mini samurai

[strict9]

hallo,
thought i'd venture into the low poly side of the 3dtotal world and try some thing different.(lowpoly-ish)
No clue what i'm doing or what my goal(well some day i hope to finally get to uv-map and paint)is but i am having a bash doing the character...woot me
as usual i have no concept design which makes things a bit slow.
but i figure: throw it out there now and see what happens.
will have to see if he will get shoulder protection...if it messes up the shape of the Character, than i might make reaaaaally small ones.
will probaly separate the big toe area (not the moderator) for sandal effect.
anyway enough of my ramblings and have a look see:

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[Joseph Pomeisl]

Nice start. The shader(Zbrush?) makes it difficult to analyze the geometry, especially on the face mask. Cool style and design. The head seems jsut a bit too high off the shoulders. Best of luck on the rest of the project.

[strict9]

thanks joseph, most appreciated.
and so i made a special effort in showing the wires properly.
wasn't to concerned about the wires, while it's in zbrush i'm trying to keep everything in squares.
can lose a few wires in the bottom lip thats for sure......but i had a go at maya and my computer spontaneously rebooted.......so if i want to take it all the way to mapping and some day maybe animate(so far i can only model hehehe) than i will probaly have to upgrade the hardware.

the neck commend i agree on....but i left it a bit longer because the samurai has some throat protection that might bulk it up a bit.....like i said i don't have a concept so it's all try and delete..than try some more.
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[Eeppium]

hi looking good, u got that tiny look quite nicely working.
just one detail got my eye, that his swords are supposed to be on his left hand side of the body :)

here´s a pic if u dont mind

[Joseph Pomeisl]

So you made that from a z-sphere? Cube? If so that's nice box modelling for zbrush, it's quite slow and difficult. The wires show up much better:)

[tyree]

good job using z brush for lowpoly I do the same but I bring the mesh in and only shape it not subdivide

[strict9]

hi.
just a few answers...been playing with uv a little bit so no real update.
Joseph:
I started with sketchup to get a feel for the size....but that went really slow.
the only thing left is the a bit of the helmet and the katana and "knife".
so i build the body in zbrush with spheres , i find it good to start with because i find it easier to stretch and bend bits in stead of pulling verts.....made mesh and pushed it into shape and followed with retopo...for some reason it always doubles the polies in the groan area going from spheres to boxy and things end up a bit wierd(hands don't get me started on fingers)..the mask is pure sculpting on a subdivide sphere and once again retopo to crunch it down in polies again.

eppium: hahaha thx....uuhhmm this is funny.
after i looked up where the katanna and the position on the knife(name forgotten)should be...so sword above knife with sharp edge up etc(the pic has the sword below and facing the wrong way, now i'm confused))...i made a choice to put the lot on the left side...manly because when i draw, i always favor the right side and i felt that i needed to change my habit to force myself into properly looking at the overall feel of things (does this comment make any sense??))hahaha so what a moment to pick the other side to favor in this case.......cultural agents are probably looking for me now (ninja's are after me lol)
so i guess i'll have to flip it over.(easy to do woot)
hopefully the helmet is all right...so many styles with every time and era

[strict9]

couldn't help myself..wanted to see if i can get a render out of blender.
so don't shoot me for the poor paint job....just happy that i can unwrap and texture...whoohooo onwards to unwrapping the lot and give it a nice paint job.127334

[Eeppium]

heh my bad :haha: that samurai in the pic seems to have a horseback style katana, (i think) thats why its sharp edge downwards.
normally it points upwards and u draw it with your right hand

the small sword is wakisashi or Tanto (knife)

[Joseph Pomeisl]

I see. I haven't got into the retopolgy in zbrush myself. It seems like you have a good hold on it though. Nice job on the mask. The extra geometry could come in use if you were planning on rigging and animating, which would be pretty cool I think. Best of luck on the texturing.

