TDW's WIP-Thread

# 1 26-12-2010 , 06:33 PM

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Join Date: Dec 2010

Posts: 68

Hi guys, I just began learning Maya, so I guess I won't be able to post some Maya only artworks in here, except you want to watch me making cubes and other primitives. user added image

Well here's some overview of what I've done sofar with Blender. That's the app I currently work with until I'm good enough to show my Maya creations. I've modeled mainly lowpoly characters/ creatures/ miscs for an old PC game called Eldersrolls III, since I started learning 3D modeling 2 years ago. It's a fun thing to do, but I feel like it always limits my learning progress, cause I can only go as far as the game let's me. I want to change that now and try to better my skills a bit. Hope you guys can point me down the right way. user added image

TDW

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# 2 26-12-2010 , 06:47 PM

The thin red line
Join Date: Aug 2009

Location: England

Posts: 4,472

Some nice models and texturing TDW, maya is not the easyest to learn but I think it will be worth it...............dave

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# 3 27-12-2010 , 12:13 AM

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Location: TN (USA)

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Nice Stuff TDW, from the looks of your work, it wouldn't surprise me if you made the transition to Maya fairly easily. I've never used Blender before but you clearly have some skill so it's basically just learning the Maya tools...I think.

Don't be satisfied with what you can do but rather strive to do the things you can't do!
Exceed Expectations!

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# 4 27-12-2010 , 01:32 PM

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Thx guys, I think it will just take me some time to figure where all the functions are that I was used to from Blender. Working in Maya feels very slow to me at the moment. I'm used to work with almost shortcuts only and haven't learned most of Maya's yet.

TDW user added image

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# 5 27-12-2010 , 08:28 PM

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Join Date: Dec 2010

Posts: 68

Just began with a new WIP. I will model a siberian tiger and texture it. Maybe I will take it into ZBrush later for adding some more details.

I had to use an anatomical image of a domestic cat, best I could find on the internet. If someone knows of a better one, plz let me know.

I modeled the body from a box, all quads sofar. The head will be made seperate from the body, cause I hate boxmodeling, when it comes to more detailed objects. So I'll model it poly by poly and connect it with the body lateron.

EDIT: This is how the head looks at the current stage. I kept it very simple, so that it will be asier to connect it with the body lateron. I will just model a socket for the inner mouth and later make a quick rig for the head to pose it wide open to be able to work on all the interiors.

As I don't have a suitable shot of this tiger from sideview, I will tweak the proportions lateron with help from other ref pics. I don't like working with image planes so much, cause I think freehand modeling is better training.

PS: I have a few triangles now, may fix it later, but does no harm sofar.

EDIT: Body is almost complete now, but I got to get rid of some unnecessary edge loops. I want to keep the option to use the tiger as a game creature, so I don't want to add further edgeloops now to get an even spread of polygons across the whole model.

How would you guys improve this base model?

Feel free to give crits, that's what I'm here for!!!

TDW user added image

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# 6 27-12-2010 , 08:56 PM

Maniacal boy king of Babylon
Join Date: Aug 2005

Location: the netherlands

Posts: 1,605

SOme quick ones:
-end with a quad @ the corner of the mouth and the inside of the ear
-extrude an edge inward for the mouth at the very least
- the eyes are to close to the center
- nose is to pointy

My advice is download as much refernce photos of a tiger you can find even better is to have some bookmarks to some video's since a photo is only one moment and you could be working of some odd expression I prefer footage with headturns those are the best

My website;
https://www.eyellem.com

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/martin-van-stein/42/a81/b82

Yoda post;
https://forum.simplymaya.com/showthre...highlight=yoda

Indiana Jones Post;
https://srv01.simply3dworld.com/showt...threadid=29188

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# 7 27-12-2010 , 10:42 PM

The thin red line
Join Date: Aug 2009

Location: England

Posts: 4,472

Have you got a smoothed option in blender as I cannot tale were this is without smoothing, to me it looks good.............dave

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# 8 28-12-2010 , 01:25 AM

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-end with a quad @ the corner of the mouth and the inside of the ear

Originally Posted by

Done

-extrude an edge inward for the mouth at the very least

Originally Posted by

Done

- the eyes are to close to the center

Originally Posted by

Changed

- nose is to pointy

Originally Posted by

Changed

This is how close i can come, else I will have to remodel the whole thing. Topology is not eyecandy, not proud of it! user added image

Here is the smooth version. I always model solid, so I can see the failures netter than when smoothed out.

Just projected the picture onto the model to see how it looks.

TDW

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# 9 28-12-2010 , 03:10 AM

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Location: Australia

Posts: 4,255

looks good mate...Im no expert but I think the jowls are too heavy....cats are mostly fur...even the big ones...but its again how Maya will put the fur on..I have never used it so Im not sure. Good start though mate!

cheers bullet

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

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# 10 28-12-2010 , 03:26 AM

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Location: Australia

Posts: 4,255

Ok mate I got this...read the print and you should be able to locate a book maybe?? still looking...I know this is a lion but I saw a Tiger as well...bear with me.

cheers bullet

I also found Eliot Goldfinger has a book called 'Animal Anatomy for Artists' try that and I found this..no Tigers but it may get you going in the right direction?

https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/Sci...ImgsAbout.html

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bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

Last edited by bullet1968; 28-12-2010 at 03:38 AM.

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# 11 28-12-2010 , 05:06 AM

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Join Date: Mar 2009

Location: India

Posts: 145

Its looking good TDW so far. Would love to see your completed model.
All your previous work with blender are great. Keep it up

Hers a link i found. Hope it can be of help to you.
https://akeli.deviantart.com/art/Anim...rt-1-143442279

Mahesh

Last edited by maheshsubbiah; 28-12-2010 at 05:40 AM.

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# 12 28-12-2010 , 11:44 AM

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@bullet1968: Man, thx for posting that anatomical picture. At the moment I saw it I remembered I have the complete anatomical atlas, where that comes from as regular print. I was searching my ass off on the internet and I have all I need in the shelf right behind me, lol! Kind of a proof that staying too long on the internet does damage the brain. user added image

The problem with the fur is, I cannot use particle systems to fake it in that PC game. I will have to mesh it and add some alphaed fur planes at the edges. I might experiment with some of those techniques on the highpoly version, which I will make in ZBrush lateron though.

@maheshsubbiah: Thx, I will finish this and try to find a decent animator, who brings this beast to life for the PC game.

PS: The problem with this head is that I didn't get the topology right. The edge flow doesn't really support the shapes it needs to bring out. I tried to have all quads, but each additional edge loop on the head means another additional loop on the body aswell, which is an awful thing. Maybe I should have redirected the loops away from the heads lenght axis.

I will post a pic of the head in the topology section and see what the cracks have to say... user added image

TDW

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# 13 28-12-2010 , 05:14 PM

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Here's a small update. Had to sample texture together in photoshop. Teeth comming soon...

TDW

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# 14 24-01-2011 , 12:56 PM

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Well, I decided to pause my game modding activities for a while and try to improve my modeling skills a bit for the future. I still work with Blender, but I'm making good progress in learning Maya aswell. As I already began with modeling that tiger for the game series, I thought I might aswell turn it into a biped character. I will make the base model in Blender and try to capture as much detail as I can on a rather lowpoly stage and afterwards take all into ZBrush for further definition.

I just began yesterday and body needs still a lot of tweaking concerning shapes and anatomy. I also have had some problems with working with subdivision. For example if I try to cut holes or cavities in the cuirass, I always get ugly lowpoly structures in that area. I tried to add further loops around those holes to relax the mesh, but didn't work that good. Any tips?

Here some pics: