Character Website

[j3st3r]

Hi

I`ve updated my website, and I`m asking you to visit it, and tell me your opinion. It contains characters.

For sample I attach an image

[hrgiger]

You should probably mention your website is at : http://www.3dluvr.com/jester

Just a thought jester.;)

[Jake]

Well, congratulations on some very fine work! You've really come a long way since the first time I saw one of your posts. I have a few minor crits:

1. The female soldiers face is very square. It's not out of the realm of possibility and it does give her a more exotic look, but I might suggest rounding it just a bit more so that the characteristic is less obtrusive. In the same vein, lightening the makeup just a tad would be an improvement IMO.

2. A couple of the soldiers have a very specular look to their skin. It almost looks metallic to me. I would tinker with the settings a little to make it less shiny. Also, your textures are good but I would ease off on the bump mapping a little, especially on American soldier and the first Young Soldier pic.

My favorite character is Hans. Everything about it is kick ***. Very realistic with a lifelike, expressive quality.

Great job on the website, too. Very professional looking.

[Cassanovastein]

I just got back from your site.
Holy cheese and rice. I think I pooped my pants.
Ahem, uh, I mean - nice work.

[j3st3r]

Thanks guys!

hrgiger: you gave a very important idea...:D

Jake: You are absolutely right. There is a kind of developement, since the "oldest" models, the pilot characters. They were my first attempt to create almost photorealistic characters. After then came Platoon Soldier, then came Hans and the latest is Michelle. I forgot to mention, that the white dots are links to another images

Michelle was intentionally created like this, because it was the requirement of the client, to have a strong personality. I didn`t want to create a babe, but this conforms to our needs.

Anyway, I take all suggestion! I have a long way to get to my goal, and I hope, the future client will help me to get there.

Thanks again!

[Rei]

These for Platoon the game right?

Its not very good, ruied the origanal. Nice work though.

Platoon the film is great, go watch it if you can

Rei

[j3st3r]

Concerning the game, I haven`t played with it, I was involved only in the cinematic. I know Platoon the film, and it belongs to my favourites. If you check the white dots there may an image showing the 3d Sgt Elias. Originally it was planned to recreate Elias death as the cinematic, but later we were told not to use the original characters.
The game, I was sorry that it hasn`t the mood, the film had. I feel always sorry when a game doesn`t reflect the mood. That`s why I don`t like the over-saturated, and vivid war- strategy games.

[MarkJTaylor]

Inspirational.


Mark J. Taylor

[Zarathustra]

Pretty cool. Nice Rutger Hauer model.

[j3st3r]

It`s interesting. Originally I really want to creat Rutger Hauer, but the clients asked for Rober Shaw, as he shown in The Battle of the Bulges. So the character became a mixture of the two

[Zarathustra]

I don't see Shaw, just Rutger. You should recreate the scene at the end of Bladerunner:
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe..."

[Hiraghm]

"...attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've seen C-beams glitter near the Tannhauser Gates...."

When my dad died just over 2 years ago, I couldn't stop thinking about that scene. I felt terribly guilty that I couldn't remember every little story, every little anecdote, every little pre-conception he'd told me in his life. Because when I'm gone, they'll really be gone.. like tears... in rain.

Since we're already waaay off-topic... anyone else notice the reference to the battle of the Tannhauser Gates in the movie "Soldier"? I'm surprised no one ever made an animated series out of Blade Runner...

[Zarathustra]

I never knew exactly what that line was. THANKS!
The best I got was "C-beams glitter....house gates"

Yay!:)

[dbolto]

Very Nice work. I admire your models and am in awe of your texturing. I take it that you used UV mapping. If so could you give some tips on how to use LW for UV mapping or maybe post images to help out an aspiring texture artist. I heard of a program called UV Mapper, is it worth a stab?

