Eric2575

Very nice, lot's of potential.

5 stars!!!

Matt is right, this one is very grainy. The previous one looks better. Is there something not quite right with the way the chain is connedted to the beam? The angle at the connection point?

There are two quick background modeling fixes I picked up on pretty quickly - one, the jackhammer's handle is floating off the ground; two, the large curved piece of sheetmetal on the right is also floating at the top left edge. Ok, three - the girders on the bridge like construction don't look like they are fastened together, they just look stacked like a house of cards. Nothing to nit pick on your model though.

Thank you Stian, very easy to follow.

The arms, shoulders, chest and legs from about mid thigh down look great, but the midsection still looks like it needs attention. The shoulders and chest look like they are morphing into what you need, but the morph has stopped just above the sternum. Maybe a few strokes of definition around the mid section, a little less uniform roundness. This is going very well indeed.

If you're looking for tips on the hair, it looks like it may have too much specular intensity? Seems a bit oversaturated. Coming along nicely.

I agree with Jeff, keep it going. As you progress, I can start to imagine what it would look like with a cool background. It's a cool style.

Weird impression I got from looking at that last image - a man's head on a child's body?? I do agree with Gazz though that the first one was a bit too long. Really nice progress.

Stian: You truly have a gift - awesome. I had made a comment in a previous post that your background was an HDRI image and I was right. Are those types of images projected onto a sphere via a projection map material? I'm still a little hazy on how to compose such a scene. Also, the transition from the car to the ground to the background, so seamless, how is that done? Ok, what's it gonna cost me to get you to divulge your secrets? How long did it take you to model the car? Do you tweak the bias values? You seriously need to make some video tutorials and sell them to AM users. Instant success by your reputation alone. Great work Stian Regards Eric

Nothing I can say that hasn't been said, so I'll chime in - BRAVO!!! Lee, this is superb, everything about it!

Poor Speedy!

AAAAhhhhhh! She is scary!!! Reminds me of that actress that played the little girl in the Adams Family - Nina something or other. She'll be tough, good luck.

You're doing great, we all had to start somewhere Lee has a link to the creator of the original "Big Daddy", here it is: http://kingmob.cgsociety.org/gallery/ This will give you another great reference. Be persistent, finish the model, and keep us posted. The constructive criticism of this forum makes anyone a better modeler. Cheers Eric

Lee: Thanks for the link to Ian Joyner, that guy does amazing work. Now I also have a couple of extra reference pics. Oh yeah, I do intend to texture this guy quite a bit.

Thanks guys, for chiming in. Martin was right, it was a Normals issue. I usually check that first thing, but haven't had trouble with N's in a while that I flew right past 'em this time. Doh! Rendering fine now. Thanks again Eric

Pretty self explanatory. When I use a decal and apply it as a distortion map, it produces these tears in my model's arms. The percentage is only set to about 70, so it's not like it's stretching the map all to heck and back. The decal is applied in a on/off pose with the models arms set to origin in the correct orientation with a "cylindrical" application method. What is causing these tears?

Thanks guys. I agree, the model isn't that difficult, it's the decals and textures that will make it, or break it. Now if I could only texture like some of the TWO team guys!!!

Thanks Ken, I'll consider that.

Eric helping Eric No problem, glad I could help.

I'm not sure what you are decribing, but there are a couple of thoughts that come to mind. First off, make sure all splines are smoothed, by selecting them and hitting "O". Next, select one of the cp's on an affected spline and hit "," this will select all the cp's on that spline. If the spline just ends somewhere in the middle of a run, then you know you have two splines intersecting. These intersections in the middle of a run cause some of these anomalies. You then need to select the last highlighted cp and disconnect it from the run by hitting "shift +K". Now left click the cp and while you hold down the left mouse button, right click the mouse. This will reattach the cp to the next spline joining them to make one continuous spline. One problem you may encounter during this is if there are more than two splines meeting in the affected intersection. In this case, you need to disconnect the splines and move them slightly to see what is connected and what is not. Then join as needed. I just did an experiment and added a spline to a mesh holding down the shift button. I believe this is causing all your problems. It seems holding the shift button and adding a spline adds a new spline to the mesh without making a continuous spline. This will give you lots of discontinuous splines and lots of anomalies. I never use that shift function. As a beginning modeler, I suggest you stay away from it also until you understand spline flow and order better. You can correct these problem areas with the method I described to you above.

Small update. The material is just for initial visualization, nothing permanent.

This is turning out to be a teriffic thread for anyone starting to model a character. Mark please keep posting your advice to model for better animation. It seems there is lots of stuff for a smooth model, but not so much for smooth animation. Ken, could you explain the "x" above the eyebrow? Maybe a rough before and after pic? Dhar, keep it coming

Since you already rendered, can we assume you have the project saved? If so, shut down AM and restart.

Dhar: You've been around for so long, I would never have guessed that this would be your first model. Very nice indeed! If this is your start, I can't wait to see your finish.