5s general

[Nizza_waaarg]

*edit: throwing the latest update here too i guess*
http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/finals_test02.jpg

wakka wakka.
saw this concept by hethe over at cghub and really wanted to try it out, crazy proportions ftw (tho mine still need heaps more pushing i think)

http://cghub.com/images/view/38426/


anywhoos, got a rough anatomy blockin and started quickly sculpting out some clothes. I gotta go back and resculpt it all with more sense behind the folds and with symmetry off, but testing out shapes atm.
Comments and crits would be aws, especially on getting the proportions and junk looking right :poly142:

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/01a.jpg

[Muzz]

Off to a really good start :D!

At first i thought the character was going to be an elderly, but strong samurai or something, but this is cool as well :).

[Emil Mujanovic]

So far so good, man.
It's a pretty slick concept, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out in 3D.
If you're planning on using this as a folio piece, I would strongly recommend you ask permission from the original concept artist.

[Nizza_waaarg]

cheers for the repliez guys =D

emil: agreed on the permission thing, just wanted to make sure i didn't give up after 5 min of crappy sculpting :P


redid the pants, still kinda messy (i should prolly grab some ref sometime >_>)... and threw a bunch of blocks in there. that helmet thing is gonna be crazy :poly142:

http://nizza.wordpress.com/files/2009/11/01c.jpg

[Nizza_waaarg]

and imma go get some sleep... got helmet block in and head sculpt to do tommorow :\

http://nizza.wordpress.com/files/2009/11/01d.jpg

[jakelear]

Ignoring the concept, it kinda looks like a stylized bruce willis from die hard.

[ioster]

I really like how this is coming out. I might grab one of Hethes concepts for my next sculpt too. Good find!

[Razorb]

nice :D! love the proportions

[Rojo]

Nice! Perhaps the legs could taper more, they don't look as exaggerated as the illustration.

[praxedes]

oooh- I'm doing this guy too! You're further into it than me, I've just started the base mesh about a week ago...wierd! It'll be really good to see how yours comes out- Based on your other work I strongly suspect it'll make mine look naff by comparsion :D good luck!


~P~

[pior]

Nice!!!

[Nizza_waaarg]

jakelear: lol, i did just watch die hard 1-4 over the last 4 nights... could be a subconscious thing happening :P
ioster: cheers man. He's got some really cool stuff, love his style
Razorb: thanks man :)
Tim: cool point on the legs, been really hard fighting with zb perspective and maya perspective and how the final fov should look... hopefully got them lookin a little thinner ^^
praxedes: hehe, make sure you post prog pics so i can steal all your ideas... no clue how i'm gonna tackle some of the other block elements yet :P
pior: woo, cheers man ^__^

thanks for the replies everyone. Finally got a block helmet in to test the shapes and proportions, needs to be bulkier... and betterer :P
head still needs some tweaking, but i can't wait to do the final goggles, cube map over orange diffuse with increased spec power :poly142:

thinking of going photosource texturing too, produces a weird realistic result which should look kinda cool over the the crazy stylized anatomy.

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/01e.jpg

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/02a.jpg

[butt_sahib]

OOO my likey!
Your such a game art whore!! I like it :D

[penrod]

Looks awesome so far! Looking forward to the finished sculpt =D

[martinszeme]

Great choice of concept art! Love your work so far.
His gentlemen area looks scary tight. :D
But it fits this character. :)

[Nizza_waaarg]

butt: :P cheers manz (that's how i roll :P)
penrod: ty ^^
martinszeme: wouldn't want anything being loose now :P (tho i might be making the folds a bit too small, moreso in that 'area' :poly122:)

mini update before i go play some vidya games or whatev. Not really diggin the pants, tried resculptin already and going over it a bunch of times. Think the folds might be too small and not big and baggy enough to indicate the right material, mebbe.

I'll see how i like em after shirt sculpting and replacing some of those block meshes.

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/02d.jpg

[konstruct]

fucking coooool

[aesir]

looking sweet.

As always, very impressed by your work ethic. Keep it up!

