DWIII - 3D - Grindill - Darshvac

[grindill]

Edit: I've changed my mind and will now be playing with particle systems. The creature is now a darkness/void stalker demon.



Accounts from Naturalist/Shaper Hershion Juflomn

Date: 7830-3781
I have been given a great gift. A colleague of mine has brought me quite a rare specimen. From the rocky environs to the south, where hardly a soul dares to venture, I have been brought one of the rarest of fabled creatures, The Lightning Darshvac. really more of a bug than a creature. As the story goes, it can ionize the air around it and focus a stream of lightning to kill it's prey. I haven't witnessed this phenomenon yet, But the creature is intriguing none the less.

Date: 6103-9184
Still no response from the Darshvac. I've tried to feed it all manner of local insects and bugs but it doesn't seem interested. It sits on it's rock and appears to watch the food I have given it, but there hasn't been any feeding response.

Date: 7314-8231
Breakthrough!!! Unfortunately for my pet Qkstictigh I now know that the Darshvac prefers mammalian prey to hard-shelled food. My poor Qkstictigh got a bit too close to the enclosure and there was an immediate response. At first I heard the buzz from across the room and, just as I turned around to look, there was a small jet of lightning shooting into my Qkstictigh. Fortunately the hole made in the enclosure was too small for the Darshvac to escape. After an autopsy, it looks as though the lightning overloaded the Qkstictigh's nervous system and sent it into cardiac arrest. More experiments will follow.

Date: 1283-8310
the feeding program for the Darshvac has progressed nicely and it has grown a little but I'm afraid it has reached maturity. I've started testing it's molecular and DNA structure and I believe it could be replicated if I had the proper funding.

Date: 7133-8314
I've somehow managed to attract the attention of the Omnistrate. They say war is brewing and they are interested in my research on the Darshvac. I've shown them what I have so far and they presented me with more of the creatures. I can now start a breeding program. My experiments will center around breeding larger and stronger Darshvacs in the hopes of increasing their range.

Date: 3934-6301
Through genetic manipulation and selective breeding programs, I have managed to increase the average size of my Darshvic population to the size of a Hesptibay and they can shoot their lightning across the room and kill a small Grothnix. this is very exciting indeed. The Omnistrates funding has been increasing and their interest has been growing. Their suggestions and hints have been leading me indirections that I probably wouldn't have taken on my own. But this is fascinating work and I am eager to continue.

Date: 8314-9123
I think I have reached the outer limits of the Darshvac's bodily limits. The average size of my population is that of a Qythmak and I can look them in the eye now. Not that I would ever get that close to them without protection. My population and I have been moved to a new, larger facility and I have been given a special gift. The Omnistrate wants me to see if I can fuse the Darshvacs with an amplifier. They can already take down a Htryucg at over half a Thlas. The amplifier has such ingenious focusing channels that I believe, if we can get it to work, it will increase not only the range, but the accuracy and the penetrating ability. I can't wait to test this out.

Date: 7822-9834
The experiments with the Amplifier have proven most distressing. Not only for me but also for the Darshvacs. Half the population that has been fitted with the device has not survived and the ones that have survived have gone through some unexpected mutations. I would wish to cut back on the experimentation timetable but the Omnistrate needs me to continue my research. they say the fate of our world may rest in my hands. The war is escalating. I must continue.

Date: 8133-1034
Success, but at what price. They have grown strong. They have grown intelligent. One among them (Darshvac G-96) seems to be taking lead and organizing. I am going to recommend that the experiments be terminated.

Date: 7129-3199
Disaster. Darshvac G-96 has escaped. Although I suspect the Omnistrate to have helped it, I cannot prove it. And I don't know where it has gone. There have been talks in the facility of a wormhole, but I did not witness it. Maybe the Omnistrate thought G-96 was ready for the war. It was unstable. I wish to stop the experiments and exterminate the rest of the population. The Omnistrate is watching though and I must continue. May the gods save me from what I have done.



So, yeah, its some kind of a giant lightning throwing bug thing with metal bits embedded as an amplifier. I've got a concept in my head. I just need to get it out on paper. Ummm...Pixel.

