Hi Guys,

I've started working on a mod for Rome:Total War/ Medieval2:Total War (due sometime this year). Its called Ilsamiren Wars and details and some groovy concept artwork is at:
https://mods.moddb.com/6331/

Here's the first of a line of unit models that I'll be knocking out. Detailed textures will come at a later date.

Concept (not mine but the rest are):


Basic ortho:


Lowest poly version:

With wires:


Medium poly version:

With wires:


Base UVmap:


Base UVmap on model:

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Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

Next up is another unit model. Again I didnt do the concept, just the ortho view and modelling.

Mechathenain - Lords Men

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Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

and another one done (not fully uv'ed though)

Mechathenain Spearman

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Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

Just been playing with my first ever walk cycle
It's not great and is a little stiff in some areas but its a start.


- spearman walk cycle
(in windows media player use 'Play -> Repeat' or Ctrl+T to loop the movie)

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Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

well done mate looks good!! theres something thats kinda wrong though u notice on the left leg near the end of the clothing hes wearing. it kinda jumps (appears then disappers sorter thing)

Cheers magicsy
Getting used to the graph editor for the animation is a bit wierd but quite addictive (reminds me a little of flash's timeline).

Thanks for noticing the clipping problem with the skirt. There is also some occuring around the arms. I think removing the main crease down the front of the skirt should make it deform without cutting into the model. The inner armpit area also needs bringing right in so that no problems occur there.

Its all keyframed (just guesswork) at the minute so I'll probably go back and add some IK arms/legs to the rig to make it easier to control.
I probably need to find some reference vids of people walking to make it better.

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Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

Great work, Mr. T1ckle. I didn't understand what's these characters will be used for. But do you intend to detail them? They are looking very good.
About the walk cycle, it's good, but it could be real better. I'm not felling the weight of your char. You see, walk is falling all the time. You fall, but put your leg on ground, recorver balance. You fall again, put your leg on ground, recorver balance. And it's this, all the time. It's not well defined where your char fall, recover balance, stretch, and fall again. I think this link would be useful for you:
https://www.idleworm.com/how/anm/02w/walk1.shtml
This guy explain a lot about walk cycles. But if you want a byble of animation, I recommend Richard Williams book, "The Animator's Survival Kit". It's an incredible book about animation, to be applied in any media you want, including 3D.
I hope it helps!

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Portfolio
Low poly model - Tesse

Thanks for the input jramauri, much appreciated
The work is for replacement unit models in the realtime strategy game Rome:Total War. Some screenshots are at:
https://www.totalwar.com/community/rogal3.htm (cycle through the gallery).
There are 4 levels of detail in the models from low poly (150ish) up to high poly (600+ ish). I'll be concentrating on models and textures for the medium/high poly models but am finding it a good exercise to try and do the low poly modelling too.

That link should be very helpful (cant see it at work) if it goes through each of the parts of walking. I really should have IK rigged the arms/legs for easy control and put some controls for the roll of the body/hips etc. I think I'll have a go at those and then as you mentioned try and add the weight into his step. I need to make the upper body more flexible too and swing the arms a little more.

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Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

found out I dont need to do animations so playing with the walk cycle etc will have to wait. Its a good excuse to get the models textured and looking good

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Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

I've created a variation on one of my other models and put a (VERY) basic blocked in texture on. This low poly stuff is addictive as hell

Lords Men:


Shot of the head (head section is about 64 tris):


And a slightly different one just showing the difference and the mesh:


wire showing:

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Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

very good stuff man.

Should be good to see them altogether, textured.
Are you doing just humans or other stuff?

Great work! :attn:

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Portfolio
Low poly model - Tesse

That face is very well done! Nice job on the metal as well!

Man, I played the hell outta the first two Total War games.


Dave

hi guys

thanks magicsy - I think just humans for this mod though there may be some outlandish animals (I hope )
There is talk of modding the same idea for oblivion - elder scrolls 4 and if that happens then there will be individual characters to a pretty high level of detail (or very well normal mapped)
e.g,
https://www.elderscrolls.com/art/obli...enshots_01.htm

cheers jramauri - your 2D artwork is cool btw, when do we see more?

thanks dave - lol I played the hell out of them too (I preferred shogun just because it was japanese but medieval was cool too (and the expansion). You should try Rome:TW as it pushes the game even further and is great fun online (I only do online now). Medieval2:TW is on the horizon too though my laptop probably wont take it

The textures will need a LOT more work before I'm even remotely happy. I'm just concentrating on getting the models right for deformation and having interchangable bits and then making sure the uvmap is tight within the space allowed.
More to come soon

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Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

Hey Mr T1ckle - Great work so far! Those textures really bring your model together. I have just started playing around with low poly models - at the moment I am building Silenus - but I am thinking of trying to build a low poly samurai next, so I am curious to see how you will deal with their armor while animating.

Your walk cycle looks good to me so far, but what do I know? That book that Mr jramauri suggests is certainly worth checking out. Lots of good info from a more traditional perspective.

I haven't played Rome Total War yet, but I have recently discovered Half Life 2 online which is lots of fun. I am keen to start fiddling with the Valve mod, but this is yet another area that I know nothing about...so much to learn!

Good work T1ck!

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arran3D

arran3D blog