DWIV - 3D - Agent-X - Alien Skaarj

[Agent-X]

Here is the concept I am going to do. I am going to do a custom Skaarj looking character that will have Hulk like anatomy, Predator like armor, and a Skaarj like head. I hope you guys like.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Concept001.jpg

[Agent-X]

This is my first shot. I am eventually going to add a helmet or mouth piece, because the inise of the mouth and teeth are taking up too much geometry. I will probably wait till later to do that and model the seperate pieces individually first but still keeping it low poly so I can get an Idea where I am at on polys. Anyways, hope ya dig.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test001.jpg

[Agent-X]

Playing around with lights.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test004.jpg

[kravo]

hi Agent-X,
I'd say, don´t spend too much time on the lights at this phase, the final shapes, textures and colours will have a significant impact on it anyways. (you know what I mean). I'll say do a paint-on instead, to see where the details are going to be. ;)
Do you still use Maya? (there aren't so many of us, I guess....)

[Agent-X]

Yeah, I still use Maya. Ok, Ill continue to model, I just wanted to get an idea what it would look like with lights and how it is affecting the Sub Surface Scattering, I am using.

[Beindulin]

Can we get a profile view. Not sure, but it seems to me that the tail could be a tad longer. Right now it seems a little stumpy (like a tadpole) :) Just my thoughts

[Agent-X]

You are correct, the tail needs to be a little bit longer. Yeah, Ill post up another pic in an hour or so, then you guys can give me feedback on what you think.

[Sathe]

Really sweet progress!

Personally im a sucker for the over frowning brow's but i feel your eyes aren't showing enough bone crunching anger towards those ****'s over at polycount. Remember that :)

[Agent-X]

Ok Heres an update, Ill do what you said Sathe about the frowning and angry pissed off look. I also need to add in some new eye balls now and tweak some anatomy here and there. I need to drop the elbows down a little bit I feel. Anyways, heres what I got so far.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test005.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test006-1.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test007.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test008-1.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test009-1.jpg

[SR_6274]

Looking good man. The tail is throwing me off a bit, but I guess it's because it has no detail yet compared to the rest of him. Keep it up.

[Peter_Kasim]

Hi Agent X,

That's some really nice looking geometry you have there. I'm looking forward to the detail pass very much.

Too early for me to offer any real crits. If I HAD to nitpick, perhaps the profile looks a little flat, but I'm guessing that will certainly change during posing.

Well done and keep it up!

[Puckducker]

Oh, you're already quite a ways a long. Be sure not to go things too fast, really make sure you're happy with your concept.

I like where it's at thought, as far as the model is concerned. I think you could push some of the shapes a bit more, exaggerate the proportion some. He seems like he should have a pretty hefty torso. He's also a little stiff looking, maybe try to add a bit more bend along the profile view.

Keep it up though!

[Puckducker]

Whoops...double post!

[Agent-X]

The tail, ah yeah, I know when I sculpt the highres there will be plenty of detail, I might also add spikes on top of it down the middle. We will see. Right now I am just tweaking and dropping the polycount down.

[Agent-X]

Yes, I do agree with you Puckducker with some more bend in the knees. I will add that. Yeah, totally, I will deffinitely adjust the profile view. Thank you guys so much for commenting. 3D total is the best! You guys rock! Ill be sure to comment back later this evening. Until then I am going to tweak, tweak, tweak.

[Agent-X]

Playing around with head shape. I saw this and went off adding some features to what I had. But I might take some of it back, because I want people to recognize its a Skaarj. Anyways. Just thought I would try this out.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/lrg-1079-dw1.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test010-1.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test011-1.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test012-1.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test013-1.jpg

[Sathe]

Love where your heading with this dude!

imo, elbows aren't sharp enough, especially seeing as the head is so spiky

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/8581/sharperelbow.jpg (http://img22.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sharperelbow.jpg)

[Agent-X]

Ah, I see, Sathe. Ill fix those elbows. Thanks for helping me. I also plan on using this for the Make Something Unreal Contest. So I am hurrying. Do you think I should change the head back to what I had before and go with more traditional Skaarj head? Or try this spiky triceratops like thing like in the predator image above?

[Sathe]

Keep going in the direction you are with the head, its constantly improving.

Also maybe make the thumbs 20% longer? Looking a little short only because the fingers are a bit extra long proportionally.

[Agent-X]

Last play test with this spiky BS stuff on the head. I am going to go back to the original and stick with that and come up with some cool armor now.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test014-1.jpg

[hulahuga]

Ooh, looks good :).
I just realised something. That head, with the spikes, could have like dark brown spiky hair. Since it is quite bear like ;P

(spikes would be the hair)

[Agent-X]

I decided to go with the dirrection Sathe suggested. For now anyways. Plenty of time to still decide what to do still. Heres a small update.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test015-1.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test016-1.jpg

[Puckducker]

That chest piece armor is great...love the design. I think you could push the size a bit more. Seems a little flimsy for protection, but I love the shapes.

[Agent-X]

Yeah I plan on making the armor like the predator image up at the top on this page. Ill post it again though. Yeah its work in progress. Lots of polys and vertex's to push still. Its coming out pretty cool though. I am happy with it.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/lrg-1079-dw1.jpg

[Agent-X]

Here is one of the weapons. Its a spear. For my next weapon, I am going to redisgn a blade/Blaster gauntlet
http://www.johninman3d.com/images/Album/DominanceWar/DominanceWar4Character/Test018.JPG
http://www.johninman3d.com/images/Album/DominanceWar/DominanceWar4Character/Test019.JPG

[Agent-X]

Some Wireframes of what I have currently. I am still working the armor. I plan on having that hopefully tomorrow. Lots of tweaks to be made still.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Wireframe001-1.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Wireframe002.jpg

[Agent-X]

Small Update on armor and Gauntlet. Still working the armor and with the left over polys Ill work on some more armor and accessories and refining some things.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test021.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test020.jpg

[redonix76]

wow, very nice progress! Your design has a good balance and feel. Is the face mask going to be on the entire time? I mean I'd much prefer to see his full face since he's such a bad ass!!

[SR_6274]

Very nice man. This is coming along great. I'm loving the armor design so far.

