1st Character Post

[jzak]

Hello everyone! Here's my attempt to create a cartoonish 3d character.
I'm thinking of doing an animation with him. I'm not quite sure about what
he'll be doing but I got some ideas. I really need some feedback for now
on just how it's looking. I know that I need to fix up some areas but some
good critz are always helpful...especially after looking at this thing for hours.
I'm working on it in 3D Studio Max. Thanks for your time. -J Zak



http://jz3d.com/WorkProgress/PlatypusWIP.jpg

[dougjuno]

so you got the picture to work?

[Destroythenseek]

sure as hell beats my character. haha :-)

[sarN]

LoL great! in the pose hes in i see a little bit of this guy
http://www.dooffy.com/0_pictures/2_dooffy_wallpapers/dooffy_cartoon_wall_003/2_1024/dooffy_ice_age.jpg
looking forward to textures!

[Mr.Sharky]

i think its awesome. great concept, modeling, and it looks damn good. keep it up man.

[kuman]

lookin good jay

the beak is looking a lot less stuck on but i think you could make it even more kinda naturally grown out of the face if you maybe extend the corners of the mouth toward the back of the head, kinda like the mouth wraps around the head circular shape, instead of the flat ended plunger on the circular shape if you know what i mean.

lookin forward to new updates

-k

[Avatar-3DT]

An ornitorinc... he has an evil look upon its face as it is now. I think it will be a great character, especialy if you'll come up with a suitable story for him.

[DigitalToon]

Cool character! Could you post a wire? Thanks

[jzak]

Hello everybody! Here's some wires to those shots...thanks DigitalToon.
Hopefully now I'll get some helpful critz. Remember I'm going to animate this
guy so I would like to make sure that any meaningless geometry is out and
that it still looks good. SarN, you're not too far off with that picture reference.
Mr.Sharky, Destroythenseek, and Avatar-3DT thanks for the encouragement.
James thank you for your crit...I'm looking at the mouth now. I'll post updates.
Oh and to anyone who decides to view..please throw in your ideas and critz too.
I'm here to grow and learn, as well as you all are. -J Zak-


http://jz3d.com/WorkProgress/PlatypusWire.jpg

[Ilkejav mk5]

I think Kuman had a point there... the beak ends too sharply.

[jzak]

Here's an update on the Platypus character. It's been awhile since I posted,
work and other things had me caught up. I want to finish this guy up nicely
before Christmas. Toss any ideas or critz at me. I'm going for a cartoonish
looking character....a sneaky and bitter personality. Thanks! -J Zak-

http://jz3d.com/WorkProgress/PlatypusWIP01.jpg

[jdgill]

Really neat charcater! It looks like somethign from pixar or disney. I wish I could model like that!

[Avatar-3DT]

Lol, this is one machiavellic charcacter. Almost hear him giggle. You should work more on him, its a pitty to abandon it for so long.

[jzak]

jdgill - Thanks for the compliments... you can model anyway you want. It takes time and
discipline.

Avatar-3DT - I appreciate your thoughts and input as well. Yeah, I can see this guy
causing trouble and being grumpy. Personality plays a big part in the cartoon world, I
want to make sure that this guy has some.

I'm going to continue working on it...possibly add the fur on him soon. I just
want to make sure I finish him completely before I do so. -J Zak-

[jdgill]

jdgill - Thanks for the compliments... you can model anyway you want. It takes time and
discipline.

Very agreeable :)

I can't wait to see the update

[goat]

you should give him a small coat of fur. Nice little character.

[jzak]

Oh yes indeed. But before I get to that I just want to make sure people give any final
suggestions about the mesh. But thanks for your kind words...it helps when people are
interested in work that one does. I know, like myself, people expect to see a great final
result on this.

[JHarford]

nice work, cute character, with a good sense of deviousness.
Well modeled. Id take a look at the feet, the seem to call for more volume, more organicness.

[Makaveli]

Sweet character. But I think you should make his body kind of like the penguins in Madasgar. As in texture wise.

[jzak]

Here's a quick update:
-I rounded out the cheek area
-fixed up a new eye texture
-fixed the fingers a bit as well as the feet a little with a few more cuts in the mesh

cgStripe let me know what you think about the feet.
Makaveli I'm going to try to add the hair and fur to it and see if that looks good. If not
then I'll go with a Madagascar approach. I'm thinking more of a Scrat-(Ice Age) look.

