3DMini #32 ::: Star Trek Officer

[Admin]

http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/extras/mini/mini3d_32.jpg

For this month's mini challenge, we are paying tribute to a tv series, set of movies, and the creation of somewhat stellar games, with a topic that helped forge a foundation for a sci-fi universe that we all have come to respect and enjoy, Star Trek. In this light, fellow Artisans, it's time to get creative and create your very own Star Fleet Officer. This officer can be any race, any gender, and any rank, however, the only restriction is, he/she must be wearing a star fleet uniform. Feel free to re-invent the uniform but at the end of the day, your character must look like he/she belongs in the Star Trek Universe.

As always, backgrounds are optional. Pedestals are optional. Basically... everything is optional. This challenge is here for those desiring to practice their art and receive friendly advice from fellow artisans. So keep it easy, keep it quick, and keep it real. Good Luck!

The Specs:
-7000 tri's *feel free to use less
- 1x1024² Diffuse (Optional:ANY/ALL are permitted :Normal, Spec, Gloss, Glow, Bump.)


Prizes:
1st place:
- 1 new forum and gallery award icon for mini challenges
- 1 point towards raising your overall game, elite, and/or master rating
on gameartisans

2nd place:
- 1 new forum and gallery award icon for mini challenges
- 1/2 point towards raising your overall game, elite, and/or master
rating on gameartisans

3rd place:
- 1 new forum and gallery award icon for mini challenges
- .25 points towards raising your overall game, elite, and/or master rating on gameartisans


SOFT DEADLINE
January 24th
SUBMIT FINALS HERE: http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/minis/join_mini3d.html


Public Voting:
All Winners are chosen through a public voting system. Only GA.org members may vote.

Additional Notes:
Please do not make a new thread for your entry. Keep all w.i.p shots in this specific thread.

It's STRONGLY encouraged that you post progress images as replies this thread. We're not forcing everyone to yet, but half of the point of these minis are to help build up the community. If you're posting last minute without at least saying hello, then you're missing all the fun! Stop lurking!

[SuPa-]

Intense! I'll probably not finish... again
Nonetheless, sounds fun

[Maph]

Oh my, totally want to join this one! But I won't have time (again!). :(

[Pshyco]

Oh nice!! I'm in!

[turbo]

hmmmm, I'm Definitely in. I just need to do some research first lol.

I don't know enough about star trek

[BigJohn]

Interesting... I have an idea already for something :)

For everyone who's interested:
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Portal:People

List of races and well-known people.

Edit:
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/gallery/starfleet-uniforms1.htm

Bunch of different Starfleet Uniforms from different eras.

[AcrobatFly]

I don't know enough about star trek
You don't need to. You just need to know what the uniforms and color schemes look like. That's pretty much the beauty of this brief.

[macattackk]

Can we make up our own race?

[FredH]

macattackk - Yup, you can make your own race. As long as anything you create is wearing a uniform, you are good to go:thumb:

[Draxxuss]

I like this idea a lot. I've got to decide to do this or start on my short film idea.

[HeadClot]

Going to give this a try. :)

[Maker_of_Worlds]

I'm in but I'm new here so I'm curious as to where to start. I have a race in mind and ill be roughing the uniform tonight. Any help would be appreciated!

[macattackk]

this is good to check out too:

http://www.startrekonline.com/frontpage

thats where the images on the the banner came from.

[Draxxuss]

started off.. not sure if I'll finish though. I'm taking inspiration from some real world officers and streamlining it a bit to fit the Star Trek world a bit better. Got started on the legs.

[Xenier]

Cool challenge, I doubt i'll get to it, but I'm kicking around the idea of doing a M.A.C.O Commando from Enterprise from the time period of the Dominion War. Could be fun to do a proper soldier and still make it fit within the universe.

[Draxxuss]

a bit more on the legs...

[Draxxuss]

okay.. about 6 hours in and I've got all the basics in there. I'll get the head started tomorrow and hopefully move this guy into mudbox tomorrow. I know it isn't the best optimized for sculpting but I am trying to fly through this as I don't have a lot of time.

[KingV]

This idea's great,Like it.

[jeronimo]

I'm in! :) I'll try to do something because I like Star Trek!

[bcottage]

My god Draxxuss you dont hang around do you?

Where do you start to model a character in 3ds max? characters are a whole new concept to me as i mostly like to do props and enviroment stuff but im kinda sick of seeing these amazing character comps and not knowing where to start :/

[mwgrafx]

I need to get back into 3D. I'm in.

[Maker_of_Worlds]

Concept art and reference images.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb383/Stevecarmichael1/scan0005777.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb383/Stevecarmichael1/Lions.jpg

[Maker_of_Worlds]

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb383/Stevecarmichael1/Lionprogress.jpg

about 2 hours in.

[Draxxuss]

My god Draxxuss you dont hang around do you?

Where do you start to model a character in 3ds max? characters are a whole new concept to me as i mostly like to do props and enviroment stuff but im kinda sick of seeing these amazing character comps and not knowing where to start :/

No I don't have time to hang around ... I have very limited time avaiable and need to use it when I can.

I like to look for inspiration/reference images to start with. If I have the opportunity, I will draw out some concepts to get an idea where I am headed but in this instance, reference pics were good enough to get going. Block out basic shapes like arms and legs and torso, add feet and hands, and begin refining. There are many that start out with Highpoly sculpting first and then retopolgize a low poly in order to bake the normal map. I have chosen to do the low res first and then create a high res off of that. I like to change up my creation methods in order to stay versatile.

I could go on and on about where to start modeling a character but that might give you a bit of insight at the very least.


Here is a bit further modeling.

[ShadowKing]

Cool idea for a comp.
draxxuss yours is looking sweet, I really like the design :thumb:.

heres where Im at, Im going to keep it simple so that I can finish it.
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/2374/andorianwoman1.jpg

[Maker_of_Worlds]

Draxxuss - Looking really good! I like the Barret look.
S.King - Looks like you have a really big lead! Ill be dragging mine into zbrush by tommorrow so hopefully ill catch up!

[jeronimo]

Draxxuss, S.King, great start!!

Here's my start.

[Draxxuss]

ShadowKing - thanks. I was wondering when one of the blue chicks would make an appearance.
Maker - thanks. working on the head now.
Jeronimo - thanks. put in a few placeholder spheres for eyes so you can get the lids to flow better on the face.

[jeronimo]

Here're the spheres in their orbits :)

progress, I work on proportions but it is not finished yet. I'm not going to something as realistic but to the comics style .

[Maker_of_Worlds]

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb383/Stevecarmichael1/Untitled.jpg

now that i have the main form made, time to start in with the detail :)

[Draxxuss]

okay... made a little headway on my model....
I'm at around 6500 tris currently.

[SuPa-]

Hey Draxxus, looking good! I think his butt might be a little too low though and his face looks pinched
It's not exactly necessary, but maybe you could develop the forms in the arms a little more like with what you did with the pants? They look a bit tubular right now

[Alberto Cano]

Hi all, I will participate in the contest, let me see that this is the final work.
@ DRAXXUSS great job, I love your idea of uniform star, will monitor your progress;)
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[Draxxuss]

Supa - thanks for the comments. A lot of what you are mentioning will be taken care of after Mudbox has been applied. I will double check the height on his butt.

Alberto Cano - thank you.

[Draxxuss]

I did some proportions tweaks and a few others.

[Pshyco]

As good as always Draxuss, I hope you will finish in time ;).
ShadowKing: Really fast and good, like McDonald's lol.
Maker of worlds: I think your topology needs a revision, but on general lines looks quite good ;)
Alberto Cano: Suerte con tu entrada, compañero ;).

[jeronimo]

Draxxuss, good polyflow and costume design.

progress on the face...

[Draxxuss]

Psycho - thanks

Jeronimo - thanks I like the way the face i turning out on yours.

[Mrpearlzildjian]

Concept art and reference images.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb383/Stevecarmichael1/scan0005777.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb383/Stevecarmichael1/Lions.jpg

KILRATHI!!! lol

[Pshyco]

Hi!