[M_Cederstrom]

love the cartoon feel it has. :D

[strict9]

thx cederstrom ;)

had a play with material to while i was add it and managed to get some gleam of the model.
not sure if i will finish because my rebooting pc is giving me the ****s.
it reboots at wierd moments..i'm guessing it doesn't like 3d but shouldn't it reboot with the same kind of actions?...anyway i'm getting of topic ...heres another very small update:
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[Joseph Pomeisl]

Too bad about your computer. Is blender all that's available to you for rendering? - I messed with it for a little and had a hard time. But, if your samurai is all unwrapped you can paint the textures in zbrush, then export the map to blender. In Texture click Colorize, then paint away; when your finished hit Col>Tex and then in Tex palette choose to export, etc.

[strict9]

i've installed maya some time ago to try before i buy, but that reboots as soon as i click two buttons to fast.
so i'm sure it's either memory and/or videocard.
but thats okay...good excuses to start thinking about a new one hehehehe.
that paint to texture managed to kill a Z-file ones hehehe i was inpatient and ctrl alt deleted while it was trying (was taking to long for my liking)...zbrush doesn't like you to do that..so now that file is dead.
will keep you posted if i try some more.

[strict9]

hallo again:
hhmmm it's seems my pc(maya is still a no no) is fine but blender doesn't like my tablet....with mouse i seems to have no glitches.....fingers crossed.
so i build a quick character so i can have some painting practice...the samurai has to many mistakes so i lost a bit of interest.(maybe in the future i'll pick it up again)
guess who this is:
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[Joseph Pomeisl]

Darth Maul. In the immortal words of Billy Madison - "...got any more brainbusters?":)
Nice job on the painting, and the face has a lot of character.
Are you painting inside Blender?; I thought that was a really neat feature. And it seems you're running on an even junkier computer than mine...it doesn't make things easy, does it?
Great start on this one!

[strict9]

hi Joseph,
nah i painted it in zbrush, i try not to touch to many buttons in blender incase it reboots me hahahaha.
i like the synchronized painting that zbrush can do (maybe blender to but i haven't figured that out)
now that i can "render" i have lots more characters in this style in mind.
but i need to finish darth first......twinsaber and his little vehicle i think....so maybe a pose in the future or a short animation zooming around on his speeder....stop motion shouldn't be to hard.(rigging looks to hard for now)
have done some stop motion...but that was with flash and fully 2d.(simple stuff)
when i have the time i will post some wires and the texture map.
But now i have to do work stuff before i can have a play again.

[Joseph Pomeisl]

Work...what's that:)
Posing things in zbrush isn't too difficult, if your using zbrush3 anyways - which leads to the question: are you using zbrush3?

[strict9]

work..yes well uuhhmm family gotta eat.
that would be yes to zbrush3 and i have been posing with it
But i want to learn how to rig, so i can do multi poses with 1 character.
I'm following a good step by step tutorial and so far it's not crashing.
mainly because i'm clicking things as it should be....them bones har har..
fingers crossed.
Guess your the only one following this hehehe

[Joseph Pomeisl]

You may want to change the thread pic to your Darth Maul, maybe the name as well.

[strict9]

You may want to change the thread pic to your Darth Maul, maybe the name as well.

name has been changed...so now it will be anything i make mini hehehe
oh and i can proudly say i made my first Rig and so i had to have a quick play and do a pose........"reach for the sky" found it appropriate in this case.
posed and rigged in Blender.
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thx for looking.

[MadComputerUser]

nice work, rigging looks smooth, no ugly deforms :) i use blender to so maybe you could help, did you use envelopes or weight painting for rigging?

[Joseph Pomeisl]

Looking nice; get that fella a saber:)

[strict9]

madcomputeruser: i used weight paint...from what i have been reading envelopes is only recommended if you know what your doing...so that excludes me hehehe

Joseph: i did do a quick saber for a bit of testing but i found out my rig wasn't very good.
the joints were very stiff and bendy in the wrong places.
i wanted to do a hard pose.
so i looked for a different tutorial and i think i fixed it.
update soon
edit: update hehehe
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[Joseph Pomeisl]

Better:) Maybe extend the 'blades', make them longer, you know? Also, making the highlights on the clothes brighter may help the clothes show off a better shape. This is a neat character and style...

[MadComputerUser]

looking nice, envelopes are easier than weight paints, i cant do weight paints, lol, envelopes all you do, is put it onto envelope mode, and scale the envelopes up, wherever the envelope en covers will move with the bones. But weight paints are a better way, any chance you could make me a tutorial on weight painting for armatures?

