Hey all. This is a personal project I'm working on in my spare time. It's intended for use in the Source engine and I'm trying to keep it under 5k of tris. Right now it's sitting on 4950.

I'm happy with how it's turning out so far but the hair has been a pain in the ass. It's supposed to be braids but I'm not sure how it'll turn out. Don't really have many more polys to throw at it either. I'm still planning to knock a few more polys out of it to allow for some small props. I also haven't given any thought to a final colour scheme yet.

Crits and suggestions are welcome. Thanks.


Concept:


Renders:

at a quick look shoulders and upper arms are off.

She's way too symmetrical to look Post-Apocalypse, in my opinion.

Can't really help you on the hair, almost all female source models i've seen have ponytails or short hair. Looks good though, and I agree that you should make it asymetrical [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Showster> Could you be more specific? They seem fine to me, although I've been staring at it for so long I wouldn't really notice most flaws.

ComradeJ & Entity> You guys are right about the symetry. I've added those few small props to break that up a bit. I could lose one of the holsters, but personally I like having two of them there. Before I'm done with the mesh I'll go over all the clothes and create some unique creasing on each side. Appart from that I'll be relying mostly on the textures to give a subtle asymetry. They'll be pretty gritty which should help. I probibly should've also mentioned earlier that her boots are meant to be steel-capped motorcycle boots. In case they seem too bulky around the feet. Thanks again guys.

Here's a small update:

dude, shes way to clean, and way not asymetric as she needs to be inorder to be post apocalyptic, but maby thats just me, and maby the asymetry comes later, and she definately need some bad as utilities and equipment, she looks more like a si-fi science chik to meee, dont insult the genra its to easy to


if you ask me she needs to look as if ishes relatted to one of these dudes inorder to be post apocalyptic, do your reaserch

http://www.physics.hku.hk/~tboyce/sf/films/71.jpg

too clean? she doesn't have a texture on her.

I think you're pidgeonholing the genre a little extremely, kiril0t.

As for the model, I like how i first interpreted the concept, when I thought her duster only had one long side. that would probably be the easiest way to establish the assymetry everyone is howling for.

I'd also get rid of one of whatever is strapped to her thigh.

looking good, though

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback, I do appreciate it. It's been a very long while between updates, but I've had time to work on it over the holidays so here's the latest:


I've still got a fair bit of work to do on the texture, haven't even touched the skin yet, I'll be starting on that tomorrow. I still have to add some overlays (leather, cloth, metal, ect), and then add dirt and grime. I haven't been stressing too much about seams as I've been painting because I plan to straighten them all up towards the end using the method shown here:

Texture seam elimination using render to texture

If you haven't seen it I highly recommend checking it out.

Those bright green areas are chunks of UVs I haven't stacked yet by the way. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] Any comments or crits are very welcome, particularly about the texturing so far. I could really use some fresh eyes on this one. Thanks.

I think the blonde hair is definitely better than the purple. Pants look like they need darker shadows or something, and the creasing/folds on her left leg seem wrong. Her cuffs could benifit from more work too, maybe use the same colour as the trim around the base of her jacket. I cant remember why you painted the boots all one colour, but obviously laces/straps/sole etc would look better if they weren't the same cour as the main boot.

Nice looking model Justin!
I'm totally digging the creases in the pants and the trimming on the jacket. I agree with Gav about different colour straps and laces for the boots.
Keep it up!

-caseyjones

Gav> Thanks for the crits. I'll have to have a play around with a few of those areas. As for the boots being all red that's just how I imagined them during the concept. Same as the hair, think I'll have a lot of colour experimentation to do on this once the textures are finished.

Emil> Thanks man, I'll do my best to get this finished within the week.

I think you could use some more hard edges in you model,currently it has this molded look,not ragged and bulky as it should be.
bootstraps and metal clasps should definitelty have some hard edges.

So what makes a character 'post apocolyptic'? I would lose that title for her imho.
Why not focus more on what her occupation is and emphasize that to give her a little more character?
Giving visual cues of who your character is through her clothes, accesories, facial expression, and later on her gesture, will make a much more compelling character.

Multivac> Interesting suggestion, not something I've really given much thought to. I'll definately have a play around with that, thanks.

Kongni> I know what you mean man and you're right. I'll be trying to add a few little features to the texture once it's been dirtied up a bit. Hopefully that should give a better idea of who the character is meant to be.

Just to give anyone who's looking at this an idea of what I'm going for, I'm trying to give this character a sort of futuristic post apocalyptic look. Kind of like the apocalypse has happened, but not for about another 50 years or so from now. Not really going for the hardcore desert gimp look from something like Mad Max, more like a character you'd find living in the ruins of some large city. The best example I can think of off the top of my head would be the sort of scene they had going in George A Romeros 'Land of the Dead'.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Hey Sect, all right
but post apocalyptic is extreme, or at least in my opinion it should be. and i dont see how im pigeon holing the genre just cuz my vision of post apocalism is difrent then yours. The models really nice i just think she looks to clean for the day after the apocalypse. Looks kinda "green peacy" to me but youre right the texture will tell. I meant no disrespect. I said absolutely nothing positive in my previous post. I was just expecting something else.

Eagle as far as the texturing i dont know what kind of setting/env youre envisioning for her but i would suggest giving that some thought and having it come through in the texturing. She looks nice but im still standing by too clean.

Kiril0t> Your vision of a post apocalyptic world is fair enough. But I do think referencing Mad Max as a sort of template for it is very limiting, at least aesthetically. Personally I think post apocalyptic is a very broad genre and you can take it in a hell of a lot of directions. All the title literally means is that some form of apocalypse has happened previously. You could set the scene in the past, the future, or an alternate universe if you wanted. You could have a nuclear holocaust, zombies or even aliens invading. That's my two cents anyway.

As for the crits you are right, I have mentioned though that I haven't even begun to dirty it up yet. I still need to finish the base texture, fix seams, add some overlays and then add dirt and grime. There's also a rough description of the sort of the look I'm going for in my previous post.

Just a quick update on the area's I've been working on. Still so much to do.

my two cents:

Sandbag> Hey, thanks for taking the time to do a paintover dude. Those are good suggestions, a few I had already planned to do myself but some I hadn't even considered. I'll do more work on it over the next week and hopefully have a much more completed state to show soon. Thanks again, much appreciated.

Hey Eagle, I know it will probably change. But with the hair, you should probably get some variation in the flow at the back. It flows too perfectly and looks a little strange to me. Also how it indents into the back of the neck makes it look she has like some invisible hair tie or hair clip pulling it together.
It's coming along great and looking forward to the next revision.

-caseyjones

Hey man, yep I actually just finished painting the hair yesterday. I just added a few extra braids here and there to throw off the symmetry. I think it's worked pretty well so far, although it's been a real bitch painting it and not too many shortcuts to make the process quicker either.

As for the hair I think you're right, when modeling it I thought it would look fairly natural but it does look a bit odd to me now that you mention it. So last night I painted the strap from the goggles to come out behind the hair and look like it's pulling it in. I think that turned out pretty well too, wish I could say I planned it that way. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Anyway I should have some new renders up in a week or so. Thanks man. By the way, are you gearing up for the Dominance War in Feb?

Looking forward to seeing your updates.
As for the Dom War, I'm ordering a copy of Mudbox with my next pay then I'll have to start getting good at using it in the little time that I have. This is one comp I have to finish even it means getting no sleep for a month!

-caseyjones

this is great stuff

one thing: i dont believe the shadow under her jaw, on the side plane it looks ok, but then just below her chin? mmmmm doesn't look right to me.