[OrganizedChaos]

Wow. this is looking very nice so far! Definitely something worth keeping track of :)
As mentioned, you're making great progress too!

[warriah]

hehe nice one. im actaully using the same concept for reference for a model im working on.
if anything i would say the head is too big and helmet too small if your going to match the concept exactly. up to you really.

good work so far!

[Nizza_waaarg]

konstruct: thanks man ^^
aesir: cheers... just wait till i take my regular 2 month break between modelling and texturing :P (jk, gotta get this done before my photoshop trial ends)
OrganizedChaos: ty. Glad to hear things moving forward on this stuff ^^
warriah: cheers dude. Agree'd on the helmet head situation, tryin to get the rough shape/scale right in zb... make sure you post yours up some time, would be nice ot see how it's done (never saw how your comicon spiderman ended up actually, gotta go hunt that down now) :)

thanks for the nice comments all, still working this stuff out. nice to be doing some more things in maya again and just sculpting in detail. Sorry for the colour correction too, i kinda like it but might not be everyone's taste.

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/02e.jpg

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/02f.jpg

[Nizza_waaarg]

arg, hate when things go bad and you get completley demotivated :poly127:
anyway, yesterday didn't go so well. Boots weren't shaping out nicley, sub d modelling the knees was lookin crap, then the pouches were a pain in the ass.

Anyway, i came back in today and just free sculpted these pouches out in zbrush and i'm heaps happier with them now. Gotta get some more easy stuff done before tackling the knees and boots again (still got helmet to go >_<).

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/03a.jpg

[gaganjain]

Nizza looking will watch at end result...
Don't you think crotch area spread large.or is because standing pose...:)

[wizo]

looking totally awesome, dont let yourself feel blue, its shaping up so nicely!

[Autocon]

he is looking great, will agree that legs need to tapper a bit more to fit with the concept a bit better.

love that belt though!

[JasonLavoie]

God those proportions are BLOOWWINNNNGGG my mind!

Beautiful work!

[SubPablo]

this is aaaace! Great concept choice, just be sure to get that characterization back into the face before you're through. -teeny tiny hawk-nose, widearse mouth, and downward pointing goggles. -great wrinkles, man!

[Nizza_waaarg]

gaganjain: cheers dude. crotch might be a bit wide, planning to rotate the legs from out of the pelvis so won't get much wider at least :P
wizo: thanks man :)
autocon: hehe, cheers. Agree'd on the legs, hoping the new boots will help out
Jason: :poly124: thanks man
subpablo: cool points, consider it done (once i get back up there ^^). Thinking of flattening out the planes a leetle more too, get some sharper edges in between forms

i keep putting off the boots, knees and helmet i think, lest i fall back into more slump :poly122:
anyways, still got more to go on the hands (better folds/forms, seams, etc) but got some mad sleeping coming up (it's gonna be tight yo :poly142:)

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/03b.jpg

[LoTekK]

This is pure sex. Love what you've done with this so far, and that arm is coming along beautifully.

[Nizza_waaarg]

lotekk: hehe, cheers man ^^

almost done with this guy. Still got shirt and gloves refining... mostly been struggling with the hard surface/sub-d modelling on the helmet so far... Really hope it turns out half decent to finish this dude off.

kinda pissed with how the knees turned out but hoping they can be salvaged with some texture work. Don't think they've got as much character or style as i'd like.
Gonna go do the low poly for a bit, mindless retopo and uv'ing should be a nice break :poly142:

(and magenta rawks >:{!!!)

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/04a.jpg

[Firebert]

i've noticed on a lot of your sculpts that there are repeated areas you don't pay attention to, overlook, or are just missing the mark on. on this model, the transition from the bicep, deltoid, pec region is off. the fold should be going up, not down onto the top of the bicep. on the back side, the same kind of issue with the tricep to delt teres region... the muscles just don't lay that way... this is very noticeable on the right hand side of the 3/4 view on the right. the bicep to forearm transition needs some attention as well. it's these medium level details that you seem to continually overlook in your models. the basics of form, and silhouette are all there... the high level details with weight and style are all there and look fantastic, but these little medium level details seem to falter again and again. the same with your ears as well. not relevant to this model, but their transition from the back to the skull seems to give you issues by looking at your zb thread. the shit looks damn near perfect, just pull it back a bit, dial those in, and you're solid.