Some concept-sketch I'm working on. My idea is to make a mix between a different styles of a samurai suits with a futuristic touch that it can looks like is from a Star Trek universe.

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/8823/bocetando.jpg

And references for to make a suit:

http://www.todahistoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Samurai.png
http://noticias.gekkomagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/samurai1uz91.jpg

I hope you like it, guys!

[MattBlack]

Thinking of something like this
http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii367/mcarless/head.jpg

[macattackk]

Well here's my concept.

What?? A Borg captain? im sure it could happen at some point..

Didnt really have room on the paper to complete his feet. Just gonna be more sci fi stuff on it.

His suit is over top all of his pipes and sci fi parts so its just gonna be a kinda silhouette of all that stuff.

Hopefully he doesnt look too evil.

Draxxus: Nice, very officer like, I must say. He looks strict and regimented.

ShadowKing: Youll definitely finish at that rate, wow. Looks well done too. Good job.

Maker_of_Worlds: Cool man, that patch will make him look badass.

jeronimo: Cool, definitely looking very Star Trekish.

Psycho: I like the idea. Cant wait to see it.

http://i51.tinypic.com/zvbhqs.jpg

[jeronimo]

Draxxuss, thanks, I await your next step!

Psycho, I like your concept, seems to me very original and interesting...looking forward...

macattackk, thanks, you looked good to me, I like the mechanical part of the head :)

[Maker_of_Worlds]

I was thinking of doing a Borg guy too but decided that someone might take up that banner. Cant wait to see what you do with it though :)

[Draxxuss]

Not as much participation with this comp as I thought there would be. Disappointing.

[Mrpearlzildjian]

Not as much participation with this comp as I thought there would be. Disappointing.

I think everyone was probably getting ansy for DWV. Me personally, I have a few other projects on the plate. I think it's a cool concept, despite the fact that I am not really a Star Trek fan, but I can see where you're coming from.

I'm lurking though, checking everyones pieces out, so I hope you churn out a cool entry with the rest of the participants. Good luck.

[SuPa-]

Not as much participation with this comp as I thought there would be. Disappointing.

Yeah I noticed that too. It might be because people are still off on the holidays, but I don't know
I'll be joining in once I finish my current model

[jeronimo]

Not as much participation with this comp as I thought there would be. Disappointing.
I agree, I think people expect DW V. .. disappointing because I'm a fan of Star Trek and I thought there was going to have more people...expect to see, sometimes things can change like the weather ;)

progress on the uniform.

[obeyurnapster]

Hello all, i ll try to end this challenge, it can be fun, here 's a free interpretation of a space creature ! good luck all !


http://nsa19.casimages.com/img/2010/12/31/101231041915709196.jpg

[Draxxuss]

obey- nice concept.. I was going to try something similar but wanted to change it up a bit from what I normally enjoy doing which is cartoony style.

[MattBlack]

Updated concept a bit. Changed body and face somewhat.
http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii367/mcarless/head2.jpg

Draxxuss - you're soooo fast - I'm envious :)
Obeyurnapster - love the style man!
Jeronimo - face reminds me of a greek/roman mask - nice
Macattackk - great concept - can't wait to see it come to life

[Marcjs]

KILRATHI!!! lol
i thought the exact same thing when i saw it i guess starcraft 2 brought the whole Wing Commander back.

Psycho - Kinda reminds of samurai jack though i can see samurai jack being roped into starfleet :)


Since i didn't see anyone doing the cliche i thought i should, otherwise it wouldn't be cliche :p
so i am modeling a Female Vulcan Officer.

4248 at the moment still lots to do

not sure if to go with the typical pants or skirt or the mini skirt that the early female officer had to wear amusing to see the change in uniforms as the times changed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/marcjs/Vulcan2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/marcjs/Vulcan1.jpg

[TheQiwiMan]

I am so jumping in on this!

[Pshyco]

Good stuff is cocking here, waiting to see how all this concepts becomes on three dimensions.

Playing a little with the concept...

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/269/bocetando2.jpg

[marat-ars]

Good work everyone. I'm not a fan of Star Trek, just interesting to look at the variety of characters here and on the concepts, too. GL guys!
Draxxuss - nice topo. i want to see u concept also. is it a possible?:)
Pshyco - Sweet concept man. Cant wait to see u mesh.:)

[jeronimo]

obeyurnapster, nice sketch and creature! looking forward to see the next step...

TheQiwiMan, Welcome to the party! ;)

MattBlack, thanks, I agree with you about his face :) I like your new way.

Pshyco, your concept promises many good things!!

next step of the uniform...

[Mrpearlzildjian]

i thought the exact same thing when i saw it i guess starcraft 2 brought the whole Wing Commander back.



I was wondering if anyone would catch on to that lol That was one of my favorite games ever back in the day. I still have WCIII: Heart of the Tiger in mint for PS1(big box packaging) in all it's 4 disc glory. lol

[macattackk]

Heres my base mesh so far. 2862 tris Ill make his face look more like my drawing once i get more res in there

http://i55.tinypic.com/2jb4ebt.jpg

http://i53.tinypic.com/ddooqw.jpg

[Draxxuss]

i just HAD to make a phaser!

[jeronimo]

macattackk, great start base mesh.

Draxxuss, I really like your design phaser!!*****

[TheRealPhoenix]

I don't know a damn thing about Star Trek (exept some eps from the old TV serie with Kirk, Spok and Mccoy), and I'm a little late, but since DW is delayed, I'll try something!

[jeronimo]

update of the day, I started the boots, I must stay to finish the phaser and legs...

[Draxxuss]

jeronimo - we'll need to have a phaser duel!


A little more tweaking on costume and phaser and I'm now ready to unwrap at 6970 tris. Gotta keep a few extra tris ready just in case I run into some problems later on.

[Blacklion]

I was Bummed by the D wars Delay; :cry:
maybe this will help me cope better....ah cant use the delay of a major event to be cause for not do anything:uhh:
at first i wasn't sure bout this....but actually not ta bad idea guys!!
for my two cents
my take on Star-fleet marines
sometimes the big toe has to be A$$ kicker.

[jeronimo]

Draxxuss, yeah you're right! good idea, thanks.
>> Great work on his uniform. Are you going to sculpt him a bit?

Blacklion, nice concept and sketch!

[Draxxuss]

Blacklion . looking nice. I was close to doing a heavy officer as well. I'm glad someone is. You should be able to pull it off well. ( his biceps are looking quite small ) There are many sites that have phaser rifle references and making a replica could really help to tie this guy into the Star Trek unvierse.

Jeronimo - I'll be starting the sculpt tonight.

[Draxxuss]

an update... starting to get in some mudbox work on him.

[Draxxuss]

legs a bit further on.

[TheQiwiMan]

Looks awesome so far Draxx, as always! :)

Heres my Romulan Security Officer so far. Gunna lay out the UVs tomorrow.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4wLdNi0r3Ac/TSFO6o1YhHI/AAAAAAAAAHw/bgv1EVIbeuk/s1600/star_trek_WIP02.jpg


-oops I meant Vulcan. :(

Blacklion- thats a way cool concept. Lookin forward to seein it in 3D.

[Blacklion]

Thanx Draxxuss :)
yeah; the arm is small, fresh eyes see it and point it out; easy fix :thumb:
I ran outta ideas for a Gun TBH... the RAVENS game was on ... they will drive you to drink at times...I swear.

Wow..the wrinkle sculpt makes for all the difference in the officer; really like where he's going.:thumb:

I was mulling over what process to start my with own guy....go st8 Z and do a ken doll sculpt and refine adding detail as i go ?
or start with a mesh base in max and build....IMO either one will work, i just have to choose one and deal with the details of the chosen path.
I spend way too much time on this part so this is good, mental, practice one day to decide maybe both methods are the answer.

the original post message of keeping it fast inspired me to start this in the first place.

