The Crystal Apple

[Zaryin]

Ever since I made my image "The Satyr and the Apple" I had planned on making a full image on the subject. It will include a few characters in a outdoor forest grove that resembles a noble's court.

 

Here is the link to the original "The Satyr and the Apple" pic: http://www.hash.com/stills/displayimage.ph...&fullsize=1

 

In the new image, I have redesigned the satyr's legs to something I like a little better. Right now all I have is decals on the cloth and eyes. SSS is on the skin. I will be adding decals later and hair will be added toward the end of the project. I will most likely be changing and/or adding clothing to the Satyr as I go along. Reflectivity of the skin will most likely be lessened later.

 

Next up will be the Troll character, considered to be good the the Changeling RPG.

 

EDIT: Really fast here's a quick "White" Render from a slightly different angle.

[steve392]

Thats a real good likeness ,graet modelling

[robcat2075]

That's fine looking satyr. I can see him being right at home in a Harryhausen movie.

[John Bigboote]

Very impressive...wish we still had character contests- THAT could be the next splash-screen! Diggin the SSS all over but especially in the ear.

[Zaryin]

Thanks for the comments guys. I appreciate it.

 

Here's a start on the troll. Just the face right now. It needs some tweaking, but I'll wait until I finish the entire head to worry about that. After nine months of not modeling it's almost like riding a bike, haha.

[KenH]

You haven't lost it. On first impression of the first character, I felt his legs were way too long. It's like something is going to snap. And his hooves could be "less blobby". Love the start on the troll. Did you only make these in the last few days? That's fast.

[Zaryin]

Hey Ken, thanks for the post. I think you're right about the "blobbiness" of the hooves. I'll fix those later . The length of the legs is staying though. I love the idea that they look like they might snap. They look way more animal-like and alien to me now than they did before.

 

The satyr legs and the troll face are what I built in the last few days. The satyr torso and head are from the original I made for the "Hairy" image contest.

 

Thanks again.

[robcat2075]

extremely beady eyes on that troll.

[Zaryin]

Haha, you're right those beady eyes. I was actually thinking about making them beadier, but changed my mind .

 

Here's the basically finished troll head. I didn't add an inside of the mouth because I'm fairly certain I won't need one. If I do, I'll add it later. I will probably be adding wrinkles and added definition to the face and ears as well later on.

[Zaryin]

Here's a quick 3 pass render just to see what the troll will look like with SSS and with the lighting in the scene with the satyr.

 

Thanks for looking.

[Rodney]

You've still got the skillz!

 

Impressive work.

[Zaryin]

Thanks alot Rodney .

 

Although I know I will be covering the troll up with clothing and armor I still made a body for him just to get and idea of body proportion. By the time he's fully clothed and armored he willl stand at 7'3"--7'6". I purposefully changed his proportions to be slightly off those of a "normal" human.

 

Now to start working on the clothing and armor.

[largento]

That really looks great, Zaryin!

[agep]

You are fast. Nice Troll

[Zaryin]

Thanks guys!

 

Really, the body was already made for another character of mine. All I did was use distortion boxes and added and subtracted a little to get this body. So I wouldn't say I was fast . The armor and clothing might take a little longer, haha.

 

Thanks again.

[steve392]

You say you use distortion boxes to change the body .I would love to know how you do that as Im changing a model of mine into something differant ,never even thought of doing it that way.Graet looking model btw

[Zaryin]

Yeah, it's really easy. I've modeled so many things now that I usually just have to add or subtract a little splinage and morph the model with distortion boxes. I just sert them with the regular 3 by 3, or 5 by 5 setting. Usually no more than that. I will usually seperate the arms and do them seperate from the main body then reattatch.

 

With my faces I usually recycle the nose, ears, eyes and eye area, and mouths. I then reconnect and tweak with normal movement of cps and distortion boxes.

 

I took a female character and molded her into an alien doing it how I explained above. (pics below)

 

Thanks for the compliment .

