Comp #14 **((MMO CHARACTER))**

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Low Poly Mini Contest #14
Subject – MMO Character
ALL WIPS AND CONCEPTS ARE TO BE KEPT IN THIS THREAD.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/eq20521wp.jpg

Guide Lines:

OK, lets have some fun. This time around you get to make an MMO character. But not just any MMO character, this character needs to have upgrade outfits/armor, (2) to be exact. Your character should start with a base outfit/armor that can then be upgraded/added on to. Then for each upgrade, the outfit/armor should look like an upgrade, not a downgrade. You can create your character in any style you want, its up to you. Compared to the last comp we have had, these specs will be kind of high. 4,500 tris for everything, and (3) 1024 diffuse (and corresponding textures) texture maps for everything, Bumps, normals and anything else you can think of are good to go. I want everyone who voted to start this comp and finish, so start now.

Above all,
Have Fun!


Judging: 3 categories of judging will apply. 10 points possible for each:

Concept - How well your idea fits the topic
Model – How well the geometry is structured, how well it looks like the subject.
Texture – How well the texture space has been used, and how well the texture is painted/applied.

DUE DATE: June 10th: a Sunday, 6 weeks and a few days from today! 12 (midnight) GMT - SUNDAY

Idea:
Time to be creative. You need to create 1 main model with outfit/armor and 2 separate outfits/armor. The style of these models are entirely up to you, there is no right or wrong, so have fun

Poly limit:
4,500 Tris Total. That’s for everything, you model, the 3 outfits/armor and any weapons. You can do whatever you want with these, just don’t get carried away and don’t exceed the 4,500 Tri Limit.

Textures:
(3) 1024 x 1024 diffuse texture for each model. So in other words, for every (1) 1024 map, you get a corresponding bump/spec/alpha/etc. Textures can be hand-painted or you can use photographic sources. Do what you do.



Final Pictures:

Required In The Final Post (1 post per entry):

- 1 x Winning pose shot. This image should consist of your charater in all 3 different outfits/armors. Have "1" pose of your character, unless you get bored, then do more.

- 1 x Beauty shot of your character. Feel free to put multiple angles of your character or just one big version or your character on this page. Even better, try to composite a nice art piece similar to the ones in the Winners' Gallery. Be careful how you do this though, simple is often better. It’s up to you.

- 1 x wire frame shot of your character. Feel free to put multiple wire frame shots or just one big wire frame shot on this page. It is up to you. Must have polycount included.

- 1 x texture sheet that includes all your used sheets squeezed into "one" sheet.

- Concept Sheet (Only if you have a concept)

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. Make sure you post all work in progress, including final poly counts and wire frames in the work in progress thread. If you don’t show your w.i.p’s, your final entry will not count.


A Final Entry Thread will be up and waiting around the end of the third week/beginning of fourth/fifth week. Don’t forget to submit your work by posting it in the final thread.

Good luck everyone!
BiG ToE.

[Robbiek1000]

OH, SNAP! Its on!

[dar-bruce-y]

Like Donkey Kong, boiiii!!!

I'll have concepts when I get back Sunday.

[TheWinterLord]

sweet, this is gonna be one interesting comp!
Yeh, Good luck everyone!

[Pixelgen]

So MMO finally beat ying yang.

I give this one a shot...

[Curien]

Cool MMO is on. I have been watching the poll the last few days and was thinking it was going to be Ying Yang. i knew me vote would help to get MMO. Best of luck to everyone

[imaginart]

Ok, so to make sure I'm getting the specs right. It's 4500 tris per model? Like, 4500 model with basic armor set, 4500 model with midgrade set, and 4500 model with super stuff set? Or are all 3 sets combined supposed to make 4500?

[ianchaos]

I believe that the total budget is 4,500 Tris. That's for the character and all 3 armor sets combined.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

yes, 4500 tris total,

[ryvick]

wow sounds like an awesome contest

[yoyomon]

Hrmph hrmph hrmph....so it has begun...well off to work again.

[Hirokugawa]

This is one of those times I REALLY wish I could draw :(

[TheWinterLord]

Yes this comp requires more planning than other comps that we have had here I think. Where to distribute all polys.

Ok im going to do something different this time for me and take a long time and think trough a concept, right now I dont know if I should do something fantasy medieval or fantasy futuristic. One thing is for sure though I will do fantasy art! :dance:

Here is a doodle but I think im going to make more thumbnails and get something nice. I have also thought about doing an animal/human character of some sort, that would be cool.
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/9717/05may02dk3.jpg

[Hirokugawa]

I'm doing a dragon humanoid character, hopefully I can get lucky and have a decent drawing

[Foxter888]

well this is basically my first comp so I hope I do ok....

[ianchaos]

I was wondering if anyone out there has any good advice/links on normal mapping in Maya. The extent to which the books I have discuss normal mapping is..."Adjusting and smoothing normals is a crucial part of low-poly modeling". Well for such a "crucial" item they sure left out a lot of information.

[TheWinterLord]

If you go to http://www.3dtotal.com/ there is a new tutorial on normal mapping he was using maya.

'Normal Mappinp'
by Misja Baas

Yeh its a good read but he doesnt explain how to do it really. What Maya are you using I could write how i go about for you if you want, then you can experiment on your own.
Just which Maya version do you have because the normal mapping is different in them and where you find it...

[BiG ToE-3DT]

plus, smoothing a low poly model and normal mapping a low poly model, are two different things.

[ianchaos]

Thanks for pointing out the tutorial...definitely a good read, but not entirely helpful for a Maya novice such as myself.

I'm using Maya 8.0. and any help would be greatly appreciated.

And thanks again Big Toe for the link to that very informative low poly tutorial site.

[BlindM]

A really wierd question!

In some MMO, you get to play with a non-character character! :hurt:
In EVE you are pilot it's okay but, you are "actually" a shuttle or a battlecruiser, or in auto assault you have your own humanoid pilot too but in a figurative sense you are a car :o

Can we follow this genre, because I have a really badass idea?
"just to be creative and I am sick of elves in shiny armor :ugh: "

[Smokescreen]

I am glad to see that MMo won the polls. Maybe this time i'll take a little more time to do a concept since thats what seemed to kill me in the last competition :) i just have to decide what kind of character to do. As much as i like elves, I dont think im going to do one...lol

[mArCo!]

now ianchaos, what is it exactly you need help with? do you need help making the actual mormal map or juat applying it in maya?

[D-train]

Hello big toe and to everybody on this forum, Im going to give this contest a go. eveybody have a good day.

[akimba]

Glad to see this contest up and going! Such a great idea.. I've just joined up so a big hello and good luck to everyone!

[Foxter888]

I was wondering if anyone out there has any good advice/links on normal mapping in Maya. The extent to which the books I have discuss normal mapping is..."Adjusting and smoothing normals is a crucial part of low-poly modeling". Well for such a "crucial" item they sure left out a lot of information.

well for normals you have to make sure they point owtwards so the texture looks right if not then just face them out using the tools you have....

and to make then look smooth without subdividing the polygon or mesh I go to edit polygons then normall and on the soft/hard option I would choose the little box and put them all soft and just look at the effect is gives you...

[Smokescreen]

hey, akimba, its clark :-D its good to see you in this competition but now it looks like i stand even less of a chance of winning...lol

[BiG ToE-3DT]

You pittsburg guys should just have the whole class jump in on this one. Have the teacher make it an assignment, get graded for it.

[Smokescreen]

thats a great idea Big Toe, except i've already graduated :-D (and its pittsburgh with an "h"...otherwise you are referring to one in Kansas, California, or Canada...lol)

[BiG ToE-3DT]

my bad.

[Smokescreen]

its quite alright.

[blanktarget]

I suggested to our teachers here that they get the whole class to do some of these as assignments. :) I'm going to upload a rough sketch in a moment, I want to color it first. I'm going to go for a post-apocalyptic future. So my character is going to be a cleric/paladin class. Sort of a mix of magic and technology. I pulled a lot of inspiration from Warhammer Dawn of War. :)

[akimba]

Man, I would have loved to do this in school..but I've graduated also Big Toe. I am attempting to get some friends at work in on this, so we'll see if anyone else pulls through.

The more the merrier, right? ^_^

What's up Smokescreen! Good to see you too man.

[Smokescreen]

Here's a snippet of concept so far...im going for a barbarian/warrior style. The left is one armour upgrade to scale mail and the right is an ice armour suit. havent done a "base" concept yet tho he would be wearing a loose shirt and breeches, soft leather shoes, maybe gloves.

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/smokescreen21/MMO%20Challenge/concept.jpg

Im still indecisive about a type of weapon...im leaning towards a mace. any thoughts?

[bb0x]

okie!.... some questions...

the main model could be like in boxers?...and upgrade would be peasant clothes and an update on that would be armour?....

does it have to be your own concept?...(even tho' i think ill do one myself)

[Deto]

Very nice contest! :D Good luck everyone participating! :)

TehWinterLord The armor don't look very practical if you ask me, but I like the gun ;)

Smokescreen I like the 'lowgrade' version alot, its nice and well... interesting :) The highergrade reminds me a bit too much of the glass armour in Oblivion, especially the chest piece :)

bbOx Sounds about right to me, at least his situation is getting better... :)

[Smokescreen]

thanks Deto ...and yeah, the high grade used reference from Oblivion and Final Fantasy 11...maybe i need a little less Oblivion...lol

[ianchaos]

What I'm looking for is some info on creating the normal map from a high poly model and applying it to the low poly model...tips and tricks on doing this with Maya.

[ianchaos]

Here's my base MMO character model. I'm going with a jungle/safari theme for the character/armor
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/rhinorian1.gif
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/rhinorian2.gif
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/rhinorian3f.gif http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/rhinorian3b.gif

[dar-bruce-y]

You pittsburg guys should just have the whole class jump in on this one. Have the teacher make it an assignment, get graded for it.

that already happened this quarter, one of our instructors took the rts idea and made the entire advanced illustration class work on factions the whole time in 2D.


hey AKIMBA, nice to see you on here, man, please go easy on those of us who need jobs still aight? :D (using this one for Gauntlet) any of the other guys from work going to join for sure?


concepts hopefully tonight, sometime, starting now.

