CAP 3D Modeling Project

DJTHED

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DJTHED I still got work to do on Tomo, so that'll be ready for us to play with later. Meanwhile can you perhaps try importing Pyroak's model and see how the lines turn out? I'm curious how much of his armor intersects with the body, even with no animation.
So this is how it turned out:

The only problems that I see is the toes (which is very minor and it won't matter when it's rendered at most angles), and the blob of nothing but outline around the mouth area.

I would say it's because of how small the teeth are, and the detail that's also getting outlined around it, including the hair that's highlighted here.
 
DJTHED I'm tackling his mask/mouth tomorrow, I'm glad there's already feedback on that. Plan on enlarging the eye-peephole primarily, will be testing the fangs to see if they'll even be noticed in a mouth-agape position.

So two quick things, b/c I just learned I got cities to burn, and that should have happened 30 minutes ago:

I elongated the leg and rotated it out, I have to fix up the mesh on the inside of his thigh just a little more before it's good. Anything to give him a good, dramatic stance, y'know?

Also, I rotated the arm away from the body. The socket joints are working like a dream.

NEXT STEP: The face, again
AFTER THAT: I'll consider it done, but if I have the time I really want to make the hair and skirt look a little gamier. Will begin rigging immediately.
 

QxC4eva

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Yay rigging! (I want to rig as well D:)

So, that's great you rotated the bazooka part of the arm but isn't it the same as....snapping his shoulder in half?? His armpit texture is the thing that would make it apparent, even if it's maybe only a difference of a few pixels in the renders, uh, that doesn't make me comfortable still...

Anyway I'm liking the new stance, and yeah please do something about the mouth- I added it in as an afterthought and it's pretty..bad. Going by what DJ's render shows I guess we have to open it up a bit? (which I did not anticipate u_u)
 
I figured his mouth would be half-apage in idle stance, kind of like Charizard's. I thought it was a great touch :D
My first thoughts were to make a more prominent jawline and play with the mesh around the corners of the mouth so it would open easily, but it'll be easier to show, then tell through screencaps.

I'll update with the mouth first, then the rig later.
 
I'm happy I tried making a 3D model, because I really loved making it.
It took me for ever to make it though ^^



obj-file

Since it is my first real 3D model, I assume there are much things to improve.
Nevertheless I'm happy with my result :)
 

DJTHED

Amateur 3D Animator
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I'm happy I tried making a 3D model, because I really loved making it.
It took me for ever to make it though ^^



obj-file

Since it is my first real 3D model, I assume there are much things to improve.
Nevertheless I'm happy with my result :)
That looks great, actually. I'm not sure if any improvement is necessary.
 

DJTHED

Amateur 3D Animator
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Worked on the UVs for Stratagem. They look a little bit like this.

Yeah... there's a lot of rocks that needed to get mapped. I also baked a very rough Ambient and Occlusion map to help texturers get an idea of how the shading translate on the texture map. Not sure if it'll help, but its there.

And here's the link to the model files as well as the textures I've linked before. I tweaked a few parts of the model that had a few odd vertices, but is otherwise the same. If someone could also rig this model, that would be nice, as I don't really trust my own rigging skills at the moment, even with Stratagem. :x
 
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Stratagem is only like, three colors, though. You can move the bands over to the very edge of the map and put the eyes/gems right next to those, and then fill the rest of the map with his primary color.
 

DJTHED

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Stratagem is only like, three colors, though. You can move the bands over to the very edge of the map and put the eyes/gems right next to those, and then fill the rest of the map with his primary color.
Hm... That sorta feels lazy to me. Maybe I could do that for everything besides the main color.

The current Stratagem sprite does have some detail on his gray parts, which would need to get replicated in the texture. I've updated the .zip file and it now contains a more cleaned up UV map that's primarily focusing on the gray rock portions of Statagem's body, as well as the model files with the updated UVs.
 
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QxC4eva

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:o noobiess that is amazing. From your screenshots it looks pretty much perfect! In the source file I noticed a few things:
  • The two vertices at the very tip of his head should be merged.
  • There are identical overlapping spheres at the very bottom on each side.
  • There's some tangled up geometry behind the top of his arm claws that needs fixing.
  • Inside his, uh..."CROTCH" gem, there are four extra faces that should be deleted.
  • Overall I think some bevels or low-continuity smoothing can be used to make it look less "blocky", if you get what I mean. But it's not really needed.


I think that's all. Hopefully it was clear. n_n

DJTHED The Stratagem model has about 40 pieces so there should ideally be 40 shells on the UV map, give or take a few. From a glance, yours is quite close to an auto map - there are a lot of seams which I don't think works very well for the patterns on its skin. I would suggest doing some uv stitching, but everything else looks fine!