[Agent-X]

Unfortunately I will have to lose the front of the face and mouth. Damn Freaking polycount restrictions. Oh well, its all good. He will have more accessories and battle armor now. So its a sacrifice of polys for more stuff. I think it works out well in the long run.

[spartan118]

Lovin your character man, especially the tiny spikes growing out the head

[Agent-X]

Thank you guys for commenting. I truly appreciate it. Once again Ill be sure to return the favor and comment and critique, give props and all that good shiznit. I am thinking of accessories and other stuff to add now. When I uv map, I will uv map one side for all that is symmetrical. Then with everything else I will uv map individually and then combine and fit everything into one texture sheet.

[Puckducker]

Going with a polearm, eh? Don't see too many of those in dominance war, will be a good change for a weapon

[Agent-X]

Yeah, I figure something where I can impale and and chop off limbs would be freaking cool for this character. I just want this big bad ass son of a bitch to kick some ass. So I am giving him some cool weapons that I think would fit the character. Plus I have a good close range weapon with the forearm guantlet blades and then I also have long range with the blaster. And then I would hate to see what this guy would do to ya if you were in its face. Hehe, have fun, lol.

[Agent-X]

Ok, I am almost there and ready for highres stuff. A few more tweaks and see where I am at polycount wise and but the finish touches on this biatch and sculpt the crap out of it. Oh Yeah!
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test023.jpg

[SR_6274]

Hope you don't mind the quick painover, but I would like to see these pieces added. The red pieces because the chest piece just looks unfinished to me. Like it is just hanging there. The same for the blue part. It would help anchor down those leg plates.

Keep at it dude, it's coming along great.

[Agent-X]

Yeah, I guess, I should draw up some images of my character, since I have an idea what its going to look like now. I want to get 5 stars eventually too.

[Jensen]

Great looking stuff! nice progress too! Keep it up :)

[Agent-X]

Thanks Jensen. Heres some update wireframes. I am going to add Knee pad like thing to the right knee. So theres some asymmetry between the left and right side. It will look something like this.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/lrg-1081-death5.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Wireframe003.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Wireframe004.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Wireframe005.jpg

[Agent-X]

So yeah I added the straps around the legs and I also added that metal plate belt strap that goes between the chest armor and the waist belt.

[hulahuga]

Edit, saw the latest posts.

That hair would look great if it was thicker.
Perhaps you should make it into a block and texture it instead?

[Agent-X]

More tweaking and modifying to do. Yeah deffinitely by tomorrow evening I plan to be in zbrush.

[Agent-X]

Well there is a bit I can still tweak on the boots and here and there, but yeah I think Ill leave the blades alone. I dont want them to be paper thin. I usually only do that for hair, trees, foilage, cloth and effects and stuff like that when use with transparency alpha maps. Ill be ok. I was thinking of possibly adding straps on the gauntlet and or tooth like indian necklace type of thing around the neck, we shall see what polys let me do, Ill add as much as I can to make the character interesting.

[hulahuga]

Check my edit

[Agent-X]

well hmmm, I guess i could try transparency on the blades as well. We shall see what I do. I give it a try. You are probably right, I just will make sure when I pose him the blades show up well.

[anima3d]

much better with the mask ;) go for some shoulders now or just one at least

[Sathe]

Proportions are great but the silhouette isn't interesting enough yet i don't feel.

Try keeping some curves from the bony head with the rest of the anatomy.
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/4636/curves.jpg (http://img27.imageshack.us/my.php?image=curves.jpg)

[k4j]

awsome! any deeper thought on the mask?

[Freekybevis]

great stuff:D i want to see him littered with trinkets like a chrissmass tree. maybe a necklace of human ears ?@_@ keep it up!

[Agent-X]

Cooll. Thanks Sathe. I will fix the anatomy, You are right there are some sharp hits on the shoulder area. Ill look at some some muscle magazines and stuff and go back over the anatomy. And yeah, Ill keep tweaking stuff to get a better silouhete. Thank you Sathe for commenting. I truly appreciate it.

I will do some drawings over some renders to show what details I am going to do and get your feed back on what you guys think. Ok guys see you tomorrow. 330 in the morning here. Time for me to go to bed.

[Agent-X]

hehe, a necklace of ears. Wow that would be creepy, lol. How about a fish net full of skulls around the waist. Or skulls hanging somehow. Lol. Well due to polycount I probably wont. Eventually I will rig that skeleton I have on my pedistal and pose that as well. I will have a lot of zbrushing to do. As I eventually plan on sculpting the crap out of everything.

[Agent-X]

Shoulder pads hay? Yeah Ill do as much as I can with poly limits. We shall see what I do.

[Sathe]

Cooll. Thanks Sathe. I will fix the anatomy, You are right there are some sharp hits on the shoulder area. Ill look at some some muscle magazines and stuff and go back over the anatomy. And yeah, Ill keep tweaking stuff to get a better silouhete. Thank you Sathe for commenting. I truly appreciate it.

I will do some drawings over some renders to show what details I am going to do and get your feed back on what you guys think. Ok guys see you tomorrow. 330 in the morning here. Time for me to go to bed.


Well it doesn't necessarily need to be anatomy, you can use whatever to break up the outline, as i said the anatomy and proportions are rad, its just if you saw him coming through fog you wouldn't know hes a Spiked ******* looking for Gameartisans Blood!

[Warlock 279]

That's a big mean looking dude. You've made pretty quick work of him. I think Sathe brings up some excellent points about carrying some of the sharp edges from the head throughout the rest of design. Nice work so far, keep it up. :)

[Agent-X]

Here is what I have so far. and I have two polygon triangles left. So I am now maxed out. I hope you guys like it the way it is now. Let me know what ya guys think. Thanks.http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test028.jpg

[Agent-X]

Woo hoo, 5 stars! First ever! Thanks. ill be sure not to let you guys down. I think its pretty safe to say ZBrush time now.

[SR_6274]

Looking good Man. Hurry with the updates from z-brush, I want to see some crazy detail on there :)

[Peter_Kasim]

Stunning low-poly mesh, I can't believe how polished it is in such a short space of time!

Excellent work, no crits as of yet

[katana]

sweet

[VinsanityV20]

Man oh man, some people are really blazing through this so far. This guy's lookin' cool, A-X. Can't wait to see you work some Zbrush magic on him though:)

[DJdude]

That was fast! What are you going to do with all the extra time, not to mention the last two polies?