[strict9]

mad:weight paint is easy as well, well you can make it as hard and accurate as you want.
the basics are: select a bone and paint the target of your model that will be effected by that bone...lets say footbone...paint the foot.
red is 100% effect and yellow is 10% or something(so it stretches more.
I'll give you a link for a paint tutorial....but don't use the rig for the arms he's showing because it isn't very good (arms don't bend well)....so google blender arm rig and you get better ones

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/BSoD/Introduction_to_Character_Animation/Rigging

Joseph: some of my co-workers said the pose wasn't quit right so i'll have to adjust a bit....so the blade might look diff all together....don't want it to long cause the guy is a stumpy...he might hit the ground when he moves it around.....but i'll have a crack at it alltogether
the highlight bits worries me, i want it sort of like fabric.....but when i play wit highlight he becomes a bit of a bondage fan wearing rubber

[MadComputerUser]

thanks for the link, and that would be funny, seeing him whacking the lightsaber on the ground when he fights, could make quite a comical anim, hes trying to do this complicated spin but it keeps hitting the ground.

[strict9]

think it's finished for now...onwards and learn other stuff hehe
the lightsabers i stuck some lightbulbs in for effect...is there a way i can attach them to the blade incase i ever will animate....or would i have to manually move them.....not blender in specific...just want to know if it is possible>
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[MadComputerUser]

u can attach in blender, first select the light, now select the lightsaber, so now they are both selected, hit Ctrl-P and click make parent, now if you move the lightsaber light should move to, if you selected lightsaber 1st then when u move the light, the lightsaber will move, not vice versa, so make sure u select the light first.

[Joseph Pomeisl]

Onwards and upwards? as in no more minis?:)

[strict9]

Onwards and upwards? as in no more minis?:)

uuhhmm no, i like the minis......have a few others in mind.
what i meant with onwards: animation.
i know nothing about it so i'm going to see if i can do a simple one for starters....Im like a machine at the moment..........more input more input.
gathering knowledge everyday.
once i can do that i will probably start the next mini, i don't think i can tweak a foot for a week to make a animation look good so don't expect any miracles

maduser: i'll keep that in mind...will be usefull
i think i gave you the wrong tutorial...this one is weightpainting:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Flying_Bird_-_Skinning

edit:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/strict9/maul.gif

[strict9]

little darth Maul here wonders where everybody is?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/strict9/time.gif

yeah yeah i know....it should be in animated...but this thread is as good as any.....lurkers o plenty hehehehe (he is a fast bugger due to file size)
moving on to my next project.

[MadComputerUser]

very cool, looking forward to next character :)

[strict9]

time for a new WIP
I'm still trying to get the overall shape and proportions right.....but it's going along nicely.
so have a guess who this new mini is suppose to be?(another easy one)
trying to make it as much like the original concept but trying to keep it cartoony and cuddly at the same time.
thinking of making the head a bit wider.....not sure yet.
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[Joseph Pomeisl]

Nice, not sure who this one is though.
The head is a good size; the only thing I notice is that the forearms look a little flat in the front view. Keep it up - soon you'll have an army...:)

[strict9]

okay maybe not so easy to guess.
this threads view count is almost a 1000 so i thought at least some one would know it.
so Joseph you have to be the one to do a google search on "Flayerkin"
it's warhammer.......failed chaos people who are punished by being turned into a mindless one purpose fighting thing.
the arms are indeed a bit flat....will add some detail, but it will stay fairly flat.
it's just skin...the sword and stuff is where the bone use to be and the skin is sort of clamped back on.
the concept art will probably be more clear than my explanation.
seeya
edit: pictures speak louder than words
just had to do a render test on the body.......will add more trinkets later
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[Whoopa]

hey strict, I think he's awesome ^^ fluffier n cuter than he oughta be, but its charming :P add a spec and normal, then he'll be most awesome

[MadComputerUser]

but trying to keep it cartoony and cuddly at the same time.
cuddly? lol, great work. I like this, nice texturing and modelling. Cool to see someone using blender and producing great stuff :)

