Centaur - Character WIP

[Tully]

In the spirit of personal development, I thought a few weeks ago that I ought to do my own game character by myself. MoP's always been willing to do the parts I find boring in our joint projects before now, so I haven't had much practice in the nitty-gritties of character models. But no longer!

So far, my foray has gone thusly:

I did a concept
http://ldaustinart.com/laurel/centaur-conceptcol.jpg
I'll probably finish it later.

And I learned zbrush3.
http://ldaustinart.com/laurel/centaur-full_WIP.jpg
http://ldaustinart.com/laurel/centaur-head_WIP.jpg

And I made the low poly in max.
http://ldaustinart.com/laurel/centaur-lowpoly.jpg

Now I'm gonna do his little pack things and then get to UVs and textures. He's 7830 triangles at the moment as you see him. A bit over 8000 with his doodads. If I were super serious about this I'd probably pare that down, but I just want to make him a nice detailed piece of work that teaches me how to do this stuff, so ehhh... we'll see.

Any thoughts? I shall post updates as I go along if people are interested :)

[Gavin]

Looks very nice, Tully. The detailing on his accessories is especially nice. You "may" be able to cut out a loop int he knees and some polys int he hooves...but that's really nitpicking and it's not like you're pushing a crazy polycount anyhow. Not much else to add, definitely interested to see how this comes along.

Cheers,
Gav

[prototyp3]

I really dig the concept, and I like how you elongated the face to feel more beast like. Fantastic work.

Only suggestions would be to maybe widen those lower leg guards. A bit of overhang could give them more "oompf." Also the thigh looks a bit weird in that back view. Could be the angle, or my lack of anatomy knowledge. Anyways, keep us posted with the progress!

[Josh Singh]

Looking very cool. Pointed ears would make him more fantasy in my opinion. I absolutely love the cloth around his neck. Really nice Tully. I dig.

[zeke3d]

looking great, dont forget the small details in the concept art, like the pouches or water jugs, they will really elevate what youve got. looks stellar.

[EricElwell]

wow! that face is just splendid! I really like how you have balanced the features. Really maintains the feeling of intelligence while getting those animal features in. i dig it!

[BuroKun]

Nice, smooth work. The only thing I can think of.....the front legs seem just a little to thin....but that might be the angle or just me....nice work man, now texture this bad boy!

[K_Sheriff]

Very nice work. I love the armor, as it seems suitable to me that centaurs should wear archer-type gear. I do think he might look pretty sweet with longer hair, but that might be a little typical. I'm trying to get my head around zbrush atm also, so I've gotta ask:

I assume you sculpted the body seperately from the accessories, but were all of the accessories sculpted from a single base mesh, or a bunch or floating pieces? Also, did you do any of the hi-poly modeling before importing?

I'm assuming all of the work was done in zbrush, but I'm just curious.

[_tdc_]

Nice. Love how it's not simply human on the first half. I like that aqua green or whatever on the low poly. Maybe incorporate that into the final piece? Just a thought. (I still think you should have taken winner on dominance war, or at least just 2nd place).

-tchiu

[typhus22]

wow that is pretty! my only complaint is the horse half seems really small compared to the human half (maybe its the hooves cuz the view in max looks bout right) or is that camera perspective? other then that he is looking sweet! oh and his face reminds me of batou from ghost in the shell but thats not a bad thing since i always thought he looks a bit horse-ish

[-JL-]

Yea, very nice model. :)

I saw this earlier today on polycount and also saw some of the feedback you got already... (legs feel a little thin, and shin armor/greaves feel a little "small"). And I pretty much agree with those points. :)

None the less this is a very nicely made model. And I love the shoulder/arm armor. :praise:

EDIT:: Were you planning on adding further levels of detail? Because the ZBrush mesh looks a little faceted still...? though I guess when smoothed in Max/Maya you wouldn't notice anymore.

[Tully]

Thanks for the feedback, everybody :)

Gavin: Glad you like!
prototyp3: I think you're right about the shin guards.. they could stand to be bulkier. I'm in the process of tweaking the high poly in that area right now, actually :)
Josh Singh: Pointy ears would probably make him look more fantasy, but I have to say "good gawd, no!!1!!" I overused the pointy ears in my elf-drawing phase in high school and I can't bring myself to do it again! I know centaurs are a cliche, but I don't think I wanna resign myself to that too terribly much :) Thanks though!
Zeke3D: Totally, no worries there! I've already done his tassles and sword and stuff (haven't done his bags yet, but they're on the list).. just didn't post cause they're kinda boring and cluttered looking atm. They'll be in the final though, for sure.
EricElwell: Thanks, that's just what I was going for!
Burokun: Thanks! Texturing is still a liiiittle way off cause I wanna make some more tweaks to it, but it shall be done.
K-sherrif: They're subtools created from a nude centaur sculpt (which is under there... I may post it later) using the topology tool. It's a really good way to do it, imo. Don't need to bother with max and it's easy to get a simple shape to start with.
_tdc_: Nice of you to say :) I don't think I'll be making him that colour though! The teal was picked on a whim... he's gonna end up gold, bronze and red like the concept, I think.
typhus22: You know, I honestly think it's just the perspective in that shot. I was worried for a while that his human parts were too small! It's more evident when you look at him from the side, so I think I'll do my best in future posts to get less perspective distortion.
-JL-: Thanks, I'm changing the model a bit now to take the crits I've been getting into account. One can't do absolutely everything everybody says, but it's all been very helpful! I don't think I'll be doing any more subdivision, just because of what you mention. You'd never see the extra detail unless it was ridiculously high resolution, and I plan on spending a lot of time on the diffuse. If I want any more detail in the normals, I can add it in photoshop without much fuss.