[Deto]

ianchaos hmnmn that ought to be interesting :D You have any concepts to show about your aim? :)

[dar-bruce-y]

Here's what I decided to go with, I was thinking more along the lines of a Desert P-A type scenario with anamorphic Australian animals. Could be fun.

http://ic1.deviantart.com/fs17/f/2007/126/5/c/Red_by_phoenix_eulogy.jpg

I was thinking the character would start out with just a boomerang(for hunting) and a bullroarer(for communication with other players). I'm still iffy on the weapons, but I def want some sort of cannons on the heavy armour's pack.

[TheWinterLord]

Deto, thanks yes i know. It was a quick test to draw a character with and without cloth. I get ideas while drawing and i posted it so it might help someone else spawn ideas too. Btw why don't you tell me why its not functional, just stating such a vague statement doesn't help much. Think about that in the future if you want to help someone. Thanks anyways :)

ianchaos, aaaaaah I was going to do the rhino!! hah just kidding, great animal to do this kind of thing with. I think you should play around with the proportions more and make it more balanced, right now he looks like hes falling over forward. Il look for maya 8 normal mapping tutorials for you.

dar-bruce-y nice concept, its going to look cool! he looses his ****** cloth when he got the good stuff...?

[Deto]

TheWinterLord Yeah, sorry, it was a quickie post :) Its not practical because the shoulders weight down way too much and offer no actual extra protection and also because he still lacks the right leg armor... and well stomach and hands are unarmoured ;)

[akimba]

TheWinterLord Your sketches have lots of potential. Maybe on the second set you could try to disperse the armor a bit more evenly on his body so he wouldn't feel as heavy or off-balance. I know this was just a quick sketch but either way, I'm curious to see more. :) Are you still going for a armored-commando type of character/armor set?

ianchaos Great start and I like the jungle theme idea. I'd like to see some sketches to get an idea of your direction. (Deto said this already too :)) Are you going for a tribal warrior, shamanistic holy-rhino? TheWinterLord brought up a good point. I think it may help to put a bit more curve in his spine through his midsection to balance him out a bit.

Smokescreen I didn't catch the Oblivion reference as I still haven't played much of that game YET...hehe. I like the light warrior feel of the first set and I guess you've got a bit to change in the 2nd set.. I'd really like to see the bottom half of the armor to get the whole picture of your idea. Man's gotta protect his legs, right? :) As far as the weapon goes, is he supposed to be a heavy fighter or light fighter. I could see this guy with a long spear, a mace wouldn't be bad either though.

dar-bruce-y Hey man!! I'll see what I can do :D and good luck in Gauntlet bro! The contest theme is rockin' so I'm planning to have alot of fun. So, he's a dingo, right? I like the armor progression currently. It does seem a bit odd that he gets armor on his head in the second set but his arms don't get any. Also, I think his feet really have a great impact on his overall character, but he loses the toed look in the third set. Thoughts?

I'll have some sketches up very soon, workin on 'em as we speak.

[cheezburger!]

Hi everyone this my first post and first comp. :wave: I've been following this forum for some time now and keep telling myself to give it ago, so here I am.

Anyway I'm a Uni student studying a Software Engineering and Multimedia( majoring in Gaming and interactivity) down in Melbourne Australia.

Here is my concept so far, my MMORPG is "Pork Online". This is my noob Pork hero.
http://users.tpg.com.au/duybui/images/porkRPG_noob.jpg

And this is Pork hero, Adventurer. Still a W.I.P, just base colors atm.
http://users.tpg.com.au/duybui/images/porkRPG_adventurer .jpg

Hope to bring you Epic Pork Hero soon. :crazy:
Just hope i can finish this comp, am so swamped with work from uni atm. :ugh:

[ianchaos]

Deto: As far as concept drawings go, the last time I drew anything was over 10 years ago in college and even then my stick figures were nearly unrecognizable. Maybe I'll dust off the old pencil and give it a go though.

TheWinterLord: I think you may be right on the front heavy problem. I want to keep his legs looking short and stocky, so I'll try to increase the size of his feet and bring his upper knee joint forward a little, and as Akimba suggested I'll try curving his spine a bit and see if that helps...thanks for pointing that out.

[dar-bruce-y]

TheWinterLord thanks man, yeah, he trades in the plate vest and "****** plate" if you will, for the heavy stuff, which is more like an all over self-cooled Kevlar suit with the armour plating slipped over top. I can't wait to see your next iteration, see what you do with the asymmetrical armour thing you got going. ;)

akima nailed it! Dingo he is. i think you are correct in that he needs a little more protection it the second one. I could go two ways with that, add "bracers" or take the helmet and replace with something a little less protective. I was thinking in the desert, warriors would wear less armour on the upper body than normal for cooling purposes; I'll fiddle with it today. As for the feet I didn't realize how much they actually add to the overall picture, but i do see your meaning. I'll figure something out with those. thanks for the feedback man :D, can't wait to see what you come up with.

Cheeseburger! first of all, great name, haha; i think your idea is great, and very kid-friendly-looking (maybe not so much with the killing thats going to go on, am i right?) but I will say that if you are going rig and pose or animate this, those limbs are going to need a bit more definition, other than that, looks like great fun.

ianchaos I'd really like to see where you are going with that hulking horn head, haha, got any concepts or even written thoughts?

[bb0x]

some more questions...

do you like have to dress the model...or could you delete the non see-able tris to lower to polycount?

is 4500 total tri count for the 3 model combined? like 2000 for the base model 500 for nooby clothes 500 for advanced and 500 for expert?

or is it 4500 for nooby model 4500 for advanced model and 4500 for expert model?



thanx

[ianchaos]

what I'm thinking of for the outfits is:

Outfit # 1. muscle shirt, military style khaki shorts, and a machete.

Outfit # 2. very primative tribal gear. leather sandals, small wood shield, worn tribal mask, feather kilt and a spear.

Outfit # 3. Classic safari/adventure outfit. Pith helmet, crisp beige shirt and pants, brown leather boots (no idea how that's going to work out with his legs, but I'm going to have a go at it), bowie knife strapped to his leg, huge double barrel shotgun, revolver, etc.

That's the idea anyway...I may end up going down the tribal shaman path for the whole set, but I'm going to try out the above listed outfits first and see where they take me.

[ianchaos]

Alright, I reworked the legs and back to try to balance him out better. I curved the lower back, brought the upper knee joint forward, added bulk to his upper back and to his rear end, and enlarged his feet

Here's the before and after...I think its a good improvement, but let me know if you think I should scale anything even more.

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/beforandafter.gif

[BiG ToE-3DT]

bb0x: 4500 for everything. So cut it up to make it work, 3000 for base model, 500 for first upgrade, 1000 for final upgrade. Its up to you.

ianchaos: you got a good start, but your poly flow is real stiff. When its time to pose or even animate, your mesh wont deform too well. Main areas you might want to rework are the hips, shoulders and front/back knee. Also, I think thew smaller feet look better.

[dar-bruce-y]

http://ic3.deviantart.com/fs17/f/2007/127/7/7/Red2_by_phoenix_eulogy.jpg

Ok, I reworked the first upgrade twice, #1 is on the lighter side, 2 on the heavier; trying to decide which way i want to go, If anyone likes one more than the other, let me know. also, I fixed the feet on the assault armour and adjusted the pack to a little more like what i was thinking.


ianchaos I gotta agree with BiG ToE on this one, your polys are really straight throughout the body, remember you want the edge loops flowing around the mass of your model, not the other way round.

[jjd1986]

Dude! I love this IDEA! If you can succeed, it will be one of the greatest things I have ever seen!

[Vitor]

Cool competition =) I've lost the faith on me finishing entries but don't loose anything trying eh? so here is a first concept. Doing a female for change, still trying to develop some ideas always fighting the lack of 2d skill :ugh:

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/4822/concept01nq9.jpg

[Smokescreen]

Here's a little update on the ice helmet and cuirass. im actually kinda diggin' how the color's came out. lemme know what you think. oh and akimba, you shoulda chose "fearless_leader" as your screenname...lol

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/smokescreen21/MMO%20Challenge/render1.jpg

[Drolith]

this contest looks awesome, I might enter but I wont have any concept art, due to my lack of drawing skills. Me doing concept art would defeat the purpose of concept art, I don't think anyone could decypher my concepts with just stick figures. Anyway good luck to all! Looks like fun!!!

[TheWinterLord]

akimba thanks man, nah im not sure what im going with for concept yet, im still spawning ideas.

dar-bruce-y Ty yeah im trying to come up with more solid armours in the future. however in some universes they dont need to make sense. the posiblilities are endless

Drolith you should practise drawing more it will help you out in life. it will be intresting to see what you get off with!

cheezburger! sweet I like Pork Hero Noob :)

Here is another idea I will start drawing new characters in poses but I thought this was a good way to just draw new clothes on a new layer and get ideas that way.
http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/1936/chaosmarauderuk2.jpg

drew the left one first to put clothes on, feel free to use it if you want lol :P

[omnicypher]

i made a rough sketch of my design but the site wont let me upload it for some reason.

[omnicypher]

http://img508.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mmo2ow2.jpg

[D-train]

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/6831/flamingfootlr7.th.jpg (http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=flamingfootlr7.jpg)

hello everybody this is my character design im going with. yes his face is a foot. I want to do something totally out of the box. Plus my goal is to finish this contest and have fun. I have some more drawing I might post them up later today or torromow. Also I Im going to do an finally render drawing of each and color too. comments are welcome, everybody have a cool day,one

[GiancarloA]

good challenge
yeah, im back, y'all, so watch out!
also, does it have to be fantasy characters?

[TheWinterLord]

ianchaos Good improvement from the last one, but I still think it looks unbalanced in the sense that it will fall forward because of its large head size.

I really hope you don't mind, i played around a little with your rhino proportions. I had the best result when I made the head a little bit smaller.made the belly and back larger because it looks more rhino powerful that way I think. changed legs little.
These are just suggestions that you may follow or not I don't want you to feel like you have to even though you don't want to just because a forum member (me) said so.

just take a look, either youl like it or you don't :)

So far your entry is my favorite it got loads of potential.
the 3 on the right bottom are the ones i drew first...
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/2272/rhinojy7.jpg

D-train haha your footman is great, 3rd one looks like a squid though. :P cool

omnicypher looks very rpg ish, like the colors and how the armour fits.