[Nizza_waaarg]

really good crit man. 100% agree on the med details (in pretty much all mah sculptings).
I tried a quick touch up on the 'shoulder' area, hope thats looking a leetle better (the bicep attached to humerous bone, pec rolled over that and delt over that part). Still gotta go over the forarm/upper arm connecting area again, that area is kinda bananas :\

hmm, now you got me wanting to do a fresh male anatomy sculpt (on top of the 3 other chars i just started up :P). Good stuff to practice on dude.

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/04b.jpg

[Firebert]

that's lookin' much better dude... i didn't say anything about the forearm since it was in the concept and added a particular style to the character... somewhat anatomically forked from the get go, but 'meh, it works, and if you put the concept along side the finished model, i doubt anyone would question that area... other spots though (like the pec/delt/bicep area) i think should just be sculpted correctly and make sense... i digress keep going dude... these little tweaks shouldn't be too much of a hassle for ya... just keep going up and down in those divisions, back and forth, and kick some ass.

[Rojo]

The gloves seem too tight, should there be so much definition in the palms? It doesn't feel like a padded/protective material, but more like latex.

Stretching to find something to critique. It's shaping up nicely and I admire your work.

[BigErn]

Great work Nizza! your work is a great inspiration! I like how quick you get on with it :) something I need to learn.

[poopinmymouth]

Really nice clothing sculpts. Arm anatomy still looks a bit wonky in the bicep and deltoid, but looks like you're still working on that area.

[Nizza_waaarg]

firebert: hehe, cheers man. Agree on the mid lvl details fo shizzle. Gotta keep that stuff in mind for my male anat. study (yar, starting more chars is fun to do :P)
Tim: cool point on the gloves. I tried making the folds a little bigger and leather like, hoping they work out alright on the bake
BigErn: thanks man. And here i am beating myself up for taking so long with this :P
poop: thanks dude ^^ Yeah, arm has been buggin me on this guy for a while. Gotta try stepping down in the levels some more and get the forms shaping up better.

anyways, so much for some relaxing retopo... I kinda went overboard on teh details and produced the highest poly game rez mesh evah >:{
At 10k right now, i'm guessing 13-14 with pouches and holster and 15-17 when that helmet goes in there mebbe :poly122: (still gotta get to optimizing in maya mind you)

Hoping it'll bake a decent nrml map at least... could argue that it's the base/lod1/cinematic mesh :poly136:

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/05a.jpg

[Nizza_waaarg]

oh, finally upgrading from zb3.1 tonight too.
Just saw that new r3 tutorial vid and those hard surfacey brushes look very cool. Might be a good way to go about the helmet :)

[Nizza_waaarg]

hokay, just tried out maya 2k9 and i looove eet :)
uv'ing was actually fun, and jesus that soft selection was insanley overdue. Anyway, here's a quick test bake.
Still getting used to new zbrush, figured some texturing would be a nice break.

It's currently sitting at 11k tri's is the only prob. Hoping with a bit more optimizing i can keep it at that with the pistol handle, left leg 'thing' and helmet added in. Maybe 12k, but i guess that's kinda normal for a ut3 lod0 mesh (actually it's on the low side but those meshes are crazy cool).

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/05b.jpg

[pior]

Super clean!! Great job man!

[BoBo_the_seal]

This kicks ass!!! Fantastic work!

- BoBo

[bugo]

it looks so funny and great!!! Keep it comming!

