Comicon Challenge 2009 | h2olt | Lobster Johnson

[h2olt]

Thx everyone. I feel like once I get this done maybe i should send a render to mike Mignola and see what he thinks.

I had a pose and base in mind for this but I wasn't quite sure it would all work out so that always means one thing. green clay time. I know i should really work on my drawing skills and get some practice posing guys in 2d. but my brain doesn't really work that way. I'm hardwired for 3d. I knew this was gonna work once i got the wire armature posed on top of the lump of clay, but it was so much fun I kept going for about an hour.

Here's the pose I'm gonna work with.


And here's a close up on the base I'm gonna build. I might make it a bit taller from the bottom but this is how I want the structure of it to look. Originally I wanted to have some sort of tentacle things squirming up from beneath the rock. but i think that's outside what's allowed of the pedestals in this comp.

[Maph]

Awesome! More clay in these comps is needed.

Really cool pose though, but he looks like he's going to fall off; but if that's what you're going for, forget what I said.

[zann]

Great style approach! Very clay feel :thumb:

[h2olt]

OK, I'm getting tired so i may see something I want to change when I get back at this in the morning, but here is the final highpoly. (except for the gun holster)


Let me know what you guys think and I'll get started on the lowpoly, the gun and the base tomorow. sounds like a lot left when I say it all. and i still got texturing.

[goast666]

beautiful man. arms seem his finger length too long to me. Just lower his arms and see if he can touch his knees...i bet he can :P great otherwise.

[h2olt]

Yeah goast, I think you're right, the hands are a bit too big. I don't know a good way to scale both the zbrush model and the low poly I been working on so I'm gonna try a little after baking shrinking of the hands.

Got a long way to go yet, but I'm finally onto the baking segment. This is a test bake, there are several problems I can see. I need to go through and hide discrete parts and bake them out separately.

Here's the test bake.



And here's the lowpoly wireframe, uvs and a horrendous render from in maya. I know I should be able to get better results from in maya than in realtime engines, but I just suck at it. I know I used to be good at it but i never seem to have the time necessary to make a good maya render.

[KEDavidson]

this awsome h2olt, i was starting to worry you'd be working on the high poly forever so it's good to see this update.

have you seen the Mignola challenge over at the Sinister Circle. some of the showoffs are there, but the Zbrush sculpt you've done sure could've placed:thumb:

[Smooth_Criminal]

Great bake.. waiting to see more.. fast fast..

[crazyfool]

hurry hurry hurry hurry great bakes dude

[Sirt Gazington]

Looks great. I kinda like the arms at the length they are, they look spot on to me in the A pose, but I'm not the best when it comes to proportions. Love the quality of the jacket, very thick and padded as well as a weathered feel. Great style.
Shame about the base tentacle, seems like a great idea and very Mignola, would have loved to have seen it. Looking forward to the next update.

[h2olt]

ScudzAlmighty -wow, I hadn't noticed the comp over there. I guess this is Mignola season. The comps over there look cool, i'll have to see if I can fit some of them in.
Smooth_Criminal - Thx, I think I maybe spend a bit too much time cleaning up the normal and AO maps, but it's all cleaned up and ready for color now.
crazyfool - I'm hurry i'm hurry. Got another round of baking coming up for the base but it's good to be done mostly.
Sirt Gazington - Thanks. I got a lot of inspiration for the jacket from Bruno's Green Goblin Sculpt. Too bad to see he didn't finish that.

Anywhoo. here's what I been working on through last night. Spent a lot of time cleaning up the normal and AO maps. Debatably nitpicking and possibly time wasted, but I'm really happy with the clean result I've got now.


Second is a possible treatment of the texture to give it the comic shaded look. I'm really leaning toward this at the moment so long as it doesn't obscure the sculpting work too much.


I also spent several hours friday sculpting the base, very happy with how that's come out, now I just need to get it renderable.

[JeremyK]

That's pretty impressive! Do you always make the sculpture first before you model? And your model is looking great too. .I love the pedestal that you make. I look forward to see the final render

[KEDavidson]

sweeeeeeeeet

[Swizzle]

Two days left. Go, go, gooooooooo!

[Smooth_Criminal]

The pedestal is awesome.. I like the Ink shader texture.. but yeah if not done nicely we can loose detail from the normal map (like in mine aper: ) but I think it looks awesome so far..

[h2olt]

Hokay, It's morning, and I promised my wife I wouldn't be up till 7:00 again tonight. I guess I sorta failed. I haven't gotten a ton more done. just been spending some time getting everything combined, cleaned up and ready for one last mad dash to finish up the texture.

Given the many tweak able settings in marmoset I'll probably just stick with render all my finals in there. Here's a look at what the final piece looks like all put together. I am so dam happy to finally get this model out of t-pose. I've spent so much time with this guy lately I think I resent him a bit.... anyway, I ramble... sleep....

[digitalinkmind]

Awesome stuff Man!Great pose and pedestal

[Arkhange]

This pedestal is just awesome dude, texture it should be fun ! I'm waiting to see your finals shots
Good luck for the next steps

[h2olt]

Alright, Time for bed so I can get up and spend the rest of tomorrow working on putting together the final touches. I think I'm just about finished with the texture. I've been spinning my wheels a little bit from not quite figuring out what should be painted in the diffuse and what should be in the specular. Never been very good at specular maps except on mechanical stuff. Still need to texture the gun, but that should be a snap. it almost doesn't need anything as long as it's got some specular highlights to give it shape.

I don't have a ton of time but if there's anything that you see that you think could be addressed i Could give it a try. Any specular painting tips would be appreciated too.

Here you go guys, I hope you like it.

[crazyfool]

that pedestal looks killer man, looking forward to your finals