When UVs are done, I think one of us should make a coloring guide so we know which piece is which. x_x I think it would be something like DJ's occlusion map, but with labels so it becomes more clear.
 

Quanyails

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I had Cyclohm's model sheet sitting around, mostly-done, and then CAP 20 called my attention. I've had the time to finish it recently, though.



I drew only one head for Cyclohm for clarity since the others can be copied/pasted. The swirly cloud body doesn't have to be modeled to a tee, since a few of us are thinking of using effects to make it look like Mega Altaria's clouds.

On another note, that's an awesome way to start with modeling, noobiess. :D Are there any more pending changes for Strategem and/or its UVs?
 

QxC4eva

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Quany, that is great! I really want to reserve it but it's probably going to give me as much trouble as Tomohawk... uh so, I want to mention I'll be working on it, but if someone more experienced comes along they are free to reserve.

-----

So I guess now's the time to share an update on Tomohawk. It's taken me ages and I don't think I'd ever be satisfied with it anyway. x_x





I'm struggling because Tomo's anatomy is *unusual*....and it's bad that his costume does a great job at hiding it. So I have to make it up.


(Other artists interpret it different in the CAP12 sprite submissions, so mine could also be right or wrong.)

^ In his signature pose, I assumed there's a big hunch in his upper back and the neck is flexed. Some think he's totally upright, but then I don't think there'll be room left for a torso. =P The hunchback would make it so the arms are placed much lower relative to the thoracic region. Next, to allow his wings to actively concave in and out there needs to be imaginary limbs growing from his arm down to the middle of the wing. If you look at typical wing anatomy like Noivern's you see the claws sit at the very top. In Tomo's case it's right at the middle which is why those extra pieces are needed. And finally, the costume is the part that got me, because it's very "2d". Even though it looks obstructive in Cartoons!'s drawings, it's actually quite the opposite in 3d. For example, there's nothing covering the SIDE OF HIS BUTT, so when moving (like flying, for example) I'm afraid you're going to see "everything" down there. Maybe I can make the fluffy things bigger, but that will lead to more intersecting faces. X( At this point I'm not sure what to do...any feedback would be nice though!

The obj is here.
 
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Pyroak is at a good place to start UVs and rigging (as I see it), but I want you guys to judge for yourselves.

going from this

to this

required a few touches. I did enlarge and repositioned the fang on the helmet, fixed up his waist to help drive home the drama in the armor, finished the legs, and I also touched the tail leaf, because I thought it looked a little too tear-droppish, and I felt like it should be a bit broader.
If I were gonna go further, I would pull the tips on the hair a bit and change the skirt to look a little more random, but I'd be happy to forget it and finish the skeleton for him.
download here
 

paintseagull

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QxC4eva Tomo is looking amazing!! I have a little bit of crit for the model that might help simplify things. This is from an experienced 2d artist/very-beginner 3d artist perspective, so I apologize if some of these things don't make total sense for the model.

Overall: I think the wings and feathers can be simplified and flattened. Right now they are very bulky. I know that the reference drawings do make the feathers look quite thick in some cases, but looking at XY style bird models like Hawlucha, the feathery parts are very thin and simple. I think we can make this work without compromising the design. I also think the transitions between different parts of the bird-suit can be smoothed a great deal to make it more of a draped robe with a feathered edge, which might help to keep Tomo covered up in the style of Cartoons' drawings. I also think that there is some extraneous detail around the mouth and legs, and the anatomy of the legs could be smoothed and fixed up a touch.

Examples of flat-winged pokemon/ feathered pokemon wearing "suits" or "capes":

http://www.models-resource.com/3ds/pokemonxy/model/8352/ <- hawlucha download/closeup shot of its model

Here are some specific drawings to show what I mean, I hope it makes sense!
Fat lines indicate general shapes that I have in mind, thin lines are a rough idea of how the model could be changed.




edit: upon further reflection, I think the shape/bulkiness of the cape is fine as it is, but the shape of it could still be modified to make it more of a single cape/robe rather than separate wing/tail. Though maybe a bit of separation is needed for animation?
Mostly it's the front piece that wraps around that needs flattening.
 
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I have one note about Stratagem. DJTHED and noobiess I want to know what the two of you think:

I played around with some of the proportions, but in the end, I just changed the geometry on the sickles. I'd like to congratulate noobiess for doing as well as he did modeling Strata, but I felt that his hand/feet/sickles were a bit too geometric.




I added a little more concave-ness to the...er...appendages, and increased the size of all the orbs on his body just a smidge. You can download my maya file here for review. I also have a .fbx here

paintseagull and QxC4eva I looked at the suggestions you made, but saw none of those issues by the time I was done.
 
