cfree68f

Putting some bling on him now! I'm liking the hair to.. I think I'll keep it. [attachmentid=14434] edit:: yeah, thats the one ring in his nose.

Good call on the nostrils lucbat... you're right.. and I'm going to fix that as well (you are the observant one ;-) and as far as the legs.. I'm leaving them like this till I figure out whether I'll cover them in hair or not. The hair would make them more substantial and if his legs where allready big his lower body could become to big in comparison.. I want to hilite how bulky his torso is. He's still bitmap plus. Just for now though.. I'll probably do texture maps in the end. If I don't use hair.. and I'm seriously considering it at this point or maybe more patchy hair.. then I'll bulk up the legs. yep.. and I found a neat trick for that.. they are actually just attached into a finished mesh (ie not legal patch connections but it doesnt matter where they connect because they are supposed to be sharp anyway. I just like having contiguous parts for some stupid reason. thanks for the crits and comments guys.. they really help keep me honest. I find without someone pushing me to make something better.. I'll shortcut it more than I should, I'm just lazy at heart I guess. C

More progres, actually I tweeked allot of stuff at this point. I totally redid the arms and hands. I consider these my best arms to date, so tear them apart so I can make them better. [attachmentid=14424] a better beauty shot to show the rest of the progress. This was my initial concept for the neck, but I'm not sure I want to keep it this way. I may come back and change it later. Reswizzled the abdomen per Karl's input Totally tweeked the back to make it more anatomically correct (for one bullish overly steroidal demon) and redid a bunch around the neck (besides finishing it). I'm pretty happy with him at this point and will probably finish the mouth and eyes and start working on clothes and texture for him. Unless someone gives me some input that makes me want to change him (highly probable.. I'm easily influenced ;-) [attachmentid=14425] and a wire frame (sorta) [attachmentid=14426] thanks for all the crits to date.. as usual they help allot. C

Thanks guys, brainmuffin, that would be awesome to get more seamless scales. I like whats going on with the ones I"ve got, but its always good to have options. C

Well, I was a little disgruntled with the render time on the first image using my demon skin Material, so I thought I'd look for possible alternatives to texture this guy. I found some interesting closeups of snakes scales and thought I'd play around with BitmapPlus to create an easy texture to work with. I'm thinking it might not be feasable in its current incarnation, but I like the results and the look. and I'm definately thinking about a dragon for my next model now. anyway here's a go with a more gorgon like skin. [attachmentid=14376]

Nide work Steve! my only two cents would be to smooth out some of the square edges. Unless of course thats part of the style for him. Looking at him.. it very well could be. If you did decide to modify him with smoother edges.. I'd keep a version as he is now, becuase he's got allot of character. Great work. C

Heres a wireframe. The proportions.. upper to lower are intentional at this point.. though I may make his hooves more prominant. and He'll probably have fur on the legs like the original I posted.. I'm just working without for now. I am going to try and use the new displacement to really cut him up, but thats gonna take some practice. In the end I'd like to see him move around like King Kong on his knuckles. [attachmentid=14281]

Yep I suppose I should have explained more. ;-) His head isnt connected yet because well.. I'm still working on it. but his head will indeed be hanging way out in front of his body.. very hunched over. He's 12 or so feet tall so I doubt he needs to look up much anyway. I'll look into that belly Karl. And you are right lucbat.. he is knock kneed.. but thats by design untill he's rigged. I figured he should have forward pointing knees so that when I go to rig him.. the IK won't be weird to set up. That said.. he will probably be bow legged and splay footed just to keep his balance. I'll post more pics as he progresses. Keep scrutinizing guys.. it really does help me allot. C

The fur will be back.. I'm just "re-jigging" him from the ground up. C

first off... breath.... second lets see some pictures. (shaded is nice but wireframes and screen grabs of bones is nicer) Check out my tutorials.. and also the ARM site.. you'll find all the info and pictures you need there... my site is.. http://www.colins-loft.net/tutorials.html the arm is... http://www.lowrestv.com/arm/ Hope that helps C

OK.. so I posted some progress on this guy a loooooooong time back, and I've been back at him for about a month now. I've actually done his head 3 times.. Its hard getting the right mix. But I think I'm on the right track now (maybe) I've also got one other body thats not near as beafy, but I like him being more hulk like. I think this ones got legs ( goat legs but those still count right?) Opinions, rips, and general constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Ohhh and even though I love his skin.. its probably going to have to change (at least the method) this material took over 9 hours to render one frame at 16 passes [attachmentid=14239] C