[Arkhange]

@ Draxxuss : Nice progress, but something feels weird in the proportions.
Maybe your should try more narrow hips/upper legs, your character have to large waist for his head/arms size (like a normal head on a chubby torso).
Or just scale up head slightly (really slightly) and some more volume on the biceps muscles.
@ Obeyournapster : Cool concept ! Love your cartoony style as always :D
@ TheQiwiMan : Really nice start, I like the overall proportions and style you give it to him !

[Draxxuss]

Blacklion -thanks.

Arkhange - thanks for the comments. A lot of that can be played with once the bake is done. Im not quite in a aggrement with the proportion advice but I will definitely check it out closer. thanks again.

here is a bit more progress.

[Draxxuss]

some work on the head

[Draxxuss]

trying some colour out

[Pshyco]

TheQiwiMan: Good and solid job. Looks so promising ;)
Draxxuss: Nothing to say about it... keep it up at this level man!
BlackLion: Good concept, dude!

Some kind of approach for a base mesh here:

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/2056/quitebasemesh.jpg

[obeyurnapster]

Hello,
Good style on the basemesh Psycho, Great scult Daxxus !
Some Basemesh too, im on the Zbrush right now

http://nsa26.casimages.com/img/2011/01/03/110103040805448127.jpg

http://img4.hostingpics.net/pics/483384wipzbrush.jpg (http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=483384wipzbrush.jpg)

[Draxxuss]

Pshyco - (damn I always want to spell Psycho) - thanks. Character style is nice. I like the angular facial features. Feels a bit TeamFortress

Oberyur - thanks. I really like the cartoony style. His bendy legs (side view) are really buggin me though. Seems like too much of an 'S' in there.

[TheQiwiMan]

Live Long and Lay Out UVs.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4wLdNi0r3Ac/TSHq3vdW2aI/AAAAAAAAAH0/97Y6CEUajtk/s1600/UVs_Vulcan.jpg

Draxxuss- I'm really diggin it so far. The wrinkles look good, especially on the pants. One thing though, is his belt buckle what he hits to communicate? (I don't know what their called, communicators?) Or are you going to add one to his chest? Plus I might add some of those dots to his neck that some of the uniforms had to indicate rank. Just a suggestion. :)

Pshyco- Thanks! You got a solid base mesh as well, I'm digging the stylized proportions.

obeyurnapster- Nice! Always a fan of your style. I'd have to agree with Draxxuss about the legs and I'd personally pump up the upper arms a tad, but thats just me. Lookin forward to seeing more!

[Draxxuss]

Qiwi - thanks. I am going to add more detail in the diffuse and overlay some drawn normal info in photoshop so that will take care of things like a chest communicator/logo thingy. as you can see on the latest pic that I already had some of those neck dots... these are placeholders for now but I think I'll keep them. I may adjust in photoshop or bake some other ones in max. Thanks for the comments.

here is an update. colours are still simply wip and will slightly change.

[jeronimo]

Draxxuss, your character is getting better and better! I like it! I look forward the textures.

Pshyco, nice basemesh!

obeyurnapster, awesome style!

TheQiwiMan, I like your character ...but I'm not a big fan of knee but comes good with the style.

[Pshyco]

oberyunapster: Good interpretation of the concept, and I think that is the most important part to make a three dimension character from a concept. Keep it up!
TheQiwiMan: The space of this UVW Map looks really really good spent. Smells so good.
Draxxuss: Can't wait to see the base mesh with normals!
jeronimo: Thx, mate. I'd noticed your character looks a bit spongy. Is the touch you want to give it? Concepts?

Anyway, here's my update. Maybe some re-do in lower part of the pants and time to go with mr. Zbrush.

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/8831/almostbm.jpg

[TheQiwiMan]

Pshyco- really like the cartoony look. How close are you to your 7K limit so far?

Quick sculpt WIP from short lunch today. Will work on him more tonight after work.

[Draxxuss]

Pshyco - low poly with normals... most of them.. still need to do the belt and shoulder rope and boot straps.

[jeronimo]

Pshyco, no, the sculpt as it is for now but I will firm up a bit general forms.

Draxxuss, nice bake!

[Pshyco]

TheQiwiMan: After a few fixes, I managed to leave the model below 7,000. I'm thinking about two katanas...
Draxxuss: Really cool stuff man. What program did you use?
jeronimo: Ok, I'm waiting for your next updates then ;)


I think it's enough to take him to the Zbrush.
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/6725/basetoz.jpg

[yoyomon]

Draxxuss: I think his jaw needs more volume. It looks pretty thin compared to his cheeks/cheek bone.

[Lamont]

Awesome meshes folks!!

[Kot_Leopold]

Great meshes all of you.

One question though, how do I find out how many tris I have if I started my base mesh within ZBrush using ZSpheres?

[jeronimo]

Pshyco, really nice work!*****(you changed the proportions a bit so I can see, It's much better)

[Draxxuss]

Jeronimo - thanks

Pshyco - thank you. 3ds max and mudbox

yoyoman - thanks for the comment. I've fixed it up. looks better now.

[Arkhange]

@ Pshyco : Great idea and modelling so far, the design looks really sexy !
The only thing I have to point is the hairline who seems a bit awkward to me.
Maybe just try to slightly (my fav' word these days :p) lower the hair, right now I think they are just a bit too high and it hurts your overall silhouette, especially on the front view.
Anyway, I will watch these thread and your progress, sure you will make great work with these General. Follow the way of the samurai ;)
@Obeyournapster : Love the shapes of your sculpt so far, really solid cartoony style ! Really efficient ! Keep it up !

[Draxxuss]

blocking in some colour in photoshop

edit... worked on the face textures a bit as well.

[Blacklion]

Great Stuff guys!
Oh GAWD am i RUSTY!! it's been almost a YEAR since I made a decent base mesh.
I'm glad the competition got delayed afterall...kinda....

ANYWAY

Draxxus he's lookin GREAT! he could command my guys any day:cool:

Pshyco: the model is coming along Quite well; i like the shape of his head and the armor details make it stand out.

Quiman: the vulcan sculpt looks REALLY, really nice

obeyurnapster: your Z brush version turned out fantastic great style there:thumb:

[Draxxuss]

Blacklion... extrude the armhole out to the wrist location, select the edges you just created down the arm tube, connect edges by about 10, then in the front view loop select each edge loop and scale appropriately to match your reference. It will be much faster than doing what you are planning to do with the above pic.

[TheQiwiMan]

Really nice texture work on the face so far Draxxuss!


Pshyco- Dude I can't wait to see that guy textured, I'm lovin that base mesh man.

I didn't get a chance to work on mine last night due to some exciting news my new boss gave me about possibly opening up a game studio department here at work. Very very exciting stuff. :)

[Draxxuss]

Qiwi - thanks... here is a bit of an update on the face

[Pshyco]

Arkhange: I sign your coment about the hair for the next update, man. Thx a lot.
Draxxuss: Haha man! I think that a good texturing process grows the level of a normal character, but yours is a good character too. You're cocking for a nice final with your texturing skills, I love it where are you going ;)
Blacklion: Thx mate :).
TheQiwiMan: Oh man, this 'mini' things are meaningless when you receive a notice like that! Good present for this dates. Keep us informed :lucky:

No time to work on my character today, so time to relax and playing some random FPS game from ps3. :lol:

[Blacklion]

Thanx Draxxus:
Took me a lil more than an hour to create what i have so far give or take a few mins.

I like the organic approach of edge extrusion; leaving a few holes here and there allows me to see the form before it's filled out and easily alter topology if needed.
i use a combination of bridges, connects and loop extrusions starting from a single plane with no segments.
for me large blocks get in the way of my minds eye; this feels more organic to me. believe it or not; faster.... probably cause i do it so much. ..just been a while. feels good to get back out here.

I used to do it solely the way you suggested; for years in fact. tried and true method i agree.
But what i noticed is that I lost feeling for the mesh and the result was a vanilla polycage with little in the silhouette that exalted expression.
I then spend time getting that "feel" back.


but each thier own, what ever works is what i say
your advice is appreciated and wanted :mugs:

I have a vid process on it here.
http://the-edge-loop.blogspot.com/2009/01/poly-build-sessions.html

[L3XICON]

Draxxuss - looking great, the normal bake is spot on, can't see much difference at all between your high and low poly!

Pshyco - nice style and great character to him :) almost a guybrush threepwood hairstyle going on there.

obeyurnapster - loving this cartoony guy, top notch! would like to see the hands made a little larger to push the proportions a bit further. looking forward to seeing more.

thought I'd have a quick blast. Have to say I'm not much of a star trek fan, but I liked the 60's series! Wanted to go with a pretty standard female character, not really going with my normal styalised look. I also really wanted to push the 60's vibe :) Any crits or comments are more than welcome!

[martin_x]

Not a fan of star trek. In fact I've never seen the movie/series. But since DomWar is postponed and I got nothing much going on on my winter brake I'll jump in.
Psycho: looks great. can't wait to see your sculpt
Draxxuss: wow you're moving really fast. Great job so far!
Here's my base for sculpt.

[MattBlack]

Ok - I'm at this point now, about 3000 tris. Do you guys smooth your model up to 7000 or just keep adding loops until you're around that??

http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii367/mcarless/star_t_1.jpg

Pshyco - great stuff
Qiwiman - love the way this is going
Draxxus - really nice texturing man

[thebubz]

Draxxuss - Your diffuse is looking really nice so far.

I wish I had the time to squeeze this comp in but with school starting next week and work, I might have to pass on this one.

[Draxxuss]

l3xicon - thanks very much. woman looks nice so far.. don't forget the ear bud for communications! :)

martin_x - thanks.. I never have much time so I try to blast through it. Are you going for human or alien?

the bubz - thanks bub.

[Draxxuss]

Mattblack - I usually use 8 - 10 sided cylindrical tubes for the arms. Any less and the bake start running into problems. Higher than that and it ends up redundant as the silhouette doesn't change much. Fingers are usually 6-8 sided as they aren't as large and noticeable as the limbs. A decent head mesh could run anywhere from 600-1500 so an average of about 1000 is something to shoot for. The torso could be upwards of 16-20 sided as it is the largest part of the mesh and needs to keep the same type of curvature as the arms and legs. If you start making gear like weapons, that can eat up the budet pretty quick. All in all, it doesn't take long to build up the tri count.
Looking at yours, there are many places I'd add mesh to help with the silhouette. Try using flat shading and look for areas that you can add interesting details, round out polygonal corners, etc.

[Draxxuss]

update.. it's always the last 10% that takes the longest. going to start on the specular and then revisit the diffuse. I also need to start on the phaser. I got rid of the belt buckle. I may put something back in but the circle wasn't working for me.

edit** a bit of work done to the phaser.

[Draxxuss]

really quick and dirty phaser blast

[jeronimo]

Draxxuss, really nice officer!!*****

[macattackk]

Heres my base mesh. 6648 tris.

Draxxuss: Looks great. Are the rank circles part of the mesh or part of the normal map?

MattBlack: I like the cartoonish long legs but to me they either seem a little too long or too skinny.

martin_x: Im liking the style you have for the face, id just maybe make the eyes a little bigger. Seems like hes squinting.

L3XICON: Cool, how many tris is your mesh?

http://i52.tinypic.com/spg5f4.jpg

http://i54.tinypic.com/36ki8.jpg

http://i54.tinypic.com/xdfkp5.jpg

[obeyurnapster]

great job on this texture Draxxuss ! and sweet mesh, just great

[Draxxuss]

mac - textured... and thanks.

obey - thanks very much. I'm working on the spec right now and then need to rig him for posing. I'm thinking action pose firing his phaser.

[martin_x]

My head sculpt. Initially I wanted to make small holes for ears but it looks weird. So I added him elf-kind ears. Crits and comments are welcome.
Draxxuss: I'm going for an alien. Great job on textures. I really like the colors you chose.
macattackk: thanks. Eyes are bigger.

[ShadowKing]

Draxxuss - Thats great! top quality work. You just need to sort that specularity out and it will be perfect, although I'd like to see a tough guy like that with a bigger gun. :thumb:

Martin_x - Thats a cool sculpt youve got going, cant wait to see the rest of it!

pshyco - I like the stylized look and design, but Im not sure how well it fits in with the star trek theme. Maybe lose the waist armor?:think:

Good Luck guys!

Heres where Im at.

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/8585/wip2q.jpg

Currently at 4700 polys. I need to model the hands, hair, belt and phaser rifle yet.
Still alot to do.

[Draxxuss]

Shadowking - thanks. yah.. but there weren't many big guns on the show. That's kind of what I like about the size of it. You always expect them to have bigger guns.. but man.. they are frickin lazers! very stern looking face on your chick. probably the heavy eyebrows. I'd like to see what it would look like if you narrowed them and styled them a bit more feminine.

[ShadowKing]

yeah I see what you mean, no point lugging a rifle about when your sidearm can vaporize whole armies :guns: .
I'll see what I can do with her eyebrows, I havent worked on them much yet.
Cheers! :thumb:

[Grubber]

Hey guys, I decided to join the fun :)
But first some comments

@ShadowKing I agree with Draxxuss on the eyebrows. the rest looks cool!

@martin_x Nice sculpt! Add some asymmetry and it will be very nice. Hope to see more from you soon.

@macattackk Good start. I would suggest to make the legs a bit longer, as for now its almost the same length as torso. Keep it up!

@Draxxuss Your entry so far is favorite for sure. But I think the beret takes away the feel of Star Trek. Maybe it is just me. Anyway I hope to see it finished.

@Pshyco I just love your model. Nothing more to add.



So, for my entry I will try to KISS this time, just to get it done. As previous times I take part in any minis I stuck at texturing and quit it. This is what I have at the moment:
http://www.ipix.lt/thumbs/36646342.jpg (http://www.ipix.lt/desc/36646342)
Good luck for now :)

[jeronimo]

L3XICON, nice low poly.

macattackk, it actually follows your concept! good work.

martin_x, another beautiful piece cooking! (I recall your last adventurer)

ShadowKing, I like your woman officer, I look forward the phaser.

...so I finished the sculpt, even if not perfect but I want to start my low poly.

[Girrapati]

Hi! Star Trek is great idea for challenge! :)
This is base sculpt of my officer.

[Draxxuss]

here is an update... rigging isn't done but just wanted to quickly pose him to try it out. added minimal facial controls as well.

[jeronimo]

hey Draxxuss, This immediately puts into the atmosphere, even if it is not finished, well done!

[Styx]

I know i will never finish this Model (im cursed ^^), but here is my wip:

[Draxxuss]

Grubber, Jeronimo - thanks guys. I'm almost there... need to start thinking about the submission pic and how it will be presented. I think I should also check to see when this is due.

[Draxxuss]

what?? it is a month long? January 24th deadline? Man.. I think that needs to be shortened a few weeks.

[MattBlack]

what?? it is a month long? January 24th deadline? Man.. I think that needs to be shortened a few weeks.

Nooooooooooo :)

[Wynn]

Very cool looking Draxxuss, nice work.

[macattackk]

Took some peoples advice and made changes. Also changed up some of the pipes underneath his clothes to make it less michelin man like. Now gotta zbrush it.l

http://i55.tinypic.com/e5mioj.jpg

[TheQiwiMan]

Hrm.. Blogger won't let me upload anything for some reason, so heres a jpeg under 146 KB attached of my sculpt. Just about ready to start burning those maps.

[yoyomon]

There's a spy among us!!! ( macattackk's borg ) :D

Macattackk: the arms and legs could use some variations in the cloth folds. Feels a bit too symmetrical.

TheQwiMan: There's something off about his face. I think his mouth/chin protrudes too much. Makes him look very monkeyish. I'd axe the armor peices as they don't really fit the Vulkan's persona.

[TheQiwiMan]

Baked;

Thanks Yoyoman, the face has been bugging me but I couldn't put my finger on it why. I'll take a look at it.
Oh and he's a Romulan, not a Vulcan. I had it right the first time, but got confused and called him a Vulcan. Spock's a Vulcan right? He's whatever the other race is, so yeah Romulan.

