Gerry Posted April 10, 2004 Posted April 10, 2004 Here's a start on modeling my avatar image. This guy is Headlouse, head of security for the Weevil Legions. This is one character from my Bugbots online comic. Comments welcome! Gerry Quote
ChrisThom Posted April 10, 2004 Posted April 10, 2004 I dunno, something about him really bugs me. HAAHAAHOOHOO, Oh man, I kill myself. Seriously, it's very good so far. I especially like the antenna. Quote
DarkLimit Posted April 10, 2004 Posted April 10, 2004 This looks dead on so far, awsome model.. what character is he? from a comic? Quote
3DArtZ Posted April 10, 2004 Posted April 10, 2004 I would say more round at thebottom of the eyes and you could definately kill some splines by hooking them to decrease the number or patches while keeping the same detail. But overall this is looking like a great model Mike Fitz www.3dartz.com Quote
Zaryin Posted April 10, 2004 Posted April 10, 2004 3DArtZ said about all I was going to say, so I will just say I like it . Quote
Gerry Posted April 10, 2004 Author Posted April 10, 2004 Thanks everyone. Mike, you're right about the eyes, I've been struggling to get them smoother and more bulbous and they're not exactly right yet. Where would you suggest hooks? Quote
Admin Rodney Posted April 10, 2004 Admin Posted April 10, 2004 Your avatar reminds me of the good 'ol days of comics... Your drawn avatar style in particular has the look of early Dave Cockrum (XMEN) and Bob Layton (IRONMAN)! ...and if anyones says, "Who???"... *sigh* and double *sigh*. Nice work thus far transforming your avatar into 3D. I have a bunch of things I hope to transform myself..... one of these days! Keep up the good work! Quote
3DArtZ Posted April 11, 2004 Posted April 11, 2004 Hi Gerry, like I said I think this is coming out great. As far as spline reduction, this is where I would start. You will have enough splines to mold the curvatures of the model. Of course make a copy of the original before you try the suggestions. Keep us posoted Mike Fitz www.3dartz.com Quote
Gerry Posted April 12, 2004 Author Posted April 12, 2004 Mike, thanks, I will definitely give this a try. Quote
Gerry Posted April 12, 2004 Author Posted April 12, 2004 Hey Rodney, I definitely consider the comparison to Dave Cockrum and Bob Layton a compliment. I was first familiar with Dave's fan work before he went pro...a zine called "The Yancy Street Gazette" I believe. Funny thing was, he signed his work DEC and there was another fan artist named Alvin Grinage who signed his work AUG. Not that funny but you can see how it looked! Dave and Bob started working for Marvel just prior to when I stopped reading comics, so I'm less familiar with Bob's work, but you'll see on Bugbots I was consciously trying for that Marvel "look". Long after the characters were created, I realized that, with Skarab, Centipete, Midge and Friar Blowfly I had UNconsciously recreated the Fantastic Four! Mike, I've started reducing the splinage and the difference is noticeable and positive. I'll be posting more progress shots shortly. Here's the full figure of Headlouse: Quote
VeridisQuo567 Posted April 12, 2004 Posted April 12, 2004 And for an Added Eye tweak, try amping up the Reflectivity on the Eye material, to give it a more "glassy" texture like the one in the comic. other than that, keep up the good work! Quote
Gerry Posted April 12, 2004 Author Posted April 12, 2004 Good job! Now model the body Mike- just cause you ended with a laughing smiley, don't think I won't! I was playing last night with some procedural materials for the eyes and got a *pretty* good combiner to suggest the comicbooky reflections. I'm going to try to keep the combiner and notch up the reflectivity to get the glassy look. Or something like that! Quote
VeridisQuo567 Posted April 12, 2004 Posted April 12, 2004 that's awesome! i'd like to see it! and as of the smiley, that was placed because i know that i could never do any modeling Quote
VeridisQuo567 Posted April 12, 2004 Posted April 12, 2004 I'm gonna show my age here, so i'll just say it. What comic is that from? Quote
Admin Rodney Posted April 13, 2004 Admin Posted April 13, 2004 Lots of great comic book styles showing up on the list recently! Loving it! Gerry meet Javier.... Javier.... Gerry! And there are other great talents out there as well. I hadn't realized you had a whole team thing going on... wow! Looking forward to more! More links please!!! Zack... where are you..... A:M comics.... thaz gonna haffa be da nex projex..... Quote
Admin Rodney Posted April 13, 2004 Admin Posted April 13, 2004 ...and you are already on the 4th issue of your bugbots comic!!!! http://www.bugbots.com/pagelocator.html Where have I been!!! *Checked out your comics and website! Nice! You sir, are a very versatile talent. From New York post 911 sketches to comics about bugs... it looks like you enjoy your talent too. ...and now... you are moving even further into the 3D world. I look forward to seeing a lot more from you! Quote
Gerry Posted April 13, 2004 Author Posted April 13, 2004 Like I said up top, this guy is from my online comic, Bugbots: The Mansect Rebellion! Quote
modernhorse Posted April 13, 2004 Posted April 13, 2004 Hello Gerry, Man oh man. I just went to your site. I had looked at your sketches from ground zero many moons ago and didn't put two and two together that that was your work. As Rodney said you are indeed a diverse talent. Okay enough of the fan boy stuff ... Have you ever printed your comics? Just curious, as I hate reading comics online. Maybe its just me but I want to turn the pages and all that. Even a .pdf file would be nice. I realize that may be costly but I was just curious. I love what I've seen of Chapter One. Cool stuff. Hope the transition to a new locale is going well. Doug Quote
Gerry Posted April 13, 2004 Author Posted April 13, 2004 Doug and Rodney, thanks for the comments! We do have a black and white "ashcan" of issue #1 and if I knew which box they were in I'd send you one. We're in transition and most of our stuff is still packed up. I had a plan to really publish a couple of years ago but the money and logistics of distribution quickly get huge, so that's on hold. Even the basic work was a major project, as the color files I created for the web comic need to be completely recreated: super high res for the line art, separate black plate, cmyk... There was nothing from the web comic I could repurpose for print. I would have had to do everything twice. All things considered, I'd rather be working in A:M! Quote
