DWIII - 3D - Agent-X - Angel of Light-Warlord-Light/Holy

[Agent-X]

Hi everyone, I am John Inman. I am very excited to compete in this contest again. Here is a small concept I did with images and myself. I plan on adding features from real life and my own personal self to put into my warrior creation. I will be redoing the details completely, but I thought I would use this as a base and then put my own details on top of the ones that are currently on there. I hope you guys like so far.
http://aycu02.webshots.com/image/42001/2003228891222358847_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003228891222358847)

[jettmx]

thats actually a pretty cool way to start out. interested to see where it goes

[Puckducker]

Nice! A fellow hockey player, eh?

Actually, that's a great idea. I remember seeing at the ROM the display of a full suit of armor compared with a full set of hockey equipment and how the hockey gear is just an easy evolutionary step from medieval armor design.

Not a bad way to get some good reference quickly.....looking forward to seeing more!

[omnicypher]

seems like it could use some elbow pads, cool way to start. it makes me realize how unproportionate gears of war characters actually are.

[thee]

if you pull those chains are you going to flash us? That would scare those other forums :)

[Agent-X]

Here is a quick update on the model. Before I go any further, I will draw out the remaining stuff I plan to have on my model.
http://aycu14.webshots.com/image/45493/2005091153639831497_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005091153639831497)

[Agent-X]

I am possibly thinking Angel Wings

[Jojomondag]

Great work agent! something little feels stragne it has too do with the length on his legs or arms i cant out my finger on it but something with the length is a little off. OTher modelling looks solid and wow your quick great work! thumbs up love your concept phase its kinda like mine. : P

[Agent-X]

Its my arms I believe I need to make them a tad shorter. Good eye my friend.

[Jido]

From my perspective, the wrist seem to line up properly with the pelvis.... If you adjust the arms, I'd think would have to do the same with the torso. Otherwise, you're off to a good start.

[Agent-X]

Here is my latest update. Ill just take another side and front shot of my body so I can get accurate measurements. Other than that I think I am off to a pretty good start too.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/44550/2000374337647334654_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000374337647334654)

[yoyomon]

I don't think the baggy pants go well with the loin cloth and torso armor.

[omnicypher]

yeah the cloth over the baggy pants does seem a bit outta place. maybe some kneepads, gun/knife/weapon holsters, shin guards, or big boots might take away some of the baggyness and more clearly define where the knees are. forearms still seem an inch or 2 too long. if you modeled the arms in a more natural position, it might be easier to judge the length. eyes and nose might be able to move down a half inch. sword looks great. great start so far, fast too. keep it up.

[Tank[NL]]

hey agent. i would make the wings bigger. a lot bigger. look at albatros wings. or any wing from a large bird. should give you a pretty good idea for its structure. gl dude.

[Agent-X]

Update, The polygon plane above my head will be a halo, the polygon plane by my right hand will be a ball of light that I can throw. Now for me to get more photographs of myself and fix that which I havent done yet. I hope you guys like.
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/46782/2003869941811021405_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003869941811021405)

[Puckducker]

Not bad so far. You might want to try and get your concept into a pose, instead of having him just standing rather flatly. You'll probably come up with a more dynamic design if you're character is already in a dynamic pose.

[Agent-X]

Ok, my next question is what is our team logo? Is it this? If it is not the image below, can someone please post a pic of what our team logo is for me please. I would greatly appreciate that. And yes I will work on my 2d stuff, which I plan to get down and dirty with also. Agent-X busts out his pencils.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/43790/2003907329281286740_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003907329281286740)

[L3XICON]

hey Agent-X great to see you competing, and really love the first concept using photo referance :D

In terms of logo's, yes that and the other 3dTotal logo at the top of the page appear to be our team designs.

Buzzy created some awesome 'flattened' versions of the logo's which I personally have been using. here's the link to his post http://forums.3dtotal.com/showpost.php?p=605602&postcount=42

really like the idea of including yourself in the design of your character, and knowng your skills, really looking forward to seeing more of this :D good luck!

[EvilKnight]

Nice to see you in m8 ;)

Keep it up!
Jonny ;)

[Agent-X]

Thank all of you guys. You guys are wonderful and make the hard life of 3d that much more pleasureable. 3D Total you rock baby! Wooo!