[yoyomon]

TheQwiMan: Oh. Sometimes, Romulans have a "V" shaped ridge on their forehead. Maybe adding that will help differentiate him from a Vulcan. PS. I don't believe Romulans are part of the Federation :D

[Draxxuss]

Just finished rigging and double checking phaser size... man they are tiny but I guess it's the way you use it, huh?

[macattackk]

yoyomon: Well im gonna mirror the arms and legs so they need to be symmetrical. If thats what you mean.

[Draxxuss]

some posing and wip lighting. I'm using the xoliul shader. Has anyone figured out if you can render it or not? It IS simply a viewport display shader isn't it?

[Arkhange]

@ Draxxuss : It's pretty much the greatest interest of Xoluil shader. A kick-ass real-time viewport shader ! You can't 'render' it...

[Wynn]

Nope, buuut... Max 2011 has the new Quicksilver hardware renderer. It's in the same place you change from scanline to mental ray. It doesn't support DirectX shaders yet, but it does support MetaSL. I think 2011 has some included and you can make them using the Mental Mill I believe. I dunno though I haven't really played around with it yet.

I believe theres plans for supporting DirectX shaders in the future, so at that point yeah we should be able to render with the Xoluil shader.

[mclean]

right im in, just finished up her mesh and head sculpt, I'm modelling a concept by my brother who is Exp on GA(who is gutted there isnt a 2d version of the comp). Man i really love vertical lipstick, something about it. Ive hit the 6,000 tris mark, the rest is for her hair and crazy head dress.

[obeyurnapster]

i love it mc clean, beautiful ! draxxus, really cool pose, very dynamic, Qiwi also quit cool character !!

here is a wip on texture , no normal here

http://nsa26.casimages.com/img/2011/01/06/110106033823499477.jpg

[punchline]

hey everybody. I didn't know if i would have time for this but watching this thread just made it impossible not to. So I'm in the process of collecting my reference and hopefully i can have and update in the next day or two.

good luck to everyone and awsome work out there!

Draxxuss: Man you work fast! awsome work though!

[BG-General]

Hi everyone,

this is my second post here after a while of lurking :) That was probably not gentle to not introduce myself. I am Alex, a character/environment artist. I wished and was gonna take part in the dom war V challenge - it's very sad that it happend with the challenge and it placed on hold till an unknown date.. So I just thought why not to participate in a mini comp this time :)

So the idea is basically a female elf (with some modifications may be) in a star fleet uniform. Starting to post wips.

Good luck everyone with your entries :)

[Draxxuss]

mcLean - nice job so far. very pretty. her shoulders look really wide.

obey - good progress. are the ends of the antennae going to glow?

[obeyurnapster]

Hey good idea Draxxuss !! i ll try !!! i also reduce the S of the legs as you adviced me

[Draxxuss]

punchline - thanks. start posting some stuff up so we can look and talk about it.

[Draxxuss]

a few more poses.

[TheQiwiMan]

Looks really good Draxxuss, but its a bit specular heavy imho. Maybe its just the lighting.

[Amethyst]

Draxxuss: Awesome. I have a feeling you might animate him??:think: :) :thumb:

[mclean]

ah great critique as always draxxuss! I made her shoulders less wide :> I really like the wall pose! I agree with qiwiman maybe a little bit specular heavy. Man I love your pace, I'll promise to try and keep up sensei!

thanks obeyurnapster I'm really loving your style! great face.


BG-General really big improvement on that face model!

Right little update, few sub divisions in on the body!

[jeronimo]

mclean, awesome concept and great start sculpting!

[TheQiwiMan]

Mclean- That is an awesome sculpt! Great job!


Here's where my textures are at the moment, just blocking in color. Hopefully I can finish them tonight so i can start rigging it up.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4wLdNi0r3Ac/TSYkhQH-VqI/AAAAAAAAAII/tPvsO8pumT0/s1600/rom_text_WIP.png

[Blacklion]

Missed a day; Wife is sick had a lil tinge myself..., office is moving too. always something to do :)

Draxxus you're a speed demon man!
you make a great argument for your process :)
plenty of time to get that specular just so and in the right places.
looks like a guy you don't wanna piss off , very intense face
He looks great:thumb:


Mclean: Great Sculpt :eek:
she's a looker:approve:

TheQiwiMan: i like where it's going
i think he needs some sort of belt to break up the form a tad.

[crazyfool]

Draxxus - hes looking great draxxus, maybe desaturate your lights a bit, especially the turqoise blue. As its starting to kill your textures slightly. A gloss map might help aswell if you are using Xoliuls Shader.

Mclean - real nice man :)

Obeyurnapster - love the style haha

MartinX - Great sculpt so far

Pshyco - Cant wait to see where you go with him haha. Reminds a bit of threepwood right now

[Styx]

Little retopo and Texture Test:

[Draxxuss]

thanks for the comments guys.. yah.. seeing as I have close to 3 weeks or so.. I'll take my time finishing it off. I still need to visit the boot straps and play with teh spec. I may end up adding a few things here and there as well depending on time and depending on the competition from you guys.. some really great work on this thread.

[Luigi87]

Very awesome work displayed so far.

Draxxuss - Yours has really been inspiring to see so much progress on yours done. Looking forward to any additional tweaks you may do.

obey - I absolutely adore the animated appeal of your character.


Anyhow, this is my work in progress. I'm working towards a Pixar's The Incredibles style, though not really sure how well I'm pulling it off. Still no hands or hair yet (or completion of props), and the interior of her ear will be flattened to save tris, I just have it as it is right now to assist in sculpting later. Around 5k tris right now, but her ears around around 500 on their own, so--yeah <.<

EDIT: Oops, turns out she was less than 5k -- I forgot to remove turbosmooth from her eyes, as I just wanted to have them extra round whilst looking at her.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/Luigi87/3D%20Stuff/l87_starfleetwip_001.jpg

[yoyomon]

Draxuss: Yep I'd second ( or third? ) the killing of the super saturated lighting. Spec is very uniform too and it makes it plastic-like. I'd recommend giving him a buckle and making his badge a separate object.

[Draxxuss]

Yah I'll be tweaking the lighting for sure.

[Styx]

some new wip´s and a wire. 4390tris :
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/2974/wip043.png

[Rokkuon]

Alrighty, I'm officially in! With so many great work out there i just couldn't stay away! ;) So i busted out a hipoly head and am workin' through the rest of the body. I'm going for a more vicious Klingon and the uniform i want to do is a security officer with light armor. I think it was from the first Star Trek flick.
Draxxuss: Punchline is right, you are definitely a machine!! Love the work thus far though!
Luigi87: I love where you're going with your model, it truly does lend to the "Incredibles" feel, really looking forward to seeing her with textures!

[JMYoung]

What's a soft deadline? I'm tempted to start this but would like to know how much time I have. :)

[Luigi87]

You can still submit your piece after voting opens, but since it is after, you will lose out on any votes made by people whom... already voted.

[obeyurnapster]

Wip on texture, render in toolbag with normal, no spec, no glow : 6900 tri

still some work on render, and skin and a SPOKE pose to do ;)

http://nsa25.casimages.com/img/2011/01/08/110108014751288889.jpg

[jeronimo]

obeyurnapster, yeah!! Rock'n'roll!!!

[Draxxuss]

obey - your guy has the same look on his face as your avatar... they feel from the same universe. :)

[Blacklion]

Lookin good Obey!

[martin_x]

Draxxuss: nice poses. I like the 1st one against the wall.
Mclean: sculpt looks really nice.
obeyurnapster: amaizing character. My favorite so far.
Blacklion: nice basemesh.
My next WIP. Just noticed that his neck is too long. I'm going to sink his head into his jacket a bit. Any comments are welcome.

[Luigi87]

High-poly WIP

[Mr.Graze]

obeyurnapster: loving your progress, i love your style its very distinctive, ive noticed you use marmoset to get your lush renders what settings do you use? im doing a character atm for uni and i dont know how to get that cartoony lush render, any tips, totaly new to presenting work etc. thanks.

