W.I.P - Paperclip

[NiGHTS2o06]

Hello again,

Heres a model I started a few weeks ago based on a concept I did a while back. The model is just a bog standard ogre-type creature however I wanted to make him more menacing (in a sort of Pyramid Head, Tyrant and Nemesis type of way).

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/NiGHTS2o06/XL800095.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/NiGHTS2o06/XL800111.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/NiGHTS2o06/1.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/NiGHTS2o06/2.jpg

Similarly to one of the creatures from Resident Evil 4, his strongest form of perception is his sense of hearing as opposed to his sight.

What I wanted in terms of uniqueness was his weapon, i.e a multi-functional blade/bashing tool in the shape of a giant paperclip.

Still work in progress however I havnt added ears yet.

The square planes on his back and arms are to be chains and alpha maps will be created in order to emphasize this.

His physique is greatly different to the original concept, with the emphasis being more on his legs as opposed to the exaggeration of the top half of his body. This also makes him taller than the concept.

This is the low poly version (4486 triangles) and I do want to take the model into ZBrush to create a high poly version and thus extract a normal map from that.

Any advice or constructive critisisms will be well received and extremely helpful. Thankyou.

[Ancient-Pig]

My first impression is that he doesn't look like he's going to deform well at all- remember, the whole point of a character model is for it to deform and move...

The major hot spots:

Crotch

Shoulders

Knees

Elbows


The crotch isn't so bad - it could use a little optimization down the front side, and the backside looks a little too 'clenched' :P

The deltoids should really come off of the pecs. The edge loop that runs along the bottom of the pecs should extend around to encompass the bottom of the deltoid as well. Once you have that loop in place, the rest becomes very apparent as to how it's supposed to fall in.

Knees and elbows have too much stuff going on. More polys doesn't mean it'll deform better, it just means there's more polys to end up looking like garbly-gunk once it deforms. You shouldn't have your joints bending on a horizontal edge. If you have your joints bending against vertical edges, the limb retains shape much better through animations.

Think of it this way: On a knee, there's a loop for the top of the knee, and one defining the bottom of the knee. Make a loop in between those two, but take out the verts int he back of the knee on that middle loop.

Anyhow, if you want pics, I can try and throw something together...

Also, your dude's head has an awful lot of polys.. should optimize that.

--edit--

Your dude's fingers are going to crush when he bends them - apply the same theory from the knees and elbows to the fingers as well.

[NiGHTS2o06]

I think I kind of understand the knee/elbow bending mechanics however I am slightly confused by the method that you are trying to propose so if you can post images that would be really helpful.

Heres how my current knee looks (after a slight bit of modification from the previous version.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/NiGHTS2o06/KNEE.jpg

[Ancient-Pig]

You inspired me to write a quickie tutorial on all this :P

Check it out here:

www.pig-brain.com/tut02/tut02_01.htm

[NiGHTS2o06]

OK, heres the structural update:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/NiGHTS2o06/3.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/NiGHTS2o06/4.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/NiGHTS2o06/5.jpg

Thanks for that tutorial A-P, it was fantastic in terms of structure and helped me strive for a model that was built correctly instead of something that was solely built with visual appreciation in mind.

[Ancient-Pig]

You're welcome - thanks for checking it out!

The meshflow looks heaps better.. one thing on the elbow, it's actually reversed :P The middle loop would go on the outside of the elbow and the edges are terminated like the knee, so that it doesn't bend onto the middle loop.

Lookin better man - try modeling with smoothing groups off (faceted).. it gives a great visual for how your forms are..

-edit-

And don't forget that you don't necessarily have to sacrifice visual appreciation to make a character functional. The characters I do for work have a fairly high polygon count -- I still keep these core structures in tact, but find ways to incorporate them in to the anatomy of the character. Just keep doing it, you find ways as you go! :)