genius loci

Zaryin I just LOVE the bellybutton. Why didn't I ever think of that for mine. Do you mind if I remodel a bit? I wonder what kind of bellybutton I should have though... Anyhow - I also was inspired by your demons knees to add resolution and wrinkle his knees up but they haven't picked out too well in my final render. (No materials added yet) [attachmentid=12081]

Well............ that calls for a movie file I think? How long before you can upload one?

Simple patch-colour test. I've tweaked his tail longer and redone the legs and feet. His face has had some further remodelling around the mouth. This is my proposed last remodelling tweak before I start texturing and surfacing. Question - is there a surface that I could create that is dependant on the proximity of the camera? I'd like him to be sort of "Hellboy" rubbery but for the scaling, bumps and texture to only really be discernable as his bits get close to the camera. Oh yes, image.. nearly forgot! [attachmentid=11995]

I really like the style. Nice! The characters have real erm... character!

That's a really nice piece of film - my big crit however is that the hercules seems to lift off without the tilt backwards you often see in airplanes. All the wheels lift off at the same time?

I always LOVED the corsair, thanks for pulling out that pic. As for your design it's looking really good. However (there's always one isn't there) I think the shortened bonnet loses the grace that bothe the Corvette and the Corsair had. It looks too "stumpy" at present (IMHO) but I'd love to see updates on ANYTHING based on a Corsair (drooool)

[attachmentid=11543] Omigosh I can attach images again. Tweaked his ears on both sides now, redone his feet and legs (had to work on his butt as a consequence but not got round to the tail yet. (Still unsure of that - but maybe better let others decide)

arkaos, those are really nice wings! thanks for the offer Wasn't fear of modelling them - it was the stylistic choice. I never saw him with wings. HOWEVER I do like the idea of stubby little ones that wouldn't help him fly. Anyhow, here's the latest on the ears. Haven't had much time to spare this weekend though so I'll do some more tonight. Again, feedback would be much appreciated.[attachmentid=11493]

Thanks Steve, I'm reworking the ears as you suggest right now. If I was more of an animator I'd have lengthened his tail - I'll give that a go and see what you think. Bat wings...? you're killing me!

Hi, having read and seen the London user group thread I just wondered if there was a Northern User Group as (obviously) I'm oop North. <kricket kricket>

Thanks a lot for the comments! If I do anything with it it'll be posed images and nothing else. I'm not the animator I hoped I'd be once. Would love to do a comic or picture storybook though - but that depends on time. However - here's what the previous head looked like before I decided it wasn't demonic enough. [attachmentid=11300] Apologies again if it doesn't upload.

Hi agep, very good! He's actually got an old mesh as his starting point - a little baby-ape model (I haven't got an image to upload today) and I kept the "popeye" forearms and remade the feet as the originals were even more apelike. trajcedrv, I will revisit the legs and feet and see what comes up. the original model was for experimenting with v8.5 and v11 fur whereas this little guy is meant to be textured rather than furry. Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

Hope the attachement uploads....... please forgive me if it doesn't as this is my first attempt on this forum. [attachmentid=11245] I am using Roger Reynolds surface settings to check the surface for problems. This was modelled in 8.5 and then have started tweaking with the 2004 version of v11. Once again, I am really sorry if I wasted your time and the attachement didn't load. Opinions and feedback would be appreciated.

Great tip! I'm looking now at the horrors that before where unseen on my model.

very very funny, very simple character and it show just how far I have to go... thanks for sharing!

your request is my command. The mesh is no more than 2250 patches.

Thanks! I'm pleased that people have looked at the work. I shall post a wire frame but I left AM at home today so that'll be tomorrow. The fur is in version 10.5 and I'm planning giving away an unrigged zip file but it's 7.2mb so I don't know how many people would really want that. As to the fur-process - I had a lot of help & encouragement from others on this and other forums including Zandoria, Yves Poissont, Jim Talbot, KenH, Modernhorse etc etc I'm not sure about the rules here but if you want to follow the original thread that has images and how-to's, drop me a private email and I'll post you the link.

Thanks but I only used the tools put there by Hash, first time I tried to fur this little guy up (version 8.5) fur was good but took an awful lot of working to get anywhere. The above image - 1400 x 1400 pixels on my 900mhz processor (512) mb took 3-4 minutes with 9 passes. At home on my Mac, a 233G3 with 128Mb memory a 900 x 900pixel image took about 7-8 minutes and that was 5 passes. Hash have made PHENOMENAL progress with fur and the render speed since 8.5.

there will always be something else to tweak or change slightly but I think I've done most of the major modelling/surfacing stuff. Small stuff left to do - "dirty-smudges" on finger & toenails & teeth. Wrinkles on top of fingers & thumb But basically he's done. I'll now have a go in version 11 but I will do a different character instead.

some more work done in between meetings etc but this has been such fun and I've learnt so much doing it. I do intend getting this re-done in version 11 as soon as possible but I also want to finish this. I'd still love feedback - eyelids are on the cards tonight - and maybe tweaking the main bodyfur up to 65 or 70.

OK - todays post is my first colour map on the face and ears. I have gotten rid of the groups and hope the image is working a lot better now. May have to tone the colour density down a bit but feedback is still appreciated! Next job is to wrinkle up those finger-pads!

OK... this close up should show you what work still needs doing! I have a fast PC at work but a video card problem is preventing me placing decals accurately. I can see them great on my old Mac at home so Colour maps will have to wait till then. ( I also am not sure I can run version 11 on an old G3) If you look closely, you will see the facial and body colours are simple patch groups and the "jump" is uncomfortably sharp. Here's a close up, I have loosely positioned an ear bump map (see above why it's "loosely") but hope tonight to position texture and colour maps more accurately. Hopefully the next stages are going to be more finished stages of the model. Oh yes, I intend to get rid of the group colours and have texture colours instead.

hello! thanks for your feedback Randy- I am actually in (slow) progress with version 11 also but still couldn't figure out how to mask the areas I didn't want fur to appear in (despite Yves explaining how) do you have any tips? Grooming works per patch but can I mask areas within a patch yet?

Cylindrical Length map applied around wrist / forearm areas to shorten fur-length in accord with wrist fur. Also extended lighter cheek-fur into darker body fur to help blend areas so they don't look so... "Square?" (same shape as groups and patches)

Still in development but any feedback would be welcome. I eventually hope to take this guy into version 11 once I work some stuff out!