Saturn Grrl WIP

[CRToonMike]

Here's the first result that I'm willing to share as a WIP. Eventually she'll be Saturn Girl from DC Comics Legion (of Super-Heroes). The face still needs some smoothing.

 

The eyes are from the Animation:Master 2000 handbook by Jeff Paries. I only tweaked the Iris area by moving it inward. In some lighting situations, it'll look cool, as it'll have a hilight in the shadowed area. That's the theory, anyway.

 

Still getting the hang of renders and lighting in A:M, being used to Carrara for lo these long months. Plan on checking out the Forest or ARM for some tutes on them. Any suggestions?

 

I used the SAY boneHed as reference, as a number of other resources. The wireframe that Jim Talbot posted in the Alpha 11 hair thread was inspirational for me and I learned a lot by looking at it and trying to apply it to my head. Cindy Grove's tute on facial modeling really helped me get the eyelids right.

 

The ear is entirely mine, though. I did what could be called a "Reverse Extrusion" -- like with the lips, you start with the shape and then move outward and such. Did about the same thing with the ear, only I shaped a hole, selected the edges of it and extruded and scaled it smaller. Moved CPs around and repeated.

 

Still needs some work. Think I'll just do a shape for the hair. Eventually I hope to get some kind of "modeled out of clay" type render look for this.

 

Let me know what you think, no nits too small to pick!

 

Thanks!

 

Mike R.

[ZachBG]

I'm not a face guy--as my own WIPs all too clearly demonstrate--but I would also reccommend checking out Colin Freeman's face tutorial.

 

The only nit I can see--besides the smoothing which you've already mentioned--is the hook very near the outside of her eye. Depending on how much expression you're after, this could cause some animation problems.

 

Zach

[CRToonMike]

Thanks Zach! Fergot about dem there hooks, I believe they've been zapped in the resultant smoothing, but I'll check and make sure.

 

Should have another pix up here later on in the day. Finally "got" lights in A:M. Once I figured out lights, it's surprising how much easier they are to use than the ones in C*rr*r*.

 

Later

 

mike

[CRToonMike]

Here's the latest version of Saturn Girl. Fixed a buncha splines and moved around some 5-pt patches, yadda yadda yadda.

 

 

Quite happy with how it looks now. As you can tell the hair is being worked on. Not using the hair ablility of A:M, just creating a shape and will muck about with the shaders/material to get the look I want.

 

Next, along wth the hair, is to play around with the lights and background. Any and all C&C welcomed!

 

thanks,

 

mike r

[Francois]

Hi

 

Great work!

 

I don't know the character as I lost touch with the Superhero development stuff round-about 1988 and at that time I hadn't seen her in a comic. So I don't know what she's supposed to look like but I must say you've managed to capture that comic feel.

 

Will you be doing true 3D or toon rendering?

 

Good stuff...

 

Francois

[CRToonMike]

thanks for the words Francois! As far as this being "just like the Saturn Girl in the comics" -- well I'm taking a page from Tim Burton's book and "re-imanging" the Legion. So it's not supposed to look exactly like her. Just an excuse to model a fem's head, that's all...

 

Here's the latest render, improved on the lighting, maybe...

 

The front and side wireframe (just in case y'all wanna see it):

 

And for the halibut, a few bird's eye view one with wireframes:

 

The bangs will be duplicated on both sides. The figure's left side bangs will be a bit more up-n-out than the other side. Eventually she'll have a braided thing-a-ma-bob (where guys have sideburns) that some anime fems have.

 

I'm going for Bruce Timm-style eyelashes, I think they may have to be shortened a bit, but I'm too "close" to this face to judge. Any comments? Oh, the 'lashes will be changed to be a darkish-sandy-blonde color. If anybody wants to share their technique for eyelashes, I'm all eyes,

 

BTW, no decals are used, yet, think I'll wait for the '04 disk to arrive.

 

Trying for a glossy-lipstick for the (duh!) lips, but just can't quite figgure it out. Help...please I'm new to A:M and to the material editor. The Gold metal link in the ARM comes up 404 (as does a number of the more interesting links in the ARM and the Forest) so I'm pleading for some 411 on it, tia.

 

Any other comments, especially on how the mesh could be optimized would be greatly appreciated, tia, again. Oh, the neck bottom looks like that on purpose, I think it'll make it easier for me to attatch the body when I get to that point.

 

Next up, as I'm a bit burned out on the hair, is to model the (snort ) body. Or maybe Teeth.

 

edit: Oh, Francois, I'm not sure if it'll be toon or "real 3D" rendered. Figgure that one out when I get a better handle on modeling and working in the Chor.

[Mike Lium]

Wow !

 

Shes really taking shape

 

she has such character look to her very nice

[CRToonMike]

Thanks for the comments, Mike!

 

I've been told that I really do well with character design, guess when I start Art School in January, I'll find out...

[natess44]

I was thinking about how you could smooth the mesh and I think I have it. You could take the chin spline and connect it to the nose spline creating a ring around the bottom part of the nose and around the mouth. I'm not too sure about this but I think it should help smooth it a bit.

[natess44]

I changed my mind. See if this works..

[CRToonMike]

Hey thanks Nate! I did the changes you suggested and just couldn't get the mesh to look smooth. Then I stepped back and reworked the splines along the chin and cheek and the 5-point spline moved down to the dimple area, which if it gets creased, is just perfect.

 

Here's the wire frames:

 

And the final (so far) render:

 

Although I did take your advice and then "did my own thang" I just want to make sure that if it wasn't for your good advice, I never would've had the train of thought that eventually I used. Heck, I eliminated a hook in the process. One of the probs I had with your solution, or with the way I tried to do it, is that it created two 5-pointers too close together.

 

Ain't that the neatest thing about art -- there's no real wrong or right answers, just what works better for someone in a specific situation.

 

I'm having a blast working on this figure in A:M, once I began to grok splines. When working in polys, I would dread moving a vertex. Now in A:M moving CP's are a lot easier and not a chore at all.

 

next up, teeth, tongue and a body (dunno, should I do au naturale or costumed version? )

 

Thanks again, everyone who posted a comment! I apprectiate it a lot.

[natess44]

It was just an idea. I wasn't too sure if it'd work because I didn't have the model to play with. At least it got you thinking!