LOW POLY CHALLENGE #3 - Vehicle/Mount and Driver/Rider

[MonteCristo]

Low Poly Mini Contest # 3
Subject – Vehicle/Mount and Driver/Rider
ALL WIPS AND CONCEPTS ARE TO BE KEPT ON THIS THREAD.

Guide Lines:
You are to create 2 models: one of a vehicle or mount, and the other of the said transportation's driver or rider. This gives you a lot of scope. It could be mermaid riding a clam-chariot pulled by sea-horses; it could be a baby dinosaur in a tank; or yeah, it could just be a dude in a car.

You may want to approach this from a "Wacky Races" kind of perspective; or you may be looking to take your inspiration from futuristic sources such as "Halo" or titles based upon the past such as "Call of Duty" and "Rome:Total War; or you may simply take your inspiration from real life. The choice is yours.

Whatever you decide to do, however, try thinking conceptually about this one before leaping into the creation process. The media industries would likely expect as much from you, and this could be good practice.

Above all,
Have Fun!

Now onto the Prizes and Specs, (Yes, prizes! The winner will gain something here. Thank me later ;))...

Prizes!!!
The winner of the contest will receive The Threedy Excellence Award + The Shorts Draw 2005 (NEW!) (http://www.3dtotal.com/services/dvd/sdrawer_2005.asp) + Any 1 of the Total Textures CDs (http://www.3dtotal.com/services/shop/texturecd_shop.asp) of their choice!

Hooray for Prizes!


Judging: Only 3 of the newly introduced judging categories will apply. 10 points possible for each:

Concept - How innovative your concept is.
Model – How well the geometry is structured.
Texture – How well the texture space has been used, and how well the texture is painted/applied.
Closeness to Style – As this is an open subject we'll miss this category out.

DUE DATE: February 18th:
One month from today!

Concept:
It is advised to work conceptually on paper before putting this project into motion, but I will not insist upon it in order to submit your work. When you do post your concepts though, try to spend a bit of time on them beforehand, rather than just posting whatever doodle comes to mind. I'm going to try and advertise this comp and attract some more folks to join in, so a tidy thread will be helpful when they drop in. More participants means better prizes in the future, I hope.

Poly limit:
6500 Tris Total for both Rider and Vehicle. I don't care how you distribute these; it could be 3500 for the Rider and 3000 for the vehicle; or it could be 4500 for the rider and only 2000 for the vehicle. It's up to you, as long as you don't exceed the 6500 Tri Limit.

Textures:
6x 512x512 (With Normal Maps Included)
You can break up the map sizes into smaller chunks.
Textures can be hand-painted or you can use photographic sources.

Rigging:
All characters must be rigged/posed in or on said vehicle or mount.

Final Pictures:
You must provide a screen grab of your wire frame with your poly count, with the actual model and all its parts selected. Please don’t Photoshop your Poly counter with a bogus count.
Also, provide at least 2 rendered pictures of your model. Even better, try to composite a nice art piece similar to the ones in the MEGA MAN CONTEST (http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?t=36487). Be careful how you do this though, simple is often better.


Good luck everyone!
Let's get rolling/trotting/bouncing... or whatever. :D
Monte.

[TheWinterLord]

YES! great topic this will be so much fun seeing what other people will make! Good luck everyone!

And so it begins

[Jedianakinsolo]

w00t! This is gonna be awesome!

[TotalScore]

yeeeaah baby!!! a'right good luck people.

[zortech]

Nice topic and especially prices. :)

4x 512 textures is a bit low compared with current games...

[Hilm]

Ok well heres my mount concept / drawing.


http://www.jeffgreen.f2s.com/MaxTutorials/Images/drawing/Fullcreature.PNG


Ive only really been trying to learn to draw for 2/3 weeks so be leniant lol :-P.

[evil-98]

YES!! fun fun fun so happy lol cant even thinkin of words to say

[BEELOW]

this will be interesting, to see what comes out of this contest. good luck to everyone! : :dance:

[BiG ToE-3DT]

OK so we are working with POLY'S this time, not Tris. Good that means about 2500 polys per model, which was the limit for the last contest.

[Ilkejav mk5]

Awesome! I can get started right now!

so it's: Rider+Mount=5,000 polies (or 10,000 tris?)

[invert]

awesome, I had a feeling this idea is what was gonna be used. I may have to try to do this comp. it seems like fun. good luck to everyone that joins, cant wait to see what you creative minds think up of.

[Antievo-3DT]

Grate topic!

If I have time, I will be sure to join in on this one!
Good luck to everyone!

Antievo.

[dhin]

I'm so in and i probalbly so won't be able to finish this one either,

[Nibby]

rock n roll, i was hoping it'd be this one topic..... problem is i got too many ideas for it....which to choose....hmmmmmm?. i better get sketching. good luck everyone and thanks to the mods for sorting prizes for us. (even if its the love of modelling that brings us here.)


see yo when i have something to show

NIB

[TheWinterLord]

:lame: Yay I got a great concept, well I think so. I will try making some sketches of it as soon as possible. (i started some modeling to see if its possible)

ps isnt one month a bit short? If im lucky i will like only get 8 days to model it and probably less because many of my friends are comming over visiting Dubai. Well Il manage hehe :)

[Hellhammer]

Well ill give this a try, i dont know if ill be able to finish on tiem but ill surely give it the best i can :). Good luck to everyone!

Ive began sketching for it and hopefully will have something defined soon (many ideas :smug: ). This will turn out very interesting im sure of that :dance: !!!

[FrZnChAoS]

Here are my concepts i came up with for my character/mount. With the chick I am calling Vicky for now. Coming from a tribe of hunters who ride giant war boars to catch their prey and defeat their enemies. The concepts I think speak for themselves. Should be great a contest though.

[Zcubed]

Very nice! I won't be able to get started for at least a few days, but I'll certainly make a serious effort to get an entry submitted. Good luck everyone!

Just for clarification, we're allotted a grand total of 5,000 TRIANGLES, correct?

[TheWinterLord]

:) I have a clear idea of what I want to make, however it is hard to explain it and its 5 am... The concept is: In a futureistic wasteland world, A pilot and his ship.

The ship is hard to explain, Dont worry you will see later and say aaha thats what TWL meant... Anyways here is my attemt in descibing it. Imagine a airplane made of scrap metal and wooden parts, held together with whatever the Pilot has came across on his explorations. the wings and sails is made of cloth and wood.

edit: I forgot to mention that the pilot is more like a mechanic and Im going to make the feel of this project a bit cartoony

Hope it makes sense. Here I started modeling the pilot and its just a beginning and he might change slightly.

If anyone wants to know its 400 polygons out of 5000

[Zcubed]

It's really quite hard to give you helpful feedback with a picture like that. A simple viewport grab with a wireframe and shaded view is all we need to see. Don't bother with the compositing and lens flares until your piece is finished. :lame:

All this talk of polygons and triangles is really getting me confused. Can we just assume that all polycounts in this thread are triangles?

[TheWinterLord]

i dont want comments on the modeling right now, thats why i photoshoped it :P :)

It is supposed to somewhat demonstrate how the character will look and what I have in mind, thats all for now, tomorow I will either draw the airplane vehicle, or continue modeling on the character. Then I will post some pics and wireframes, probably because I need help modeling hehe. I learned a lot last challenge, hope to improve my skills some more.

Good luck everyone :)

[FrZnChAoS]

To clarify on the triangle vs polygon deal would be good. Considering it doubles the budget if by 5000 polygons it was meant as 5000 quads. If so thats obviously 10,000 triangles. But any help before people get to far along modeling would be cool.

[Zcubed]

5,000 triangles seems like a solid budget. Enough room for you to be creative, but not so much that you can afford to waste too much geometry.

[Monkey_man]

i want in on this competition already started my concept

i hope i can finish this one :( (school is gay especially during finals)

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Poly's vs Tri's

The last comp had a limit of 5000 tris for the one character and its weapon. So saying 5000 tri's is good for two characters is pushing it.

The rules for this comp says 5000 poly's and I trust Monte, the man in charge, knows what he is talking about.

So instead of talking tri's lets stick with the poly's.

[TheWinterLord]

Yeh, I think we should stick with polys.

[artecnl]

hi, its my first time in the low poly challenge, so if i do a mistake please tell me :) , here is my concept sketch, is about a guy a militar guy and his car-bike or flying objet ( i think that must fly is in the future) , well i didn´t do low poly modelling before, but its a good chance to do it, so? the complete pilot-transportation thing, must be on the 5000 polys?

cheers :)

[TheWinterLord]

You are right artecnl, Great concept, good luck making it lowpoly :)

[Zcubed]

The contest going on at CGChat at the moment gives participants 5500 triangles to model two characters, so I'd argue that it's not too much of a stretch if you make an effort to optimize your work. After all, this is a LOW-POLY challenge. Realtime art is all about making the best work that you can while remaining under budget.

Doubling the poly-budget also effectively doubles the time that modeling will take. We've only got a month to model, texture, and possibly rig two of our best models. Most of us are not professional modelers, and have other obligations during the week. Upping the budget makes it that much harder to finish the entry on time.

If you really NEED more geometry, maybe we could knock it up to six thousand triangles.

[artecnl]

thanks Winter, i hope i can do this thing on time :D

[BEELOW]

I just pmed Monte-Christo so he can inform all of use to what the count is gonna be it seems to be pretty high though for a character and a vehicle, I am guessing. :dunno:

[TheWinterLord]

Yeh good idea Beelow, so we can get out off this discussion and get going modeling! :P

[dhin]

Polycounts for gameing is ALWAYS in tri's, because they are what matters for realtime use. 5000 isn't alot but it isn't really few either. It means you have to be careful where you put details. No waisting polies where you don't need them.

NOW GET TO IT!!!
I should have a concept up this weekend.

[MonteCristo]

I did originally mean Polys, but having thought about it, 10,000 tris does seem like a lot, especially when we have a generous texture allowance. So we will work in Tris, and I have changed the text at the front.

Having said that, I have also increased the Tri count to keep folks like Big Toe happy. The new limit is: Rider + Vehicle = 6500tris.

Laters,
Monte.

[TotalScore]

wow Monte your announcements are hard to miss espascially with that red color you use :D.

[MonteCristo]

Good! :D

[zortech]

Wondering why no one said something about the texture sizes...In my opinion the tri count is well placed and fits to current game titles. But the texture size seems to be a joke to me. I mean games like UT, FarCry, HalfLife2 are using at least one 1024 texture for a character. (UT2k4 2x 1024 and 1x512) Now you've increased the limits, but this means only more tris at the little space. If you're planing you use normal mapping, you'll get serious problem, because 2x 512 normal maps woun't look that smooth if you try go into detail and you'd only have 512x to texture vehicle int/exterior and another one for a complete character...

Well, my point of view. :)

[MonteCristo]

Wondering why no one said something about the texture sizes...In my opinion the tri count is well placed and fits to current game titles. But the texture size seems to be a joke to me. I mean games like UT, FarCry, HalfLife2 are using at least one 1024 texture for a character. (UT2k4 2x 1024 and 1x512) Now you've increased the limits, but this means only more tris at the little space. If you're planing you use normal mapping, you'll get serious problem, because 2x 512 normal maps woun't look that smooth if you try go into detail and you'd only have 512x to texture vehicle int/exterior and another one for a complete character...

Well, my point of view.

Well, I'm not sure that I agree with you there mate. You do have a reasonable point but I'm sure that Kuman won't mind me posting one for his latest works to demonstrate that a great level of detail can be achieved at this spec.

http://67.15.36.49/slippy/images/examples/nmech.jpg

Even so I'll add a couple more 512's to the limit, just to take the burden off you a little bit. :)

[TheWinterLord]

Monte nice demonstration! I like the red text, no one will miss it. :)

A lone mechanic, In a wasteland world. He explores and searches for a better place to live.

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/2588/sketchphoto3ee.jpg
I drew this to show what I will model later. He is repairing his ride.
(bodytype and kind of cloth.)

http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/9941/headmodel3rv.jpg
Here is the head so far. There is a small problem i want help with. look at the top of the head in the clay render. There is a not so smooth thing there. there is two triangles but its more like a square and where it is bent there is no edge showing.
Im sure someone knows what im talking about, thanx for the help in advance, just tell me the best thing to do with it.

