Hi guys,
Im Guang currently a modeling student at school. This model is one of my latest project which is to be put in my demoreel later this year when I graduate.

I would like to get some feedback and critiques so I can improve. Now I just finished all the geo, I will come back to polish and start surfacing and texturing in two weeks time as I have to do another project before then.

This project is largely inspired by the last two time dominance war contest winners. I would like to make a female character model with a good amount of details. But to make it my own I decide to make this model a mainly steampunk hardsurface piece instead of sci-fi hardsurface. This girl is basically a law enforcer, like a policewoman I guess. I tried to add some special features onto her. Since she is still a fighter type of character yet a female, I decide to make this character a rather light-class fighter. So a lot of bird feature on this character, some very figurative like the metal feathers, some are rather literal like the bird face in the mid region.

Design wise this model is pretty much a free styled work but I did have a general idea of how each part is gonna be.Sometimes I paint over in photoshop or do a quick concept sculpt in zbrush to see if certain details work or not. I didnt have a finished concept before this although I think I will try to do a painting for this project after I finish.

For the technical part, I tried to avoid rely on Zbrush in order to improve my actual traditional modeling skill. In the end I only used zbrush to presculpt one part and retopo, other wrinkles and fold are all done in maya. I have been more of a organic guy before, but with this project I was able to make a lot of simple hardsurface piece. Will make a lower res version after this high res one. There are lots of defect on this model especially the hard surface part. some are made intentionally as steampunk metal piece are mostly hand made, but other are actual failure on the beveling as I find it is really challenging sometimes.

-Theres no render yet but now its the high-res model from maya viewport screenshot....

some more screenshots

This is beautiful!!

The last two shots I think I can see some faces from her leg coming through the frilly cloth parts above the knee, though. You probably can fix that just by pulling a few vertices here and there?

Edit: It's visible in the 5th shot, too, which is from a distance. I think if you fix that you will be all set!

Originally Posted by johnicus

This is beautiful!!

The last two shots I think I can see some faces from her leg coming through the frilly cloth parts above the knee, though. You probably can fix that just by pulling a few vertices here and there?

Edit: It's visible in the 5th shot, too, which is from a distance. I think if you fix that you will be all set!

Thanks! Yes, Ive noticed those crushing parts because I will surely fix them when i pose this character in the same time some other parts like make randomness on the boots laces.

Really detailed!

How long did this take to make?

Originally Posted by Darkleopard

Really detailed!

How long did this take to make?

Thank you! It took me roughly a month to do it. The actual modeling process is rather fast, design was the real issue that slows down the process

I can imagine. Are you going to texture her? Got any concepts?

Originally Posted by Darkleopard

I can imagine. Are you going to texture her? Got any concepts?

y I will definitely texture her. Not really sure how to do it yet! First thing right now is finish the UV :< Although I posted this model here I probably will still go for a high quality render rather than real time renderable model. Also I really wanna make a good looking face out of this character.

Hi I really would like to get more feed back before I move to the next stage. please help , many thanks

Cool stuff, it's easy to tell you put a lot of time into all the fine details.

You mention you want to do a lower resolution textured version of her. Have you settled on a tri count and texture sheet size?

Looking at the current model a lot of the fine detail you have is probably going to get lost when you're baking out your normals. Like some of the smaller gears on her goggles might end up being a pixel or two depending on your final texture resolution.

The idea of having bird features is a nice thought and does come through in the general proportions of her anatomy... but that's the only place it really reads clearly. In the close up shots you start to see the wing/feather detailing but from a distance those details don't read very well. Her silhouette is also relatively plain for the amount of gear that she's wearing. If you turned off the lights in your scene there would only be the tubes and the hat really breaking up her silhouette.

The distribution of details might be a little harsh, either there is a ton of fine detail - like on those arm pieces, or else just large base details - like the exposed skin, the back of her corset thing. There really isn't much in between and all the high detail stuff comes off a bit noisy and each piece competes for the viewers attention instead of leading the eye to specific areas you want to highlight.

In the end my suggestion would be to pick out the details of her costume/character that you really like and really accentuate those. Make them bigger. This will make your life easier when you're baking out your normals, help to focus the viewers' attention, and will help to break up her silhouette and really push the character more.

Originally Posted by s33th

Cool stuff, it's easy to tell you put a lot of time into all the fine details.

