The Crystal Apple

[TheSpleen]

nice work for sure

[DarkLimit]

Thanks a lot Jeff, I was referring to the last solo pic of him...... cheers

[KenH]

Cool. For the troll pose, he might turn his head toward the slaugh but keep his eyes on the apple to show he's not solely focused on the apple.

[Rodney]

Really beautiful work.

It keeps getting better too!

[Zaryin]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

Ken, I was thinking I might turn the head slightly, or at least the eyes, towards the Sidhe since he's supposed to be her protector.

 

Robert, you're welcome .

 

Thanks again everyone.

[Zaryin]

Here's the head of the newest character; The Sluagh. Still needs a little tweaking , but it's pretty much going to look like this. The ears are a little weird, but they'll be covered by hair so screw 'em, haha. Also posting a wire from one view.

 

Let me know what you think so far. Thanks for looking.

[Shelton]

Very Clean!! Nice splineage, Jeff!

 

Steve

[John Bigboote]

Why the long face? Just kidding...great stylization and modelling!

[Zaryin]

Thanks for the comments .

 

Although I can take credit for the modeling the style of these characters is based on the artwork found within the RPG Rulebook for The Changeling RPG --with a little tweak from me, haha.

[Zaryin]

A little update before I go to bed.

 

EDIT: I decided to render a 3-pass in to see what she'll look like in the scene so far.

[Zaryin]

Finished the base body. Excuse the lower legs. I didn't bother to put alot of detail in them since I'll be cutting them up into over the knee stockings and combat boots . I changed her expression and added splines for eyelashes. I will probably add fake hair just to get an idea of what she'll look like with hair. I will probably also add a face decal for her makeup just to see that as well before I make the final decals.

[Paul Forwood]

Looking good!

[KenH]

Such things 3D is made for. The hooves are really bothering me though. It reminds me of Sculpey material.

[Fuchur]

The models are great, but the SSS and the good lightening really does make it a potential materspiece!

 

*Fuchur*

[Zaryin]

Thanks alot guys!

 

Yeah my friend thinks its all the bends in the right leg that's throwing off the Satyr. I will probably end up tweaking that leg in the final pose (When I get the actual stair in there that he'll have his hoof on.) I actually like the left hoof fine. I think something went weird with the right hoof when I transfered the pose over from the old legs. That'll be something I looking into towards the end -- or in between now and then . Plus the color will not be a skin color when I apply the decals for the Satyr. Right now for ease I just stuck the hooves in the same material as the rest of the skin.

 

Thanks again!

[Zaryin]

Here's the Sluagh with her finished outfit. The next pic will be her posed with fake hair and a color decal for her goth-clown makeup look.

 

 

UPDATE: Changed the image to the one with her makeup since it didn't take me that long to do.

[HomeSlice]

Really nice models!

it seems like the satyr needs hair on his legs. He looks ... naked!

His hooves look like they are skin instead of whatever hooves are made of. Is that what you intended?

 

It looks great so far

[Shelton]

Great job. I would love to learn the settings for SSS you are using.

 

Steve

[agep]

Great looking characters so far, but you really should tell Sluagh to not do her makeup in the car to late for work

[Zaryin]

Haha, thanks guys.

 

SSS settings are 6,4,2 for color and the last setting is 100% for the Troll. The others are 5,3,2 and 100%.

 

Hair is the very last things I will be working on for this image. Right now I just threw SSS on all the areas that will have SSS in the final image for the Satyr. Final decaling will be the second to last thing I do . So in the final image the Satyr's legs and hooves will be different colors than the skin. And the legs will also be hairy.

 

Thanks again.

 

EDIT: I should also say with my skin that I set Spec Size to 200%, Spec Intensity to 10-15% and Reflection from 1-5% depending on lighting and textures (got that one from Noah Brewer ).

[steve392]

I really like that Sluagh model it looks real smooth and a good face

[Zaryin]

Yeah my friend hates it because it reminds him of Tim Burton. For some reason all my friend's have some sort of hangup when it comes to Tim Burton.

 

Thanks .

[MJL]

Great Character development, Zaryin.

[Zaryin]

Thanks .

[Zaryin]

Here's the image with the Sluagh posed. As with all the characters, the pose is subject to change and tweaking. This pose will probably have some tweaking done to it . The hair is a place holder until I start working on hair for the whole image. Legs are looking a little cartoony to me, so I might fix those as well.

