Cartoon mutant cat

[Philours]

Hi folks !
Here is the starting point of my new wip. This is a mutant cat for the same short movie for which i've done the mutant seagull.
This is the very beginning so all comments are welcome !
http://www.philours.com/wip/wip27.jpg
The "sticks" on his head will turn into tentacles at the time of the animation.

[MarkJTaylor]

While I love the design; I do feel the back of the cats head is a little cluttered. I love the double ears; however I'm not too sure about the (spikes?)

Also; while his feet are cool; mutant it up a little; give him hooves, or somthing ;) Just a few suggestions.

[Philours]

Thanks for the comment !
Here is an update, i began to "mutant" him a bit more and detailed his head.
http://www.philours.com/share/cat2.jpg

[liquidpope]

Man, I'm lovin' this cat.
That "hoof" idea from MJT? Definitely a cool addition.
As for the tentacles... I'd rather see them as the "whiskers" and "eyebrows". He could use them to eat with. Seems better to have a series of prehensile mustaches than rear-head tentacles, more useful, maybe.
But I'd rather have gills than legs, so why listen to me?
Digging this design, and hope to see more.

[Philours]

Concerning the hooves, i prefer to keep him "average real feet" uhuh... but mutate them a bit.
Concerning the tentacles your idea isn't bad at all but he will be put in a sequence where he will run, that's why they are at the rear of his head, just to improve the movement, if i place them in front of his head all the visual effect will be messed up. Anyway, there is definitively a good idea and i'll try to dig that way without exagerating them, maybe just to add details.
Thank you for the comment. :)

[blinblue]

Ohh, freaky (in a good way). I don't want to roll in that toxic waste that the cat rolled it.
Anyway, good job, but I must agree something doesn't look quite right with the head, not 100% sure what it is. Could you put in some basic textures (even if it just colors) so it is a little easier to figure out what is wrong...
But on the whole, good start, should make a great movie...

[Philours]

I've reworked a bit his head, here is an update :
http://www.philours.com/share/cat3.jpg

[Philours]

And here is another update : i began to work on the small details of the head and added mustaches. I've also separated the different parts of his body.
http://www.philours.com/share/cat4.jpg

[Hieraco]

Looks like my cat only with the speed bars on the back of the head. Have you decided on a colour for the fur yet? It may look nice with a black/brown tortise shell look (see a cat page for pictures of tortise shell cats). The only change I have to suggest is perhaps to bulk up the neck a little.It looks like the head will snap off at any moment.
Any chances of setting up a test anime so we can see how psycho-kitty moves?



O.K. here is a pict of my PsychoKitty so you can get an Idea of fur colouring and texture that I have in mind.

[Philours]

Thanks !
Concerning the fur colour it will be clear, your "crazy psycho cat under drugs" is too dark for mine. :)
It will probably be white/blue or white/pink as he's a mutant cat.
The animation will come long time after now cause i still have a lot of work on modeling of other elements (this is a character for a CG short movie), and i'll start the animation stuff all at a time.

[Philours]

Another update : i continued the work on his mustaches and eyelashes (spikes in fact) and made a quick vertex color test to find a decent color scheme for a mutant cat. :)
Please, let me know what you think :
http://www.philours.com/wip/wip28.jpg

[merlinux]

bravo pour le style que tu as donné a chat mutant venu de l'espace pour nous detruire peut être du sasquatch pour les sourcils mais je sais pas si ça ira avec son design...
mais vu le style que ce chat a c'est pour une prod précise que tu fais ça or just for fun ?

[Philours]

Merci !
Il s'agit d'un personnage pour un court métrage (projet personnel), il est encore loin d'être terminé... :)
(Sorry guys for the french answer)

[Philours]

Here is another update : i've fine tuned some details on his head and finally chosen a color scheme for him, here is the start of the texture, please let me know what you think :
http://www.philours.com/wip/wip29.jpg

[marvin]

I like that a lot. I love what you've done with him. The only thing that I don't totaly agree with is the paw color. It kind of stands out and doesn't look like it belongs. I might also get rid of the spikes over the eyes (eyebrows). Otherwise, He looks awesome. Myabe make the eyes snake like, at least differentiate (wow I spelled that) them from the bird somehow. They look kind of "cute" to me.

marvin

[jdvision]

Philours I think that is looking pretty cool, but as with a few of the other posts I think the 'tentacles' make the head cluttered compared to the rest of the model.

I think they would look great coming out of the front shoulder blades and sweeping back along the spine for movement. Some of your earlier renders showed that the neck is quite thin so I think it would make the head feel lighter and more in place on that neck.

The rear set of ears would look cool turned towards the side of the head a little also.