Ah if someone knows a good way to model ears without using to much tri count it would be appreciated!

[Nibby]

looks like you need to turn the edge on that poly. if your using max and its an editable poly, there it an option to turn edges, then click the dotted line and it will twist the other way, fixing it.(i hope)

[BiG ToE-3DT]

WinterLord, if turning the edge doesn't help, try removing it all together. Also, try a separate smoothing group just for the hat, if you don't already have one. Another thing you might want to look at are the vertices, if you have more than one on top of each other it will look funny in the render.

[Hellhammer]

hinge from edge is a good option to do a simple ear. A couple of quads and then hinge from one of them. The texture will do the rest, considering you will want to put more detail somewhere else.

[Josiah]

A lone mechanic, In a wasteland world. He explores and searches for a better place to live.



Looks like the man off of the Rockfish short film by Blur.com

Josiah

[TheWinterLord]

Wow so many people people helping me! Thanx Nibby and Big Toe, I tried removing it all because I thought that I could save a tri or two that way, however I couldt get it right after like 20 minutes of trying it over and over again.(People dont forget to save to different files during progress hehe, it saved me) Hellhammer I didnt understand your advice, how do you make a hinge? Anyways I will figure that out and then try it. thanx a lot! :)

Josiah thanx for the link to the site, they are amazing! He does look him in Rockfish I just saw the short animation they have on their site, it was really cool. (I wish I could see it on a higher resolution though maybe my quicktime isnt working right but I couldnt make the screen bigger than the popup was form the beginning.)

Actually inspiration to my cahracter only comes form the MAD MAX movies and The Riddick (the googles, I tried red goggles but I will probably change them to something more dark). the Airplane will probably be somewhat like the one that was used in one of the Mad Max movies.
I will come back with a sketch :)

[Hellhammer]

Here it is, pretty simple and good to save polys :) if you use opacity maps for hair you might even be able to save the polys behind the ear, depends on your model.

edit: Oh yes my concept drawing might be ready tonight but ive already defined what its gonna be. It will be a centaur rider. Havent thought of a cool story for this yet, so i will think of something while defining specific details about the characters :).

[Robin200]

I decided to make a little bit more dark project this time. So I am going to do a reaper-like charecter in a roman chariot. This is my concept art:
http://img509.imageshack.us/my.php?image=reaper0cr.jpg
I advise sensitive people to not press the link. Sorry for my crappy 2D skills.

[TheWinterLord]

Robin ahh I will remember it forever, i thought i was tough, but guess not ouch. (Bra ide, + jag trodde det skulle vara nAgot hemskt) :) (ps goodluck)

Hellhammer: I see, useful technique thanx a lot

[Josiah]

Josiah thanx for the link to the site, they are amazing! He does look him in Rockfish I just saw the short animation they have on their site, it was really cool. (I wish I could see it on a higher resolution though maybe my quicktime isnt working right but I couldnt make the screen bigger than the popup was form the beginning.)

Yeah, I love that short film. It is pretty cool.
You are welcome for the link. I check out that site everyonce in awhile to see updates.....

Josiah

[TheWinterLord]

Ok i figured i will not have much time for the challenge because of school, thats why Im doing all the modeling these two days, hehe. Actually im applying for a game developing school in Sweden where I might start (if I get in) after next summer (top hemisphere)

Anyways here is the model, this is the first time I have not used boxmodeling techniques. Well I got all this practice extruding edges while trying to fix the hat thing after BiG ToE's advice. I decided to try make the cloth extruding edges and Im happy with the results so far, however it needs some tweaking c and c's are apreciated.

(edited picture changed) hehe u know me and my bad habits...

[yoshimitsu]

This is such a sweet topic. I've been trying to find time to make myself a UT2K4 skin before the dang game goes obsolete, and this adds to the incentive. Work, though, does get in the way. I hope to post a concept tonight, as i haven't posted to these forums in like forever.

speaking of concept:


I decided to make a little bit more dark project this time. So I am going to do a reaper-like charecter in a roman chariot. This is my concept art:
http://img509.imageshack.us/my.php?image=reaper0cr.jpg
I advise sensitive people to not press the link. Sorry for my crappy 2D skills.

No need to apologize, but seriously, how is that a concept? There are no design issues approached or solved in that picture. It seems many people, no matter how many times they hear it, disregard the importance of thorough concept development before they start modelling. The concept is the most important part of a successful project, not a piece of busywork to scribble out of the way.

This is not an attack on your art skills, btw.

and to Hilm and FrznChaos, and anyone making a creature, might I suggest doing a search in Google Images for human skeleton, dog skeleton, cow skeleton -- basically any types of skeleton. This has been the biggest help to me in learning how to draw, build an animate quadrapeds. look at the bones in their legs and shoulders, compare them to the human bone counterparts, and you'll get a better idea of structure and movement 4 a 4-legger.


yeah i'm a yammering know it all, but it's stuff i learned the hard way, so I'd like to help people. :drool:

[GIR3000]

http://photobucket.com/albums/c154/enics123/?action=view&current=wireframe.jpg

wat u guys think

[Zcubed]

Come on guys. Nothing makes me happier than giving and receiving constructive feedback, but you really need to make my job easier. Winterlord, what is that glow coming off of the model? Are you applying photoshop filters to a WIP image? Besides looking quite ugly, that foggy effect makes it more difficult to see the silhouette. Gir, I'm not sure what kind of response you think a picture like that will get. It appears to be some sort of hoverbike, that's all I can gather from those thin white lines against the black background.

Yoshimitsu - That's some very solid advice. Too often do I find myself modelling aimlessly, making things up as I go along. Starting a project without an idea of what you're shooting for often ends in frustration and loss of interest. So what if you're not a concept artist (I'm not :lame: ), take time to develop your characters before you get to modeling.

Winterlord - Looking very nice. He's a little too boxy at the moment, just be sure to do all that you can at your current level of detail before cutting in new geometry. It's quite hard to tell from your image, but the goggles look like they're eating up more triangles than they deserve.

P.S. Funny that you're just trying out the edge extrude method, as I used it for the first time today too!

NOT AN ENTRY
http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/1725/fattyfat3dm.th.jpg (http://img77.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fattyfat3dm.jpg)

What did you think of the process? Do you prefer it to box modeling? I found that it helped me in detailing, but made it harder to visualize the overall form and volume.

[FrZnChAoS]

Heres an update on my model. Just working on the boar at the moment. There are 1100 Tris in it at the moment. Still refining areas and removing unnecessary geometry though.

Winterlord : It may be your photoshoping your images, but the smoothing is really awkward looking and i couldnt really tell you if its your geometry or not. Un edited pics may help more.

[GIR3000]

i don't know why i didn't take a screengrab in the first place but here it is

screengrab (http://photobucket.com/albums/c154/enics123/?action=view&current=screengrab.jpg)

[Ilkejav mk5]

I can't see GIR's first image...

[yoshimitsu]

Frzn - the head on that boar is really good, but going back to my previous comment... if you take a look at some pics of animals like a boar, you'll see that the legs/shoulders and leg/hips are more one deforming piece. The legs should definitely not be sticking out the sides on your model -- they're like a lego man's arms at the moment. They should be protruding out of the bottom of the main body. I'd say just pull the should geometry out sideways further.

I'm still working on work-work, so no concept of my own to back up my hoity toity advice. :dunno:

- btw Z, you're a badass modeller.

[Zcubed]

Not by a longshot, Yoshi, but it's nice to hear it. :smug:

FrZn - Hey, great boar. I think Yoshimitsu's right on the money here, those are looking more like cylinders than legs. Focus on nailing the shapes before you move on. Here's a picture I stole from another forum...

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/610/quadruped1jy.jpg

See how, even at very low resolutions, you can already get a feel for the proportions of the quadruped model? Play with the loops running down the leg (scale, rotate, move) until you get a shape that you're happy with.

And Gir, that's looking very nice. Places such as the seat have more triangles than they need, but I'd worry about that later.

[FrZnChAoS]

appreciate the comments, ill make some adjustments before the geometry get much thicker.

[Hellhammer]

for anyone modeling animal like stuff (like me :P) heres some EXTREMELY useful information.

http://www.cedarseed.com/fire/illustration.html

Just scroll down and behold the paradise of any animal concept artist! (at least i felt that way when i found it, with mr bean light cone and angelical choirs and all) :D!!!!! Small but extremely punctual and accurate. For some reason it doesnt want to let me upload the dumb concept...

Anyways i began modeling the centaur, just a basic shape before the armor and cool details, gotta do some cleaning though. :smug:

Gotta keep trying with the concept uploading :dunno:

Edit: typos are my bane :wall: :wall:

[Robin200]

Winterlord: I didn't thought there were any swedish people here. There is something that doesn't look right in your image. Not sure what. Try to make a bigger head.
Hellhammer: Thanks for the link, seems helpful.
I think I am going to try to not box-model this time (first time for me too.)
Great work everyone.

[TheWinterLord]

Ok I changed the picture in my last post.
Zcubed
P.S. Funny that you're just trying out the edge extrude method, as I used it for the first time today too!

What did you think of the process? Do you prefer it to box modeling? I found that it helped me in detailing, but made it harder to visualize the overall form and volume.
Wow thats a coincident, to your question, the process was a bit on the slow side, however its my first time im sure I will get faster at it as I think it is a useful technique to model something with, but Iwill ofcourse not stop box modeling either, I think I will do a combination of the two, depending on the model. Thanx for comments :)

Robin200 Head is to small? unproportional to the body you think? I will try changing the size around but I really wanted him to look huge. ps good luck modeling. There is some more Swedish people here actually.

hellhammer: looks great especially how the arms are connected to the body and shoulders.I will study that hehe. nice link

GIR I like your vehicle, its hovering right?

tip of the day: For all those who run out of tris on the rider model just make the ride a magic carpet. :)

[v@la]

Hope i have the chance 2 join. Good Luck people :shout:

[UnsteadyTeddy]

Hellhammer: check references for the horse. THe Front legs could be better and theres some clipping or something going on at the top of the back legs. Make sure you try and keep more control over your mesh and think about the topology more. Throw another edge into the ab region and smoothen that out. Also try to get an even distribution of polies over the back of the stomach region of the horse.

Hope to get around to some concepting over the weekend. Lets see some more great entries!

EDIT: Forogt to attach this picture for you :wall:

[BEELOW]

I will have something up by tomorrow, peace! :dance:

[Hellhammer]

UnsteadyTedy: thanks for the tips. Its actually the first time im trying something quadruped and that is actually progressing hehe. Im pretty satisfied after the first modeling session. As i said before, i gotta do cleaning and distribution of topology in various parts, and of course the armor for the horse and the hands. I think ive got many polys that are kinda wasted, but im gonna work on cleaning the mesh out. I agree the abs are flat, its a rough shape after all, and ive put special attention to the human torso. About the horse legs, ive just tried to attach everything together (they were cilinders at first and ive had to cut here and there to get it to attach), I still gotta work on the muscle groups of the horse part, but ill correct that for appropriate anatomy, to help the deformation when its time to rig. I just think im getting too detailed in some parts and the poly count is making me nervous lol. Thanks again.

TWL: I think you should be more careful with the modeling, some edges seem to look a bit weid and to me seems like theres faces overlapping or something like that, Also if you are going for a bit of facial animation you should take some time to analize your face topology.

GIR300: thats some excellent modeling you have going there. The bike looks very eye-appealing, but some polys could be simplified. Other than that a very good start, keep it up.

FrZnChAoS: The head of the boar is very nice, but the body needs work. As yoshimitsu said, the body needs some anatomical work. Good start nevertheless. The link i posted has several types of quadruped skeleton, im pretty sure the boar could fit in one of them, but itnever hurts to google some reference about the specific skeleton which surely has special features that make a boar look like a boar.

Im very glad that the link helped. Its important to know your anatomy before taking desitions while modeling. If anyone saw my model for the asassin contest, you can see that ive studied a lot of human anatomy since that model hehe.

