Perversonality - insect & gun

[Perversonality]

Just putting in a placeholder whilst thinking of some ideas. I'm planning on entering both challenges so I might make a complementary set of models instead of completely diverse entries

Good luck everyone :)

[Perversonality]

After mucking about with a couple of different styles of shell based insect I decided to go with something a little more gross... :D So, here's the start of a flying, stinging, acidic leech... Oh yeah baby!

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/wips/3dt/leech_003.jpg

572 triangles so far and I haven't decided if the blobs on the neck are going to be poison sacks as I had originally intended or if they will be eyes instead... Once the head area is sorted I'll see where I can refine to smooth out the curves and also think about some more details like hairs and so on.

The weapon might have to be salt based if it's going to be complementary to the insect...

[mies]

seems very unique. i really like it :) keep it up! i cant wait to see where ull take this bug.

[Perversonality]

Thanks. I gave it a snout last night but it ended up looking too much like a seahorse so I'm thinking more fleshy now... I also wanted to add some small legs in but I think they might push me over the count

[Perversonality]

I changed the snout into something with more teeth...

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/wips/3dt/leech_004.jpg

Ok, so you can't see the teeth right now as they will be alpha mapped but I'm planning on there being two rows of a reasonably large amount of needle-like teeth. Will have to see how it looks when the alpha is in place as it's currently a full ring for the alpha which may be changed if it looks a bit naff... 870 tris so far, so still some detail to add. The wings are going to be alpha mapped too, so the shape will change

[Perversonality]

Almost there now... Some legs and a bit of refining here and there making it 962 triangles. Think I might do a full unwrap rather than mirroring to create more randomness in the texture to break things up a little more

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/wips/3dt/leech_005.jpg

[NeXt 0ne]

Lookng good, I'll be looking at this one. :drool:

[Perversonality]

I'm just hoping I can get the texture looking right with just a diffuse map... Pre-painted specularity. Oh joy! ;)

Edit: Full turnaround to check the overall shape, which I think works pretty well (though I say so myself!)

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/wips/3dt/leech_009.jpg

[SR_6274]

Looking nice. I understand what you mean by only being able to use a diffuse and opacity map. Not sure how mine is going to turn out either with only those, but guess that what these challenges are for.

Can't wait to see the textures you come up with for this guy.

[Bananaman]

Call me weird, but personaly I think the 'arms' (arm part of the wings) are a bit to smooth/round compared to the rest and they'd fit in better if they were a bit more low poly.

Anyway, I like the design, good luck with it :D

[Perversonality]

Thanks for the comments

I definitely see what you mean about the wings there Bananaman. I think they probably need to be round, but perhaps I should try making them a little thinner instead? Texturing will add veins and dents which may be enough, but it would be better to have it sorted before unwrapping! I'll have a think about it :D

[Bananaman]

Ah yes I think making them thinner would definitely(I always spell that wrong...) help alot.

It reminds me of something I've seen before, are there any references or inspirations you used?

[Perversonality]

I had a butt load of images for alien and wierd insects, though it wasn't until I added the legs that the head started to look a lot like the brain bug in Starship Troopers to me... The texture should fix that though :)

[Perversonality]

After a few days of work and playing footy I've managed to find some time to unwrap and finalise the details. This is the non-AA, unfiltered with basic AO-enhanced diffuse map version

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/wips/3dt/leech_010.jpg

I have 16 triangles left to use up, so if it needs some extra simple bits to bring things out then I can add them later, though there isn't much free space in the map right now...

[Perversonality]

Not sure which way to go with the texture... The green works reasonably well and the mouth will definitely be red rimmed, but I can't decide between flesh or nature at the moment... Ah well, I'm sure I'll work it out. Quick paint overs done in Mudbox to try a couple of very rough combos

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/wips/3dt/colourtest_003.jpg

[SR_6274]

I'm liking the first one the most, but right now it's just way to dark. I know it's just a quick paintover, and I think some nice details with the red or yellows would really bring it out.

The flesh is nice as well, but I don't think it fits the overall feel of this bug.

[Perversonality]

Thanks! That one was the original direction I was taking so I think I'll stick with it. Refining things a little bit, though obviously still a long way to go

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/wips/3dt/colourtest_004.jpg

[xxxcubanxxx]

definitely looking cool, I really like what you did with the mouth. keep it up.

[Perversonality]

Still a long way to go and I've been very distracted over the past few days, but I'm still hoping to get it looking how I want before the end of the contest... It's odd that I can sling out a low poly non-organic model in a 4 hours or so including the texture, but when it comes to organics I just find it really, really difficult to maintain focus and get the job done!

AO map from a partly done high poly version of the model... Still got to add more detail and I'm without my tablet right now, so it's going slowly!

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/wips/3dt/leech_013.jpg

Trying to get some parts looking more solid to suggest some level of armour around the body in addition to the softer underparts. The veins were an experiment on the blob underneath as originally it was going to have a load of larvae in there, but I think this kind of works better on the gross factor

[Perversonality]

Bit more "easy" detailing... Veins good! ;)

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/wips/3dt/leech_015.jpg

Edit: Last update for tonight. Just had to add some colour to the veins to see how it would look

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/wips/3dt/leech_016.jpg

[Perversonality]

Varying the colour slightly. Still needs something to break up the mass of green, but it's getting there...

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/wips/3dt/leech_018.jpg

Wings and drool next, when I get the chance

[Perversonality]

Just playing with the wings... For some reason this seems to work when it feels like it shouldn't...

Any opinions?

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/wips/3dt/leech_020.jpg

[SR_6274]

Looking great man. The colors are really coming along nicely so far. I personally don't like the wings like that. To me they look like bird wings. Have you tried a version with batlike wings that also have the veins? Not sure how that would look, but I'm just wondering what other concepts you have tried for the wings.

[Warlock 279]

I'm not sold on the wings, I kind alike what SR is suggesting of something more bat-like, tho that could swing your insect more in the creature direction.

If you want to break up the green some more yet, how about stretching the red up the back in the form of a couple stripes?

Really like what you've done with the mouth, that looks pretty awesome.

[Perversonality]

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, it does look a little too bird like. I was going for filaments but ended up doing feathers instead, so it needs to change. I might try a more traditional cell-based wing first to see how that looks as that would be more insect-like, though bat-like is a good option too

[Perversonality]

How about something more like this (colours-aside of course!)?

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/wips/3dt/leech_021.jpg

[Warlock 279]

Ya, I think wings in that style work better than the filament style wings

[SR_6274]

Yup, definately liking the new wing design there. Very nice.

[mies]

I like the new wings also. the old ones didnt felt like they could actualy carry the bug the new ones seems alot stronger. although i still think they could be abit bigger..but nice work also on the textures :)

[Perversonality]

Think I'm probably calling this done now

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/wips/3dt/leech_034.jpg

[Perversonality]

Just wanted to post a screengrab of the model with a normal map applied. It's the same details as I used for the AO map so it's not exactly what I would have done if normals had been allowed, but it's kind of a nice finishing touch to see what it could have looked like if the maps had been allowed!

http://www.lowpoly.co.uk/wips/3dt/leech_035.jpg