[j3st3r]

I`m a lazy guy.
I used to freeze the original model with subpatch at 1. Then unfold this model as evenly as possible. Then UV map with Planar mapping. Then I set the Subpatch divisions to my original setting. After then I put the unfold mapped model on foreground layer, the original unmapped model to background layer. Use the BG to Morph, and on the FG layer, on the base (not the morphed!) modell use Apply Morph. And finally delete the morph.
SO this was you`ve got a mostly evenly mapped model. Freezing with 1 subpatchdivision relaxes the model much better than smooth would do. This relaxed model simulates subdividing. Currently as far as I know, only MAX handles almost perfectly subdivisioning the UV, mostly because it recalculates UV in dependant of the smooth level, etc.

Few rules when speaking of LW as mapping utility
1. It`s the best, the fastest, if you keep your eyes on few things
2. Whenever you`d like to transform UV, unweld it.
3. It`s the best, the fastest, if you keep your eyes on few things...ooops that`s the first as well....:D

[dbolto]

Thanx for the input. I realize that the technique that you are using is similar to that which I saw on Menithings website. The only are where I run in to a snag is at the unwrapping part. Do you start in the top view and use the rotate tool or what?? I am totally clueless when it comes to unwrapping the model, everything else is crystal clear.

Any suggestions or Video Screen grabs of someone doing this floating around? Hint! Hint!


David Bolton

www.dbolto.com

[Zarathustra]

Hee hee. Maybe. I just decided to boldly go into the scary world of UV mapping.

So naturally I read:

http://www.menithings.com/main.php?action=how&how_id=7&manual=1

and subsequently:
http://www.jackydaniel.com/pages/Tutorial.htm

and I thought, "CHRIST! How am I going to flatten my head model?!" Since there are people who've done it, and brush it off as nothing (as in JD's tutorial where the process is 2 or 3 sentences) I thought, "What the hell?" So I'm texturing a head right this instant, but as i flattened I took screen captures. I thought maybe I could make a tutorial out of this, so maybe I will.

At the very least, I figure if my way is crazy, people won't hesitate to say so and in doing may explain a more proper way. As it stands now, I don't think there are any detailed explainations on how to flatten a complex head model.

As I finish up the texturing, if it looks ok then I'll feel more comfortable in posting a how to.

[dbolto]

Whew, Feels good knowing that I am not in solitude with this whole UV mapping thing. In the tutorials by those listed in the above posting, those guys brush over it like it is as easy as making a primitive box in modeler.

Where there is a will,

There is an A.

Quote from the infamous Three's Company Ladies Man

[j3st3r]

Well, the unfolding procedure can be frustrating. I used to use rotate with Linear or Radial Falloff, on selected points only. These points are generally the outer points.
Procedure

1.Open edge along the back of the head
2.With symmetry on select those points you want to unfold
3.Use Rotate with Falloff, or Shear, or Magnet for unfolding
4.Avoid overlapping polygons, etc, and try to make each polygon approx the same in area as in the original model
5.Use stretch to flatten the unfolded model
6.Map it with Planar

etc.

The freezing is important state (as I mentioned in an earlier post).
Since LW doesn`t subdivide the UV of a subpatch model, we have to try the UV similar as it would be in SubPatch mode. Freeze practically creates a snapshot of the SUBDIVIDED model. If you freeze it with 1 SubDivision level, the vertices are recalculated with the SubPatch algorythm. It is a good basis for mapping. Alas the fewer the polygoncount on the cage, the more distortions we`ll have in the UV. So, before mapping, it`s a good way to subdivide your model.

There are other ways for nice uv mapping, where you involve layout, baking, etc. The result is much nicer, but for me it`s too timestaking. You know, I`m a lazy guy...

I would welcome a deformation plugin, wich would recalculate the UV coordinates for subpatch models, on their subp. level. Anyone?

[Zarathustra]

hmm... so let me see here. If you freeze your model, apply a UV map and save the map as, say, an eps, you can then use that as a template for creating a UV texture for the original model? In a sense, making an ALMOST subD UV map? I might have to go try this. I prefer lazy, too.

