the new dragon - Page 2 - Simply Maya User Community

# 16 28-08-2003 , 04:23 AM

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Silvia really work on making more ROUND shapes and less hard edges. Try using the Sculpt Surfaces tool or the Artisan tool they help out a GREAT deal when working in NURBS. I usually start out by having my MAX displacement at a low number like .015 then go up from there. I find that the SMOOTH tool is my best friend =).

As for seams and Such i reccomend playing around with the stitch surfaces tool also fillets help when tring to hide a harsh line crated by two NURBS pieces placed together.

I really reccomend taking a look at how this dragon head was PATCH modeled using NURBS.

https://www.highend3d.com/maya/tutorials/patch2/

it's coming along good. (stay away from green i liked blue better)
Oh hey i found that the best resource for animal eye textures is a TAXADERMY SITE lol as creepy as it is i got good quality LARGE eyeball pictures of over 50 animals.

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# 17 28-08-2003 , 06:37 AM

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I think I saw the same site actually!!!! I downloaded a few examples for reference. The texture I am using for the eyes right now was originally from highend3d.com but I changed it to make it more the way I liked it. Still penty of work to do on textures.
Thank you for the feedback on softening edges. I still need to get a definate grip on NURBS, but little by little... I tried the sculpt tool, didn't like it all that much... It doesn't seem to do much more than i would do by manually manipulating the vertices. It may be because I am still keeping the number of isoparms to the absolute minimum. In the other dragon, I got to the point where there were so many vertices I couldn't control it anymore. I am trying to avoid it with this model.
Also I am trying to get the entire model done first, then see how much level of detail I can add without going too crazy.
I really appreciate your last postings 3dgurl, because you point out specific areas of improvement. Thank you! Did you see I followed your suggestion on smoothing the top of the head part? It looks better now! Thanks very much for that!

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# 18 28-08-2003 , 07:04 AM

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yes as i said coming along good =)

be careful with nurbs you will need the most isoparms around the mouth and eyes.

The sculpt tool i too did not like at first but you will find its all about balancing how you use it. Try a combination of push then smooth or pull then smooth. i never use push then pull or vice versa coz it makes things all whacky ;P Do you know how to resize the brush size? in case you dont simply hold down "b" then drag one way or the other to shrink or expand the size of the brush.

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# 19 28-08-2003 , 08:30 AM

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sorry to double post but i just found my old stuff and made one image out of it. I told you earlier or at some point in the old thread i'd give you a look at how i first started and such well here is it... my very first model and after a year i came out with 10x better. funny thing is now i look at those and think of many different ways i could have modeled all of them better. When i have time i plan on going back and redoing all of those. I will of course recycle parts, but i will also improve and remodel the parts that need to be.

btw the second model ever i was lazy on i cut so many corners i am ashamed of that model lol. as for the alien he is forever and fondly known as the "Avocado Alien"

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Last edited by 3dgurl; 28-08-2003 at 08:41 AM.

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# 20 01-09-2003 , 09:23 AM

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I have been working mainly on the body, lately. Since I haven't posted any progress in a while, I thought I would put this on. I know, still plenty of smoothing needed... But I am quite happy on how much I have accomplished with so few polys! I hope to keep it that way as much as possible. I haven't attached the head to the body yet, that's going to be funny... user added image

I haven't added the wings yet. That's on the "to do" list.
I am also considering shortening the neck. We'll see.

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# 21 01-09-2003 , 09:57 AM

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yay dinosaur!

i mean yay dragon!

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# 22 01-09-2003 , 12:51 PM

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hey good work your dragon looks like a plastic toy is that the effect u are going for.

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# 23 01-09-2003 , 07:32 PM

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Well yeah, I did use dino pictures to model the body... I hate to use someone else's dragon as reference, mostly because I hate to copy other people's work in general. You'll see that, when I am done with the wings, it will look like a dragon... user added image

For the plastic toy, well no, it is supposed to be an actual fire-breathing dragon. All textures are temporary. I added colors and textures only because I need to see some color while I am working on it.
Thank you for the comments guys! user added image

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# 24 02-09-2003 , 01:50 AM

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silviapalara - progress looks good. The forearms seem to have the bulk of the muscle on the top which is a bit odd in terms of anatomy - if the palms face down the largest muscle is also facing down.

Nice back legs. It does remind me a bit of a dinosaur... but that'll all change with wings I guess. I think the hind legs could use some more bulk but that's just my opinion.

Keep it coming user added image

Check out the subsurfacescattering on my tongue...

<a href="https://www.reitzmachine.com">www.reitzmachine.com</a>

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# 25 02-09-2003 , 02:13 AM

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Oh crap, you are right! With the palms facing down, the cavity of the elbow faces inward and downward... crappy crap crap... well spotted, thank you so much!
Yes, as I said, I used the pictures of several dinos to come up with the body. Mostly t-rex and raptor types of dinos. I changed the front legs, obviously, I wanted them stronger, both for walking and for grabbing. But I really liked that kind of shape, it makes it look light and agile. I like it better than a lizard kind of shape. Just my personal taste.
The wings proceed, although my machine seems to be slowing down exponentially the more stuff I add, although I am really being careful to keep the poly count down.
Also I tend to agree with you that the lower part of the back leg is a bit thin. Thanks for the great criticism!

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# 26 02-09-2003 , 11:30 PM

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Ok, here it is with the wings and the elbows turned the right way. I think that, in terms of proportions, the body is turning out ok. Just need to tweek and smooth here and there and, of course, add the head!

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# 27 03-09-2003 , 03:14 PM

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WOW silvia im impressed its coming along VERY VERY WELL.

the neck looks just fine to me leave it the way it is is the head you made still in nurbs? if so i can walk you thru the whole converting nurbs to polys then attaching the head in polys etc.

That demon looking guy i made i made him in nurbs first then converted him to polys and attached all his pieces together =P

So far form what i can see...the tail needs to be longer, and make the taper on the tail more subtle.

like so:

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Last edited by 3dgurl; 03-09-2003 at 03:18 PM.

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# 28 03-09-2003 , 06:18 PM

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Now this depends entirely on the effect you are going for - there is a great visual history of comic and serious dragons with tiny or undersized wings to be sure - but from a flying perspective those wings won't get that dragon off the ground. An interesting comentary on that is in the Two Towers dvd special where a WETA director is talking about the making of the Nasguls - the flying steeds of the 9 riders in LOTR. They were going for the fear factor and wanted their bird to fly convincingly.

So this isn't a critique really - it's more a point to help you hone your intentions user added image

You're making good progress. Looking forward to seeing the head.

Check out the subsurfacescattering on my tongue...

<a href="https://www.reitzmachine.com">www.reitzmachine.com</a>

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# 29 04-09-2003 , 01:05 AM

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hey..I like the wings can we get a full body and head render?

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# 30 04-09-2003 , 02:15 AM

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Here is the body + the head. The head isn't attached yet. I have been spending some time cleaning up the body, deleting polys that didn't have any purpose and eliminating creases and so forth. Now I am quite happy with the body.
I just have this nagging feeling that the head is too big with respect of the body and/or the neck is too long. I will much appreciate opinions.
Also I haven't curled the tail because I want everything to be as straight as possible for rigging.

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