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Unofficial: Low Poly UNITE! Saturday Morning Cartoon Collage

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This is not a challenge, it's a collaboration. The goal is to make a collage featuring the works of many 3D artists. This collage will then become a wallpaper for anyone to enjoy. No need to compete, just to create something you enjoy and have it showcased along with many other people.

The subject: Saturday Morning Cartoons!

Create your favorite cartoon character of all time. This could be Scooby-Doo or one of the Rescue Rangers or a Smurf or what have you. Any cartoon character that graced the small screen that you want.

Pose your character so he/she is looking at the camera, smiling or waving - something that expresses "Hey, happy to be apart of this get-together!". If it's a villain/bad guy, he/she can be in character. If you are not good at rigging you may have to model the pose. There are ways I can fix it up in post too.

Output a render of your character against a background color that can be extracted easily. I will assemble the renders into one big wallpaper.

The end result, a collage of characters, all in 3D glory.

Because it's not a challenge, I don't want you to get all caught up on requirements. I also do not want this to take up too much of your time.

Ballpark requirements:

One character, 700-1200 Tris
Try to keep texture maps to about 512 x 512 total.
Output a high-res image with the character pose that I can use in a collage.
Post all your work and progress in this thread.

If you have to go a bit overboard with the tris or textures that is okay. I don't think it would be beneficial if one person submitted a mudbrush sculpted masterpiece while another entered a boxy-looking character.

This is just for fun.

1920x1200x-transformers-collage.jpg

With Saturday morning cartoons, there is a lot of breathing room for genre. You can do a Superhero, or a video game character featured in a show, a toy-based show (He-Man), or use a character from a "spinoff" show, like Teen Wolf, Beetlejuice. or Ghostbusters. You get the idea.

Some obscure shows I'd like to see revived: Kidd Video, Megas XLR, Dungeons and Dragons, MASK.

If you have an existing character you'd like to submit go for it. The more the merrier here.

Have Fun!!!

Replies

  • j4polaris
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    j4polaris polycounter lvl 18
    count me in. I'm working on something now. :)
  • genericnamedave
    I might drop a few TFers in there:

    JazzRun.gifMegaTurn.gifBulkbounce.gif

    However I'll try to make a new one or two for this. It's tough to decide who.
  • achillesian
  • genericnamedave
    ThunderCats is a must-have. Snarf away, snarf snarf.
  • genericnamedave
    I was hoping for more response! Ah well. Moderator can you please delete the thread? Thanks!
  • Mike Yevin
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    Mike Yevin polycounter lvl 11
    Haha, no reason to just give up like that. The Low Poly section always seems to have less people.

    If this thing is still going on I might just have to whip something up :D
  • Jojones
  • okno
    You could make this an indefinite ongoing thing, where you would keep updating the main collage pic with each newly made character, then it wouldn't be so disappointing if it takes a while to get a lot of characters.
  • genericnamedave
    You guys are right, I'll stick with it. I still haven't decided who I want to work on yet...

    Edit: Samurai Jack.
  • fearian
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    fearian greentooth
    please, no snarf :(
  • Saiainoshi
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    Saiainoshi polycounter lvl 9
  • nethan
    This is a sweet idea. Im on it.
  • Mouldtooth
    Im in! is there a deadline?
  • Saiainoshi
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    Saiainoshi polycounter lvl 9
    I've decided that I'm going to do Rainbow Brite. I did a lil bit on my lunch break today.. hope to work more on this tomrrow :)

    rainbown.jpg
  • Digitalwolf
  • ridley075
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    ridley075 polycounter lvl 10
    Wipped this guy up in about a day. Not the best model for a "character", since his head is chopped up for the hair and the hair is crap and won't animate, but it'll be posed like it is now. I was planning on modeling Mystery, the seahorse, and putting him on top. So, I would just rig him riding on her. (Please, no perverted remarks.) Anyways, not sure if I'll get a chance to finish, but will try and make some time in the next couple of weeks.

    Render_01-1.jpg
  • genericnamedave
    Mouldtooth wrote: »
    Im in! is there a deadline?