[Jedianakinsolo]

I love the Centaur, but are you gonna put a rider on him? I mean, may be kinda cheating to get the whole limit for one character.

The bike thing is great too. Looks good.

The Winter Lord, yours is awful boxym good concept, but the guy is boxy. For fun, run to www.xcloud.net and check out the tut there on the Swordmaster. It's all in korean, but check out how his edges flow around the body, they aren't straight.

Zcubed, as always, yours looks great :D Keep up the hot work. And ya'll haven't tried edge extruding yet? That's what comes of not car modelling ;)

Anyhow, I'm gonna join this one. I've got a concept ready to go, I've started modelling, I just need to post it.

[Hellhammer]

Jedianakinsolo: yeah my project is a centaur rider. Pretty much a kind of cavalry unit, both melee and ranged, since the rider is gonna be essentially a female archer. The centaur wip is just the mount.

I had a vague concept drawing that i couldnt post last night for some reason and i was kinda tired too lol. Anyways it was pretty ugly to be honest lol, so im redrawing it to give you guys a better idea of what this is about. Tonight ill post it, once im done with it.

The SM tut is totally great to get an idea of meshflow and polygon saving, and just by looking at the images you can get an idea of whats happening. A good thing to have indeed.

[Robin200]

I have a question about a chariot as vehicle, Monte christo. A chariot have atleast 2 horses and that would be around 2000 tris I think. The horses ain't a part of the vehicle so: Do I have to count the horses tris?

[MonteCristo]

I think the person riding the Centaur should have a horses head. That would be cooler. :D

[Robin200]

One more question about the rules. Am I allowed to use hair particles?

[TheWinterLord]

Ok school starts for another 5 days tomorow... some projects comming up and stuff.

Here is what I did, I didnt correct any of the boxy looking t-shirt, I couldnt find and overlaping vertesies.

I made arms and hands, I dont know because I havent checked but the proportions might be off a little.

The Winter Lord, yours is awful boxym good concept, but the guy is boxy. For fun, run to www.xcloud.net and check out the tut there on the Swordmaster. It's all in korean, but check out how his edges flow around the body, they aren't straight.

Hmm the link didnt work but il get it from another computer, thanx a lot I have 5-7 Korean friends here who could help me understand it a little! Oh yeah one of them taught me how to write in Korean so I could translate it all to english letters, to bad it will still be in Korean :P (But I definetly dont have time for that in the near future) so il check it out and maybe Il see how to model my character better.

[MonteCristo]

One more question about the rules. Am I allowed to use hair particles?

No.

[Nibby]

winterlord, deffinatly an improvment on the last model and really comming together. if your worried about overlapping vertex or any weird mesh errors, in max you can apply a STL checker modifier to the model, tick the option at the bottom to say check and in wireframe it will show up any wierdness by highlighting it in red. when your done fixing it just delete the modifier.....and bobs yer uncle.

[Robin200]

I have a question about a chariot as vehicle, Monte christo. A chariot have atleast 2 horses and that would be around 2000 tris I think. The horses ain't a part of the vehicle so: Do I have to count the horses tris?
How about this question?

[TheWinterLord]

Nibby STL checker, Ah nice thanks, I will try it out, cool thanx. Thanks for the nice comment! :D

Robin200 I can say im pretty sure that the horses tris will need to be counted in the total count. Maybe make a chariot pulled by one horse.

[Hellhammer]

I think the person riding the Centaur should have a horses head. That would be cooler. :D

LOL! it would be very funny to see that, but i dont think id make that for this one considering i dont picture an amazon-type character with a horse head. The idea is very interesting anyways, perhaps i can work out something around horses for the outfit though ;). Didnt think of this initially but ill see if i can come up with something cool, if i dont ill stick to the original idea hehe.

Robin200: i think a chariot comes as a whole with the horses. If it didnt it would be like a car without wheels, imo...., and you definitely dont want to spend half of your poly count in a roman chariot (which is pretty simple) unless it has some extremely bizzare features that make it worth to spend so many polys on it. An low and i mean LOW poly horse is a challenging thing and would be a good excercise on poly saving considering theres 2 of them. Textures will play an extremely important role on the model if you decide to do this.

TWL: well if you didnt tweak the mesh then it must be some weird lighting efect that caused the overlapping feeling hehe. I think its coming up well but you should definitely round it up a bit, like giving it a more organic flow and all.

[MonteCristo]

How about this question?

Yes, of course you do. :) The Horse and Chariot would count as the vehicle, and so it all fits under the specified count.

[car17]

Hey everyone-

I haven't started on this competition yet, but I have a general question to all of you. My last entry was lacking in the texture department so I started another model to practice texturing. I was wondering if anyone knew any resources for texturing a character. Anything on how to add text, when to add wrinkles etc... I have always been a sketch artist not really a painter so I am having some trouble with it. And all I can find is how to paint stone or seemless textures. And any help on unwraping UVs would be great too. I'm using Max 7 Please Help!

Oh, and here is a shot of what I am working on. I'll get the the Competition next. THANKS!

[Monkey_man]

polycount.com has a whole video tutorial section on painting a texture of faces and otheres

[Hellhammer]

car17: www.poopinmymouth.com <--(i know weird) The guy has a very good low poly character development set of video tutorials, theres one on painting textures after laying uvs, as well as bases to laying the uvs, though not too detailed on this one because he uses deep uv hehe. Also good anatomy-wise modeling tuts, he respects a lot muscle flow and appropriate modeling for a good deformation. Could be helpful for you.

[Robin200]

Yes, of course you do. :) The Horse and Chariot would count as the vehicle, and so it all fits under the specified count.
Thought so. Damn this is going to be hard to get nice, but tri cheap models. I only have one more question am I allowed to use a thing called softbody (it's something that enables gravity and stuff to models?)

[car17]

Monkey-man, Hellhammer- Thanks I will look into those.
Monkey-man- I can't see your webpage. I tried the link, but it is no good. I thought I would let you know.

Thanks

[Zcubed]

...am I allowed to use a thing called softbody (it's something that enables gravity and stuff to models?)

I would imagine that this would be allowed, though I'm not sure how you plan to implement it. :lame:

The chariot is certainly a doable idea, especially now that you've got fiteen hundred more triangles to play around with. I think it would take some damn good texturing to pull the whole thing together, as you might not be able to model in all of the detail.

[Robin200]

Here's my WIP:
http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/3557/chariot0tl.th.jpg (http://img465.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chariot0tl.jpg)
IMO it looks pretty good. Click image to get a bigger. Now I'm just gonna add the reaper.

It sounds that you don't really get what I meant Zcubed. Softbody is a thing that enables gravity and collision detection. It's pretty useful to make clothes with.

Hellhammer: your probably right have to do very lowpoly. Think I have to reduce the polys pretty much, but I do that when I'm starting to run out of polys.

[Nibby]

robin, looking good, i must say the horse model looks very smooth,how many polys you at now. as for using gravity simulators i dont see there being anything wrong with it and if you wernt allowed to use it in the final model you could allways simulate the clothes to the point your happywith and collapse the mesh so its frozen in that position. remmeber this doesnt need to be animated only a final render so there is no need to go mad on stuff like that.

Car17 I'm just getting into texture painting too, the site www.xcloud.net has the korean .pdf tutorials, while they are in korean all the pictues are really good. the second .pdf tutorial has some great step by step stuff on painting, you can tell alot from the pictures. and heres a uvwmapping tut that was on 3dtotal : http://waylon-art.com/uvw_tutorial/uvwtut_01.html

i'm not done with my designs either, i've narrowed it down to two types of animal, but am torn between the two.....will try to get some exsamples togeaather and ask you guys your opinion.

[Jedianakinsolo]

That last tut is the one I learned off of. It's excellent.

[Zcubed]

It sounds that you don't really get what I meant Zcubed. Softbody is a thing that enables gravity and collision detection. It's pretty useful to make clothes with.


You're going to model clothes on top of your character and then simulate it to make it look like cloth? I'm not sure how well that's going to work with such low resolution geometry. Plus you'll be wasting a lot of triangles by modeling things that we'll never see.

And could we get a viewport shot of your chariot? The dark, off-center render doesn't let us see much.

[Monkey_man]

www.planetquake.com/polycount/ (http://www.planetquake.com/polycount/)

[BiG ToE-3DT]

My Rider Concept

[BiG ToE-3DT]

The Mount, not sure if I'm going to go all the way dragon, or do some legs with no wings, or more of a snake. Depends on how well I use the poly's.

[Ilkejav mk5]

awesome concept(s) Big Toe... very original...

Just a question for Monty: do we have to create abackground history for our rider/mount? We should create a story for each creation, it helps to define some aspects of the concept.

[Robin200]

You're going to model clothes on top of your character and then simulate it to make it look like cloth? I'm not sure how well that's going to work with such low resolution geometry. Plus you'll be wasting a lot of triangles by modeling things that we'll never see.
I am just going to do some very basic planes under the clothes. I don't know if it is possible in Blender but if it is I can, just like nibby said, freeze my mesh and then erase the body under it.
Screen dump:
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1489/chariotdump7sz.th.jpg (http://img12.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chariotdump7sz.jpg)
robin, looking good, i must say the horse model looks very smooth,how many polys you at now. as for using gravity simulators i dont see there being anything wrong with it and if you wernt allowed to use it in the final model you could allways simulate the clothes to the point your happywith and collapse the mesh so its frozen in that position. remmeber this doesnt need to be animated only a final render so there is no need to go mad on stuff like that.
About 600 faces. My damn tri counter doesn't work :cry: . I guess that's a bit mush so I have to erase pretty much of them. This is my first non-boxmodeled model.

[Pills]

I might enter this 1. Heres mine, i might hcange the vehicle to something more non-organic, because every is doing creatures.

[TheWinterLord]

Big Toe awesome concept

Pills glad to have you aboard, not everyone is making organic vehicles :)

Ok I wanted to share this Idea of mine, this is just a quick model, like a quick 3D sketch to see if it would work and I animated this from boat to airplane.

The cockpit where the pilot is is going to be constructed of a frame around a seat and controls. around where my character is in one picture. Im currently thinking how to add something to make it more stable when it is on water, but im sure I will figure that out soon.

plz post comments about you think.

[MonteCristo]

awesome concept(s) Big Toe... very original...

Just a question for Monty: do we have to create abackground history for our rider/mount? We should create a story for each creation, it helps to define some aspects of the concept.

Nope. I didn't ask for one, so you don't have to. All you have to do is follow the guidelines I set out. :)

[MonteCristo]

:roll: Here's my WIP:
http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/3557/chariot0tl.th.jpg (http://img465.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chariot0tl.jpg)
IMO it looks pretty good. Click image to get a bigger. Now I'm just gonna add the reaper.

It sounds that you don't really get what I meant Zcubed. Softbody is a thing that enables gravity and collision detection. It's pretty useful to make clothes with.

Hellhammer: your probably right have to do very lowpoly. Think I have to reduce the polys pretty much, but I do that when I'm starting to run out of polys.

Robin trust me, you don't need to do this for low poly. :) Unless you were planning on using high-poly to generate a normal map. In which case, I don't care how you get it. Look, just make a vehicle and Rider. :roll: :shout: You have your Tri count, you have your texture count, you know it needs to be posed. What's so hard about that?
Why do you feel the need to work outside of this?

Keep it simple and follow the brief, you can always do that other stuff in your own time.

[Robin200]

Ok, Montechrist I will try to keep it simple then. I am pretty sure this will be my last questions: I have never really learnt how to UV-map, so do I have to try with UV-map or am I allowed to just apply a texture? I am allowed to use Alpha map, right? I didn't planned to use softbody for normal map generating, but if anyone know if it's possible in Blender and tell me how to do I would be glad to try that.

Update!
News:
Reapers cloak
http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/2009/chariot20bo.th.jpg (http://img360.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chariot20bo.jpg)
I am going to add hands, eyes and ribs too. Just thought I should show him. He might look like a wizard or something now, but later I am going to apply an alphamap so there be some holes in it.