Smokescreen cool, I don't know how finished it is but I think you should make the armour thicker around the neck it looks like the armour is a millimeter thick. work more on the metal color use more contrast and more colors maybe it should reflect some of the blue ice? I like the ice colors.

[TheWinterLord]

GiancarloA Nah just mmorpg characters so it could certainly be real life characters aswell but there arent that many mmos out there. I guess you can make a sims character with more and more expensive cloth... wow look at my imagination go...
hope it answer your question.

[dar-bruce-y]

http://ic3.deviantart.com/fs18/f/2007/127/f/3/dingo1_by_phoenix_eulogy.jpg

I think thats all i'm going to do for today, I'm pleased with it so far.

yo D-Train a foot face? dude, give him a flip flop helmet to start out with.

oh, and i almost forgot, jjd1986 if that was directed at me, i thank you.

[katana]

Hey all, I think I want to try this as well. The count is close to another project I'm concepting and I'm not entirely sure that I have the 3d skills to pull it off, but I figure you all will help answer any questions. I pulled an old idea for a toon out of my sketchbook from years ago, gonna revamp it into my current style and get the concept up. This will be my first Competition...thanks for a great idea.

[Foxter888]

I need help how do I post pics cuz when I try tp upload them they give me an error it's sucks that why I was never able to compete...

[katana]

I use photo bucket. In my message I include a line with the img tag...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/dune.jpg

:dance: ...seems to work...

[Seb-Lev]

yeah Best thing to do is find a site like imageshack or photobucket and upload your picture their and get the direct link to the picture and insert it in an image tage witch if I'm right looks like [ IMG] link here [ /IMG]

[yoyomon]

SmokeScreen: Not wasting anytime are you?

Seeing some intresting stuff, I'll try and get something up soon.

[Robbiek1000]

Hey, all heres an update of what I'm up to for the contest. I decided to go the route of normal mapping cause I need more experience with it....and I figure with everything involved with this contest this would be a very good test of planning and thinking ahead.

Let me know what you all think!

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k187/Robbiek800/LowPoly%20Contest%2014/WIP1.jpg

sorry about the image...its a little muddy and hard to read

[BiG ToE-3DT]

not to change subjects but for you all that don't know, the war results are in and guess which forum WON, thats right, we did. Threedy put those other guys in their places.

http://www.dominancewar.com/2/index.htm

[Deto]

Hooray Threedy! :D

[akimba]

Here are my 1st concepts. I'm going for a fantasy-based armor set with some Egyptian/Persian overtones.. It's currently named the Scarab armor set. I'll be thinking and working out colors next. Also working out the details of her blade. I'm aiming for a large khopesh or shamshir.

http://www.projectakimba.com/images/scarab/ScarabConcept_sketches.jpg

Congrats to 3DTotal on the victory in the Dominance War!!

I'm off to bed...
Back in the morning.

[bb0x]

woot 3dt rocks XD....ill deff. try to enter next year....or the year after next year.... XD

b.o.t.-

I still cant think of a concept to do....

[blanktarget]

Here's one of my character sketches. This is just one armor set, the one that kind of had the whole feel for the character I wanted. I am going for a neo-midevil style.
http://www.freewebtown.com/filter/cleric_front.jpg

[GiancarloA]

how about some futuristic mmo like phantasy star? would that be acceptable? just as long as i put a sword in there and the armor is interchangeable?

[bb0x]

you could even do some fps styled char i think....as long as it fits in a mmorpg... like some futuristic mmo 3th person shooter....

but you might want to ask Big toe about it

[BiG ToE-3DT]

GiancarloA: this star your talking about, can you give more detail into what it will look like, how it moves etc. Most MMO's live in/on a world/planet and interact with the surroundings. But that doesn't mean "space" can't be the environment.

[dar-bruce-y]

guys I'm doing a frickin' dingo with a mech suit, as long as your character is a sentient creature of some sort that would be a PC and has interchangable armour and weapons, your good.

and ToE if anyone else asks just quote me. ;)

[ianchaos]

BiG ToE Thanks for pointing out my less than organic poly flow, and dar-bruce-y described the solution very eloquently when he said
remember you want the edge loops flowing around the mass of your model, not the other way round.Made me realize how much I'm missing out by not having an instructor...books can't give advice or point out errors. Thanks guys.

TheWinterLord Wow...I can't thank you enough for taking the time to draw up those picts...amazingly helpful.

Here is my re-worked model to try to cover the balance issue that TheWinterLord was so kind to help with. Let me know what you think of the new body shape and my attempt to improve the poly flow.

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/beforeandafter2.gif
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/front1.gif

[GiancarloA]

BIG TOE
Just look up "phantasy star universe" online. its an mmo but set in the future and still has fantasy elements into it. but now im leaning towards hellgate london kind of feel. still sketching out stuff

[Smokescreen]

yes, yoyomon i tend to work quickly. just as fearless leader (aka akimba) about the one project from school with the 12 low-poly models that needed created, skinned, unwrapped, and textured within 2 weeks...lol.

akimba, i think i lost already :D lol as for the weapon type, i would like to see her wielding double small khopesh's

TheWinterLord, the model isnt really that far along and i was just playing with the texture colours to give yinz all an idea how it would look on the model. but i will take your suggestion to heart about making the metal trim look like...well...metal :)

[dar-bruce-y]

Smokescreen I would really like to know wtf "y*ns" is supposed to mean, and why all the locals keep saying it.

[Smokescreen]

"yinz" = "you all". its pittsburgh ease. the less syllables, the better.

[dar-bruce-y]

its pittsburghese, you contradict yourself sir. lol.

maybe pittese, less syllables the better, right? :D

[Smokescreen]

well either way you spell it, its still the same amount of syllables, is it not? lol :-P

[akimba]

RobbieK1000: What's up man. Looks like you have a nice start on a good base mesh. Is that going to represent her base outfit/armor? What type of character/mmo are you aiming for? Theme? Also, I'd like to see a wireframe of your mesh just to check out the topology.

ianchaos: The modifications you made to the model helped alot. He now feels a bit more balanced. Keep in mind what Big Toe mentioned in post # 51. You may need to add some edge loops in order for him to deform well later one. Otherwise nice changes. Still curious to see where he's headed.

[TheWinterLord]

ianchaos heh no problem. I think it looks much much better, move the shoulders a tad back and it will be awesome. (chest out and shoulders back give a cool dynamic pose I think). There are some stuff with the front view though. Can you give me a perspective view with him in a angle from the top.

One important thing right now is that he does not have a neck that can turn his head and you will regret that later when you want to pose him, the whole head is going to look deformed like it is now. add or rebuild the edges for his neck. the head and the neck you have is from the front view seem very flat right now.


One more thing when modeling characters, you should model them as close to a pose that they will most often use. why because you will have better control on how it looks in that pose later :) me my self as a person almost never stretch me arms so high in a T pose. In your T pose it is hard to get the shoulders out correctly and it will be easier if you model him in a pose like Robbieks its more natural. you dont want arms staight down for skinning purposes later though.

Give me some more angles and it will be easier to comment and draw on. Good going!

blanktarget cool, what do you mean with medieval neo?

akimba Nice detailed concept, did you Pittsburgh guys go to some 3d school?

As for my entry I have decided to do a more ordinary fantasy Medieval Knight with comical proportions not to much but a bit warcraft style. to try out a new style for me like every other model I do... :P

he will have a tunic or something as a base mesh
2nd will be leather armor
and 3rd will hopefully be full knight armor.
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/6766/coceptmay9thjo5.jpg

[TheWinterLord]

ianchaos Yeh btw hehe im still trying to find the maya 8 normal stuff, I have maya 8 at school and its kind of chaotic because we are making a game and it has to be finished next wednesday... crunch time. However when i get home 7-8 at the evenings this forum helps me to relax and think about something else :)

:dance: :dance: Still celbrating threedys Dominance Victory :dance: :dance:

[dar-bruce-y]

WinterLord answering for akimba, yes we all(most of us anyway) major(ed) in Game Art & Design.

[yuriyxxx]

ok, here is my start: I dont have any sketches as of yet, but I do have a lot of reference images.
I am going to make Minotaur/Zombie/Undead/Skeleton character with "knight on white horse in shinning armor" upgrades. I think that will create an interesting contrast.
Does this competition require to have concept sketches or are the reference images enough?

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/661/inspqm5.jpg

[Robbiek1000]

akimba - sup guy, hows Schell games treating ya? For a style I'm kinda going for more realistic look but while trying to keeps some of the heavy fantasy aswell. The base character I wanted to keep sexy and kind of plain...to help the armor progression look worth it if you were to see it in an MMO. Also trying to tie this piece into my game design doc a bit so I'm trying to keep elements of my game in there as well. I wish i could show you a screen shot of the wire frame, but you wouldn't be able to see anything but white....the mesh flow is pretty dense...I think my base mesh is sitting on about 2 million polys right now. I love mudbox!

yuriyxxx - nah, you don't technically have to have any concept.

[dar-bruce-y]

Got everything connected and the head started, its just temporary until I get a detailed MS for above the shoulders. Hands and feet are next.

http://ic1.deviantart.com/fs18/f/2007/128/8/c/dingo2_by_phoenix_eulogy.jpg

[yoyomon]

That finger plate in those references looks sweet.

Okay worked up a concept for the entry. This guy's role will be fire support for the melee guys. He might get a little steam punk loving in the armor designs. He's in his base uniform in the pic.

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/8878/jubeiconcept01jd9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

On a side note, I doubt I'll be normal mapping in this contest. I'm probably going to stick with color, transparency, and spec. Gotta get some good models with those before the high poly stuff.

[dar-bruce-y]

yo yoyomon, diggin' the rifle-scythe looks pretty sweet. what era you thinking, like futuristic medieval japan?

[akimba]

RobbieK1000: Sounds good man. Very cool that you and Dar-Bruce-Y are using this stuff for school. I've been dabbling in Mudbox and I may take a crack at it for this comp, that's time permitting of course.

