Beast of burden - character - ZrO-1

[Clockwork]

It looks cool, kinda reminds me of two things, those things from dune or the brain bug from starship troopers. Can't wait to see the mesh!

[Taoizm]

Pretty sweet steering :D

[3DZukini]

cool idea, maybe his actual antennae can be bent back through holes and the driver steers with his antennae causing more pian/anger/frustration/burden for the creature...cool idea..

[ZrO-1]

Thanks for the comments guys. I refined the sketch and made some decisions as to how the BoB will look. Here is the final sketch. I'll start modeling based on this new skecth.

[hypercube]

Cool beans. I like the 'covered wagon' riff now too. And while I dug it with tons o' legs, the slimy rear dragging, uh, thing ought to be cool and disgusting..don't get rear guard duty on that wagon train :D

[ZrO-1]

hehehe yeah 'cube I saw your entry after I had posted my first pic and I saw that we both had made the same ammount of legs in our designs. hehehe great minds definetly think alike :D

[ZrO-1]

OK gang, here's the first test render. As you can see I added back in some of the legs I had in the original sketch. I also tweaked the forelegs to be more like grasping legs than spikes like the rest.

[ZrO-1]

Here's a screen-capture of the viewports:

[ZrO-1]

Here is a more front view:

[ZrO-1]

And here is a more side view:

[eirenicon]

Wow, this is looking great. But I have to ask is the person driving really really small, or is the bob really big?

[ZrO-1]

@ TimD: The BoB is really big. The person is normal sized.

Here's an update of the head region:

[dmonk]

love it!

Looks like the roaches in Jersey.:eek:

[ZrO-1]

hehehe thanks dmonk!

Man I can't beleive all of the entries for this challenge. I can barely keep up with all the updates. And I'm scared I'll have 4 pages of new posts to read if I don't keep up....:surprised

[fellah]

nice one ZrO-1, it looks kinda creepy already. the front legs is the best part imo, the little pikes on them really adds alot. the head is starting to take a nice form to,
looking forward to see a more detailed model soon, keep it up :thumbsup:

[digones]

Hey ZrO-1, I like your idea!! :)

The model is getting great!

see ya,

rodrigo.ribeiro

[Bezerker75]

that's coming along great! love the idea of the covered wagon type thing that he's carrying....reminds me alittle of "wild wild west"...go with it...:thumbsup:

[derwolpertinger]

:eek: :eek: looks pretty cool man!!!! nothing to criticize yet! :)

[ZrO-1]

@ Bezerker75: THX, yeah I was going for the wild west type idea. It's hard to see in the crappy sketch, but the guy in the wagon is a cowboy.

Thanks for all the praise guys! :love: Here's a new update.

[otacon]

Reminds me of Starship Troopers.......His legs are spiked, do they dig into the ground for extra traction?

[ZrO-1]

Yeah the spiky short legs are for digging in and getting traction in the desert sand. The front legs are for dexterity and rocky soil grip. BTW otacon Cowboy Bebop is one of the best anime series I have ever seen. I have all the music from it. Very cool avatar image.

[otacon]

Thanks:) Its very good anime, the best ive seen.

[ravdog]

Lookin good man! I'm liking the spikes on the legs and shell.. very nice touch.

bit o constructive critisizm :) - I'm thinkin the top of the shell in the front look a little flat and sharp. I dont know what your plans are for it but a little rim around it would punch it out a bit and look nice... i dunno.

lata!

[hypercube]

Cool! Coming along very well..I really like the head and forelegs. Creeepy. Not sure I'm crazy about the spikes on top though..seem too regular, like golf shoes or velcro..need more freaky/random to it. And agree on the shell thickness comment as well..looks like you just haven't gotten to modeling there yet..

Other than that, rock on. :buttrock:


P.S. I know what you mean about the threads..went out for like 5 hours this afternoon, get back and there were 3 pages of new posts! Only way I'm gonna get anything done on mine is to stop reading :argh: :)

P.P.S. Cowboy Bebop is SUPREME..one of the best TV series ever made, animated or otherwise.

Anyway, back at it.. See you space cowboy..

[ZrO-1]

OK gang, got a new update for ya. I thickened the shell where the opening for the head is. I also added the one single bump-map I will use for this challenge. The bumps on the shell are with a map, but that's all I'm using. The rest will be modeled.
Here's the new pic:

[ZrO-1]

Hmmmm...I guess no one likes the bumps on it's back. I guess I'll try working on them some more. Also I'll try and randomize the spikes on its back to look more organic.