    Nope. This is an ongoing thing. Multiple collages will probably be yielded.
  • genericnamedave
    Excellent work on Spongebob and Rainbow Brite!
  • genericnamedave
    Batpose3.jpgBatpose4.pngBatpose2.jpg

    My Samurai Jack started looking Batman-ish, so I completed as such. Will still do Samurai Jack, and perhaps revisit some of my older stuff, like Megas XLR. Clocks in at 1094 Tris, left my texture open for future additions (batarang?).
  • genericnamedave
    SupermanTAS-1.png

    Now I got both Supes and Bats from the 90's cartoons. I'll ease on my posts here...don't want to overrun this thread!

    Supes is not yet textured. He has a bunch of toon shaders applied. What I did for Batman was a make a blinn shader with a texture map (with alpha tranparency) overlaying the toon shaders in a layered shader.

    And no worries if you'd like to do the same characters. Redundancy is not an evil thing here. Looking at the example posted in the beginning of the thread...there are 3 or 4 Optimus Primes in there for whatever reason.
  • CelebrenIthil
    /delurks

    Well, this is where I'll chime in, I think it would cheer you up to hear you'll have another contribution. :)

    I'm doing Ars
  • genericnamedave

    I'm trying to figure out toon shaders... I'll need to unwrap, texture and change his pose (not necessarily in that order).

    And now because I'm shy and kinda still a newbie at this I won't dare to post a screenshot. :"
    Cheers!(?)

    FYI you don't have to use toon shaders...whatever you'd like to run with. There is no fixed style.

    Also this is the best place to post if you're a newbie. You get lots of great advice and tips. Check out the other Low Poly Challenge threads to see how helpful polycounters are. :thumbup:
  • Convoy_Avenger
    I call dibs on the Ninja Turtles, from the 80s! And possibly any random combination of the random villains they've faced over the years.. I'll have to go check my toy collection.
  • genericnamedave
  • nethan
    Hey guys loving the work, this is my first piece of low poly or anything ive submitted but really liking the challenges.
    Here is mine so far....

    brainsmall.jpg

    really like the look of those toon shaders, ive looked about the internet about how to do them but not sure about how to go about doing them with a texture map. if you could point me in the right direction thatd be cool
    cheers
  • genericnamedave
    nethan wrote: »

    really like the look of those toon shaders, ive looked about the internet about how to do them but not sure about how to go about doing them with a texture map. if you could point me in the right direction thatd be cool
    cheers

    This is where I learned:

    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-BNtf1t6b4[/ame]

    I do it on a per-poly basis, meaning I paint by number with the mesh. One toon shader for the skin, another toon shader for the hair, etc etc.

    Then I overlay with a texture map of decals in a layered shader...which is not as complicated as it sounds! I made a texture map with the Superman 'S' and belt and other facial features, made everything surrounding them transparent in the Alpha Channel of a Targa Map in Photoshop. Then I applied that transparent texture map to a blinn shader (both color and transparency nodes). Then I made a layered shader, and plugged in the toon shader, with the transparency blinn over top.

    And then I apply a toon outline.

    if you need help I could probably make a Maya tutorial.
    object%3E
  • genericnamedave
    Apologies to the mods if this is too text or image heavy!

