Vinsanity - Army of One - Mystery Man

[mies]

Youre making some exelent progres here! i love how u keep evolving this. its gonne be amazing i know it for sure!

[VinsanityV20]

Well here's my final bit of progress before Christmas. Added in the goggles and also cut in more resolution for the weapons so they'll be good 2 go in Zbrush. I also got rid of some of the "plane-pulled belts" on the model, instead opting to just cut them into the body geometry to make a cleaner mesh overall. The ones replaced are the bands on the right upper arm, the left forearm, the belt holding the combat knife sheath and the belt holding the gun holster. The one on the left thigh, not the actual belt around the waist:



Final Poly count: 4274

Final Tri Count: 8275

Mies: Thanks for the compliments man I'll really try to finish in time for this comp - I may have entered this on a fluke (I let my good bud Darbruce have final say as to whether or not I was gonna enter this), but I really like this model and I want him to look good for my portfolio. Which means I have to finish him - AND Normal Map him. So I'm gonna do my best! Although to be honest, I'm hoping for one of 3DTotal's infamous Game Art Time Extensions

[VinsanityV20]

Oh also, if anyone else wants to BREEZE through unwrapping, seriously consider using this awesome app:

http://www.uvlayout.com/index.php?op...pper&Itemid=72

My own trial died after the Gender Bender comp, so I had to re-download a demo here. I'll buy it in January once I have money. But for now, I need to blow through unwrapping this guy for this comp Check out the training videos here and you'll see how mindblowing this thing is, and how perfect it's unwrapping capabilities are...

http://www.uvlayout.com/index.php?op...pper&Itemid=67

[Specialboy]

VinsanityV20 very good staff here ... now let see the details ...

go on like it ,,, waiting for more updates ... hope u`ll finish ur model till end ... it was 1 January , yes ?

[Mr.fE]

Wow dude! This is supercool go texturing like hell cuz i wanna see it done!

[E4sY]

got a nice character coming along here. it has a nice cartoon edge but still real enough to take serious look. get 'er done!

[VinsanityV20]

Oh man - this was a beast to unwrap. EVEN with Headus UV layout, and my 3DS max unwrapping tools (using a plugin). There's just so many props - what was I thinking!?! So next time, note to self;

a)no cloth on my character, 'cuz I don't wanna rig it
b)when you use Zbrush, remember to T-Pose the character. That was a stupid mistake...
c)no, or very few, props. Just focus on the character.

But whatever, the deed is done Using a 1536 x 1536 map, which is between 1024 and 2048. Frankly, I don't like using 2048's because my Photoshop chugs. But with this much crap I really can't afford to use a 1024. And yes, I realize there are some big negative spaces and gaps in the thing on the bottom half - I got lazy, alright I just wanted it to be done!





And of course, this means I made it! My own personal goal of getting this guy into Zbrush for practice! Here he is!



Can't wait to get my hands dirty on sculpting. Though I really question if I learned anything about a new workflow, for example - and if anyone can help me here, please do so - I don't understand how other people can seemingly go straight to sculpt. How do you unwrap things so fast!?!

Also, how would you bring in all the bits and pieces into Zbrush. I split up my guy into 4 groups - the main dude (shown there), a weapons group, a belts and armor group and then the gauntlet. I'll be importing them all into Zbrush one after each other, though I really question as to whether or not I should've just imported them all seperately and then once they were done make them all subtools? I know that doing them all in groups is probably going to throw off my symmetry stuff in Zbrush, so should I just go back and bring in everything seperately? I have no idea...

As always, comments and crits and super welcome And of course, Happy New Years, 3DTotal!

[BiG ToE-3DT]

first, your map size isn't a multiple of 2. Not a big deal in this comp as the rules say the max is 2048, but understand in the game world, your texture size will be frowned upon.

ok, now on to the questions: I can't help you.

I use mudbox, but here is what I do, I feel the low poly is the most important part, so I focus on that. When it's done and the unwrap is finished, knowing what my computer can and can't handle, I cut the model up. Exporting each part into mudbox on it's own. I sculpt and create the normals and any other maps I want. I do this for each part. Then, later take each individual map and layer them in photoshop to get on map. Then I texture it. I notice that the size of the map isn't an issue for my machine till the end. That's when I start overlaying didfferent textures and what not to try and make the hand painted texture pop.


Now, on to what others do. They jump right into sculpting, this allows them to be as creative as they want, not worrying about tricount, because at this stage, it doesn't matter. After they reach a point they like, they retopologize. Meaning, they build a low poly cage(mesh/model) over the hi poly sculpt. When that is complete and the tri count is where it needs to be, they unwrap mesh. From there they bake the normals and what have you.

for a first hand look, check this out, the guy the came in first place in the last Dom War Slipgate, part 2 really gets into it.

[VinsanityV20]

I know that stuff about the size Toe In the real world, I'd never do this, but I like to go easy on these comps - especially when there's no way in hell I will win against...well, people who finish

Thanks for the detailed response though Toe. After checking some other threads in greater detail, I definitely picked up some of that, but hearing it broken down so thoroughly really helps. Hell, I didn't even there was a retopological tool in Zbrush till this comp! I mean, yea I've only been using it for like a month and a half, but whatever - most of that was just learning the basics, then starting this comp.

Seriously man, this kinda stuff helps (especially the video link!). I'm looking to completely, from scratch, build up a "current gen" workflow. The Wii and PSP and iPhone can't be viable forever; I really gotta figure out how to do things for "normal", current consoles. Also, after working on one of those shovelware, minigame compilations for Wii, I never wanna do that again - I really would like to apply at a studio making an ACTUAL (i.e. 360/PS3) game when I next apply for a job. There are very few wii-centric studios in America doing anything interesting with it; that's a shame.

Thanks for the help man! Can't wait for another comp to put some of that to good use! In the meantime, still got some sculpting to do!

[TKSDeadly]

I really love the style of your character, hopeing to see your entry in final, waiting for updates

Good LUCK

Regards

[chris_solo]

keep it up Vinsanity! great progress and hopeing to see your entry in final too