[Agent-X]

Ok, now after some optimizing, I am coming in at a perfect 10,000 polygon triangles. ZBrush time for sure now. Ill give you guys some more updates later tonight. I added chain links and did some work on the boots. Ill probably widen the boots up a little in zbrush, but yeah Ill do all my fixing and detailing there. Yeah between maya and zbrush Ill be fine. Then some unfold 3d and I am going to try xnormal for normal maps. Anyways, here is where I am at now.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Wireframe006.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Test030.jpg

[Warbringerd]

wont that skeleton on the pedestal count towards your overall poly count?

[Sathe]

No, pedestal can be 10 trillion polys, doesn't matter. :) as long as character tri's is 10k hes set.

[Warbringerd]

This is taken stright from the rules page for the comp....


Your Presentation Pedestal's Budget:
ALL 3d entries must include a pedestal in their Presentation Image. You have unrestricted polygons and textures to create a pedestal with the following guidelines:
A pedestal is NOT a floor and/or it is NOT a room. It's a block, pillar, coffin, box, crate, stone slab, etc. Pedestal Examples: Hela by Chang Gun Nam | The Mole by Rémi Monier
No additional weapons or gear that your character can pick up and use can be put on the pedestal.
No additional characters, pets, animals, pieces of characters, dead characters, etc, can be put on your pedestal. Only Bones and skulls are fine.

[Warbringerd]

So I guess its all good.

[Agent-X]

As Jim Carrey and Morgan Freeman would say in Bruce All Mighty: It's good.... Heheh. I am off to the races to sculpt the crap out of it.

[Sathe]

STOP TALKING AND SHOW US SOME ***** SCULPTAGE BEFORE I TRASH THIS THREADS LIGHTSSSSSS :dance:

[Greg_Brown]

This is a nice project I'd just like to see more attention to the muscular flow as opposed to the "bulginess" of your muscular forms. One of the things I always loved about the predators design was the refinement of muscle shape in relation to the predators purpose. This is missing that.

Can't wait to see where this goes once you get to sculpting.

[anima3d]

nice to see another here working on low poly 1st then sculpt n' bake :)

[Lukavi]

Looking good man, cant wait to see the sculpt.

[Buzzy]

Looks pretty solid so far. Like Sathe said, I want to see some sculpting.

But I gotta wonder where all those triangles went? You had to optimize DOWN to 10k? Is he a russian nesting doll with a miniature version of himself tucked inside? Or a cake perhaps, with a stripper inside? Yes I rather like the sound of that.... triceratops-predator cake with a stripper inside.

[Agent-X]

Yeah, ok heres a small update. I plan on staying up for a while. Ill be looking back every now and then for feedback. This is day 1 in zbrush, so I know I have alot more to do and alot of refining and tweaking. But yeah your feedback is very important to me.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest004.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest001.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest002.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest003.jpg

[BiG ToE-3DT]

like Buzzy said, your model doesn't look anywhere close to 10K, make sure you don't have any hiden object that might be getting counted.

[Greg_Brown]

I think you should focus more on your muscle forms before you start adding veins and other high level details. The musculature is lacking connectivity.

[Agent-X]

10k in the scene, 10k selected.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Wireframe007.jpg

[Agent-X]

I will remove the veins and break out my muscle magazines.

[Joseph Pomeisl]

Greg's right - with all this time you've afforded yourself, make sure the anantomy is correct - don't be afraid to start over either. There's alot exposed so it needs to look super.

[Agent-X]

Ok here is what I was using for reference in the beginning, but I know theres nothing better than looking at real photos. The anatomy look I am going for is that of the Hulk. Ill go ahead and go back into the arms and just look at real photos. And look at what master sculpter Aaoron Sims did.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/hulk-stuff-5-230-1.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/hulk3.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/incredible-hulk-poster1.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Hulk03.jpg

[JuST]

Great work so far. Especially the head looks cool!

[Agent-X]

Did some work on the arms. I will continue working on this later, got to sleep now.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest008.jpg

[Agent-X]

Thanks Just, I will do my best to make everyone happy.

[anima3d]

nice start on sculpting :) keep it up

[Agent-X]

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest009.jpg

[SR_6274]

The sculpting is coming along great. Don't try to make everyone happy, it will never happen. Just make sure YOU are happy and that your having fun. Without fun, it turns into work, and who likes doing that lol. Keep it up, it's looking fantastic.

[Agent-X]

Thanks. I appreciate your support.

[Crispy4004]

Try developing the oblique and ****** section a little bit more. A lot of it probably won't be visible, but having a good understanding of your creature's waist will help as you sculpt the rest of the body.

[Agent-X]

cool deal, I will. Right now I am looking at Dexter Jackson's physique from my magazine. The guy is built like a god damn brick house. Stacked! He is Mr. Olympia 2008.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest010.jpg

[Cracadoo]

Hey, It's coming along nicely. Cant wait to see more of it.

[Peter_Kasim]

I personally like the work on the muscles very much! And the definition on the abs is coming along great

The final details will help sell this, so just have fun doing them and I'm sure he will look fantastic

[Agent-X]

Thank you guys, ill keep sculpting away, right now I am gathering up more photos of Dexter Jackson, the guys body is amazingly built and put together. Ill be sure to post more angle views come tomorrow.

[Agent-X]

I decided to post one more time before I go to sleep.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest013.jpg

[Mischi]

Nice, the abs and chest region just look great. The arms need a little more detail, but you are on a very good way there.
Have you worked on the back part yet? Would like to see some of that too.

Awesome progress for one week of war so far. Keep the updates rolling. Very interesting project.

[mr_carl]

YEA coming along nicely, the armour will look great when done.
Good job.

[Agent-X]

Yes, I will be detailing it everywhere, it will be alot of sculpting but boy when its done, whew, watch out! It's going to be the best piece I have ever done. Ill sculpt more on the back and around the whole body and post several angles later this evening.

[redonix76]

Very nice so far! Can't wait to see more! Using Dexter for reference is a great idea. His symmetry is one of the best in today's body building.

