BHG Challenge | BiG ToE | chupacabra de

[BiG ToE]

BHG Challenge | BiG ToE | chupacabra de
http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/competitions/uploaded_thubnails/29-game-3d-art-65-1177022625-thumbnail.jpg

BiG ToE has entered the competition!

[kurocrash]

chupacabra de what? lol


-J

[BiG ToE]

hehehe, thats the same thing the guys who see this thing say, right before it kills them.

[kurocrash]

so it's just 'goat/sheepsucker of' ? lol is it like 'of salesman?'

... Of Salesman!

(can't wait to see the concept)


-J

[Frozan]

HaHa i have confidence in u :)

[george.vas]

The name alone gets cool points from me. :thumb:

[Marcus Dublin]

I curious to see your take on this creature.

Marcus

[zann]

I wonder if this is a killer horse in armor tat strikes people to death v its lightning magic! :lucky:

[BiG ToE]

playing with the head
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/004-14.jpg

[shadowbreeze]

looking good big toe have you been holding out on us?

[BiG ToE]

well my problem is, my idea might be more than I can handle. I need to learn mudbox/zbrush, so I should use this model to get me started.

[BiG ToE]

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/008-7.jpg

[BiG ToE]

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/012-3.jpg

[george.vas]

Looking good BT. :thumb:

[BiG ToE]

Thanks george. I finished up the body, but not liking it. So I'm going to try something else.
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/016-4.jpg

[BiG ToE]

reworking the body
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/020-1.jpg

think of it as the offspring of a snake and a dragon while it was cold outside in July, during the day. The dragon didn't call or write, and doesn't pay child support.

[george.vas]

I have to say this is giving it more scale for me. You might even consider adding a salamander like body for the rest of it. Or even a cobra hood on the neck. Maybe some itty bitty hands... Just throwing out ideas...

[BiG ToE]

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/024-2.jpg

[kurocrash]

nice but the spikes running down his neck seem pretty bland in that shape just kind of sticking out center & square. maybe tilt them out to the sides a bit more like the spikes on an anklosaurus?

-J

[ThatDon]

you have some awesome stuff going on in the head man, you should seriously reconsider giving him some more of your time and rethink the rest. feels like you're giving up.

[BiG ToE]

kurocrash: yeah, I might get rid of the spikes all together.

ThatDon: I was going for a large snake/sea creature, they dont have much happeing as far as shapes go. So I guess the texture will have to make up for it. Will be trying out this mudbox everyone keeps talking about, so that might help.

[Marcus Dublin]

Before you begin sculpting try digging up some more reference of leviathans and other types of real and fictional sea creatures. I think you can get a bit more mileage out of your mesh with a couple of more appendages. It’ll defiantly help your silhouette a ton especially towards the backside. Good luck with you model Big toe, keep us posted!:thumb:

Marcus

[BiG ToE]

all the refs I had been using were of big snakes and dragons. The idea that I'm going for is a sleek large animal, but because I have more than half the poly's to use, I think I can come up with something to go with it.

Either way, I wanted this model to be my mudbox plaything. What I got so far:
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/026-1.jpg

[ThatDon]

Impressive work, I think you could take a note from Gavin and beef up the lips and eye area to help separate the details and parts.

http://www.gavimage.com/bhg_comp/leviathan_05.jpg

[BiG ToE]

your right, this was just the first pass, seeing what the mud could do.

[ThatDon]

Again, I can't say how awesome of a job you did for your first time with mudbox. I think max is going to get jealous

if you need some alphas I have a nice pack of them if you want ;)

[Socket7]

Have you decided about the body or its just a snake?

[BiG ToE]

its just a snake. So far.

[Socket7]

Mmm... What about some experiments? Had an idea that trying to combine this head with a skate-like body (mutated, of course) with some other elements would be fun... :)

[FredH]

Hey, this is your first time in mudbox and you already got this? wicked! Hmm, there is just one small thing, if it were me, I would remove the seperate meshes for his spike on his back. You will get gaps between your lines if you leave them in, plus, you can simply pull the mesh out to make a spike in mudbox.

Besides this, nice work! It's looking very good so far!

[BiG ToE]

ThatDon: what kind of alphas are we talking about?
FredH: Thanks, I shall try that.

As for me, I've started a new doodle. I like both, so I'm thinking if rules allow and polycount works out I might just use both of them. What's worse than fighting 1 huge snake? Fighting 2 huge snakes.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/028-1.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/029-1.jpg

[Marcus Dublin]

That's looking pretty fierce!

Marcus

[FredH]

The added details around the eyes, and the softening of the horn's edges were a good call. If I had one comment, it would be to pull a few more areas out so that his form would be a little more attractive from far. Right now, if you leave everything as smooth as it is, it would look like a stick from far. Perhaps exegerate his cheeks more, and/or exegerate the size of his belly and/or exagerate the size of his forhead and seperate his head from his neck by making his head bigger.

Nevertheless, so far so good. Keep it up!:thumb:

[Gavin]

Character is looking really cool so far man, definitely intimidating. Especially since this is your first go at Mudbox, it's really amazing. I don't have many helpful things to say, I second what Fred has said :P

[BiG ToE]

FredH/Gavin: thanks, I'll play around with the size of the head on the low poly, as I mess with getting the normal map to look right.

