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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 :P
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)
(http://wub-wub.com/portfolio/WIP/The_Burlap_Man/Burlap_Man/main_r1.jpg)
To-Do: Legs, Hands, Interior of Mouth, Pupils, Weapon, Clothing
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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 8)
- c
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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?
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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?
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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)
(http://wub-wub.com/portfolio/WIP/The_Burlap_Man/Burlap_Man/main_r2.jpg)
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).
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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.
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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.
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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)
(http://wub-wub.com/portfolio/WIP/The_Burlap_Man/Burlap_Man/main_r3.jpg)
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 :P
My next update will be after he's uvmapped and textured, so it may take a while. Thanks for the C&C :)
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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?
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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)
(http://wub-wub.com/portfolio/WIP/The_Burlap_Man/Burlap_Man/main_r4.jpg)
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!
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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?
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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.
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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.
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Funny xD
CowTail
I want to be like you when I grow up!
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Nicce model and texturing cowtail. :)
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How can anyone not want to play a game with the Burlap Man as a character. That is original in the sense it reminds me of being 5 or someage like that and wearing a paper bag with a creature face on it.
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Sell the pitch to Nintendo, now!
lols :P
Sounds like the kind of game they'd want to make, and very enjoyable.
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Heya, per usual I disappeared for a while so I'm picking up from where I left off. I appreciate your c&c!
Mactetra: Dunno about making tutorials, everything I do is already tutorialed up in some shape or form, not to mention texturing isn't anim8or specific so it's as simple as googling. Seems to be a lot of comments about the colors I chose, I might desaturate it later on when I get back to it.
Dosser: It's 2700 triangles. The wireframe only shows the source mesh which hasn't been converted to triangles yet. Any triangulation you see were done by hand to control some areas that might not automatically triangulate the way I want it to.
floyd86: Originally I want the guy to be tribal, so adding small tribal stuff wouldn't hurt it in the long run, especially for a sidescroller. But it's all pending the direction I want to take it now that I've gone and veered off the trail again.
Guilherme Amorim, VBSmiles, KiwiNM8OR, and 3D Joe Wiltshire, thanks!
The Burlap Man
WIP Render 5 (2752 Triangles)
(http://wub-wub.com/portfolio/WIP/The_Burlap_Man/Burlap_Man/main_r5.jpg)
To-Do: Rigging, Animation, Texturing Touch-up
Ok, as you can see I've gone ahead and ditched the original concept for the head. I've been googling burlap sacks here and there during my hiatus and found that it just wasn't feasible to use that kind of head shape, so I stuck with something less original yet proven in design.
So...now he just looks weird. To top it all off, I gave him a dressage hat (was gonna be a derby one, but it didn't look as slick :P).
Moral of the story: If you make your own concepts, draw out what he'll look like textured as well, or get a clear idea ahead of time. Otherwise you'll wing it like me and get a character that looks like he's made from parts of 3 other characters.
But anyway, what's done is done. Time to draw out some of the lil' enemies and model 'em. I intend to come back and see if I have to match my old work with my new work once most of the set is complete, so for now this guy's labeled "complete" and ready for animation (maybe I'll give him a walking cane for a weapon).
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Hmm, a mix between Jack the ripper, a scarecrow, and an orangutang
I love the mask, but the origional did look more main character-ish.
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haha, love the penguin! keep up the good work man!
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one word: Fabulous!
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Awesome game idea, can't wait to see the counterparts
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Thanks guys! I appreciate the encouragement :)
Peng-O
WIP Render 2 (720 Triangles)
(http://wub-wub.com/portfolio/WIP/The_Burlap_Man/Peng-0/pengo_r3.jpg)
To-Do: Rigging, Animation
Peng-O's done! The Gritty (seems more gritty instead of ugly :P) counterpart is complete, time for the next creature! By the way, gonna try and give every single creature a hat of some sort just for the heck of it ;)
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Haha, hats all around, brilliant texturing! I agree that it's more gritty than ugly, but I love the hairy look on the stomach, very fitting.
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3D Joe Wiltshire: Thanks! What's hard is to get the cute look down. I don't think I've got it yet so it's more like "gritty vs cartoony" :P But whatever, right? ;)
Fish-E
WIP Render 1 (750 Triangles)
(http://wub-wub.com/portfolio/WIP/The_Burlap_Man/Fish-E/fishE_r1.jpg)
To-Do: Gritty Texture, Rigging, Animation
Ok, so penguins don't live in jungles and fish don't float in the air, but this wasn't a realistic game to begin with ;) Time to work on the gritty version!
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The fish looks a toon :D
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HAHA! i really love your characters man! but the fish should definetly get a more realistic texture, it looks a bit too toon'ish.
