Teyekaniks 3D Sketchbook

[teyekanik]

Me am lerning Maya :^^;:
Here's a character I'm working on. Very time consuming stuff. I wish I had made better sketches before getting this far but oh well.. I am working on texture and blend shapes in the near future. If I finish this proper I'll make a tutorial or walkthru of what I did. Would that be of interest to anyone? Let me know.

Here goes the caps:

First sketch used for reference while modeling....
http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/CavanaughFront_Page_1.jpg
And the modeling and textureing WIP....
http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/cavanaugh1.jpg
http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/cavanaugh2.jpg
http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/cavanaugh3.jpg
http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/cavanaugh4.jpg
texture map...
http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/uvX.jpg
"base coat"
http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/uvRender.jpg
http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/uvRender2.jpg
more texture work... also some alpha mapped stuff in there...
http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/cavanaugh6.jpg
http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/cavanaugh7.jpg
A step forward with the rigging and rough texture... Getting there!
http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/cavanaugh8.jpg
http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/cavanaugh9.jpg
http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/cavanaugh11.jpg
ooohhh so sexy!
http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/cavanaugh12.jpg

well... that's all I got so far.. lots more work to do. Hope you like it!

hope to see some comments and questions/suggestions..
Matt

[IvanDashSmith]

Great work man. Really great translation from concept to 3d. You are doing low poly, but you said something about blendshapes. So if you are doint low poly I assume there is intention to put it in a game, I might be completely wrong on this but I don't think blendshapes are used for game models.

A suggestion: Don't do the arms perfectly horizontal to the ground in a T shape. Do them 45 degrees towards the ground. There is less distortion after rigging, and the shoulder looks more natural when at the characters side. This is advice I have been hearing from people at many companies recently.

Also, even if you aren't putting it in a game, you should have an idea of what engine you would put it in. Obviously, poly count, and it looks like you were shooting for under 7,000. But also for a lot of engines they do the head as a seperate object so that you can give the head its own full 1024X1024 texture map. Really handy stuff. Also, alpha maps have to be rendered in a certain order to know which is in front of the other, a friend told me they use what is called a "painters alogarithm." Apparently most games use 1 bit alpha to avoid a lot of problems. Just something that when knowing your engine you know how to approach the model.

Really good looking stuff. I would like to see it after the rig, get some nice posing with some attitude. I can't wait to see more of your stuff.

[teyekanik]

holy shit dude... I've been on this site over a year and thats the most good advice I've ever gotten at one time. :yayca:

I'm pretty new to 3d so I guess I made some natural mistakes here... I was thinking of porting it into Unreal Tournament 2k4 just to see him run around. But now I think I'll just finish and pose him and work toward that on my next character. I will try alot of what you said there.

Thanks again,
Keep in touch.

Matt

[Ismail]

NICE!!!! :x

Any chance you can do a vid tutorial????? :teeth:

Thanks for sharing!!! This helps me out quite a bit. :)

__________________________________________________ _______________

Ismail Matovu Wamala
www.imwfactor.com (http://www.imwfactor.com)

[IvanDashSmith]

I have made a couple models for UT2K4, and they are usually in the 4,000 triangle range, I think thats around what the UT characters are, and the guns are 500 triangles, but the ones on screen (first person view) are around 1,500 triangles.

Also keep that in mind for your next model. I am going to post a few of my works. I am overdue for putting my 3d models on here

[Marked970]

Hot damn, that'd be right at home in Source. I sure would like to see a tut on how you made him, chara cter modeling is still a mystery to me, and I'm not sure if I can afford the $$$ for training DVDs... so all the learning I can get would help.

[teyekanik]

I'll try to make a vid if I can.. any good programs to use for recording? I have some rudimentary recording equipment... let me know and thanks for the comments!

[DirtEater]

Just wanted to drop a few lines of encouragement and say that I think the translation from concept to finished model went very well, especially the fuzzy neck. I often put elements that are not at all practical in any way into characters that I really want to take further and model, but end up not modeling the character because of these difficult parts, or worse; I'll compromise the design.

