Apocalypse

[Vertigo]

Here is the wire for where I am at right now. Keep in mind this is still early on in the project and the edgeloops still need a lot of work.

[Cyrenn]

I think the muscles look good if not perfect for the comic book look. Nothing wrong with over exaggerating them. I persoanlly think its true to the character.

The over all look gives it power. I mean. Like I will F**K you up power.

Like his bicep will crush your melon like a grape.

And he will stomp mud holes in you.

Good job.

Keep it up.

Cyrenn

WIp
http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread...477#post176477

[Daniel]

awesome, I saw the head and I knew imediatly it was Apocalypse. Indeed true to the old comic books I used to read. keep it up.

[Teyon]

I think I'll stick my two bits in here.

So far the face and back muscles are excellent and the arm muscles seem like they may go that same route. HOWEVER, the front of the torso is just really not up to par with the rest of the model. I know you're in the roughing out stage and all that but it looks like you took more care in getting the back muscles to look and flow smoothly at this stage than you did the front and I am worried for you that it may cause some extra work in the long run. For one thing, the distance from ribcage to ab is just a bit too much and is the most glaring bit at the moment. I think the entrie front of the torso below the chest area needs some smoothing out at the basic cage level in order to correct that.

I will say that this is the best (and I think only) version of Apocalypse in 3D that I've seen.

[Vertigo]

No update just yet, I just got back from work. But I'd thought I'd post my reply to you guys.

Cyrenn - LOL, yeah I am trying to make him look like the biggest bad ass on the planet, but I do feel that some areas of muscle are so over exaggerated that it is drawing my attention to it and away from his face. So in terms of character design I feel I need to tone down certain areas. Just a little.

DanielB - Thats great that you immediately recognized him. That tells me I'm doing something right here. Since you seem to be familiar with the character, let me ask you something. Is Apocalypse part machine? I never really figured that out and I'm looking at the drawings and its difficult to say for sure. Certain areas, like his neck, look like it could be machine, but it could just be the costume to.

Teyon - yup, you caught me dude. I totally skimmed over the front compared to what I've done with his back. I said it before in this thread, and I'll say it again, the abs look horrible. But I don't think fixing them will be too difficult as I think I have all, or close to all the edgeloops necessary already in there. I just have to tweak the vertices to fix them. I will certainly look into them though. I also plan on making them asymmetrical as I've noticed body builders abs seem to look really gnarled up. Almost like they are twisted in knots. Thank you for the crit though. I need more crits like that as I go on.

I threw some lights into the scene just to see highlights on different areas to better check the form. It really allows you to see mistakes you could look over otherwise, I totally recommend others do this time to time when they model if you aren't already. Here is what I came up with.

[Vertigo]

I barely even had a chance to play around with him today. I basically started on the legs, but I am still at such an early stage that its almost embarrassing to show. But I'm trying to update this thread everyday if I can. I'm looking forward to this weekend where I should be able to get a lot done on him again.

[Daniel]

Uhm, as far as I know Apocalypse isn't part machine, just a mutant. It's been a good 8 years since I read the comics, but I do remember he was the overlord of this alternate reality in X-men, had a son too, so I doubt he was machine. That's from the series 'age of apocalypse' series, which is the only ones I read pretty much. It's too bad I can't just go dig up the old comic books, they're in my old house, live in montreal now Did a quick search on the net, can't find any info on him either.

[geoMan]

the muscles are awsome...this is some good modelling.....

i really like it vertigo!

[Teyon]

Well, his ability to change his physical structure at the atomic level and tendency to prefer angular forms (see his first appearances in X-Factor) can easily lead folks to assume he has machine parts. Couple that with the cables that run from his gauntlets to some unseen place in his back/sides and it is easy to see why one would assume him to be a cyborg. While his origin story in the Age of Apocalypse does show his early years and that most (if not all) of his features are ones he was born with, no one has ever explained the cables or why he would want to manifest his form that way if they don't serve a function. That's what prompted Joe Maduriera to drop them when he did his redesign for the alternate reality Apocalypse that appeared briefly in the X-Men. So saying he's part machine may not be totally inaccurate.

Now that the speculation part of my post is over, I'd like to say that I think the model is moving along well. I'm glad you noticed and plan to include the asymmetry of the abdominal muscles, as that will add some level of realism to the character. I would also suggest that, if possible, you should extend this asymmetry over the entire body as we are, none of us, perfectly symmetrical.

Post when you can, there's no rush...you're doing this for fun not for profit.

Edit:
One more thing:
You may want to conisder defining his collar bone more also when you tone up the front of the torso. As it is right now, it kind of gets lost in the muscles of the chest (which are nice by the way).

Edit again....

I forgot about the collar of his...costume, actually, I think it's his skin just made to look like a costume but who cares?...anyway, that may take care of the collar bone issue though the parts not covered up by the costume's collar still need definition.

[Vertigo]

Hey, you guys are awesome. Thanks for all you feedback.

DanielB - The Age of Apocalypse storyline is when I started reading the X-men too. Though I managed to keep reading on up through the Onslaught crossover which was also awesome. But I still prefer the Age of Apocalypse as my fav story. I'm hoping this model turns out halfway decent, then maybe I'll do another character from that storyline.

geoMan - Thanks for the encouragement. Its always nice to get those kinds of compliments. I hope I can continue to please you with my further updates.

Teyon - Thanks for weighing in on the whole man/machine issue. I'm glad to hear that nobody knows for sure if he is or was part machine. I'd rather stay away from the machine aspect in my model actually. The way I see it is that Apocalypse's view on the world is "only the strong shall survive." If he had to be augmented by machine, it would, to me at least, make him look weak. He would in fact not be among the strong, which would seem to contradict his own beliefs.

These legs are turning out to be a lot tougher than I ever imagined. Those knees especially. There are just so many wrinkles and such around the knees. But I think I'm starting to get the base structure of the legs there. With some more time and patience I should be able to get them. I'm hoping to have the legs mostly finished by tomorrow so I can work on the hands before the weekend is up. Wish me luck.

[Teyon]

Looking great so far. Just a quick structural tip for the thighs...the muscel group circled in red shoud be a little longer and somewhat straighter down the center. Just keep going at this level of detail and you will be getting one of them shiny CGTalk awards.

Edit:

I know, I know, wrong forum but that doesn't mean ya can't post it there too ya know...

[rubberduck]

Looks great! But something about those smaller muscles on the thighs, looks a little weird, now I'm being picky

[Vertigo]

Thanks again Teyon, I'll look into fixing that muscle group there. It did look off to be too, but I just moved on at the time. But I'll certainly go back and fix it. I think that was the same thing you meant Rubberduck? And go ahead and start nit-picking. I've got so much going on here that I haven't dealt with before that he must just be filled with tiny flaws. So feel free to point them out.

Okay, so far today I've begun work on the boots. The part with the arrow pointing to it is going to be loose cloth, so as you can see I haven't begun to model that yet. Detailed wrinkles in cloth is another new experience for me, so I'm excited to try it out. The shoes part, I was originally thinking, would be more of a regular tennis shoe material, as it is in the picture below. But now I'm thinking it should be more metal like for protection. Which of course would need a little redesigning so he could still flex his foot and be able to walk. I'm hoping to get much more done on him tonight, so I may update late tonight again.

[Nappa]

can i see a wire with facets without the mesh smooth

[Vertigo]

I'm not exactly sure what you are looking for, but here are some links to a bunch of faceted wireframes of the barebones mesh.

Wire 1
Wire 2
Wire 3
Wire 4 Wire 5