[strict9]

thx whoopa: i'll look into that.....diffuse i will have to read up on those specmaps etc.....no clue how to do that yet but than again all of this fairly new to me.
don't really understand normal mapping......when i press bake normal it prints a still shot of the view port.....how is that a map?...or am i doing something completly stupid?

madPCU: i am here to please ;)....i'm enjoying finally producing something non uglyish...my modeling always ended up looking crappy due to crappy rendering.....but thats behind me now....now i have o deal with if it's crappy than i can't blame my computer anymore lol

[Joseph Pomeisl]

...you can always blame the computer...it made me late, it made me forget, it made me search google for hours on end looking at flayerkin, it made me quit my job, it made me not leave my room -it's easy:)

[strict9]

All Joseph Pomeisl's ideas are awesome.....

[Joseph Pomeisl]

If only it were true:xx:. When I read it I laughed for along time - still chuckle every time.

[strict9]

hallo,
done a bit more painting and i slightly changed the skin colour.
he was a bit to much of a smurf....so i hope that i didn't tone it down to much.
had a crack at "rusty" metal look as well.
now i'll have to do a rig to finish it all off.
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[Whoopa]

I'm telling you, it will be perfect with some spec and normal aswell! ;D Go and learn it, it will be most definitely worth it! =]

...nice bum... :P

[strict9]

uuhh okay...had a crack at normal map :D.
it does improve...well i think it did (not going to put thousand sof scars on just because i can.......nice and simple as it is me thinks.
anyways have a look..next update probably a pose
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[MadComputerUser]

i dont see any difference... add some dings in the metal, and yes, add scratches, as if hes been whipped, and also add blood where the scratches/cuts are and it will look like he had been whipped, which would be awesome.

[strict9]

i didn't see any whipping on the original concept and i'm still trying to keep it somewhat like the original.
there is a bit of difference...it's mainly the direction of the light reflection.
the pants has a bit more volume around the waist and such...and the ribs are more pronounced...subtle but it has changed.
my pc keeps rebooting when i change the light or camera angle so i might give it a rest hahahaha.
not sure how i can improve it more...
(scratches on the metal with bump map would have been nice...but i screwed up down the pipeline and i'd have to redo halve the mapping) i have learned alot from this on and theres definantly room for improvement for my next model.
no idea what that will be.....
so will have to think really hard hahahaha maybe something with boobs.
two metal legs a few flamethrowers and miniguns on tentacle arms.......oh wait that idea has been taken ;)
had a few ideas......but the people around me keep saying "can't you do something thats not a monster?" anyway heres a quick pose and now i will put my thinking cap on
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[strict9]

lets ask the flayer?
Do you want WHIP MARKS??????




http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/strict9/flayer.gif

[MadComputerUser]

hmm, make a monster, i want more monster, make a monster thats on a leash to a scantly clad lady and the monsters bigger than her lol

[strict9]

oKAY, I'm back.
had a serious crack at normal mapping.
all baking done in blender.
hope people still remember "the guyver"
have a couple of things to fix.....but we will see if i can.
allready started something else as well sooooooo...........you know ;)
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[Whoopa]

he looks awesome man :D
seems as if the normal came out kinda well :)

what new stuff might it be? ^_^

[strict9]

normal has a few things that i don't like.
one eye corner is a bit shifty...which i don't understand because they should be a mirror image of each other.
and the back of the helmet isn't round..it shows hard(smoothed) edges...
oh well...it's all very minimal in polies so i might be pushing it.
the other thing i was working on i stopped in it's tracks.....it was a highpoly i ones made in zbrush but i can't get the scale right at importing but i might figure it out some day.....hmmmmmmm what to do next.

[Joseph Pomeisl]

Nice one. Glad to see your back!

[strict9]

hello,
back my friends.....and other viewers.
started another mini and you can allready guess who it is going to be...it's those damn ears hehehe anyway did some other stuff in between as the attachmend will show.(the robot design is by kieth thomson)
but anyway heres my new WIP.....
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[Joseph Pomeisl]

The robot is great, lot's of improvement. Just a couple extra loops around the elbows for animating, but everything else is well done. Nice job, mate.