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[Dota 2] - Drow Ranger - TBD

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  • Vindalia
    And another short story for you all to enjoy:

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  • Vindalia
    One more completed concept before calling it a night :)

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  • Rubyfair
    My favorite theme was definitely the crystal one. Hoodie strings, orbit, stasis rings, silver veins, and battle heels are my favorite pieces. The gradient on the silver veins cape is lovely as well as the color pallet in general, I hope you use it. The leaping dolphins and spider web bows are also quite nice.

    Keep up the fantastic work!
  • Rubyfair
    These concepts are fantastic. My personal favorites are the hoodie strings, orbit shoulders, stasis rings bow, silver veins, and battle heels. The gradient and color pallet for the silver veins hood is lovely, I really hope you use that one.

    Keep up the great work!
  • Vindalia
    Thank you Rubyfair! Unfortunately, I've already tallied up the votes for the Crystal Theme and compiled the top items into a complete outfit (above).

    Voting is still open for the Celtic theme, so please give me your feedback! I'll be drawing that one later today.

    For now, here's another vignette:

    AJzpH.jpg
  • Vindalia
    Woohoo, third concept! I would super appreciate some feedback on which one to go forward with! :)

    zXtJi.jpg
  • DesireeFernandes
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    DesireeFernandes polycounter lvl 7
    This planning work is very impressive and thorough. I really like the final Imperial and Celtic themes. I love the contrast in color from the Imperial set, but I also like the Celtic-esque knots and the dark colors of the Celtic set. It's a hard choice; perhaps combining elements of both would create an epic happy medium? As for the Crystal concept, I think it looks a little too futuristic as it is. It reminds me a little of Tron with the highly saturated cyan blue. If you were to choose that one, maybe the color could be toned down a bit to match the original colors? Just a thought. Excellent work regardless.
  • duoxan
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    duoxan polycounter lvl 17
    all three? im diggin the imperial the most, but those celtic shoulders are sweet. i agree with the colors on the crystal, maybe try the dark blue used in her body armor? nice work!
  • Draggy
    I'm really loving the Imperial set best. Out of all three of them it's definitely the most unique and I would buy it in a heartbeat if Valve published it :)
  • editpolygon
    Concept #2, the finalized Imperial theme, is the design that will effectively translate into DotA 2. From the toes to the head the detail increases up as well as the amount of highlighted color.

    The only thing that you have to remember is to get a gradient effect of your entire piece so that the darkest and least saturated colors are at the feet and the lightest and most saturated are at the head.
    vindalia-edit-01.jpg
    Quick edit on left original on right. Dont' fix the concept just keep it mind when texturing.
  • Vindalia
    DesireeFernandes, thanks for the tips! Yeah I did skew a little on the futuristic-style for the Crystal theme (Tron=so much awesome). If I do end up going with that one, I'll tone down the colors.

    Duoxan, cool I'm glad you enjoy all three!

    Editpolygon, heh heh great photoshop job :P You've made some good points about the scaling up of color and complexity. I didn't even realize that until you pointed it out! Thank you for the reminder about the gradient too--that was emphasized quite a bit in the hero design handbook.
  • swedge
    yo man, i'm digging your concept work and your workflow. keep up the good work and best of luck to you!
  • Vindalia
    Thank you swedge! Appreciate the support :)

    My second week into this project is about to begin, and I've updated the timeline. I've accelerated my concept development phase and will have chosen the design by the end of tomorrow. Modeling will happen over 2 weeks or less. Here we go!

    SusSH.jpg
  • Vindalia
    I've been tallying votes for my 3 concepts from both Polycount and Facebook, and unfortunately all designs are within one vote of each other =_= I'm torn between different parts of all 3, so I'll let it sit for another day and then probably make a combo-design.

    In the meantime, I poked around in Maya and modeled the shoulders from the Celtic theme. They are too tall right now, but I at least got the general shape down. Might be hard to tell, but the sleeve/fabric is whats poking through the ring on the armor plate. Would appreciate some feedback on my modeling technique!

    P7A8S.jpg
  • bluerebel
    I don't normally trust people who go after concepts for Traxex but you have my full support! I am especially a big fan of your Imperial and Celtic theme, with me leaning more towards the latter.
  • bluerebel
    Here's my critique on your pieces starting on my favorite, leaning towards my least favorite:

    The Celtic armor is your best work seeing as it blends perfectly with the existing armor, as well as keeping loyal to the "Silence" theme of Drow. I have to say that I like the overly enlarged Hood/Mantle that covers her head. The whole form of the hood in the design makes it very unique. The increased amount of hair also demands attention from the rest of the body towards her face, a good thing. I'm not a fan of the leg armor though, the blue highlights on it feel forced, and I think it would look better plain grey, with the emboss from the blue highlights desaturated, without removing it entirely.

    The Imperial design is my second favorite but feels entirely off for the ranger. I don't like having too much Red color on Traxex. It feels like betraying her current lore. Might as well make her scream HERE I AM, SHOOT ME, with all that red. I might also add that the only thing keeping the design Imperial is the red cloth. The armor in itself does not feel Imperial at all.

