Roman

[JohnArtbox]

Thanks to insomnia I had a few hours free time last night, but not being in the right head space to do Kapsules, I decided to model a simple character. Lots of cleaning up and tweaks to do (back of the neck, thumbs and a face for starters) but I thought I'd post this stage.

[attachmentid=11499]

[steve392]

That looks like a fun character ,lots of stretch and squash with that guy

[dre4mer]

I love the character!! Just the way he carries himself shows some great attitude. I can't wait to see him with a face

 

-Ethan

[trajcedrv]

John, you are inspiration!

 

drvarceto

[Rodney]

John,

You probably know without me saying what I think of your Hero models.

I want you to finish all your Kapsule work but I REALLY am looking forward to seeing more of your Heroes.

 

Glad to see you occasionally get distracted.

 

Best,

Rodney

[JohnArtbox]

Another hour, and he's thinking...but not very well.

You don't need to think much when you can lift a semi trailer.

Thanks for all the feedback[attachmentid=11799]

[Dagooos]

ahhah another cool character. I really like that kind of style.

[JohnArtbox]

UV Sub patch distribution question?

 

I use a certain amount of 4 point lathes and extrusions while modelling. To decal them, I then split the objects in half and decal either sidebut the outside areas of the decals, where the patches curve away, exhibit stretching. Is there a way to get those patches to uv evenly across the patche's surface, much like if an image stamp was applied to the patch? I know that increased geometry would give me greater control over the decal, but the simple models are faster to animate.

[attachmentid=12017]

[JohnArtbox]

Resolved the decalling by using cylindrical projection decals in two stages(front and back), on the different parts of the body.

 

[attachmentid=12080]

This variation on the character is for a spec project. Once I get the model complete and decalled I'll post an example of what I mean.

[JohnArtbox]

Moving along...added lots of little details, armour pieces, sandles and a sword. Also I rounded the face a little more as it did not work effectively for a front on view. Now I need to build a sheath for the sword and fix the helmet. Used spline Alpha, Gamma and Magnitude a lot for this model to keep the spline count down.

[attachmentid=12245]

The sword is a perfect example.

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[arkaos]

Awesome character, Mr. Artbox. You have a keen eye for making simple yet totally lively characters. I can't wait to see what you do with this guy! Great work.

[Zaryin]

Hey John, he's looking awesome so far. Love the armor.

[JohnArtbox]

Thanks Jeff/arkaos

Fanbones and TSM2 Rigged. Need to add smartskin for the skirt/ kilt and then set up my facial rig and he's ready for animation. I think I need to enlarge the swords to fit his admittedly oversized hands.

[attachmentid=12420]

[trajcedrv]

Great work!

 

Romans used small (short) swords, so it feels that its size is just about right...

 

Keep us posted!

 

Drvarceto

[OdinsEye2k]

You may want to smartskin the knees as well. The bending a little noodly.

[NancyGormezano]

HE IS GREAT! You do have a knack for engaging characters.

[phnxpyre]

Thanks Jeff/arkaos

Fanbones and TSM2 Rigged. Need to add smartskin for the skirt/ kilt and then set up my facial rig and he's ready for animation. I think I need to enlarge the swords to fit his admittedly oversized hands.

[attachmentid=12420]

 

Actually, in personal opinion , the sword looks kind of comical when it is small, but it could be a tad bit bigger. It fits his overall character.

 

Awesome Character!!!!!!!!!!!!! , really cool to see your progress.

[JohnArtbox]

BitMapStyle render.

[attachmentid=12467]

The end use is for integration into a live action scene, so he won't end up this way, but I thought it was worth a test render.

papergrain and very slight paper displacement added in Painter.

[NancyGormezano]

love it even more - fantastic rendering style.

[nimblepix]

This is so cool.

Can Painter batch render a bunch of TGA's like this?

[robcat2075]

Wonderful looking images. That centurion should have a short to star in.

[JohnArtbox]

Thanks all:D

Nimblepix Painter can, as can pretty much all current image editors.

If your current image editor won't do it PDPro is easier, cheaper and faster than Painter(it just wasn't on the machine I was using).

[PlJack]

That has got to be the coolest render style I have seen in a long time.

Having characters "move on the page" would look pretty impressive.

 

BTW I have been away for quite some time, in a few words, what is the status of your Kapsules project?

[JohnArtbox]

This is mycontest entry for the Heroes comp, but seeing as how anyone looking here already knows the character, and as it uses the new version 13 displacement for the ground(4 whole patches) I felt I could post it.

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PLJack...Kapsules is still slowly happening between commercial work....damn having to work for a living.

[itsjustme]

Kapsules just keeps getting better. Very nice stuff.

[Paul Forwood]

Great stuff, as usual, John!

[JohnArtbox]

Props...the mushroom is decalled, the tomato also, but the leaves need to be painted, while the garlic and capsicum have had UV's established but the decals aren't painted yet

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[DarkLimit]

John awsome character..lots of personality..... love your stuff...........

[Gerry]

Yeah, this is really great stuff John! It's great to see it develop over the various stages.

Gerry

[KenH]

Ooo....lovely vegetables! Almost TWO material..hint hint.

[Zaryin]

Yeah, I love those vegatables. Especually your decal on the mushroom. What's your lighting set-up for this one?

[JohnArtbox]

Thanks Guys....next stage. Mostly happy with the capsicum and mushroom, not so much with the tomato, and the garlic is only half textured. Three more models before animation.