[robcat2075]

I took a female character and molded her into an alien doing it how I explained above. (pics below)

 

 

Wow! That's a first-class looking head.

[photoman]

My god, that alien head has some of the best SSS Ive ever seen! Did you use A:M paint for it the other textures?

 

You are really a "Pro" modeler!

 

Photoman

[Zaryin]

Thanks guys. I hate to hijack my own thread, but here I go, haha.

 

Yeah I specifically built the alien head to work with the new SSS and 3DPainter at the time. I love 3DPainter and SSS . With the SSS it's all about getting you lighting right. But basically I use the same setting for SSS all the time 6, 4, 2 and 100% (I used 5, 4, 2 for the troll head on the last page). Then I use a 3-point lighting with a stong backlight tinted red to really show off the SSS. I also use AO, Either Global Color or IBL. Global I usually set at 35%, 100%.

 

The alien was really fun adding all that displacement in 3DPainter. Once you have your UVs set well in A:M it's a breeze. I still use Photoshop for some details though.

 

Here's a link to my September 2008 win in the Image Contest using the alien: http://www.hash.com/stills/displayimage.ph...&fullsize=1 the thing is I was going to make this Image better when my pc totally died on me. I lost most of the files for this project when that happened. I also lost all my files, including pictures, from the October Entry for the Mascot Image Contest *sigh*.

 

Thanks again.

[TheSpleen]

Great work. Very good.

[Zaryin]

Thanks TheSpleen!

 

Well, here's the boots. Not perfect from close up, but they look pretty good from farther back. Based on some pics of Viking boots I found on the web.

[Zaryin]

Happy Fourth everyone! In celebration of the holiday here's a little update; the finished modeling of the chainmail shirt. The chainmail itself will be added in as a texture later.

[Zaryin]

Here's one with some basic surface properties. Just to see what it will look like with some color. I'll be going back to the all white one until I am done with modeling from here -- probably .

[mtpeak2]

Looks good so far Jeff, but in my mind I see trolls as a bit over weight and clumsy.

[Zaryin]

Thanks for the comment Mark. Yeah, usually that's how trolls are perceived, but I'm going with "The Changeling RPG" look for the base of my characters in this image. I'm assuming there are pics on the web that are similar though based on their universe.

 

Thanks again.

[robcat2075]

The thumbs look out of place to me.

[Zaryin]

Well, I don't know if they'd be good for animation or anything, but I just place them where they seem to naturally fall for me. I use the same hands on most of my characters and they seem to pose well also *shrugs*.

[Zaryin]

Here's a little update with some of the torso armor. I still have to add the bolts and straps.

[HomeSlice]

Hey, that's a nice character!

[Zaryin]

Thanks Holmes!

[steve392]

Zaryin I would love to see how you use the distorsion box (Ive never used it) and would allso be very interested to see how you use 3d painter as I allways overwright my decals with it so gave up on it.

If you ever have the time a tut or 2 would be very welcome.Heres hoping lol

[Zaryin]

I wouldn't even know how to start with a tutorial. I'm assuming it would have to be a video turorial to get it to come off properly, but I have no money to afford the software and equipment to that. With Painter I actually use a combo of Photoshop and A:M Painter. I also end up overwriting my textures as well.

 

With my alien I used A:M Painter to paint the spots on my displacement map and then brought that into Photoshop to paint the color and extra bump stuff. The basic color and stuff I did with A:M Painter and then the litttle subtle stuff I actually did in Photoshop. Also the basic skin color is done using Jim Talbot's method. And also the base skin bump map was made with Photoshop.

 

Speaking of distortion boxes. I used this right now to change the shape of my troll's haed to more match the references I am using. I would still like to get some opinions on the shape of the head. Although it matches the reference alot more, and fits with the satyr's art style, I don't know if I like it enough to keep it or keep the original.

