interacts with.

Awesome!

I love this kind of game. Will definately take a peek come August.

Scott.

I'm definately keen on checking this once the demo is out!

I've always thought a global rts game is *perfect* for independant game developers, because the art assets required can be really, really low, and you could just concentrate on the gameplay.

I really like the visual style that Introversion Software (the Darwinia guys) have approached their game called [url="http://www.introversion.co.uk/defcon/index.html"]Defcon[/url], but I'm dying to see all the visual effects on the planet that you have mentioned. Does anyone know what other games where they've rendered some really cool looking planets?

Be sure to let us know when the demo is released so I can make a post about it!

You are right about the low art asset cost. It is a large reason why a game of this scope can be attempted by a team of our size. (3 programmers, no full time artists).

The terrain is comprised entirely of NASA images and height data - along the lines of Goggle Earth - all of the art for which is in the public domain. It means we can get a AAA quality globe with nothing other than programmer time.

Our cheesy holographic overlay uses primitive shapes and primary colours which is well within the skills of our programmers. As long as we carry the theme through out the game, I think we will get away with it and the end result could be quite stylistically striking.

I honestly think that if you can grab a decent graphic designer / artist to do a work over on the holographic overlays and help out with making colours more complementary for the project, it could do wonders. I mean, it's not absolutely needed, but I reckon it could push the overall aesthetic look to new heights.

a giraffe? lol nice work mate, not much to crit here as im not much of a penguin expert either :P

I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I am a sucker for that lighting. Anyway, it looks great [:)]

Looks good, but I'd like to see a greater difference in the surface types though - an example is the specular change in his lips and the "T" area, and a better differentiation between the skin and the fresh blood - model the drip as well as making the dyed track it leaves. Some simple opacity based eyelashes would help a lot too. Are you using the fast skin or fast sss shader? if it's the skin, play around with the reflection rim a bit too. Could do with a bit more break up in the gloss (just a low frequency speckle helps a heap with that) and a bit more fresnel reflection (the candles would create a tighter specular/reflection on the rim).

good job, keep going [:)]

I like it :) The fingers on the left hand side were most noteable for me, very life-like!

ok, so i got the disturbed-back-shivers thing, so you win. :)

Needs more dried blood around the other stitches. I'm guessing he's done all of this in the one sitting.

noice! I like it... very smooth.
-Parka

man, that was a fast response!

thanks Parka, I actually came back to make a note that I have commenced making @#%%^^&**$# damn alterations on it already!!! I think the eyes are tooooo wide - I wanted them to be a focus but they are looking too freakish now... now i'm not sure about the width of the overall face either... any feedback on these details would be appreciated as I think I have been looking at it toooooo long to see the wood for the trees!

Cool John [:)]
I'd agree on the eyes but I think the face width is fine - a bit of a square jaw but nothing wrong with that. The chest area, particularly how the clothes hang on the breasts doesn't work too well though. To have a cut like that, it would have to be wired to poke back under the breast again, and they've got a mystery cleavage line going when they're not pulled togethor. I'll see if I can find some ref of what I mean.

Tried to find a few relevant ref's -- main point is that the cut type doesn't press the breasts togethor so there's no seperation in the cleavage line since there's no 'pushed' support. Cheers!

http://www.fashionz.co.nz/attachment/00000000669fec0a1eef8d3bcf8ed3e0/0…
http://us.st11.yimg.com/store1.yimg.com/I/edressme_1874_941118
http://www.divasplendorium.com/images/prod/CWD2-MicrolinkHalterDress.gif

thanks for that bit of feed back JI. I had decided after a 24hr break that the face was toooo wide too, especially after the eyes were brought back to a more reasonable size, so I did alts to both - before and after shot below really highlights how small changes can make a big difference.

