Extreme Makeovers! | nikudy | Guardian

[nikudy]

Extreme Makeovers! | nikudy | Guardian
http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/competitions/uploaded_thubnails/33-game-3d-art-584-1182199947-thumb.jpg

nikudy has entered the competition!


So this is a character i made for a demo for a game that was later canceled. I was prety proud of how it came out back then.
Right now i don't feel that proud looking at him.

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/7084/guard001ez7.jpg

I am a bit confused about how much i can modify it. I mean i want to keep the big chunks of the armor, but i would definately change their shape and those patterns. I would like to make it more towards fantasy. I would also like to break that symmetry.

Anyway, i want to make some kind of a concept so you guys can tell me what you think.

That would be all for now. Good luck to everyone!

-claudiu

[Marcus Dublin]

Changing the armor around shouldn't be a problem. Look at it this way, say your working in a studio and your art director says "hey fans loved the Guardian from the first game and we want to bring the character back in the sequel! Remember you can change him around some and try new things but don't go to crazy because fans really liked the first character and they want more of the same but cooler." So with that said the new character model can have a number of changes and new design aspects but should retain the same feel as the old character model. Here's an example of what I mean, the first image has the original Mega Man design, the second has a newer design and the last has the latest design. This is probably the most extreme you could take it. If you put all the designs together you can defiantly get the feeling that the newer one despite some extreme changes retains the spirit of the original.

Marcus

[nikudy]

I don't remind the brief saying anything about a weapon. With Dominance War II i know there were some spec specially for the weapons. Are the polycount and texture included in the base specs for this competition ?

[FredH]

Yes, all weapons and gear are included in your polycount:)

By the way, you created a really nice dominance war II entry. I am really looking forward to seeing what you come up with here.

[nikudy]

hi guys!
sorry for the lack of updates but it's a very busy period for me. Right now i am trying to buy a house. I have to do a lot of research since i'll be paying it for the next 30 years...

This is just a small update. An early armor plates layout. The human is just a lowres 3d scan i downloaded from the internet. I am using it to get good proportions, as a starting point.

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/2760/002qa7.gif

And this is a paintover to see where i am heading:

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/4249/002paintovercn9.gif

Not much of an update, just wanted to let you know i'm not dead :) .

[Marcus Dublin]

Good luck on the house, the paint over is coming along quite nicely.:)

Marcus

[Ultemate]

Hey, your Dominance War II entry was great. Nice to see you here. :)
I think that you need to make him more rugged, sharpen. And some assymetry would be cool. Nice paintings.
Good luck with him!

[Frozan]

ohh man that paint over is hawt! nice concepts u got going there. no crits from em this is lookin good!

[Jido]

Coming along nicely...
Maybe I'm seriously behind, but I like the paint-over-the-render technique. I never thought to do that. Thanks.

[nikudy]

Long story short, i didn't like the feeling i was getting so i restarted from the mesh of the old model, trying to keep the same attitude :

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/4885/003persplg8.jpg

It's better, but i'm still not entirely happy. Right now it looks like it needs more agility.

-claudiu

[Marcus Dublin]

The bits of the armor don’t seem to be helping the whole feel of it just yet, and it’s also coming off a bit symmetrical. You could try for the hell of it to add different types of armor pieces to see if you get the look your going for, maybe a different type of bracer, shin guards, shoulder armor, etc. On a side note the armor around the thighs could be a problem if he were to raise his legs forward, especially when animated, this was a hard lesson I had to learn when working on similar types of characters. Good luck with it nikudy and I look forward to the next revisions!:)

Marcus

[nikudy]

Small update:

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/3163/004qc8.jpg

The head is still a placeholder. I don't know yet what i'll do about it. The only thing i know for sure is that this time his face will be visible, so you can read his mood.

Marcus Dublin : Could you elaborate on the thighs armor a bit ? As for symmetry, i haven't reach that part yet. The arms will be completely asymmetrical, and the torso will have asymmetrical detail ( belts and small metal pieces ). The legs will share the same texture, for texture optimisation purposes.

-claudiu

[Marcus Dublin]

Oh I was referring to the armor in the paint over, more or less the range of motion. Armors a tricky thing to handle in 3d especially if it's going to be animated, for the most part you nailed it from a medieval point of view but if you look at the arrows it points to where you would have some of clipping issues. All in all making armor in 3d isn't perfect and clipping is natural but it's a decision of style over function. Lately I've tried to find a harmony between both. Hopefully when you've done some more modeling things will become a bit clearer design wise.:)

Marcus

[nikudy]

I'm not sure if i understand you corectly, but i'll explain what i want to do. maybe it will clarify some things. The screenshots show the base mesh for the highpoly model. I intend to take the mesh into zbrush to add small details ( a workflow similar to the one the guys at Epic use). I haven't use polycruncher yet to reduce polygons, but i intend to start now :). If i can't get it to work, i'll use xsi reduce polygon tool a a backup plan. After the highpoly is done, i'll use TopoGun to create the lowpoly mesh. Depending on how fast Cristi( the guy developing TopoGun ) moves, i'll create the normal map and an occlusion map in either Topogun or Turtle ( under Maya ).

As for animating the thighs armor i plan on using some bones for those pieces, that will not rotate the same as the leg bones. I think this should be enough, but we'll see... this is just another experience to learn something from :).

-claudiu

[Frozan]

for the understanding of bending armor i would look into some samari armor. they got there range of motion set really well.

[nikudy]

Made some progress today. The base mesh for highpoly modelling is almost finished. Made some tests today with polycruncher and i have to say i was happy with the results. The only problem is my pc . It's getting too old. I am very happy with the new zbrush because it allows me to work with enough polys even on this old system, even though it also disapointed me in some ways.

http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/5135/005perspoz8.jpg

I hope to finish the base mesh in the next 2 days. In my tests the zbrush work seems to be a bit faster. If i manage to finish the zbrush model by the end of the week i might even finish the character in time for this contest :D . We'll see...

-claudiu

[Marcus Dublin]

I'm looking forward to seeing your next up date, tell me this, are you going to include a mask like in the original? Good stuff keep on grinding!

Marcus

[indian_boy]

hey the work is looking pretty good. i'm watching ur thread for a while, and it looks like the project ill be great when finished!
i was just wondering how u model the armour plates? do u copy some faces off of the mesh and then extrude the new object around to model it into the shape, or do u start the polygon from scratch? if so, how do u align it to the model? or is it going through the model too? thanks

gl

[nikudy]

Marcus Dublin : If i manage to save enough polys i'll make a mask too. First of all i want to get a decent silhouette for the guard and his weapon. The mask is not on top of my priorities right now because i want to model a good head, which should give the proper idea about the character. I want to perfect my organic modeling, so i take any chance to model anatomic parts :D .

indian_boy : Thanks ! You were right the first time :) . I duplicate some faces, move them a bit along the normal and detach them. Then i cut and split until i get the desired shape, and extrude the whole object.