[chris_solo]

yep! good job so far, man!!!! like the sculpt, particularly the head :)nice progress

[Agent-X]

Update. I am thinking of bringing the back of the head and neck up to make it longer a bit, because right now the back of the head and neck look short in comparison to the rest of the head and proportion to the body. Let me know what you guys think.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest014.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest015.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest016.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest017.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest018.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest019.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest020.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest021.jpg

[Agent-X]

Please forgive for the large images, my mom bought me a new 23 inch Samsung computer monitor as a gift, and like everything is just very brilliant super detailed and beautiful on it. Great for gaming.

[Agent-X]

Yeah, I am thinking of getting rid of the horizontal lines across the front of the neck becuase thats usually for an old person. So yeah I do not want that.

[SR_6274]

WoW, this just keeps getting better. Your sculpting is great so far man, I'm really liking it. This guy is looking so mean. Keep up the great work. I would say probablly bring up the back of the head, because right now it looks like he's wearing a mask on top of mask if you know what I mean.

[Agent-X]

Thanks. Exactly bro. I agree with that totally, and will do.

[chris_solo]

agree with you, nice progress.

[Crispy4004]

Here are some small suggestions. Mainly, don't loose the rib cage structure, push out the oblique, add more mass to front of thigh, and try not to let the bulkiness cancel out the flow of the arm. The tendency is to loose the gesture when you start placing muscles, especially super defined ones. Before you know it the lines start conflicting with the original motion.

Keep up the good work.

[Agent-X]

Cool deal. Thanks. Ill make the adjustments.

[hulahuga]

Agent-x goes into sculpting mode. ROCK ON!

[khemist000]

Wow man. Im impressed. He's looking more badass with each update. Keep it going!

[TheSlooth]

Looks sweet man. You should see if you can find some sweet brushes and see if you can give his skin my character.

[nendo]

nice modeling skills there. Only thing i am concerned with though is the concept art. you havn't realy done any of your own concept art. so using what you have for the design sheet is abit worrying in my opinion.

[Agent-X]

Ok, heres the deal for the concept art. I will make the concept art in 1 month after I submit this for the Make something Unreal Contest. I am going to kill two birds with one stone. The Make Something Unreal Contest is due before this contest is due. So thats why I am hurrying on this one. I have like 1 month, where with this one its like 2 months. As long as I turn in my concept art and all that stuff in the end I should be fine with this one. Theres no rule that I need to make concept art first then the model that I have seen so, it should be cool still as long as when I submit I submit everything needed. After I submit this character to the Unreal contest Ill make sure to get you guys a link so you guys can play as my character as well. For those that have Unreal Tournament 3 for pc this will be a little treat.

[nendo]

ahh i see. although i do disagree with it. isnt it in the rules that u have to mak the model for this comp and not use it for anythign else. or somethign simular to that.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

well, the rules say, whatever you make for this comp needs to be made for this comp. So, if you make this character and then turn it in for the Make something Unreal comp, it will no longer be eligible for the Dom War.

Plus, I don't think, the Unreal guys would be too happy if they found out your model wasn't really for them, but for the War.

You can take the chance, if you want to.

[Agent-X]

Ok Big Toe. Thanks.

[Puckducker]

Yeah, definitely just take your time with this model. It'd be cool to do both contests, but DW is difficult enough in just 2 months. Better to take your time with one contest and end up with a killer model then to enter 2 with 2 rushed models because you ran out of time.

[Agent-X]

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest026.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest024.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest025-1.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest027.jpg

[VinsanityV20]

Great sculpting Agent-X. The attention to detail with all the muscle groups will definitely pay off. He's definitely got a built appearance; something that reminds me of Wolverine actually, mainly cuz he seems a little short.

I know you have plenty of reference, and your guy is like almost finished, but I just wanted to say that another good source of reference for these kinds of things are WWE photos of their wrestlers. You already grabbed some Incredible Hulk stuff and mentioned a body builder or two, but the main advantage I've found to using wrestlers for reference is the variety in body types of Superstars in the WWE stable. Guys like Batista and Triple H are bordering on super heroic physiques, Randy Orton is more athletic and lean, Rey Mysterio Jr. has nice muscles for a small guy, etc. It's probably too late, but it's a tip. Maybe it'll help someone else checking out your awesome work.

P.S. Nice amount of images on the thread. It's always good to check this one out:)

[Agent-X]

Thats awsome Vinsnity. I love wrestling too. When I was a little kid I use to play act with my friends and think I was The Ultimate Warrior as a kid. LOL. I got a kick out of it back then when he went off on Mean Gene Okerland in a interview when he was going to wrestle Hulk Hogan. I would laugh my ass off and say who the hell let em out of his cage. But yeah I still watch WWE. I hope Tripple H beats Randy Ortan at Wrestlemania.

You guys are right. Ill need the two months to make this one look amazing. And yeah, I guess Ill just do this contest. I have too many things to worry about. Like finding work. Unemployed at the moment. Damn economy! RRRR. All I can do is keep trying and trucking along.

[polysmooth]

You got a nice model going so far. I'm digging
the armor. One thing in my opinion that could bring
the character out more is maybe some exaggerated proportions.
They'll make him more dynamic imo. I've included a pic of
a bad@ss scuplt by Fabricio Torres of the hulk to
illustrate what I mean.

[Cracadoo]

I like the sculpt so far. The only thing that bothers me is armor. It should be much bulkier. Now it almost look like some kind of cloth.

[Agent-X]

I like the exaggerate proportions for that Hulk piece, but for mine I think I am going to stick with more movie Hulk Proportions for now anyways, but I might exaggerate we will see. I might have to tweak mine more in order to get that look. Possibly make it taller, but Iam going to keep going. Lots of stuff to sculpt. And the armorwill get sculpted soon enough. Once I sculpt and layer the metal, it will thicken up.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest028.jpg

[hulahuga]

It looks really good, but one thing! I don't like the transistion on the back of his head. Where the fan comes. You shouldn't really make it so sharp. But that might be me.

[AzoiC]

damn you 19" monitors at work!!!

will go back and view this again on my 24" lol.. niwaes looking good so far.. :drool:

[Agent-X]

Yeah, Ill go ahead and fix the back of fans and make that thick again. I don't like that the way it is right now either. Ill go ahead and make smaller images also for those that have smaller monitors.

[hulahuga]

great :)

[Agent-X]

Tweaked proportions and thickened back the spikes on the head
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest029.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest030.jpg

[Agent-X]

More Tweaks.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest031.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest032.jpg

[Freekybevis]

This is coming out very nicely man. Keep it up.