[Nizza_waaarg]

cheers gais ^__^

only really worked on the pants and shirt so far and just started trying out stuff on the head. Thinking a realistic look would be dope so i'll prolly give photosourcing a shot (little joke attempt on the face there).
And workin on a badass marmo post effect too :poly142:

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/05d.jpg


Also found this in the massive black folio. Good excuse to do a detailed male anatomy study base before throwing clothes on :)
http://www.massiveblack.com/MBwebolution/media/conceptart/atari_SHINYplagueSecurityGuardColorFLAT.jpg

[brandoom]

friggin love those goggles/glasses. the tattoo is awesome too.

great job so far Nizza :)

[Nizza_waaarg]

brandoom: ^__^ cheers man

leetle bit mo texturing. Figured how to make a (crappy) alpha mask for my marmo screenshots =D (switch to flat colour mode and clear the diff and choose a contrasting background colour :P)

would be nice if there was a way to plug in a gloss map or a map to control the fresnel exponent thing, soo much materials up in here so far :\


oh, first one is with sunny, second one is with stormy and slightly upped brightness... think i like stormy better (less blown out), would just have to mess with colour balance more at the end.

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/06a.jpg

[ZacD]

The skin looks better in sunny IMO. Clothes look better in stormy.

[killingpeople]

oh shiit

[Nizza_waaarg]

zacd: hmm, i gotta mess around with making some solid colour diff maps and seeing if i can mask off bits :P

kp: ^^ cheers man


almost kinda sorta finished the base textures... no idea wtf i'm gonna do about the goggs... only thing i can think of is duping some geo over the orange part and crank the spec power up... tho i don't think marmo can do tranparency like that.
Oh and more post/sky fun :poly122:

Gotta get that helmet done asap after some sleep... then i can go outside and frollic once more :poly142:

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/06b.jpg

[bugo]

I like the C version!

[ZacD]

I 2nd the C!

[killingpeople]

C

[spacemonkey]

killer work :)

[woogity]

C looks really nice, i do like the warmer, more saturated colors in b tho i think they fit the style.

-Woog

[Nizza_waaarg]

woo, thanks all ^^
looks like i'll be rollin with c... i'll try and throw some b in the end as well, like one extra shot of him with it on.


and imma bout to hurl mah comp out the windowz :poly127:
If anyone's got some advice/tips/whatev on how to go about these kinda hard surface sub d things it'd be great to hear.

It's mostly the back part that's owning me atm. Theres weird shaped, half spheres, with flat planes connectnig it to funny shaped cylinders... I'll keep at it, really frustrating to be so fscked on this one final bit is all (i might be overthinking these shapes too, i guess)
I started thinking of backup plans just in case :\

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/07d.jpg

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/07b.jpg

[Firebert]

I would try modeling the helmet as if it were closed. Modeling it as it is shown in the concept is very misleading and ambiguous. I bet you'll get a better sense of the form and a cool design if you go this route. Keep it big, keep it chunky. Then worry about the little stuff.

[Nizza_waaarg]

cool idea firebert... i actually just tried taking the top part off and breaking it down into basic components after doing a bunch of sketches. Gonna have to have a few goes at this i think >_<

Quick second attempt anyway, not sure how much i'll be able to cover up with smaller details and texturing/paint yet :\

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/07f.jpg

[ZacD]

the front is looking good, not sure about the back... thing, I know the concept art is weird.

[Quack!]

Yea, I'm pretty sure this is going into the inspiration folder. Love the character your work has!

[konstruct]

DAMN DUDE!

[Nizza_waaarg]

zacD: cheers man. Yeah, i tried sketching it out and if it were just plain shapes it'd be fine but everything's kinda stylized and hard to translate to 3d :\ Hoping i get somthing decent in the end ^^
chaosquack: yay, thank you :)
konstruct: :P (imma hafta borrow your leet hard edge skills on my next one i think)

hookay, i swear it'll (probably >_>) look better once i get some colours and spec on there. Finishing off the neck hp and lp now then i gotta get back to the madness that is the back part.

Just under 13k right now, really don't wanna go over 13.5 (hell, this should've been doable with well under 10k but... i'll go optimize crazy on my next one :shifty:) Still sticking to the single 2048 at least :P

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/08b.jpg

[P442]

I think this looks fantastic, and really like the proportions of the character.