Dar-Bruce-Y: Lookin good and thanks for answering TheWinterLord's question for me. You doing any normal mapping on the Dingo?

yoyomon: Cool sketch and rockin' idea to throw in a little steampunk into this guys armor. Are you going to tie steam-power into his weapon also, or just his armor?

yuriyxxx: That is QUITE a contrast. White minotaur knight of death..hehe. Your idea has peaked my interest. Eager to see what you come up with.

[dar-bruce-y]

np, akimba, and if I have time thats what I'd like to do, also why i'm pushing so fast on the low poly mesh. nearly finished with geometry creation on the base model, should have it up shortly.

[dar-bruce-y]

Alright, I can safely say the base low poly mesh is about 90% done, needs touching up, but its got good flow and consistency for now. I also did most of the weapons. I forgot to select the gun housing in the pic, but the base mesh is 1226 tris and all weapons and parts combined are 278 tris. (thats a bullroarer, not a spear. and yes the barrel and mag and stock on the guns are interchangable, sorta like an upgradable weapon in Hellgate: London.)

http://ic3.deviantart.com/fs18/f/2007/129/2/f/dingo_progress2_by_phoenix_eulogy.jpg

ps: sorry for the width of this post.

[katana]

I should have my concept up tomorrow, I'm working up a nautical dwarf of the steampunk genre...should be fun...more to come...nice stuff here.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

dar-bruce-y: I know your at 90%, but just incase you forget, you might want to toss an extra loop in the shoulders, and make him an elbow, the joints in the legs may need more lovin too, but that comes down to what you want to do with this guy when your done.

[dar-bruce-y]

thanx ToE most of that was in the other 10% im planning, I also need to fix the head overall, but will do.

[yuriyxxx]

here is concept bust modeling for my Zomtaur (minotaur/zombie/knight):

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/1183/80002193vy8.jpg

[dar-bruce-y]

Ok, added joints, fixed up the head slightly, still not there, and hes just about ready for clothes. ;)

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs18/f/2007/129/1/2/dingo_progress3_by_phoenix_eulogy.jpg


hey yuriyxxx I like zombitaur, rolls off the tongue ;P. very clean so far.

[Vitor]

Well, about time to start it already. This is the first pass on Zbrush for the highpoly model. Right botton corner is the basemesh. Still trying to block out the main shapes and propotions...

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/7528/wip01as0.jpg

dar-bruce-y-> you are working fast man :d one critic thout, the poly distribution seems not working on some areas, for example, you got a lot of loops on the neck while the pectoras are too flat, try to add a few more vertices there to make it rounder.

[dar-bruce-y]

consider it done. :)

[Vitor]

Well, some more work on it, i think i've found the right propotions, will now start with some more detailed pass on it.

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/6498/wip04zq6.jpg

[jairobbo]

Hi guys,

this is my first challenge. It is to be a cute girl with a passion for death (why for the love of god ;) I'l try to find some nice props in the animal skeleton etc area. Also thought a crow familiar would suit her.

crits are more than welcome.
succes to everyone,

Jairo

[Robbiek1000]

Heres an update of my char.....this will eventually be armor set 1...leading up to armor set 2

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k187/Robbiek800/LowPoly%20Contest%2014/WIP2.jpg

High poly....of course

[Hirokugawa]

Ok I'm actually gonna be able to do this one I think!
I really wanna do a dragonoid, so hopefully I can get out even a rough sketch

[Marv]

Here's something I started today. Turned out to be some sort of pigeonman. Need to do some poly optimization, then on to the armour.

[yuriyxxx]

I worked on the concept more and started on topology as well.
Zomtaur is not going to have a nose, instead he will have nasal bones covered in blood.

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/6097/37190740ar9.jpg

[Smokescreen]

Here's a little update on the high-grade armour. im kinda diggin' how the ice blue turned out. the shield and the mace arent finished texturing and the shield has an opacity map on it (which i dont like how it looks...if i have polys left over after doing the low-grade armour i'll fix it)

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/smokescreen21/MMO%20Challenge/render2.jpg

yuriyxxx your Zomtaur head is looking way wicked. i cant wait to see the rest of it :)

[yoyomon]

Dar-Bruce-Y : Yeah, it's a mix of medival and early imperial japan with some medival european and a sprinkle of steam punk.

akimba: Hmm...steam powered weapons...I'll do it!

yuriyxxx: Looking forward to the finished product of the 3 combinations, texture especially.

Robbiek: The model is shaping up nicely. One thing that I find a bit wierd is why the bottom of the corset is tucked in. It looks kinda odd b/c it's such a small piece that would otherwise but knocked back out when bending over and back a couple of times.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

after I finish up a BiG Huge Snake, I'll jump into this one. If anyone has seen the anime S-cryEd, that will be the feel that I would like to go for.

[blanktarget]

phantasy star should be fine. Mine is sort of modeled after that style too a futuristic guy but with medival weapontry.

[dar-bruce-y]

got the mask, vest, and misc other things tweeked. the heads starting to get better and more "personified."

http://images6.pictiger.com/thumbs/38/5f6ba0ed622f57eaab366f61e8a60138.th.jpg (http://server6.pictiger.com/img/74416/picture-hosting/dingo-2--.php)

liking the competition so far, especially the satyr-girl, lookin spiffy vitor

[JacksonEmpire]

Hi i thought i would enter this, looks like a good challenge!!
Heres my concept,

The fist pic is the main character, second he has body armour, third he has a The Magical Badger Glove which he stole from a rather horrible wizard named Tulip...

Hopefully i will take him into mudbox to create the normal maps.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2007-4/1254912/all_web.jpg

Gonna start working on him soonish, might make him glow a bit more maybe on his armour to make him look a bit more magical.

Goodluck everyone!!

[Vitor]

Some more work on it and playing with the outfits on photoshop. still working on the highpoly thou, the outfit is just to have some fun with it so far :D

A question thou, i need to do the character with the base outfit (like in WoW the characters with no equipment) kinda like the one i show here, and then different upgrades to it right?

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/5111/wip13mn1.jpg

Smokescreen-> i think your diffuse map needs a lot of more detail on light, so far it looks like it could be used on a normal map engine, with realtime highlight/shadows, but since you are not creating the normal maps you really need more ligh information on the diffuse.

[Smokescreen]

thanks for the suggestion vitor...ive been working on a specular map (dont know if i'll actually use it tho). i generally dont touch lighting until im happy with the design first, then i do the highlights and shadows. btw, the tattoos are awesome, and yes, you need a base model like you have and then you have to make upgrades for it.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Vitor: your base character can be whatever you want it to be.

[katana]

Does working in Sub-D create a higher tris count? I always thought it did since it seems to use more to describe the model, but yet if i do an average vert/clean up and convert to polygon, wouldn't that bring the count down? Or am I completely off my rocker? ...maya 8 btw.

[Vitor]

SubD the model will no doublty increase the poly count. That is why it is wrong to use it on gameart models, you add a lot of new polygons with no control in them.

[Marv]

Think I need some more clarification. Are we meant to create one model (the character) some some sort of clothes on, the 2 separate armours? Or one character and 3 separate armours?
Sorry for the inconvenience

[Deto]

Character who starts with something, ends to something else. 3 stages total. What the stages are, up to you... As long as (s)he gets upgraded by gear :)

[Vitor]

Yes that was my doubt before, probably didn't explain it well...

[katana]

Thanks Vitor, I'll stick to the blocking out approach, when the time comes...

[Hirokugawa]

Here's a teaser :P
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a84/Hirokugawa/Prev1-4.jpg
Currently 1684 tri's
Still not done with the feet and such, and still trying to shape a few things to be more dragonlike
Can't decide if I wanna make him a lot bulkier

[Vitor]

Well base model almost done i think... i still have to decide a couple of design issues but that will be next week just :\ just noticed hands are incredibly small... fix it soon

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/4444/wip14dv8.jpg

Hirokugawa-> nice start, but i think that you need to play with the propotions and silhuete of him a bit more. So far he is abit boring, he is too flat, don't forget the spinal column curvatures, use and abuse on them. Make his torso bigger as it gives the impression of power and strength, change a bit the pose, for something more natural, it helps a lot when modeling as you can give him a different felling just big posing him. Also keep in mind the anatomy bases, so far the hands are too flat, hands are made of archs...

[xissburg]

I just started sketching. need to design the clothes/armor yet. its time to look for references. This is the my character's face by now. not sure if I'll really do a human(thinking about a reptile ^^):
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/xissburg/sketch_01.jpg
hope ya like this start..

[Hirokugawa]

Well base model almost done i think... i still have to decide a couple of design issues but that will be next week just :\ just noticed hands are incredibly small... fix it soon

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/4444/wip14dv8.jpg

Hirokugawa-> nice start, but i think that you need to play with the propotions and silhuete of him a bit more. So far he is abit boring, he is too flat, don't forget the spinal column curvatures, use and abuse on them. Make his torso bigger as it gives the impression of power and strength, change a bit the pose, for something more natural, it helps a lot when modeling as you can give him a different felling just big posing him. Also keep in mind the anatomy bases, so far the hands are too flat, hands are made of archs...
I do have to make his legs a bit longer
As for the pose, that'll be done through bones later, I'm setting him up just like this so he'll be easy to bone and skin and then later pose
I do have to mess with the sillouette though, make it a bit more smooth
As for the spine, I'm going to bend it forward a bit as though he's hunched over from bulk

[yuriyxxx]

I am finally happy with the shape of the bust. Next up is the torso.

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/9494/53283769va9.jpg

[aldryn]

ok so i never got to finish the last challenge so im trying again on this one

Simian


http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n269/cheezypoof0/scan.jpg

hoping to actually do this one :dance:

[Hirokugawa]

A preview with more bulk, shaping and horns
As well as the 3 axes that will be his weapons in each stage

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a84/Hirokugawa/Prev2-3.jpg

[omnicypher]

warning: Nudity

i worked one day on the concept, one day on the basic human model, and one day on armor. then today i rebooted my computer and forgot to save the files in my scenes folder. luckily i think ill have enough time to make up for it though. heres a pic from day two, before the armor.