 

As you can see, my Sluagh is so thin that her hands are nearly see through with the SSS, haha.

 

That's it for now. I don't know who I will work on next. Here's a list of the characters still to be made:

 

Sidhe, Eshu, Pooka, Nocker, Boggan

 

As you can see there's alot to go still. That doesn't even include the background *sigh*.

 

Thanks for looking.

[mtpeak2]

Sluagh looks great, I like her the best of all. I kind of like her hair the way it is.

[KenH]

Nice! You might put a highlight on her hair to make the outline stand out.

[Zaryin]

Thanks guys.

 

Yeah, I actually like the placeholder hair as well, but it's going to look a little weird with everyone else having real hair -- I hope everyone will be able to have real hair. I do have a dark blue spec on her hair. I was thinking of adding a subtle gradient, but I figured it's only placeholder hair and I will be adding a background so I let it go.

 

Thanks again guys.

[Zaryin]

Ok, I started working on a final camera solution for the final image. I might be pushing it back a little farther for the final image. I just won't know for sure until all the characters are finished.

 

This image is a 16 pass render. It took 48 and a half minutes to render at this size, who knows how long the final image will take to render with the final background and characters, haha. I also added names of the characters to show where all the characters will be in the scene. The ground is just a base to get an idea where all the characters will stand.

 

I will probably work on the Pooka next. He will be a character who can tranform into a hare, or rabbit, or bunny, whatever your preference. So he will have alot of rabbit-like features.

 

Thanks for looking .

[TheSpleen]

wonderful work!

[Rodney]

I had to read back quite a way. You are making great progress!

 

Yeah my friend thinks its all the bends in the right leg that's throwing off the Satyr.

 

Funny you should mention this.

I was trying to find a way to articulate it but it seems that if you were to draw a straight line from the knee to the end of the hoof (on the right leg that is) that would be about the right angle. This would also keep it in roughly the same configuration as the left leg. Its that wide angle at the last joint that really seems strange to me.

 

Having the platform there on the left seems to lessen the effect of the legs angle a little... I'm not sure what you've got planned there. Too early to tell.

 

I don't have enough positive things to say about your effort here.

Its really amazing.

Your work is unlike any other I've seen anywhere. Very unique. (which is a very good thing)

[Shelton]

Excellent Jeff!

[Zaryin]

Thanks alot guys. It means alot .

 

I actually changed the pose of that leg slightly with the last render because I now had a physical thing he was standing on. I think I'm going to have to tweak it even more. I might have to go so far as to shorten that last section of leg to help him not break his leg, haha.

 

Like I said in the first post. They're going to be in a "throne room" like area, but it's going to be outside. There will be a throne on the dais that the Sidhe has just left. That's where I'm going to have trouble, making a room out of nature .

 

Thanks again.

[Zaryin]

I hate to keep posting pics of the same thing, but I finally changed the Satyr's legs. Now I'll get to the Pooka .

 

Please, any comments on the newest legs would be appreciated.

[steve392]

I think it looks more natural if thats the right word

[Rodney]

Gah! Just as I was about to hit submit my browser crashed and my post went bye-bye.

With it about 30 minutes of research and suggestions vanished without a trace.

 

My general suggestion was to consider the weight of the Satyr with respect to his anatomy using the horses front legs as its base.

The joint under consideration appears to be the Fetlock (literally 'foot lock') which deals with supporting the horse and the leg. I can regrab the references if you are interested.

 

My suggestion was to consider whether having the Satyr lean forward would be more effective.

This would require you to rotate the lower bones below the fetlock the other way.

The primary time we see the rotation as it is in your image is when the horses paw and the ground or jump when there is no weight on that hoof in place.

 

As you've got the rotation now it seems technically correct but this is because the Satyr is leaning away from the stage.

If he was leaning forward the weight would shift/rotate the joint forward. Compositionally it might prove to be a better way?

 

Here is an image of the horses leg anatomy with the fetlock on display. (the one I managed to save)

As far as I can see, if there was any weight on the hoof the rotation would be angled the other way.

 

 

 

I did want to also comment on little on the Sluagh. (Very intriguing character!)