Draxxuss: sick as always, only crit is your character looks too shiny but apart from that superb work :) also do you have a portfolio website?

[yoyomon]

Blacklion: Basemesh is looking good

Luigi87: What's that thing on the top, back side of her lower leg? Looks like it might get in the way when she bends her leg.

I think I'll join

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/1764/andoriancap.jpg (http://img262.imageshack.us/i/andoriancap.jpg/)

[macattackk]

my highres so far. just worked on torso so far. still got more work to do on it mostly on top and bottom parts.

http://i53.tinypic.com/25grkue.jpg

http://i56.tinypic.com/107nf3b.jpg

[macattackk]

normal map test with really shotty stand in uvs

http://i51.tinypic.com/2wqbml1.jpg

http://i56.tinypic.com/2ezr7fb.jpg

[mclean]

thanks guys for the kind comments! :inocent:

sculpt is done didn't want to spend to much time on it wanted to spend most my time texturing.

Martin X looks sick, any chance of a little tutorial on how you did that pattern?:uhh:

obey- sweet, looks nice in marmo.

[obeyurnapster]

obeyurnapster: loving your progress, i love your style its very distinctive, ive noticed you use marmoset to get your lush renders what settings do you use? im doing a character atm for uni and i dont know how to get that cartoony lush render, any tips, totaly new to presenting work etc. thanks.

Draxxuss: sick as always, only crit is your character looks too shiny but apart from that superb work :) also do you have a portfolio website?


Thanks very much ;)

i have to say the magic came out of marmoset, i really did nothing special, on that render i just have a diffuse and a normal so... and i play a bit with rendering settings, no secret :D

[Luigi87]

yoyoman - Idiot me didn't realize I imported into an old save. I adjusted those items which are meant to be a part of her boots, not leg :doh:

Update to high-poly. Still deciding hair for low-poly.

[gam-er]

obeyurnapster

i love your character, its simplicty makes it look badass

[BiG ToE]

yoyomon: is she Namekian?

[martin_x]

mclean: thanks. I don't really have time right now. I'll post a little tutorial on Tuesday. It is a technique from "ZBrush Digital Sculpting Human Anatomy".

[turbo]

ok so I'm finally getting moving on this thing only two weeks late.

but I still got two weeks and I should be able to finish.

everybody's stuff is looking really good, I'm gonna try and keep up and make some individual comments as we go.

My character is going to be an older, portlier, officer. He's technically an engineer I suppose, but I'm going for more of a hands on space ship mechanic than anything else.

mostly focusing on the head right now, should be done with that tomorrow.

http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae173/turbo889/Screenshot2011-01-10at24642AM.png
http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae173/turbo889/Screenshot2011-01-10at24701AM.png
http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae173/turbo889/Screenshot2011-01-10at24728AM.png

[macattackk]

heres a normal/ambient occlusion test on the head. it has reaaaally bad uvs so theres lots of artifacting. just did a planar map on back and front so i could see if im on the right track with scupting.

the rectangle pieces sticking out of the machinery are pieces that hold it on the skin and will be textured black

turbo: i think your wrinkles need to be closer together and have more bulges near them so it looks like skin is folding

http://i56.tinypic.com/1ypg2a.jpg

http://i53.tinypic.com/zo7yv8.jpg

http://i56.tinypic.com/20kuj4l.jpg

[punchline]

here we go finally got some time to get started. just a couple of shots of the head mid res.

martin_x: really liking the character! :)

obeyurnapster: enjoying your style, can't wait to see a finished product.

[Pshyco]

Good stuffs guys!!

After a lot of problems with mr. Zbrush, I've decided to do something in low-poly directly. So... texturing process is started...

http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/8413/27942903.jpg

Hope you like it, dudes.

[punchline]

Wow, feels weird to post twice so close to each other. this is what i would like to consider at this point as a finished bust, but any and all comments/ critiques that you would like to see changed are greatly appreciated.

Pshyco: looking good so far, sorry to hear that zbrush isnt working out for you. dont ask me why i noticed this, but it looks like his pinky is the same length as his ring finger if he uncurls it, is that possible?

[mclean]

great progress people! really enjoying this comp.

Ive started texturing, its a bit boring at the moment but im gonna add some really nice designs to her armour and dress soon and placing a fancy headdress on her.

[TheQiwiMan]

Looks awesome mclean! Great job.

[MattBlack]

Okay - I have done some more, although progress is slow because of work!

about 5000 tris at the mo.

http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii367/mcarless/start_prog.jpg

[Arkhange]

@ Martin_X : I like the way your sculpt go ! Keep up the good work ! No crits, I just enjoy the ride from my spectator place :D
@ Mcclean : Really cool model so far, I hope to see this chick finished. Maybe add a small belt on the hip to break the color/shape monotony ;)
@ Pshyco : Man, you don't need ZBrush to make a cool model & texture (hair looks a bit too high IMO, but just my 2 cents again :p)
@ Obeyournapster : Nothing to say... I just love your cartoony-style, so just do it :D

[macattackk]

finished arms, just gotta connect them better with torso.

did a quick value test to see a better difference between shirt and machine parts.

ill probably add stripes/designs on the shirt once i texture it.

@mclean: looks good, hair seems too poofy though

@Psycho: yours will look good without normal map, seems to fit the style better too.

http://i51.tinypic.com/mb4hh1.jpg

[Angyal]

Hey everyone,

I finally sat down and busted something out. I kind of have a crush on T'Pol, so she will have a presence in this project. :)

I'm trying to integrate several things and stay true to the Star Trek universe. Anyway, here's my work so far along with some reference and inspiration.

Good luck!

[mclean]

thanks guys!

cheers Arkhange and macattackk for the crits, I made the changes, added a belt/pouch holster and de-poofed her hair.

[ShadowKing]

Mcclean - That looks amazing, great job. looks very realistic. Id love to see some bigger images of her soon.

early pose test:

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/8596/wip3m.jpg

Still have to sort most of it out, just wanted to see how it looked posed, the rig sucks at the moment. Hopefully I'll be able to fix it.

[TheQiwiMan]

Almost done with the diffuse texture, except the gun. LOT of work on the hair still, and need to spend more than 2 mins on the spec map. Trying out Marmoset, haven't played around with it in years. It keeps crashing every 5 minutes, poor laptop. Prolly start rigging this guy here soon.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4wLdNi0r3Ac/TSyy1CCBRdI/AAAAAAAAAIM/9I0oMwFPYxM/s1600/Romulan_marm_test.png

mclean- I agree, I'd love to see bigger renders, looks beautiful so far!

ShadowKing- I really like the fun style you've put into it. Is she wearing pantyhose? The skin on her thighs looks quite a bit darker than everywhere else. Really nice retro Star Trek feel to it. :thumb:

[martin_x]

Mclean: that looks great! Here's mini tutorial like I promised:

If you have your UVs unfolded, go to step 2.
1. Export your lowest subdivision lvl., unfold nicely your UVs, and import back to ZBrush. (I skip this step in the video)
2. Go to the highest lvl., mask your subtool, and aunmask the area where you want your pattern to be.
3. Open Masking in the Tool menu and click "Create Alpha".
4. Export alpha and open it in photoshop(or whatever you're using).
5. Copy and paste your pattern texture on top of your unmasked area(use multiply as layer setting).
6. Export your alpha and import it back in ZBrush.
7. In Masking menu click "Mask by Alpha" and you should get your pattern masked.
8. And finally in Deformation menu Inflate your unmasked area.

Hope its helpful.
Mini video I made: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9K6JZWAX
Hope it's ok to post links.

[martin_x]

And here is my progress. Got to add couple more things and my highpoly is done.

[macattackk]

nice tutorial. thatll be helpful for the rivets on the pipes i have to do.

[ForgottenRealms]

Hi guys! I'm new on this website, here's my entry so far, I spent 2 days on the guy, I blocked the main shapes of the model, let me know what you think! I put some colors also to show you the outcome of my character for the uniform.