[achmedthesnake]

mmm... thought i'd enter and see -
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/achmedthesnake/mmo_progress01.jpg

my guy is a desert/egyptian/persian nomadic warrior dude with double swords.. - just going through the concept stages: first the base - then second is 'viper armour' and the best is 'lion' heavy armour...
- WILL be equipt with all the stock scimtars, daggers and paraphanalia (spelling!)

[Deto]

Welcome to the Threedy, Achmedthesnake! The concept looks interesting, can't wait to see what you can whip up from it! :)

[ianchaos]

A couple days ago I got a graphics tablet which I won on ebay (an old wacom intuos)...can't believe the difference it makes in working with photoshop. One of the best purchases I've made in a long time. Well here goes ... my Rhinorian's (working name) base clothes set and weapon.

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/outfit1.gif http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/outfit1b.gif
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/outfitandweapon1.gif
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/outfit1tris.gif

Still plan on making a few changes to the rhino's body, but right now I'm sitting at 1616 tris...I figure that's a pretty good count to be at with the two armor sets to go.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

achmedthesnake: I'm sure you will do the concept justice. You always do.

[Deto]

So far good ianchaos, though I think you should have rather worked on alphamaps with the pants and machete and killed some extra polygons, ie the 'belt loops' in pants, might be troublesome when you rig and move the pants :)

[Marv]

Done with the character and I've moved on to the last armour upgrade. Maybe thats the wrong way to go about it, cause now I can't seem to get inspired for the other armour pieces.
Well this is how it looks now. It's basically a hightech armour. The armguard has a built in powershield that can be deployed. Also there is a sort of sight/scope over his right eye.

[ianchaos]

Deto I agree that's probably the best method, and as soon as I take the time to read up on how to use the alpha channel in Maya I'll make those changes. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Smokescreen]

Here is an update on the low-grade scale armour. It still needs lights and shadows, but this gives a general feel for what im going for. I plan on using a bump map for this, and the mace still needs textured.

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/smokescreen21/MMO%20Challenge/render3.jpg

[Deto]

Looking good Smoke :) Going to use opacity maps for the gridded metal? I think you could easily make wonders with it! :)

[imaginart]

First time giving the comps a try, here's a more or less concept. Just to have the main idea on paper. C&C very much welcome.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/Moonimation/MMOconcept.jpg

PS: Still need to think of what kinda weapons he's gonna carry, a face, and the color scheme of the armor.

[TheWinterLord]

dar-bruce-y thanks It will be interesting to see what graduates like you can do in this contest! :) nice going I like the vertexes flow in the arms.

imaginart Welcome and good luck! :wave:
How does his face look like and did he grow hair in the 3rd tier? :)

Funny anatomically concerns over at other forums Vitor :P

ok here is a wip, next time il give some wires.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/341/wip01gk5.jpg

[imaginart]

TheWinterLord- Still undecided about face, not even sure if I want it to be human-looking. Third tier is a helm, aiming for something along of an eagles head (eagles eyes), since it's "hunter" themed. But I'll more than likely change some things about it once they hit me. ; ;

[Smokescreen]

thanks Deto. truth-be-told im not entirely sure how i want to finish the gridded metal--whether to make it look like scales or to hollow out the centers (but then it would be closer to ringmail). any thoughts?

[katana]

In 2002, I began creating a Dwarf with a nautical background. Through trial, I eventually came upon the look I was going for. Although I had finished my art degree that year, my skills were still in need of alot more refinement. When I came across this forum and the comp, I knew it was time to dig him out of the piles and give him the workover. I am an avid WoW player and have more than 30 years with tabletop rpg's. One of the things I have come to realize is that I will never be completely satisfied with my characters, until I see them move. From that point, I took on the labor of learning Maya 8, and getting alot more proficient in Adobe Photoshop 6, Illustrator CS and my favorite, Painter 9. This project is probably beyond my complete 3d skills, but I'm willing to push the digital clay until it's done....so without further ado,in mmorpg terms, I present 'Mulch".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/mulch10web.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/mulch20web.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/Mulch40web.jpg



In the early years (level 1-10), Mulch had always been attracted to the sea. The vast expanse of calm ocean and quiet moments, the traveling to fantastic locales, the taste of exotic liquors, was all that he needed. At times, it was quite boring. Standing watch or scrubbing the wooden planks of the deck with stone, could be wrenching. Rarely did anything dangerous happen, though he did have to live with a rough and tumble society of sailors. These were the hardened men of the sea, and brawling was a way of life. The ocean however, was no match for the trouble he found once the ship docked. Within a very short time, he had seen quite a few tavern fights and fended off many pirate bandits....

By level 20, Mulch had been salted. A term used for those who had served on board ship for many years. Being among the men, however, had limited his options. Best he thought, to take a more leading role. Those officers sure live well. He was by nature, a dwarf of rambunctiousness, so he stuck his chin up, thrust his chest out, kept his mouth shut and donned the officer uniform. By this time, he had acquired a decent pistol (Guns skill) and a well-made Sabre (Swords). His vast knowledge of the workings of a ship gave him the Leadership skill. And his reputation was growing...Unfortunatly not only was the Empire's ruling class watching him, but so were the pirates.
Now that he was in a superior postion, he began to see that not all things were as they appeared. Yes, the officers did get a better cut of meat, and even a quality ale, but the demands of the government, made him little more than a slave to the wealthy. As he continued his career, he had now taken part in many skirmishes on the water and even a few major sea battles. Enough experience gave him a clear idea of just how brutal the empire could be...A restless feeling of unjust grew deep within him. He grew bitter and moreso, angry, at those who would hold the commission on the mission of the ship. His dwarven warrior ancestry screamed out..."Free yourself!"

...and so he did...There is a well known fact that when those in power need something done illegally, they called upon the privateers. Men of dubious past. But when those same men are hunted for attrocities committed against Queen and Country, then those men are called Pirates.

By level 40, Mulch, now Captain Mulch, was widely reknown in folktale. He had seen many major battles now, always able to find that "way through the cannon fodder". He had aquired a fine sword and magnificent blunderbuss (Dual wield) and the coveted Eyepatch and Pegleg (extra attack - Kick) which together added fear (debuff) to his arsenal. Generally there were few rivals at sea, beyond the ships of the empire which tirelessly continued their search for him. In virtually every port he put into, one could always find the Wanted postings, but little did it matter, for the people knew that while he was vicious to the Blue Guard (Empire navy), their town was safe.

[katana]

...or maybe the whole thing is just a little too much "over-the-top"...lol

[xissburg]

Very nice characters coming to life! looking forward to see them all finished...
I have one question. Sorry if it was already asked and answered. I must do the character with a default simple armor(like my sketch below) and two armor upgrades(level 2 and level 3, an evolution) or I must do another 2 independent armor sets? I was thinking about the 1st: in the level 2, add bigger shoulders protections, forearms and lower legs protections and a hand shield. And in the level 3 add a helmet, hands & feet protection and a stronger torso protection and more maybe. All OK with this idea?! Here the my last sketch:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/xissburg/sketch_02.jpg

[TheWinterLord]

katana Hey really nice character and good luck with him, one thought though on the 3rd level he has a wooden leg, the armours/clothes should be able to be put on the existing base model.

xissburg yup you are on the right track if your sketch is between your level 1 and 2.

the armour will lye ontop of level 1 so if you make shoulderpads for level 1 then they will have to fit underneath level 2 so you dont see them i guess.
Does that clarify things? and someone else tell me if im wrong...

[Hirokugawa]

You are a bit off
You don't have to make the next set of armour on top of the existing one
Basically you have to simple make 3 seperate outfits
A basic armour/outfit, a medium level one, and then a high level one
Besides that, there really needs to be no connection between them besides all being on the same character

[TheWinterLord]

ok i thought you need to do a character and then 2 outfits

Idea:
Time to be creative. You need to create 1 main model with outfit/armor and 2 separate outfits/armor. The style of these models are entirely up to you, there is no right or wrong, so have fun

the 2 outfits have to fit on the base character

[katana]

Xissburg...nice style. ...
I always figured that the peg leg would be replacing a Boot Box. i don't know how Blizzard works out there models, but I had always thought that the designated boxes or a similar shape on the model for specific items and the code replaces the previous item with the new one. the models themselves I believe are very basic, ut is widely known that it's the hand-painted textures that seperates them from everyone elses stuff...anyway, onto the Image Planes and building the ragdoll....more to follow.

[xissburg]

then the parts of the level 2 must not be part of the level 3? they must be removed before wear the level 3 armor?

[Marv]

Ok. So this is what I'm thinking the dude will look. Almost done now.

Tier1 > Tier 2 > Tier 3 > Weapon (Not decided yet. Just made something I thought would be cool. Might change)
The Tier 1 armour will basically be painted on the model. It will probably consist of a vest of some sort, that will be hidden underneath the armour once it's applied. Is this ok?
The difference between the Tier 2 and Tier 3 gauntlet is that in the Tier 3 a forcefield can be deployed. 4473 Tris right now.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

in regards to outfit/armor upgrades:

the idea is to have a perfectly functional base mesh that could stand on its own in a game. as for the upgrades, you could have "2" and "3" be apart of each other, meaning "3" is an upgrade of two, or you could have "3" take "2" place. but they all will be placed on the base mesh. So your base mesh needs to be able to flow with the upgrades so they don't look out of place.

[xissburg]

thanks BiG ToE. now I think I've understood the thing . . . lets work!
Your model is very nice Marv. Cant wait to see it fully textured. good luck ;)

[Deto]

Another question people might wonder on. Are you allowed to use the same mesh for different texture? Ie say your model has a jumpsuit, bright green with gold stars (hope no one does that though.. :D) and the second 'grade' would be same mesh, but with red jumpsuit that has blue spots, and then some added stuff, say, shoulders, helmet. But some parts of the upgrades are just upgraded with new textures instead of actual new mest?

also, in this kind of case... Would you have to count the 'new textured mesh' as a new object (and pay the polygons for it, even if its actually the same old mesh with just new text)?

[yuriyxxx]

Here is more done. it is at 1328 tri's now and I haven't optimized yet.
C&C on the progress so far is more than welcome.