[Amethyst]

WOW Tully,
You are a great concept artist and now you dazzle us with your 3d character. Great work. Can't wait to see it finished...

[Sir Rodriguez]

looks solid bro. guess im waiting on textures now...

[zabuza2k]

wow great model

[2000yearsoldman]

cool model man.
I really like the his armor, it stand up pretty good.
keep it up.

[East]

And I learned zbrush3.
Oh really? I'm glad you told us, otherwise we might have missed that fact :rolleyes: (That's my way of saying "this is some seriously good stuff with very nice details (such as the horsey-hinted face), and I can't wait to see how this progresses".)

[IRONMONKEY]

Great work Tully nice rendition can't wait to see the rest.

[zann]

Cant wait to see more of the progress, keep us update! :thumb:

[Yung]

Woah.........! Nice! I am looking forward to your next update! Damn......

[miezis]

yeah... and i was comforting myself, thinking that Tully can only draw... so what will MoP do now? :) did you fire him already? :D

[poopinmymouth]

Really nice work Tully. I can't wait to see this finished. I'm eager to see how you tackle the tail/mane.

http://www.mr-chompers.com/images/poop.gif (http://www.poopinmymouth.com)

[Daniel_C]

Looks like you have a knack for this! I'm definitely excited about this model!

[Ancient-Pig]

Looking very cool :)

I like the horse-like treatment to the face!

[obi-one]

I also like the face a lot. The concept and the Zbrushing are great too.

I'm now waiting for an update, keep it up.

[mrkite]

that looks great Tully, maybe the stomach could hang a bit more? looks a bit tubular, but that might just be the camera angles. Awesome work!

[Tully]

Thanks for the replies, everybody :) I'm gonna be away for about a week (MoP and I are going to Paris! I'm excited :lucky:) so I thought I'd post a little something before I go. I haven't had much time to make many changes based on the suggestions (though I have started some, and I'm planning it), but I realised I didn't have any images of the nude sculpt up. Thought I might also offer some different angles for consideration too.

http://ldaustinart.com/laurel/centaur-nude_front.jpg
http://ldaustinart.com/laurel/centaur-nude_back.jpg

I'm realising how tricky proportions are to get right on a character like this. Obviously making musculature around the lower human torso is tricky (how does one turn a neck into a torso, exactly? O_o) and the fact that horses are just SO much bigger than humans. If you put a regular human size torso onto a horse, it looks tiny, but if you make it bigger, it easily looks out of proportion because horses have skinny legs, so the legs will tend to look too skinny compared to what out to be legs of a more human thickness.

Anyway, that's enough rambling... I think for a compromise, I'm going to thicken up the forelegs a tad to bring them more in line with the hind legs (which are admitedly noticably more robust). I don't want to make them clydesdale-ish cause he's just not that sort of centaur, but there's a middle ground to be sought.

Amethyst: Thanks! Glad you're liking it :)
Sir Rodriguez: I'm a girl, but thanks for the sentiment :D
zabuza2k: Thanks!
2000yearsoldman: thankya :)
East: Maybe I did it in mudbox and changed the colours and background to make you THINK I'd done it in zbrush!!?! Or maybe I did it in a previous version! Maybe we're all in the matrix. We just can't know anything for sure. Thanks though ;)
IRONMONKEY: I hope not to disappoint!
zann: will do :inocent:
Yung: thanks :D
miezis:Good drawing and good sculpting all come from the same place! Only the knowledge of software stands in the way :). Won't be firing MoP! He reminds me to tie my shoes and holds my hand when we cross the street so oncoming traffic doesn't get me. You'd be surprised the trouble you can get into when you're used to traffic going the other direction. Handy fellow!
poopinmymouth: thanks, poop :) I'm not altogether sure of how I'll do that myself yet, but I'm sure I'll jimmy something together decently!
Daniel_C: Thanks! I appreciate it :)
Ancient-Pig: Cool, I was hoping to get the horseishness across! I think it'll be even more apparent with what I've got in mind for the texture.
obi-one: thanks :)
mrkite: Thanks! I'll take a closer look at the horse-torso, but atm I'm thinking it's ok... you should be able to see better in the pics I posted just now. What do you think?

[Marcus Dublin]

Wow I had no idea you could bust out some 3d like this:eek:, I guess it's not to surprising given the fact that your 2d skills are so solid. I don't have much to add in terms of suggestions and like everyone else I'm looking forward to the finished model!:)

PS: Get a copy of Narnia on DVD, on the bonus disk they have a whole section dedicated to centaurs and it proved invaluable to me when I had to make a centaur myself.:lucky:

[zeus]

i think i speak for everyone here when i say...give us more! i cant wait to see how this comes together

[JesseMoody]

Wow very nice stuff. Can't wait to see more on this one.

[ramstheman]

looks amazing! come back so we can see it finished! >:D

[desireeluv]

holy crap !! he totally kicks massive ass!! yaya!! i did a centaur too but your's kicks my centaurs ass any day!!