Macattack: I really like your model, I would round the chest plates, and I would make the forearm longer, but the overall looks great, keep it up :P

Mclean: I just love your character, I find that there's something going on with the thumb of your girl that I would change, where you have the main joint of the thumb, I find its too big. The overall looks fantastic though, you're doing a good job!

Martin X: Beautiful model, I love the sculpting you've done so far, I really want to see where this is going!

http://www.myupload.org/files/9x6l9b13e5qgx0771tie_thumb.png (http://www.myupload.org/viewer.php?file=9x6l9b13e5qgx0771tie.png)

http://www.myupload.org/files/u5v9ywov5lsj1jpo8dff_thumb.png (http://www.myupload.org/viewer.php?file=u5v9ywov5lsj1jpo8dff.png)

http://www.myupload.org/files/xluojwihq7tklsgxzpl1_thumb.png (http://www.myupload.org/viewer.php?file=xluojwihq7tklsgxzpl1.png)

http://www.myupload.org/files/pmd7eoo25kjkd1ee05fk_thumb.png (http://www.myupload.org/viewer.php?file=pmd7eoo25kjkd1ee05fk.png)

[Rokkuon]

Well, I feel that i may still have work to do with the face but i wanted to knock out the body so that i know exactly how many tris i get to play with. I'm feeling that i can bring out more with textures...but i'm still trying to figure out how much to leave to texturing. On another note, this comp seems to keep getting better and better so many awesome work poppin' up! Lookin forward to more!! :)

[Draxxuss]

some good stuff rolling in around here. nice work guys.

[turbo]

everybody's moving along really nicely.

here's my latest update, the head is mostly finished and ive gotten the suit done too.
just need to work on his gloves and boots.

http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae173/turbo889/Screenshot2011-01-12at123902AM.png http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae173/turbo889/Screenshot2011-01-12at123908AM.png

[crazyfool]

I DEMAND BIGGER SCREENSHOTS MCLEAN :)
shes looking great buddy

Martin_x - I would maybe scale his head up a bit. cool tutorial though, I might suggest that you make a layer especially for the high frequency style detail, so you can sculpt the cloth underneath and have the option to switch the details on and off. Means you can play with the cloth and not hamper the new details.

[Pshyco]

MattBlack: With 2,000 tris you can do a lot of changes to make his silhouette looks better, but your style looks good for me ;).
Arkhange: You're right, fix it.
macattack: I think this too. Looks really close to my first intention :D.
Angyal: Work it up, this girl need great b**bs!!
mclean: Awesome stuff. I'm with crazyfool on the large of this renders, man.
ShadowKing: Waiting for more. So far, I like the way is going.
TheQiwiMan: Good update. Maybe you can strength up the level of this normal map. Looks fine as well.
martin_x: Really good sculpt skills, and I thank you about this mini tutorial, it's very useful, man!.
Rokkuon: Solid base mesh!
turbo: I think you need to give him more hard surfaces on his suit. Looks like a weak cloth and there's no difference betwenn hard and soft parts of self. Keep going on it, man! ;)

So, here's my update from today. I'm starting to saturate with this model :lol:.

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/1853/90740601.jpg

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/1853/90740601.jpg

[jeremiasguido]

hey guys, here is my concept .I going to star workin in the 3d model, any sugestion is wellcome :)

[jeronimo]

sorry, I didn't have much time to advance my project, may I try to post this week... I hope :)

mclean, nice work! textures work is currently very successful, also the face too.

jeremiasguido, nice concept!

Pshyco, awesome work!!! really like him.

martin_x, I like your character! great proportions, I find.

TheQiwiMan, your character is better and better...I look forward to see the next up

good work all

[Lauren]

Yes! Finally, my first post on a forum. I always lurk around, but I thought I would try and post something. Sooooo, nice to meet everyone :D

I don't know too much about Star Trek, but I wanted to model a Vulcan who doesn't believe in restraining emotion.

This is just a base mesh, and I'm pretty new at this, so any critiques would be extremely helpful :) . I was going to try to do hand painted textures.

Thanks!


http://lh5.ggpht.com/_tHBajCpAK2s/TS4kbLm6c6I/AAAAAAAAAVI/C8jatDSJc1o/Picture%201.png

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_tHBajCpAK2s/TS4kbaD67_I/AAAAAAAAAVM/u_0YpIIBFBM/Picture%202.png

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_tHBajCpAK2s/TS4kbRnnl7I/AAAAAAAAAVQ/72YwKb47VWQ/Picture%203.png

[jajeev]

Pshyco
That is turning out to be your best character yet! My personal fav in this comp for sure. Can't wait for the final piece.

[mclean]

thanks alot guys, heres a large render as requested :> , just trying out some poses, got her all rigged now! Hair is temporary at the moment got big plans for a big crazy sci fi head dress.

[Draxxuss]

the boots aren't doing it for me. .I don't know what it is.. maybe the big round toe area. They also seem a bit too wrinkly in the calve/shin area. the wrinkle at the knee is very deep and should be toned down. From the skirt up, she looks really good, but below I'm not crazy about it.

[Duncan Fraser]

mclean: I really like your entry but in addition to Draxxuss comments I would like to add that the tattoo thing on her bottom lip/chin looks a little like "soul patch" facial har at the moment. Perhaps you could continue the line up and into her mouth, or make it a double line, or do both (a double line up into her mouth). Other than those few things she is looking awesome. :thumb:

[BG-General]

Hey everyone,

Here is my next update. It shouldn't take too much time though..

[turbo]

good improvement BG! the mouth looks a little sad and her breasts seem a little unnaturally perky, but its definitely coming along great.

[macattackk]

almost done with high poly sculpt. now just gotta UV him and put cloth texture in high poly and put details in the tubes and head gear.

did a quick color test just for the hell of it. not sure i like them though. will have to try more variations when i actually uv it.

http://i51.tinypic.com/24zhzbn.jpg

[TheQiwiMan]

mclean- I agree with Duncan, it looks like a little goatee. I still can't tell what it is, is it just a shading error?
Other than that I think its gorgeous! Great job.

[Draxxuss]

mclean - colour it red or something else... or lose it altogether.

[yohanio]

Everything is awesome so far. I'm joining a bit late, but I'll try to finish it in time. Here's my concept, I'll post my work so far soon.

[martin_x]

Thanks guys.
Crazyfool: Scaled up the head a little as you suggested. And thanks for the tip, I've never used layers before.
Here's my final sculpt. I made the shoulder pads but I like him without them. What do you guys think?

[Pshyco]

martin_x: I think with, 'cause it gives him a more powerful and balanced appearance on upper body.

All of you are doing a good job!

[Luigi87]

martin-x: I agree with Pshyco, as there is simply something about shoulder pads that signifies power -- must be a real-world football player effect.


Anywho, normals applies, and I've started texturing.

[dustinbrown]

Oh man I love me some Trek. I really want to join this but I just have too much on my plate right now. Best of luck to everyone to gives it a go!

[Elenya]

My WIP. Im still working on the mesh right now

my research
http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/013/b/9/my_research_by_lady_elenya-d373f9u.jpg

my WIP
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/013/c/1/wip__my_project_by_lady_elenya-d373fck.jpg

[Grubber]

Hey guys. Nice work going on!

@martin_x I like the shoulder pads. What I don't like is hip area. It looks like he is wearing underwear shorts on top, like Superman :lucky: But maybe it just me.

@Pshyco Looking good. Though I would suggest to try to give him another pair of shoes. Current ones don't fit him in my opinion.

@jeremiasguido Nice sketch. looking forward for another update.

Keep it up guys! :thumb:

Ok, so I worked on the upper part of my model a bit:
http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/5683/75405694.jpg
I hope I will have more time to work on it.

Best of luck!

[ForgottenRealms]

Hi everyone! I sent a post yesterday and it didn't worked, because of some image hosting problems on the net.

So here is a couple renders i made today to show the work I did so far. I also blocked some textures to show you what I'm aiming form regarding the uniform of my character. I didn't worked on the foots because I want to do boots, and I'm not to sure about how I have to work, I planned on sculpting the character, than optimize it in max, do a final unwrap, and texture. Is that good? Because I realised the more I sculpt, the more my unwrap is being distorted, so I was planning to export the sculpt and re-unwrap and do final textures. I would really appreciate some feedbacks! Good job everyone so far, keep it up :)

So martin x: I prefer the version of your character without the shoulder protection stuff, I find it fits more in the Star Trek style.