[Koma]

cool little bob ,i love the bump ,i think they fit correctly:bounce: :bounce:

[pearson]

This one's coming along great! Wow, I really like the detail with the spikes on the front legs and the head.:thumbsup:

I don't really like the bumps, mostly because they're too uniform. There should be some big ones, some small, all scattered around. Maybe you should model the bigger ones and use the bump for the smaller ones.:shrug:

[hypercube]

Hmm..I think the overall bump seems -possible-, but not sure if it fits..sort of makes it seem fuzzy somehow..perhaps as said, too uniform.

btw, have you ever visited this site? Some inspirational/nightmarish images, and very large..

http://remf.dartmouth.edu/imagesindex.html

these in particular..

http://remf.dartmouth.edu/images/insectPart1SEM/
http://remf.dartmouth.edu/images/insectPart2SEM/

Not that you don't have the insect anatomy well in hand, it's looking great, but there's some really interesting and odd surfaces and shapes in there :)

[OZ]

:eek: A.......A:........Glab......AMAZING!!!!! NOOOOOOOOO:... It cant be....too well done! HAAAAA...i love it ! U ARE MY NOMBER ONE!!!!!!:eek:

[XVIVO]

I must be afraid of bugs, because this one gives me the willies!

no comments yet

keep it up

Mike

:beer:

[ZrO-1]

@ 'cube: Thanks man. Great pics on those links....gross, but great. I'm not happy with the bump right now, but just wait till mu next pic. I know excactly what to do with it. :twisted:

@ pearson: I agree. The bumps will be fixed in the next pic.

@ OZ: LOL thanks man. Your praises mean a lot.

@ XVIVO: hehehe bugs creep me out too.

[pit]

AAAAAAARRRRGHHH!!!!!
I just wet my pants!!!!! Creepy and brilliant - love it!!

[ZrO-1]

hehehe thanks Pit.

Here's that update I promised you guys. I tweaked the fore-leg segments a bit. I fixed the bump on the shell and carried it onto the head to make it "fit" more into the whole body. I also lied about that being the only bump-map. I forgot about the eyes when I said that. I had to add a second bump-map for the eyes. But that really will be the only ones. I swear ;) Last thing I did was modify the spikes. i really like the way they are now. Much more organic and natural now IMHO. Let me know what you think of the bug. Pro'lly my next step will be to get started on the carriage parts.

Here's the pic:

[Iguiniz.X.]

Great going and a good use of bump map especailly the eye is looking great aswell as the rest actually.
I see that I also join the insect moddeling with you this challenge.
Well my only com is that you can get the rear legs that come out of the schield can be made better but I bet yo already were working on that.

:thumbsup: keep it up

[Pancreas]

Wow, amazing insect! The bump on the eyes look great!. I like all the spikes over the legs and back, it makes it more agressive.
BTW, i think to give an emotion to an insect head is the biggest challenge. :beer:

[ZrO-1]

New update: I tweaked the main legs a bit so they look more segmented. I also discovered why hair/fur plugins are so popular...'cause modeling hairs by hand is a royal pain in the balls.
Here's the pic:

[dmonk]

I friggin love it ova heere!!!!!!!!!!

What software is this because you work with it wonderfully.:D

[otacon]

Nice. I like the hairs on the shell. Maybe you sould try adding some more detail like that to the legs.;)

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Wow that is looking good, I really like the details. Keep on going and I will follow your progress

[ZrO-1]

@ dmonk: abso-friggin-lutely thanks bud ;) I'm using Maya, and it's all made of non-uniform rational b-splines (or NURBS :p )

@ otacon: yeah, I'll get around to adding some small hairs on the legs and neck areas soon.

@ Mr. NG: thanks bro. I'll keep on truckin...

[ZrO-1]

Here's a slightly more front view... no new modeling since last pic:

[Steve Warner]

Oh man, this gives me the heebie-geebies! I think I saw something like it crawl up from the drain a few weeks back. :surprised

Great work! Can't wait to see more! :)

Steve

[iC4]

damn that must be a nice sound if you step on it :)

nice model you have there :applause:

[lildragon]

wow incredible... excellent bump maps, I really dig this.. this will make one incredible final piece. Keep going :)


a su salud

[OZ]

BETTER AGAIN!!!!! :eek: JAWDROP....................................................u are amazing man..............no words.........amazed.........