    1. Model your character. For this exercise I found some excellent 'turnaround' images, so I recommend you Google image search your character + turnaround. When you're modeling you'll have to model in the partitions for the toon shader colors. For example, Superman's hairline had to be modeled, as was the boot hem.
    Supes1.png
    2. Unwrap and make a 'placeholder' texture. This will be floating all your decals. The main reason to do this is because once we start using layered shaders you cannot properly preview your textures until you actually render. So it's best to lay out all your decals and finesse your UV's at this stage.
    Supes2.png
    So I only really needed the shield, belt, boots, muscle, and facial features as decals here. I made a map that will indicate 'Pink' will be transparent to allow all the toon shaders to be visible. Pink was also 'peeping tom' Supe's favorite color.
    Supes3.png
    The UV's will be a mess...I am only really preserving the UV areas that will be overlaid with a decal. The rest can be squeezed out of the way, as they will be covered in toon shaders for color. To make this transparent, edit the alpha channel to look like this (or make a separate transparency map):
    Supes4.png
    3. Okay next we will apply toon shaders to the model. We'll start with the first toon shader (I used 4 for Superman). Select the faces on the mesh that will be getting the 'skin' toon shader ...the head and hands. And then in the Render menu --> Toon --> Assign Fill Shader --> Light Angle Two Tone. Don't get caught up on the 'Two', you can add more colors.
    Supes5.png
    The Attribute editor will pop up and if you are used to working with ramp shaders or textures, this will be familiar.
    Supes6.png
    (OOPS I mislabeled the Dark and Light - reverse!!) Playing with the slider I assigned 2 flesh tone colors. The sampler will show you what will be affected by light and what will be in the shade. You'll have fun playing with this.
    Supes7.png
    Do a render to see how it looks. Once you are happy with the colors (can always edit them later), we can now apply the decal over top.
    4. In the Hypershade make a new Blinn. Plug in your Texture (That has Alpha transparency - or the placeholder with a separate transparency map) into the Color and Transparency nodes.
    Supes8.png
    You can see the belt in the material port! Ensure that Specular roll off, eccentricity and specular color are all reduced to nothing/black.

    Now create a 'Layered Shader'. What you are going to do is select your transparency Blinn and Toon Shader and middle-mouse click drag them into the Layered Shader module. Kill the green default material (you can't until another material is plugged in). If layered correctly, you can see your decal texture sitting over top the toon shader. You can move the two materials in order with a middle mouse click drag.
    Supes9.png

    Supes10.pngSo now you've created a layered shader with toon shading attributes and a decal overlay. Manually apply this layered shader to the mesh where you need it.
    Supes11.png
    This render shows the face decals sitting over top the flesh tone shader.

    I had to make 4 layered shaders for every color of this character: Blue, Red, Black, and Skin. That required 4 different toon shaders but only the one transparency blinn.

    Soon I'll talk about the toon outline, but that is relatively easy too!
  • CelebrenIthil
    That's nice! Thanks for the tutorial, I'm sure it could be of use once I get around finding how to translate everything in 3ds Max. :D

    Oh, by the way, I think I've pretty much finished. :)

    So, hum, here it goes:
    EDIT: Uploaded the wrong pic (it had a screwy camera angle that made the legs look way too short), here is the right one:
    ArseneLupin_BeautyShot-1.png

    th_ArseneLupin_Turntable_wire.png th_ArseneLupin_Turntable.pngth_test-1.png

    It was 966 triangles unposed, I forgot to note the count again after I posed it but I had to redo a few cuts on the hands so it might have gained half a dozen more tris.
    (it feels heavy but just the cane and the monocle are 100 tris together >_>")
    Texture is 512x512, a simple diffuse map with self-illumination to look toon-ish and a lil' alpha for the monocle.

    So there!

    If I ever get the time, I might be tempted to do Belph
  • genericnamedave
    THAT is excellent. I thought you were a shy newbie? You sharked us all. :)

    Now I have to rig my guys and pose them to keep up. I hope it spurs others to contribute too. :thumbup:
  • CelebrenIthil
    THAT is excellent. I thought you were a shy newbie? You sharked us all. :)

    Now I have to rig my guys and pose them to keep up. I hope it spurs others to contribute too. :thumbup:

    I... Well, I considered that I am a newbie. ._.

    It's my ...7th character ever? And out of those I'm counting two characters I made without knowing how to simply texture, even less unwrap, and actually not even knowing how to properly model objects... so it drops to 5 or less, really...
    It's my 2nd character I made out of school, all by my lonesome, too.

    So, well, I've always considered myself a newbie so far.
    I guess I could start calling myself a beginner or something tough?
    Sorry, I didn't meant to trick you. n_n"""

    In any case, thank you so much!
    You're making me a big compliment! <3
  • nethan
    sweet thanks for the tut. didnt expect that much info much appreciated. but yea im also using max so gonna have a bit of translating to do. will post back with my results when im happy with it.
  • CelebrenIthil
    nethan wrote: »
    sweet thanks for the tut. didnt expect that much info much appreciated. but yea im also using max so gonna have a bit of translating to do. will post back with my results when im happy with it.