Grubber: I really like what you've made so far with your sculpt, keep it up :P

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/4868/wipgallerystartrekch15.png

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/5004/wipgallerystartrekch16.png

[macattackk]

Finished uving him and blocked in the basic shapes and colors for the texture. Still got more work to do on high poly with cloth folds and the head gear and tubes.

@Luigi87: Is your character gonna be half and half like that? or are you just testing out different looks?

@Elenya: Nice topology so far. should work out well.

@ForgottenRealms: If all you have is the sculpt then just retopologize it in zbrush and take that into max and uv it. Your model looks good, maybe the legs are a little small.

http://i51.tinypic.com/k3yfp.jpg

[BG-General]

Thanks for the critique turbo :)

Elenya I would say her shoulders look too huge and wide. Also I might be wrong but the legs are a bit short in comparison with the torso and the arms.

macattackk pretty interesting surface texture of his suit.

Here is the face sculpt so far.. I think this light brown material doesn't look weird as the others..

[punchline]

here's my base mesh. 6945 tris. now moving on to unwrap and sculpt.

martin_x: awsome work, can't wait to see final product.

mclean: really liking the character, keep up the great work.

[martin_x]

Thanks for opinions.
Grubber: lol you probably right but I don't really want to go back and redo it.
ForgottenRealms: I thought so too but sicne more people seem to like it I'll go with shoulderpads.
My lowpoly with normals and AO. + wireframe. Got some tris and texture space left for some laser gun.

[TheQiwiMan]

The bakes turned out great martin_x, great job keep up the good work! (I personally like the shoulder pads)

[macattackk]

thanks BG-General.

finally got Marmoset:

anyone know why its splitting my model down the middle with a white line? when i zoom in more it goes away...

http://i56.tinypic.com/35i1xja.jpg

[turbo]

macattack - i think it might be mip mapping issues.

if you add a little more edge padding to your diffuse texture it might take care of it.

[Luigi87]

macattackk - I was planning half & half.

[osk]

great works you all. decided that have some free days. maybe can make this one in time.
here's a quick sketch:
....
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/2153/001zq.jpg (http://img141.imageshack.us/i/001zq.jpg/)
....
not a big star trek fan dont know how this guy would fit in :o

[BG-General]

The body sculpt so far.. Any anatomy/proportions critique is veeery appreciated.

http://ess-studio.com/images/ga_minis/stofficer_wip5.jpg

[osk]

legs and arms looks like they could brake in real life. maybe add some more flesh to those parts

[Luigi87]

Texturing continued. I decided to not have hair cover the scaly half of her scalp.

3DS Viewport is also what is making the pattern look stretched on her side.

[Kookiemunster]

Hey Draxxuss, looking great. Not sure if it is giving me a starfleet feel though. I am getting a Dune vibe from it. Possibly from House Harkonnen or the Imperial Sarduka. Still real nice work love the poses.

[yoyomon]

Small upper dater

Once I get the belt the help break the symmetry, it'll be retopo time.

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/766/andorianwip.jpg (http://img840.imageshack.us/i/andorianwip.jpg/)

[osk]

update on concept and i think im good to start.
...
http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/8717/003wjo.jpg (http://img560.imageshack.us/i/003wjo.jpg/)

[Jamie]

Osk that is a fantastic concept.

Not sure if I'll be able to finish in time but I decided to jump in. Did a little bit of sculpting tonight.

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/8968/sculpt1.jpg

[jeronimo]

Grubber, great start sculpt! look very promissing.

martin_x, nice bake and low poly!

Osk, great concept!

[illustrashawn]

Jumping in because of the long weekend.

Here's a concept and a Max screencap of the clothing basemeshes. Zbrush tomorrow.

[obeyurnapster]

illustrashawn : awesome sketch !

[Blacklion]

Awesome stuff guys!
nice concept osk :thumb:
I'm at 6.340 tri's
plenty of space left for a gun pretty much a Long rectangle with some extrudes then add shoulder pads.
been a nice distraction in my spare time.

[Rokkuon]

Okey Dokey, here's my WIP so far, I'm workin on bustin' out my normals for my Klingon. I'm currently workin on the boots specifically trying to go for those high fitted boots but is made of soft-ish leather. I've also added a few details to the armor part of his suit and still workin on his face alittle.

Osk: That is an Awesome Concept! I am really lookin forward to how your model turns out!!
Elenya: I really like where your mesh is going, her face is SOLID! :) I do think that the legs seem alittle small for her torso though but again all in all it looks sweet so far!
ForgottenRealms: Your guy definitely gives off the Star Trek feel, I like the look of his uniform! I think that you can definitely push the sculpt further before retopo. But it looks solid!
Pshyco: Thanks man, i appreciate it! I really like the design of your guy! I was considering going for like a Klingon samurai but i just couldn't work out the design. But it's nice to see that you pulled it off nicely!

[BG-General]

Here is my next update..

http://ess-studio.com/images/ga_minis/stofficer_wip6.jpg

http://ess-studio.com/images/ga_minis/stofficer_wip7.jpg

[punchline]

here is a little normal map and ao bake. im probly going to tweak the setting a little more to get more definition out of it. kept it quite simple for the sake of being able to complete it within the time frame. let me know what you think any and all comments/critiques are welcome.

Rokkuon: liking the face, and especially like the pattern on the back. keep it up

osk: realy digging the concept cant wait to see an update.

yoyomon: liking the design, but just wondering if you are going to be adding a weapon or anything hand held?

martin_x: you never disapoint, truly awsome peice of art, and the bake really turned out nicely

[turbo]

Hey guys, great work all around.

osk - love the concept man, can't wait to see it in 3d.

Rokkuan - good sculpt, I think the hex's on his back are a bit large though I dunno if its too late, but they might be better smaller.

BG - really nice base. based on your references im sure itll turn out bad ass

anyway, I've been busy and I finished my bakes including some polypaint from zbrush that will get my diffuse started.

boots didn't turn out too hot so I think i'm gonna redo at least the bake if not more.
http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae173/turbo889/Screenshot2011-01-18at20032AM.png
http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae173/turbo889/Screenshot2011-01-18at20239AM.png

keep up the good work folks.

[Rokkuon]

Thanks Turbo! I took your advice and changed the hex pattern on the back. I shrunk it down and divided the pattern up a bit to break the monotony. I think it looks better.

[anc]

nice challenge, I want to participate too.
I know I'm a little late but here is my work so far.
great work everybody!

[yoyomon]

Turbo: Looks like you have some normals issue with the tools too. I think the details are too soft on the character too.

[ascaldwell]

37493

A bit late but I still want to give it a try
here is my concept.

[Styx]

I had a bit Time and tested some Poses.
I really hate rigging.

[punchline]

little update. blocked in some colours and redid some normal mapping and AO baking.

Rokkuon: I don't know, I'm feeling the larger pattern more. but thats just me :P

[Rokkuon]

Just a quick little update! Thank you for all the great suggestions in regards to my armor, with so many fantastic opinions it was truly hard for me to stick to one idea. However, i believe through all the brilliant ideas and the goal i had in mind, i think that i was able to create a pretty sweet balance of everything and direct it to my armor. So here's my armor chest piece! :)

[turbo]

Rokkuon - I like the new design. One thing is that some of your hexes fade out a bit and get kinda soft. May want to make those a bit sharper.

Got bored with texturing all day so I decided to mess around with posing.
I'm really happy with this one, but always open to suggestions.

Feel free to Let me know what you think of the color scheme too.

http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae173/turbo889/Screenshot2011-01-19at85507PM-1.jpg

[Mukhtar]

turbo - Really nice fold/drapery work on the pants. Also like the plain boots. Only problem is his left arm, its Really long! Maybe it turned out that way due to rigging and posing? Other than that this is a nice model.