Fernando Kuhlmann - Snow creature - Ice Digger

[Stoneking]

Hi Guys!
My name is Fernando Kuhlmann and this is my first attempt for a Low Poly,
I'm going to try this because there's no better way to learn,
And honestly, this is the best Forum i've ever joined,

This is my WIP of the creature "Ice Digger",

It is in the early stages and it will be retopology latter,

The BG is,

- Very strong and adaptive creature,
- Capable of generating great amount of body heat, cause it's blood needs to be worm,
- It lives under the snow, to be protected from the heavy Ice Storms,
- It can digg the ice at incredible speed,
- It can jump really high and far, and run really fast, can scape from the probes and it's enemies from the same species easaly
- It's food is the worms that live deep bellow the surface, in the ground covered with Ice,

Hope you like it!
Cheers and good luck to all

[SR_6274]

Nice shape so far. Almost looks like a praying mantis missing a few legs lol.

[MightyReg]

So that is the creature you were talking about in the scultping contest, that's a nice start! I'll be following your progress.

[Stoneking]

Thanks SR 6274 :)
Yeah, definately it's inpired in a Mantis, i love insectoids, and as they
are one of the most resistent creatures to dificult wheater that was my choice :)

Hey Mighty! great to see you here man!
Appreciate very much you following this progress :)

Soon i'll post updates

Cheers
Fernando

[snakeeaterjns]

I love this desing! I thought about doing something similar. Reminds me of the giant bugs of Lost Planet. Good luck.

[Stoneking]

Hey snakeeaterjns!

Many thanks man!
I'm really glad you liked it,
Soon i'll post some updates,
I hope i can do something decent with the Render,
I'm really a begginer in rendering and lights....

Thanks again

Cheers
Fernando

[Stoneking]

Hey guys !

Here's some up on the sculpture,
Sculpting in high poly before retopo,

Hope you like it, crits are very wellcome

Cheers

[snakeeaterjns]

Hello Fernando. It's getting pretty good. I would add a pair of legs in front, so that he would get his arms free to attack. Of course, this is my opinion, is what I would do. Keep it up and good luck.

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg279/snakeeaterjns/Snowcreature.jpg

sorry for the drawing, but I travel and here the PC only have MS Paint and no have tablet.:D

[Stoneking]

Hey Snake,
Appreciate your imput, and i agree with this,
Actually in the beggining, my design had four legs, but my fear is about spending too many tris, so i kept it a "quadrupted" that in the fight time could stand,
barelly, but could stand in the two back legs and fight with the "arms,
I'll see how i can deal with this one, depending on the result i might
add two more legs!

Thanks again
Cheers
Fernando

[MightyReg]

I agree with the 2 front legs idea, but I would not make them big like that. In snakeeaterjns sketch, the red legs are going farther than the arms, so the creature could not really use it's arms to fight or dig the ice since these legs would be in the way. I would make these two legs really small and place them under it's body, acting like some kind of pillars when the creature uses it's arms. A little bit like a praying mantis.

[Stoneking]

Hey Mighty!
Thanks for the imput, as i said in the previous post, depending on how
i cam manage the Tris, i'll place other legs in it, and i prefer your idea of small
pillar legs also :)
How is your Snowman going?
I liked your last WIP that i commented there :)

Here's another up in the sculpture :)
Hope you like it

[Buzzy]

Looks very good.

I like the details. And I like the spikes on the legs.

Good work!

[MightyReg]

Nice update! It might be hard tough to keep a low poly count with all these spikes on the legs, but hey I ain't a specialist at all in low poly models (never did one).
As for my snowman, did half an hour yesterday and I will propably do another half-hour tonight when I get home from job, I'll post another WIP ;)

[kogen]

Yeah Stoneking! I can definitely see your style in it. Great model and great sculpting. I love that kind of armor on his chest oh did I mentioned the overall detailing. Very nice. Let's move on to the lowpoly! :) I hope you don't lose too much of the highpoly details like spikes.

[Stoneking]

Hey guys!

Many thanks for the kind words, Buzzy, Mighty and Sadone :)
Very much appreciated,

And Mighty and Sadone, i'm actually working right now on my retopology plan,
And i think i figured out a way not to loose these spikes, i hope it works,

As soon as i finish it it i'll post the up's

Cheers to all of you

Fernando

[Cordero]

Original idea here! It is really cool i think, not the usual stuff.
The "anatomy" of him is very deformed, and yet, he is pretty balanced. Cool "exoskeleton" design too. If this is how you say it:D

Looking forward on your progress.

[Stoneking]

Hey man,
Really appreciated you comment, thanks,
I love the "exoskeleton" name for this "carapacial" body :smug:
Soon i'll have the updates
Cheers
Fernando

[snakeeaterjns]

Hi Fernando, your sculpture was very good. The was very cool with the addition of spikes. I'm anxious to see the final result.
Luck4u!