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/9391/44741796xp4.jpg

[Hirokugawa]

Another question people might wonder on. Are you allowed to use the same mesh for different texture? Ie say your model has a jumpsuit, bright green with gold stars (hope no one does that though.. :D) and the second 'grade' would be same mesh, but with red jumpsuit that has blue spots, and then some added stuff, say, shoulders, helmet. But some parts of the upgrades are just upgraded with new textures instead of actual new mest?

also, in this kind of case... Would you have to count the 'new textured mesh' as a new object (and pay the polygons for it, even if its actually the same old mesh with just new text)?
That's what I was wondering as well
Do you have to do "upgrades" or can you simply do 3 different outfits, just each portraying a different level?
That's typically how it's done in MMOs

[TheWinterLord]

Textures:
(3) 1024 x 1024 diffuse texture for each model.
Deto we get 3 different diffuse textures so I guess So if you have the same uv layed out properly it would be optimizing for games, but for this contest I don't think we should do that because of the how much more you could do with a outfit/armour with that method if the tris are not recounted.

Hirokugawa read the first post with instructions
you model, the 3 outfits/armor and any weapons.
It doesnt say one armour/outfit has to be a "upgrade" anywhere. Also you are saying that outfits are typically portraying a different level in MMOs, i dont think this is true but I could be wrong.
Do you have to do "upgrades" or can you simply do 3 different outfits, just each portraying a different level?
That's typically how it's done in MMOs

yuriyxxx heh he looks cool, show us wires later when you optimize him! also I don't think he needs the details in the nose, it can be done with texture later.

[Deto]

About what Hirokugawa said is that in example World of Warcraft, the chest piece, leg piece, they never change. Its always the same mesh, just with different skin on. (well I meant that too with what I wrote.. :D), the upgrades are visual upgrade + new stuff in it.

Singleplayer games often feat whole new body set, at least todays.. About other mmorpgs, dunno... I've only played wow and UO, and UO featured different colors for different 'kind' of sets (well, was 2D too) :)

But I do understand what you mean, we're sort of supposed to build a new set, not only reskin the old one... I'll still (!) wait for ToE's final word, he's the king, he must be obeyed!

[blanktarget]

winterlord, I'm saying that it'd be a futuristic setting where perhaps technology has failed and so scraps are still around but many things people use are barbaric in nature, think warhammer 40k or mad max kind of mix. :)

[BiG ToE-3DT]

OK, so your thinking about making one mesh and three seperate textures. That is fine, but keep in mind that the point of this is to model the changes, not just texture changes. But in the end this is all for your portfolio, so you should do it the way you feel fits your personal style. But at the same time, keep in mind if you go that way, everyone seeing it will say, "hey, thats the same model, with 3 different textures".

yuriyxxx: wireframes, it's hard to help with the mesh if we cant see how the mesh is put together.

[yuriyxxx]

I should have put up the wires sooner.
Here is the full body with his battle axe and forearm guards.

I am thinking making the "2": hand to hand combat (light armor and mean iron things on his hands)

and "3": battle axe and heavier armor.
Does any one has any better ideas about "2" and "3"?

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/8886/58328279qb1.jpg

[Jedianakinsolo]

I'd do number 1 the hand to hand combat. Then his upgrade's the light armor and battle axe. Then Upgrade #2 is the full fledged armor suit.

My two cents.

[yuriyxxx]

Jedianakinsolo - that's a good idea.
Base - hand to hand: no armor, brass knuckles
Upgrade 1 - Attack/Rage Mode: light thick leather armor (for mobility), and a huge axe.
Upgrade 2 - Full Fight Mode: heavy armor and a huge two-handed sword.

Here are base and upgrade 1:
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/2017/22630089tk3.jpg

[GiancarloA]

this is one of my concepts
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a320/ifckdyogurlfrend/valk.jpg
its a valkyrie outfit, then the next one should be a bit different

[Deto]

GiancarloA That's one pretty damn cool armor design :D Giving him some bigger wings in the later stages? :)

[Hirokugawa]

Aren't Valkyries only women....? O.o

It looks wicked anyways

[Deto]

Maybe she's just very masculine? :D

[katana]

Here's the Dwarven ragdoll. I think my face count is a little high as i wanted it under 2k, but I have some hidden geometry in the torso i want to keep intact. I also may have described the basic boot shape to early. My feeling is that it will even out when I start fleshing out the bulk. I mainly was concentrating on setting up the correct proportions. At this point I'll duplicate and build off the foundation with out moving any of the base verts....more to come.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/ragdoll.jpg

[Vitor]

yuriyxxx-> looking good there ;) Just one critic thou, with that huge head and small body he looks like a little kid :D With a smaller head and propably the back a bit curved it would look a lot massive, unless that was your aim :halo: But i'd say, bigger torso, smaller head and bigger hands.

[GiancarloA]

thats true but i just like the armor design and it doesnt have to be like ..."ooh thats a valkyrie so it should be a chick". i just took elements from the mythos and slapped it on the guy piece by piece

[dar-bruce-y]

dar-bruce-y thanks It will be interesting to see what graduates like you can do in this contest! :) nice going I like the vertexes flow in the arms.

np, WinterLord but I'm not a graduate just yet, I still got about 9 months in school before I'm out looking for a job.:) and the key is to think of the forearm with the radius and ulna crossed when you model the hands down as I did, that way once rigged, when you rotate the hand out, the mesh is still clean.

been gone all weekend, but now I'm back!(from outerspace, I just walked in to find you here.. yadda yadda yadda.)

[Deto]

The bartender and his three little phases :) Phase one.. Bartender. Phase two, soldier. Phase three... you'll see. There's one error in the concept, I just simply couldn't. draw. that. short. legs... :shy: Phase one hipoly is ready, next phase two. After I'm done with the models and see the actual count I'll get, if I still have enough spare, I'll give him some 'accessories'. He'll carry chair in his back as bartender, keg as a soldier :)

Haven't optimized head yet, I'm hoping to drop to somewhere around 1700 tris after its optimized :)

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/6681/dwarfmanch4.jpg

[BiG ToE-3DT]

katana: you havent put any detail into your model yet and you are already pushing the total tri limit. You got 14 tris to play with, might want to start cutting some out. Watch out for that.

[Curien]

Hey guys this is something that just jumped into my head dont know were it came up. hope you like the idea as its my first photoshop render. Snake/man this is only the basic armor more hopefully to come. I felt the last image was to big just made it smaller.

[omnicypher]

i redesigned my concept after my computer crashed, and this time im going for a young male RPG character. i put a little more polish on this concept than the last one and i think im done with it. now to move on to modelling!

[yuriyxxx]

I have adjusted the body/head ratio and I think Zomtaur looks better now.

And my first Zbrush attempt at making a normal map:
http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/5090/40249800dw3.jpg
http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/7909/19620163gf8.jpg


and the wire with poly count:
http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/7592/72651044dh2.jpg

[dar-bruce-y]

katana: you havent put any detail into your model yet and you are already pushing the total tri limit. You got 14 tris to play with, might want to start cutting some out. Watch out for that.

correct-o-mundo! remember, katana, faces are not tris, and this competition revolves around the tri count, which is referred to as poly count by those of us used to dealing with games (which only take triangles into consideration when rendering the world.) and the term poly count refers to faces in maya and polygons in max. very confusing at first, but for any low poly model that you deal with, the TRIANGLES are all that matter, so your 2366 poly model is actually a 4486 poly model in game terms. leaving you, in fact, 14 triangles to model everything else with.

[Vitor]

Well finished the highpoly for the body... will now start the clothes concepts.

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/6236/wip17ni6.jpg
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/6223/wip19vr2.jpg

[Smokescreen]

Here's some texture updates:

--LOW GRADE ARMOUR--
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/smokescreen21/MMO%20Challenge/render4.jpg
After various attempts at creating scale mail and hating every iteration, i decided to stay with the plated metal. i havent decided what i want to do with the centers--hollow them out or what. i love how the shield turned out.

--HIGH GRADE ARMOUR--
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/smokescreen21/MMO%20Challenge/render5.jpg
I kinda like how this turned out. it's starting to look a lot more like ice armour with the glows and opacity maps. i'll probably end up making the shadows a little more noticable.

Vitor--your model looks amazing. altho i would make the background a little lighter to make it easier to see the whole model. but thats personal preference :smug:

yuriyxxx--to me the legs look a little short and compared with the rest of the body dont look as thick and muscular. ive found that the top of the head to the belly button should be about the same distance as the belly button to the knees. unless you wanted his legs to be shorter ;P

[katana]

..oops, yep I got confused on that, guess I'll have to trim the fat. i did find some really bad geometry in the limbs from the extrudes....more later..thanks all.

[achmedthesnake]

Big-toe: thanks,
Vitor - sweet work man
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/achmedthesnake/mmo_progress02.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/achmedthesnake/mmo_progress03.jpg
just wippage: not sure to go the way of the low poly, or mdbx it?

[yuriyxxx]

yuriyxxx--to me the legs look a little short and compared with the rest of the body dont look as thick and muscular. ive found that the top of the head to the belly button should be about the same distance as the belly button to the knees. unless you wanted his legs to be shorter ;P

Yeah, that's the look I was going for. heavy top and light at the bottom. He will be the quick axe swinging monster.

[neo_raziel]

Hello everybody!
This is my first entry in a contest and for this, my shot is a Barbarian inspired by Conan The Barbarian, who fights without armour and only with a sword in the hands.
The first upgrade is a Warrior, with some armour, two weapons and a darker looking.
The second upgrade is the War Lord that has a full body armour, a hammer, a mace and a better sword.
Here are my concepts:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/207/497161850_278196fcc7_o.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/202/497161854_72215441a1_o.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/191/497161856_8f62fe7b59_o.jpg
I hope I finish that contest!

[katana]

So I cleaned up the geometry a bit and got some tri's back..here's a shot of the ragdoll in xray to show the overlapping forms. Clearly you can see where I'm losing some of the tri's. I guess I'm going to have to seam everything together to get more back. I had hoped to be able to constrain the joints and leave the forms intact for easier swapping of the upgrades...any suggestions? Tomorrow, I'll start bulking out the base mesh.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/newcount.jpg

[Jedianakinsolo]

Hey, real quick refresher on the poly count.