    The Crystal armor is an entire miss for me. The only thing I like from the set is the cape, and that's because it's asymmetrical. The neon blue highlight on it throws off the entire armor, taking balance away from the front onto the back. Although most players will just see the back side of Traxex, the cape is not alone in foiling the balance. The white hair on Traxex in this piece is heavily highlighted, making it feel off-theme. With nothing to counter-act the bright white, and the neon blue, the pieces feel like a bad collage.
  • bluerebel
    Might I add that I love your work, I'd love to see all three designs get into the actual game. You are, as of now, the only person I would trust with Traxex.
  • Vindalia
    Bluerebel, thank you for the extensive critique! I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of your feedback :) In response to your thoughts about the Imperial theme, yes there is a lot of red and I'm aware that its brightness would betray Traxex's quality of stealth. Looking at the existing outfits for her, red is an accent color that is introduced into her Sylvan Guard equipment and adds quite an interesting contrast to the color palette. Red is aggressive and dominant which would play up Traxex's deadliness and warrior persona. Designing a distinctive outfit for a hero without straying too far from the core visual language is difficult, and I can understand where you are coming from.

    As for the Celtic theme, I am playing it safer with color palette and keeping in tune with the theme of hooded-head with long white hair. Save the different shoulder silhouette, my main concern is that there is not enough to distinguish this set from her default look.
  • bluerebel
    Vindalia, might you link me to your facebook poll so that I could cast my vote?

    Anyway, I also believe that the Sylvan Guard set's introduction of the color red added more diversity to the color palette. Although I was originally against it, the set was able to provide lore that contained justifiable internal logic, where the equipment was not Traxex's but of a group she admired. Furthermore, the red highlights were simply highlights.

    For the Imperial theme, you might want to add more aggressive, pointy, edges or perhaps something more symmetrical, with more careful curves rather than the aggressive ones now. The armor as of now feels confused between two concepts but what's really throwing me off is the clash between the shoulder pads and the cuffs on the leggings (although I favor the cuffs, they match the hood).

    The Celtic theme is distinct enough through the form. There is no need to make her all too different seeing as some players already have difficulty identifying heroes in different costumes. If you keep the cape in it's current bell shape, as well as the enlarged hood, I believe you can have a distinct map view of Traxex in the game. You might want to fiddle with the Hair though so that she looks different in the portrait view of the game.

    Important for Traxex:
    Cape+Shoulder for map view
    Hood+Hair+Top armor for portrait.

    You might also want to test the shoulder pads to make sure they don't clip into the body since Traxex breathes heavily in her portrait view in-game.
  • Vindalia
    You can just cast your vote here and I'll add it to the tally. As of now, it is Crystal:4, Imperial:6, Celtic:4. I'm going to take Crystal off the list since I don't think the overall design jives well, but I might re-use that bow for a different outfit.

    Throughout the imperial theme there is a recurring motif of 2 light-blue rectangles that wrap around the different parts of the outfit (base of the hood, top of the leggings, shoulders, arms, etc). Yes the shoulder pads may clash with the legging cuffs color-wise, but the intention is that attention+complexity dwells at the top part of the hero, not the bottom.

    Currently I'm torn between going forth with the Celtic or Imperial theme. I might do both and see what happens :P And yes, I agree with your points about what is important for the map and portrait view.
  • bluerebel
    I cast my vote on the Celtic armor then. Her cape makes her look like a mouse and I am loving it.
  • PieWars
    Celtic has my vote. You did very well on the Imperial Armour, though.
  • Mishig
    Very well-drawn concepts
  • Sharc
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    Sharc polycounter lvl 7
    Voting for Celtic. It would be awesome to see some of the other designs as future items though, excellent work with all of them.
  • Graham
    I would go with Imperial. It is the most eye catching theme for sure.
  • Vindalia
    Thank you everybody for voting! The Celtic theme won by one vote: Imperial-7, Celtic-8. Very close indeed.

    I've finally begun modeling! And if you read my posts on the very first page, I've been teaching myself Maya in my spare time for the past few weeks and this is my first attempt at really modeling something. Therefore, if you see any glaring errors in my mesh, please let me know! I'm most used to parametric modeling, which is an entirely different school of thought.

    bst9m.jpg
  • Dreymord
    Wish I saw this thread before, imperial came so close and it's the only set i'd actualy buy :/

    I realy hope you make that one too, at least, after the contest - the most uniqe looking set for drow so far. with the next patch, she'd be quite viable I think and it'd be great to have such a beutifull set for her.
  • Echronos
    Wow man, really cool concepts you have here. I loved the imperial set too haha. But the celtic is awesome. The only thing I didn't like is her knees. It seems to be a entire piece on her legs. If you cut the placa in her knees, and put a detail I think it would work better. Keep it up! :)
  • Vindalia
    Dreymord, thank you for sharing your input--yeah it was a very close vote and I just had to put my foot down and actually get to modeling. I like both concepts equally and I definitely plan on making the Imperial set after the contest. I'll do all my modeling screw-ups and hair-tearing-out with the Celtic outfit and then I'll be all smooth sailing for the next one :)

    Echronos, thanks! Yeah the whole leg armor looks pretty flat from the image. When I model the armor it won't be looking so flat anymore.