[Agent-X]

Thanks bro. Will do. Yours is too! One of the best here at 3d total too.

[vongn]

Hey Agent-X,

the head is looking great man.
You should emphasize the sternum rib cage upper abs part more, right now it looks like it's sunken in.

not sure if i can link but heres example.
http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/images/hulk-smash.jpg
http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~rbothra/superman.jpg

[miycko]

Very nice sculpting, like the way the head and muscles look. Great details.

[hulahuga]

Looks good, but you should shorten the fingers a tad.

[Agent-X]

Ok cool. Thank you all, you are all wonderful critiquers and bring me inspiration, and I am most greatful and its an honor to be apart of this. I give you all my word, I will do my absolute very best to make this as freaking awsome as possible.

[Agent-X]

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest033.jpg

[Incredibo]

thats looking pretty sweet dude. keep it up

[Puckducker]

Nice sculpting so far. I think some of the proportions could be a little tweaked, I think the torso is looking a little long and the connection of hips isn't reading quite right from the front, but it's definitely solid overall.

[kravo]

I think it looks pretty cool. Besides, you can make the proportions just as "messed up" as ju wish (IMO), it´s a friggin alien, not a human :)

[hulahuga]

He needs some ribs!

[Agent-X]

Ok, I will work more on that stuff come tomorrow. Heres what I have so far.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest035.jpg

[chris_solo]

good work, man.

[hulahuga]

GJ, the arms look a bit weird with those strings of bulginess....

[Agent-X]

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest036.jpg

[omegamista]

it's too sunken in the sides of his buttocks, which should be bigger to match those legs.

[Agent-X]

Small Update, brought the butt out, started working on the hands. Little by little Ill get it. The main thing for me at this point is nail proportions, then start sculpting, and little by little getting finer and finer with the detail. I will post more come tomorrow.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest037and38.jpg

[Agent-X]

Here is some concepts I did for the face mask. Personally I am vibing B or C, I would like to here your oppinions and what you guys think.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest039.jpg

[Incredibo]

I think A and C are pretty cool. it does have more of that unreal feel to it

[Agent-X]

cool thanks.

[hulahuga]

Aaaa

[khemist000]

Suggestion on the facemask (by the way, this is really shaping up nicely, good work!)

I would avoid having the mask be a traditional little nose/mouth cover. I think it makes him look too ninja-like less hunter/warrior. I think it would be cool if you pushed the mask a bit more to maybe have it come up to the eyes. Also less round-ish and more POINTY!!! Check out the over paint, maybe it will spark some ideas.

Good Luck!

[Agent-X]

concept art. What do you guys think of something like this on my character, but probably with different design in the middle of that stuff instead of all them screws.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/363.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/364.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/e3a9_12.jpg

[hulahuga]

Then he'd be a barbarian slayer...

[Agent-X]

F it. The mask is not important really right now, I will just worry about the main focus body and the armor that I know what it looks like and how I want it to look. Ill come back later to it after I have thought about it for a week or so.

[hulahuga]

Fix those muscles ;P

[Peter_Kasim]

I'm not a fan of totally covered faces, I think the directin you were already headed in is more interesting.

As for the mouth cover concepts, I think C is best, the composition of forms is very satisfying

Well done on the continued anatomy tweaks! It's moving along very well so keep it going

[chris_solo]

I agree with Peter, be careful, because if you make a helmet, your project will lose its interest, the head is really a success in your modeling.

[Agent-X]

right on, ok. I am just going to keep continuing. Thanks.

[Agent-X]

I am back.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest041.jpg

[Agent-X]

I am going back through the armor and going to recreate a medium res mesh that I will then take into zbrush to create a highres mesh, then just use x normal to get the normal maps. I am still working on the anatomy as well, so I will make changes as I go. I hope you like so far. Feel free to comment.

[Agent-X]

Work in progress concept. I thought I would share this with you and show I can draw a little bit too.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Concept002copy.jpg

[Jensen]

Great progress man! I like B and C the most regarding the face mask details. Ideally it would be something between the two ;) Nice stuff keep it up!

[Agent-X]

Ok here is a small update. I might give my character some tribal tattoos, we will see. Ill save that for much later though if I do though.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Concept003.jpg

[Agent-X]

Current work in progress. I will do alot more when I get back from my little get away trip for Easter. Then I am going balls to the wall on this thing.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest044.jpg

[Darchand]

Looking good Agent I am loving the over all sculpt.

The drawing rocks as well I really love the femal Skaarj. Only thing I would recommend if you ever decided to model her as well would be to make her chest a little larger (not Dolly Pardon large though)

[Agent-X]

Hehe, will do bro. Just got back and ready to rock and roll on this again.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

will this guy have a wrist?

[hulahuga]

Post a perspective shot pls.

[Agent-X]

Here is a small update. Currently I am working on the mask, and the other armor objects. I will get back to the anatomy soon, this weekend.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest047copy.jpg

[Agent-X]

Heres what i have done with the mask so far.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest049.jpg

[SR_6274]

Keeps getting better and better. I like the armor design so far. It's very simple, but that's all you need with this character. Great job so far.

[chris_solo]

your character takes a great look! even if we find some inspiration from a certain film SF very well known ...;)
good stuff

[Steamtrooper]

Looking good, dont forget the logo, your missing opportunities on the mask and chest. But Im sure you have that all in hand.

Just a couple of things, again you might have this in hand, but the necklace is intersecting the neck and the leg above the knee could do with some nice cuts n bulges to bring it out a bit.

Keep it up

[Agent-X]

The logo will be on the chest plate in the heart area. :) Trust me when I put it there, you wont be able to miss it. Thanks for the comments. Ill project that logo on later today. :D

[Agent-X]

I thought I would sculpt and start texturing at the same time. Eventually I plan on taking the texturing all back to photoshop and adjusting my textures there. Zbrush should give me a good start though with that. Anyways, heres where I am at, keep in mind this is just a first pass at texturing. I still have a long way to go. Ill spend alot more time on this come tomorrow.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest050.jpg

[tb1alexc]

Awesome work there mate, I really dig the way you've done the colours

[Crispy4004]

Looking good but let me give you some extra fuel to get the sculpt in kicking 5th gear.