You mention you want to do a lower resolution textured version of her. Have you settled on a tri count and texture sheet size?

Looking at the current model a lot of the fine detail you have is probably going to get lost when you're baking out your normals. Like some of the smaller gears on her goggles might end up being a pixel or two depending on your final texture resolution.

The idea of having bird features is a nice thought and does come through in the general proportions of her anatomy... but that's the only place it really reads clearly. In the close up shots you start to see the wing/feather detailing but from a distance those details don't read very well. Her silhouette is also relatively plain for the amount of gear that she's wearing. If you turned off the lights in your scene there would only be the tubes and the hat really breaking up her silhouette.

The distribution of details might be a little harsh, either there is a ton of fine detail - like on those arm pieces, or else just large base details - like the exposed skin, the back of her corset thing. There really isn't much in between and all the high detail stuff comes off a bit noisy and each piece competes for the viewers attention instead of leading the eye to specific areas you want to highlight.

In the end my suggestion would be to pick out the details of her costume/character that you really like and really accentuate those. Make them bigger. This will make your life easier when you're baking out your normals, help to focus the viewers' attention, and will help to break up her silhouette and really push the character more.

Thanks! I have been worried about the lower res would lose a lot of details. I original idea for breaking the silhouette was to have a huge wing on the back, together with a very long gun, hold it on a very big angle so it should look good in the turntable... Somehow all my friends were against the idea when I told them about it. So I finally ditched the wing idea to make a rocket pack. I do realize now this character is rather flat. I will definitely to consider make some parts bigger, its also one of my concern that some gears are not scaled properly. It might be a result that I didnt build this character on correct unit scale..

Well anyway thanks for actually read what I wrote there and also the honest feedback

I can't wait to see how you will pull this off with low-poly. Seems very difficult.
*Fav*

Oh!!!!!! This cool! Greet stuff bro!

I think it is important understand what makes a piece of good game art. All the detail dilutes your design. You have paid too much attention to tiny details. The big shapes are more important irrespective of how you render it.

Having said that there are still some nice shapes here. Cool

This shows some amazing skill and attention to detail but like what s33th and modern said, you're focusing way too much on the small details that probably wont show up in the low poly bake.

Its nice you want to push your modeling skills but you should push your design skills and really pick and choose what are the most important parts of the design.

Now this is just my opinion but trying to emulate the winners of the last two Dominance Wars isn't a good idea. While they may be executed very well and show a high level of skill, they're just waaaaaaay too noisy for a good design. You obviously have the modeling skills now let your design skills show

Very nice. Crazy amount of detail! But it all reads pretty well.

My only critique would be to show off a little more leg. The boots/stockings whatever they are, go so high up.. might as well make them pants. Or cut them off shorter and bring the garter down a bit. I'm no character modeler, but that's what stood out to me. Looking forward to seeing this textured!

Holy Details Batman!

Fantastic detailing! Although as mentioned earlier a lot of those details will be lost in the normal map bake unless you go for something like a 4k texture, at which point she won't really be a game spec character any more. I think a nicely lit raytrace render like VRay would serve her much better.

Oh, and if you're not that good at UV packing right now you'll be a master at it at the end of this project.

Nice work. First impression, I think it's too busy, visually. I know it's fun to geek out on details, but I feel like you've spent too much effort on small shapes and not enough on the large ones. You've modeled a lot of really tiny screw heads and such that will not read well (if at all) once you get it in an engine, once it's baked down to a texture.

Looks awesome I love the details although i agree that the details make it look a little too busy. But still this is a great piece those textures are going to look so good i already know it.

This is pretty awesome!

HI thanks for all the feedback!! I dont think for this particular model I can make a big change on the overall looking at this point, but I will definitely remember to keep a better overall looking nextime! Also looks like the map baking process will be problematic, I will see if i can get to use 4k map on this model. If not, worst case scenario, I will lit and render in raytrace engine since it is not requirement for this project to make low-res version.

Also I have talked to some employers and recruiters from gaming companies, they told me that it is not required to make low-res model in your demo-reel even if you are looking for gaming job. They just told me to make the high res look good enough, take it as a cinematic model etc. I was told low-res model making is like a technique which when you get to a gaming company they would teach you, also the method of baking low res model varies from different companies . Wondering if that is for the most case.

I just had to Mr. Guang....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...v=TFCuE5rHbPA#!

(Looks nice by the way)