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Sorcerer of Severed Heads

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Posts

  • Tweaked_Bat_Tweaked_Bat_ Registered User regular
    edited December 2006
    Hmm yeah those reference pics are pretty shitty... they could've atleast included orthographic views to make things easier :/

    I've only just gotten into the 3D world myself, so I still have alot to learn. However, the geometry looks pretty decent from what I can see in the first pic, atleast from that angle.

    I haven't delved much into texturing beyond the very basics, so I can't offer much advice in that area. One thing I do notice is that it looks more or less like a model straight out of a game. If that's the look you're going for, then cool. I'm assuming that this is meant to look like it's made for a game, considering the poly and texture limits. However, if you're going for a slightly more "realistic" model (which may be hard with only 3000 faces to play with), then you need to play around with your lighting and materials.

    Are you using 3DS Max? (I'm not sure if you've mentioned that already, and am too lazy to check).

    If so, then you may want to give the metallic areas a more metallic look (ie: playing with the speculars/glossiness/reflection stuff). Maybe a very slight bump map on certain parts to give break up all the flat areas and to possibly make it look battle-worn?

    Hmm... that's about the only 3D advice I can really give, I don't really know enough about it yet :P

    Tweaked_Bat_ on
  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited December 2006
    I think the lousy reference pics are part of the challenge, honestly. One good aspect to them is that since they don't show every bit of detail, it's allowed me to be a little bit creative when it comes to modeling and texturing.

    This was all modeled in Maya, which is what I'm used to. It was never specified what program it had to be done in, so I'm hoping they'll be fine with a Maya model. It sounds like Max is used for game modeling more than Maya, so I'm thinking of taking a course in Max or something.

    The model is meant to be for a game, so I'm not too sure how much I can mess around with materials. It's just using a default one, now.

    Golden Yak on
    H9f4bVe.png
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited December 2006
    You've got plenty of wasted polys (lots of edges that aren't defining anything and a few cases where you probably could have subdivided differently with triangles to get fewer polys) but you're still under budget so I guess it's not really a problem. I think the texture would look a lot better if you threw a spec map and a normal map on there; it would really make the panels pop out. If you don't have much experience doing any of that, the nVidia Photoshop Plugin for normal maps is a good place to start, if only to see how the spec and normal play with each other once they're applied. You've got stuff like those circle things on the front of the ship or the vents/grates that would really look nice with a good normal map. Other than that it looks pretty good; you've got wasted UV space in the top texture but if you ever need to add engine glow/exhaust by throwing some planes and an alpha mapped texture onto the back of the engines, you could stick it right there.

    TychoCelchuuu on
  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited December 2006
    Some of those edges are there because I'd texture one half of a ship piece and then mirror it, but it didn't wind up saving me huge amounts of space so I might steer clear of doing that in future.

    And I noticed the empty space in the top texture myself. There was actually a piece of the ship's rear engine there, but it wound up looking good just textured black so I left it like that.

    I'll look into some of the other things you mentioned. Sounds like some good stuff.

    Golden Yak on
    H9f4bVe.png
  • galengalen Registered User regular
    edited December 2006
    The model looks good, but your textures need A LOT of work.

    Don't put a highlight on every single edge. Keep it to the hard edges and corners. Also, keep them subtle.

    Use large brushes to lay down base colors and then do fine detail with a 1 or 2 px line tool or brush. Avoid the sort of "painty" look you have by clicking down color instead of painting it.

    When making circles, use the circle selection tool and/or the circle shape tool.

    When weathering textures, try and keep in mind where things will wear or be damaged in day to day use. Don't just put scratches or paint chips at random. Also, get some custom brushes and use those at the very last step to give it just the right amount of weathering. They used to be easier to find than they are now, but just search "photoshop brushes" in your favorite search engine.

    Don't be afraid to use real-world texture layers either, to give it that much more of a realistic touch.

    And you might want to bake some shadows in as well, but this is optional and honestly a lot of engines do their own real time shadowing now so it's probably unnecessary. (To be fair, texturing itself is becoming something of a lost art, unfortunately.)

    galen on
  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited December 2006
    galen wrote:
    Don't put a highlight on every single edge. Keep it to the hard edges and corners. Also, keep them subtle.

    What do you mean by this, exactly? By hard edges do you mean only actual edges in the geometry, and not edges made in the texture, like the edges of paneling?

    Golden Yak on
    H9f4bVe.png
  • galengalen Registered User regular
    edited December 2006
    Yeah, sorry that was a bit unclear.

    Highlight hard geometric edges, corners and the like. Panels should be highlighted too, but probably with a thinner brush and lighter than the edges.

    It's difficult for me to explain, unfortunately. I think it's just something you kind of have to get a feel for, after doing a lot of texture work.

    This whole thing reminded me a lot of Homeworld's ship designs, so here's an example:

    homeworld2_4bbe.jpg

    It's kind of hard to tell, being so small and also ingame, but there's very little highlighting on there at all, and where there is, it's pretty subtle.

