Zlatovous - Gender Bender - Female Stormtrooper

[Zlatovous]

Just reserving my spot. See you in about a week with updates

[Zlatovous]

So, time has passed, I have returned from my vacation, full of ideas and inspiration...

Spent the whole day on sketching and making this helmet. Next step will be chest which I think will be little tricky, but everything is possible.

Took inspiration from Hellgate London and clone trooper (maybe some Fallout Power Armour too, when I look at it now). No ZBrush, I am doing it old school :-)

[Zlatovous]

Long time no update, but that will surely change. Did progress on chest and lower part of the body. This what we see is only suit, once it's done I will add white plates, characteristic for Stormtroopers.

Some quick material/color tests. Hope you like it

[goast666]

It probably doesn't matter, as like you said she's going to have plates on her. But I don't really think they make suits that are like under armor that perfectly cup the breast. You should check out some pictures of girls in under armor and sports bras. But again...all that doesn't really matter if she's getting plates all over her body.

[Zlatovous]

Thanks for advice goast666, I'm gonna fix it as I want both version of her (with plates/no plates). Let's fire the Max up

[Zlatovous]

Ok, long time no update as I am practicing my drawing skills in first place, but I am getting there.

Tonight I try to finish the gloves and then move to plates which will be more challenging than the suit. But I am looking forward to it :-)

Gatling is bonus - if I can fit within 9000 limit, I will include it, if not, doesn't matter. But it will surely appear in beauty shot :-)

[SnappedStrings]

I didn't know storm troopers use gatling guns o.0

What's with people doing gender bends of generic bad guys? lol, some one else is doing a generic bad guy from Metal Gear. To each his own, I guess

Good model, I'd work on the butt cheek a little, it seems to be getting an edge to it

Keep it up!

[Zlatovous]

Well, there aren't even female stormtrooper, so this give me space to be crazy about their equipment :-) But if you look at Star Wars comix from Clone wars era, clone troopers were using gatlings (picture (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3221/2931319289_08875305ac.jpg?v=0)). So I asked myself, why not

And you are right about the butt, it needs to be reworked. Will be fixed with next update

Thanks for comment

[darknake]

sorry the breast looks strange :>

[SnappedStrings]

Darknake, I agree that the breasts look strange, and I was going to say something, but I figured - hey, these are standard issue storm trooper outfits, so the breast plate isn't going to be custom fitted, it's going to have a stock one-size-fits-all kind of thing. But maybe it could do with a slight tweak. From where I sit, I don't think it's necessary though. But I do think the torso could use a bit trimming down near the base of the shoulder blades

[darknake]

as model a fmale soldier, get more female characteristic is easy to success, i think so :>

[Zlatovous]

Ok, the challenge is getting closer to end, so I stomped on paddle and here is the result from the whole week (I spent most of time on WC and had fruit diet, bad sickness, I could be finishned with hi-poly by now). I had no sketches or idea in head, I just modeled as I go.

I will add forearoms and palm protectors and I am finished. But my girlfriend is advicing me to cover the whole stomach, but I am still not sure... Let's see

Crits and comments are most welcomed!

[SR_6274]

This looks a lot better. Nice design on the armor. Her back looks really flat for some reason to me though.

I kinda like the stomach uncovered, but it needs a little bit more detail to help it blend with the other armor. Just detail it like you have the back black part and it's aces.

[strict9]

hope i'm not beeing to critical.
If she bends forward to you know duck from enemy fire or something.....than her armour would cut her gutts out with the pointy end of the torso armour.
maybe something to look into.
nice clean flows of decoration tho

[Zlatovous]

Thanks for your comments! They helped me. I refined the end of the chest, added some details to suit in stomach area and made the backs more distinctive.

Also I added last pieces of armor and now I can call high-poly done. Time to move to low-poly.

I got one question - should I model her as one object with all armor pieces as one mesh, or model each part of armor separate and then divide texture map into those pieces? I am really not sure how to approach it and I don't want to make some mistake...

Me, I would like the first choice as it most probably going to be faster, but then again, I don't how much experiences in this area... Any help apprecieted!

[strict9]

if the parts don't move seperatly from the body like the arm pieces and torso armour, shoes etc...i'd say its part of the same model.
the shoulder pieces want to move seperatly so they should be seperate.
if the helmet can come off...that would be obvious..seperate
they can all still share the same texture sheet (shared uv layout.)
hope it helps

[Zlatovous]

Thanks for the reply, it got me on right way. I am going to do separate element where there can be unwant deformations from moving joints (like you mentioned shoulders, next knees, waist and so), the rest will be one object.

Started low-poly today, maybe this evening will put some more progress.

I got another question, about UVWs and textures. As the model is symmetrical, I can save a lot of texture sheet space by texturing only one half. I know it's common, but I have no clue how to do it. Should I delete half of the model and UVW it, then, when it's done, add symmetrical modifier and it's all ok? Or am I thinking completely wrong?

Thanks for help

[strict9]

it's partly true about the symetry trick.
but you have to be aware that you don't do it to shared uv-cut edges

if you cut, lets say a face/helmet in half along the nose line (vertical line) than you'll find that colour will come out showing a line and your normals go crazy because they are made to overlap the lines a bit....(so they get in each others face)

so never flip a side that is sharing the same uv cut. (unless it's all one colour and your not using a normal map)

but flipping arms and shoes etc over is not a problem because theres not sharing the same uv edges.....hope it makes sence...and if i'm wrong please let some one correct me....I'm new at this stuff as well.

[Zlatovous]

Thanks, now I understand it perfectly :-) I saw somewhere tutorial for dealing with texture errors near same uvw cut. Now just to find it...

I am now rebuilding low-poly mesh - so far at 2500 tris and did only stomach + pelvis and chest armor piece. Well, it's quite high :-) But first I build the mesh up and then see where I can cut down polies. I'll post update later this evening

Thanks for the comments strict9, they are helping really much with my workflow

[strict9]

glad i could help, thats where forums are for.
most of the things i have learned is by this forum.

i know theres allot of tuts out......but most skip parts or don't explain why you have to do certain things....so i try something else than what the tuts says...(and so i learn the hard way)......ooohh thats why it should be that way hahaha.
Lucky i learn from my mistakes.

i did end up buying a book about blender.......because i was sort of stuck in my ways and i was sure there had to be more than a few quick keys....

anyway good luck with the try count.........i've started a new model so i sort of bailed out of the competition (my presentation skills are crap)