[ZrO-1]

:blush: Awww shucks, thanks guys.

I started messing around with the 'covered wagon' part that is attached to the BoB. I still have a lot to do to it, but it's a start.
Here's the pic:

[ZrO-1]

And here is a closer shot of the wagon part:

[Bezerker75]

wow...love the addition of the hairs...you modeled those separately...you are a mad man...lol...this BoB is coming along beautifully..(well maybe that's not the word for a buglike creature) but you know what I mean...oh and by the way slow down you are makin the rest of us look like slowpokes...lol:D

[ZrO-1]

OK gang. Here's the latest from the front lines:
I added more hairs between the plates of the BoB's shell. I tweaked some of the boards on the 'covered wagon' thing attached to it's back. And lastly, I added the metal guides for the harness.
Here's the pic:

[stereo]

YOUR CREATION ROCKS !

:love:

i m stuck here pressing refresh

[OZ]

BETTER AND BETTER.............what can i say?????:eek: :eek: :eek:

[pit]

WOW!!!!!!!
:buttrock:
Them bumps are great - the model rocks and the concept is sooooo cool!!!
Keep it going - yeah!!

[Clockwork]

Looking good, Might be a nightmare to rig tho! All of them legs and stuff...! Can't wait to see it finished

[ZrO-1]

@ clockwork: Nah, Rigging's a piece of cake in Maya. The head and legs will be real easy to do. Getting the plates of it's shell to flex right will be more difficult. But the hardest part will pro'lly be getting the 'covered wagon' bit to move well with the BoB's body movements.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

yeah, you're house on your bug looks great. The wooden boards aren't looking the same way.

When I look at this challenge, your modeling way looks much better then the Chrysler Building. And that was already a good job.

I will follow your progress:thumbsup:

[ZrO-1]

Yeah thanks Mr. NG. For the enchanted forrest I wanted to challenge myself with texturing. I'm still pretty weak in that department, but that last challenge helped me a lot. The modeling and rigging come easier to me...pro'lly because of my techincal rather than artistic background.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Wow, you're fast. And now you wanna take your modeling skills to the limet

[RoRo]

:eek: :eek: very very good !!!!

ca donne vraiment bien pi l'idée est super cool
:buttrock: :buttrock:

[Faeroon]

Ufff...ufff... ehm...:eek: ... dont know what to.... :surprised
..wow.... bumps... lots of... decent... WOW :buttrock:

[wedge]

wow. okay, i already lost :drool:

[ZrO-1]

Update update, read all about it :)

OK guys, I tweaked the eyes, and started messing around with some color. I also decided to make the metal hardware more like wrought iron to better fit with the "wild west" theme I have going.

Here's the first pic:

[ZrO-1]

Here's the second pic. This is a close-up of the mounting hardware for the 'covered wagon'.
Here ya go:

[zenzmurfy]

:applause: Awesome looking insect beast!

Does having the covered wagon platform attached to different moving plates on the segmented back pose any problems when the character is moving?

[ZrO-1]

@ zenzmurfy: I don't think it'll be a problem since the wagon is attached to the rear-most two plates. They naturally tend to move as one. Which is why the cowboy put them where they are ;)

I'm working on tweaking the colors a bit more and I added in a seat to the wagon. I'm just waiting on the rendes and then I'll post the new pics.

[ZrO-1]

OK here's the version with the less saturated colors:

[ZrO-1]

And here's the shot of the wagon and it's bench seat:

[MDB101]

ZrO-1! Thats cool man :) are yeah gunna make some type of hooks for its feet? hehe keep it up bro! good works!

[ZrO-1]

*in astronaut voice* Houston, this is wild-west-one, we have control of the beast...*end astronaut voice*

hehehe :D

OK, I've got two more pics for youz guyz
Here's da first one:

[ZrO-1]

And here is the close-up of the ropes tied around the antennas
piccy piccy:

now I'm going to bed 'cause its 3am and I'm exausted.

[kzo]

hey man this is awsome, i like all the spikes and stuff. they really fit in well.. woa, nice updates. the rivits and the rope is slick.
and what you said about mine. that was funny. :D

[JJ3d]

WOW ! Very good design and functionality! :bounce:
you go very well!

:buttrock:

Take to look at Starship Troppers Bugs! they have very good textures.

I'll would like to see more details in the wood!