[Stoneking]

Hey Mr. Snake,
Thanks for the comment, appreciated

Here's my Low Poly,
at 9860 tris to be exact,
Render test at MODO,
Yeah, i lost detail, specialy the spikes :cry: but still very happy with the result,

Normal Map plus Bump Map,
Now i'm going to polypaint it,

Hope you like it

Cheers

[Cordero]

Turned out to be pretty nice! The spikes are alright!

Now lets see some supercool textures for the "exoskeleton", that we agreed upon earlier..:D

[xxxcubanxxx]

pretty clean normals dude, keep on rocking.

[Stoneking]

Turned out to be pretty nice! The spikes are alright!

Now lets see some supercool textures for the "exoskeleton", that we agreed upon earlier..:D

Hey Cordero!
Really glad you liked it man :smug:
Let's see what can i do with some paint in our Exoskeleton!

Cheers and thanks again bro

Fernando

[Stoneking]

pretty clean normals dude, keep on rocking.

Hey Cuban,
Appreciated very much your comment, glad you liked it
This normals and bump where baked in ZBrush after i openned the UV's at UVmapper,

Cheers man
Fernando

[Edragon]

I am liking the mantis shape with the squid mouth :). The detail in the spikes didn't get hurt too much, I can soo imagine the shell color similar to a lobster or something close.

[AndrewQ]

As much as I love the originality, it looks like it would walk either kind slowly or be awkward. I agree with snakeeaterjns.

[Stoneking]

Hey Edragon, thanks a lot for the words, yeah, i love the idea of painting it like a Crab or a Lobster, and in the end Crustacius and Insect are naturaly from the same family:) Cheers

Hey Andrew, Appreciated your imput, it feels strange for some members,
but i think it comes from the fact that it looks like a Mantis,
In my mind it walks like a fast Quadruped, like a cheeta for example,
so it uses the four members to walk fast and jump far, by using the "lever"
efect with the "legs" shape, walking like a dog or a horse also for example.
So it is essencialy a quadruped, i liked the idea of a heavy and huge bug
walking this way,
BTW, i love the idea of it having four legs, but i'm saving tris in this one,

Cheers
Fernando

[Stoneking]

Hi guys,
9.860 tris
This is my tests with the Diffuse+Normal+Bump-which i can't make work nice...
i Still have to try some nice tips that Mr. Cordero very kindly teached me,
Thanks a lot Man :dance:

Crits and suggestions are very wellcome

Cheers
Fernando

[Cordero]

Thats right man, awesome stuff! Suits the character perfectly.

If you did the texture in a way, that you can change colors, you might want to try out some other color combination. like "ice blue" instead of red, and white instead of orange areas, and the "cracklike" stuff on the exoskeleton could be glowing blue. (by blue i mean, rgb: 0,255,255)

So the character will have a nice icey feeling to it. I mean i love it this way, but it seems a bit unresistant to ice.

Anyway, you already did a great job, keep up!

edit: may i ask for a wireshot? i'm curious about the spikes:D

[Stoneking]

Hey Mate!
Thanks a lot for the imput, means a lot man,
And it makes me do one question,
How can i change the colours, i'd like to try your suggestion

And here's the Wire, i don't know how to make a nice image from it,
Any suggestion??

Just a print screen from maya, which showa the Tris count,

PLEASE be nice with my topology !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Edragon]

Nice :), maybe try a blue version since it's a ice theme just to see how it might look.

[MightyReg]

Agree with making a blue version, this thing don't look it could survive cold areas ,so just change the hue of the diffuse in photoshop and it should be good. Looking nice!
For the wires, there is a way to render it in Maya
http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-392955.html
This tutorial should show you how, already did it and it's not hard at all.

[Stoneking]

Agree with making a blue version, this thing don't look it could survive cold areas ,so just change the hue of the diffuse in photoshop and it should be good. Looking nice!
For the wires, there is a way to render it in Maya
http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-392955.html
This tutorial should show you how, already did it and it's not hard at all.

Hey great Mighty!
Many thanks for the help, with Maya and PS :) very much appreciated
Means a lot of help man :)
I agree with you guys and by tomorrow i'll try to do a nice blue version :)
And some poses also, i hope i can have time to do same pedestal untill the
final day,

Glad you like it

Cheers
Fernando

[Stoneking]

First of All thank you guys for the imputs and tips,
Mr. Mighty, i really cannot thank you enough, the photoshop Hue technique
made my Day :)
And now i'm really happy to show my first true Low Poly!!
In my opinion the Blue version as you guys suggested are 1000% better
Now it is posed and Blue,
9860 tris, render in MODO, and btw MODO RULES !!!

Hope you like it
Cheers

[kogen]

Hei Mr. Stoneking,

that looks marvellous. Very good job. It's so cool that you've been able to capture all the little details.
The only thing I'd like to point out are the little "gaps" between the color areas. I mean: When the guy was blue there were kind of yellowish gaps that made a part of the skin in the belly region look like scales. Theese gaps are still there but it's hard to see them. Maybe you could increase the contrast of the turquoise in theese areas?