[The_Kozmonaut]

Really awesome. The only thing that bugs me, and other people have said it, is the arm muscles. Mostly in the bicep/shoulder region. That aside, this is one of the cooler characters I have seen in a while

[roosterMAP]

Love the origional helmet thing design. Also, the body's slightly warped design (maybe accidental) reminds me of the characters in Brink. Love it!

Skin too perfect. how bot some hairs, scars, moles...

[butt_sahib]

I was actually going to say that i think thats as far as dirtying this fucker up should go.

[Nizza_waaarg]

p442: cheers ^^
kozmonaut: hehe, thanks man. Yeah, forcing myself to get started on my next char right away... first thing up is the full anatomy sculpt so hoping i'll get some practice there
roostermap: thank you :P Actually someone else mentioned brink to me the other day, only thing i've seen of it is that black dude's head on the splash damage website... i really gotta check it out. Cool idea on some additional surface detail, could help sell the realism thing.
butt: haha, i'd prolly agree with you on that man. Trying to refrain from splashing grunge all over him :\


aight, reeaallly close to finishing now i think. Got that fuggin annoying back pat to finish still and the textures still need more love but gettin close. Starting up my new dude today too, gotta get things done quicker :poly118:

edit: just realised i had the spec turned down waaay to low on the helm, gonna have to imagine it being a bit brighter and shinier for now :P

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/08c.jpg

[monkeyboy_garth]

YOwza! Holy crap that's some sweet work Nizza. The bicep looks a little bit strange (pinched?) but apart from that this is just amazing.

[killingpeople]

He needs like a ringed laminated notepad or something hanging from his shoulder strap. Don't ask me, it was the voice in my head. very nice base textures.

[Nizza_waaarg]

garth: :P cheers man. And agree'd on the anat. issues, hopin to get it better on the next char
kp: lol, that is random :P (and cool. hope i've got some energy to go back in and throw extra accessories on later)

well i really pussed out on the back helm bit :\
Really tired so i wanna go get some rest and play some more l4d2 for a bit... and start that new char.
Gotta do some more final pics (construction sheet, etc). The textures, post and final presentation could prolly use some more love but i'll see how i feel about it a bit later.

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/finals_test02.jpg

[Nizza_waaarg]

arg i never know what to do with this final presentation stuff, i got a habit of just abandoning projects and moving onto whatever else.

Anyway, did the lighter mode too which i think matches the colours from my textures better (closer to the original pic i think) but i miss the coolness of the night render... meh
oh and head details. Was doing some 'posing' in maya (using the soft selection to move stuff around) and noticed a fair bit of detail from teh sculpt made it over to the nrml map.

...and the spitters in l4d2 are gross (just saw one up close with my machete :))

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/finals_test03-light-mode.jpg

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/head_details.jpg

[Nizza_waaarg]

don't wanna spam pnp with my threads just yet and it's kindof related... working out the initial shapes always takes a bit for me, kinda fiddly :P

haven't touched on the arms or legs just yet btw (and i like doing head sculpts seperatley :P). He'll be completley covered in clothing (save for his head and forearms) on the final but this stuff be important, so crits and comments be greatly appreciated at this stage especially ^^

http://nizza.wordpress.com/files/2009/12/01a.jpg

[pior]

Enjoying this vibe alot! It's working very well.
Only crit would be that some areas might benefit for more 'wedging' aka shape interlocking into one another instead of blending together.

It's working beautifully for the torso connection with the legs and head, but the arms themselves could benefit from more silhouetting - I think.

Cant wait to see more!

[Nizza_waaarg]

pior, really cool idea man. You got me back into my old bridgman books again :)
Some squarer, solid shapes should really help with the ugly roundness and crap that's been going on. And yeah, i srsly gotta work on the arms moar (esp since they're the only bit that'd be seen on the final model too >_<).


Anyways, mini update. Almost finished a shotgun for him too so i'll crack open a new thread in a bit i s'pose. I remember hearing it'd be a good idea to finish off a smaller accessory first... helps with motivation on the full char later on.

http://nizza.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/01b1.jpg

[OrganizedChaos]

really looking nice so far, do you have a concept in mind?

[Mladen Jovicic]

the 5s general came out ace man!:) but noo weapon?