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/20065298130_before-and-aft…"]before-and-after.jpg[/url]
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I was a little undecided how to represent the cleavage/dress and obviously had not done enough research into that area ;) so I shall endeavour to do that, and will post an updated version soon too.

further alts have been added with some 'out of frame' cast shadow to up the dymanics a little too. But the update post can wait till the cleavage has been addressed.

and here is the updated version with new and improved errr, you-knows [8)]

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/200652995447_Strength-Thro…"]Strength-Through-Unity_2.jpg[/url]
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since I started posting WIPs, I feel compelled to complete the task and document it here (sorry to those that are getting fed up with the daily flow of 'relatively minor' changes)The changes that I have made, I feel at least, have been really important to lifting the piccy to the best it can be. I can't believe that a few days ago I was calling it finished!

main updates here are the dress (was looking flat and lifeless ...just like my hair, HA!)and the cast shadow from out-of-frame (more accurate across the door/shield and darker). There are some smaller updates/alterations that only the train spotters will notice and I won't bore you all with outlining them.

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/200653084324_Strength-Thro…"]Strength-Through-Unity_3.jpg[/url]
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constant updating is far from being a bad thing - it's good to see work develop! I'm sure others appreciate seeing the thought and process that goes into a piece too.

Hey,

Really impressed with your progress so far. You have a real eye for colours. I like the fact you are posting updates aswell, really shows how you work. I think it you tweak the proportions of the features of the face a little she will look a bit more feminine.

Just did a quick tweak to show you what i mean, hope you don't mind.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/jd/2006690449_STU_Original.jpg[/…] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/jd/2006690449_STU_Original.jpg"]STU_Original.jpg[/url]
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[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/jd/200669057_STU_Tweak.jpg[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/jd/200669057_STU_Tweak.jpg"]STU_Tweak.jpg[/url]
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Really looking forward to the end product, keep up the good work.

JD

I'm no artist, but I like the original better :)

thanks for the comments JD. Always appreciated, especially from people in the industry.

In theory, at least, bigger eyes should make her look more feminine/helpless/sexy. That said the eyes were the first feature I worked on and about last that I tweeked - and I must admit at no point did I think they were quite right, currently they are not curving around the eyeball or the head comfortably. I also am not 100% happy with the cheek bones and bridge of nose area- neither visually protrude enough and the cheek bones could be a little higher and sharper... this detail would make her much more feminine. I agree smaller noses are a common female feature, I guess I like how her nose sits - personal preference maybe- and with the exaggerated eyes, if I shrink the nose a fear the face might start heading too far into the relms of manga stylisation!

as for the next update, I have been distracted with the current modeller challenge so I dont know when they will be happening... although now you have got me thinking about this piece again, so it might be soon!

**warning - shamless brown-nosing ahead - warning** JD, love you to mention me to you Art Director at Krome too ;) I'm still looking to break out of graphics and into the games industry!

Id have to agree with Triton as well, I like the original better. Her eyes are too small in your adjustments - her disposition is also alot more "Im a rich snob"

So I dont think its an improovement over the original - but then again everyone has a different oppinion [:)]

I think you should keep going with your gut feelings John your last post has pretty much signalled you realise what the problem areas are - just need to address them !

decided to get the next, and probably last, revisit of this piece out of the way so all my attention can go to the modeller challenge. I have redone a fair proportion of her face. image below is a before and after
for comparison. Alterations were subtle but I think helped overall.

sorry for the crappy jpg compression! guess I just overlooked the settings when exporting from photoshop [8)]

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/200661144515_Strength-Thro…"]Strength-Through-Unity_4.jpg[/url]
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Hey John, I know your probably sick of looking at the pic but your almost there. Just bring down the ends of of her eyes abit as they slope upwards too much. And bring down the ears so the lobes are at the bottom of the nose.
I did a quick paintjob to show you. It was just a quick job but you should get the idea.
Also tweaked the hair and jawline, though there really isnt nothing wrong with it at all

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/makk/20066119542_face.jpg"]face.jpg[/url]
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mooooooore updating[xx(] not sure if I agree with some of your suggested alts Makk. But taken on-board and used as motivation for another re-paint - thanks. After a reassesment I did agree with you that the eyes were definitely wrong but the problems were deeper than just the outside corners, So I redid them entirely! The jaw line got some minor evening out. Its a strong jaw but not too masculine I think for the character. Hair styling has remained the same but some attention to the hair line that was way too high. Ears got a minor stretching and redetailing - they might be a bit small for some but I they were looking wrong any larger- you just got big ears Makk ;P

is it finished now? I don't know [:D]

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/20066157610_Strength-Throu…"]Strength-Through-Unity_5.jpg[/url]
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it looks good to me, it's better than the very first one, that's for sure .