modernhorse Posted April 13, 2004 Posted April 13, 2004 We do have a black and white "ashcan" of issue #1 and if I knew which box they were in I'd send you one. Thanks. If you find one, you know how to find me. In the meantime i'll catch them online. Doug Quote
Gerry Posted April 13, 2004 Author Posted April 13, 2004 Here's a progress shot with a bunch of procedural textures slapped on. I think to really get this to shine I'll have to decal most of it, the procedurals only go so far. However I also have a slight problem with a couple of hooks causing gaps. I'm posting a screen shot. I have a feeling I shouldn't be hooking to a curved spline. Any and all suggestions welcome. Gerry Quote
Zaryin Posted April 13, 2004 Posted April 13, 2004 That gap wpn't show up when you render it. It will look like that pre-rendered though. I would make those eyes super reflective with a goldish color. Nice looking so far.+ Quote
Gerry Posted April 13, 2004 Author Posted April 13, 2004 Jeff - I tried a gold texture from the materials library but when I really heightened the reflectivity, all the adjacent elements (the "snorkel", the eyebrows and the edge of the helmet) all reflected right at the edges of the eye lens and kind of worked against the roundedness. I think you're right about the reflectivity but too much of it didn't look like what I wanted. I think I'm explaining this clearly. If you want to suggest a better way to get the effect, I'd be happy to hear it! What about an environment map? Gerry Quote
Zaryin Posted April 14, 2004 Posted April 14, 2004 You have to remember that to have a good reflectivity to your reflective surface you have to have something to reflect. Otherwise it will only reflect the edges and the color of you modeling area. Do it in a chor with something in the background a good lighting you should have something. Quote
Gerry Posted May 10, 2004 Author Posted May 10, 2004 I'm having an odd problem with this one spline, and I know it's probably my modeling. I'm trying to post some screen shots but it doesn't seem to be working; may be a firewall here at work. I'll try to post it from home later. It's not keeping me from working, I'd just like to understand it. Gerry Quote
Gerry Posted May 10, 2004 Author Posted May 10, 2004 Here's a link to some screen shots showing what my problem/question is. I couldn't seem to attach the image in the post. comments welcome!! Headlouse screen shots Quote
KenH Posted May 10, 2004 Posted May 10, 2004 I get similar results with my characters in v11. I think it's just a product of making changes to a character that results in these broken splines. If it's impeding your modeling down the line let us know what are you wanting to do by selecting that spline? Quote
Gerry Posted May 11, 2004 Author Posted May 11, 2004 Actually it's not keeping me from working. I wondered if this was a problem with my modeling (always my first assumption!) or some odd software behavior I should be aware of. I thought splines were by definition continuous. When I selected that first cp I expected to be able to comma-select a cross section spline of the top "blade" of the helmet and adjust it. Quote
Gerry Posted May 18, 2004 Author Posted May 18, 2004 Doug and anyone else interested in the lone printed sample of "Bugbots", I've finally found them while unpacking. It's an 8 page, b&w version of chapter one online. Also came across my stash of Bugbots postcards. I'll send one of each to anyone who wants 'em. Just e me your snail mail address and they're yours. Haven't done much more on modeling Headlouse as I snagged a pretty nice day job about three weeks ago, and also started painting some of the awesome scenery surrounding us here in Catawba County, NC. When are they gonna perfect that cloning stuff we keep hearing about? I need two of me! Gerry Quote
modernhorse Posted May 18, 2004 Posted May 18, 2004 Haven't done much more on modeling Headlouse as I snagged a pretty nice day job about three weeks ago, and also started painting some of the awesome scenery surrounding us here in Catawba County, NC. Funny when I read this I thought ...hey I wonder if Gerry is a house painter? But I take it you are painting 'scenery' as in ... nevermind. Doug Quote
Admin Rodney Posted May 18, 2004 Admin Posted May 18, 2004 Congrats on finding your samples and postcards! ...and more congrats on your day job! You'll have to tell us more... I know the feeling of rediscovering old artwork. It can serve as an excellent motivator and keep creativity flowing. I just rescued my (approx.) 8000 comics from storage... The good news is that thanks to Nevada temperatures and the way they were stored all are in almost the exact same condition as I left them 10 years ago! Gonna have to read a few one of these days. Long live comics! (Oh... and A:M too!) Quote
Gerry Posted May 19, 2004 Author Posted May 19, 2004 Ha! Doug, funny misread! Doubly funny because I've specialized for years in doing paintings of people's houses and always had to be careful to say "I'm painting a portrait of a home" and NOT "I'm painting someone's house"!! Quote
Admin Rodney Posted May 23, 2004 Admin Posted May 23, 2004 Whooo Hoooo! I just recieved my copy of The Mansect Rebellion - Featuring Bugbots today in the mail! The postcard too! I feel like I've returned to the good ol' days of comic collecting! Thanks Gerry! For the comic and postcard, for the extra effort it getting it out to me, and for getting me interested in a strange new world of insectmen (or is that man insects) that I probably wouldn't otherwise have seen. Best of everything in bringing new life to your creation in whatever method or media it might be. Smells like a bug (or two) that should be real winners! Quote
modernhorse Posted May 25, 2004 Posted May 25, 2004 I got mine too ! Thanks so much Gerry. Doug Quote
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