In Editable poly mode, do you count it in Triangles? or Polygons?

[BiG ToE-3DT]

editable poly mode is poliies. Edit mesh is Triangles. Just open the poly counter and make sure its set to tris and it wont matter which mode your in.

[defaultalias]

katana- you are still really high in your poly count. right now you have less than 1500 tris for 3 outfits. compared to the body, it will throw your poly density way off. and the idea of leaving the forms separate for ease of swapping will also increase the polycount. i'd try and make the body mesh water tight, and only swap the heads and hands.

also, what is a ragdoll? i thought it was only used for physics

[katana]

A ragdoll is only used in physics, but I wanted to build one with proportions of a dwarf so I could play with the animations later down the road. I didn't want to get bogged down on anatomy right off the bat, so I took this extra step before going into the base mesh. I guess I'll be sewing everything together to decrease the count. As I said earlier, this project is more than I've done before. I've studied a 100 hours of vids and read the books, I've built basic forms, but now it's time to get dirty...lol...thanks for the comments...updates to follow

[Deto]

Go Katana Go Go! I wanna see how your 'agile' dwarf turns out :D

[ianchaos]

Hmmm...just read Big Toe's description of how the base model is supposed to work...
as for the upgrades...they all will be placed on the base mesh. So your base mesh needs to be able to flow with the upgrades so they don't look out of place.I was a bit off on that. I thought the base armor could be replaced by each successive set. Oh well, I guess I'll have to be creative with what I've got when upgrading to the next two armor sets.

Here's what I've got for the face and skin texture for my Rhinorian. Still working on the hands and hooves.
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/rhinoskinned-1.jpg

[BiG ToE-3DT]

ianchaos: the base armor, if detached from the main mesh, can be replaced by each successive set.

In my mhead, I'm thinking the base armor would be apart of the main mesh, but thats just me. You can do it however you want.

[Dash-X]

Ahoy, everyone.

First time poster, long-time lurker. Hrmmm... This also seems to be my first attempt at entering a competition as well.

This would be for a MMO heavily inspired by Final Fantasy Tactics or Ragnarok Online.

I chose to do a thief/rogue because I don't see much love for thieves and/or rogues here...

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/6813/femalethiefrl9.jpg

Explanation. The basic thief starts with nothing but a few meager cloths, a dull, homemade shiv, and a love of coin. Progressing in the pilfering profession, the thief becomes ambidextrous, and realizes that s/he needs to be able to conceal the loot obtained from his/her quarry. At this point, s/he begins to learn about showiness and deception. No longer in possession of that meager shiv, the thief now has a crude knife; which when used properly inflicts damage when piercing the target and when withdrawing from the target. Eventually, the thief realizes his/herself. Having mastered the arts of showiness and deception, the thief is now able to move and fight in things no one in his right mind would wear. Even more shocking, s/he is able to be stealthy in said clothing. The thief is functionally vain, and has since learned to protect his/her favored stealing hand. Moving at high speeds, the thief uses goggles to keep his/her vision sharp, and brutally eviscerates enemies with an armor-piercing blade.

I sure hope I can finish...

[bb0x]

Dash-X - Thieves are the coolest... and yours looks hot man and i too hope you can finish this.



Heres is my "first upgrade" Im gonna do the base outift after this and then up to the 1337 upgrade.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g152/b_bucket/concepts/concept_upgrade1.jpg

I still need to do a weapon for it, but I will do the 3 weapons at the end.

[Vitor]

Dash fantastic concept... can't wait to see more of it ;)

Well did some studies for the first upgrade:
http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/2213/wip21zq5.jpg

[TheoTheAnimator]

Here's a base mesh I've been working on. In the end I want to have a spartan warrior character. I've been working on the first armor setup today.

[achmedthesnake]

more wippage - bout 3200 tris
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/achmedthesnake/mmo_progress04.jpg

i got two questions for anyone who can answer...
- with normal mapping in max (using mdbx) - when i bake- it doesn't all have to be one mesh (from which i'm baking)? - e.g i can keep the 'armbands' seperate form the highpoly body?
and secondly, still fuzzy about this - with my guy he has three states - the first (above) him with basically no armor, and then two other states( two grades, light and heavy) - that's all i need right?

[bb0x]

cant help you with the first question since im a nooby at that...

but number 2 is pretty much what is needed yeah.

one basis armour and two "upgrades" like a light and heavy version

[BiG ToE-3DT]

achmedthesnake: doesn't need to be all one mesh, but should share the same uv layout. And yes, your on the right track with the outfit upgrades.

[Marv]

Kickass models and concepts Vitor and achmedthesnake. Hell, everyone is doing a great job. Looking forward to seeing them all completed.

So here's the final version of my character with all the armor. 4446 tris in all. Thats including the forcefield for Tier 3 and the weapon, not show on this pic

[akimba]

Hey all...Sorry I haven't posted in a bit.. I've just finished moving over the last weekend and don't have net access for another week or so at home so I'll be posting from work for the time being.

http://www.projectakimba.com/images/shot-1.jpg

Here's some modeling progress on the base and the 1st upgrade.. I've got some optimization to do after I finish the 2nd upgrade...then onto texturing.

[bb0x]

hey akimba.. the sword looks pretty flat so youcould prolly just delete the middle edge line like this:
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g152/b_bucket/concepts/sword.jpg


and here is my base outfit:
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g152/b_bucket/concepts/mmorpgcharconceptbase1.jpg

im gonna give this outfit 2 short broadsword ish swords with a futuristic feel to it to match the other concept a lill...

[omnicypher]

bbox: i really like your photoshop style. how did you make that shirt texture?

[bb0x]

thanx omnicypher. I just used a random stone texture, put it on a layer ontop of the shirt, layer mode on just normal and decreased the opacity to 5-10%

[akimba]

hey akimba.. the sword looks pretty flat so youcould prolly just delete the middle edge line like this:

Good call Bbox, I'll do that.

I like the direction of your concept. The jacket from the above concept and the high collar of the shirt here really push the sci-fi/futuristic feel. What are the stones on the chest and thigh of the 1st upgrade made of? Just wonderin?

[bb0x]

those stones are supposed to be metal lol..i never could paint any metal succesfully...need to work on that some more :)

[yuriyxxx]

I didnt like where my Zomtaur was heading so I went back and moved a few verts around.

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4871/10ri8.jpg
http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/310/11wi8.jpg

[katana]

This is where I am now. Not happy with the way the head is being built. I'm ok with the body. I was able to get rid of alot of tris. Basically I'll be restarting the head again. One valuable thing I learned is not to start a polygon object with speres...lol..oh well live and learn...crits welcome...more to come.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/mulchbulkfront.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/mulchbulkside.jpg

[dudeman]

I'm starting a concept now, heres what I got so far:
http://eikons.nl/files/mmo_char1.jpg

[Smokescreen]

Here's an update so far on the texturing. I plan on adding dirt, blood, and/or grime to the base and lowgrade armours (but not to the frost armour) as per akimba :D

--BASE MODEL--
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/smokescreen21/MMO%20Challenge/basemodel.jpg

--LOWGRADE (SCALE MAIL ARMOUR)--
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/smokescreen21/MMO%20Challenge/lowgradearmour.jpg

--HIGHGRADE (FROST ARMOUR)--
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/smokescreen21/MMO%20Challenge/highgradearmour.jpg

All told, he is 4,350 tri's: 1,569 for the base; 1,050 for the scale mail; 1,682 for the frost armour.

Any thoughts and critiques are welcome.

[dar-bruce-y]

armour is underway on all stages, still have about 750 - 800 tris to play with, I can even optimize some stuff and make something extra. the only model thats missing at this point is the remote for the chaingun and pulse cannon in upgrade 2, dont know how Im going to tackle that yet.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs18/f/2007/136/5/0/dingo_progress_4__by_phoenix_eulogy.jpg

akimba lookin sweet dude, love how efficient she is, the sword needs a lot of work in terms of depth(if it has any) or optimization; i know you'll fix it so I'm not worried too much about that.

katana much better than before, to be sure, and yes, NEVER start with spheres, consider yourself cyber-slapped. now all you need to do is get that head done, and fix your mesh flow, your models a little rigid like ianchaos's was a while back, http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?t=51385&page=4&pp=15 #50. follow the same advice and you're in good shape.

achmedthesnake very clean model you got there man, lovin it so far.

dash-x cant wait to see how you handle that sweet concept, love your posing, btw.

[hattemaker]

hmm, many nice models and concepts so far. =O
Maybe I should try to enter this contest too. xD Looks like lots of fun. =P I just hope I have time for it.. >_>

dar-bruce-y: Maybe you could make a sword/Chainsaw thing that also is a remote control for the cannons?

Your models look really cool at this point, looking forward to see the finished version. =D

[dar-bruce-y]

interesting suggestion, hattemaker, i have more than enough tris left to pull i off, i might just do it. thanks a mill

[bb0x]

dudeman -- I really like the style you have going on atm. The colthing remind me of the assissin class from Ragnarok online.

dar-bruce-y -- I really like what you got right now, the only thing i can spot atm is theedge line on the bottm of the bicep/on the elbow, since it will be bending inward thus you wont notice much to anythign of it (if you dont know what im talking bout ill do a paint over to show ya :) )

Smokescreen -- Could we see your textures? Since to me it look all blurry atm (the skin especially) and thus i get the feeling you are not using your texture space very efficiently...



Anyway I redid the metal armour plates, hoping it looks more like metal now.
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g152/b_bucket/mmorpgcharconcept1_03metal1.jpg


I have been lazy today, I haven't started outfit number 3 yet....I'll start it at 10 pm (gmt+1) and finish it tomorrows

[Smokescreen]

As per request, here are my texture spaces. i left some layers turned off on the ice armour so you can see how everything is layed out.