    I think I figured how to do it. I even captured a video to show you but it's almost a gig heavy so it'd take ages to upload anywhere. D:

    I'll try to explain (without screenshots for now, sorry), it's almost 2 a.m. so maybe I won't be too clear, IDK if I'll tell the basics too, probably lots of stuff you know but I must be sure to be clear so sorry (again) in advance. (I suggest you open max and follow closely on your screen):

    Basically, you take your model . If you want to use multiple toon shaders, you gotta make sure your topology follows exactly where you want the textured areas to be separated. (ex: a clear line separating the hand from the sleeve) Then you select the polygons (edit poly mode) you all wish to be of a certain shader (like all the hand) and give them an ID. Make as many dfferent poly groups with IDs as you have colors you need. (in case of Supes: flesh, blue, yellow and red shaders)
    Prepare a toon shader texture (I believe you'll use the Ink and Paint one) for each color/area you want (I suck at toon shaders so you're alone on that one XD)

    Then you pick a new texture and change Standard (top right corner) to Multi-Sub Object. Once this is done, you put each toon shaders you've prepared into the slots with the IDs numbers matching the IDs of the polygons groups on your Topology. (If your hand is ID 2, then the flesh color should be ID 2 too)

    That'll be your base texture.

    Then you pick a new texture slot, this time you'll make a Composite one instead of Multi-Sub or Standard. In the base material slot, you'll put the base multi-sub texture you just prepared (I suggest making an instance).

    Then you'll prepare the texture for the decals.
    You'll take your unwrapped character UV texture in Photoshop and put on it whatever decals you want (ex: Superman's logo, his face, ect.) at the appropriate areas. Save this for the diffuse. You'll then make a black and white texture with the shapes of your decals in solid white on black and save this for your alpha.

    Back to 3ds Max, pick a new texture slot, put the image in the diffuse and the alpha you prepared in the Opacity slot. I suggest boosting the self-Illumination to 100 to give a cartoony look.

    Then back to the Composite texture you had created earlier, you'll drag and drop this new texture (instance) showing your decals floating on it and drop it in one of the Mat slots. The "A" button should be highlighted (not S or M (it's for additive, subtractive and multiplicative I think) and the opacity can be tweaked but I suggest leaving it at 100.

    Then, you're done, put this Composite texture on your model and make a render (well, for myself, it doesn't show properly in the viewport) and admire your work!

    There! I hope it's understandable! I'm off to bed!
  • JimeeB
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    JimeeB polycounter lvl 10
    To make an efficient and simple toon map in 3dsmax, use a falloff map. First jack your self illumination to 100. Then make your base diffuse and use levels to play with the colors so you have a dark map and a light map.

    Then in the falloff map play with the mix curve, add two points and pull one to the left dot to the bottom, and the right dot to the top. Make it so the lines are perpendicular to each other.

    Change the fallorr type to 'Shadows/Light'.

    Voila.
  • Dewclaw
    Hey, I'm finally making a post!

    20hspon.png

    And since I'm not sure how to post thumbnails here:

    Turnaround: http://i49.tinypic.com/2ngqwc5.png

    Wireframe: http://i46.tinypic.com/29f8gaf.png

    Texture sheet : http://i45.tinypic.com/29w1ttl.png
    (Hah, I could have done better on the texture sheet. ;p )
  • DOG-GY
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    DOG-GY polycounter lvl 12
    Dewclaw wrote: »
    Hey, I'm finally making a post!And since I'm not sure how to post thumbnails here:

    Turnaround: http://i49.tinypic.com/2ngqwc5.png

    Wireframe: http://i46.tinypic.com/29f8gaf.png

    Texture sheet : http://i45.tinypic.com/29w1ttl.png
    (Hah, I could have done better on the texture sheet. ;p )
    That's quite a large map for a low poly char don't you think?
  • Dewclaw
    That's quite a large map for a low poly char don't you think?
    Not sure. Never built one like this before (still in school for this stuff), and just figured I'd go with the limit (512x512).

    I'm learning, I suppose. :B
  • genericnamedave
    Hey very nice work, Dewclaw. I don't know who the character is, but he looks great and he clearly has a 'tude. Awesome addition.