Welcome Back

Steve, the wireframe looks pretty good, but it highlights a few areas I'd think about changing. the upper lip has to many horizontal splines I think. Not much happens right under the nose as far as animation goes, so you shouldn't need so many splines. The action areas on the mouth would be at the sides and lower lip. the upper mainly purses or snarles. You could probably actually run two of those upper lip splines coming from the eyes down under the mouth to give it more of a wrap and use some of the splines that are curling up from the upper lip as downward splines for frown lines. Wolverine scowls allot more than he smiles ;-) As it is none of the splines from the upper lip go down toward the jaw. I think this goes against the topology of the face a little. the lines running from the nose down and the upper lip all flow down from the face unless you are smiling. Since you want to model in neutral poses.. perhaps you should run some of the upper lip horizontal splines down over the side of the lip. Check out the "witch" I did to see what I mean. His jawline could flare a little at the back for a more muscular look and pull some of the patches at the sides of the lip down and in for a stronger less blocky chin. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm tearing him apart. I'm not. He's a very strong model as he stands right now, but I think he could be better with a few tweaks. If something I said doesn't make since.. send me a note or ask it here and I'll elaborate. C

Hey Steve, Its looking really good. The eyes are spot on. there seems to be a crease or something around the sides though. Probably just needs to be budged a bit. The chin seems out of proportion (at least for a realistic head) but that may be what you're going for if the style is more charicature than photoreal. I usually treat the chin like an hourglass shape. It pinches just below the lip and flares (depending on the chin) toward the jaw. Its looking great! Keep up the good work.. and post a wireframe. Maybe we can help with the low spline thing. C

Hey LuckBat, I'm heading up tomorrow. Are we still on for Monday? If so can you send me an email with your phone number, so I can contact you if something comes up or I need directions? Send it to me at cfree68@earthlink.net Looking forward to it. C

Thanks Lucbat, no I hadnt seen that thread I don't think. That answers many questions thanks. Now to play ;-) C

Hey jo b. First off.. you guys.. well.. you're my inspiration. Not to sound like a fanboy. But I've been dying to know... How do you guys do your render. I know you use multiple layered renders to simulate GI.. but I've never been able to get the same result. Have you posted the proccess anywhere on this or other forums? I know this may be proprietary and I understand if its an issue to describe the proccess, but you guys rock with this renderer. And I'd love to be able to get the same results. Can you point me in the right direction? Oh.. and for the record.. Sunny Side of the street .. My alltime favorite. That short rocked my world. Keep up the fantastic work guys. C

I'll be there with bells on. Can you send me an email with the directions to your place Lucbat. I'm at the Time Square Hilton, I'll probably take a cab to your place and catch one back later unless you know a better mode of transit. Should be fun. C

theres the potential for sunday night, but with tradeshows, you never know. They might go all the way up to midnight making changes. I could always just disappear around dinner time on saturday and not come back ;-) Say I got mugged by some guys who wanted some Hash (no lying). probably any evening later in the day, say after 6, is good as well. I'm open. C

Your right.. I need to wear the ninja costume and bring the beer.. Someone needs to bring a camera and tape the whole thing.. Then we can post it on the web and I'll become the next starwars kid ;-P Fame and fortune will be mine... or I'll spend the night in jail undergoing personal ninjitsu training from my future fat friend "Bruno".... hmmm... on second thought, I'll leave the suit at home. I'll be there from January 13th to the 17th. I'll be on call most likely for the first few days but if we can do it on the 16th in the noon or evening, that'd be cool. C

Wow! thanks for the warm welcome guys. I'll let you know in a few days when a good time is. Should I bring my ninja costume and swords or leave them and bring the beer? C

Hey Guys, I'll be in New York in the middle of January, for a week. If you guys have a meeting, I'd like to attend. I live to far away to be a member, but its allways cool getting to hang out with other AM users. Plus who wouldnt want to say they went to a Ninja meeting ;-) C

Its a good model Seven, but I think you made him look to nice and way to normal. Can you make him a little more hideous or Ugly? Just my opinion. Good work though. Love the Kerry Model. Excellent form. You guys should collaborate and create an animation. C

lol.. good one Vern! C

Another 360 with most of the suggested changes.. - Hunched back (though it probably needs more) - Bigger hands and forearms - I like the hair on the legs better (though that probably needs more work as well) - Added the cleft to the hooves, but its not noticable with the hair.. it is there though ;-) - Scaled the material down alot. I realised when I zoomed in for a quick render it was about 400 percent to big on him. This one is closer to the actual scale for his skin. Probably tweek it some more eventually. http://www.colins-loft.net/free/examples/Demon/DemonHair.htm Can anyone give me a clue as to what might be going on in the hair on his legs? All I can figure is that maybe the specular is causing the noise. Half of this spin is with the camera facing set at 0.. the other half I tweeked it to 2 percent thinking that might fix it without making the hair animate in a spin to the camera. No go Not sure if I agree, but I respect the opinion. My thought is that when he gets his actual Demon head wich will be much more monstrous.. That will combine with his overall size to make him scary. I find skinny demons to look wimpy and unnatural (not that theres anything natural about demons ;-P My thought is that Demons don't care about their looks, They exist for greed, glutony, evil, and general self centeredness. If thats the case, they'd probably more resemble a Sumo wrestler than a body builder. Now there is their supernatural metabilism to consider, as well. So I figured I'd go for something in the middle. I'm hoping for more of a WCW wrestler than a Sumo wrestler, but we'll see how he develops. Thanks for all the help so far. I find these critiques to be worth their weight in gold. Keep them coming. C