 

If more people think I should keep the original version I will. I really don't know which way to go with this one. I'm not looking to exactly match the references I have, I'm just trying to get the feel of the universe with the references. I would post the references, but they're really not mine to post. You might be able to find pics through on the internet of the Changeling RPG. Thoughts?

[steve392]

I personally prefer the new one ,allthough your not following the image exactly I think the cheeks sucked in would make a real diferance ,in the image it seems to make the charector more um something ,real more definde.Thank's for the info on the way you work Iwill have to play around with it

[Zaryin]

Thanks Steve. I think I will go with the new one. I'll see what he looks like with more diefined cheeks, but I don't want to ruin the "triangular" effect of his head.

 

Thanks again.

[Zaryin]

Well, I'm pretty sure I'm done with the modeling of the torso armor. Although I might redo the rivets as I accidentilly forgot to use a reduced patch size on those.

 

Now onto the bracers.

[nino banano]

hi Zaryin, very nice work, the characters are great, good modeling here, go ahead with it

[robcat2075]

How do you get that so smooth without a lot of bias adjusting? Or do you do a lot of bias adjusting?

[Zaryin]

Thanks for the comments guys .

 

Well Robert, I cheat, haha. Everytime I make a new model I throw porcelain on it set to 50%. I almost never do bias adjustments on my models unless it calls for it in the modeling proccess. It still looks good without it, but looks better with it. So I always start with porcelain on a model.

 

This isn't close to done, but here's a 3 pass render of the Troll in the Satyr scene with some basic surface attributes. I just wanted to see what he would look like in the scene.

[Fuchur]

This will be gorgeous!

Already looks like a winner!

 

*Fuchur*

[Zaryin]

Thanks alot Gerald. I really appreciate that comment .

[Zaryin]

Well, I finished the modeling of the Troll. I might go back and add a few little things, but it's pretty much done.

 

I will now give him a simple skeleton (not just because I am using him for a still, but because I suck at rigging, haha) and then I will pose him with the Satyr.

 

Thanks again everyone.

[steve392]

Great looking model the armour is really nice

[robcat2075]

Well, I finished the modeling of the Troll. I might go back and add a few little things, but it's pretty much done.

 

Very cool! that's a first class character.

[Zaryin]

Thanks Guys! Next pic will have him with the Satyr posed .

[DarkLimit]

-Great work Zaryin I really dig his design... His chest plate what is the mat setting on it? I want this appearance for a mechanical model am working on..... thks

[Zaryin]

Hey thanks Robert. Which pic do you mean? I have different settings for the Solo pic than I do with the Duo (Satyr) pic. I'll assume you mean the solo pic and give those settings first .

 

Color: 125, 125, 125

 

Diffuse Falloff: 200

 

Specular Color: 192, 192, 192

 

Spec Size: 180

 

Spec Intensity: 80

 

Reflectivity: 10

 

(no reflect filter or blend applied)

 

With the Satyr pic I have the Reflection turned down to 2 and Reflection Filter and Blend set to 100%.

 

Hope that helps.

[Zaryin]

Just for fun here's a quick turn-around. Not done very well. I'm just not used to rendering movies .

troll.mov

[Zaryin]

Although I'll probably be tweaking the crap out of it before this image is actually done here's the pose for the Troll. There's will be someone off to the Troll's right (a Sidhe) who will be reaching to touch the apple. The Troll is warning them off while not taking his eyes off the magic fruit. He also has a hand gently resting on the Satyr's shoulder. Holding him in place out of friendship for the Satyr and guardianship for the Sidhe.

 

Next up will be a female Sluagh to the left of the Satyr. The Sluagh are a near zombie, repilian, goth looking creature. This one has joined this group for her own reasons, although she seems to have some feelings for the group. I'll be getting to modeling her shortly.

 

 

This is a 8-pass render.

 

 

Thanks again for looking .

[itsjustme]

Looks great, Jeff!