[papabear3d]

great detailing big toe ^_^

just one question.. did you export your lowpoly model and use it in mudbox? or its a new model?

[BiG ToE]

I imported the low poly mesh into mudbox, then worked from there.

The normal map that mudbox produced wasn't the best, so I exported the mudbox mesh into Max and created it there. Playing with texture ideas, so I'll post up an update soon.

[BiG ToE]

texture needs several candle light dinners
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/032-2.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/031.jpg

[Marcus Dublin]

What are you using to preview your normal maps, because it's not doing this model justice? Anyway I look forward to some updates!

Marcus

[FredH]

yeah, did you render this in mudbox or did you bring it into max after? If you brought it into max, don't forget to select all the polygons and put their smoothing group to 1. Right now, it seems like your smoothing groups are off.

[BiG ToE]

well the truth is, my viewport isn't showing the normal map, can't seem to get it to work.

but, yeah I rendered out a normal map in mudbox, looked like crap, so I redid it in max. Looks better, but with my texture skills, it won't matter how good the normal map is.

[shadowbreeze]

hey Big Toe how are you trying to display your normal map?

have you checked the Direct x box in your material slot? if you have have you then gone into your bump channel and ticked display in viewport the little box thingy should turn a magenta sort of color the go back and check the display for the whole map your viewport might freeze for a second but it should the be displaying every map. i hope that made scence???

if not i would totaly recommend dL the demo of ShaderFX it does an awsome job of real time diplay of all maps:) :) :)

[BiG ToE]

thanks ShadowBreeze, I had the Direct X thing checked, but I have no clue if the show in viewport is on. I do know that when I check the Direct X option, my mesh goes crazy in color and stops showing the original texture.

[shadowbreeze]

hmmm i had a Similar problem with max 9 my whole mesh would turn into a red wire frame, but would go back to normal when i turned direct x off?? so i went back to max 8 and had no problems at all in fact the normal map showed more detail:eek: , so i don't know what versions you have but maybe try what i did and see if that helps. the shaderFx system is what i use now it is soo easy to use.

[Marcus Dublin]

Once you click the Direct X display check box go to your "pick material from object" icon (“shaped like and eye dropper”) and click that, then pick the material from the model and it should show up in the view port just fine. Max is a bit buggy when it comes to this but it works.

Marcus

PS: You can apply your textures to your material first if you want and then do the above step last.

[BiG ToE]

I'm using max 8, had the texture applied, then when I do the direct x, the mesh goes white.

I'll try what you said Marcus.

[Marcus Dublin]

Yeah the mesh will go white first and then once you use the pick material from object tool your textures should show up fine. I'm using max 8 as well and have run across this a few times. PM me if your still having issues.:)

Marcus

PS: FYI: Depending on your video card and custom settings it may take a little longer to show up in the viewport.

[BiG ToE]

its not working. Not a huge deal, I'll play around with it later.

[BiG ToE]

messing around with more textures, just another screengrab.
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/033-1.jpg

[Marcus Dublin]

Would you happen to have any reference for the direction your heading in regarding the texture?

Marcus

[BiG ToE]

well I was going for a whatever happens, happens type texture, but after doing a quick looky look, I came across these:
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/WuAngler200.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/FSLO-1108353647-511930.jpg

[FredH]

Oh my, a glossy look eh? This would require a lot of work on your specular sheet. If you pull it off, I am sure it will be great:) Looking forward to a rendered update (none of that crappy screen grab stuff)

[kurocrash]

ew... slimy!
definitely a cool route to go with this. can't wait to see how the final product will turn out!

-J

[BiG ToE]

going to try and get a slimmy look just for you Fred, but until then:
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/head.jpg
if everything goes well, I'll have it done in time.

[ThatDon]

looking great, I like your color scheme/tones they looks awesome, maybe spice up the top of the head though? it looks a bit dull :(

[Antimagic]

Looking good so far. Not sure if you are familiar with making spec maps, but when you are finished with the diffuse, you simply need to make everything on the specular sheet 20% bright and then put in lots of white dots and white globs wherever you want the strong glossy look to appear. Really looking forward to an update. You have a very interesting character here.

[BiG ToE]

as good as this color blind Toe is going to get, today:
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/Winning-1.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/beauty-2.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/wires-4.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/texture-1.jpg

[FredH]

Nice final shot there. You made a great mood. This was a great first attempt with mudbox. Now that you passed this hurdle, I can't wait to see your future models:)

[Antimagic]

The composition in the final shot looks great! And the texture work looks pretty good too. Congrats on finishing:thumb:

[ThatDon]

color blind or not big, you showed up with a fantastic entry, best of luck!

[BiG ToE]

thanks everyone.

FredH: I wanted this model to be my mud training partner, thats why I only did half the model. now that I think I got it, I can't wait to see what's next. Might go back and play with a few old models.

[BiG ToE]

a few other final render ideas I played with:
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/Final002-1.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/Final004.jpg