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[CowTail]

Well, I haven't really bothered with much since my alien-pig thing from a while back, so I figured I'd try out some video game art.

Featuring: The Burlap Man
This guy has a burlap bag as its head. He's the main character in a side-scrolling game in which he uses tribal weapons to kill off all the cute cuddly creatures in the jungle. Originally I was going to make him just extremely ugly, but what I drew was so hideous that I had to put a bag over his head

The reason behind the game's idea is that there are too many games where cute people/creatures kill off ugly mean monsters, so I'm making an ugly person kill off cute cuddly creatures. Makes sense right?

The specs I'm going for are just a general amount for a mid-level game:

• Main Characters/Large Creatures: 2000-2500 Triangles, (1)512x512 RGB head texture, (1)512x512 RGB body texture
• Small/Medium Size Creatures: 500-1500 Triangles, (1)512x512 RGB texture
• Weapons/Props: 100-300 Triangles, (1) 256x256 texture
• Animation Cycles: Walk, Run, Jump, Duck, Idle, Attack1, Attack2

I'll be trying to make everything nice and colorful and creative. Can't say it'd be very original though, since this kind of thing has been done before

The Burlap Man
WIP Render 1 (940 Triangles)

To-Do: Legs, Hands, Interior of Mouth, Pupils, Weapon, Clothing

[thecolclough]

sounds awesome, and i really like the character design.  if/when you get it finished, you will remember to post a link here, right?  i want a go on this game

- c

[Mactetra]

Dude, that looks awsome! You are probably my favorite anim8or modeler, your models have a special style, that i really like!

I just have to ask, is that a image used for texture or just an anim8or material, and if so, what are the settings in render and material edit?

[hihosilver]

Great job there.  As expected, the model has been executed very nicely.  Currently you may want to work on the silhouette of the character, especially around the arms, since the changes are very sharp.  This would require adding more geometry, so it depends on your poly limit of course.
So far the poly placement looks very good though, and I don't see anything that's wasted.

What are your plans for the game?  Are you yourself going to write the game?  Are you modding something? Or is this just for a fun game model?

[CowTail]

hihosilver: Thanks! I consider the silhouette most of the time, but there's also the textures that aid in the effect as well. Originally, the character was going to be a ways away from the screen, where such a blocky silhouette wouldn't be noticeably different from a smooth one. However, I reconsidered and thought of some possible gameplay ideas for the sidescroller, and figured I'd add more detail. Besides, his arms and hands are probably the most important parts!

Mactetra: Hah, didn't know I had fans already, I only posted one doodle in the past But I appreciate others appreciating my work, so thanks!

As for your question, the image was rendered using Anim8or 0.97d's AmbientOcclusion feature for the ART raytracer. I'll discuss that further down in my post.

thecolclough: Glad you like it I might link up if it ever gets done


The game itself may or may not just be a fairy tale, I don't know if I want to bring it that far. What this project is is just a model pack, really. I just make the art for it under a scenario for a game in development. I think I might be able to do it all the way, but the actual game development, if any, will take place after I do all the artwork and animations for all the characters, creatures, props, and environments. But expect some interesting posts once I get to the texturing/animating

The Burlap Man
WIP Render 2 (1680 Triangles)

To-Do: Interior of Mouth, Pupils, Weapon

Alright, up there's an update, got his hands done and added more divisions to his arms, made his little skirt thing.

The left render was done using the ART raytracer. I enabled the AmbientOccluder attribute, gave it a global intensity of 0, and ambient intensity of 4, with a 144 AA sample rate. It took ages to render (approx. 2 hours on a 1.6 ghz 1.75 gb ram laptop). The effect is nice, but is it worth it?

So, later on I decided to go ahead and fake the AO to see if I get better times. I tossed in 9 infinite lights casting shadows with 29 29 29 RGB, 100 percent dark shadows, Soft with 40 radius, Monte Carlo 6-10 samples, (4 lights facing down at 45 degrees, 4 lights facing parralel to the ground at alternate angles to the 45 degree lights, and 1 facing straight down). I also added 4 more non-shadow casting infinite lights facing upwards, 20 20 20 RGB.

It doesn't look quite as good yet, but it's certainly faster at 362 seconds (approx. 6 minutes). I could tweak the scene a bit more and it'll look even more like it.

So my verdict is that it's not worth it to use the RayTracer for AO until it gets some speed optimizations! At least, it's not worth using if you're making pretty little claylike WIP renders like what I'm doing. Not to mention AO means no normals which means you can't crease edges and expect them to show up in the render. Hard/Creased edges are still common in video game art, and I'm using it to make details stand out (though the scanline render highlights some edges that aren't creased--that's the result of having a lot of monte carlo lights with large radiuses...the AO in the ART render shows it as well but is more subtle).

