Head! A head! (snake, actually...)

[cathuria]

My first non-tutorial head...
I decided to try my brand new (& really crappy) organic modeling skills on a critter head instead of a human. That way, I can decide what species it is after I screw it up:p

Anyhow, it is intended to look like a Diamondback when I get finished with it. I'd like to detail the mouth interior, too, for a nice fangy shot.

[Dirk]

Originally posted by cathuria
My first non-tutorial head...
I decided to try my brand new (& really crappy) organic modeling skills on a critter head instead of a human. That way, I can decide what species it is after I screw it up:p

Cool, that's how I work, too! :D

I would call it the "Waldorf Approach", or maybe the "Aurin Approach" - written on this medallion "Aurin" in the "Neverending story": DO WHAT YOU WANT

Or maybe the "Zarathustrian Approach"? hmmm......

Well, I'm sitting here, sipping some wine, waiting for LW finishing the big picture (double XGA, for print). Life can be fun :D

[JeromeMD]

"really crappy" is not what's come to mind. This is very nice (...not to say f*cking nice). And like Dirk I am having a drink while LW is rendering... Life is good.

On a side note Dirk I am still waiting for that render of your dwarf hitting that huge pair of nuts....

Keep up the good work.

[mdunakin]

Not sure why you think it's crappy, but whatever.
That thing looks pretty dern good so far.
Would love to see it textured too.

[cathuria]

Thanks for the encouragement, people -- I suppose my "really crappy" judgement comes from what you folks don't have to see: all the false starts, do-overs, and "what the heck?"s (I swear my spin-quad key was smokin').
But one of these days, I'll be able to come up with a model like this on purpose . . .:)

Here's an update with a more refined shape -- I think I'll stop tweaking here & go on. I may keep the first version as a basis for a monster-snake, I rather like the exagerrated brows; but this one matches my photo references much better.

Now I'll have to figure a way to model the intricate mouth bits; then the body (ooh, that'll be hard), & rattle . . . and how I'm going to put scales on this thing I have no idea . . .

[corto]

looks fine too me, keep on rocking!
thomas

[cathuria]

Scary mouth bits - :eek:

[mdunakin]

Sheesh, now after looking at how detailed you made that guy, it makes my lizard look lame.
but my lizard doesn't have all those good fangs.
Maybe my next critter will :)

Also, I wanted to know, what is this quad spin that you talk about?
I've heard of the spin triangles thing, but why would you need to spin a quad?
Or am I totally missing something here?

thanx

.............md :)

[cathuria]

Spin Quad (default mapping: ctrl-k) can be used to change the direction of the flow of the quads, and in subpatch objects it can even change the shape a little. And when you want to cut in a little more detail with smooth shift, spin-quad helps to merge the new poly's into the flow of the existing poly's.

I'd love to demonstrate or something -- but the truth is, I've only barely got a grasp on it myself. I can tell it's really powerful, but I still just sorta have to grab a pair of quads and start spinning about to see if something good comes of it. I'm hoping that if I do this enough, I'll be able to foresee how spin quad will affect the structure and pick the right quads and the right spin on the first (or at least 2nd or 3rd:D) try.

[mdunakin]

Hmmm,,, so I guess you learn something new all the time from lw? :)
Is this built right in, or do I need to download a plugin or something?
I'll be checking the PDF in the meantime.
Sounds like it could be fun, judging from what you describe.
.........md :)

[oxyg3n]

I like how your snakes head is coming along.

Spin quads is very usefull for getting your polygons to flow in the correct direction. LIke when you are modeling a face and you need geometry to form your edge loops. I also try it out when I have an area that is pinching together.

[cathuria]

There's a technical illustration of the Spin Quad action in section 26.2 of the 7.0 manual -- but, like anything else in the manual, that doesn't really tell you how useful it can be. The best thing to do is just start messing around with it :)

[GroovyAz]

Nice Snake... Looks awesome...

I would make the connective tissue of the fangs deeper at the top.. If you've seen a diamondback's fangs up close, they have a very thin front view, but quite and intimidating profile.

http://www.iol.ie/~bmesch/fangs.jpg

[cathuria]

mmmm - more photo reference!
Thankee:)

[cathuria]

Well, that's about it for the tweaking -- I've decided against going for highly accurate mouth details, at least on this version (almost all of the photos of open snake mouths I've found are of some guy grabbing a snake & prying the mouth open with a stick -- not only can't that show the mouth bits in a realistic position, but... it just looks like a really rude thing to do).

I have to sit down now & figure out if there's some way of texturing this little puppy...:confused:

[oxyg3n]

It is hard to tell from the angle, but it looks like the transition from the head to the body is to sharp.

[Flat]

May I suggest, ahem, cylindrical maps ? :D

Phil