[attachmentid=13765]

Ken: if TWO needs veggies you're welcome to them, let me know where to post them.

Zaryin:Key and twin Skycast skydome sun lights with shadows.

[JohnArtbox]

Rendertime was killing me(lots of soft reflections) so I had to rethink my setup.

I'm stripping everything down, no more procedural materials and reflections, everything is done with decals and environment maps.

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romanA.mov

[Paul Forwood]

Oh man, that is so good, John!

Great character and great render!

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Wonderful work John... always nice to see your stuff.

[dimos]

Rendertime was killing me(lots of soft reflections) so I had to rethink my setup.

I'm stripping everything down, no more procedural materials and reflections, everything is done with decals and environment maps.

[attachmentid=14843]

 

 

WOW!!! Beautiful renders.....what was the specs for setup, include resolution too please? Beautiful!...

 

and please let me know render times. I know you said they were killing you but I still am interested.

 

Dimos

[luckbat]

That is exquisite. Despite the shortcuts you've taken, I think it's the most beautiful model treatment I've yet to see you produce.

 

Please add me to the list of people clamoring for a pictorial breakdown of the techniques you used to create this painterly look.

[Zaryin]

Great! You are the king of breaking things down.

[JohnArtbox]

Thanks guys, you're good for the ego

Dimos: From memory PAL res was taking between 15 and 20 minutes with reflections & soft shadows. Not really a long time, but enough that I started to look for ways to cut it down.

The turntable animation is set at 400x400 uses no procedural materials, has no reflections and uses zbufferred lights, although I did add Yves Skin Shader. It rendered at 25 seconds a frame. For anyone interested in the light setup it's my simple default 3 point light setup(I posted it in the default lighting thread).

Luckbat: For a while I've been leaning towards the idea that a renderer can be used like a paintbrush. Instead of the slavish hunt to duplicate reality, use models and textures to create 3d sketches. Forget radiousity and encompassing reality, instead embrace shadow and environment maps, textures, painted elements, compositing and stage design.

[3DArtZ]

Love the character and the render looks great!!!!

 

Are we going to see a short w/this model?

 

Mike Fitz

www.3dartz.com

[dimos]

Dimos: From memory PAL res was taking between 15 and 20 minutes with reflections & soft shadows. Not really a long time, but enough that I started to look for ways to cut it down.

The turntable animation is set at 400x400 uses no procedural materials, has no reflections and uses zbufferred lights, although I did add Yves Skin Shader. It rendered at 25 seconds a frame. For anyone interested in the light setup it's my simple default 3 point light setup(I posted it in the default lighting thread).

 

 

Thanks John. I'll have to look into it some more....Very nice indeed! I hope you don't mind me picking your brain (and your awesome rendering skills)? DAMN!!!! Good stuff all around!!!

 

I wonder how long it would render at a wide aspect HD or film output? Any ideas? How'bout using AO? Sorry for all the questions but you seem to now your stuff here.... I'm interested because I am working on a short (still in development) and I would love to get the render times down if I can without losing the look. If need be we'll have to live with longer render times to get the right look. But so far what I've seen from your render it looks rather possible.

 

Very VERY impressed.

 

Dimos

 

P.S. Oh by the way.....Rendering does NOT need to be always realistic so "YEAH!!!!" to the artistic rendering styles becoming more prevelant in the next gen of films and projects and so on.....

[DanCBradbury]

That's a realy cool effect with the breast plate. How did you achieve the beaten steal look? Was it a material, or did you make maps for all of those?

 

The only thing i see that you might want to change is his skin looks a little too shiney... unless he's in battle, which then it looks perfect

[JohnArtbox]

quick animation trial..first pass only lots to do. He will actually kick a tomato(about a quarter his size) at the peak of the jump.

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Mike: not a short...some shots for the demo tape and maybe a spec ad. Real world integration and camera tracking is planned.

Dimos : I haven't done much hd, but if you're willing to live with shadow maps and faked reflection, short render times are possible. Compositing and breaking your chors into layers will help tremendously.

Dan: the breastplate is a combination of colour and bump decals combined with an environment map material. The skin's an aesthetic decision...plus I was seeing how far I could use environment maps

roman.mov

[Dhar]

Good looking back flip. The head needs to tilt back as soon as he's off the ground.

Nice work

[JohnArtbox]

Moving right along...

I've still got a fair bit of work to do...but this is probably it for a while. Off the top of my head I need to animate his face, fix the tomato when it gets hit by the blade, get a better background, speed the timing up a bit.

 

[attachmentid=15900]

roman.mov

[arkaos]

Great animation! I really like the motion blur in this.

[3DArtZ]

That was good!!!

This one of those things in my mind... if you were only able to see this one time through, like on tv, you would have seen nothing wrong with it and the audience would love it.

 

But if you slow it down and watch it over and over and over again, you'll find that you could probably edit every little thing down to teeth and tongue position:)

 

I like it as is, but you probably, as you mentioned are going make it even bette!

 

Nice work

Mike Fitz

www.3dartz.com

[Paul Forwood]

I love it, John!

Your usual high standards are still showing.

[steve392]

Ha ha active little devil aint he ,very nice animating and a graet charector

[robcat2075]

Hey, fine looking stuff! That's a feature-quality looking character! I hope this is a pilot for a series or something because I can totally see that.

 

One ani-bit... around fr. 22-23 his feet are leaving the ground flat-footed. If he pushed off with his toes leaving the ground last it would look like a more forceful jump.