Check this out. (http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/showthread.php?t=8111) See that? It's completely within your grasp, you just don't know it yet ;). Aim for that level of quality, don't settle for less. I'm telling myself the same thing right now.

As for some general crits, I think the quads aren't meshing together well with the waste. You could either tone the muscle down, or add more mass to the surrounding muscles. Second, try twisting the arms at the elbow, so the knuckles show more from the front view, to emphasize the natural curves the arm makes. Right now they are looking rather stiff and unnatural. Getting a good flow will help you sculpt them better. Same crit for the torso, it's really stiff right now like his back is strapped to a plank of wood.

Finally, you need to ditch that ugly plane gray shader for something with more pizzas and that gives a better read of the cavities. Go to the zbrush website and download some matcaps from their site.

[Agent-X]

Small Update. Detailing the hands. This is with Sathe's Pewter ZBrush Material. Ill continue sculpting away. Lots of work to do still. But Ill get there.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest051.jpg

[Agent-X]

Update. Made Neck a little longer. Turned the arms in a bit more so you can see the knuckles more from the front. I also did a little bit of texturing. Ill add more details come tomorrow. His back is probably still a little bit stiff. But um I thought soldiers are suppose to have very good posture, like Marines, hehe. Oh well. When hes finally posed on my low res Ill make sure its a little bit more relax. Ill Keep you guys posted.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest052copy.jpg

[hulahuga]

Keep on going John!
Try making a good color scheme

[Warlock 279]

You know, the extra texture on the hand makes all the different in the world. You need to push that level detail into the rest of him now, and I think you'll have an awesome piece as a result. You know, wrinkles at the joints, some of the superficial veins, etc. Crsipy's right, if you push this, this can be ace, you've got a really solid foundation just needs the detailing, so have at it!

[Agent-X]

I will, just a matter of time. This will be my best model ever.

[Agent-X]

Ok, I am starting to detail up the arms as much as I can and do the best job I can. I am now looking at how much time is left. I am going to try to finish everything in the next couple of weeks. Hoping anyways. I am going to push myelf. Anyways Heres what I did on the arm.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest054.jpg

[Agent-X]

Heres another shot. I think one more day working on the arm then I will move onto another section of the body.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest055.jpg

[hulahuga]

Cool detailing. The forearm muscles seems a tad twisted. Other that that, awesome!

[Crispy4004]

Make sure you are still looking at references when you continue detailing. There are a few places in the arm that are not anatomically correct, like the deltoid:
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3043/deltoid.gif
Right now it morphs directly into the bicept when in reality of comes to a point. Also try not to go too crazy with the strands of muscles. They still need to read as individual muscle groups or else the anatomy turns to mush. It'd probably help if you go back and etch in some the muscles groups and and protruding bones (the wrist/hands in particular) with the clay tubes brush.

One last thing, I know I'm the one who recommended switching the shader with stronger cavities, but in this case I think it's a bit heavy. Try for something that still has definition but doesn't look as cutout.

[miycko]

Ouch, his arms look seirously awsome and i kinda like the way he looks with the grey colour but i can't wait to see what he looks like when he's textured.

[spartan118]

I agree with the post above, those arms amazing, your modeling skills are reallly great, I cant wait to see what the finished prduct will look like, Great work man.

[Agent-X]

Work in progress. Adding more details on the arms now with scales.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest003-1.jpg

[polysmooth]

Ahhh... I see u worked on the anatomy of the arm.
Looking good. I would maybe suggest one more sub-d
level on the arms details around the scales aren't stair-
stepped. Lookin good though.

[Agent-X]

Thanks guys. Heres a body shot of where I am at currently. I plan to deffinitely finish the arms tonight and then move on to the legs and tai and the rest of the body where I need details. Whew! Lots of work. LOL.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest004-1.jpg

[Agent-X]

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest006.jpg

[Agent-X]

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest007.jpg

[X-Convict]

Nice updates, sculpting is looking good! I like all the little bumpies :)

[Agent-X]

Thanks, I am just trying to pour on as much detail as possible right now and make it look the best I possibly can with in the next couple of days as come the end of the month I am going to call it quits for sculpting the character, got to move on to texturing.

[Agent-X]

Now to do the legs and finish putting details in that which needs it.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest009-1.jpg

[miycko]

The scales are a great touch.

[Agent-X]

Thanks. Here is some more scales for ya. I hope you guys like. I hope after this model is done I hope its good enough to get a job. Being unemployed sucks. I miss working in a studio. I want to work in the field again.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest010-1.jpg

[zhuzhuli1113]

hi,everyboy,im zhuzhuli ,im new here.

[zhuzhuli1113]

good job,Agent-X

[Agent-X]

Hi zhuzhuli1113. Welcome to 3D Total and its members. Its good to have new members joining the fun and viewing in on the excitement of this great competition.

[Warlock 279]

That's the ticket dude! Arms are looking much better anatomy wise in the more recent posts, still a couple minor hiccups, but pretty solid and certainly passable. The scales are looking good so far. Keep detailing it up the way you are, with the pumped up anatomy, the details in the face [which are really slick] the scales and wrinkles and such, and you're gonna have an awesome entry! :)



Edit - Wow, was thinking back where this started, just had to take a look back, and I have to say, you've come amazingly far from that, and I don't want to sound rude, but what I considered a pretty "bland" starting point. I'm totally sold on this now tho. Excellent work sir.

[Agent-X]

Thanks bro. :) I do this for multiple reasons. But mainly to succeed and hopefully get picked up by a company ultimately, I need to find a way to use my skills so I can support my family. So I do this for all the marbles. To work again.

To all of those that have helped me through this model I cant say thank you enough. I truly appreciate everything you guys have done. So once again thank you.

Ill see you guys tomorrow. I am going to bust an all nighter to finish up as much as I can. So I should have a big update tomorrow.

[NeXt 0ne]

I really like your model, one of the best on this comp. If this don't get you a job, i don't know what will :)

[Agent-X]

Update. I moved the front of the pelvis foward, so its more balanced with the upper torso and thighs, added more scales, sculpt feet a bit, added my detail on some plates, and did some fine tweaking.

Now to finish them damn feet, continue working the armor, scratch it up, and dirt, sculpt a skull on the right knee gaurd add some scales on head and Ill probably add more scales on the shoulders, and back. Then to texturing. Thats on todays plate now. Anyways, heres where I am at.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest013-1.jpg

[Warlock 279]

Don't forget to add some of the detailing you have in the breast plate to the back and shin armor. ;)

Looking pretty boss now. Keep it up.

