Really nice, work, cool character! It looks like a lot of love has gone into this.
A few crits, I find it difficult to focus on one area of the character (no focal point). I think this is because there is so much going on with the character detail wise, as well as specular highlights catching your attention. I think you could concentrate the focus on the top half of the torso going up to her head. For a start you could reduce the sat, value, and spec of the hair, to apply more focus to the face. Also if you consider a gradient distribution of the characters value, so its darker at the bottom, and progresses lighter towards the top (DOTA art guide has some good stuff on this). She's also looks really tall, but that compliments a heroic look, which I assume you were going for.
But that’s just nit-picking on an otherwise awesome piece, well done!
I like it. I agree with the above comments. Also it feels like the straps and plates are floating, I would definitely bake some AO with cavity into the diffuse and copy that to the spec maps. Right now the spec is evenly distributed throughout the character which is pushing my attention all over the place. Tone it down in areas that would collect dirt and would be generally be in shadow.
This has great composition and detail work, saman. The gauntlet plating is probably my favorite part. The layers work really well.
I agree with Neilberard and SCB, the face does seem a little brightly colored and overall more ambient occlusion would add some more depth.
I checked out your tutorial and I was wondering, is your hair hand-painted? I've tried a variety of techniques for hair before, just wondering what your process is.
Thanks a lot, guys. I really appreciate your feedback and I think they've made a lot of difference... At least imo
I added some more shadows, cavity maps and what not to add some depth. I also decreased the spec highlights on many parts so that they wouldn't distract too much from the face. I tried making the face a bit darker but it just didn't look that good. She's a ginger so her face should naturally be bright and since it's the focal point I didn't want to make it any darker. I did however add some more AO and shadows to the face to add some depth.
Here is an update;
(Snip!)
i´d recommend using a different rendering tool. this looks a lot like it was rendered directly out of 3ds max with the default lighting.
the material is realy hard to read, and there are a lot of very dark spots on her.
also you seem to be using a orange-red tinted light and a blueish rimlight wich is good in theory, but doesnt realy turn out that well.
the whole model looks kinda pink, wich is especialy weird on the metal.
i´d say you try to put her into the UDK or cryengine, and try getting a good render out of there.
hey man, i'd second what Goeddy says... the final render could use some work. it's definitely a great piece though, it would already look good in your folio, so maybe switching to a different renderer could take it to that next level?
quick question though: how did you go about the hair? did you place everything by hand? or do you have a plugin/script to help you?
Thanks for the feedback, guys. You've convinced me, I'm doing the shots in marmoset toolbag instead.
As for the hair: I first modeled a "helmet" and then separated it into planes. I then duplicated the planes I had and worked from there. I'm not sure if this is a very effective method but make sure you use something other than xoliul's shader when making the hair. The opacity works so much better with standard shaders and you won't have to bother with transparency sorting.
i live with the transparrency sorting (and fix the model appropriately) because you kinda have to when you want something to go in game. so i don't see why you shouldn't have to for portfolio pieces either.
Great character, I like it a lot better now with the gradient (darker to lighter), I'll try to achieve the same effect on my knight. This post made me realize mine looks kind of flat.
I took the model into marmoset, re-calibrated the textures, improved the lighting and changed the pose slightly. I've updated the images in my first post. Hope you like this version better!
This looks amazing! Myself are working on my ever first character right now and would you please let me add you to steam or skype for feedback and when i have questions etc? If so please PM me your steam or skype!
Again, truly amazing work! Myself are going for a 3rd playthrough of Dragon Age and this character would fit right in!
looks great dude, nice job. the metal looks great, it looks much better quality than a lot of the stuff i see in marmoset, makes me realise I need to experiment with it more because clearly you can get great looking materials with it.
PS: just for the sake of curiousity, what did the previous lighting look like??
Cool, thanks a lot for the comments! @Johan3043: Thanks, man. Just search for Goraaz on steam. @Lroy: Thanks! I think I'll stick to marmoset for now for the current-gen stuff. @Funky: Well, I got a lot of good feedback from you @Ferg: Haha! Thanks but careful what you wish for @mr_ace: Cheers Here and here are a couple of shots from the previous version.
I think you could definitely knock this out of the park with some better lighting etc.. but as a piece by itself this is one of my favourite characters ever. Absolutely love it!
I really like this! The materials and textures on the armour are great with a nice contrast between teh cloth and metal parts and some cool detailing without being too overly busy.
As a quick crit - I feel the face is slightly letting the piece down though. The sculpt of the face looks great but the texture is quite simple and cartoony in comparison to the rest of the textures. I would definitely try and experiment with using photos as a base for your next face - it doesn't have to be 100% photo slapped on, but using them as a base would really help give you a nice realistic base to work from IMO.