[Josiah]

Nice concept winterlord :)

Josiah

[yoshimitsu]

Ok, I have never really learnt how to UV-map, so do I have to try with UV-map or am I allowed to just apply a texture? I am allowed to use Alpha map, right?


You should at least use some basic mapping. I don't know how anything works in blender, but MAX has simple modifiers which project mapping accurately on various shapes, like a box, plane or cylinder. I dont see how you can use an alpha map without at least some use of intentional mapping. Furthermore, if you were to actually export this model to a game, it would need correct mapping coordinates, because games only use bitmap textures.
It doesn't say so in the brief, but I'm assuming a low poly challenge is to make a model game-ready. That means no Application-Specific textures, only mapped images.

[Robin200]

He is not supposed to be Ku Klux Klan member. I just wanted to do a reaper that didn't had those usual clothes. My ref pic:
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/3961/grimreapermodel0vy.th.jpg (http://img28.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grimreapermodel0vy.jpg)

[the_bromox]

Thats a great concept man. He looks like No heart from Care bears. I'm going to try and get in on this competition as well but school work first. Doing a 1 minute 3d short.

[yoshimitsu]

Robin, unless the character in that ref pic is your own original creation, I don't think you should submit this character at all... It would be plagiarism - copying someone else's design.

[Robin200]

It ain't mine. Ok, I won't copy it I will do some modifications to him then. I understood it like you didn't had to do your own conept. I will give him a skull and have hood down over his eyes, change the color and maybe something more. I found it on a game site concept art. It was allowed to get inspiration of games.

[Zcubed]

Concept - How well innovative your concept is.


Seeing as concept is a third of your possible points, I'd recommed that you go with something original.

Speaking of which, I don't have any concepts yet. Time to get drawing. :lame:

[Ilkejav mk5]

@ Robin: I just examined you wireframe, and I mean no offense, but this is one of the worst wireframe i've ever seen. some polygons are so messed up I can't believe it looks ok in the smooth version. Most polygons are placed without any reference to the musculature, and they'll never bend the right way during animation... I really stongly suggest you rethink your arrangement. now don't take this the wrong way, i'm trying to help you.

[Ilkejav mk5]

there, I fiddled on photoshop and found a better wireframe suggestion... it's probably not the best, but It's definitely better. hope this helps...

BTW I also suggest you redo the spokes on the chariot's wheel... there's a HUUUGE waste of polygons there... over-simplify it, and work on that with textures...

[Robin200]

@ Robin: I just examined you wireframe, and I mean no offense, but this is one of the worst wireframe i've ever seen. some polygons are so messed up I can't believe it looks ok in the smooth version. Most polygons are placed without any reference to the musculature, and they'll never bend the right way during animation... I really stongly suggest you rethink your arrangement. now don't take this the wrong way, i'm trying to help you.
As I said my first model that ain't box-modeled and my second horse ever. I will redo it.

Update time!!
News:
- New hood, no more Ku Klux Klan hood
- Alpha mapped texture
- Skull
- Hands
http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/646/chariot33yc.th.jpg (http://img377.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chariot33yc.jpg)
There's something strange with the materials. The alpha texture is sucky, but it's my first.

Wow, how much I learnt already.

[Ilkejav mk5]

Anyway guys, here's my entry for this competition. this is a design i've come up with 3 years ago in my math class. It's one of the vehicles that's featured in my Sci-fi story (see my sig). Anyway, everything is explained in the image. The vehicle is adapted for combat in the martian wastelands, so it's both rugged an weathered. I will also model the interior cockpit so that my pilot can fit inside.

The basic armament is a machinegun, a railgun (both mounted on the arms) and a multi-purpose missile pod.

The most reckognizable feature of this vehicle is the wing-like stabilizers sticking out of the cockpit. It provides additional balance and enables the Hiker to run at speeds up to 50 km/h.

Here's a picture the vehicle: MAV-17 (Mechanized Armored Vehicle):

[Ilkejav mk5]

Here's the pilot. He has very light body armor, because he will rarely leave the cockpit during combat. He is only equipped with a light side-arm.

[TheWinterLord]

Ilkejav mk5 sweet! nice, what math classes did you go to? they must been cool! :)

Josiah thanx ;)

[Nibby]

am liking that design ilkejav, look forward to seeing it in 3d

[Robin200]

So now I have used your image as a template ilkejav. I reduced the tri's with more than half.
http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/4231/chariot43gb.th.jpg (http://img68.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chariot43gb.jpg)

[MonteCristo]

Anyway guys, here's my entry for this competition. this is a design i've come up with 3 years ago in my math class. It's one of the vehicles that's featured in my Sci-fi story (see my sig). Anyway, everything is explained in the image. The vehicle is adapted for combat in the martian wastelands, so it's both rugged an weathered. I will also model the interior cockpit so that my pilot can fit inside.

The basic armament is a machinegun, a railgun (both mounted on the arms) and a multi-purpose missile pod.

The most reckognizable feature of this vehicle is the wing-like stabilizers sticking out of the cockpit. It provides additional balance and enables the Hiker to run at speeds up to 50 km/h.

Here's a picture the vehicle: MAV-17 (Mechanized Armored Vehicle):

Phew! Finally, a real concept. Good work IlkeJav! :D Rep +

[Hilm]

So now I have used your image as a template ilkejav. I reduced the tri's with more than half.
http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/4231/chariot43gb.th.jpg (http://img68.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chariot43gb.jpg)


a wire of the horse taht isn't from the horses bhind would help people analyse it more..

[Robin200]

The wire is from behind cause the template was that angle and I was too lazy too rotate.

Update again!
News:
- Changed color on the cloak and hood
- Gave Cloak and hood a sacking texture
- New hood again
- Removed the skull
- Redonethe horse
- Removed the Alpha texture
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/5417/chariot53ij.th.jpg (http://img23.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chariot53ij.jpg)
I removed the Alpha texture, cause it looked like crap (after all it was my first). The horse is almost exactly as the old just better placed edges. The skull and hood didn't looked good so I changed the hood and removed the skull.

Things to add:
- Ribs
- Scythe

Ribs is going to take a while till I add cause the best bluprint site on the net (Onno Van Braams) is so slow. But a Scythe I may add to the next update.

[MonteCristo]

Ok Robin it looks as though you are making some good progress. :) Keep it up. Can I ask one favour though?... Try to post your updates only once you have made some significant progress, otherwise the pages move along too fast and some peoples work may be overlooked. Cheers.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Robin, before you decide to give us another update, can you render out a wire of both your models. Right now the images you keep posting, those aren't wires. Another thing, your lighting is making it hard to see whats going on. Either delet out all the lights and let the program prelight for you, or make some sort of dome lighting. Save the mood lighting till your final posed renders.

[Robin200]

Ok I wait till I have many news until I post the next update. Hope it's ok to render the wires big toe requested.

Big Toe I think the images are lit enough, but I can make 'em lighter. Do you have a fat screen, they are darker.
Wires:
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/9094/chariot5wires8pb.th.jpg (http://img28.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chariot5wires8pb.jpg)
Or did you meant like this:
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/4869/chariot5wires29st.th.jpg (http://img221.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chariot5wires29st.jpg)

[yoshimitsu]

Ok I wait till I have many news until I post the next update. Hope it's ok to render the wires big toe requested.

Big Toe I think the images are lit enough, but I can make 'em lighter. Do you have a fat screen, they are darker.



Congrats Robin, big improvement. Considering where you started a few days ago, you've learned quite a lot. One thing I might suggest still is to look in your object properties(or whatever it's called in blender) and set the geometry to one sided. Seeing the back sides of the wireframes makes it too hard to get a look at the geometry.
Keep it up. When it comes to texturing, I'm sure everyone will continue to support you.
If there's a "most progress" honorable mention in this contest, you are shaping up to win that regardless of what else happens.

--And my screen isn't fat, it's big-boned! :smug:

[Ilkejav mk5]

Thewinterlord: just normal math classes... in fact they were so boring I came up with a lot of designs that year... very productive.
Nibby: thanks buddey, I'll do my best mo make it better in 3d than on paper.
Monty: Lol, thanks man, I was a bit dissapointed of myself on that last comp because I didn't come up with the design myself... but now, this is MY concept, my own... my preciouss. Lol, I can't wait to start modeling. :haha:
Try to post your updates only once you have made some significant progress, otherwise the pages move along too fast and some peoples work may be overlooked. Cheers.
I also agree with that. You see, there are at least 15 or 20 people on this comp, and soon, they'll all start posting updates and WIPs, now if everyone starts posting updates like this:
http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/4231/chariot43gb.th.jpg (http://img68.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chariot43gb.jpg)
...Nobody will be able to follow this thread. Of course right now it doesn't really matter because you're the only person in the modeling process. But try to keep the updates down to one each day, or one each 2nd day, and that only if you've made significant progress...
Nobody's interested in seeing every polygon added, unless your name is Pedro or unless you're doing a tutorial... People like to see results.

[Robin200]

Congrats Robin, big improvement. Considering where you started a few days ago, you've learned quite a lot. One thing I might suggest still is to look in your object properties(or whatever it's called in blender) and set the geometry to one sided. Seeing the back sides of the wireframes makes it too hard to get a look at the geometry.
Keep it up. When it comes to texturing, I'm sure everyone will continue to support you.
If there's a "most progress" honorable mention in this contest, you are shaping up to win that regardless of what else happens.

--And my screen isn't fat, it's big-boned! :smug:
Do you mean I shouldn't show the back of my objects, only show side and front? Thanks for the nomination to the "most-progress" award.

Try to post your updates only once you have made some significant progress, otherwise the pages move along too fast and some peoples work may be overlooked. Cheers.

I also agree with that. You see, there are at least 15 or 20 people on this comp, and soon, they'll all start posting updates and WIPs, now if everyone starts posting updates like this:

...Nobody will be able to follow this thread. Of course right now it doesn't really matter because you're the only person in the modeling process. But try to keep the updates down to one each day, or one each 2nd day, and that only if you've made significant progress...
Nobody's interested in seeing every polygon added, unless your name is Pedro or unless you're doing a tutorial... People like to see results.
Sorry! Going to try to not **** you off Ilkejav and Monte Christo.

[EDIT] What kind of forum is this ain't it possible to write words like **** and ****.

Admins you have forgotten to block damn and hell.

[Zcubed]

I don't think I'm going to have a formal concept for this competition. Coming up empty handed makes me a big hypocrite after I just stressed the importance of concept work, but I'm really having a lot of trouble putting anything down on paper. What I HAVE been doing is building up a little collection of reference images and trying out a few ideas as very low poly models in Wings. Anyways, here's what I'm leaning towards...

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/1323/turn3wy.gif

In case you can't already tell by looking at my insanely detailed mesh, it's going to be a kid. Said kid will be riding a big frog.

And I really like that drawing, Ilkejav! :smug:

[Nibby]

zcubed, nice idea, shame on you for having no concept....bah...hehe...i'm having the same trouble i've basically designed 2 animals as i said before...... and have got nowhere with a wagon and main character.......i think i'm gonna sitdown in a bit and just doodle till i get something good.

kid riding a frog....sounds intresting...may i sugest you get some pictures of the chinese three legged frog, i allways loved the little statues that included him.

good luck lets hope more of us make it to the end this time ;0)

[BiG ToE-3DT]

BiG ToE got the Big Head done.

[Dia86]

Hello everybody! Decided to join this challenge. Here are my concepts:
This is the MetalBeack runner, I notice that people were either doing some type of creature or a non-organic thing so i decided to put them together.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b156/ragnorok86x/Metalbeak-Runner-concept.jpg
This is the rider, it a guy wearing a bird helment. I dont have a backstory yet, but im going for something like there are tribes/clans that represent animals in some industrial age.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b156/ragnorok86x/Metalbeak-Rider-concept.jpg
I will start modeling so after I get my other work done, and hopefully i can finishe this time.
Everyone is looking good so far.

