Horny Head

[groodwanderer]

Okay so i decided to post something. I've been working with LW for a couple months on and off and I thought that I would just post this to see if I ppl had thoughts or ideas about it.

[groodwanderer]

and a side view since i really haven't figured out how to post more than one at a time yet.

[Cassanovastein]

Hey Groo -

You spent the time modelling this fairly imaginative head so I think you deserve a response. There are several things that make abstract characters very appealing. They are stylized represenational versions of everyday people and objects. Plus, they are just d@mn fun to look at.
My advice to you would be to push this guy further. Make the head tentacles longer and more complex - have them wrap around the head at strange angles like dreds. The face seems really human - I think you could make the eyes more alien smaller or larger than normal.The nose looks good. It could be more alien as well.
For textures you should look at some of the make up work in the movie Nightbreed for Palanquin. He had a lizardlike red skin patched with black dinge. Keep pushing this guy.
Take care.

[Capel]

What's your poly count? Looks WAY low. Add more detail and don't be afraid to add polys. Features ought to be sharper all over the face, IMHO, of course! :D

[groodwanderer]

Hey thanks for the ideas there cassanovation. I have no idea what i wanted him to look like finished. I was thinking something along the lines of reptillian. I am having problems with the eyes. Don't know exactly how i am going to model them. Basically the eyelids are giving me problems.

More poly's? aaaaaaaahhhhh!!!! LOL no i was trying to keep a low poly count Low until i was satisfied with the basic shape of it all. Also I am not to good at this yet so i really wouldn't know how to go about adding detail. It takes me awhile. But I will give it a shot.I don't really want to think about it at the moment. Getting this far took quite some effort. But i will definitly try and add some more definition if thats what you think he needs. Oh yeah the poly count is 1210. Heh had to figure that one out. Didn't know where to look, at first.

[Cassanovastein]

Walk away from it for awhile. Talk a walk or work on something totally differant ( like Warcraft 3!) When you come back, about 8 things are gonna hit you that you'd like to change and 8 more that really work. So, find the parts that have been giving you the most trouble and concentrate on that. Eyes can be a pain in the @rse. I usually put a sphere in the background layer and use the Extender tool to pull out the geometry. You can do this by pulling out each section of polys into a shape that roughly wraps around the sphere. Then I use that sphere for the eyeball. If it helps, hide all the geometry except for the eyes and forehead so you can focus.
Goodluck!

[Capel]

Hey, are you familiar with the knife and bandsaw tools? If not, GET familiar. They're great for adding geometry. Trust me, 1000 polys isn't very much at all. Add some detail and post an update. I'm interested to see how it goes! :D

[groodwanderer]

LOL yeah after i posted that i remembered the knife tool, I've tried using bandsaw but I can never get it to work right, always cuts on the wrong axis or something. I haven't looked in the manual to see if there is some explanation on how it exactly works, so i will do that. Also I don't think I will ever be able to animate this head. The mesh is so screwed up. I was working on changing some things on him but got frustrated and started trying to create a hand. I think I might have a finger done :rolleyes: . It still takes me awhile to make anything close to what a start out to make. Heh i should post the original idea to show you what I mean. Thanks for the comments. Greatly appreciated. Oh one more thing. What do you guys think of ears? Should I add some? or just leave as is. I will post the finger and the original concept. When I get home.

[Capel]

Dude, learn how to use the bandsaw tool! It's awesome. And can you post a wireframe? Looking at your model, you shouldn't have any problem animating it, but that comes AFTER modeling. Do you use reference photos or concept art? If so, have you tried scanning it in and using it as a backdrop? That works wonders, man. As for the ears, ......tweak what you already have, i'd say, before adding anything else. Ears can be tricky. Don't think you have to rush. Learn the tools and pretty soon you'll start thinking of 2 or 3 different ways to do the one thing. All the tools are there. Lightwave's modeler is one of it's biggest strengths! Good luck and keep udating! :D

[groodwanderer]

Okay i don't know how to get LW to render out a wireframe that doesn't look like a mesh? I can always post a screen grab but i was wondering if LW has an option that I can select where it will render out my wireframe that is in modeler. I don't know exactly how to explain it but I hope you understand. I know I said I was going to post a couple of things but my wife was on the comp. sorry bout that. Oh and Capel I have started to mess around a bit with Bandsaw. It does rock. I was originally using smooth shift to add geometry and it was really messing up my edge loops. But it is a little late to go back now. Just started a concept drawing for this char. I wasn't sure if it was worth working on or whether i should just start a new char. You guys have encouraged me to keep going at it. Hopefully it will come out to what I want it to look like. Will try to post some ideas when I get home.

[groodwanderer]

it is a little stylized. I want to eventually give him cracks and gnarl the fingernail up a bit.

[groodwanderer]

and this is just a screen grab of in modeler since i didn't know how else to get a pic of the wireframe.

[groodwanderer]

oops sorry bout that it was a bmp file. here it is hopefully.

[groodwanderer]

Had some time so i worked on the eyelids. Let me know what you think.

