Here is a challenge - make a bird with feathers........

Introduction to Maya - Modeling Fundamentals Vol 2

This course will look in the fundamentals of modeling in Maya with an emphasis on creating good topology. It's aimed at people that have some modeling experience in Maya but are having trouble with complex objects.

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# 1 06-01-2004 , 02:47 PM

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Join Date: May 2003

Location: Denmark

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Here is a challenge - make a bird with feathers........

Hi all

Here is a challenge :-)

I want to make a seagul flying in the air.

I want it to make it so realistic as possible, with real looking feathers that reacts to the wind and so on and so on!

Dont worry about the modeling part - the only thing i want inspiration for is the 'feather' part. Should i make it fur - model some 'soft-body' feathers..........WHAT WOULD U DO??

Thx...:bgreen:

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# 2 06-01-2004 , 04:44 PM

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I thought there are an article way back on how the feathers and fur was done for Ice Age using Sprites.

The feathers won't "act" like feathers, but thats a super-fast way of getting them done.

Also, are you sure you need that amount of detail?

Have you thought about the tutorials around the web regarding using PaintFX control curves for hair?
That technique could be modified for your needs as well.

It really depends on your shot needs.

Can you give us a shot-by-shot breakdown by any chance?

Thanks.

Israel "Izzy" Long
Motion and Title Design for Broadcast-Film-DS
izzylong.com

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# 3 07-01-2004 , 12:24 AM

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I will keep u posted as the bird comes to live!

Dont know when that is - going to the hospital for a couple of days...so......

But thank u for replying.... :-)

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# 4 07-01-2004 , 06:38 PM

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I'm thinking of doing this for my next challenge, the guys I work with are some of the best in the business for this stuff (They did fawkes in Harry Potter 2 and the big creature for Harry Potter 3 with loads of feathers) so I have good resources. This sort of thing is basically done using the same principles as hair I think so I may write myself a plugin (or take the "easy" option and do it in Houdini!)

I'll keep you posted once I finish my tank.

Alan

Technical Director - Framestore

Currently working on: Your Highness

IMDB

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# 5 16-01-2004 , 10:29 AM

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So far so good!

I promised to keep u posted as the bird comes to live!

Well - here is 2 pictures!

I desided to make the body with fur and the wing lots of small pieces of geometry, apply a .tiff-file with alphachannel and then combine them all to 1 large wing!

The challenge now is to make the ligthing so the 2 profiles match!

Take a look for urselves!

Last edited by Uglynakedguy; 16-01-2004 at 11:05 AM.

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# 6 16-01-2004 , 10:30 AM

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The Body

The Birds Body

Attached Images

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# 7 16-01-2004 , 10:31 AM

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The wing

The birds wing!

Attached Images

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# 8 16-01-2004 , 11:54 AM

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Looks very intresting.. Can we see wires ? Keep posting, would like to see how this terns out..

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# 9 16-01-2004 , 04:03 PM

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NICE!!!

Any chance of a small tut/overview when you are done?

Israel "Izzy" Long
Motion and Title Design for Broadcast-Film-DS
izzylong.com

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# 10 16-01-2004 , 05:18 PM

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Thx :-)

About the tutorial - i would absolutely love that. :bgreen:

But i think it's impossible to make a small tutorial out of this project. It has been a rather complex proces making that stupid bird. user added image