patrick_j_clarke

Okay, I've been away for a while, and Rodney told me to check out this thread. WOW! Great job on the model Lee!! I know how it is working with the old red and gold armored guy and the armor you've modeled is quite the complex set of duds! The final render is nicely done (although I prefer a little more red and gold personally) and is top quality! Would love to see War Machine created by you. - pjc

At some point (when and if I do more than one character) I think something could be possible, but I haven't heard from the creators of the series at all yet. - pjc

yes, those are bump maps. I overexaggerated the abs a little more than I usually would because of the white and red, and when it goes to CMYK I was worried it would flatten a little too much. I've had people say he looks like Sgt. Slaughter, but John Cleese, I like that too! - pjc

It felt very "Astro City" Alex Ross to me, but it could be the costume... Thanks, martin! - pjc

While I was continuing work on my Superman model I had a stop at Image comics booth during the San Diego Comic Con, and got to talking to the great creative team that makes a superb comic called "Invicinble". As a study in how quickly I could take my Superman and turn him into Invincible's dad, "OmniMan" (he's their worlds Superman) I created this image. About 3 hours work. He's got a new face sculpt and new face map (based on my face this time). The funny thing is, he kinda reminds me of my dad...with a mustache...<<image missing>>...hopefully the guys at Invincible will dig it and put it in their book...fingers crossed...now back to Superman. - pjc

Nice start! The one thing to remember with Wolvie is that he ain't much of a smile-type guy I don't know if would help, but I'd go buy a Wolverine figure to help out. You can still tweak it to your stlye, but having something to hold and turn sure helps out sometimes! ...and Rodney, dig the John Byrne pix! I was a big fan of the "brown costume"! - pjc

Well, the model started as Jim's Superman Kingdom Come model, but I resculpted it to do my version of Superman. His neck is in a pretty extreme pose, so that might have something to do with things, but I will look into making the neck muscles line up. - pjc

cool! I wanna wind him up and GO!! Nice modeling! - pjc

Thanks for the comments everyone! Rodney, I tried to point the toes even more, but they ended up looking like little nubs...Now that I look at it again, it might work better to have his knees bent a little more like he's swooping up...I'll look at it. Jim, it was a great model to begin with. I am in your gratitude for creating a great model for me to monkey with! As far as this being a "Showcase" image....here's my thougths: I really had no intention of creating anything more than just a test image for some poses I was working on to test the rig and Smart Skin (which I have some work to do in the chest area when he pulls his shoulders back) and I had a sky model hanging around from my Iron Man work, so I just threw it in as a background to see how AO interacts with it as a test for future work... So, this composition just kind of happened, no plan, nothing. For some reason I think that when I make something for the Showcase I plan it a little more I have some definate plans for some new images, so keep an eye out! - pjc

I don't know if it's really a Showcase piece, but after finishing the modeling and getting the bones setup and the Smart Skin, I needed to do a simple pose to see how everything is working...so maybe a step up from a WIP? Well, here it is: Rendered in A:M v13f, AO turned on with one Key light and Sky Textured sphere, as an OpenEXR and then motion-blurred in Adobe Photoshop. Size was originally 1400 X 2000 but was cropped in Photoshop. Render time was around 2.5 hours on my Mobile P4 with 2GB RAM. - pjc

Yeah, a brand new photo-based image map for the face. here's a gif of the "face progress" with base skin, my face, then Kevins: - pjc

What a difference a face makes. I finally got pictures of my buddy (and fellow A:M'er) Kevin Lyon. I quickly did a replace of my face with Kevin's late last night (quick and dirty) and here's the results: I think it works really well. My blonde hair and fair complexion just didn't work as well I think... Here's Kevin: Now I have to build the final face map, unwrap and finish up the skin on the head. I'll report back with details and pictures soon. - pjc

Wow. (that's all I got) How many hours would you say you've put into this? - pjc

Mr. Incredible? Hmm, I haven't heard that one. What features make you think of him, the jaw? My references for the model were this mixture (not really scientific, but it looks cool to use numbers): 10% Brandon Routh (I used a side view of Routh as a rotoscope for parts of the bridge of the nose and forehead) 10% Christopher Reeve (side profile of the nose and jaw) 25% Alex Ross' Superman (Alex's is a little older than mine) 35% The "comic" amalgam of DC comics Superman and/or how I would draw him. 10% Me. Since I'm using my face as a texture map I tweaked the geometry to match some of my face. 10% Jim Talbots underlying Kingdom Come model. The funny thing is, someone mentioned that he looks like Bruce Campbell. The more I look at him, I can see that. I appreciate the feedback and the crit! - pjc

Thanks martin! I can't wait to hook some BVH motion to him and see how much work I need to do to the rig setup! Gotta work on a little storyboard too. I did some more tweaking of the face map in the UV editor (man do I love that tool) and started to map the rest of the skin (added the ear maps), and then wanted to do a silly little test, but I think it's important. I wanted to see how Superman read at a small size (simulating a small comic panel) Now this facial pose isn't extreme or exciting, but I wanted some sort of expression (yay, now I just remembered all of face poses I'm gonna have to set up!). So, a little test, AO rendered of course: - pjc

Yeah, I think it'd be cool to take Jim's model, spice it up and make a pin-up of them! Here's the latest "experiment". The guy that I wanted to use for a face model had to leave work before I could get pictures, so I dug in the PJC archives and found an old face map of myself. I've only applied it to the face (so you may notice some seams, etc) to get an idea of what it looks like. I'm still thinking I will probably do a 50/50 blend between a photo face (hopefully I'll get pictures on Monday) map and the base photo skin map I have: And now the images: Close with PJC face map Superman: "What are you doing to me?" - pjc

I added a nice diffuse map to the body and added a photo based bump map (thanks 3D.sk). I didn't like any of the faces that came with my 3D.sk package so I've got one of my friends who is "bruce campbell-ish" and I'm gonna shoot some pix of him soon to try the face. Used A:M composite to work on the image, but it doesn't seem to load in the AO lighting very well...so I ended up doing some tweaking in A:M composite to the lighting and specular, then taking that image into Photoshop and combining it with the original EXR file...Photoshop brings the AO EXR in just fine, btw. I love A:M composite, btw. Great way to tweak lighting, etc. quickly and with 16 bits per channel, whooo it has lots of room to play with. Here's the full body with the diffuse map for the costume and bump for the face. and a close up of the face. I'll update with photo mapped face as soon as I get it done, whether or not I like it! HA! - pjc

The arms might be a bit too skinny in my opinion. I don't think S-girl should be SHE-HULK buff, but I think she could have a little muscle structure in the arms. Keep us up to date. - pjc

LIGHTBEING , you can check out my Iron Man WIP, it should explain a lot...Also, check out Yves AO/HDRI thread in the Radiosity forum....good stuff. IRON MAN AO WIP LINK martin, I totally understand. Glenn and Alex command quite a presence over at DC, and it might take something that is as "real" as theirs to get DC to notice. ...and you know what, it never hurts to try to break outside of your "style". Sure, I'll get some different face maps (now I'm just using a photo skin texture for the face) and let's take this to the next step. It may turn out like crap (not because of the software mind you) but let's see. - pjc

ahhh, more of a cuff, right? I see. - pjc Ahhh! I appreciate the input Martin. We both probably have the same Alex Ross book and I totally know what you are talking about, but part of what I don't like in Alex's work is that they are a little too real....it looks too much like a guy in tights... I don't know if I want to go hyper-real, even in the still/comic style. My goal isn't to be just like Alex Ross, but digital, it's more to be known the digital style as Alex Ross/Greg Horn are to painted style. I've tried to carve out a certain style (hasn't gotten me a job yet, tho) that you all have seen with Iron Man, Gail, Cy-Bot, etc....it's comic-real... But maybe for the animated piece....I'm still interested in putting together something as an animation...maybe it needs to be more photo-real...I know A:M could definatley do a great job at it. - pjc I'm worried about the blue when/if it goes to print, so I've bumped up the saturation a bit. I don't like the colors that were selected for the movie, they just seemed dull. I read in "Superman: Birthright" something that stuck with me. It said something like: "He chose the colors not to hide, but tell everyone he is here, and he isn't hiding anything." I was looking at the turnaround at his neck, and I think you may be right on. I will do some tweaking tonight to see what happens... Thanks for the input! - pjc

So, more like a sweater sleeve? - pjc

I thought the bump map was getting to "Final Fantasy" movie...just a personal preference I guess, I didn't like the bump mapping in that movie, I thought it made them seem more waxy and dead. But at print res and smaller, I think the bump map will work. On to progress...finally gave up on the Skin Shader for the face. After reading some of Yves posts, I think I'll do what he did...use maps for the face, and things that need photo textures and the skin shader for just the "plain skin"...which isn't much on Superman. I moved the lights as Zariyn suggested, but they weren't close to the light anyway. I think it's just a case of the shader not mixing well with my skin maps. Tweaked the "S" shield a little to give a better highlight at certain angles, but you might not notice it in the shots below. Also, did my interpretation of the boots again...made them a little more "pointy" at the top and added the "V" that a lot of Superman designs have at the top of the boot. I think it's subtle, but adds just enought detail. What do you guys think? Getting close to being done on the modeling and texturing, so if there is any craziness you want to tell me about, let me know! - pjc

I will check my light tonight and see if that helps, thanks for the tip! - pjc

Thanks! I'm not too happy with the bump-map right now on his face, so I'm gonna work on that tonight...and I gotta play with the skin shader. I kinda like what it does from a distance, but up close, I'm not sure. Also, the new face map kinda "hard-edged" the hair-line on the sides. Ahh....progress. - pjc

No, I didn't start with Dex. I started with a model of Kingdom Come Superman that Jim Talbot donated a long time age. It' all in my Superman thread in the WIP section if you're interested. - pjc