Screens/progress Of The Thief Model

[Fingernail]

Finish the Thief in my opinion. Then you could alter the basic human frame for the Hammerite....perhaps.

 

But it'd be nice to have one complete model to show off some nice machinima-esque screens.

[oofnish]

Yeah, thief model first.

 

Also, something is bugging me about his hip/leg area that I can't put my finger on. Seems skinny or small for some reason. Maybe missing some hip and thigh volume?

[DeepOmega]

Basically, the armor around his upper thigh/hip is thicker than the armor in his torso - as such, it's like his legs are fatter than his upper body. This is one of the things I'm trying to fix now. The curves of the armor are a bit off, as well, so I'll have to clean that up too.

[Springheel]

Looks awesome! Will you be wanting a colour version soon?

 

Also, before we do a highpoly version, do we actually need one for the game? Will we see anything other than the hands?

[DeepOmega]

Any particular opposition to me posting this as Work In Progress on CGTalk.com? I don't have too much hope for any real crits, as I have bad luck with those, but it'd be nice to get some feedback on it as I'm doing the real hard work. But if you want to keep this in-house till it's done, that's cool.

 

Edit: Whoops - re: Springheel's concern about visibility, the model will be the same for other thieves in-game (there were a few in T2), so it'll still be usable for that. Plus, a nice, superawesome thief model should generate some buzz/interest.

Edited September 22, 2004 by DeepOmega

[Springheel]

Fair enough. Hey, I don't know much about modelling, but is there any benefit for me to try and design concept sketches that allow you to reuse parts of other characters? In other words, if I were to design a city guard with shoulder armour, would it be helpful if I just used the same shape as our Thief's shoulder armour, and we made it look metal with a different texture instead? Can you swap bits and pieces like that or do you have to do the whole thing from scratch?

[DeepOmega]

Yes, I can, but the more you copy armor, the obviouser it'll be. What's better is to use the same body shape to start, so I can build armor off of that - makes it much easier.

 

For the record, I'm taking a little break today to do my comp sci project. Will work more tonight.

[Springheel]

Sounds good. I'll pay that some attention as I go. Things like the armour on the boots, or the shape of the gauntlets, etc. I'll make so that the elite versions have obvious differences from the norm, but can still be based on the same models.

[Fingernail]

Can you upload the unfinished model of this: I want to have a go detailing it in ZBrush.

[DeepOmega]

Bah, you and your ZBrush. I really want a copy of it, but I insist on keeping everything legal, and I am not particularly wealthy. It'll probably be next on my list of things to buy, when I am overloaded with expendable income. What format you want?

[Fingernail]

I think it'll take whatever. Is this MAX? In which case ASE, or LWO would be fine I guess.

[DeepOmega]

Here it is. Use it well, young one.

 

I hope you don't need it UV mapped, because you are not getting it UV mapped.

ThiefMedium.ASE

[Fingernail]

Turns out it needs to be .obj or .dxf, sadly.

[DeepOmega]

Here you go.

ThiefMedium.zip

[DeepOmega]

Damn double post.

Edited September 25, 2004 by DeepOmega

[Darkness_Falls]

I think the hood should poke out over his face a bit more, to allow a shadow to more easily cast over his forehead/face. Part of the plan was to make him mysterious by always casting some shadow over his face, in conjunction with the cloth scarf thing over his nose/mouth. Garrett lacked a lot of mystique in TDS because they kept showing his whole face in the light in cutscenes, etc. By having a hood that pokes out more, this would help create more dramatic shadow effects over his face.

 

There might be some cloak-wearing StarWars Jedi or Sith we could look at for reference.

 

This is the only example I have to somewhat show what I'm talking about, though I don't think this fully captures the ideal. I think it should jut out a bit more and fall vertically lower than what is shown here:

[Springheel]

It's hard to tell how far the hood pokes out without seeing it from a different angle. My assumption is that from the side we won't be able to see his face at all.

Edited September 26, 2004 by Springheel

[Darkness_Falls]

I think its fairly safe to say the way the hood lies flat on the forehead, the fabric wouldn't poke out very far. From the side you may not be able to see his profile, but judging from the picture, I think his nose would actually be somewhat visible... possibly more. It just doesn't look very dark or manacing to me to have the hood be like that. My main concern isn't the profile. Mysterious and dramatic shadows from the front just aren't as possible with the hood like that.

 

I've Photoshopped a quick side-by-side to kind've show what I'm talking about.

 

[Fjonan]

i remember the making of blade 2, where the custumes designer spoke about clothing and the problem of dark clothing

 

the clue is, that you have to do very much with different materials.

 

the breaking of light, the "smoothness", how contrasts you recognize, reflections, colorchanges (violet to black and the other way round)

 

in the case of the hood you should try this, maybe different colors for inside / outside, a material wich allows to see structure, maybe a artifical bright up in the face as it has been made in thief deadly shadows

[Darkness_Falls]

Me? No, I was just showing a different shape for the hood and how the shadow might fall over the thief's face. I whipped that side-by-side out in a few minutes cuz I had to jet. I wasn't trying to get a certain texture or color. I agree with everything you said, except for brightening the face like in T3. Garrett's mystique was somewhat ruined for me by his face constantly being shown in cutscenes, etc. in T3. Conversely, I don't remember any parts in T2 where Garrett's face is fully lit up and I appreciated that more. A thief who makes his living from the shadows carries with him a certain mysteriousness. Why ruin this?

 

PS: In viewing the above thief file from the side -- I've confirmed much of his face would be exposed to the light:

Edited October 7, 2004 by Darkness_Falls

[Domarius]

My suggestion is to not go into too much detail into anything in this project yet. This whole project is very fluid at the moment.

 

Its probably better to make more "draft attempts" on various things (people etc).

Edited September 30, 2004 by Domarius

[Darkness_Falls]

Fingernail, Renzatic, etc...

 

3D modellers we are not. Except Renz is having a go, bless his soul.

[DeepOmega]

 

Two exams and two projects later, finally, an update. Hood was majorly reworked, along with a little of the face. Knocked up the basics of some of his equipment - Springheel, if you could give me some nice, clean drawings of engraved patterns I could slap onto the sheath and the quiver, I'll add those too. Added metal to the knuckles (and gave them a bit more definition, too).

[Renzatic]

If I could even begin to approach your skills in Max I'd be...well...alot happier with the models I've done.

 

Once again you've done some damn fine work, Deep. I can't wait to see what you come up with next.

 

Edit: lol, right now it's starting to look like a cool pewter figure you'd see on someones desk...complete with all the neat accessories.

Edited October 1, 2004 by Renzatic

[Springheel]

Looking very cool. I don't know if it's just perspective at work, but the sword looks a little on the small side. From tip of the blade to the end of the pommel should be about the same length as one of his arms (about 2.5'). Right now it looks like he could barely fit his hand around the handle. Love the shape though.

 

Edited October 1, 2004 by Springheel