Horse WIP

[Shelton]

Went out this weekend and shot some pictures of a horse. Decided to model it for a video project. I want to try the new hair and other features of version 13

 

Steve

[MattWBradbury]

You got yourself a horse right there. But its eyes are missing (and body). Do you plan on making the entire surface covered in hair or just the mane?

 

horse

 

 

[Shelton]

Since the video is only 10 sec in one part and another 10 sec in a sequence of running, I wanted to have the entire body with hair. Also I have purchased AMpaint and want to try it out on this fellow. I will try to update with the eyes and body tonight and hope to be well into applying hair and details by mid week.

 

Steve

[Shelton]

I have finished the body and legs and have to touch a couple of things but it is on to hair and painting with 3d painter.

 

Steve

[trajcedrv]

This is one very realistic horse! Great job, can't wait to see it textured!

[LurkerAbove]

That's a great looking horse. It might be the angle I was looking at it, but you might want to check the angle on the neck.

[Shelton]

Well, the horse is going to be a paint horse and I have worked on the texturing and hair. When I have added the hair emitters and then saved AM crashes. i just d/l 13 j and I hope that is taken care of. The texture/decaling is coming slower than I thought. I have had more trouble in painting a believable paint horse.

 

I am looking for Will Sutton's tutorial uv mapping.

 

Anyway here is an up date on the base color for the paint. the face will be a white with a black mask around the eyes. (actual horse). I hope to get a little further tonight.

 

Thanks for the comments

 

Steve

[itsjustme]

From the side view the neck seems too short and the head too small...at least it appears that way. It's looking good other than that view. Nice modeling job, Steve!

[Shelton]

Hi David

 

Thanks you are right compared to the rotoscope it was smaller.

 

Help!! I can not get the tail to look right. In the modeling screen all the hair on the tail is going down, but when rendered the hair is not cooperating. Any thoughts

 

 

Steve

[Shelton]

Oops, My mistake on the last post here is the horse with the tail intact.

 

I am going back now to work on the texture/decal

 

Steve

[Shelton]

Here is a small update. I hope to have things in the rigging by Sunday night.

 

Steve

[the_black_mage]

longer mane(is that the right word), other than that great job!

[mouseman]

I haven't been around horses a lot, so take this with a grain of salt.

 

I agree with the longer mane. I'd also vote for a slightly thinner neck near the base / shoulders.

 

Can you post the rotoscope picture, too?

[Shelton]

Already adhead of you on the shoulder portion of the front legs. I have narrowed the body about 10% and should have an update later tonight.

 

I can not make up my mind on the mane. As a person who was around horses growing up we kept the mane on our horses cut. Others would grow down aroung the shoulders. But on this model I think it adds more to the horse for a longer mane. I will shoot a render with long mane and rotoscope.

 

Steve

[Shelton]

I have modeled the mane longer and will keep it this way I think. I am working on rigging tonight. I have tweaked the shoulders and body to give more muscle definition and have reduced the width of the horse body by 10%.

 

Steve

[Shelton]

HELP!!

 

I have tried several styles of decal and textures. What is the best way to decal/texture an animal? I have cut it 1/2 and but with decals it overlaps. i have AM painter but I have not figured out to control the painting of the decal.

 

 

Steve

[trajcedrv]

I don't own AM painter, so no help there...

 

Will Sutton (Zandoria studios) has wonderful uv mapping tutorial (google for zadoria studios, you'll be fine)... I am afraid that it is a bit advanced...

 

However, it is probably better idea to read AM painter's instructions! You'll have to do it eventually, so why not now?

[3DPainter]

Hi Steve,

 

Before you can start painting, your model should have a decal. You can either do this in A:M (as described in William Sutton's tutorial at http://www.zandoria.com/uv.htm) or you could use the automatic decal tool in 3DPainter (as described in chapter 4 of the 3DPainter manual or http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=23896).

 

Best regards,

Filip

[Shelton]

Hey thanks for the help. I will check out Will's. I read through the AM Painter manual and have started with auto decal. I was hitting the wrong area. I will hope to have something tonight.

 

Steve

[Shelton]

Ok, I am a fan of AM painter!! In just an hour of playing you can create a wonderful texture right on the model. The key is grouping!!. Here is an update. The lips and tone down of the head area is next.

 

Steve

[mtpeak2]

This is looking very nice Steve, keep at it.

[Shelton]

Here is a new update.

 

Right side completed and waiting on finish around nostril and inner legs. Other wise I have started rigging the horse and hope to have some animation started.

 

Steve

[Shelton]

Here is a three quarter shot with the finished legs. Does the mane need to be thicker?

 

Steve

[dre4mer]

Coming along nicely Steve! Yes I would say it would definitely look better if the mane was both longer and thicker... and you could taper the ends of the hairs to get them a more wispy life like hair feel. The eye also doesn't seem quite right unless you're going for a character instead of realism. Horses eyes are mostly shiny blackness.

 

Keep it up, like watching it come along!

 

-Ethan

 

[Edit] Don't know if you already know how to make the hair taper but Colin describes the process well at the bottom of his hair tutorial page.

http://www.colins-loft.net/new_coop_tutorial/CoopHair.html

[Shelton]

Thanks for the link on the hair. I have been looking for something like this.

 

On the eye, you are right about the shine of most horses. This particular paint horse had more brown eyes than most. i will turn down the color to see what it looks like though. Also, in the video I want the eyes to be seen

 

Steve

[Shelton]

I have rendered a test of thicker hair using Colin Freeman's tut. The only problem is the rendering time is about four times longer. The first took about 6 minutes a frame with hair. The new render took almost 23 minutes a frame. With the video of about 1.5 minutes that is a huge render time. I will have to look for a compromise. The thickness is what I want though. The length needs to be increased by about 20% in the main portion of the mane. The horse is a paint but resembles the Spanish Stallions with the color patterns. I will be on vacation for the next two weeks. Heading to Disney World and the Universal Studios in Florida. So it might be a few days before a new update.

 

Steve

 

Changed the eyes to a dark, dark brown.

[the_black_mage]

hey mabe you could see how it looks black, kinda like argo on "shadow of the colossus"