JavierP

Interesting intro. Sort of reminiscent of a Zatoichi or a Toshiro Mifune film. I also like the inclusion of some authentic Aikido in the description. Should be good.

The Popeye forearms bother me, but I like it none-the-less. Hey ... what's wrong with Popeye forearms?! Great models Hutch. You have a very clean and appealing style.

Thanks ken and David. Yes his nose was too coarse-looking for my tastes as well. I have changed that area of his bump map already.

Thanks Matt. The rim light is made by a "rim light". Its just a light placed behind the character, however, shadow casting is turned off. This only works if the light is at a glancing angle in relation to the model or the lack of shadows can become distracting.

Well here's a minor update ... I'm still working on this but it has been slow going. This is the second goon to follow the shaman. Hopefully I can have him rigged and ready to go by the end of the day.

Thanks guys. I've begun preliminary work on color and spec maps : There are still areas that need work but he is nearing completion. I need to hurry up as I still have a few more of these guys to make.

Nice! It looks like you're using a z-buffered bulb light ( or omni light as it is called elsewhere). The only thing that I can't see is some yellow light reflected off Thom. Still great work thought. This is definitely proof that with a little work AM can certainly do just about anything.

Haven't had much time to work on this, but here's a small update. I'm beginning to refine details and will soon be ready for color mapping. This is displacement mapping, although bump mapping looks the same but really doesn't render any faster in my opinion.

Ok, the model is fully unwrapped and textured (at least all the areas I plan to use decals on). I have not seen many tutorials on this sort of thing. William Sutton had some good info on his site, but I'm can't recall all the details of it. In my case I really am just working to find the smoothest work-flow for my own projects. What I found was that if my model is dissected into logical groups that would take advantage of the mapping methods (spherical, cylindrical,planar) it was easier for AM to unwrap the geometry without too much distortion. If you look at my previous post of the UVs you see quite a few differences with the final result. The extra step of creating groups gave me much better control of the location of seams and the unwrap patterns. This model required 22 individual groups and stamps, but I'm sure that the number of stamps will change from model to model. The actual application of stamps is fairly straightforward, I will try to distill my technique and post a step by step for you to see.

Is this a new feature I've missed? How are you "auto-mapping" UVs? I don't think its a 'new' feature since I'm doing this with v13. I am still learning all the ins and outs of the new iterations of AM. Perhaps I'm not using the right terms, but I have found that manually flattening a model to apply decals is no longer necessary with the variety of application methods now offered (i.e. cylindrical, spherical, planar). It is fairly easy to map even a complex model with one decal to use in 3d painter (or even photoshop for that matter). AM unwraps them for you. Robcat has done some demonstrations of it lately in his 11 second club thread. My approach is different from his but the results are the same. You basically end up with an UV setup like those seen in poly apps except with a whole lot more flexibility in less than half the time of manual flattening. It is a pretty powerful feature that does not seem to get much attention.

I managed to get some more work done on this project. UV mapping on the first character is almost finished. I'm just having a little trouble with the ears and the soles of his feet. I may have to flatten them manually instead of using the auto mapping in AM. Also working on a second goon for the orc leader. its on to paint as soon as he is fully mapped just fleshing out the face still. I may just modify the body of the first goon and attach it to his head ...

Here's a goon to follow the orc shaman. Its a model based on the original shaman model, but there are specific differences in the face layout and the layout of the torso. They will look similar because they are of the same race naturally, but I only re-used a portion of the original model. More to come ...

Thanks guys. Unfortunately I can't enter this model in the contest. I had another model I intended to enter but could not finish in time. Actually that's sort of why I started this thread. Here are some pics of the other model. Since I won't enter, I guess I can show it. Still plenty to do, rigging, textures, clothsim etc... Good luck to all those who entered. Maybe I'll submit something next year ...

Hey thanks! I was worried about the arms for deformation when posing but they seem to work ok. Up next is texturing. I will be using 3d painter.

Hi, I've been planning to complete several projects in AM but I can't seem to get things rolling at a good pace. So I figured that if I post some WIPs I might be spurred along by the forum and eventually complete something. I usually have a few things going on at once so its a little difficult to concentrate on one project through to completion. I will try to change that for the new year. Hopefully I can find some success by doing this. The project I'm currently working on is fairly complex with numerous characters and a very detailed background with lots of action. It will be a still. I am doing this only for my own amusement, especially since it would probably be easier for me to just paint the image. The first model is of an orc chieftain or shaman. I still have to add accessories. and a closeup of the face, Hopefully I can keep this going till its done.