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/22778396/
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=227727

Some eye painting tuts

Ears look right, between tip of nose and eyebrow.

1. The eyes look wrong to me because of the placement of the iris (maybe the shape of the eye is not matching the angle of the face). the way the eyelid folds (not right shape for size of the eyes) and the way the lashes look.
2. eye socket area under the eyebrows looks a bit flat (lacking form).
3. Perhaps reshape her eyebrows (make it more natural) and add more shadow to the eyelid crease and bring back more flesh colour to make her look like she has brow bones.

here is my quick crappy mouse paintover on the right side of her face.
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/4656/po2re.jpg

thanks for the post Aloriael - your 'crappy mouse paintover' really highlighted the crappyness of the paint that you painted over!

Gave the Tutes a browse and redid the eyes again. After that, the eyes looked much better, but the rest of the face looked crappy... so I redid quite a large proportion of it too.

update below including a larger detail of the face...

[img]icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Download Attachment: [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/johnn/200661841831_Strength-Thro…"]Strength-Through-Unity_6.jpg[/url]
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lol! you keep on fighting with this dont you! :)
Maybe her lack of expression isnt helping as it isnt injecting the image with much life. There is a powerfull messege writtin there behind the character, yet she really isnt connecting with that messege.
But if I were you I'd move on. You probably sick to death of looking at it!! :)

I hear ya Makk, I hear ya...

you guys must be almost as sick of watching this thread as I am posting to it - I'm trying to move the finish of my work up to a more professional standard as what I got at the moment is not working re:breaking into the industry [:(]

Well you have made some big improvements and maybe starting on a new image with the new knowledge is a good thing.

good start -- trying to get into some work, so I'll give a quick lot of feedback:

I realise this is quite early, so excuse my obvious feedback :)

- more parallax in your environments
this is flash, so don't be afraid to make your environments a greater depth. Eg, your character can scale down small for far off depth, and large for being in the foreground. at the moment it's feeling more side-scroller'ish.

- movement
character movement feels very sluggish almost to a frustrating degree. You have to be moving forwards/backwards to also be able to go up/down. If you ramp up from walking slow to a jog within a short amount of time, the transition should feel a lot more comfortable. An idle state would be good too.

- Loving the UI
the options feel great - talk, take, look. Simple yet effective and the visuals are unobtrusive and basic but just feel 'right'. Object highlighting would be a major good thing though -- so highlight usable items on mouse-over.

- blurry foreground items = cool look.

- iso character
The side on character would be best changed to a slightly isometric view. Check out DotT, Discworld, space quests etc for a "standard" view referance which works in a greater range of angles/environments.

it's going great, good job!

Hey, this rocks! I can see a huge potential in this - I'd love to see a point & click advernture like those games in flash! Agree with all the points Joel makes. I'm a big fan of old SCUMM based adventure games, and if you can take some inspiration from what's been done there, I'm sure you're onto a winner. I'm definately eager to see how far you can take this!

Pretty cool effort with the run cycle. A little bit jittery and rough in some spots though, as you've said! How are you approaching changing angles? Sounds like a bit of work for 2D if you're going for proper perspective, making sure the character's proportions are correct etc

I like it! His hands are MASSIVE! But yeah, loooking good. Can't wait to see the final product!
-Parka

looking good dude :)
Ankles look a little thick, I would also check some muscle ref as the clavicle area looks a little strange.
Love his massive hands but youre not going to give him long girly hair are you?!?! ;)
Keep it up

long MANLY hair Makk :)
i changed the clavicle before rendering the normal map. even though i liked it before, people kept mentioning it

still an early WIP, just messing around with materials and colours.

how bout that bloom eh?

edit: update below

nope, not done yet

[img]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d3/shika01/e40a0295.jpg[/img]

Incredible work [:)] I would have pushed his calf muscles a tiny bit higher, but other than that, it's perfect.