Go ahead!! :thumbsup:

[stereo]

HUHUHUHUHUU !!!!!!!!!!


THAT

WILL

R O C K S !!!!!!


:buttrock:

[Synergy]

WOW!!!

That's is really excellent. I totally dig the design and the execution rocks!!

Don't have anything to crit.

Well done and keep going!!!!

[AroundTheFur]

Great modeling zr0, ive been playing too many video games i gotta get going on mine.

[ZrO-1]

Well, I've spent most of today working on refining the materials and bump-maps on my BoB and carriage. Here's some of the stuff I did. I added "micro-bumps" to the shell plates, I added a wood-grain bump to the wood, a sand texture to the ground, and I tewaked the translucency/transparency on the eyes.
You really need to view the full res version of the pic to see the little details 'caus a lot of them get lost in the resize+compression. Anyway, here's the link to the full-res texture detail shot: http://www.mjg1.net/textures2.jpg
And here's the pic:

[ZrO-1]

One of the other things I did today is mess with the materials some more. I tried to make the shell of the BoB look like it was made of stiff, oiled leather. Once again the full-res will show more detail here's the link to that: http://www.mjg1.net/beast7.jpg

And here's the pic:

[dmonk]

jumping geehozifits batman!!!!

That's really good!

are all the rivets individual pieces or are they textured on?

:buttrock:

[OZ]

I cAn Only SaY....:bowdown: RESPECT:bowdown:

[ZrO-1]

@ dmonk: yeah all those rivits are individual geometry :surprised

@ OZ: respect back :bowdown: thanks oz

[pit]

betterbetterbetter!!!
one point:
i think u need some more contrast in the colorscheme - it´s to uniform. Hope that was understandable! (A bright red blanket on the wagon bench or something. Just to break up these earthy colors.)
:beer:

[derwolpertinger]

awesome work bro!!:buttrock: :buttrock:
i just like everything!:thumbsup:

[cyroz2000]

I agree with Oz: :bowdown: :bowdown:

[eirenicon]

"I'm speechless... I have no speech."

:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

[ZrO-1]

:blush: thanks you guys. I still have a ton more work to do on it though. I guess it's a good start for 4 days worth of work. :shrug:

[otacon]

Great start for four days! And I like the earthy colors, it gives a good feel to it.:thumbsup:

[3DZukini]

Wow Zro, that's really comin along great!! I need to get my sorry, lazy butt movin if that's what people are doin with 4 days! great stuff...:beer:

[ZrO-1]

Well, 3 jazz CDs, 2 pints of coffee, and 1 pack of cigarettes later, and I have two new pics for you guys. I think they are self explanatory so I'll just post them.
Pic 1:

[ZrO-1]

And here's the reason I spent all that time...
Pic 2:

[ZrO-1]

Grrrrr.....
Pic 2:

[hypercube]

Looking great, I dig the wrinkled cover..only thing I'd say right now is that the loops around the frame need to be tight, doesn't seem like they're under tension, and the wrinkles should be unique on each strip. But I like where you're going detail wise, should be rulin at the finish.

P.S. The 'ground' is looking disturbingly like human skin :scream: Maybe it's just because it's late, but that led to me thinking of some kind of miniature wagon train across a body..and then to the WB flea char ("Food around the corner, food around the corner")..but anyway I should be away on my BoB, or asleep, or in my padded room..

keep them freaky dogies rollin'.. :D

[ZrO-1]

You know what 'cube, that does look like human skin. I'll have to change that pronto. I was just trying to give the impression of sand, but now that skin is in my head that's all I see. :surprised

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Wow, everytime I see you work it will come better. I like the details.

:bowdown:go one with more details:bowdown:

[gwelty]

this thing is rockin'......the front shot really got me..

can't wait to see more

[OrestesMantra]

:eek:


:bowdown:

[toxichimp]

Ok ok, now this isn't too original but;

:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

hehe, really.. I think this model definitly has a good chance of ending at the 1st place.

[ZrO-1]

Thanks for all the praise guys. I really appreciate it. :love:

Here's todays update:
I did some more work to the cover of the carriage. I thickened the top part of the supports for the canvas where they cross eachother. I also replaces the iron rings with rope for lashing the canvas panels to the supports. I also made the panels more unique from one another with the wrinkles and folds.
Here's the pic:
BTW the bumps in the canvas are going to be opened up to be holes or tears.

