What is everyone working on? #2 Thread

Try bending his lower legs more, so they're slightly more straight. Think about where most of his weight would be going - it'd be slightly behind his hooves. Also, i like the second model alot - looks like a sloth demon type of thing. Also, how are you creating these models, out of curiosity?

Hey ngs616 I think you should add some more detail to your low poly mesh, like a snout and hands. It will increase your potential for more detail. But this is what I was able to accomplish today.

I managed to model a eagles head, UV map it and do my Alpha textures for the feathers and place them. They still need some work and I still need to take the head into Zbrush and add detail to it.

Edited by: Nightwolf63

Interesting work flow.
Here's some notes. /bigbreath
You say this is a alien not a human, understood however being its organic it should have a organic structure and make sense.
I know its a model based on the Baron of Hell, so here's my speel.

^Even with the pixelation he cleary has muscles and a human organic torso.

^Here is a example of a baron some one has made.
Note the oversized muscle structure doesn't protrude from the base (mesh) model but it a clean variation of normal and diffuse maps.

^ In this we can see how i have put it "over the top" your detailing of the muscles in comparison with a "competing model"

I can't see or find the base mesh of the model on the right, but id assume the mesh flow would be like this (less polygons but same mesh flow.)
 
As you can see the base mesh has the primary muscles modeled and zbush has been used to produce a normal map that enhances the models texture.

Your production flow (pipeline) is as follows.
XSI -> maya -> Zbrush -> Photoshop -> ????

At no stage do you turn your detail mesh (zbush one) back into a game workable mesh.

The pipleline should look like.

Basemesh1 (xsi/maya/3dsmax) -> zbush -> Redo Topology (xsi/maya/3dsmax) -> UV -> (xsi/maya/3dsmax) -> Bake Normals (xsi/maya/3dsmax) -> Photoshop.

Ill expand.
Basemesh 1: doesnt need to be good, it just needs to be decent enough to detail and get the shapes you want from your model.
zbrush: Detail and get the models shape and detail how you want, use a mid lvl subdiv and export it into your modeling package.
Redo Topology: Your basemesh and your zbush one wont be suitble for ingame and animation, your need to redo most of the models moving parts like shoulders and joints, this phase also allows you to flesh out your base mesh.
UV: On your new base mesh that should fit your high poly like a glove, you can uv the model.
Bake: You bake the normal and diffuse from your high poly mesh onto the low poly.
Photoshop: Take the aoe diffuse bake into photoshop and skin it up.

Really you need to watch some tuts and if theres some intrest ill make one.

Good luck

Thank you for all the information Tkaza. I didn't mean it was my complete workflow; just what i had done so far for those models.

But you have given me some useful tips, thank you.
The "game workable" mesh is 5k polys. The topology really isn't that bad aside from the face and a few wasted polies.

These are some of the first character models i have made.
I've got a book on hyper realistic creature creation(haven't read it yet), but they discuss about topology and whatnot. 

And the muscle on my model do not protrude from the base mesh.

For the record i like my barons legs better then the "competitors"
These are some of my first character models; i need to spend more time on them also. That pink baron i only put an hour into. The fat monster i put about 2 or 3 into.

Thank you for the information, Tkaza. Can you show me some of your character models?

Edited by: ngs616

Outlining a spiffy new series of programming tutorials....

Thanks for the advice; and thanks for the images of your work. I like the lolerk creature..
I do need to spend a lot more time on each section. I always make stuff too fast. Making the baron and mancubus based creature seriously made my arm a little sore.
I tend to be very busy and i like to see progress so i rush things a lot of the time. I need to take my time and put more work into it.

It would be hypocritical of me to think less of you for being harsh; i am very harsh myself. (but if i am spoken to in a harsh manner i most likely reply in a harsh manner.)
The only feed back i have gotten is from yourself, deathcaller, and Miyavii; none were invaluable.( i took that as the opposite of what it meant)
I know it's bad, but you're right i was thinking oh well. But I wasn't disregarding the advice; i am wanting to create atleast 1 creature a day for the next two weeks. The ones I liked the most I will refine. ..but i'm going to work on this Baron as well since i posted so many images of him. I've actually made 6 variations of him from the 500 poly mesh.

Thanks again for your advice, Tkaza, it is very valuable. {and thanks for pointing out his center of gravity is off, Miyavii.

Edited by: ngs616

Sorry i fixed it!

YA! I managed to finish my eagle today, it could still use some work. But I'm done with it at the moment. Crits are welcome, but will probably go unheard for now.

Edited by: Nightwolf63

Hey Thanks, and your totally right I just updated my last post with a better version.

I like the eagle, it looks cute. How did you do the feathers?

I continued the texturing, I tried a different approach to the paint & metal areas, they kind of lost the contrast in colours now. I'll try adding some more of that later.

I think the bottom of the sight has flipped normals, just like the top of it. Don't know why it baked them the wrong way, when everything else is correctly baked.

Thanks

I'm calling it done now. I didn't get my paint peel off thing work, so it doesn't have it.

Thank you, leilei. Are you talking about books from loomisbooks.com? I've actually been looking for some good art books on human anatomy.
On this page there is 4 for under 10$ Loomisbooks.com Are these the books you are talking about?
That is definently one of my biggest problems with the two creatures i posted on here. Their anatomy is from memory, i don't have any references on it. Please let me know if these are the books you are speaking of and i will purchase them, they do appear very useful. 

I've been buying a lot of books lately. (mainly on programming, maya, and zbrush) I bought a few on various types of animals that i wanted to use to help my creatures seem more realistic.
I bought this one on anatomy a few days ago and it's on the way to my house. Amazon.com

Thanks again, leilei.

Edited by: ngs616

I never said i was using books for practice, i create things every day; that is my practice.
No i am not only remaking stuff that exists. The baron of hell i was making is some what of a remake (but only of a 2d sprite).
The information on the internet is not as direct and is scattered. The internet is where i have gotten all my information so far.
Books are a great resource of knowledge.
I of course do use google and google images as references but they are not good enough.
Books allow me to gain more knowledge and easily access the information i require. 

All of my knowledge of game development thus far is from the internet. It is abundant, but it is not enough.

The books i am going to complete reading:
 Tools for Structured and Object Oriented Design (an introduction to programming logic)
 C++ Primer (havent started this one yet, i will when i finish the introductory book above)
 Game Architecture and Design
 Introducing Maya 2008
 Maya Techniques: Advanced Creature Creation
 Introducing Zbrush (i got a Zbrush advanced character creation book on the way as well)
 (i just got them all throughout this week and last. All my current knowledge of game development is from the internet)

 Aside from that i have a few books on drawing i am going to start using..(mainly as a reference for 3d modeling) they are on creating undead creatures, creating hellish creatures, creating wildlife, and an anatomy book. I will be adding the 4 books on that loomisbooks.com link above if those are the ones leilei was recommending. I value that recommendation due to the quality of the feline woman i seen a few pages back.

These books should expand my knowledge greatly and fill in many of it's holes.

I, like many others, continue to hone my skills and gain knowledge through experience, text, and discussion(very little of the discussion part; i've been on my own the whole time. If it wasn't for me starting to use the moddb forums a couple months ago i wouldn't have even mentioned it). 

Edited by: ngs616