[Agent-X]

I have a Maya question for all the maya users out there. Lets say I have a polygon plane that has a transparency map on it, and then I have another polygon plane below it that is my floor. Then I have a directional light that has raytrace shadows and I am rendering with mental ray. When I render I get the shadows of the transparency map, but I also get shadows of the polygon plane, which is freaking annoying. Can someone please tell me how to not get the shadows of the polygon plane as well. I know there is a way, I just don't know how. If a maya user out there has the answer for me, please tell me as I will need that for my wings, hair, and ball of light.

[que]

Can you post a pick of the problem? If you only have those two elemnts in a scene for instance. the top plane with transparency and the bottom with none. When you render in mental ray with ratracing check in mental ray and as the light attribute for shadows you should not get that artifacting. Besides, it should only show up if you have another piece of geometry to catch the light. In any case you could always select the ground plane hit ctrl + a and in the attribute editor just uncheck cast shadows under I believe the render or geometry sub-sections. Hope that helps!

[Agent-X]

OK I am posting a pic of my scene, and then a pic of my render, and I will show you what I am getting. I am still getting shadow from the damn polygon plane with the transparecy map. No matter what I have tried so far doesnt work. I want to know how to render out the transparency map so I get shadows only of that which is painted white, that which is painted black on the texture map, I don't want to see that at all in the render. You guys know I mean?
http://aycu13.webshots.com/image/46372/2000580289021061290_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000580289021061290)
http://aycu13.webshots.com/image/46372/2000502829718148897_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000502829718148897)

[Agent-X]

Does anyone know what to do? Please help me. If Any maya user out there could please set this simple scene up I would greatly appreciate it. If anyone figures out or knows the answer please post it here. I really need to be able to figure this out, because in my model, I have hair, feathers, and my ball of light to worry about that has the same issue as this simple scene and problem.

[setschaos]

I'm not sure how it works in maya, but I know that in max, you have to change the shadow properties to ray traced shadows. I'm sure that if there is some sort of shadow parameters option in maya, that you should mess with it and see what happens. good luck.

[Agent-X]

I have raytrace shadows on. I am rendering mental ray. I am asking all my maya friends, so far no luck. I Know Maya can perform this, because I have seen it done before, the question is how? I know its something having to do with the shader in the hypershade.

[kravo]

...you can't really use MR, so don't waste your time for that...
although,there's a mentalray node called mib_shadow_transparency, I know there's a tutorial about that and as far as I can remember, it's the solution to your problem. I just dunno where did I see it :wall:

the maya software renderer does the same issue with the directional light...it gets less annoying if you use spotlights, although in that case, the unwanted shadow at the transparent spots gets darker when the point is further away from the light source...
...if you'd render on seperate layers, you could fix it manually:dunno:

[kravo]

...got an idea. 2.
use a surface shader, and apply the transparency map to the "out transparency" node of the shader. This way, you won't have those annoying artifacts anymore, but your shader will be totally flat, no specularity, bump, nothing...

you can also use a layered shader: in this case, link the shadow map to the layered shader's transparency node. use whatever shader you want for color, spec.,etc. and set the compositing flag (of the layered sh.) to "layer texture"
it should work fine ;)

[Agent-X]

Thanks, Ill try it. Sounds like a lot of work, but anything is worth a shot. If there is any other ways, please let me know. I am most greatful for your help. If you were here in person I would deffinately shake your hand and say thank you. There should be a tutorial here at 3d total for this particular thing with Maya. It would be most useful.