Oh, wow. So many cool comments. @Nizza: Thanks, man! @Yuke: Thanks! I really appreciate that. @Dylan: Cheers, broski @Dustinbrown: Thanks! I faked the anisotropic highlights of the hair through the specmap. There is no realy anisotropic lighting going on here like on the Khanda model, this is all a hack. @Scythe: Thanks! @Fat_Cap: I actually started doing that but people seem to dislike it when it gets too photo'ey(My technomage was photo-only at one point and he looked like a guy masquerading a technomage). Perhaps something in-between would be good, I agree that the facial textures could have been improved upon. I'm pretty sick of this piece right now though to be honest so I'll test that on my next characters. Thanks for the kind words, I love your work. @disanski: Thanks a lot, man. @SimonT: Thanks but it's still a fictional fantasy armor. I don't think the high-heels and tight armor would be efficient in a real battle
@Bobo, fightpunch, chrisradsby, pjtorres and ablaine: Thanks a lot, guys! I'm really glad you like it
@Fat_Cap: I changed my mind, I decided to work some more on the face's skin. It looked a bit flat before so I decided to add some subtle color variation as well as better spec. I'm more happy with the skin now so thanks for pointing that out.
Replies
A few crits, I find it difficult to focus on one area of the character (no focal point). I think this is because there is so much going on with the character detail wise, as well as specular highlights catching your attention. I think you could concentrate the focus on the top half of the torso going up to her head. For a start you could reduce the sat, value, and spec of the hair, to apply more focus to the face. Also if you consider a gradient distribution of the characters value, so its darker at the bottom, and progresses lighter towards the top (DOTA art guide has some good stuff on this). She's also looks really tall, but that compliments a heroic look, which I assume you were going for.
But that’s just nit-picking on an otherwise awesome piece, well done!
This Women must be very strong.
She uses a sword which is as large as she ^^
I agree with Neilberard and SCB, the face does seem a little brightly colored and overall more ambient occlusion would add some more depth.
I checked out your tutorial and I was wondering, is your hair hand-painted? I've tried a variety of techniques for hair before, just wondering what your process is.
I added some more shadows, cavity maps and what not to add some depth. I also decreased the spec highlights on many parts so that they wouldn't distract too much from the face. I tried making the face a bit darker but it just didn't look that good. She's a ginger so her face should naturally be bright and since it's the focal point I didn't want to make it any darker. I did however add some more AO and shadows to the face to add some depth.
Here is an update;
(Snip!)
the material is realy hard to read, and there are a lot of very dark spots on her.
also you seem to be using a orange-red tinted light and a blueish rimlight wich is good in theory, but doesnt realy turn out that well.
the whole model looks kinda pink, wich is especialy weird on the metal.
i´d say you try to put her into the UDK or cryengine, and try getting a good render out of there.
quick question though: how did you go about the hair? did you place everything by hand? or do you have a plugin/script to help you?
As for the hair: I first modeled a "helmet" and then separated it into planes. I then duplicated the planes I had and worked from there. I'm not sure if this is a very effective method but make sure you use something other than xoliul's shader when making the hair. The opacity works so much better with standard shaders and you won't have to bother with transparency sorting.
I took the model into marmoset, re-calibrated the textures, improved the lighting and changed the pose slightly. I've updated the images in my first post. Hope you like this version better!
Again, truly amazing work! Myself are going for a 3rd playthrough of Dragon Age and this character would fit right in!
really like the new presentation, man
great work dude
PS: just for the sake of curiousity, what did the previous lighting look like??
@Johan3043: Thanks, man. Just search for Goraaz on steam.
@Lroy: Thanks! I think I'll stick to marmoset for now for the current-gen stuff.
@Funky: Well, I got a lot of good feedback from you
@Ferg: Haha! Thanks but careful what you wish for
@mr_ace: Cheers Here and here are a couple of shots from the previous version.
and aws to see how much you did of it in zb, turned out sexily
That hair is bowse.
As a quick crit - I feel the face is slightly letting the piece down though. The sculpt of the face looks great but the texture is quite simple and cartoony in comparison to the rest of the textures. I would definitely try and experiment with using photos as a base for your next face - it doesn't have to be 100% photo slapped on, but using them as a base would really help give you a nice realistic base to work from IMO.
@Nizza: Thanks, man!
@Yuke: Thanks! I really appreciate that.
@Dylan: Cheers, broski
@Dustinbrown: Thanks! I faked the anisotropic highlights of the hair through the specmap. There is no realy anisotropic lighting going on here like on the Khanda model, this is all a hack.
@Scythe: Thanks!
@Fat_Cap: I actually started doing that but people seem to dislike it when it gets too photo'ey(My technomage was photo-only at one point and he looked like a guy masquerading a technomage). Perhaps something in-between would be good, I agree that the facial textures could have been improved upon. I'm pretty sick of this piece right now though to be honest so I'll test that on my next characters. Thanks for the kind words, I love your work.
@disanski: Thanks a lot, man.
@SimonT: Thanks but it's still a fictional fantasy armor. I don't think the high-heels and tight armor would be efficient in a real battle
- BoBo
@Fat_Cap: I changed my mind, I decided to work some more on the face's skin. It looked a bit flat before so I decided to add some subtle color variation as well as better spec. I'm more happy with the skin now so thanks for pointing that out.