    EDIT: I took a look at the stuff on your site. Most of your textures are very World of Warcraftey, which looks good on things like the barrels and the treasure chest, but the style doesn't work very well on this sci-fi ship.

    galen on
  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited December 2006
    I see what you mean now. It's something I'll keep in mind in the future.

    This whole project was actually part of a job interview at a video game company. They got back to me and said I was 'not at the level they required for the position,' which is kind've a downer. But they are getting me some free training courses in 3DS Max (which I haven't used much, but I'm hoping to pick up the basics quick) so I guess they don't think I'm a lost cause.

    I'm gonna work on the spaceship texture a bit more over the weekend, see if I can get it looking more realistic.

    Golden Yak on
    H9f4bVe.png
  • galengalen Registered User regular
    edited December 2006
    What game company?

    galen on
  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited December 2006
    s'called Kerberos Productions (hence the name I gave to the battleship.) They made a starship combat game called Sword of the Stars, which I haven't been able to locate a copy of yet.

    Here's some info on it:
    http://pc.ign.com/objects/781/781319.html

    As for the model, I've tried a bunch of different texturing methods based on some stuff I've seen online. I'm not crazy with the results, but I'll try some more stuff. I'm gonna try and tone down the edges on the panelling and fix some stuff here and there. I'll post more pics once I've reworked the whole thing.

    EDIT - Found out where the reference pics came from. An anime called 'Sol Bianca.' Hence, the name change to avoid legal action (for reals).

    Golden Yak on
    H9f4bVe.png
  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited December 2006
    After an intensive 2 week crash course in 3DStudio Max 8.0, I have produced the following refined version of the original battleship:

    solship01.jpg
    solship02.jpg
    solship03.jpg
    solship04.jpg

    Even got some engine glow effects put in there, although they're hard to see in the Max screenshots cuz of the shader used. It's around 3500 polys with a single 1024 texture, although I did a godawful job of laying out the UVs. Eh, new program jitters, whaddaya gonna do.

    What was really cool is that I got to import the model into a demo version of the SotS game engine, resulting in the following dogfight:

    solsshot01.jpg
    Engine thruster effect combined with the engine glow from the model came out really cool looking.

    solshot02.jpg
    PEW! PEW! PEW!

    solshot03.jpg
    Lasers! Isn't that a hoot?

    So, yeah. Now I'm a modelling god in both Maya and Max. Nothing can stop me now! Except for microscopic germs.

    Golden Yak on
    H9f4bVe.png
  • Ape2001Ape2001 Otaku GermanyRegistered User regular
    edited December 2006
    "Pew Pew Pew" XD

    Wow, that looks awesome. Especially these little effects like the light cones emitted by the red dots.
    You, Sir, are my hero of simplicity ;D

    Ape2001 on
    - SF42012 Gen replays and anime trailers http://www.youtube.com/user/derBene
    - great animation focused website http://www.catsuka.com
  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited December 2006
    Vaelastrasz down! Woo!

    What can I say, I love this game.

    vaelastrasz.gif

    vaelastrasz.jpg

    By the way, that's meant to the corrupted Vaelastrasz in the background, not Nefarius' dragon form.

    Golden Yak on
    H9f4bVe.png
  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Here's some of the first stuff I've done in 2007!

    Loki
    loki.gif
    You know, I really hope to Odin that they do something like this for Ultimate Loki when the last issue of Ultimates 2 comes out. Have you seen him right now? Short Norweigan guy... mm-mm. Not gonna do it for the prince of mischief. He doesn't even have horns. I mean, come on.

    Lashlayer
    broodlord.gif
    Done in anticipation of the Broodlord being felled by my WoW guild. It's only a matter of time.

    Primordial One
    primordial.gif
    What if dinosaurs survived to this day, and also developed psychic powers, and got small and fat, and their limbs atrophied and became vestigial? They'd totally look like this guy I bet.

    Phantoon
    phantoon.gif
    Anyone remember the Phantoon from Super Metroid? Fuck that guy. Fucking bullshit boss. Pic is unrelated to Metroid in any way.

    Jauntaur
    jauntaur.gif
    I think the Centaur has been the greatest thing to ever happen to fantasy artists. Really. I mean, now, to come up with a new monster, just take any existing fantasy monster, in this case the 'Coeurl' or 'Displacer Beast', and place an anthropomorphic upper torso of itself on it's neck. Bingo, new monster! I probably could've carried this thing off without the extra snarl of tentacles. But I've found that so many creature designs can be improved by adding rampant, unchecked mutation.

    Golden Yak on
    H9f4bVe.png
  • DeepQantasDeepQantas Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Wow, the skin on that new spaceship is really improved.

    The details like the lines and burns still look too large, tho. It kinda looks like a miniature model or Unreal Tournament weapon as far as the size is concerned. Or yeah... something out of Warcraft (in space). The latter might of course be a valid stylistic choice.

    I'm an amateur in all things graphical, but maybe it'd help to work with a larger texture before scaling it down?

