Thanks GamesWorkShop

[thecrow]

Hello. Iam Derek Stevens. I used to teach Maya, and well now I quit my job I am looking for a full time gig as a concept artist and a modler. This is the first model for my demo.
If you have any thoughts please share. Thank you very mcuh

-Crow
http://rejectgamers.co.uk/DONE2.jpg

[NeVaR]

Interesting where the image is going.

You say this is for your demo... are you looking at getting into games? Hard to tell from this model, as parts of it are highly detailed, while others seem to just be beveled.

Some parts of the model look very good, but there are some places where I'd suggest a little more work. For example, the crotch area suggests virtually no flexibility. How do you intend to animate the character? Much of the design of the flex areas (hips, shoulders, neck) doesn't seem to allow for a great deal of movement. It looks like the character was intended to stay in a tee-stance its whole life.

I know that you are only wanting to be a modeller, but you must remember that when modelling characters, the idea is to create them for CHARACTER ANIMATION. A character needs to be able to MOVE. Because this is a render, it's very difficult to tell whether your topology will even allow movement. If someone is looking to hire you as a character modeller, they'll need to see your topology. I'd suggest switching on Maya's lovely Wireframe on Shaded mode. It's found under Shading > Shade Options in your viewport.

If this is intended to be a model for some of the new technologies such as normal mapping, you may want to consider the difference between high-detail and excessive poly counts. Note that the newer games featuring this technology (Doom 3, Half-Life 2, for ex.) are intended to create a normal system to apply to a lower definition mesh. This means that you can use virtually as much detail as you like. I have heard that some of the newer and in-development games are using normal source art with poly counts in the tens of millions. What I mean is, use that to create a convincing, smooth model. Parts of your mesh look nice and organic (the underlying chest plate, the eye mask), but other parts are obviously simple extrusions with some beveling. This seems to send some mixed messages to the viewer: Some of it looks high-def, most of it looks like simple primitives.


This is obviously a WarHammer 20K style model. That's a cool concept, but think back to most of the warhammer art you've seen (I assume you know of it, from the title of your message). You'll see that most of the warhammer designs look good on PAPER, and that the miniatures are also pretty cool. However, to make it MOVE and appear to be real when moving, you've got to adjust a few things. For example, the shoulder pads don't look very functional; neither do the boots, for that matter.

Keep up the work... if you put as much effort in on the legs and arms as you did the torso and head, you should have a fine model.

Also, be wary of Maya's bevel tool. I'm afraid it's not very good.

[thecrow]

I have done work for unreal2004, you should see the newwr models. It is all done with nromal mapping. You take one crazy high rez model..nromal mapp it to a lower rez. It is the best of both worlds.

Thanks
-Crow

[the good war]

well put nevar
i agree
functionality doesn't really present itself here
but you have managed to create a nice amount of detail in your model... but i believe you became excited about creating the details and forgot the key to a great looking model is in the siloette (sp)
focus more on creating new shapes for armor rather than a ton of it
that me opinioee

[Erik]

I totally agree with the good war

Also, if you want to create models for animation, it's best to make the pose different, i.e. model it so that the arms and legs are more relaxed, and more halway between their extreme positions. It will help you get better animation.

I also think your model is very 'boxy'. Although all the detailing looks nice and a lot of time went into it i'm sure, the model as a whole does not convey a real 3D quality, in that all shapes are still boxy and have no flow of curves around the model. If you look at your own arm or leg you will see that they are not in fact cylinders, but that there are certain flow lines going around the surface. These lines should also be present in a good model, helping to make the shape more present and organic.

If you post some wireframes it's better to see what happens

Also, for such extreme detailing many folks are trying their hand at zbrush nowadays, maybe you should too as you seem to like the detail

Good luck!
E.