[Agent-X]

The surface shader worked, but lets say I wanted specularity, normal, glow or any other maps, how do I connect those in to the layered shader? I am not too familiar with layered shaders. I am use to just using a straight Blinn Shader Material

[omnicypher]

as far as the halo and the glowing ball, they will probably be self illuminated, so shadows could be turned off without much problem, and as for the wings, you could always just add more polies and ditch the alpha map, if you have the pollies to spare that is. then again that would just be sweeping this alpha shadow artifact problem under the rug. plus, if your pedistal isnt much wider than the character, and your lighting isnt directly overhead (which it probably shouldnt be), only the shadows cast by the legs will even show up on the pedestal. i would say you should turn off shadows on alpha maps,build a pedestal, put your character on it, throw in some lights and see if you still have a problem.

p.s. an alpha plane halo might not work so well becuase the natural viewing angle of the character will be almost perpendicular to the normal of the plane, making it look flat, and even dissapear at some angles. a better way might be to use a torus, or if you dont want to waste the pollies, take a cylinder, delete the top and bottom, and use the circumference as an alpha plane, that way it will be parralell with the viewing angle and only look bad from the top and bottom. you could even make a loop through the middle, and expand it a little, and it would look more volumetric from any angle.

[Agent-X]

Ok, cool deal Omnicypher. I am out of polygons. I am wouldnt do feathers any other way for a game model other than transparecy the way I am doing it. It would require to many polygons if I was to model it. Now, my problems are maya specific questions. I am very familiar with blinn, my problem was the transparecy map shadows. I tried out the surface shader material that fixed the transparecy map shadows, now my next thing, is how do you add secular, normal, glow, etc to all of that and get that to work, because in a surface shader map those attributes are not there. So, once again, if any maya users can help me with that I would greatly appreciate it.

[miclepickle]

looking good. i agree with the cloth in front looking out of place... really like the idea of using yourself and hockey equipment for referance!

[kravo]

sooo mate, as you can see it on this picture, it isn't that complicated to achieve what you want.
The shadow map has to be linked to the layered shader transparency node, and don't forget to set the comp. flag to "layer texture"!

;)

[Agent-X]

Thank you, thank you Kravo. You are a God send. This is going to help me so much. Time for me to Rock and Roll on this thing again, once I get home. I am very greatful for your help. Thanks.

[Agent-X]

Small Update.
http://aycu09.webshots.com/image/46368/2006154051468207495_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2006154051468207495)

[Agent-X]

Small Update. Still working with the armor and stuff. Debating on things.
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/46862/2001789813570900132_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001789813570900132)
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/46159/2001746661910928303_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001746661910928303)
http://aycu32.webshots.com/image/46271/2001775441177743785_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001775441177743785)

[thee]

love the wings, his head looks a bit feminine. And i have a question about the armor; if you put him in in a T pose (arms to the side) will those shoulder pieces cut in his neck area or is it bendable?

[Agent-X]

Hey Thee, its me dude. Dont worry about the facial expression, I got that covered in the end, I am not done with that head. When my game face is on, it is on!
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/47279/2000221800094735112_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000221800094735112)

[Agent-X]

I will be much angrier than this! And ready to rip someones fn head off!

[Agent-X]

I only had that expression on my face for textures, I am going to put a rig into the character and will have that all set up in the end. I am modeling myself based on photographs, and I an not done tweaking the model completely yet. I am compositing my head photos to create my texture for my head. In the end it will look like me. And yes the armor will be bendable. I will make it so each section is a seperate plate, so I am thinking in theory it should work.

[Agent-X]

I have decided to make my shoulder pads made of dragon skin, that way its organic and will work better.
http://aycu04.webshots.com/image/47203/2001110626159718510_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001110626159718510)

[kravo]

aren't those shoulder pads intersecting with the neck when the arms are raised? IMO, they sit a bit too low,and maybe you should make 'em more robust.

oh, and get that guy a different haircut, he isn't really scary looking :D

keep up the good work!!!

[Agent-X]

Here is a small update. I am sorry for the slow progress, I am usually much faster than this, I have been busy, and constantly changing my ideas. When I have a model with already assigned refference, where I know exactly what I am creating then I just bust it out really fast. But in this case its always tough when you are trying to be creative and do something different and unique I guess.
http://aycu30.webshots.com/image/45989/2000968036048358677_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000968036048358677)
http://aycu06.webshots.com/image/48445/2004700977601130576_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004700977601130576)
http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/48256/2004762939889229899_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004762939889229899)
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/47519/2004766625829861075_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004766625829861075)
http://aycu39.webshots.com/image/49118/2000997462353069254_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000997462353069254)
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/47777/2000992595549993561_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000992595549993561)
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/48737/2000917831166124267_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000917831166124267)

[Agent-X]

Ok I am done tweaking my low res model, now to uv map this biatch and do all the necessary highres modeling and texture work.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/45270/2005727213187304412_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005727213187304412)

[Agent-X]

small update, still working on color map.
http://aycu04.webshots.com/image/47483/2003143122895369167_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003143122895369167)

[Puckducker]

Heh, love the owl eye idea for the armor...I think it might be better to try and solely incorporate the eyes, instead of just mapping the entire face of an owl, but it's certainly a unique idea.