I get a little lost in looking at her as her eyes don't convey what she is thinking of/looking at as much as I'd like. At first glance the direction of her gaze appeared to me to be going off to the right. Making it absolutely clear what she is looking at (I assume the apple) will direct the viewers attention throughout the scene and help balance the composition. Perhaps darkening them or allowing more of the white around her eyes to appear would help her out.

 

Hope all of this isn't too far off the mark.

[Zaryin]

Thanks for the comments.

 

Rodney I think you mean that the shape of the fetlock area should be exactly opposite of what I have? If that's the case, and I think that's what you mean, I'll get on that, because according to that image you are definately spot on, haha.

 

About the Sluagh, she's actaully looking at the Satyr, but it's not too important right now. I don't think I'll be making more of her whites show however. That would make her look more awake and caring than I want. Even in the middle of a battle she would look like she was nearly falling asleep .

 

Thanks again.

[Rodney]

It sounds like you got my suggestion even though I did everything I could to confuse you.

I've attached an image that hopefully will explain my thoughts more clearly.

 

If the Satyr isn't placing any weight on his hoof (if he is lifting his leg off the ground) then you have a pretty good position already.

If he has any weight on that hoof the rotation should go in the other directions in order to support that weight after making contact with the ground (see attachment).

 

Hope this makes a little more sense.

 

Note: If you move the focus of your eyes back and forth from the top image to the bottom focusing on the rear legs you can see how a Satyr might walk/prance.

[Zaryin]

hmmmmmmmm....Well most of his weight's on his back leg, but there is a little on his front, haha. I just don't know. I think I'll leave it with what I got now (below). I'll just keep picking at it until I destroy what I have so I think I'll leave it be. But this is what I got on the front hoof.

 

Thanks alot for the imput Rodney.

[Rodney]

Looks spot on to me.

A quick comparison with the example I just posted (for the uplifted hoof) has it matching exactly.

 

(Ken's suggestion to sharpen up the hoof a little is a good one. Just in case you missed that.)

[Zaryin]

I did change the shape a little more to make it more narrow in the last images, but I don't want them to look to realistic. They'll be darkly textured and farther away in the final image so it might not matter. We'll see when I hit the end stretch .

 

Thanks again.

[mtpeak2]

I think it's more about the pose than anything else. If his weight is more on the back leg, you're not showing that. His back leg needs to be under his upper body more, he looks out of balance to me.

[Zaryin]

Thanks for the comment Mark.

 

Um, I tried moving the Satyr's weight to his back leg, and his front, but if I do this it just seems to ruin the feel of the image to me. So I guess in this image he has his weight on both feet . It might not be right technically, but for now it feels more right to me. That might change when I get all the characters in there though, haha. I might jsut go with a heppy medium on this one and move that back leg a little more under the body.

 

Thanks again.

[Zaryin]

Ok, here is a quick render with the Satyr's rear leg brought more underneath the torso. I don't think I can get it any better without ruining the pose. I hope it's close enough. Now I'm going to start on the Pooka, haha.

[KenH]

Hooves are hard right. I'm starting to like the one on the ground better. I think the whole hoof need shifting forward. If you notice in Rodneys attachments, there is clear air under the ankle joint and the front of the hoof is sort of elongated.

But I appreciate if you're sick of hooves.

[Zaryin]

Thanks for the comments Ken. Yeah, I think I'm going to leave them alone for now, haha. But just in case, what hoof do you think should be brought forward?

 

I am pretty sure I will not be making them more pointy. I am very happy with the shape of them as is, but with hoof placement I can always use more advice . And yes, hooves are freakin HARD! It's just, you're not used to seeing a dude with the freakin' hind quarters of a goat, haha.

 

Here's a white render of the Pooka's head and a render of him with SSS in the scene. Is it just me or is he kind of scary looking ? Either way, I love the way the head turned out.

 

Thanks for looking.

[Shelton]

You can turn in out with high quality!!

 

Steve

[KenH]

I think the hooves need a cavity at the back of them to make them look more dynamic. The hoof is only the toe of an animal. But this is fantasy. Nice new dude!

[Zaryin]

Thanks for the comments .

 

I know what you mean about the hooves needing a back indentation, I just like the fantasy roundness .

 

Thanks again for the comments.

[largento]

Keeps getting better and better!

 

Just occurred to me that the big green fellow bears a strong resemblance to Phil Harris from the Jack Benny Program (minus the fantasy bits, of course.) :-)