[TheWinterLord]

Zcubed kid on frog, sounds a bit Narutoish hehe, good luck developing on that!
BiG ToE awesome modeling, tri count?
Dia86 I like ur concept because it actually looks like your rider and the metalbeak concept belongs to eachother. Welcome tot he competition! :)

Hey everybody when posting pictures of ur model or piece of 3d can you put the tri count up? I just want to learn so I can study what kind of model has how many tris. So if you wouldnt mind helping me progress in understanding more of low poly modeling plz do so whenever you can. THANKS very much :)

I have been thinking about my vehicle concept and I figured out how to make it much cooler with a bigger sail when it is a boat and stuff. however im bnusy with school so well il get it up on a pic as fast as I can. ;)

[Ilkejav mk5]

Sorry! Going to try to not **** you off Ilkejav and Monte Christo.

Nobody gets p*ssed around here, I'm just trying to make it easier for monty to keep things ordered around here...

BTW, the horse is looking good now... You did a fine job of translating the 2d suggestion into 3d...

[Zcubed]

Nice work guys.

Dia - Nice concept, I see loads of potential! I think it'll be interesting to watch how you mix the tribal-mecha themes.

Big Toe - Great start. My main crit would be that it seems a little flat. Maybe you spent too much time in the "Front" viewport. I think you could improve your model if you look at it from a few different perspectives and tweak the shape.

Winter Lord - Naruto-ish eh? I didn't have that in mind when I was brainstorming, but I certainly see the connection. Oh, and my low poly mesh is 780 triangles at this point. I'll probably spend 3,000 triangles on the character and save 3,500 for the mount.

[lowlevel]

nice concept so far people, looks like everyone is really into this particular comp, good luck all

[yoshimitsu]

Robin, what I meant was the polygons of the model that are not facing toward the camera are still showing. there should be an option to turn that off, so the only faces showing in the wire view are the ones we would see if it was a solid view. I'm not sure how good I'm explaining for a non-native english speaker....

in this image, the non-visible polygons in the back of the right object are still showing in the wire. the left object has the backfaces hidden, so only polygons facing the camera show in the wire.

[yoshimitsu]

Here's my character, The Engine. That's my name in UT2K4, only now I'm :TsT: Engine after joining the TsT clan.

He's a lunatic encased in iron. I havent narrowed down his vehicle yet, but I wanted to post something, so here's the schematic I drew. There are some discrepanices between front and side, because I'm always modifying my design as I work. I'm not sure about those big shoulder wing-plates.. they'll take up a lot of texture real estate... We'll see.

[Nibby]

well i finally got something i'm happy with...the other animal i was thinking of was a bison, but when i tried to sketch it out it all looked wrong. deep down i think this is the one i liked more anyway.

not sure if i'm gonna fully model the wings so they can open, i'll do some experimenting and see if its gonna be possible.

any crits welcome (i'm gonna fish through the post and look at everyones ideas when i have more time.)

Yoshimitsu : like yer design, hows about a big meaty wide bike for his vehicle.

[TheWinterLord]

Zcubed thanx ;)
yoshimitsu god knows i love unreal! however here in the UAE there are no servers, Il have to wait another 6 months, lol, until i go and live in Sweden where I hope things will be different. :) I actually think the plates give your character some style, but I guess they mak him a bigger target aswell, what are the specs for a UT character? yoshimitsu do you plan to get him ingame? good luck

Nibby nice colorful concept, I like the tribe guy idea!

[yoshimitsu]

Yeah, my main reason in entering this comp is to kill two birds with one shock rifle, so to speak. When He's done, I'm going to be using this character in UT. I'll post the zip for anyone who wants it, as well as the server IP's where I usually play. I don't play weapons, though, just Instagib and sometimes VCTF.

[Zcubed]

Hmm, I think I'm actually going to hold off on any more modeling until I make concepts. I spent a little more time on the character tonight and made little headway because I wasn't sure what to do.

Unreal, yes! I'll add you to my buddy list so maybe we'll run into eachother online. I don't play much anymore these days, and I hate instagib with a passion, but I'll play a few rounds if it means fragging another Threedy-goer!

[Hellhammer]

Had a busy weekend after all.. not much time to work on the project, but at least i refined the concept sketch. I didnt do much on the mesh so its not worth updaring (appart from a few tweaks to get a better joint on the front legs of the centaur and his torso. So well heres the concept, still gotta make separate ones of the centaur and the rider but ill do that in another moment.

Dia86: Very nice concept, as someone said it seems to be good as a whole.

Yoshimitsu: cool concept, remembers me of dexters lab for some reason :D Would love to see a clearer view of the pilot though hehe, we just see his head ;).

Nibby: Awesome idea, i really like this kind of thing hehe, more than sci fi sophisticated armored vehicles, it will surely be cool once its done :).

BiG ToE: Very cool model. Keep up the good work.

[Zcubed]

Cool concept, Hellhammer. I'm glad to see that you threw in your own ideas to enhance and reinvent the oft-done centaur character.

Here's one last update from me tonight. I did a quick sketch just to get some more practice with edge extrude modeling, but ended up with this...


http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/8301/notreallyafrog7hs.jpg


It's the beginning of my frog... I think. I may redo it from reference, as I'm quite sure frogs don't look like that. Maybe all I need to do is look at a photo and pull some points around.

[Jedianakinsolo]

Here's my Concept, yes, it's Halo based, but I've drawn up my own pilot, based on the series. It's not a Spartan :P But here's the ship concept. Light ground based fighter, hovers. The Concept's lousy and just an idea, there'll be stuff I need to add 3D wise too.

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4751/unschawk23cropped4mm.jpg
http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/5739/unschawk6rl.jpg
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/972/unschawkwire5qh.jpg

C&C would be very welcome and appreciated.

[yoshimitsu]

Here's a somewhat sloppy pose of The Engine. I painted on my 4 inch wacom tablet until my hand was killing me, so I decided to ditch the fine tuning and just show it. Should get the point across about the general feel of the texture I'll be going for.

[Ilkejav mk5]

looks good Jedisolo, but i'd try to define the "use" of the vehicle first. is it a transport vehicle? a combat vehicle? is it a space vehicle? after you decided that you should be able to figure out how to model it. if it's a transport vehicle, add the necessary equipment; a big claw under his belly to grab objects, a loading bay in the back, etc, if it's a combat vehicle, add guns and some armor plating on the front window (looks a little weak... it should protect the pilot at all costs), it it's a space vehicle, you can make probably anything you want.

this should be how you create a concept from scratch. BTW if you need any halo-related info, i'm the master here...

Yoshimitsu: looks impressive. nice sketch.

[FrZnChAoS]

Heres an update on my progress. Started doing my character. 2800 Tris are in so far.

yoshimitsu:
crazy concept, coloring looks great also.

hell hammer:
original concept looks good.

jedianakinsolo:
cool ship, curious what your character is gonna be like.

[yoshimitsu]

Z, I found a good frog reference for you to check out. clicky (http://www.whysanity.net/muppets/mfs/kermit.jpg)

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Z to the 3 , as your redoing your frog from refrence images to make it look more like a real frog, keep in mind that it's your art and it can look however you want.

[Robin200]

Robin, what I meant was the polygons of the model that are not facing toward the camera are still showing. there should be an option to turn that off, so the only faces showing in the wire view are the ones we would see if it was a solid view. I'm not sure how good I'm explaining for a non-native english speaker....

in this image, the non-visible polygons in the back of the right object are still showing in the wire. the left object has the backfaces hidden, so only polygons facing the camera show in the wire.
I think I am very good in english but I didn't understood what you meant because I don't think there is any feuture like the one you described in Blender.

That's a really great concept, Hellhammer. Color it and it will be easier to see the different parts.

[dhin]

Here is mine
This is Mr Jones the Vechiel
http://img330.imageshack.us/img330/1536/jonesconcept8vw.jpg
The driver is coming soon - bet you can't get what it will be.

[TheWinterLord]

yoshimitsu thats a freakin awesome sketch, just wondering about his teeth... the plates looks even cooler now, I love the details on his armour, and I like the colour scheme. he looks so stong, him running at you would be like a train was going in your direction. I too like instagib, what part of the wold are you in?

Hellhammer looks like the two are quite a team nice sketch :)

dhin first im like how will a human get into that, then im like what is that black stuff and I see its a rabbit. :) So the rabbit is comming to kill us all? :)

FrZnChAoS nice, thanxs for the tri count ;) whats the thing on her right knee?

Jedianakinsolo I think it looks good, where it says "Hawk" can you rotate them to get trhust in different directions. If not how would it be able to hover?

[Hellhammer]

Thanx for the comments guys, im glad to see how well accepted the concept was.

Zcubed: yeah i had to redefine it since i was pretty much modeling a basic shape before any concrete reference was done. Big mistake there. Now im working on color, spearate view of both characters and orthos for them to do the thing properly.

Robin200: Working on the colors, im not sure yet of what should i use so im trying different combinations.

TWL: i tried them to match together nicely hehe, glad to see it worked.

dhin: Nice robot, but you could define better the pilot, it looks like some sort of mouse, but we just see a silouette, very vague right now.

Back to work keep it up guys.

LOL! @ the frog muppet reference, that made my day hehe.

[dhin]

The driver is coming soon

Look at the name tag on Mr Jones for a clue for what the Driver is

[Jedianakinsolo]

Ilkejav: Yeah, I didn't define the purpose too well in my first post. Think of the Human equivalent of the Ghost. It's not a transport like the Pelican, and it's not a starship like the Longsword, it's a one man machine, hovers off the ground, it'll carry two 50. cal machine guns and 2 rocket launchers when it's all said and done.

FrznChaos: Thanks, he looks cool too :D

TWL: Yeah, those'll rotate, something of the Pelican's design. My brother pointed out that they'd need at least small wings to keep it in flight too, so I'll be adding those. Also, the back engines only push and lift the rear end. The smaller engines behind the cockpit control the front of the vehicle and the height of the overall machine.

[bent]

Hi @ all


i'm new here and decided to get on this challenge. my scanner doesn't work right now and my conceptual skills s*** but my concept is a komodo dragon with a rider on it - in short


everyone's looking very good so far

[BiG ToE-3DT]

The selected area has a count of 2742, but the whole character is 3696 at the moment, but I wanted him to be around 3500. Which means I need to go and cut out in some areas.

[yoshimitsu]

Toe: I noticed when I first saw the wire of your character, his head has way too many polys. You can cut at least half of the mesh resolution out of the curvature of the head, and especially the strap of the goggles. You can also reduce the face to less than half the polys it's taking up now. Using smoothing groups and intelligent texturing, you can make that guy look great with about a third of the polys you've got.

You should actually add more polys in the torso, for two reasons: One, for better deformation when rigged. Two, for better lighting if it was in a game. Game engines, for the most part, use vertex lighting. This means they don't look at a whole polygon to decide how to light it, but just at the amount of light hitting each vertex. Faces are shaded using the value of the light at their corners, which is converted into a simple gradient across the face.

With your character as is, the head would be smoothly rendered, but the torso would look blocky by comparison. It's best to keep your polygons close to similar sizes throughout the model.

I learned all this by researching in the Unreal Developer Network. There is a lot in there about the peculiarities of game-specific 3d.

[yoshimitsu]

Robin - I looked up the Blender documentation online, and i couldnt find anything about backfacing polygons... That's pretty lame if it has no option to turn them off.... I considered installing it to figure it out for myself, but I'm no superhero.. guess we'll just let it slide..

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Thanks for tip Yoshimitsu, but this character isn't going in game. But if I decide to ther poly count wont have a limit and that's when I'll fix the small stuff.

[Nibby]

Hellhammer:, thanks i hope it will look good too, gonna start modelling tonight. nice concept i like the idea of the archer on the centaurs back.

yoshimitsu: Nice to see it all painted up...any further thoughts on the vehicle?

Zcubed: i really like the way that frog is going, i think it could work.

jedianakinsolo: intresting design , i agree with your brother ...needs some wings and maybe the tail end lengthend to help it fly...at the moment it looks like it would tip forwards.

Dhin: i like the robot, reminds me of Iron Giant (just a little) not sure what is meant by the arow pointing up saying Human, what is it pointing at?

Big TOe. that guys looking good, i agree with yoshi the body needs more polys so it'll bend right but i do think the head looks good how it is. there is always room to optimize tho.