--BASE--
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/smokescreen21/MMO%20Challenge/basetexturespace.jpg

--SCALE MAIL--
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/smokescreen21/MMO%20Challenge/lowgradetexturespace.jpg

--FROST--
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/smokescreen21/MMO%20Challenge/highgradetexturespace.jpg

[bb0x]

hey...you got so much space yet very few detail... again especially on the skin...i do realize that its still a wip..but the sooner you know about it the better now? :D

I have also noticed that allot on the texture itself is blurry, like the belt and the little cloth thing on the left under it. The reason it looks so blurry is because you have so much space for a particular object that youdont use it effeiciently.

try not to limit yourself to the diffuse map only. try to use reflection map to make the metal look like metal, try to use normal maps to make everyhing look more detailed and do use specular maps so everything reacts properly to the lights that surround him. you can even use glow maps to make things (like the ice armour) glow instead of putting it on you diffuse map.

[dar-bruce-y]

bbox thanks for the input, man. the section you speak of is there for animation purposes, in my experience. if you leave two outward pointing tris and a quad on the inside of a joint, the deformation is more natural looking and the model doesnt "fold" in on itself.

crazy ass base shirt man, im diggin it.

[Smokescreen]

bb0x - i see what you are saying about some of the things looking blurry and i'll try to fix those. (the little cloth thing on the left under the belt on the texture layout is actually the head of the mace). Its not noticeable in the renders, but the ice armour has a diffuse, opacity, specular, and reflection maps. The scale mail has a bump and diffuse right now, and the base just has a diffuse at the moment. Also, the posts arent super high quality either due to upload times so that tends to blur them some as well :D. But alas, i'll fix what i can. I appreciate the heads-up n'at (couldn't resist)

[ianchaos]

Here's what I've got for my tribal set so far...lots of tris left over for the last set and hopefully enough to add a few more details to the first two sets. Sitting at 2257 tris now.
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/tribalcount.gif
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/tribalset1.gif http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/tribalset2.gif

[katana]

Thanks Dar-Bruce-Y...I've got the next two days of and I'm already reworking the head. I went back and read what you suggested, I'll incorporate that into the changes....

[bb0x]

ianchaos -- couldnt you just use an alpha map for the front of that cloth/armour piece?

[ianchaos]

couldnt you just use an alpha map for the front of that cloth/armour piece?bb0x perhaps it could...I have no idea. I'll post a closeup of the breastplate. The idea is that I'll texture it to look like it is made out of animal bones and beads. I'll also post pict of a real breastplate to show you what I mean...although I intend for mine to look more primative than that one.

Since it's not cloth I'd like it to have some depth. I'm not terribly worried about the poly count at this point, but if there is a better/easier way to do it I'll gladly take suggestions.

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/breastplate.gif
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/breastplate2.gif

[dar-bruce-y]

ianchaosits really up to you s to whether you want to use a single plane and an alpha or what you have, from the sound of it you have more than enough tris left over to pull it off. your call. keep in mind an alpha here means a lot more detail that can be used elsewhere.

[katana]

Here's where I am on the head. I started with a plane and worked it out..not done yet, but I'm happy with the progress. the count I know is still a bit high, but I'll trim a bit more off the body so i dont have to sacrifice the form...more tomorrow...crits as always welcome...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/mulchhead.jpg

[defaultalias]

ianchaos- so i counted and it looks like the breastplate comes to about 290 tris, and about 250 if you delete the end caps. if you are worried about it not having depth, you could always use 2 alpha planes with the same texture and layer them. if you have room for it go ahead, but as dar-bruce-y said, you can always add that detail somewhere else.

[ianchaos]

defaultalias Thanks for posting a way to try to make it work. I'll give the layered alpha planes a shot and see if I can get the depth I'm looking for. Since I have yet to use a single alpha map in Maya this will quite likely be beyond my current skill level, but I'd planned on figuring out alpha masks to make his grass skirt look right anyway.

Currently the breastplate sits at 195 tris. I only have endcaps on the outward facing ends and there is no backface on each piece, so each piece is only 5 tris. Still a huge number compared to using 2 planes with an alpha mask however.

[bb0x]

ianchaos -- The most important thing is from wich distance it will be viewed most. if its like theclose up you made of the armour than the way you did is allright.. but if the distance is like in the screengrab of your other post then a simple alpha map could work pretty well, since i cant see any depth in that picture, they looked like planes to me... Just try out what Default sudgested, if that doesnt please you just do it the way you did since it isnt allot of tris anyways, 18 x 2 x 5 = 180 tris.

[Deto]

Still 484 tris free... Probably adding some bags etc pouches next, with whatever I have left :)

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/1688/fat07al3.jpg

[katana]

I have rebuilt the torso using the curve/loft method. Not only was it quick, but the results were far superior to what I had done before. Part of the problem is that I have to find the right method and so now the head looks like a hindu mask...guess thats next. My count here is fine I think....more later.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/m1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/m2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/m3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/m4.jpg

[bb0x]

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g152/b_bucket/concepts/mmorpgcharconcept1_2.jpg

still playing with the concepts....


I still need to start on the last design >_>

[dudeman]

dudeman -- I really like the style you have going on atm. The colthing remind me of the assissin class from Ragnarok online.

I don't know how the heck it reminds you of ragnarok online, but RO just so happens to be my favorite MMO ever! I even originally planned to give this guy katars as weapons, I still might.
It's probably also the game I spent most time in of all games I ever played.

The assassin is also my favorite class :)
I've built at least 7 Critsins over the last 4 years :p (on 20/20/5 servers)

Thanks for the comment, I really like your work as well. Looks like you're going for the "best concept" bit, altough I wonder wether the actual 3D version will live up to the awesome drawing.

[bb0x]

hah thanx dudeman :)... making it 3d will be hard...since im not too experienced with normal mapping.. I will try tho' :D

the thing that reminds me of the assasin class the most are the shoulders and the striped shirt...i havent played RO for 3-4 years so it might be off..



Anyways here is a WIP on the "leet" upgrade:
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g152/b_bucket/concepts/mmorpgcharconceptleet1.jpg

basicly what I was thinking is that this suit gives you a masive stat boost...so you can wield HUGE weapons... The suit "supports" your muscles and body movement thats why you get a stat boost

Still need to think out a "cool" design for the boots...and after i have done all my coloring...I will start my lineart :)

[katana]

here's the head redone..I'm really pleased with it..starting to actually look like the toon...gotta smooth out the beard some more and add the ears....tomorrow...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/headshot.jpg

[ThatDon]

you might consider making the leet suit a stylized exterior musculature to really give the impression of it aiding your muscles.

[dudeman]

hah thanx dudeman :)... making it 3d will be hard...since im not too experienced with normal mapping.. I will try tho' :D

the thing that reminds me of the assasin class the most are the shoulders and the striped shirt...i havent played RO for 3-4 years so it might be off..


Haha, yeah you're off. The class with the striped shirt and leather patch shoulders is the Hunter, not the Assassin.

Good luck on modeling that sweetie, anyways. I'm sure with that brushing skill, Zbrush can help you out.

[bb0x]

ThatDon -- I dunno man I never was a fan of "muscle suits"... lol plus this way I think it will be easier to pull off.

Dudeman -- Haha, I knew it...back then my favourite classes where archer/hunter and the assassins lol.... Oh and Mudbox FTW XD

[Klash120]

So... My buddy convinced me to partake in the current low-poly challenge...
Im in the middle of concepting & stuffs. Character may be related to Kross over on the WIPs page. Possibly a sidekick or somnthing related. Planning on having one of his outfit match that of Kross' :D

Cant' wait to starts somn! :D

[ianchaos]

Here's the final outfit...the Grand Safari Hunter. I'm at 3734 tris now, leaving me 766 tris to add some more detail to each outfit.
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/hunterfront.gif
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/hunterside2.gif
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/ianchaos/wholeset.gif

[katana]

That's killer....

[katana]

O.K.. so here I am with today's progress. Got a decent count with no fractures and a nice head. I went with simple mitts with indentations on the tips for the hands. Now I get to the fun part...anyway, crits welcome...and yea I know about the arms and shoulders (lack of)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/Mcount.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/katana2665/mulchrend.jpg

[xissburg]

just posting here my 3 concepts, one of each stage(I posted the first previously but I'm posting again just to put everything together). I would like to know if its all right with my concepts and if theres something against the rules here(sorry cuz the big images =/ ):

1st stage(I'll remove the shoulder protections):
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/xissburg/sketch_02.jpg

2nd stage:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/xissburg/sketch_03.jpg

3rd stage(It uses parts of the 1st and 2nd stages):
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/xissburg/sketch_04.jpg

[funkdelic]

damn it, xissburg got the best concepts so far! congratz man, hope your make some good models too!

good luck ;]

[dimitrios]

Hello to everybody i finally have some time to entry this competition.This is my basic concept with my first armor upgrade i'm thinking something like an exile barbarian warrior?
I hope i got enough time to finish it ... Good luck everybody and plz post your opinions about my project.
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z263/yagulas/1.jpg

this is my high grade helm
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z263/yagulas/helm.jpg

[katana]

Hey Dimitrios, Good luck with your model. You might want to reference your anatomy books, seems you've added some muscles that one wouldn't find on a human...

...then again maybe it will be an alien...lol

[achmedthesnake]

nice work guys!
- great progress ianchaos, now get unwrapping!
- xissburg love the designs - especially the unconventional shield..
- dimitrios - exile barbarian idea has shades of robert howard's conan or the diablo character - should be great if you can make an unique and individual barb dude
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/achmedthesnake/mmo_progress05.jpg

- some slow progress - everythings unwrapped but a lot of the geo is there to sculpt in mdbx - which i will in turn bake to a semi-lower mesh...
just a normal newb question - can i overlap uv's for optimal texture/uv space (i.e if the arms are the same - put the uvs on top of one another) - or will the normals go spazzo?

[BiG ToE-3DT]

achmedthesnake: what you (and anyone doing what your doing) will want to do is: delete out the arm(part of arm that will have the same texture), then do your unwrap. When your done unwrapping, save the uv's to the mesh. In Max, you just collpase the stack. Then hilight the part of the arm that's still remaining that you want to copy. The uv's will still be saved to that part of the mesh even after you copy it. Now you just place it where it needs to be and attach to the main mesh and weld the verts. Your good to go.