Love the idea with the hats!
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Mactetra: Thanks! Well, that is the toon version of the fish so I guess the texture did its job ;)
Guilherme Amorim: Sho 'nuf
Fish-E
WIP Render 2 (700 Triangles)
(http://wub-wub.com/portfolio/WIP/The_Burlap_Man/Fish-E/fishE_r2.jpg)
To-Do: Rigging, Animation
Ok, I really don't like this gritty version but I had to rush and squeeze it in before work, so there you go! Gave him a party hat instead ;)
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Guilherme Amorim: Sho 'nuf
What? I can't understand some expresions yet, sry :-X
The part hat fits with him =D
I loved both!
I can't belive they are low poly :O
I gonna play this game, for sure ^^
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Wow, that gritty version is AWESOME!
Wonderful work, can't wait to see more.
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nice.Ill have fun impaling bunnies.
it is pretty high poly,but thats necassary for a main character.
Its cool texturing!but um....what the crap is up with the thong?
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fantastic!!
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jpcr: Thanks!
almost cool: It's all part of his secret art of buttock bashing, shh... ;) As for the high polygon count...it's higher than I wanted but it's not really high in general. Nowadays models can go up into the 10k for the latest generation games, and even the cheapest new computers on the shelves now can handle the level I'm going for. Not to mention that the main focus in today's graphics optimizations is textures, not triangles.
3D Joe Wiltshire: Thanks :) It's funny how personally I don't rate the gritty version as being well done but some people like it more than others. It's all in the eye of the beholder I guess ;)
Guilherme Amorim: Sorry about that, I was just agreeing with you ;) Thanks, and hopefully I can find myself a good game engine to work with so that you guys can try it out (and I get my portfolio filler :))
Hum-V
WIP Render 1 (400 Triangles)
(http://wub-wub.com/portfolio/WIP/The_Burlap_Man/Hum-V/humV_r1.jpg)
To-Do: Rigging, Animation
Hum-V is the Burlap Man's little sidekick! He'll be flying around the Burlap Man and attacking creatures as well similar to how BEAT from Megaman did, except less deadly (no one-hit kills ;)). He'll mostly be distracting a single enemy until you come around to "converting" it.
This guy's low poly and low in texture resolution (256x256) because he's going to be pretty small on the screen, so there won't be any close-ups.
Next up is animation, I'm going to take a break from modeling and search for game engines and then rig and animate based on the specs of the game engine I choose, so wish me luck ;)
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The characters are looking good, i hope your animations will be too. The modelling and texturing are really good: no unnecessary poly's and still great detail because of the great textures.
I hope you will find a good game engine because i can't wait to send hum-v out to eat a pinguin ;D
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Guilherme Amorim: Sho 'nuf
What? I can't understand some expresions yet, sry :-X
Sure enough
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panda 3d is a good game engine.dont the burlap man & hum-v need cute counterparts, for when u lose.
Secret bottock bashing,
dont need to tell me twice. :-X
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I'm in the same boat now: searching for a decent game engine. I don't really have an (implementable) fleshed out ideas yet, but when I do I want to be ready.
I'm looking into Ogre3d, Panda3d, and Crystal Space at the moment. So far concentrated on Panda. It sounds like a good engine overall, but also warns it's far better to use Python with it (whereas I'd prefer to work in C++), and it might be a pain to get Anim8or rigging information into it (sounds like the only format it recognises that Anim8or can use is 3ds, and that doesn't hold material / bone info well).
Might look into Crystal Space next. So far only read the wiki article, and it sounds pretty minimalistic: but then all I really want is animation and collision detection. Things like sound effects can easily be done by another library, input can be done with raw OpenGL / GLUT if necessary, networking is extremely optimistic (having TWO people wanting to play my games?) and probably more hassle than its worth.
Tell me if you make any more progress.
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floyd86: Thanks! I'm looking forward to getting Hum-V in the game and trying to get it to look like a real hummingbird flying (I've got ideas about the dynamics, just gotta learn the engine! ;))
almost cool: Thanks but I finally found a good engine. I did look at panda3d though. It seemed pretty good but for the moment I needed something more...innovative for artists? Dunno but I found it ;) As for the cute counterparts question...I'm surprised no one asked sooner! Yeah, I do have to make their counterparts but first I'm going to redesign the Burlap Man from the neck down so that he looks a bit...cooler ;). Fortunately the "cute" counterparts are easier to texture than the "gritty", so I can get this done anytime.
Dosser: I agree regarding getting anything from Anim8or into anything else, which is why I'm drifting farther and farther away from Anim8or. Softimage (http://softimage.com) released a free tool called the XSI Mod Tool, free for noncommercial use that I'm using right now. It's a dumbed down version of their high-end software, so I'm using it as an intro to the real deal before I go out and buy the full license. I'm just starting to learn how to model in there but I've already got the rigging and animation figured out :) If you guys ever need a good program to transition from Anim8or with, I think XSI is one of the easier ones to work with.