Now your nice model is encouraging me to press on. Good stuff and keep it up! We want to see more.

[Pixeldragoon]

Hey there, I have Maya PLE, and I want to know how you mirror stuff with an instance. Like I would guewss you did with the face. Or do you have to do only half and then mirror the whole thing?

[teyekanik]

I'm not sure if its the exact same in PLE... I have the full version so I can tell you how I do it:

Just go to edit: Duplicate -> enter the settings pallete and set the duplicate for negative 1 X (-1 in the X transform field). Make sure the instance button is toggled on.

I will try and get a screen cap of what I'm talking about but its all in the duplicate;settings window.

[Pixeldragoon]

All it does is make a duplicate right next to it. Not mirrored or anything.

[teyekanik]

oh, sorry. :[ . I meant you have to flip the scale, not the transform. I got your email... so I will show you there. Expect it in a few minutes.

Matt

[teyekanik]

so here is what you need to do to flip the instance:

http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/xyz.jpg

This is the 3d space. Every thing in 3d has an xyz co-ordinate. Also, everything has either a positive or negative xyz. Its important to be aware of the difference. The white cube is in positive space, the black cube is in negative space.

I prefer to model everything in positive X before I duplicate it.
In the screenshot you sent, your model is in negative x space:

http://www.inkmafia.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/untitled5pk.png

So, your going to have to flip it from the negative x to positive x. So in the x scale field enter 1 and the model will flip from -1 to +1. An it will be an instance as long as the instance option button is on.

Hope that is clear enough.
good luck!

[Pixeldragoon]

Thank you som much, it works now! The only thing I had to do though to what you said was instead of only the X, I had to set qall the Scale axis to 1. Or negative one. or wahtever. Then I had to move them to the other side of the axis, and rotate one 180 degrees on a horizontal rotation (Not sure if that's roll pitch or yaw) But thanks so much!

[Mat_Ratcliffe]

this is looking great, the only thing that bothers me is his black thumb, its a bit of a strange shape, other than , very funky model :)

[IvanDashSmith]

Before you duplicate your model Pixeldragon, edit> freeze transformation. Click the box to go into the details and make sure rotation and scale also get frozen. Then duplicate the object on the -X (or -Z if your model is built along the Z axis, common thing.)

You should really only select the Instance box if you plan to model some more. That way while modeling you can see what it will look like when you are done. But sometimes the Instance messes up when you try to combine the two sides, so when you are finalizing and Combining, I recommend duplicating a Copy, scaling on the -X, then Freeze Transformation, then combine with the original.

Or just Polygons> Mirror Geometry. It has the same effects and combines all the vertices along the seam.

NOW -- Teyekanik, let's see a damn update, ey!!!!!

[teyekanik]

haha, thanks Ivan. Update coming in a day or two. I scrapped the rigging I did so I can take my mesh into Zbrush. I learned zbrush over the last week, that's why updates are slow right now.

These are the maps I am planning:

Color
Specular
Alpha
Bump and/or Normal
Subsurface (Which I have yet to learn)

and then onto the full re-rigging (including facial animations)
jeesh, lots of work ahead, but its like riding a bike!

[octavian]

Whats up Biatch... Teyickanicke, I spelt it right now? <3

seriously, your shit rocks..can't wait to see the zbrush shit. I would crit but I'm too noob to 3d. But that being said. The thing about C.Cavenaugh that would bother me as a gamer is that his textures are a bit standard/not extraordinary. I mean during a game I would be a bit disappointed if he were a main character but he fits nicely as a regular bullet sponge. You know what I mean?

I go play Splinter cell now so I can devistate you when we finally play against each other. :dead:

[teyekanik]

dude, I'm so rediculously good at that game. Your lucky theres not much of a sniper rifle in it. I'm reworking the cavanugh model alot, lots of buckles and straps, etc. keep and eye out for more texture after the normal map is done....

thanks for all the comments so far... I want to do alot more 3d in the near future. Just have to stop getting drunk every night :dead: haha

[theartguy]

ill work my man, dig the 3D work. very nice!