Well, this was originally supposed to be one of the main characters for a game that doesn't exist and has no name! He was to be Captain Kade Cromwell, but he's just too boring to be a captain.

This is being made for my low poly class at the Art Institute. The budget is 1k tri's, and there are some things that I wanted to do that the instructor told me not to do - such as give him a long coat that you usually see Captain's wear, because it's apparently be too hard to rig.

Anyways, I have the low poly pretty much done. I've done almost all of the optimization I think I could. I've never rigged a character, and this is also my first attempt at creating a character. I'm primarily worried about how the geometry will deform.

Accepting any and all criticism!

I was also thinking about changing the geometry in his arms and giving him a long-sleeved shirt. He doesn't have a sword yet, but he will soon. I'll be posting everything from the rigged character to the environment that we have to make him in over the next 3 weeks or so.

Ok, it looks like you're going to have some issues rigging him with that topology, mostly the fact that he doesn't seem to have knees. I'd have a look over the low poly game art thread, especially the first few pirate filled pages, if I were you. If you take their work as inspiration and really hit this project hard you could have a high quality model finished in a couple nights.

Right now your texture has a whole lot of nothing going on, but since you're probably going to need to re-model a bunch of this I wouldn't worry about it just yet. Focus on making the most of your 1k budget. Then make the most of your UV space. I'd suggest mirroring as much as you can.

Oh yeah, I should have mentioned that those are just basic diffuse materials. No textures yet.

Thanks for the link, I'll look into it.

EDIT: His knees are just above the boots. The line where the pants begin to tuck into the boots and the line above that would be the knees, or at least where I intend on his legs bending at.

Ah, well maybe you should move that line up a bit then, but there's still some things you're going to want to change for optimization and better deformation.

Almost done with the higher poly version of the same character for another class. I just have to model his hands. I have them blocked in for now.

This character has to be unwrapped, textured, skinned, and have an idle animation for Monday.

His legs seem much too short.

Originally Posted by Fireflights

His legs seem much too short.

His belt is basically right on top of his bellybutton, pirates (or everybody, really) dressed a lot different 300 years ago. Also his pants are supposed to be pretty loose and baggy... Maybe that's what's throwing it off?

Nah, I still think they're too short. Guys are about 7.5 heads tall, and after some quick measurements in Photoshop, it looks like your guy is about 6.5 (with the hat taken out of the measurements).

Hmm, you're right. He'll just be a bit shorter of a pirate I suppose. Good call though, I honestly didn't notice.

Alright, well I "finished" my character. While it certainly still has some issues (primarily with some of the textures and unwrapping), I'm satisfied how it turned out for being my first "completed" character. Overall it's around 5.5k tri's. I know there could be some optimization done, but our assignment didn't have a limit, so I decided that the time optimizing would be better off elsewhere.

This was also my first attempt at any real texture detail. While it certainly isn't t he best (My 2d skills have never been my strong point, though I'm attempting to improve them!) I think it turned out alright. I hand painted everything and just threw some overlays of leather texture, some dirt, and cotton.

I probably could have done better with the hair. I wasn't completely sure how to approach that whole situation, and the texture is pretty weaksauce. The pants also suck. After several attempt at trying to paint them, I just had to accept the best attempt. I also understand that I probably should have lightened up some of the darker areas on his face. His eyebrows also need to be a bit darker.

Overall I'm satisfied. While I still have a long ways to go, I did significantly better than my classmates. I think I might completely re-do the entire character, I'm pretty sure that it would turn out much better.



PS. I know there are some details missing such as a rope around his pants to hold them up, some cuffs on the wrist area of his coat, as well as buttons for the front. I need to practice better time management for my classes!