    DeepQantas on
    m~
  • drinkinstoutdrinkinstout Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    your images are amazing - can't wait to see the AQ one finished. The broodlord isn't too bad of a fight, so long as you don't pull him early via whelps :)

    I played Sword of the Stars - was a good strategy game but the fighting engine was, in my opinion, terrible - so I auto-resolved all my fights :)

    I wish I worked for a game company tho :(

    Are you making anything for the launch of BC?

    drinkinstout on
  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited January 2007
    DeepQantas wrote:
    Wow, the skin on that new spaceship is really improved.

    The details like the lines and burns still look too large, tho. It kinda looks like a miniature model or Unreal Tournament weapon as far as the size is concerned. Or yeah... something out of Warcraft (in space). The latter might of course be a valid stylistic choice.

    I'm an amateur in all things graphical, but maybe it'd help to work with a larger texture before scaling it down?

    It actually was a huge texture. I just need more practice!

    I do like the more cartoony style of Warcraft models, and truth be told I'd probably come up with better looking results trying to model orcs or catapults than spaceships, but I think it's important for me to get better at all styles of texturing, especially given that I'm trying to make a career out of it. I'm getting better at using more references in my textures, so I think the quality of my 3D stuff will steadily improve.
    your images are amazing - can't wait to see the AQ one finished. The broodlord isn't too bad of a fight, so long as you don't pull him early via whelps :)

    I played Sword of the Stars - was a good strategy game but the fighting engine was, in my opinion, terrible - so I auto-resolved all my fights :)

    I wish I worked for a game company tho :(

    Are you making anything for the launch of BC?

    Aigh, haven't gone back to that AQ pic in a while... I find that if I work on any one thing for too long I get bored. Must force myself to finish! Blackwing Lair almost done!

    And yeah, I will be drawing something for the BC launch. Probably won't be done by tomorrow, but hopefully by the end of the week. I think it's some of the best lineart I've ever done.

    Speaking of WoW, a certain lucky fellow in my guild recently got ahold of the Thunderfury, and in his honor I made this:

    thunderer.jpg

    Golden Yak on
    H9f4bVe.png
  • EEZYEEZY Registered User new member
    edited January 2007
    I think all of your stuff is fantastic...though I think the black and white stuff is better.

    EEZY on
  • ohdeeohdee Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    EEZY wrote:
    I think all of your stuff is fantastic...though I think the black and white stuff is better.

    I agree, your inking is fucking awesome, really really well done
    I'd like to see how the coloured stuff looks with some more heavily inked outlines? But that may just be me

    ohdee on
    makes music and draws
  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Yeah, my coloring is pretty weak. It's something I'm constantly working to improve. I don't do nearly enough of it - I'm starting to like what I've done with my AQ pic, but it'll be a long time before I'm finished it. Mainly I don't do digital painting and I just try for comic-book style coloring.

    I have been thinking about doing that to a couple of my recent lineart sketches, particularly the Jauntaur pic. Just need to find some time.

    Here's another creature I just finished:

    sosh.gif

    No need to carry around your spells in a book when you've got the undead noggins of half a dozen wizards to hold the knowledge for you.

    Golden Yak on
    H9f4bVe.png
  • NightDragonNightDragon 6th Grade Username Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    It's a cool picture, but I can't help thinking, "shit, the top of that staff has got to be at least 50 lbs."...and how having the staff at a slight angle like that probably isn't the best way to keep it upright. It's like I'm waiting for the edge of the staff to start scraping along the ground, or whack the guy in the face, and then the top of the staff comes down in a crashing, disgusting mess. I'm also wondering how a small dude of that size can hold that staff up with relative ease. His arms look sturdy, but how much is he going to weigh, total? He doesn't look very heavy.





    Overthink things? Me??? Never.

    NightDragon on
  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Aww, I actually thought of that too! Once it was all finished I realized that even a human head is a couple pounds, and he's got like dwarves and ogres or something on there too. But in the end, I decided that I didn't care. I considered making him a bit bigger, but I like him small like that.

    I don't really know how to explain the whole size to weight ratio thing, so I simply won't.

    Golden Yak on
    H9f4bVe.png
  • NightDragonNightDragon 6th Grade Username Registered User regular
    edited January 2007
    Golden Yak wrote:
    Aww, I actually thought of that too! Once it was all finished I realized that even a human head is a couple pounds, and he's got like dwarves and ogres or something on there too. But in the end, I decided that I didn't care. I considered making him a bit bigger, but I like him small like that.

    I don't really know how to explain the whole size to weight ratio thing, so I simply won't.

    hey man.

    iss coo.


    Random Tidbit: yeah, while I was figuring the weight, I remembered hearing that human heads weigh, on average, 8-10 lbs. I did consider that some of the heads were ogres and whatnot, and probably heavier, but then, I didn't know how much "blood/tissue/bone density/bone weight/etc" factored in, but then my head exploded and I didn't want to think about it anymore.

    NightDragon on
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