[grindill]

Concept Sketch. Just trying to flesh it out.

[McKronic]

Intense back story, concept seems pretty unique also

[grindill]

Just a little update on the concept drawing. I was thinking some kind of caged lightning thing attached with spikes to the creatures back. Lines would lead out from the sphere to the tips of horn and claws to channel the lightning. More updates later this weekend.

[haikai]

it has a pretty interesting shape so far. color schemes with red, white, and blue are kind of awkward for me since it ends up reminding me of the american/french flag. i wonder if a little variation on the size and spacing of the bone spikes along its sides would help. the white of the bone is bright next to the blue shell/skin and stands out a bit much. i'm interested in seeing how its face develops and how you incorporate the back story visually.

[grindill]

The colors are definitely not set in stone. The red fleshy bits would most likely be a lot darker. I was actually hoping to make the shell bits iridescent. I'm having a bit of a problem coming up with a shader that will work though since everything has to be hand painted. the problem with iridescent quality is that it changes with the angle that you view it from. I can't quite figure that one out on a single hand painted map.

I've been studying a bunch of bug pictures and the face will most likely have some big pinchers.

I'm probably going to be changing the lightning sphere cage to the pyramid logo. that will tie the creature in to the forum.

[ParsleyButter]

I've had some success in the past with iridescence by hand painting different colors in my specular maps. Of course, this isn't physically accurate, but you can get rather nice results out of it, and it should help sell the idea in your renders, I think.

[kravo]

Originally Posted by grindill

The colors are definitely not set in stone. The red fleshy bits would most likely be a lot darker. I was actually hoping to make the shell bits iridescent. I'm having a bit of a problem coming up with a shader that will work though since everything has to be hand painted. the problem with iridescent quality is that it changes with the angle that you view it from. I can't quite figure that one out on a single hand painted map.

I don't want to question the 3Dtotal admins-I read you post in the DW Questions topic- but using a little more advanced shader isn't prohibited, in fact: "For all final images, all shaders that ship with UT3, HL2, Crysis, idTech4 and Xnormal are allowed. Standard, non node-based shaders within Max, Maya, and XSI are allowed. No manual HLSL editing via code, and no node-based shader creation."
which means you CAN make the iridescence shader you showed us.
But english isn't my native language, so PLEASE correct me if I got that wrong!!!

[grindill]

Well, I've done a bit of digging and my research shows that falloffs won't be allowed. Only Bitmaps. Check out Post #351 by poopinmymouth.

http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/s...t=2171&page=18

Specifically

The only thing allowed is subbing out the texture maps with your own

and even more specifically

You are not allowed to add a fresnel node, or a ramp, or anything else that wasn't there.

I guess that sums it up pretty well. Oh well, gotta work within the rules. I'll just have to paint it on.

Later,

[grindill]

I think I've found the model for the bugs head. Take a look at this thing.

[kravo]

that's a cute little fellow. I defenatelly wouldn't like him under my skin
Hey Grindill, if you need more reference photos of bugs, you might wanna check out this site:

http://fotozz.hu/kategoria_oldala?fo...Kategoria_ID=5

It's in hungarian so you'll most probably find the navigation difficult, but under the thumbnails the words mean:
első - first
előző - previous
ugrás -jump to
következő - next
utolsó - last

it's no rocket sience

It's a cool site, my colleague always shows 6 -10 MP pictures about weird thing, incl. bugs

[grindill]

Kravo, thanks for that link. Some pretty nice picture there. I'll be pulling a few for my inspiration page.

Worked a little on the artifact today. Just testing some things out.

Later

[omnicypher]

i really like that artifact! it would be cool to have a screensaver with one of those bouncing around the screen and spinning.

[jac3d]

hi, i see some good concept can u add more draw detail?...good luck

[grindill]

Worked a little on the concept sketch today. I'm thinking that I'll take off the rows of bones around the shoulder pads and elbows and continue the line of spikes across the top of the shoulder out to a bigger bone spike on the shoulder tip. Kind of tie it in better with the head and arms. I might reduce the size of the plate that goes down the center of his back to make more room for the artifact.

Bigger mandibles. Must have bigger mandibles. MWAHAHAHAH!!!!