[3D Joe Wiltshire]

Nice setup, i'm sure it would help others to have a substitute for AO.

I don't really intend to use it, but i know that if i did decide to, i'd just end up using AO, hours of rendertime, when you've got a nice fake setup there.

[hihosilver]

6 minutes with 9 lights casting shadows?  Crazy!  haha

The improvements look very nice, you display your work very professionally which is nice.
The hands look very nicely articulated so far.  I acutally think I prefer the scanline render's look as of now.  Perhaps it's the creasing that's enabled, or you could make the ART material a bit darker, I think I just like the scanline's contrast better.

That's a smart idea to do some kind of a 'game pack'.  Even if it's not included in a game, it's good practice for industry and could help with a portfolio.

[CowTail]

hihosilver: With only a min of 6 samples and max of 10 for each light, and it's low poly, it's gonna be pretty fast

I liked how the AO has that kind of subsurface look to it (though it's not really there), and the shadows are more dispersed and even. If I cared enough to though, I'm sure I could've matched it pretty well in the scanline version though. Either way, it takes too long doing AO, so I'm going to use the scanline version from now on

3D Joe Wiltshire: Thanks, though your last sentence is confusing. Do you mean that you'd still use AO even though it takes hours to render? Admittedly, it's not hard to set it to render while you're sleeping, but if it's an animation then it could take days.

The Burlap Man
WIP Render 3 (2550 Triangles)

To-do: Interior of Mouth, Tweaking

Alright, I'm just about done. There's some areas I need to tweak still, like his toes and back, but for the most part he's finished. The interior of the mouth will be very simple since any openings in the bag will be completely black (though I might make a big sloppy tongue). He's at 2550 triangles, 50 over the goal but pretty good considering I wasn't going to give that much detail originally. Most of the tweaking will be in his posture...he seems to be leaning back a little, so I've got to straighten him out a bit and align his head with his heels, etc

My next update will be after he's uvmapped and textured, so it may take a while. Thanks for the C&C

[3D Joe Wiltshire]

The feet look like alex the lion's  (Madagascar film)

And what i meant, is that i'd have no idea how to set up a fake AO, so i'd be pretty much stuck if i decided to use it.

Awesome work... i love the character design, where do you get your inspiration?

[CowTail]

Thanks 3D Joe Wiltshire. I don't really get much inspiration, except that after a few weeks of staring at the computer screen in my free time, half-stupid and drooling, I dredge up enough motivation to start something I usually don't finish

The Burlap Man
WIP Render 4 (2690 Triangles)

To-do (modeling and texturing): Head texturing, skull necklace, bracelets, weapon

Alright, figured I'd update a little regarding the texturing. The uvmapping was easy enough, but the texturing isn't much up to my standards. However, I'm way out of practice with texturing and I was never that good to begin with, so hopefully by the time I finish this project I'll have leveled up a little

I also want to add a few more accessories like a tribal necklace and bracelet, so I'll probably have to increase my poly limit to 3000...which isn't good I've seen better models done with 2000, so apparently there's room for improvement in the modeling section as well.

Thanks for viewing!

[Mactetra]

Really nice texture! but i would suggest choosing a bit lighter color, maybe not so red. Might just be what i think.
could you perhaps make a tutorial on how you make your textures sometime?

[Dosser]

dammit: this whole model is tutorial-worthy. The texturing looks generally very good: the detail is there I think it's just that the contrast is up too high. Look at the toe knuckles or biceps for example: it is far too harsh a transition from the darkest shades in the model to the brightest highlights.

I get that he's supposed to be ugly and malformed, but the brownish-black colour makes him look more like a monkey than an ugly person.

But to be honest: if you just fiddle with the colour sliders / contrast in GIMP or Photoshop I think it will be an excellent model. It has a style of its own, is quite detailed and modelled spectacularly. BTW: how does it get to 2700 polys? The wireframe looks like far fewer than that :S

I'd recommend against more details though (necklaces and the like). Why would an incredibly ugly man wear necklaces? The strength in this is also in its simple, cartoony look: I think more details would detract from that.

[floyd86]

I like the model and texture you made. Nice and low poly,  for a game it would be perfect. I agree on dosser about the texture and details. The texture has to much contrast, now his belly looks like a giant pimple. As for the details, i think the model being simple is it's strenght. Don't ruin that by adding much stuff, if you do: keep it low. Only a bracelet or necklace not both for example.

[Guilherme Amorim]

Funny xD
CowTail
I want to be like you when I grow up!

[VBSmiles]

Nicce model and texturing cowtail.