Weldone everyone and welcome to all people joining in. at this rate we'll get loads more entrys ;0)

[dhin]

Nibby, it is just a size chart

[plasticknyfe]

Robin - I looked up the Blender documentation online, and i couldnt find anything about backfacing polygons... That's pretty lame if it has no option to turn them off.... I considered installing it to figure it out for myself, but I'm no superhero.. guess we'll just let it slide..
Hi Robin ...

I don't know about activating backfacing polygons in wireframe mode. However, if you want to show the wireframe of your mesh, might I suggest that you show it by activating 3ds max's equivalent of "shaded wireframe," like so? It can be done by just activating the buttons which I've highlighted in red.

// plasticknyfe

[yoshimitsu]

Thanks for tip Yoshimitsu, but this character isn't going in game. But if I decide to ther poly count wont have a limit and that's when I'll fix the small stuff.

Ok, but you said you wanted to reduce your polycount for the character, and since the body needs more polys, they'll have to come out of the head. Are you reluctant to undo the work you've put into the head so far? Don't worry about it, it's still early, and I think it would be to your benefit later on.

[Robin200]

Hi Robin ...

I don't know about activating backfacing polygons in wireframe mode. However, if you want to show the wireframe of your mesh, might I suggest that you show it by activating 3ds max's equivalent of "shaded wireframe," like so? It can be done by just activating the buttons which I've highlighted in red.

// plasticknyfe
I don't think it works, plastic. It's better that I just use the solid mode. Cause nothing changes when I press those buttons, knife.

[Zcubed]

Z, I found a good frog reference for you to check out. clicky (http://www.whysanity.net/muppets/mfs/kermit.jpg)

TST Engine, huh? The hunt begins! :smug:

Big Toe, I suggest you listen to Yoshimitsu before moving on. That's a nice model, but your poly distribution needs work. There is no reason for the goggles to have more geometry than the arms and torso combined! I wouldn't even bother with the goggle strap, you can probably fake it with your texture. There is no need to rush your work, you've still got over three weeks left.

Nibby, Toe, thanks for the feedback. I sorta like how it's coming along, so I may just ditch the frog idea and see what this thing ends up looking like.

[Track_Maniac]

Okay, so here is my concept for the character portion of this challenge. I'm still working on the concept for the mount.

[Zcubed]

Well, I decided to run with the odd looking creature. Some aspects of it will be froglike, but I'm really just making it up as I go along. Here's a little update...

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/319/fixleg6wm.jpg

More speed-modeling, so the wireframe needs some attention. I'm really just roughing in the shapes right now. I need to go back and do a lot of tweaking before I'll be happy with the form. It's 1,200 triangles as of now.

[Dia86]

Thanks for the comments on my concept really appreciated :smug:
Well i got time to model today so I decided to model the vihecle first
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b156/ragnorok86x/Metal-beak-Runner-show01.jpg
Im going to wait to put in detail, like little pumps, bevels... ect till I finish the rider so I know how much I have to work with. The tri count is at 1877
you can look at a scrren cap of the count HERE (http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b156/ragnorok86x/bMetal-Runner-scrshot01.jpg)
and a close up of the wireframe HERE (http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b156/ragnorok86x/wires-closeup01.jpg)


Keep up the good work

[yoshimitsu]

Dia86, very good execution so far, but, well... it's a chocobo. Yes, it's a robot chocobo, but altogether not a very big imaginative leap. Originality may not be a requirement for this comp, but you could have maybe tried to push the "riding a running bird" theme in some new direction. This seems like a slight variation on a well known, long established icon of video games -- The chocobo has been around for nearly 20 years in Squaresoft games. The Armored Chocobos from Final Fantasy Tactics look exactly like your model here.

I know it's far from finished, and I may be suprised as you progress, but that's how it looks to me now.

[Ilkejav mk5]

I agree

[Dia86]

Dia86, very good execution so far, but, well... it's a chocobo. Yes, it's a robot chocobo, but altogether not a very big imaginative leap. Originality may not be a requirement for this comp, but you could have maybe tried to push the "riding a running bird" theme in some new direction. This seems like a slight variation on a well known, long established icon of video games -- The chocobo has been around for nearly 20 years in Squaresoft games. The Armored Chocobos from Final Fantasy Tactics look exactly like your model here.

I know it's far from finished, and I may be suprised as you progress, but that's how it looks to me now.

Yoshimitsu thank you for pointing that out. Im not a big Final Fantsy fan, though i still know how a chocobo looks like and i dont want to give the impression that this is just a chocobo robotized. I've been searching for images of the "Armored Chocobo" but havent came up with anything. If you would link me to an image of it, I would appreciated.

[car17]

So first off, alright lets do this again. I am still working on my spider-clan guy, but I thought that I needed to throw out a concept so that I don't get too far behind.

So here it is. I looked at everyones stuff and there are some great ideas, but everyone seems to be making some complicated mech or some huge monster to ride. I guess I kind of went in the other direction. Oh, and I don't think there is anything wrong with a Chocobo. Every idea comes from somewhere, just do a really good job on it. Who knows you might work on an upcoming FF game and you could use the practice.

Right now, this is just the idea. I will come up with a better character for the rider, and some additional details for the scooter. Thanks everyone and good luck. Maybe Pedro won't win this one too.

[yoshimitsu]

I've been searching for images of the "Armored Chocobo" but havent came up with anything. If you would link me to an image of it, I would appreciated.

I don't know if there is something exactly named Armored Chocobo, but i found some screenshots of the intro movie to FF Tactics. There are titles over them, and they're small, but you can see how similar it is to your model... It was the first thing that popped into my head when i saw what you made.

I'm not saying it's necessarily bad, what you're making... I personally find it less thrilling to see 3d work derived from a very obvious source from which it has not diverged very far. Maybe I'm nitpicking, but, hey, forums are for posting schtuff in. :P

http://www.ffshrine.org/fft/02-intro-second/00051.jpg

http://www.ffshrine.org/fft/02-intro-second/00052.jpg

http://www.ffshrine.org/fft/02-intro-second/00053.jpg

[car17]

ok, so I think I am going to put this one down for a while and rig him later. But I think I am starting to get better at texturing. The character is from the comic "legend of the spider-clan". I never read it but liked the look of it. Done in Max and about 2300 tri's. There are things I would change, like the pants, but I could only get a couple of pictures for ref, so I kind of winged it.

Let me know what ya think! Thanks

[car17]

the back.

[plasticknyfe]

I don't think it works, plastic. It's better that I just use the solid mode. Cause nothing changes when I press those buttons, knife.
I don't know why it doesn't work for you because it works fine for me. Are you sure you've pressed the right buttons? Oh, and I'm sorry I didn't mention that you have to select the object first before activating those draw modes. Having said that, however, the easiest way is still by activating the "edit mode" and just capture your screen.

Dia86, car17, and ZCubed ... nice models you have there. And car17, those are really good textures you got there. Wish I could texture that good ...

To everyone, keep up the already amazing work!

// plasticknyfe

[Jedianakinsolo]

Yeah, that shirt looks awesome.

And some updates later today I hope :D

[TheWinterLord]

:) Hey everybody! I got some time to work on my character! :haha:

Ok i got one big problem, the hands are 1102 tris! and thats a lot! :wall:

Anyways im happy with the character, its not completed yet, I want u guys to tell me everything that is wrong with proportions hehe. yes about that, the head is supposed to be small to make him look bigger. I can already see the back of the knee it shouldnt stick out should it?

then later i will post something similar but of the wireframe, one thing at the time. :)

plus I need someone to maybe help me with how to model a hand with 4 fingers a better way, maybe post a screen of ur hand that you modeled before for low poly.

[Jedianakinsolo]

Show a close up if you would please. Of the hand.

[TheWinterLord]

here is the hand, one hand is 551 tris...

And yeh i might give my character a belt if the tris form the hand disapear. thanx Jedi.

[FrZnChAoS]

TheWinterLord: I think the proportions on your character are off. I cant recall the original concept, but if he is following the basic scale of real people something is off. Thats just my opinion though.

As far as the hand goes I think you have to many cross sections going through them. Your wireframe is kinda hard to count exactly. But I count about 6 cross sections plus the tip and beginning of each finger. Along with another 5 or so cross sections going through the palm of the hand. I think thats pretty heavy concerning the low poly nature your trying to achieve. So you may want to try to remove some of those and you should probably be able to maintain pretty much the same shape. Hope that helps to some extent.

[Hellhammer]

TWL: Proportions in a model are very relative, unless you want to model a guy that is 100% anatomy accurate to a normal human. Depending on your concept you will establish the proportions, always remaining that the anatomy, even if stylized has an order (muscle flow and all that). As i see it, your model is supposed to be a big wide torso bodybuilder type guy, kinda like a superhero kind of body (big torso, small head). It seems pretty stylized so i wont really comment on if proportions are right or wrong. Now what could help us to help you is a wireframe of the body, to see if the model is anatomically correct for appropriate deformations, tho id say he still has a box syndrom hehe, but its progressing well. Try defining his limbs better, like tweaking to get a better muscle definition, after all what makes big guys shine is their big muscles.

About the hands issue, if you need a lot of detail somewhere else than the hands, i would suggest a glove type of hand, maybe with a free trigger finger. If you dont think your character wont need a special emphasis on his hands theres no need to put detail there. Im thinking of doing this myself, since i want to put a lot more detail on his armor instead of his hands. Texture will take care of making it look good. I hope this helps you solve your problem.

Car17: that spider guy looks wonderful, i love the textures and how you accomplished the cloth folds and all, great job :)

Dia86: Even though your mount has obviously been inspired by the chocobo, i think you sould add something that makes it take a step forward, not staying just in the chocobo-like shape, but maybe adding some special features, or even just exaggerating the ones he has, perhaps making longer the feathers to make him look more intimidating or stylizing a bit the proportions. I myself took the idea of the centaur from several models particularly the warcraft ones (the centaurs, dryads and keepers of the grove), but i tried to add something myself to make it be my own model (someone riding a centaur is something i havent seen anywhere, plus centaurs are often ranged attackers, not melee ppl so they are seldom armored). Appart from this its a nice model, very clean so keep it up :). I wouldnt dismiss the idea of keeping a chocobo like shape since it really looks like a team with the pilot but add a special thing that makes him yours instead of a ripped off model from ff. good luck.

zcubed: the mount looks good so far, but i think you should take some time to sit and think of a concrete concept instead of building it as you model. I was doing this and i found that i wasnt going anywhere so i defined my concept properly and now im gonna start to remodel, maybe recycling a bit of what i had tweaking here and there.

I havent had time for updating, too much work going on :( ill see if i can manage to advance a bit this evening.

[Track_Maniac]

Ok, here's an update... yes I am actually working on this... :crazy: lol

Blender 2.40
Current Tri Count: 680

[Track_Maniac]

And a wire...

[Nibby]

car 17: good work on the texture. you made alot of progress with you texture painting

Winterlord: your hands deffinatly need work. below is an pic taken from Xcloud.net the korean sword master tut. the wire is shown very clearly working with this gave me a better understanding of how hands work.

Track maniac: nice progress on your character very clean mesh you got ;0)

anyway back to it for me. hopefully i'll have alot of the crane done by the end of tonight.

[Dia86]

Hellhammer- thanks for the advice, and yes im going to redesign my mount because i dont want to give the impression that it's just a knock off of the FF birds. At the time that I made my concept it didnt appear to be a resembles to me, I kind of based his look on my Slamman with the layer of metal layering on top of each other,but this is why im posting here to get critics on my work. So im going to start again still keeping the same theme I have, a mechnicle bird. I will post my concepts up soon :smug:

Car17- nice texture work, my only crit would be that the arms seem way too long, even for a stylized charecter, other than that good job

[Nibby]

ok heres the first shot of my model, running at about 700 tries so far lots of detail to come in the head sadle and the feet. crits would be welcome

oh, the tail, wing and chest feathers stop sudenly but they will be sofened with alpha mapps.


good work comming by all involved keep it up and keep it rolling ;0)

Dia: i kinda liked the idea of yours the way it was, it may look a little like the FF chockabos but i'm sure you can make tha difference with your own style. ;0)

[FrZnChAoS]

Nibby: Looks great, the flow of your edges look very effective. Good start.