[groodwanderer]

and from the side

[Cassanovastein]

Hey Groo -

This thing has come a couple steps since I've seen it last. The eyes look 100% better. The nose and cheek are strongly defined now too. I especially like the sharpness of the nose and eyelids when looking at the side view. Although, it looks like there are some weird polygons on the top parts of the eyelids.
One or two things I think are the next areas that need addressed are the flatness of the lips when seen in the frontal view. I mean, from the side they look pretty good. But they are more af a small straight line frontally.
Also, I enjoy the goatee/tendrils - the way they emerge from the chin is nice. Have you thought about having the head pieces do the same?
Ok, you're showing alot of good progress, Groo. Take care.

[groodwanderer]

Heh yeah those polygons on the eyelids are supposed to be a skin crease. It appears though, that I haven't gotten the right look yet. I will work on that some more. Yeah I have been trying to give the lips some more definition. I really like the lips on capels' "skinny creature thing". Although I think those type of lips would be a bit to large for this char. I'll see what I can come up with. The head horns I haven't really touched. As you have noticed from the first post I have gotten rid of most of em. I've been working on an idea with those and hopefully I will be able to accomplish it. It is going to take a butt load of work though, so I am procrastenating on that a bit. I might have the side horns coming out of the skull though, that is a good idea and one I hadn't thought of. Thanks for the input. It is greatly appreciated. :D

[Capel]

Dude, HUGE improvement. Great work. Keep it up!

[Capel]

And thanks for the compliment on my character's lips. I know your character is a demon and all, but it still helps to use human references. Do you have a mirror by your comp? I find that helps a lot when i need a reference! Just keep tweaking and you'll get it. :D

[groodwanderer]

I've been using bandsaw like mad. Really trying to give him some more definition. yeah his lips are allready pretty human. I was thinking of using a mirror. Didn't really think of useing a mirror by the comp. Makes sense though. Heh i would've been running back and forth from the bathroom, or maybe using one of my wives little makeup mirrors. That might actually work though. Thanks for the posts at least i know i am going in the right direction.

[lardbros]

I really like the latest posts of your bloke! He looks like a stone gargoyle, like the ones you get on ancient churches and stuff! His eyes make him, and the nose is ace! I seem to go down a similar road with adding detail, i tend to use smoothshift, then bandsaw it lateron... i'm not too sure wether smoothshift is too good when using subpatches though!

Very good so far... i'd like to see his head at the edge of an old building s roof, with a really weathered stone effect and bits crumbling off! Hmmmm!

[groodwanderer]

Heh thanks Lardbros for posting. That is a cool idea but seeing how i've only been using LW for a couple months now, that may take me quite some time. But we will see I do agree with you on the look. I am dreading the whole texturing ordeal. I just want to finish modeling a complete char.

[ChrisBasken]

Looks good! He doesn't look monster-ey, but more sage-like. Is that the goal?

[groodwanderer]

Sweet you hit it right on the head. I didn't want to tell ppl it was going to be a sage like character. He is somewhat morrowind/Diablo II Cain inspired. Man that just made my day, thanks for that. :D Although i do think he would make a good gargoyle head as well.

[Fate]

Know something ?!?
He looks quie well :)

[Fate]

Oh , I forgot.....
I really like the nose :)
keep it real , man !

[groodwanderer]

hey thanks Fate. yeah ppl seem to like the nose and the eyes. It was my first attempt at making those. So i am pleased. Also i am working on giving his head some more horns i will probably make a new thread once i am done with it. Maybe showing a progression sort of thing. What I need to start doing now is thinking how his body is going to be. I really have no idea how to go about it. well we will see how it turns out.

[groodwanderer]

okay a little progression of my heads

[groodwanderer]

and I think i am done with the head for now:D

[groodwanderer]

from the side:

I have started on his body. Should i start a new thread with his body? I don't know if this thread is getting a little full. let me know.

[Keiyentai_Yotai]

Awesome head man. I'm learning LightWave and I'm in the proceess opf making a VERY LOW poly char and rigging him up to do a little "Matrix" like scene. All my little chars have around 200 or so polys lol. COuld bump it up later maybe. Awesome work though man.

[Antimatter]

Originally posted by groodwanderer
from the side:

I have started on his body. Should i start a new thread with his body? I don't know if this thread is getting a little full. let me know.

there's no such thing as a thread too full :p

he looks good, btw those horns on the chin theyre bone or bone like right, cos that's the impression that they gives me.

could u give a more detailed progression from your orginal simple face to the second, from that 4 face progress picture, i would like some more detail between the top two image cos i'm trying to learn how to make a face and i'm terriable right now heh :)

well good luck with your body!

[groodwanderer]

Well I started a new thread today....oops oh well. I just didn't know how fast ppl could load with a 56k. .Time for some"body" is the name of my new thread. Well I would show you another pic if I could. I am very new at this myself so I don't save half as much as I probably should.In fact this is my first attempt at making a head. The only other thing I've ever tried is modleing a hand which I never finished. The tutorial lost me so I gave up :p . One thing you really want to check out is userdeltas tutorial. I found this very usefull. Watch a couple of em and then go at it. See what you can come up with. His tutorial is one of the lightwave modelling tuts on this site. Userdeltas head modeling tut (http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/tutorials/modeling/head/index.html) Hope that link works.

[groodwanderer]

I just wanted to add a link to my other thread here it is. Time for some"body" (http://vbulletin.newtek.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4165)