    Ok, I'm continuing to chug along at my rather lethargic pace... and modeled something new today! Hooray! Again, I'm a noob at this so crits on my technique are welcome :)
    XipB7.jpg
  • foeffa
    Gotta say that just judging by the early work and the planning you seem to have put into this, it is poised to be freaking awesome. :)
  • Vindalia
    Thank you foeffa! I do hope it turns out as I am planning :)

    Did the leg/shoe armor today:
    6GfkW.jpg
  • Vindalia
    Ok, got the majority of the modeling done after a brief hiatus. Going to make the low-poly versions of everything next, than move into Zbrush!

    2aFKI.jpg
  • motenai
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    motenai polycounter lvl 18
    Man, impressive amount of work there, and very nice presentation! :)
  • faw98272
    Really nice planning and work presentation there! Hope to see more progress :)
  • Vindalia
    Thank you motenal and faw98272! I'm hoping to be able to show some more progress as well...getting slammed with work at school this week and going to have to be careful with my time.

    I came across this excellent resource on good modeling practices in Maya and read the whole thing http://www.molecularmovies.com/img/pdf_tutorials/MouseEmbryoModeling.pdf

    Going to go back through my models to make sure I don't have too many ngons and triangles, though I see a lot of triangles in the default armor models...
  • Vindalia
    Ok, small update for today. Will be jumping into Zbrush soon!

    U2INo.jpg
  • Futashia
    I am in love with your boots! Make some irl :3
  • Vindalia
    After nearly a week-long hiatus, I am back! School has caught up with me and dragged me down into the depths of its lair. Doing all 7 item slots seems a little unrealistic now, so I'm going to aim for the minimum of 3 from here on out. For now, my priorities are the bow, cape, hood and then maybe the shoulders.

    Futashia, thank you for the complement--I would totally like some battle boots IRL as well..they would be great for kicking things with, haha

    I had some fun poking around in Zbrush, but settled on using Mudbox instead since I have a friend who will be able to provide me with pointers.

    givqF.jpg
  • Vindalia
    Also had a jolly good time figuring out how to unwrap things. Feedback and pointers on this stage of the process would be much appreciated as well!

    ByBLg.jpg
  • Jindor
    Really you should add all of your concepts to the game if you have time after the contest, really love pretty much every concept.
  • Vindalia
    Thank you Jindor for your support! I am still in the process of learning how to model and I'd certainly like to continue working on my concepts after the contest is over.
  • Vindalia
    Ok, finally made some real progress! Going to push to finish the majority of this project before the long weekend is over.

    COch1.jpg
  • Vindalia
    I am still alive! Unfortunately, I've got a lot more on my plate now than I had anticipated when I drew up the project schedule nearly 5 weeks ago. Also, moving onto a new stage of the modeling workflow is like running into successive brick walls. I figure something out, and then bam! New issue to resolve.

    Regardless of that, I've been chipping away at little bits of this project for a while now and made some progress forward. I don't feel like what I have now fulfills my artistic vision though, so I'm probably going to submit my models after the competition is over. Unless somehow I can pull everything together in one day!

    fZmJA.jpg
  • Gareth_Thomas
    Deadline has been extended. Get it done and get it done right! Good luck.
  • Vindalia
    Thanks for letting me know Gareth_Thomas! I probably would have totally missed that update if you hadn't given me the heads up, haha. Well then, I'd better finish what I started. After a lot more poking around and troubleshooting errors left and right, I got the pauldrons closer to finish:

    s9Kl2.jpg
  • Vindalia
    Worked on the cape today, but now realize that I'm going to have to re-do it. I went a little overboard with the electric blue and knotted details and the preview didn't look so great in the workshop uploader. I'll go back to my original drawing which has a much more subdued design and a larger Celtic knot in the center.

    Feedback and tips are welcome as always! :)

    NW1SP.jpg
  • kukiloak
  • eazy
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    eazy polycounter lvl 9
    this thread is epic. best of luck to you!
  • bluerebel
    I'll be honest. I'm not a big fan about the way the hood was modeled. The shape feels alien and seems like it would be too tight to wear. I understand that the Celtic style involves a series of knots, curves, and leaf shaped lines, but the shape of the hood is to cylindrical for me that it reminds me of an Anubis from Egypt.

    I feel that the bigger and rounder hood in original sketch will be more suitable for this style.
  • Vindalia
    Kukiloak and eazy, thank you for the support! Bluerebel, thanks again for the honest input. I am not satisfied with the shape of the hood myself and I will be re-modeling that before I texture it. I'm currently swamped with school projects and my senior thesis, so I apologize for lack of updates. Turkey day weekend will certainly be taken advantage of..

    Also, I'm having a hell of a time figuring out how to preview multiple items with the model viewer. I know some people on here got it to work, but even with all the tutorials, the experience has been incredibly painful and error-laden. I'd have jumped out the window already if my wonderful software-dev sis didn't volunteer to help troubleshoot. It's still not working, but I'm hoping to have some shiny renderings ready soon!
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