[Jedianakinsolo]

TWL: NP. But I agree with everyone else, those hands are really fancy for being lowpoly. You can do most of that with the skinning. Optical illusion :D

Here's the updates, can't see much new stuff, I know, but there's several things. Steering mechanism, with it's support, and there's a plane on the front of it that you can't see from the back, but you'll see it later. The windows are in, and I extended the back a little bit more, but not much more. More work on the way :D
http://images6.theimagehosting.com/UNSCHawk.d8a.jpg (http://www.theimagehosting.com)
http://images6.theimagehosting.com/UNSCHawkWire.973.jpg (http://www.theimagehosting.com)
http://images6.theimagehosting.com/UNSCHawkWithWindow.jpg (http://www.theimagehosting.com)

[Dia86]

Okay got another concept. I was looking for reference pictures of birds and came across a heron, so I decided to go with it. And im changing my concept of the rider too. It's going to be a mechanist/inventor thats going to ride on top of the (Ill think of a name later for the heron) heron moving levers and buttons.
Hope you like it
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b156/ragnorok86x/mech-heron.jpg

[TheWinterLord]

FrZnChaos thanx for comment
Hellhammer Yeh its supposed to be a bit cartoony, so i guess i wont be changing him to much then. ty
Nibby thanks for the pic, I will try to model something like that. Good going with ur model
Jedianakinsolo nice progress, I was wondering how will the windows works? will they be see through and if so, how?
Dia86 its a shame that you had to change your concept, but it looks awesome! great showing how the rider will operate it also :)

[Jedianakinsolo]

Opacity map :D

[DudeAndy]

for anyone modeling animal like stuff (like me :P) heres some EXTREMELY useful information.

http://www.cedarseed.com/fire/illustration.html

Just scroll down and behold the paradise of any animal concept artist! (at least i felt that way when i found it, with mr bean light cone and angelical choirs and all) :D!!!!! Small but extremely punctual and accurate. For some reason it doesnt want to let me upload the dumb concept...

Anyways i began modeling the centaur, just a basic shape before the armor and cool details, gotta do some cleaning though. :smug:

Gotta keep trying with the concept uploading :dunno:

Edit: typos are my bane :wall: :wall:

Damn, you TOTALLY ripped my idea! Heh, ah phewy... no reason to enter now... bleh! Looks good though!

[Zcubed]

Almost there...

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/7959/ewwhands3yj.jpg

Ended up looking more like a gorilla than a frog. Once I finish up the feet I'll give him a saddle and call it finished. 1800 triangles.

And yes, those hands still need a lot of work. :xx:

[Ilkejav mk5]

Zcubed those arms are disfuntional, in order to bend well, you need to model an elbow. unless you never intend to give you model a pose.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Z, the hands look fine, its the rest of the model that you need to keep working on. Like Ilkejav said, your arms wont bend right, he has no neck, so don't bother trying to turn his head. And like the arms, its legs won't do much either. But don't worry you have plenty of time to work on it, don't rush yourself.

[Nibby]

Z3 : looking real good. i like the hands and feet of the same style would fit great. i think to make him more frog like you should work on the silloette. from the front it should be more of a triangular blob.....maybe bring the shoulders down abit

keep it up tho i love it

[Ilkejav mk5]

the main problem I can see is that frogs have legs that are about two times the size of their body. here, it's the other way around... the legs are tiny!

http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/adminimages/leapingfrog_sureshnathencode.jpg

[yoshimitsu]

Okay got another concept. I was looking for reference pictures of birds and came across a heron, so I decided to go with it. And im changing my concept of the rider too. It's going to be a mechanist/inventor thats going to ride on top of the (Ill think of a name later for the heron) heron moving levers and buttons.
Hope you like it



I like it very much. Your concept captures the heron perfectly. You've also opened up new aspects to explore... Your other metal bird does what? it runs.
This one has a deeper scope of character to it. The one legged stance implies great skill on the operator's part, to control and balance it. This bird looks as if it could even be an intelligent and skillful companion to the rider, not just a mount. good work.

Winterlord said "it's a shame you had to change your concept" -- I never gave out any orders, just opinions. Dia showed some backbone by thinking over his idea, and changing it even though he was nearly done with the first model. I think this new one will be much more interesting than the previous.

As for my own progress: I have come up with a vehicle and have spent what time i could spare the last couple of days working out the details of how to build it. It's very complicated, moreso for being low poly. I know my planned budgets are 2500 tri's for the character, and 4000 for the vehicle. I'm bumming out about the skimpy texture limits though. images when I've worked out the design totally.

[yoshimitsu]

Almost there...

Once I finish up the feet I'll give him a saddle and call it finished. 1800 triangles.

And yes, those hands still need a lot of work. :xx:

He'll need more than a saddle to survive in the world of low-poly death battles. Give him a single big horn in his forehead too! Or tusks sticking out of his mouth, or a pretty pink ribbon or something!...wait... no... anyway, he looks like a big dumb oaf who could be sliced in half without too much effort.

How's he gonna cap that flag if he's just a big meat sacK ? :smug:

And the hands look real good to me. As people have said already, it's the major limb joints that need improvement.

[Jedianakinsolo]

It seems that the poly limit for the contest was 5000, 2500 for the guy, 2500 for the vehicle?

Z3: The thing's got that frog aspect to it :D I kinda like the smaller legs and stuff. Almost looks like a gorilla with those hands :D Yeah, the front arms need to bend and so do the back, but maybe you're not there yet :P Looks sweet :)

[TheWinterLord]

Poly limit:
6500 Tris Total for both Rider and Vehicle. I don't care how you distribute these; it could be 3500 for the Rider and 3000 for the vehicle; or it could be 4500 for the rider and only 2000 for the vehicle. It's up to you, as long as you don't exceed the 6500 Tri Limit. just in case

[Track_Maniac]

Another update...

I'm not too happy with the shirt so far, I might redo it... :crazy:

[Track_Maniac]

And a wire...

[FrZnChAoS]

Nice model Track, Topology is really good thus far. Gonna drop what your mount is yet?

[Track_Maniac]

Nice model Track, Topology is really good thus far. Gonna drop what your mount is yet?

Hey thanks, yeah the topology is pretty good I think, I just don't like the way the smoothing is across the chest.

As for the mount, I'm still working on the concept for it, so I should have it posted in a few days.

[Track_Maniac]

Ok, so I've made some changes to the body. I'm modifying my concept slightly, instead of a long sleeve shirt... I'm going to give him a sleeveless shirt (I think that goes more with him being a rock star).

[Track_Maniac]

And the wire... as usual...

[Nibby]

nice toony style you got there track......keep it up, seems very efficiant on the polys. you should have alot left to play with

[Track_Maniac]

nice toony style you got there track......keep it up, seems very efficiant on the polys. you should have alot left to play with

Thanks Nibby, your stuff is looking really good too so far (I really like the bird you are working on).

As for my character, I've designed him with the poly count in mind, I want to create as high of quality character and mount as I can within the limits given.

[Zcubed]

Hey! Good stuff all around!

Thanks for all the critiques and comments. Big Toe and Ilkejav, you guys are right about deformation issues. I don't think I'll be able to rig my characters (Wings has no bones, and I can't stand the Blender interface) but I'd like them to be animation-ready nonetheless. I've got a lot of topology work to do on the arms and neck before they're done. The legs are just placeholders at the moment, I'm trying a few different things proportion-wise.

I sorta ditched the whole frog idea, he's more of a gorilla-elephant hybrid now. Next time you want to prove to someone that starting without concepts is a bad idea, point them towards this project. :xx:

He'll need more than a saddle to survive in the world of low-poly death battles. Give him a single big horn in his forehead too! Or tusks sticking out of his mouth, or a pretty pink ribbon or something!...wait... no... anyway, he looks like a big dumb oaf who could be sliced in half without too much effort.


I like the idea of a single, big horn. As for a being a big, dumb oaf, that's exactly what I'm going for. :smug:

Track Maniac, Dia, Anakin, Nibby - Great starts from all of you. The competition is really heating up!

[yoshimitsu]

I like the idea of a single, big horn. As for a being a big, dumb oaf, that's exactly what I'm going for. :smug:


give him an iron graduation cap too, just to throw people off. :kiss:

[Track_Maniac]

Another update from your friendly neighbourhood Track_Maniac... :smug:

I decided against the sleeveless shirt idea. I figured that I will probably loose points in my concept catagory when it comes to voting time if I don't stick to my concept... so here it is... I finally reworked the torso to a way that I am satisfied with.

Let me know what you guys think. :D

[Track_Maniac]

And here's a quick turntable test so you can see the whole model...

[Ilkejav mk5]

if you don't mind, that would be just a little too much updates for my taste... try to be more specific on what is worthy of an update...

but aside from that, good job. the model is coming along fine.

[Track_Maniac]

if you don't mind, that would be just a little too much updates for my taste... try to be more specific on what is worthy of an update...

Yeah sorry about that, I was unsure about the armpit area, that's the reasoning for the update, but if it looks fine then that's good.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Moving right along.

[evil-98]

after going over concept over concept over concept.
i came up with this. inspired by some tokyo style toys
i saw one day running around china town.. :drool:

as of now there is no name, and this was just a starting
idea, i build concept models instead of concept drawings
some times. i modeled this in no more then an hour :zzz:

ill work on some real stuff tomorrow. looks like everyone
gots something great so far. ;P

[TheWinterLord]

Here are the wires.
I havent done any modeling on it since last update.

[Mike_inel]

I'll join!!! Here's my concept vehicle:
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/6835/mech10rz.jpg
Although this design might have some changes...
I'll start the modelling soon...

[Track_Maniac]

Wow, everyone's stuff is coming along great. Good job everyone. :D

@evil-98 - Very cool model so far, I like the cartoony look lol. :)

[Nibby]

high guys, nice bit of progress from you all.

Big Toe: thats comming togeather pretty well i must admit. the head looks very detailed compared to the body, you can probly lose some poly's and still keep the shape (thats probly something to think about when the models about finnished tho)

track: i deffinatly like the long sleve version better,,,,and yup it fits better with the concept.

evil 98: i like where thats going....keeep it comming ;0)

winterlord: dont think i've seen the design for the vehicle yet, the models looking nice but be sure to do some tweaking. is that the final texture or are they just materials.

mike_inel that concept is awesome. have you thought much about the pilot....i was thinking of maybe a robot in the same style that clips into the layers....it looks great in my head i wish i could explain.....anyway will be watching that onwe ;)

anyway, thats my lunchbreak over back to the callcentre ;0(.

[TheWinterLord]

they are just materials, i will start working on textures when my charactetr is complete and yes i did show the vehicle.

[SeanBear]

Hi all

Seen some great stuff so far...keep it up.

Anyway...here's my rider! almost finished...just need to add some details - Used 3800 tris already!!!
http://storage.msn.com/x1pc_jqddVOWRnin_E-jAn99LfwUU_AASwCNvFuMW5ib0WdRYE7AIOVU3ccN9cuDP2lde Sp0Oj13dA2f6HuP_KiUNyOr12WhvouuL_-XVXsM_DZU4S-bHQxHa3MKEJYOMd74VvA2bNy_6U

[dhin]

Here is Mr. Jones
He is 1750 tri ATM.
http://img330.imageshack.us/img330/1274/joneswip6jl.jpg

The Driver concept will be up soon

-other WIPs for Mr Jones and "Driver"
Jones Concept (http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?p=425318#post425318)
1st Model Image (http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?p=426420#post426420)

[Track_Maniac]

I've got the hands and arms finished now. I'd like some C&C on the hands because this is the first time I've ever modeled low poly hands... If I can save any poly's anywhere just let me know, thanks in advance. :D

[Jedianakinsolo]

Sean Bear, that guy looks cool, but 3800 ain't leaving a lot of room for your vehicle :P My recommendation, the glasses, especially the lenses, have a ton of polys for being such little pieces. In fact, you might be better off by making them simple planes and alpha map the lenses themselves.

There's also several lines, like a few in the waist/stomach area, and the knees that could be removed/welded.

But nice character :D Gonna look cool when he's done.