Since I'm new to UV, I'll ask the probably obvious question: why doesn't LW make a subD UV map?

[dbolto]

Thanx a lot J3st3r, this is more like it. A simple answer for an odd task. I will give it a stab and will post some images.

Thanx,

David B.

[dbolto]

J3st3r,

do you have to select the points or polygons row by row while unwrapping? I have been doodling with this, but still no cigar.

David B

[Zarathustra]

Move points, not polys.
I started by grabbing a group, from the back seam to side of the face and rotated out until the ear was flush.
Then moved one row at a time until there was no overlap.
Then I pulled out the points of the ear and behind the ear until there was no overlap
Then I moved onto the face.

Once nothing was overlapping, I flattened it.

Big pain in the butt, really. I'm liking this freeze-the-model trick a lot better.

[dbolto]

I'm sorry my coffee must have not been working, the freeze technique is different from the bear rug unwrap?

[dbolto]

Hey you guys disregard the past reply, I read the earlier post carefully and realized that I need to drop the subpatch level to 1, freeze it, and then subdivide it to get more geometry, create UV's, and then I will have an almost perfect UV map to start painting. Correct me if I'm wrong.

David

[Zarathustra]

The way I see it:
Copy your model
subD level to 1
Freeze
Create UV
Export UV as eps, or screen grab
I then repeated at subD level 3

Return to original and create UV

I would put the subD 1 and 3 as separate layers in Photoshop and toggle between them to help sketch out markers for where everything is (eyebrow, hairline, etc.). Once I had a layer that essentially outlines everything on the face, then I'd paint my textures.

I haven't test driven this technique, but I think it will work. Whether it's substantially better then unwrap, I don't know. Probably still need a trick or two to work around stretching under the chin, behind the ears, etc. Plus, I don't see how you can get away from doing at least one detail map for the eyes.

[j3st3r]

UV Imaginator is an excellent plugin to export UVMaps based upon selection, etc.

And it can export to a specified resolution as well

I used to paint my textures at 2k, so a simple screengrab can`t help too much.

[Zarathustra]

Doesn't work for 7.5 on Mac. Look at this:
http://www.flay.com/GetDetail.cfm?ID=1172

He never posted again since 8/20/01!

Oh well. I'm sure it's nice. I just use eps.

If you go through the trouble of flattening the model, here's the way I come up with a UV template:
Set camera to something like 1024x1024, pixel aspect 1
Center flattened model in camera view
object-Edges-Other Edges set to about .2
F9
Load shot in and apply as front projection
Bake

Now you have a perfect UV template.

The last 5 days or so have been extensive R&D for me. That's where I was at day 3 of "Hmm, UV, let's see what this is all about. Oh, what's this Smart-skin tutorial....." then I saw your freeze trick and kicked myself because I sorta was thinking of something like that, but I was hell-bent on doing that tutorial. Oh well.

[dbolto]

Zarathustra,

You actually got the whole bear rug thing to work?

After you split the polys in the back of the head, the points share the same space how did you select them independently?

The freeze method seems cool.

I will post soon

David

[Zarathustra]

Select the polys you're going to move
Select your seam points
Unweld
Deselect points
Switch back to poly mode (your polys are still selected) and hide others
Move or scale your polys
Select your seam points
Undo (This puts your polys back)
When you switch back to points mode, your points are still selected.

I believe that's how I did it.

[dbolto]

I'll try it

thanx

David

[j3st3r]

Hey guys, you just stole my thread ;)

Try to find dstorm`s excellent edgeopener plugin. It cuts the model along the selected points, and the points on one side remain selected.

Soon I will posts more close-ups of the german officer and the french resistancemember

And the last image will change from this cat to a troll...

[Zarathustra]

Well, I apologize. I know I harp on people putting WIPs in the Finished forum and this stuff should have ended up in the Tips and Tricks or something forum.

Can't wait to see the new posts.