Cheers,
jd

[Philours]

Thanks for the comment jdivision but i prefer to keep the tentacles as hair and anyway they will fall on his shoulders at the time of animation. If i put them on shoulder there is two main problems : first it wont be true to the original design which i want to stick at and second they will fall on the ground which is not a good option, in my opinion, for design concern and animation stuff.
The idea of flipping the back ears is not bad but it will make it not "mutant" but really weird and i don't want him to be too scary (he's enough this way :) ).
However here is another update, i've started to work on his fur :
http://www.philours.com/share/cat9.jpg

[Philours]

Okay, i finally totaly reworked his fur. Here is the latest update :
http://www.philours.com/share/cat10.jpg

[Philours]

Here is an update : i've reworked the texture, the feet shape and added details to the legs.
http://www.philours.com/wip/wip30.jpg
Think he's almost finished, let me know what you think should be improved.

[marvin]

I like the guy a lot. Along with the bird you made, I've really enjoyed watching the progress on these characters. I think this cat looks really cool. Leave the hair as is. It looks like he's had a horrible hair-cutting accident and now how only has patches left. Really nice job.

marvin

[anima]

very nice!
like a tiger!:p

[liquidpope]

This guy is really looking awesome!
The only thing I see is some "squareness" at the points where the claws come out of the feet and ankle areas.
Other than that, it's amazing... I can't wait to see these guys animated, hint hint.
You may be my new God. (Dan Ablan is my current God, btw)

[blinblue]

Really like it :D .
The only things I noticed were
1. The tail fur just doesn't work for me, if it looks fine to you then keep it, but it seems just a little too "normal".
2. And something about his(her?) nose that seems a little weird (along with the spikes coming out of the legs, as it is a rather square connection...)

[Philours]

Thank you all !
Here is an update : i've reworked the nails and the texture :
http://www.philours.com/share/cat16.jpg

[Hieraco]

Hmmm Blue fur with green and pink highlights. . . I think I saw it's owner hanging out at the local punk bar last night. . . What are the odds psycho-kitty will get a piercing say a safty pin in the ear or ring in the nose :eek:

[Philours]

Hmmm; he's just a mutant, not psycho, nor punk. :)

[riki]

It's amazing what a diference some texturing does.

[Philours]

Well, i personnaly think that texturing is half of the work... :)
Here is what i think is the last update.
I've added some fur all over his body.
This one should be the final one, please let me know what you think :
http://www.philours.com/share/cat18.jpg

[riki]

Turned out really well. So is he going to try and eat the seagull at some stage :)

Just on point, I prefer the lighting in the previous version, seems to bring out more contast.

[hrgiger]

That is one mangy looking cat.

Good job though, very interesting.

[Philours]

Thank you !
Concerning the contrast, the fur tends to make it disappear a bit, the previous version was too dark i think and it gives the sensation that the image was dirty which i want to avoid during the final rendering, that's the reason why i've boosted a bit the ambient luminosity.

[mega maniac]

great work i love the cat, how long has it taken so far to model it?

just one thing, the claws seem a little too transparent, i dont know though, it just keeps deveting my eye that i can see through the claws

[Philours]

Thanks Mega Maniac.
It took about three/four days for the modeling and a week for the texture, the vertex color adjustment and the fur settings.
The claws are not transparent it's an artefact of the Digital Confusion effect. I'll try to fix that.

[mega maniac]

ok thanks, im just introducing myself to the whole 3d thing, so im just wondering the times required, at the moment i take about an hour to model a simple alien hand, and i tried an ear, man, i spent ages on that, and well ive never seen an ear like it.

I am actually using 3ds max, but the forums for it are terrible, slow and really annoting, so im just checking out work and picking up general tips here.

[Philours]

Well, i wish you luck and motivation :)

[mega maniac]

thanks

(sorry for one word post btw)

[Philours]

Here is a version with some more details at the back of his head:
http://www.philours.com/share/cat20.jpg

[sKb875]

Looks great!
You should make it. it's own mutant litter pan :D

[johnny4d]

Philippe,

Great cat! I'm very impressed!

How are you texturing him it? Procedurals? Vertex maps? UV maps? All of the above? (I've never really understood how to do UV mapping.) Also, could we see a wireframe of it?

I saw your eye tutorial -- thanks! Now, how about a cat (or bird) tutorial? :>)

Thanks,

Johnny

[Philours]

Thanks a lot johnny4d.
Concerning the mapping it's a mix between UVmaps and Vertex color. The UV is pretty simple though as it's basically a planar projection on the profile of the cat.
Here is a wireframe of it :
http://www.philours.com/share/catwire.jpg
Concerning the tutorial, i really dosen't have the time right now, i'm sorry about that but i think that you'll have to understand the modeling of them by yourself. :)
I'll try to post some modeling tips (which are, really no big deal you'll see) on my website one of these days.

[riki]

Yeah I was amazed, the modeling is pretty simple, but the texturing really makes a huge diference.

[johnny4d]

Philippe,

Thank you for the wireframe. Is that all just one continuous mesh or is it in parts? I'll have to watch your site for those modeling tips!

Regards,

Johnny

[johnny4d]

Riki,

Thanks for the great tips on your site, too. Great stuff.

G'day mate!

Johnny

[Philours]

Thank you all.
Except the eyes, yes, it's one simple continous mesh.