[Nibby]

I got some time to finnish the main part of the crane. the tris are at 1660 which i wanted to spend about 2500 on it, looks like i should have enough in my budget to cover the harness and armour padding and maybe a little for more detail on the feet later (not too impressed with the feet.) i trashed the idea of making the wings unfold. its a hunting and running bird and wont need its wings for what i have in mind. plus i have no idea how i could rig it afterwards.

C&C welcome as allways.

Seanbear: awesome modelling but as jedi says may be too many polys to make a good vehicle to go with him.....depends what you choose i suppose.

Dhin: mr Jones is comming along good, too early for crits i think....keep it comming

Track: i really dont like the hands the joined middle finger just looks all wrong to me......have you thought about (as the style is quite cartoony) just giving it 3 even fingers. cartoon artists have been doing it for years.....just a thought. rest of the model comming along great tho. ;0)


ok...better get some sleep i gotta be up for work in 6 hours ...;0(

later Nib

[Zcubed]

Nice updates all around. Time to fire up the crit machine...

Track Maniac - Good work. I'd take all of those wrinkle loops (sleeves, pant legs, bottom of shirt) out of the model can give him proper hands. The fifth finger is more important than subtle clothing definition, and you could probably do the latter with your textures.

Big Toe - Cool, could we see some shots from different angles. As I mentioned earlier, it's important to be comfortable with the silhouette from ALL directions.

Evil - Hey, nice to see you joining this one. I'm not sure if that's a real entry or not, but don't bother modeling that skull insignia. A texture will do the same thing without eating precious triangles. And if you insist on doing GI renders, please include some simple wireframe or smooth-shade images too.

Mike - Great concept; I really want to see it in 3D!

Seanbear, Dhin - Looking good. Could we see a wire, Dhin?

Nibby - Posted while I was typing :lame:. The bird is excellent. Add a nice texture and you'll have a terrific entry.

[Track_Maniac]

Ok, about the hands... I was constructing them that way due to the "pose" the hand is going to be in based on my concept. But if you think that just 3 fingers is going to look better then I will try that out (when I texture the hands they way they are though I don't think it's going to be a big issue that they are modeled that way, I may be wrong though...).

As for the wrinkles in the clothing... I'm not going to remove the wrinkles because they are there primarily for deformation. They help the model match the concept, and they serve as that extra bit of geometry needed for things to deform well.

[Zcubed]

You've got the right idea, but the loops are in the wrong place. Unless your character has a joint in the middle of his forearm, that is :xx:. The edges down near his shoe aren't doing much either.

[Track_Maniac]

You've got the right idea, but the loops are in the wrong place. Unless your character has a joint in the middle of his forearm, that is :xx:. The edges down near his shoe aren't doing much either.

Ok, I agree about the loops near the shoe... they are there for show.

But what do you mean about a joint in the middle of the forearm? I don't even have a loop there?

EDIT: Sorry for being "low-poly" stupid lol, this is my first real attempt at doing a full on low-poly character.

[evil-98]

Zcubed: ya my model is more of a concept the an entry
you know me. i love my clay renders rofl.. ill be working on
the real model tonight or the sometime this week.

[Hellhammer]

Hello again everyone, sorry for not updating regularly, but time isnt on my side :xx: . Lots of work to do at the office and all.

BiG ToE: very nice model, a bit high poly in my opinion but very good modeling there :).

TWL: Looking well man, it will be even better with the textures, good job, cant wait to see your vehicle (bizzare thing! :smug: )

Mike_inel: That concept kicks ass, cant wait to see a good wip of it.

evil-98: I love the mood of that robot heheh, i agree the skull is taking precious tris! a wireframe would help to see it better.

dhin: Looking cool so far, still in suspense for the rider :lame: .

Track_Maniac: I really love how you save tris on this model without it looking like a stick and a cube hehe. The hands could use a bit of tweaking though. I think the idea of joining fingers is alright, but i tend to agree with Nibby, 3 fingers would do well in a cartoony guy and would save tris.

Nibby: I love that crane! Very efficient modeling with few tri count, looking awesome so far, with textures it will be awesome :D.

Seanbear: A very well built model, but excessivelt detailed on the shoes and glasses, the opacity map doesnt sound like a bad idea at all, and the shoes arent doing so much for the model to have such a high poly density. The guy reminds me of chips lol. Good job.

Ive managed to get some spare time into this, so ive remodeled the human torso of the centaur, this time with armor, and used the horse torso with a few teaks here and there (gotta work on those joints :xx: ), plus the horse chair and the 2 weapons. My main concern was the breastplate, at first i was getting too happy spending tris for making creases and all, but after a while i found it was adding too much to the poly count so i decided to reduce them substantially. The face was simplified, and ive decided to not use separate eyes for this model, since i prefer spending tris somewhere more relevant, like the hair and the horse armor, appart from the rider of course. If i can manage to finish both models under the poly limit i might add the creases again, they looked cooler hehe. Anyways heres the update.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Zcubed- I would so my character from otherangles, but I can't. He's flat.

[dhin]

Wires
http://img330.imageshack.us/img330/9097/joneswire0ux.jpg

-other WIPs for Mr Jones and "Driver"
Jones Concept (http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?p=425318#post425318)
1st Model Image (http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?p=426420#post426420)
1st Wires (http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?p=426652#post426652)

[Vitor]

Yo i know i'm kinda late for this one :D but i couldn't resist to to something too :smug:

I don't know if i'll be able to finish it as i'm with some hard exams now... but at least will try it...

As far i've read on the brief there is nothing agaist flying vehicles right? So mine is kinda of a junk zeppelin, from some old drunk man, the power comes from one small monkey and a mouse (haven't decided for a mouse or a chicken instead?) that are running on those wheels behind (one has in front some bananas to make the monkey run more, the other has a piece of cheese), on the front, some small cabine, the steerwheel (similar to a old boat one), kitchen stuff, some beer barrels, food crates, lights...

The concept is really crappy, i don't have a scanner do i did it in photoshop :D So i'll try to hurry on the modeling to give a better idea of what i'm going to do...

About the polycounts i think i'll for 4000 for the vehicle and 2500 for the driver and no normal maps...

http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/4436/compconcept5gp.jpg

[Ragnar]

Woop.. really looking forward to this one.. Looks like many people have made a great start. one of my projects could do with a vehicle so I'm going to be killing two birds with one stone I think :D

[Agent-X]

Hi everyone. I am Agent-X of Team Orbit which is an Unreal Tournament 2004 mod team. I thought I would jump in on this contest. It sounds like fun. Here is my quick sketch concept. Its an alien armored Trex and Croc, which are part of the alien lizzard racke known as the Draah. The Croc sits in a saddle bag that has a seat in it. The seat will have mounted Pulse Rocket Lauchers, which the Rider can fire. I look foward to the contest. Great work from everyone. Keep it coming. Good luck everyone.

[Agent-X]

Here is my first work in progress pic.

[Vitor]

Looks good so far Agent ;)

As i know that concept was a crap i did some quick progress on the modeling to ilustrate better my idea... i still dunno what polygon distributions i'll have on final, as i still have to finish the 2 pets and the main character.

Here is a very early step of the vehicle:

http://img365.imageshack.us/img365/8413/comp019ti.jpg

And one of the first pet, the monkey:

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/5450/comp023uz.jpg

[Agent-X]

I thought I would show what I have so far with the other side duplicated.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Agent- Looks nice and all that, but those from arm/legs for the T-rex just don't look right. They have a stiff look going on. Maybe if you give it a slight bend at the elbow.

Another thing you might want to think about are legs for the Croc guy. So when its time to pose your not stuck with him only sitting on the T-rex's back.

[Hellhammer]

Vitor: The concept looks very interesting and challenging, i really like the junk- made zeppelin all dirty and rusty hehehe, seems like texture will play a huge role in your model :). The boat looks nice so far, but the monkey will have serious deforming problems on the joints, you should add a couple loops on them to deform properly, specially if you plan to pose him running or something in the final render, though not much detail is needed since i assume he will be a minor element in the scene since hes small and all. He reminds me of morocco mole from secret squirrel for some reason :haha: .

Agent X: that model looks very good, though i have a comment on the dinosaur´s arms. They seem attached very lego-like, i mean they dont seem to come out of the body, but to be sticked there with glue. I was gonna ask if you were gonna model the legs of the pilot, even if they wont be showing much hehe (nice trick ;) lol, very practical). Even if you arent modeling them, you should consider adding volume to the place where the legs are supposed to. Seems like a leg-less lizard on the big dinosaur. Perhaps making a bigger seat or something to at least suggest a space where some legs could fit.

dhin: Mr jones looks cool, but i had a question.. how are you gonna rig him? i mean i assume you will attach the limbs to the different bones since hes a mechanical element, but something tells me the elbow will be weird when his arm bends since he has no noticeable elbow, to me it looks like 3 tweaked cilinders placed in the shape of the arm, so im thinking when he bends his arm the cilinder that acts as elbow can go through the others or something, perhaps adding a sphere elbow could work better imo. Just a suggestion, i dont know how u plan to do it but thats what i observe, keep it up :)

I just took a fast look at my model and i see i can reduce poly count on the shoulder plates and the back of the head, because the hair will be mainly several planes with opacity masks. ... ill take care of that when i go home.

Now back to work :xx:

[car17]

:wall: (Using Max 7)

Ok, so I am trying to load Deep UV to help me with my texturing which I am having a problem with as well, but I'll worry about that later. Anyhow, when I am moving and object in the viewport it automatically changes to show just the selection box. When I stop the move or rotate, the model is visable again. What setting did I screw up? I cannot find anything in the configurations that seem to work. But I am probably just looking in the wrong place.

PLEASE HELP, THIS IS ANNOYING THE CRAP OUT OF ME. :cry:

P.S. if anyone knows how to install Deep UV with Max 7, that would be a great help too.
:wall:

[Hellhammer]

car17: press "o" to deactivate the degradation override option, it can greatly increase your workflow when your scene is too heavy for your comp to handle, but i agree its annoying if thats not the case lol. I dont know about deepuv coz i havent used it though hehe.

[car17]

Hellhammer-
Thanks a million. I feel like such a noob.

I love this place!

If anyone knows about Deep UV I still need help with that. Thanks

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Car17 and Hellhammer- I would like to thank both of you, I was having the same problem with Max 7, so I switched to Max 8 which was working fine until today. I was about to search the web for a solution but it looks like Hellhammer has everything under control.

Now about Deep UV. If you install it right it will show up in the plugins folder. So if you go to that little hammer then click on more, it should be in the list. But that's if you install it right, something I can't do.

[car17]

Big Toe-
as far as I can tell they have only made Deep UV for version 6 and older. I might be wrong, but that is the most recent plugins I can find for it. And even those are from 2003.

If anyone knows a way past this, or a way to get it to work with Max 7 or 8 I would love to know. I would even export it and reinport it if someone knows a workaround.

Thanks

[Hellhammer]

lol np guys, i had the same problem some time ago

[Nibby]

as did i. ;0(......its a common one i think

[splutty1]

Everyone is doing an awesome job. It's fun to watch what you all create. Too bad my (good) computer is broke so I can't participate. :cry:

Anyways, Zcubed I know it wasn't intentionally, but when I saw your frog/gorilla creature it reminded me of the Gorons on Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Heres a pic of them (not real similiar, just saying what they reminded me of):
http://www.zeldax.net/gallery2/albums/album05/goron.jpg
^^ NOT MY CONCEPT. IT IS FROM ZELDA. ^^

[Zcubed]

I don't use Max, but I've seen this question answered so many times. Try hitting the "O" key (The letter, not the number).

EDIT - Doh, I didn't notice that there was another page. You guys beat me to it. :lame:

[evil-98]

update kinda, just working with the concept

http://evil98.insanity-asylum.com/characters/robo3.jpg
http://evil98.insanity-asylum.com/characters/robowire.gif

[Mike_inel]

Hi... I've started with the model:
http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/4598/day11hj.jpg
Well... Not that much... But here's the final design of the mech:
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/5913/mech2asml9mm.jpg
The pilot is currently work in progress (in designing)...