The placing of the threedy logo looks great too.

[Agent-X]

Thanks, yes it is an Eagle Owl, I was looking up Eagle eyes, and then I ran into an eagle owl, and I was like wow thats cool. I love the orange eyes. And I thought it stood out more than just a regular Eagle eye, so I used it. I am thinking of making the armor of the chest as if it was an eagle owl, but metal, and just have the eyes be normal eagle owl eyes, so the armor will be made of metal but look like feathers from an eagle owl, like if it was engraved into the metal.

[al3x]

some constructive critics:
the forehead is to long ..the eyes has to be in the midle of the head ..the upper part of the armor is what i would expect from a female character ..the wings should be bigger imo ..
you could put a nice ..helmet made from wings/feathers
gl

[Agent-X]

small update. I moved some vertices on the top of the head down a lil bit, so I believe it should be right now. Eyes are more in the middle now. Ill continue to do more texturing later tonight. But now, I need to get exercise and play basketball. I hope you guys like, peace.

http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/49470/2000520253752975870_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000520253752975870)

[revanto]

He looks better with textures. Make sure to add some dirt or grit to add contrast to the textures to make them pop. You might also want to add some strategically placed blues, greens or purples into the textures a bit for a little contrast. Also, don't leave any 'flat' colours (IE the brown colour of the tunic(?) and waist). I think that once you get the normal/bump maps done for the textures, he will look loads better.

I assume that the wings will be 'made of light' (IE glowing), right? If you want add some variation to your char, add some other colours to some of your light effects. You know how a lighter flame can have a blue base and an orange tip. Experiment with some colours and see what you can come up with. Ultimately, it is up to you, though.

I hope that when you pose him that he will have a facial expression. His eyes kind of look cooler blank or maybe even have them glow instead.

Good luck with this and I hope it shapes up well.

Cheers,
Revanto ;P

[Agent-X]

Thanks Revanto, I appreciate the feedback. Yeah, I kinda had purple rolling through my mind as a complimentary to yellow as they are opposite and blue to gold. Good call with that, and yes I like your ideas with that stuff. And yes I have a mouth cavity in my character as well as teeth and tongue, so yes, deffinitely will do a facial expression for you guys. I have 10 polygon triangles left to spare. And yes, I will put more details on the shirt and the waist guard thing when I model a highres version take and do some work in zbrush and crazy bump. 2 of my favorite programs for normal maps, along with maya and photoshop, make good combination as well as Bodypaint3d, so I should have no problem. Still lots to work on. I am figuring it out as I go with the design. Ill also show some more angles, as I know everyone is sick of the front view, ill show side and back next time I post. I am going to create a some gold glowing sprinkle dust and some fractal spirally art around the sword. At one time I was thinking about possibly making the eyes glow yellow, and maybe add some spot lights like these beams of light are shooting out of his eyes, kinda like superman. And yes I was possibly thinking purple or blue shirt. Ill play around with it and see what I come up with. Thanks.

[Agent-X]

I also want to say everyone is doing a fabulous job, so many good artists, its freaking crazy. Lots of competition. Everyone keep up the good work.

[Agent-X]

Update. Still lots to do. I have been busy, and going back to school to get my BA in game art design at The Art Institute of California Los Angeles. In my free time I try to get some stuff done with this model. I will keep you guys posted.
http://aycu20.webshots.com/image/48819/2002197918868923698_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002197918868923698)
http://aycu27.webshots.com/image/49146/2002104368149752784_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002104368149752784)
http://aycu39.webshots.com/image/50118/2002122816204017528_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002122816204017528)