HELLO FOLKS!
i'm new to polycount and figured, what better way to "break myself into the community" then to jump right into a competition. Especially one with as much creative potential as this one.

So, my fighter is Haomaru from the Samurai Showdown series. He was just always pretty cool to me. I plan on imagining him as a more modern punk rocker type. He will use a cool, more portable, folding sword (kind of like...a big swordy switchblade) and exude an urban rebel type of persona. He has to keep his hair though . I feel that would be key for recognizing him as Haomaru, even though he would put off a different energy

some reference and inspiration i gathered..as well as a visual of the current Haomaru:



i'll do a rough sketch to see if i can convey the idea any deeper.
OFF TO WORK!!!!!


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a few updates


I have the low poly model finished and a visual of my my "switch-sword" (that sounds so ridiculous lol).







I also have one element of the character's high poly-sculpt completed...his actual body. his jacket and sword are all separate objects at this point. i finished this portion this morning.





and his hair will be completed later during my painting stage. I'm going with the whole transparency map approach. I have an idea that has been in my head forever that I haven't really tried yet. I just hope all goes well lol

I like the switch-sword idea Good luck...

I was hoping someone would do Haohmaru. I'm totally imagining this as a halfway cross between him and Fonzie. :P Looking forward to this!

great choice manQaiting for updatesgood luck

a few updates


I have the low poly model finished and a visual of my my "switch-sword" (that sounds so ridiculous lol).







I also have one element of the character's high poly-sculpt completed...his actual body. his jacket and sword are all separate objects at this point. i finished this portion this morning.





and his hair will be completed later during my painting stage. I'm going with the whole transparency map approach. I have an idea that has been in my head forever that I haven't really tried yet. I just hope all goes well lol

UPDATE!!!





i have been sort of busy with work and other things so i apologize for the limited updating. i have the character himself pretty much textured. i just have to add a few manipulations to a few of his image maps and bake them together. next will be painting his sword. i kind of have a lot to do in a dwindling amount of time lol. SO BACK TO WORK!!!!

oh and i'm modeling and texturing in modo. modo's viewport does that weird transparency map thing where, instead of just masking out a specified area of the image map for transparency, it masks out anything in the viewport that 1) has the same material applied as the material with the transparency map and 2) anything that is behind the area of transparency in the viewport. SO IN THIS CASE...his hair has one material with a transparency map applied. since all of his hair is one material, the transparency map takes effect on other parts of the hair simply because it is behind the transparency area at that particular angle. other programs probably do something similar. it wont be a problem after importing it into Max and using whatever shader i choose to go with. i just always found it weird lol.

if anyone else uses modo and knows a work around for that, let me know please