Cinematic cartoon character - Updated Nov 18

Archanex · Oct 2006

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Hey I'm working on this guy for my short, he's going to have clothes in the end, but I just wanted to post here and get some feedback. Thanks guys

hmm... as I'm posting this I'm thinking I might need re-arrange the edges on the scaps

Geezus · Oct 2006

It's interesting to see this guy with more than 500 tris now. I loved the low poly you did with this guy, one of the most eye catching pieces in the low poly thread.

Only thing I can see wrong with it is the vertex not connected, leaving a 5 sided poly, on the top of the hand. Here:

Can't wait to see the final cinematic. Any clues as to what it's about? Keep us posted. :]

Fjornsvavne · Oct 2006

Uhm, why does he got his thumb nail on the top side of his hand? :S

conte · Oct 2006

I think i seen him in very lp variant.
nice start.

Archanex · Oct 2006

Thanks for the comments guys, I thought it was cool that you guys recognized the character from the low poly thread.

Fjornsvavne- I'm not sure what you mean? aren't thumbnails supposed to go on the top side of the hand?

I'll post more updates soon

Archanex · Oct 2006

Here's a bit of an update, I tweaked the proportions a bit. I'm really struggling to keep the same charm that the original low poly one had. I also did some minor color tweaking in Photoshop. Modeling the clothes in max really makes me wish I knew how to use Zbrush $:\$ .

Crits & Comments Welcome!

Archanex · Nov 2006

Still trying to iron out the last bit of creepyness, I'm pretty happy with the progress thus far, I just wish I had more time to work on it.

Cybroxide · Nov 2006

I like the new one much better! good work!

Paul Jaquays · Nov 2006

I liked the wacky asymmetrical eye sizes in the original lp and the more extreme thrust of that lower lip. Are you intentionally moving away from that in the hp model?

Mark Dygert · Nov 2006

my suggestions:

- Pimping him with his eyes shut is giving me the creeps. It makes it hard to imagine the total feel the character will have when the most expresive part of him is in a pose the end viewer will not see.
- He has thin features such as the lips, eye lids and ears which in the world of cartoon thin is normally used for sneaky/evil, thin/sick or the old and frail. So a fat headed guy with fat finger but thin features sends a mixed signal.

Archanex · Nov 2006

Paul - I am planning to employ the wacky asymmetry of the original in this one. But only when the character is angry

you see in the beginning of the short, he's not angry, but at the end he is, so I was planning to have his eyes bulge out and all that when he gets angry

Vig- Thanks for the paintover, I was actually planning to make the eyes a bit bigger, though I'm not sure if I'll make them that big. I was also considering making the lip bigger, but the problem is I don't want him to look TOO angry in his default pose ya know? I'm planning to build mouth shapes based on Osipas book so I don't want to be constantly fighting the base pose when creating my mouth shapes

Personally I like to model the eyes closed so that when I texture the lids I don't get a lot of stretching. I should probably rig that portion soon so I can get an idea of what he looks like with the eyes open though.

Thanks again

kakikukeko · Nov 2006

[ QUOTE ]
Personally I like to model the eyes closed so that when I texture the lids I don't get a lot of stretching.

[/ QUOTE ]

you can also model the character with the eyes open and make the eyelid bigger on your UV unwrap... that way you still have a lot more space to texture, so no distortion but stil see the expression of you character while you re modeling..

and by the way I totally agree with vig's paintover..^^

Archanex · Nov 2006

You could do that, but it would be difficult to approximate the size of your UVs so that you'd get no stretching

Also, one of the problems with modeling the character with the eyes open, is that if your lids are part of the head geometry, it's very difficult to get the lids to look good enough closed that they'd hold up to a closeup (say you wanted to animate a sleepy character for example) ESPECIALLY if the character has non sphereical eyes.

These are just my opinions though. I consider this topic totally up for debate.

Ferg · Nov 2006

thumbs should be modeled with the "top" at an angle. Hold you hand out with the fingers splayed like that. Your thumb doesnt sit flat. If can twist it with your other hand and almost get it to sit flat, but you'd have to break your thumb bones and joints to get it to sit that way naturally. Modeling the thumb with that natural tilt will make them deform better and more naturally.

animatr · Nov 2006

I actually like Vig's paintover too. How big a deal are the eye lids? I don't even know if that's that much of a problem if it will be a cartoony style texture. It's looking pretty awesome though. Are you planning on leaving the nude model under the clothes? If so, Point weighing that should be a blast *cough*. I don't think it would be necessary either if you were planning on it. Is the short being started next semseter for you guys? Just wondering how long you all get to spend on actual animation.

SkullboX · Nov 2006

I disagree with Vig's paintover very very much. In my opinion it removes all style elements that made your character unique. The more delicate proportions on his ears, chin and nose constrasted with the fat look worked great. He's a character who's clearly obese, just not your average 'large' cartoon cahracter like I think Vig's paintover shows. I'm talking about your latest version of the head by the way, which was by far the best. I wouldn't make the eyes bigger either.

I do agree with the comments on the thumb, and I also think you should try and keep the body of your character consistent with the style of the head. Make his stomach buldge over his belt, his middle jacket button barely able to be closed or the upper arms wrapped tight in his suit. Something like that.

It's coming along great, good luck!

Archanex · Nov 2006

Thanks for all the feedback people, I really appreciate it. Especially the comment about the thumb. Anyway, here's a quick and dirty facial pose. I still need to make the eyes more asymetrical like the original, but that's a pain if you don't do it last

anim8tr - yeah we're building all the assets this semester and focusing next semester on just animation, and no, I'm not planning to have skin under clothes for the whole body. I just found it easier to build the body, and then build the clothing on top of him from there. Since the character has 2 outfits in my short, I thought this would be the easiest way to get consistency, and this way I only have to UV one body instead of two

Cinematic cartoon character - Updated Nov 18

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