[MightyReg]

Looks great man, the blue sure fit him better. Congrats on your first low poly too, looks really great for a first.
One thing you could maybe try is putting your creature on a white background, would maybe help popping him out of the background since blue is kind of a dark color.
I am glad I could help and return the favor for your great tips for sculpting in Zbrush!

[Stoneking]

Hey Mr. Sadone :)
Glad you liked it,
Thanks a lot for the comment and the imput, really appreciated
yeah! you really made a good point about the colour, it needs more blending, i'll try your tip regards the contrast, letts see what i can do to make it better,

And Dr. Mighty!, glad you liked it, the white background was the initial idea,
and it stays in my mind, not only to have more contrast but because it is all
about ice! i tried many white materials presets and i couldn't make it good, all
looked "blown", but i sure will try to figure it out, also i'll try to make some
"snowish" pedestal :dance:

Cheer !!!!!!

Fernando

[Insania]

Good work.:cool:

[Stoneking]

Hey Insania, glad you liked it, thanks

Here's my final,
I would like to ask you guys some help,
Please help me with the Winner shot, i'm posting 3 options

if you could tell me which you think is the best one, or
what can i do to make it better i would appreciate very much,
Thanks in advance !!

Hope you like it

The 3 winner shots:

[Stoneking]

Beauty, construction and Maps:

[BiG ToE-3DT]

I think your all your options are just fine, the only thing holding you back is your background color. Black isn't the best thing for this model. Go with something lighter, it will help push your model out, instead of hiding the darker detail. and what resolution are you rendering at, I would go with something around the 2000x2000 range, nothing smaller than that.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

I think your all your options are just fine, the only thing holding you back is your background color. Black isn't the best thing for this model. Go with something lighter, it will help push your model out, instead of hiding the darker detail. and what resolution are you rendering at, I would go with something around the 2000x2000 range, nothing smaller than that.

[Stoneking]

I think your all your options are just fine, the only thing holding you back is your background color. Black isn't the best thing for this model. Go with something lighter, it will help push your model out, instead of hiding the darker detail. and what resolution are you rendering at, I would go with something around the 2000x2000 range, nothing smaller than that.

Thank a lot BigToe,
I'll try my best to make a lighter BG for the render, any colour suggestion?
And about the resolution, i'm doing 1600x1200, i thought it was fine, thanks for the advice, i'll also render it bigger,

Appreciated your imput, thanks for the help

Let's RUSH !

Cheers
Fernando

[BiG ToE-3DT]

well the way you want to think about your renders is about how they will look when printed. most will print at 300 dpi, and you don't want your prints to be pixely, so keep this in mind, if your printing an 8x10 image at 300 dpi, your render should be 2400x3000 pixels. Even if you don't print, this will give you super clean renders with an option to print later. 2000x2000 will give you clean renders as well, but print size is smaller.

as for a background color, I would start with a grey, play around with different shades of grey, something to show your character in a snowy environment. To match the stand he/it is on.

[Stoneking]

well the way you want to think about your renders is about how they will look when printed. most will print at 300 dpi, and you don't want your prints to be pixely, so keep this in mind, if your printing an 8x10 image at 300 dpi, your render should be 2400x3000 pixels. Even if you don't print, this will give you super clean renders with an option to print later. 2000x2000 will give you clean renders as well, but print size is smaller.

as for a background color, I would start with a grey, play around with different shades of grey, something to show your character in a snowy environment. To match the stand he/it is on.

Hey BigToe,

Thanks again for the help, very much appreciated
Thats the best thing on been part of this comunity, to learn really important things,
Ah, you've cleared my mind a lot, i just got to the computer and i'm
really curious to try the 2400x3000 resolution, i'm glad that MODO is 300dpi
default so i will not loose these images,

Let's see what can i do with the Background and resolution,

Now i'll RUSH

Best rergards

Fernando

[E4sY]

really nice texturing and color.

[Stoneking]

Thanks a lot Easy,

Hey BigToe, i saw your post saying whe can edit the final entry tomorrow,
and because my 2 attempts for a better Render are in progress right now,
It says it will take 3 more hours and it's time to sleep,
I'll post my final entry and edit it latter, just to make sure,

Cheers
Fernando

[BiG ToE-3DT]

thats fine.

[Stoneking]

Hi BigToe,
Thanks

Well, i think i didn't get a good result with the lighter BG,
Here's the pics i think could be the final shot,
If you can help me choosung one i appreciate very much,

I'm going out now, if you like the new one i'll edit latter,

Best regards

[Stoneking]

I'm finished!
I decided to go with this one bellow,
What you guys think?
Cheers

[Cordero]

I think this is a great idea, which was delivered properly in to 3d. Personaly, i don't like the "just black" eye, but maybe that's a correct eye for a "buglike" creature:D
And maybe the brighter blue areas like on the spikes, or on the front leg could use some pattern too, like the deep blue ones.

But its all nicely done the way it is now, congratulation on it.