Supernatural Ninja For College Game (UE4) WIP
polycounter lvl 7
hey so I am the only 3d artist in the team so i have had to create every 3d model for the game and now i have to create the main character i prefer to create environment stuff and thats what im better at so any help will be great for this piece.
bit of background on the character:
he is part of a ninja clan that is given supernatural powers by a Japanese demon in order to further his cause.
here is the concept i was given
here is a small mood board i put together
as he is the main character im going to put a bit more detail on him other than whats in the concept such as the sickle and chain and kuanis etc. I will also make it so that the mask can come off.
will start working on the model tomorrow.
Any help along the way with this will be great, i only have a maximum of 2 weeks to get this done as well.
bit of background on the character:
he is part of a ninja clan that is given supernatural powers by a Japanese demon in order to further his cause.
here is the concept i was given
here is a small mood board i put together
as he is the main character im going to put a bit more detail on him other than whats in the concept such as the sickle and chain and kuanis etc. I will also make it so that the mask can come off.
will start working on the model tomorrow.
Any help along the way with this will be great, i only have a maximum of 2 weeks to get this done as well.
Replies
In general, I'm not seeing a large amount of correlation between your mood board and the concept you've been given. Granted, the concept isn't at a professional level, so it's hard to tell what materials you're working with. I think that that means that you'll just have to work harder on your end to fill in the blanks.
In particular, what kind of material is the red cape part made of? What material is the white strips on his arm (where the daggers are coming out)? What will his mask be made of? What about the big weapons strapped to his back -- what is it and what does it look like?
I also have some questions about the concept in general. Why is the main character white if the story centers around Japanese folklore/traditions? Also from an efficiency standpoint, I'm curious about why his mask needs to come off. Is this going to be part of a gameplay/story element?
Best of luck! Looking forward to following your progress on this.
yea its very hard to see what im supposed to be working with wich is why im able to have a lot of choice as to they final outcome, it just has to be based off this concept.
im thinking the scarf/cape part will be light cloth like material not quite chosen an exact material yet.
the white stripe apparently was supposed to be metal all the way down but i told them that didnt make sense becuase he wouldnt be able to move and stuff so the kunai which is what those knives are supposed to be will be strapped diagonally on his chest.
the weapon strapped to his back is the sheath to a normal samurai sword which is far too big for that so im able to design my own sword for the character which i still have to do the sheath will be simple though so i can do that then create the sword at the end as well as the sickle weapon.
i forgot to say he is white in the concept because he is half Japanese and half american apparently so thats what colour he chose, I will need to sort that in texturing. he takes on more of his fathers(american) body shapes wider jaw, taller etc.
the mask needs to come off because that will be the front cover of the game a high quality render of him standing holding his mask
the game is not super realistic either so i can have some artistic licence when it comes to stuff and the supernatural element allows for me to create stuff that wouldn't normally be around in that time period like the boots for instance that look a bit more modern i wont be doing the trainer bit at the bottom though.
about to start on the bottoms. then I will extract the shape of the chest piece
need to work on the face a bit more, im not good with mouths haha
got a good bit of work done on the vest looks too much like something a biker would wear though so need to fix that and I got the main shapes of the trousers in.
bit of work on the arms done too
https://www.google.pt/search?q=facial+image+planes&es_sm=93&biw=1280&bih=939&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Ik5SVYXuHMbfU7-NgcgM&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ
Hope i have helped !
I think i will leave the ears just now though due to being on tight time frame but i will definetly go back and do them at at a later part or m,aybe just do some studies on it later on.
quick question should I sculpt in the skin detail or get a normal map out of the texture?
When is this due?
if its not due anytime soon, a few more hours on the head will not hurt, because it still looks a bit off .
What would you say is making it look off.
I need it to be finished no later than a week and a half ideally.
I think maybe spend some more time on the mouth it kinda looks a bit big maybe
What will deliver THE ABSOLUTE MOST VALUE towards your player's experience? If your answer is "the material on the vest looks realistic" or "the head looks right" then you are focusing on the right task. But as the only 3D artist on the team, you need to be in charge of determining the vast majority of art-related priorities. A finished game has nearly an infinite amount of art-considerations you could be distracted by, and it's up to you to identify the core ones that will make/break the game experience.
As this is a school project, I would simplify your art style considerably. I'm unsure of your production time-frame, but if this is something to be done in a semester, or even a year, there are likely FAR more things that will require your attention.
Some things to consider:
Where will the camera be during play? (if it's behind the main character model 90% of the time, facial details won't really matter)
Does the model truly need a high-poly/normal map to effectively convey immersion to the player?
How many other character assets need to be modeled/implemented?
Does the environment art perform well in-engine?
Who is doing the animation?
How many animation loops will be necessary to implement?
Do you already know how you'd actually rig a sickle and chain? (or is it just a asset to have on his hip or something?)
Have we (the team) successfully implemented character assets (including animations triggered by player input) into the engine?
These are all concerns that should play into your time-management, and frankly (as a past-student who has also been the solo-artist on a project) I don't view having a polished normal-map to be at the top of your list.
I know it's not feedback on your model, but I think you (and your game) would benefit from thinking about these considerations. I hope at least something in this has been beneficial to you. I'm wishing you the best of luck, Cheers!
(also a perfect high-poly char can always be a portfolio piece you polish up at a later time
Due to being the only team that is creating a 3d game using something like unreal engine ( the other teams are making a 2d game in game maker) we are aloud to only create one level to use as a sort of demo so we only have to create art for this one level. And this character is literally the second last piece to create. Its to be in by the end of June.
The animation stuff is being done by another team member and will be started once I have the low poly done while I'm creating the textures.
This guy is going on the front cover as well so it does need to be well detailed.
Everything is working great in the engine getting upwards of 100 dos on my pc and over 60 on my laptop.
Thank you for the detailed response. All the topics you mentioned were covered and thought of in our game design document and technical reference document
for some reason the boots mirroring wasnt working so i did the stitching and stuff on one and i will mirror the other one.
going to move on to the weapons unless anyone has anything to add that would make it any better?
You could have some more fun on the folds.
Cheers
I put some more detail into the folds and i have finished the low poly starting to unwrap this now.
I running out of time so textures will have to be rushed but i will go back and redo them.
I hate retopoing fabric with lots of folds haha
unfortunatly i cant make any big changes due to time constraints, now but im going to give better textures after the game is made so please critique and i will redo them later