-J Zak-

http://jz3d.com/WorkProgress/PlatypusWIP02.jpg

[Avatar-3DT]

Make him with green eyes. More maliciouse this way :D

[DahWan]

i agree. awesome character. looks very cartoonish, so good job.

[jdgill]

its lokoing raelly good...I look forward to more updates!

[jzak]

Check it out, here's another update.
- Avatar 3DT I changed the eyes to green.
-DahWan & jdgill thanks for your kind posts.

I've been playing with the hair and fur modifier. So far I've got the tail.
The body is difficult because I want to get different lengths and colors.
Like I said, I would like to get the hair to look like Scrat from Ice Age.
If anyone knows any good links or tutorials on how to better use the hair
and fur modifier let me know...especially for different lengths. Otherwise,
I'm just going to keep messing with it. I'm really looking forward to this
character's mesh and texture being completed before Christmas.

-J Zak-

http://jz3d.com/WorkProgress/PlatypusWIP03.jpg

[Avatar-3DT]

Ok, you should check amongst the tutorials at Threedy. I believe there are few tutorials there. But, just to know, the different lenghts are made with a black and white map. You'll have to unwrap your character and use the wires to paint a map with high and low values. Black is lack of hair, white is lots of hair. As for the different colors, now thats the same thing. Only that you have to simply paint a body texture containing the color patern you want. Then, in the hair color panel, just asign thet map as the hair's color. Ta-daaaaa!

[Edit] - Oh yeah, and I think the platypus doesn't have hair on the tail. And nice eyes by the way :D

[jzak]

This makes me laugh the more I look at it. I'm still playing around with the hair and fur
modifier. This is what I got going on so far. I'm trying to get a similar look to Scrat, I've
also attached an image of a real platypus which has hair all over it. At first I didn't think
they did but the more reference I gathered I came to see that hair is covering most
of the animal. Here's the picture of the Furball.

http://jz3d.com/WorkProgress/PlatypusWIP04.jpg

[Makaveli]

lol looks like hes balding in some areas. But you got pretty close to what you're shooting for. Maybe the glossy feet and beak are also what make it seem more odd.

[jzak]

Still hacking away at getting this guy to look right. I need to focus on the bill,
feet, hands for a better texture. I've been messing with the fur. I still need to
perfect that. Here's an update on what I got going on so far. It's become a
slow process with all the rendering to check what I have. Sometimes Max
crashes too :(
But suggestions, crits and/or comments are always welcomed. Let me know
what you think. Thanks!
-J Zak-

http://jz3d.com/WorkProgress/PlatypusWIP05.jpg

[Avatar-3DT]

The crashes might be caused by the use of fur and skylight (if you use a skylight). Use a simple directional light and check the shadow options. Try them all, see what is working better and faster for you. Maybe make the fur a bit thinner and use a anistrophic shader for the highlights on it to make him look a bit wet. You also should build a small enviroment for him. Nothing fancy, maybe a patch of forest (a few trunks on the background, some grass and ferns using alpha maps) and a bit of water (like the edge of a river or a lake). Placing him into the enviroment may be the next step into deciding how to work his textures and all. Time to choose a style also - are you going more cartoony or more realistic?

[Deto]

Wew, that's brilliant little fuzzball! Suggestion, try adding very little bump map to the blacks, well those probabl ain't finished yet anyway ;)

[jzak]

Thanks fellas for your suggestions. I'm going to work on the environment after I
get this lil guy complete and final the way I like. I don't want to cut corners or
just settle for less than what I'm trying to achieve. I'm planning on doing more
the the feet, hands and bill too. I need to jump onto that soon. If this guy isn't
still looking cartoony then I need to exaggerate it a bit more. Like I said I want
to go for that Ice Age Scrat look, where he has some realistic qualities but still
keeps that cartoony style. Please don't confuse it with meaning that I want to
build a Scrat look-a-like. Thanks again and keep throwing ideas at me I'm open
to test things out.

[Avatar-3DT]

I was refering to the enviroment:) He looks very good as a cartoony character. But you take a look at Shrek background and IceAge backgrounds. Those are both cartoony but with different degrees of realism.

[sketchbookjack]

I love the face, but something about the legs/arms needs a little work, they kind of come out from the body funny. But the head is really nice.