Ell-E
WIP Render 1 (820 Triangles)
(http://wub-wub.com/portfolio/WIP/The_Burlap_Man/Ell-E/ellE_r1.jpg)
To-Do: Gritty Texture, Rigging, Animation
So speaking of XSI, I finally was able to model everything but the hat in XSI Mod Tool. Could have done the hat as well but I added it in real quick during the uvmapping workflow (Anim8or has a role there). Unfortunately XSI is more box-modeling oriented so it's kind of hard on me (being a poly-by-poly guy), but I'm getting used to it.
The game engine I found is the Shiva Game Engine (http://www.stonetrip.com/). It's got great simplicity in all the right areas, for artists. It's not free for commercial use (no saving builds unless you buy the license), but the free learning edition is great with everything included. It supports the collada format, which XSI has no problem exporting. Too bad it looks like my request for collada/fbx support in Anim8or's going to be ignored since this and more than half of the more popular game engines I've used utilize one or the other of those formats in some way. Not to mention those formats aren't limited to just low poly works but saves just about anything :(
Enough griping and typing :) Gritty version up next!
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Ell-E
WIP Render 2 (820 Triangles)
(http://wub-wub.com/portfolio/WIP/The_Burlap_Man/Ell-E/ellE_r2.jpg)
To-Do: Rigging, Animation
Managed to squeeze this one out :)
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very nice.great models, as always. funny sounding game ;D nice elephant
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Guilherme Amorim: Sho 'nuf
What? I can't understand some expresions yet, sry :-X
Sure enough
Guilherme Amorim: Sorry about that, I was just agreeing with you ;)
Thank you both!
Ell-E
WIP Render 2 (820 Triangles)
(http://wub-wub.com/portfolio/WIP/The_Burlap_Man/Ell-E/ellE_r2.jpg)
To-Do: Rigging, Animation
Managed to squeeze this one out :)
I Loved it most xD
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Why does everything have that target?And the textures,how do you calculate where to put things in the image?
Also,you are keeping these so low poly that even my comp will run it!And the images are very professional btw.
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He probably uses a UVmapper
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where are you getting your textures from?
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Really: the textures are amazing. I think a lot of people would love to know how you go about making them. Could you perhaps do one of those fast-forward Youtube tutorials, or a step-by-step guide of some sort?
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yetipenguin: Thanks!
Guilherme Amorim: Glad you like it :)
almost cool: I like trying to keep some aspect of continuity in the creatures, though they don't all have those targets. I'm probably going to have to go back and make some small detail changes to the textures to make 'em match even more, maybe by giving all of them targets. Thanks :)
Mactetra: Yes, I use the DeepUV uvmapping software though this can be done using any of the dozens of available programs out there. UVmapper, UVMapper Classic, LithUnwrap, Ultimate Unwrap 3D, built-in uvmappers in 3d programs, etc.
RnDr FOX: I make my textures from scratch mixed in with pieces of stock photos I find on the internet. Typically google search.
Dosser: Thanks :) The texturing wasn't really done much differently than the standard game art texturing methods you can find in tutorials all over the 'net. I don't know if I'll be able to do any guides or anything because the texturing itself takes up enough time as it is. I might try sometime later I guess though.
Snay-L
WIP Render 1 (862 Triangles)
(http://wub-wub.com/portfolio/WIP/The_Burlap_Man/Snay-L/snayL_r1.jpg)
To-Do: Gritty Texture, Rigging, Animation
This snail was done with the excuse that it's a concept for the Official CG-Nation Project, except I'm having this guy be a part of the creature pack. The project I'm referring to is located here: http://cg-nation.com/community/index.php?topic=347.0 It's about a snail race gone bad :)
I went a little high on the triangles because he'll be a bit large on the screen in-game. Textures are a bit rushed yet again but I think I got the overall look down.
Thanks for the C&C!
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Snay-L
WIP Render 2 (862 Triangles)
(http://wub-wub.com/portfolio/WIP/The_Burlap_Man/Snay-L/snayL_r2.jpg)
To-Do: Rigging, Animation
Ok, gritty version up! I'm not very satisfied with this texture either...too much color and too reliant on stock images, so I think I'm going to take a break from this project and freshen up with something else for a while.
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all the colors on the new snail are vomitous....
I like it!
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You have a great talent :o They looks amazing
And I admire your texture skills. I had for my turbolasertower 5 different jpg file I put the texture on each 3d object alone. I haven't enough courage to texture it whole :-[