Foxy

[mattbolton]

Here's a mascot I am making to go on a website that I maintain. The website is due for a makeover, so I've decided to add an icon/mascot to help liven it up. :)
Here's a wireframe of it in subpatch mode so far.

http://www.attlcomputers.com/~mbolton/fox/progress1.24.04.jpg

[mattbolton]

Here he is with the upper torso roughed out. Any idea on how to get rid of the creases across his cheeks?
http://www.attlcomputers.com/~mbolton/fox/progress1.25.04.jpg

[Matt]

try spinning some quads (CTRL+K) to improve the flow of the polygons

[Chrysolithos]

Well, so far so good. Are you planing to give him the Sas treatment?

[mattbolton]

I haven't decided on whether to use Sas or not. Since I currently only have SasLite, I am fairly limited as to the extent that I can control the hair length and direction. I may use it, but probably only on the tail.
Here's a properly rendered update on his geometric progress. I still have some tweaking to do on the coveralls and arms, and then it's on to adding the boots, hands, and tail. Thanks, Matt, spinning quads has helped in several problem areas.
http://www.attlcomputers.com/~mbolton/fox/progress1.26.04.jpg

[Chrysolithos]

I remember someone saying somthing about short fur being easier with the full version of Sasquatch, which made me bite the bullet and get it after thinking about it for over a year. The main reason I am trying to improve my meager lw skills is so I can do some anthropomorphic critterstype animation.

I did get some good results making white fur trim on a santa hat, but getting a good fur pelt on the cat wearing the hat has so far escaped me.

[mattbolton]

Decided to work on him a little more before retiring for the night. He now has boots, plus I fixed some of the odd creasing I was getting in the waist area.
Yeah, if my wife didn't already have plans for the income tax return I'd consider spending it on Sasquatch or G2.

http://www.attlcomputers.com/~mbolton/fox/progress1.26.04.v02.jpg

[FenrirWolf]

Looks like you've still got a little bit of "crumpleness" around the legs -- but the face does look better.

As for SasLite, it can do some pretty indepth stuff even without the full version. While I'm certainly no expert with Sas, I did whip this up a while ago:

http://gapingwolf.com/artwork/wolfman1.jpg

It's all SasLite, and since it's all just one object I couldn't set the subdivision level high enough to keep the tongue from being blocky. I pretty much maxxed out what SasLite could do; I had the maximum number of surfaces assigned and the polycount was just a few hundred shy of what SasLite could handle. The surface fur was done as normal fur, and the cheekruffs/top head fur was done using hair chains.

I never did figure out why there is visible banding along the muzzle, if that was a limitation of SasLite or some AA artifact with Sas fur. . .

EDIT: A tip for those who want to model with SasLite -- Make sure you don't "overestimate" the size of your furry critter and make the base model too large. Get a cat wet and then you'll see what I mean. :) Remember that the body underneath the fur has got to be smaller than the fur itself, so if you aren't getting fur that looks right perhaps you made the body too bulky and large. With that said, I screwed that up with my last furred model! (the one above)

[mattbolton]

Wow, that looks good. I've only ever experimented with SasLite on a single surface, and never with "hair chains." Looks like I'll have to do some more experimenting. :)

[smok3]

imho saslite will look good if the model is pretty simple as well, iirc this tedi is multiple surfaces, but same color:

http://somestuff.org/images/galleries/test/piflar_masna1.jpg

(but iam not expert either)

p.s. the body is so small that eyes actually attach to the fur itself.

[FenrirWolf]

Thanks Matt. I too just bought the full Sas version with the intention of redoing that character. Plus, I have a few other anthros I will be using in a game. Sas is also useful for things like cheap and easy grass.

The hair chains (or guides, I forget the exact Sas terminology) is good for strands of hair, or "poofy" clumps of it, like the top of the wolf's head or his cheek ruffs. I also created the tail using it, but due to SasLite's limit on how long fur will follow a chain, it didn't look so hot.

[mattbolton]

Here's my update for today. I did lots of tweaking around his midsection, it just didn't "look right" previously. Defined the arms and added the classic cartoon 3 fingers and a thumb gloves. The "tail" is there, but can't be seen. My project for tomorrow is to learn how to use guides for Saslite and make his tail furry, and finish up any other tweaking that needs to be done before I start rigging him. Any suggestions on what could use some "tweaking" is much appreciated.
http://www.attlcomputers.com/~mbolton/fox/progress1.27.04.jpg

[mattbolton]

Well, no major progress this evening, but I did finally learn how to create hair guides and use them with Saslite. The tail still needs some help, but I am starting to get the hang of it. :)
Don't pay any attention to these textures, they are just idle doodlings. Ok, I knew Saslite does not cast shadows, but I was hoping that my hair guids would, but they didn't seem to either; any ideas on that?

http://www.attlcomputers.com/~mbolton/fox/progress1.28.04.jpg

[mattbolton]

Got a little crazy with Saslite this afternoon and came up with this:
http://www.attlcomputers.com/~mbolton/fox/progress1.29.04.v02.jpg

[Chrysolithos]

Wow, fuzzy! Need to do something about those eyes. Unless you are going for the little orphan foxy look. I like the overalls.

[mattbolton]

Hehe, yeah, fuzzy was not the desired effect. :rolleyes: I'll have to play with SasLite some more; it may be that I can't get the control I need without the full version, but I'm trying to make do. :)
I'm not sure what the eyes need, I tried adding a temporary color map to them ,but now he looks "bug-eyed." Do they stick out too far? Maybe he needs eyelids or something.

[mattbolton]

Well, texturing is nearly complete, the only parts that have not really had the finishing touch put on are the gloves and the eyes. Next will be the rigging(yuck) and the the posing. :)
http://www.attlcomputers.com/~mbolton/fox/progress2.01.04.v02.jpg

[FenrirWolf]

I like the cloth texture you used for the overalls -- My own experiments with cloth have resulted in dismal failure. I see there's even seams at the shoulders, cool!

I'd have to say, though, I think I preferred the slightly fuzzier version that you posted just before this one. The shorter fur just doesn't look as right, IMHO. Maybe something inbetween?

[mattbolton]

Yes, the "cloth" turned out pretty well if I do say so myself. :) It took a lot of experimentation, but basically I created a custom "grid" pattern in Photoshop and used that with the paintbucket to fill the layer above the base color, used a liberal amount of noise and Gaussian blur, and then tweaked the opacity level of that layer before combinig with the base color.
I tried a couple different things with the fur on the head, and came to the conclusion that for the control I wanted as to the length and direction of fur, I either need the full version of Sasquatch or I would be spending many tedious hours creating hair guides for it. I finally just painted a texture in Photoshop and scrapped the SasLite on the head.
Here is a quick render of him posed..... The rigging is almost complete.
http://www.attlcomputers.com/~mbolton/fox/progress2.01.04.v03.jpg

[Chrysolithos]

Eyelids? And I did like the fuzzy look too.

[mattbolton]

LOL.. you're the second person to ask about his eyelids; I might have to do something about that. After I've been looking at him for hours, I start to lose perspective and don't notice those things.
Yeah, the fuzziness had it's own appeal, I may try tweaking it again, but what I was hoping for was more of hairy head where the hairs were laying down along the surface instead of being so frizzy looking.