[Agent-X]

Will do bro. I havent forgotten that, Ill be sure to do that later today. I am going to go to sleep now and and get ready for a full days work. :D

[Creos 3D]

Nice character. the skin details lookings pretty good.
If you have a some free time before DW4 deadline, I`m recommend to add a some special weapon such as techno-spike or blaster.

[JuST]

This comes along very smooth! I love how the skin turned out. Can't wait to see the final version.

[chris_solo]

very nice, it's one of my favorites! keep it up!

[VinsanityV20]

The build of this guy is really good now, very natural. The anatomy is comic book-y, which I like, but the details are what really sell it for me. The skin is ridiculous; there's so much in the way of details. Though scales being all dense below the waist and then barely making it onto the upper arms is a little confusing to me - wouldn't it be consisten all around? I don't really care:D It looks really, really cool.

The armor is great too, and the clean lines and simpler/less dense detail contrast nicely with his skin - the pieces will stand out nicely against the skin once you texture him. Speaking of which, can't wait to see him when he's textured, X! Are you feeling good about finishing? 'Cuz this guy should definitely be there, fighting for Team Threedy!

[Agent-X]

I have had to turn my file into seperate files now, because too much geometry in the scene for my pc to handle. In order to get them all working in the same scene I will need to upgrade my pc. Which as soon as I get work I will do. I have made a couple renders.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest015-1.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest016-1.jpg

[Agent-X]

Shin guards
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest017-1.jpg

[Agent-X]

Added details to the head.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/ZBrushTest018-1.jpg

[Agent-X]

UV mapping, normal map, and Ambient Occlusion time.

[miycko]

Man he's looking good. love those small horns you've got growing where his eyebrows would be.

[hulahuga]

The head is awesome!

If you want to save computer performance when sculpting, try making the low poly (before sculpting) denser where details are needed. This saves you quite many subdivisons :).

[Fixor]

Nice and clean details mate! keep it up!

[Agent-X]

Thanks bro, yours if freaking awsome as well.

[SR_6274]

Love the detail on the man, it looks fantastic. I really can't wait to see the completed thing, because the amount of work, and the level of detail you put into this thing is great. One of my front runners for sure.

[Agent-X]

Skeleton done, now to finish normal mapping my character.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Skeleton001.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/Skeleton002.jpg

[Agent-X]

A quick Normal Map test and some other stuff what I have so far from CrazyBump. Ill post more later, but Here is what I did.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/extremecreations2001/NormalMapTest001.jpg

[BiG ToE-3DT]

you might want to do a quick test rigg on the arms to see if te shoulders can hold up to him raising his arms. If the shoulders don't hold up, just bring them on up, clean up the mesh flow and you should be good.

[Warlock 279]

Looks like the normal maps worked out alright. You get the baking all squared away then? Keep in mind also, even if it isn't flawless, you can bury some minor issues with your textures, and the people looking at your model, typically don't know it as intimately as you do, so some small minor issues can go unnoticed or be mistaken for intended.

BiG ToE's right, watch your shoulders, I boned myself on my DeathDealer by modeling the arms in a position that was too downward. Not so much on the outside of the shoulder, as under the arm. The polys ended up being really small, so they didn't end up with much texture space and stretched too much when raised.


Anyway, lookin' good, keep it up, 12 days left now [I guess?] should be able to make this really shine in that time. :)

[hulahuga]

Someone has probably already said this but the arms seem a bit short. Actually it is the upper body that is to short...
But he is an alien so...
Good going!

[poopipe]

actually I'd argue that the thighs are too low down - like there's an extra 4 inches between his waist and the top of his thighs

[washka]

Maybe enlarge a little bit the eyes of your alien, you could also make a small vertical scale down on the skeletton's skull. Great job, especially about the details parts, keep it up!

[Agent-X]

I didnt finish dominance war, but um, Ill give you something still worth while to check out and work in progress of my character in game. I hope you guys like. For those who like Unreal Tournament 3 like me. Here is the link to get the model if you want to play as my character. http://www.fileplanet.com/200409/200000/fileinfo/Skaarj-Model-for-UT3 Please keep in mind it is still in Beta stages. And there will be updates coming up to fix things.
http://i44.tinypic.com/8zr21c.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/30lyu5z.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/20jpnnk.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/34gsqbp.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/9k315j.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/2vn5flu.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/122g3t0.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/2j8gg1.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/205ty07.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/208yxz9.jpg
http://i40.tinypic.com/29zacg8.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/2hy9gch.jpg

[Agent-X]

I want to thank everyone here at 3d total who helped me along the way to make this model. I am sorry I didn't finish, but I did what I thought was best for me. I want to make a special thanks to my best friend in the 3d world and partner in crime EvilEngine (Charles Jones). Thanks. For those interested in what we got plan check us out here.
http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=680443

[chris_solo]

too bad for DWIV but cool character for UT3!

[Darchand]

Sorry you didn't finish but you made a great character and a great portfolio piece. Way to go man!

[BiG ToE-3DT]

looks to me like you got him textured and even got a basic rigg going on, so my question is, why are you not submitting your work.

You know there was a time extension right?

[JuST]

I agree... it's sad that you don't submit it. It looks awesome!

[Agent-X]

I didnt submit for several reasons.
1. I couldn't bare the humiliation of being disqualified for entering 2 contests.
2. I am true and faithful to my best friend. I had to make the choice between the two.
3. Unreal requires 2 2048x2048 texture maps. And I went beyond 20k polygons.
4. I might have made it in the top 50, but um, I am really struggling for money and looking for work. And with Unreal, I do have a chance to win something thanks to my friend.

I am so sorry if I dissapointed you guys. I do look at it this way, I have a portfolio piece and something in game playable. In my opinion, I couldn't ask for more. I could have submitted and baked the texture I did for Unreal on to mine, but I just thought what if I got disqualified, I just couldnt bare it in my eyes.