[ZrO-1]

And here's just another angle on the whole piece to get a sense of scale. This is from the ground level, maybe chest high from the ground.
P.S. as you can see in these last 2 pics. I got rid of the "skin" colored ground ;)

[ZrO-1]

It sure would be nice to get some input from any of the mods ;)

[Icecube]

I just came to say amazing!!!!!!!!:bowdown:
and to say thanks for your posts!

[dmonk]

:buttrock:

geez!!!!!!!!!!

[toxichimp]

Agree with all of the above (oops, everything on the previeus page :p) Looking great dude :thumbsup:

Only thing I thought looks a bit off is the fabric on the third pic :/ (the close up of the seat) Just a bit too distorted and a little fake. Perhaps you could stretch the lines horizontal a bit more, to get those pointy wringles out. But not really important, you can easily get away with it :)

[huh?]

great, uh big, cockroach man!
and thank's for your post.:applause:

[Chico]

hey nice work Zero,

You should look into Masumne Shirow (..?? can never spell it, Auther of Ghost in the shell and AppleSeed)
Hes designed all his mecha around incests bodys. Amazing stuff.

keep it up Aero

[ZrO-1]

@ Chico: Masamune Shiro. Yeah when it comes to mecha he is my god. I love his stuff. (also love his pioneering the use of CG in anime).

[ZrO-1]

OK two new updates. First, I fixed the canvas; what I did was I readjusted the CVs and played a bit with the bumpmap. I also added in holes and tears in spots. And yes it's done in geometry. It's not a transparency map or anything like that.

Second I began work on the slime trail behind the BoB for the sled to slide on.

Here's the updated carriage:

[ZrO-1]

And here is the pic of the slime trail. I still have some work to do in it...but its a start:

[derwolpertinger]

couldn't imagine that you can improve things from the last pic you showed to us-but then...WHAM!!! there's the next amazing even better image!!:buttrock:
only crit i have is for the slime trail-but i can't tell you how sure i am that you will make it about ten times better!!;)
so go on man!:bounce: :bounce:
btw. you'll have my vote already.... :)

[Synergy]

The new canvas looks great, I really like it.

For the slime trail, a more see-through trail like that of a snail (not ment to rhime, sorry) would look more real. Anyway, just a thought.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

where is your limit. I wonder how the next images will look like. Those last 2 looks very good. I like the holes in the canvas.

The slime looks good too, but maybe you can give it a dirty yellow look.

[ZrO-1]

I have no limit :twisted: hehehehehehe

I have a fix for the slime and the eyes coming up soon. So don't wander off too far ;)

[toxichimp]

Can't wait to see it :D

Slime looks perfect to me really :)

[BrainFaucet]

Looks great!:buttrock:

[iC4]

great work, love the details.
the holes in the canvas are amazing!!! :thumbsup:

[Ragnakim]

WOW!!!!!!!!! THIS IS GREAT WORK MAN!!!!!!!!!! GREAT FREEKIN WORK!!!! THUMBS UP!!!!!!!!!:eek: :eek: :eek: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[ZrO-1]

OK as I said here's the update for the slime trail. I'll model the rest of it once I've gotten a start on the sled which glides on the slime. Anyway here's the pic:

[ZrO-1]

And here's what I've done with the eyes. I was trying to capture the feel of preying mantis eyes. Oh and technically this still isn't 'textured' I do have the bump mpa on there, but the color is created with a samplerInfo and blendColors utilities. It's not like I have the color node maped to actual textures or anything ;)

Anyway, here's the pic (if the mods feel this is too close to textured I'll be happy to change it):

[derwolpertinger]

looks much better now! although it seems a bit like some garment to me-silk maybe. perhaps increasing the specular will do the trick.:shrug:

[ZrO-1]

Yeah the lighting sucks right now I need to do a lot to that. The eyes are actually quite specular but the lighting setup right now (GI_Joe) doesn't show it.

[derwolpertinger]

just decrease the gi a bit-cause it kills all contrast :D
and another question-how long did the last pic of yours took to render? and with which hardware of course. only wanna compare rendertimes. :)

[ZrO-1]

The 'eyes' render took about 10 mins @ 1280 x 720 (HD 720) and raytracing turned on.

I've got dual 1.2 GHz athlons, 1 GB DDR-SDRAM, 2 32GB U130 SCSI hardrives setup on an Adaptec SCSI RAID controller (dual channel, 64b/66MHz PCI in RAID 0), and a GeForce 3 Ti 500 graphics card.