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QxC4eva

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Thanks so much for your feedback, Paint! I made changes according to the stuff you mentioned:

Before


After

  • The fluffy part now wraps around more.
  • The connection to the wings have been smoothed.
  • Some polys on the legs have been cut down.
  • The tail feathers have a smoother shape.
The complexity of the mouth is there so it can open and shut properly... I'm aware it isn't the best way to do it but it's all I can do. If someone can suggest a better way for it, I'm all ears! Also I wasn't able to smooth the transition between the wings and tail, because the last few feathers are what really covers him up (so I actually ended up making them longer). Lets say if the wing was placed behind the legs, I think it looks something like this.....
=/

The updated obj is here. (it's the same link but the file is updated)
 

paintseagull

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I think the wrap-around feathers look much better, nice! The model's in good shape I think.
For the wings, I see what you mean about the disconnect, and having thought about it it would probably be better for animation to have them have a bit of a disconnect there too, so yeah let's leave it that way.

As for the mouth, if we want to have it open/close then I see why you'd need to keep it the way you have it. However, if we're going for the style of the XY-ORAS models, then they tend to use textures to open/close simple mouths. Hawlucha has a similar mouth style:
(Hawlucha is so weird in Amie)

However, I don't know how to include texture changes like that in animations. Blinking and expression changes aren't really used in idle animations, but of course it's fun to be able to do more than just the idle animations with our models, if we wanted to have fun with them later. What do you guys think?
 

QxC4eva

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OMG that video is... cute. I want to make something like that for Tomo once we're done. @_@

I'm aware that some models have the mouth textured on, and in every way it's easier to have them textured than modeled (you only need to animate the UV offset to change the mouth texture). Given the angle of Tomo's snout, I just don't think it'd look good if he tries to pull out a textured :D or :O expression, compared to one where he has a proper jaw. I modeled his mouth with reference from Zigzagoon's model which also had it rigged instead of textured. But then again, if someone gives me a good reason why we should do his mouth textured, I'm happy to go that way.

And I'm all in for facial expressions. It's a small bit of work for a lot of fun. :D
 

Quite Quiet

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However, I don't know how to include texture changes like that in animations. Blinking and expression changes aren't really used in idle animations, but of course it's fun to be able to do more than just the idle animations with our models, if we wanted to have fun with them later. What do you guys think?
There's actually about a handful (probably more, but I don't remember all of them) models that have idle battle animations that include blinking in their loop. At least one example:


Not to mention things like Rapidash/Primal Groudon/a lot of Fire-types have animated idle textures, so it's actually not that uncommon for models to have.
 

QxC4eva

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Cyclohm update!



The spheres are placeholders for the clouds which will come later. I'm going to experiment and (hopefully) find a simple way to get the Altaria effect. :D

As for what's happening with the other models,
  • Pyroak: once Yveltal sends me the updated obj, I'll make some final changes and start on the UVs.
  • Tomohawk: I'll ask Yveltal if it's good to go, and if yes I'll start on the UVs for that as well.
  • Stratagem: noobiess is happy for someone to take over the model, and DJTHED will be giving the UVs a shot.
 
I have a working skeleton going for Pyroak, just have to put it down for another day thanks to a new project. I'll be back on Thursday/Friday with more updates/critiques.
For now:
here's a link to my Google Drive with a Pyroak .obj Be sure to keep both files in the same folder
QxC4eva take a look at the helmet, I think we could bring the eyes forward and a little more up by rounding out the edges on the top. I've got the Tomohawk file, and if nobody else has laid claim to it, I'll do the rig for Stratagem too. I honestly think it's ready to go, but we'll see what some test renders yield.

Also, in case my FBX export for Stratagem didn't work, here's an obj of him as well
 

Golui

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Cyclohm update!



The spheres are placeholders for the clouds which will come later. I'm going to experiment and (hopefully) find a simple way to get the Altaria effect. :D

As for what's happening with the other models,
  • Pyroak: once Yveltal sends me the updated obj, I'll make some final changes and start on the UVs.
  • Tomohawk: I'll ask Yveltal if it's good to go, and if yes I'll start on the UVs for that as well.
  • Stratagem: noobiess is happy for someone to take over the model, and DJTHED will be giving the UVs a shot.
Not sure that Altaria-style clouds are a good idea. All the source material features more swirly ones, which to my knowledge are quite easy to make anyway.
 
Not sure that Altaria-style clouds are a good idea. All the source material features more swirly ones, which to my knowledge are quite easy to make anyway.
It depends. Swirls can either be defined by the texture map or the cel outline around the geometry, but for both the trick will be making them just the right size.
We should put it to an unofficial vote, if we have people who can do both altaria-like and swirls.
 

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