    I rigged Bats and Supes but I hate their capes...I just wanna Photoshop those in, haha. Will have those in this weekend.
  • Wyldcard
    :O You don't know Swat Kats: The radical Squadron. (Best 90s title EVER!)
    Gotta love the 90s for naming, that char is Chance Furlong aka T-Bone.
  • Wyldcard
    Ok this is my 1st attempt, need some C&C not done much low-poly before.
    freak2.jpg
    Freak1.jpg
    FreakUVtex.jpg
  • ColdWave
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    ColdWave polycounter lvl 9
    Hello i'm new here. Here is my low poly marvin , polycount 1330, without the gun. The cylinders took a lot but i was lazy to make it low poly ... It is fully rigged, skinned etc etc...

    here is wireframe + one render.

    C&C welcomed

    marvinwire.png

    123ah.jpg


  • genericnamedave
    Excellent work Coldwave and Wyldcard! It's great to check back in and see two more entries.

    For both of you, the 1200 Tri's is not a hard limit, just a ballpark range so that people don't spend forever on an entry. If you need to go overboard to help give your character a little more polish that is no problem at all.

    Coldwave: Excellent Marvin. The only thing I'd recommend is spending more geometry on the arm mesh to help with the joints bending and thicken it up a bit so it doesn't look too thin at the wrist. Could be a weighting issue too. Either way I think Marv is almost done. Great work!

    Wyldcard: Ah Freakazoid, a welcome addition. His proportions are a bit off, his arm span a bit too long, and his legs are overall a bit too short. If you were to lower his arms, his hands would be sitting by his knees. His geometry flow might make it a little difficult to flex his shoulder and upper legs by the crotch. His face is a a bit too revolved around the smile - you could probably spend more polys there, or if I were you, make it a flat surface and texture his big ol' smile on there.

    Freakazoid.png

    So when you model in a T-pose, you have to lay out the geometry so it will bend and flex accordingly with joints. As you can see, the mesh kinda flows to the arm pits, as that's where the arm will swivel. Also, you need the leg geometry to not impede on the crotch (unless your character looks like that). So a general rule of thumb I recommend is to look at Spider-Man. His webbing on the costume is sort of a road map to geo flow. check it out:
    asm595var.jpg
  • Wyldcard
    Yeah the proportions are a bit messy, that was the main need for C&C. In my defence tho have you seen the freakzoid episodes? His proportions change in every single frame, lol.

    Ty for the advice tho, I'll get working on that. ^^
  • strayvert
    Here goes my first post on Polycount.
    This is what I have so far of Tai from Digimon. Thought I could get some critiques before posing him. His tri count as of now is 1070.

    tai_wip_1.jpg
  • genericnamedave
    Wow, excellent work Strayvert. I think he is good to go! The only thing I would recommend is a toon outline to help with the white gloves, socks, and shoes. Another awesome addition!

    Sorry for not checking in more frequently - work beckons me these days. Nice to see we have several entries so far, as well as a few other starts to boot. Might have to whip up the first collage-in-progress soon.
  • Dracowyr
    Offline / Send Message
    Dracowyr polycounter lvl 10
    Awesome stuff here!!! I'm definitely in for this - thanks for the tutorials on the toon shading!
  • Sadiah
    First time poster here!

    I love what I'm seeing in this challenge. I hope I can add to this post eventually. Either way.. great work everyone!! :)
  • genericnamedave
    Hey guys!

    I haven't abandoned this thread! I'm still doing plenty of work for it, and I hope you also have something made for it. Heck, you could probably spruce up an existing character you worked on!

    I do check repeatedly for any posts, and also feel free to PM me if you have any questions. If you need an idea you could also bug me too - my whole blog is about generating ideas!

    Right now the forecast is to get back to full swing once LPC#3 wraps up. Think of this as a "rainy day" thread. When there are no ongoing challenges or competitions, come and visit!

    Thanks!
  • AGuyCalledSpyke
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    AGuyCalledSpyke polycounter lvl 7
    I might have a go...

    Dibs on Iron Man
  • redmond_david
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    redmond_david polycounter lvl 16
    Hehe, nice, swatcats!
  • genericnamedave
    Hobbes1.png

    Perhaps slightly off-topic, but still wanted to show him off here.
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