[Epic4Life]

The Skaarj are the Unreal world's main enemies. They look like highly-evolved reptiles, but they reproduce more like insects, with offspring being born of a single Queen, and only certain male Troopers and Warlords being the only other Skaarj with any reproductive organs at all. (Culturally, this is one reason why the Skaarj put such a small emphasis on wearing any clothes; most of them have nothing to conceal.)

http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=skaarj&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Restrictions
For Norms and Demons: No vehicles allowed.
Pets and steeds are allowed for all races.
No Teams, groups or collaborations. Everything must be made by 1 single person. Keep gore and nudity to a decent level please! Don’t get DW banned in various countries!
03/18/2009 - All sketches, ideas, concepts, models, 3d meshes etc must be created exclusively for this competition. Note: No previously made Base meshes!! If you use a base mesh and get caught, you will be asked to restart your entry from scratch. No exceptions.
Artists wishing to enter 3d and concept art categories must create a new idea for each category. No 3d entry and concept entry can look the same.
Creating a forum thread and showing your work in progress is MANDATORY. Entries submitted without showing their work in progress will be disqualified. Entries who keep their work a secret until the last few days can potentially be disqualified. You Were Warned.

[Agent-X]

Yup, thanks. I will not be submitting for dominance war.

[hulahuga]

Well the model turned out great anyway :)

[miycko]

Too bad you wont be submitting for dominance wars and hope you win that unreal contest. Great work man.

[Agent-X]

I want to thank 3d total from the bottom of my heart for their sincerity, honesty, support, admiration, opinions, critiques, and love. I did what I thought was best. I would like your feed back on something though guys, regarding demo reel. I would like to hear your thoughts. I was thinking of just show casing this model, Highres, followed by the low res(showing wireframe, normal maps, and then completely textured), Then showing my character in game. Do you think that would make a good demo reel for me? I really want to work in the game industry. Please give me your thoughts.

[DeadlyFreeze]

Tha'ts not really a demo reel. Demo reels for character artist usually consists of 4-5 of their best models and maybe some supplementary work (life drawings, 2d stuff). If this is the only model you have then your probably not ready yet.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

true, true. You need at least 3 really good models. Nothing half done, and don't put anything in there that you don't think is that good. Also, ask others how they think about your models. Sometimes we artist like our work, no matter how crappy it is. Ask people you are not friends with too, friends tend to not tell the truth to spare feelings. If you can, ask other artist that know what they are looking at, someone who can say more than just it sucks, but, rather say, this area is lacking, try this to fix it.

As far as showing your model in game, you can, but I would make that the last thing to worry about. The guy looking at your demo reel is going to want to see your high poly, but most importantly, your low poly, because that is what makes it into the game. So, you need to show the wires, the textures, and to make it all less boring, have your character in a pose that is not a basic t-pose, or relaxed arms to the side.

[Agent-X]

Cool deal. Thanks.

[Puckducker]

I agree with all the above.

I'm going to add that breaking into the industry as a character artist is very difficult. Because characters figure so prominently in the game, these positions are usually held by more experienced artists.

My recommendations is to apply for environment/level artist positions. You can certainly use characters in your demo reel for that, just be sure to include some environment pieces too (can be full environments, or just props like a gas pump and phone booth). Establish yourself in the industry first and then work to getting into the character department.

I do a lot of character stuff, but I work as an environment artist in the industry. Characters get all the glitz and glamour on forums, but 90% of the art needed for videogames is environment art. Don't give up either. Took me about 8 months of sending out resume's and demo reels without a single response before I got my first job.

[Creos 3D]

Great Unreal screen shoots, with your character
amazing stuff.

[handyandy2003]

Really nice project, great sculpting!

[Crispy4004]

Hey Agent-X, congratulations on finishing. Turned out really nice. You definitely made the right choice entering in the Unreal challenge.

Anyways I wish you best of luck on getting that reel together and landing a job in the game (or film) industry. I'm struggling to do so myself. It's damn difficult trying to break in. Over the past month I've applied for an internship at about 15 studios in OC and LA counties with zero success and a shrinking bank account. Hopefully you'll have better luck than me:

Thought this site might help you find jobs in the LA area:
http://gamedevmap.com/index.php?tool=location&query=Los%20Angeles
I was pretty excited when I found it.

Who knows, maybe someday we'll be working together.

[bap2921]

Yeah landing a job in the industry is a bitch. It took me almost a full year after graduating college to land my first job. During that time I had nearly replaced all of my college art with new work from the time after graduation. I also spent a lot of time during that year researching and learning how to make decent low poly game art.

I worked for my company for about a year and created assets for three published games. Unfortunately the company hit hard times and cut most of the art team. Despite my experience and constant portfolio updates/improvements I am still unable to find another job in the industry. I've been applying now for almost a year after leaving my previous job and a phone interview is the closest I've come to a new position. Times are tough and there is more competition now then times previous.

It's hard not to get discouraged, but the best advice I can give is to keep at it and constantly improve your work. Study the masters out there, both old and new. Learn why their work is so amazing and strive to produce something of the same quality. I've improved more over the past year than any time before, mainly because I am so motivated to reach the levels of these pro artists. I know I have a long way to go yet, but its encouraging to look back and see how far you've come.

I remember reading an interview with a very talented character artist and one of the things he said was- as an artist its not a question of if, but a question of when.

If you keep at it, constantly strive to improve, and don't become discouraged you will succeed. I understand what you're going through, I'm in the same boat right now. Just keep at it man, it will happen.

[Agent-X]

Wow! Thank you guys so much for responding back and leaving such great advice and sympathetic comments and what not. I greatly appreciate everything you guys have done. Yeah, it is very tough out there. The closest I have come to actually working on games is being in the mod thing, using the Unreal engines. Yeah, I have asked several recruiters and they said they are cutting back and not hiring new artists. I have even came across a company that said they are trying to find work for employees from another company to save their workers, because a game just ended. So yeah, It is extremely tough. I have been trying for a very long time as well throughout the 10 years I have been doing 3d. Like everyone tells me, all I can do is keep applying, creating art, and learn from those who are working in the industry and better than me. I might end up going back to school, to try to better my skills in other areas than just modeling, like rigging, and animation. We will see. I am sure eventually I will get companies interested in me. Like you guys say, just a matter of time. I have worked doing 3d before, so I know I can do it again. Just a matter of when. Anyways, thank you guys so much, I greatly appreciate everything. I learned a lot from Domincance War. 3D Total you guys rock. Thanks. Peace!