[derwolpertinger]

thx for the info-damn i gotta get some money to buy myself a new comp. it's damn too slow-at the moment i'm afraid that i won't be able to handle my final BoB scene. ;((
i got a g4 400 with 448 ram and an ati 128 rage. could you tell me which is the fastet system available right now? or may be you know a info homepage with speed tests and comparisons etc. that would be cool!:cool:

[ZrO-1]

The technical/hardware forums (http://www.cgtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=23) right here at CGtalk actually have a boat load of info. The nice thing about the stuff in the t/h forums here is that it all has a focus on 3D work.

[derwolpertinger]

thx, then i'll have a look at that! :eek:

[SEL]

HEy, im loving your creature, especially the detail your going with making the sludge i th back and eyes, etc. Kepp the modeling and texturing coming bud, No crits really, just wondering whso going to be comtrolling this massive beast of an insect. Ha, more work! :) anyhow, tnx for the posts man. Kepp the work coming.

TheSEL

[Slot]

It is really outstanding.
You could just make the eyes a little more specular and a little reflexive.
Great concept and modeling. I like it a lot.

Give me some advice at my thread if you can.
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=13648
Thanks

[ZrO-1]

Whew...well gang I spent all day making new lighting. Here's the really cool part. The next series of 4 images were all rendered with no raytracing, no radiosity, no caustics, no GI, no nothing. It's simply three directional lights and D-map shadows. I really like the way it turned out. Plus the whole scene renders at 1280x720 in under 2 mins!!! LOL so, I guess you'd like to see the pics now huh? Well OK then

Pic 1 of 4:

[ZrO-1]

Pic 2 of 4:

[ZrO-1]

Pic 3 of 4:

[ZrO-1]

And Pic 4 of 4:

[TylerHunter]

Really nice work.. the goop and the cloth texturing are just great. Maybe you could go in and work the forms of the insect so it really seems to have that overly detailed chitinous look. just a suggestion. My only real critique is work on the lighting,

Tyler

[hypercube]

Looking awesome, man..cool beans. Keep going.

And yes, not to be a poopoohead, but I think you should keep an eye on the modeling and don't get carried away with the texturing, since it in theory 'won't be judged', (although I still think textured entries will be carried more favorably than non.)

From the back slime pic view can see the edges of the plates are looking a bit sharp edged, and the rest of the legs could use more detailing like the front..

Anyway, I know you'll continue making it badass, and at this rate you have all the time in the world, so, rock on. :buttrock:

[Danko]

Nice details over there! :)
Great model, materials and lighting. Excellent overall in my opinion. Btw, love that mantis eye look. :thumbsup:

[Okke]

Damn that looks cool.......!!!
I realy like the cloth texturing!!!! I agree with Hypercube, the edges of the plates on his back look a bit thin to me...

Anyway it looks very cool and I hope to se more of it soon..:buttrock:

[ZrO-1]

OK guys after a full day and a full night of work here's what I did:

I majorly tweaked the plates on the BoB's back. I focused on the edges, and where the plates meet the legs.

I added a more defined 'belly' to help visually tie together the neck and the butt (imagine that, the neck and butt are connected :p).

I re-modeled the primary legs from scratch to give a more segmented look to them. Also some cleaner lines and spikes.

I tweaked the carrige mounts and reign-guides to fit to the new shell. Also re-modeled the reigns over from scratch as well.

And I re-modeled ALL the mother-friggin, piece-O-shoot, hairs from scratch. :surprised

I'll have pics up soon. I'm just waiting on a couple renders.

[ZrO-1]

OK, so here are the pics. For now there's 3 of them.

[ZrO-1]

next one...

[ZrO-1]

And here's the close-up of the back edges of the plates and hairs...

[burnout]

eeek, this is increadible! @_@
very awesome man.

[Clockwork]

Dude that's fantastic, those new legs are killer, and the shell joints, where the carriage mounts are - Awsome!

[espaki]

all amazing!! no crits for now. I am curious, but almost afraid to ask: how many polygons is this?

-Nate

[hypercube]

Aw yeah, dat's the stuff right there, boyeeeeee. Word. (hmm there's no white rapper smiley, oh well) :thumbsup:

Dig the changes and freakier hairs..keep rollin'. More stuff, more stuff :)

[Faeroon]

[No text]
:xtreme: :xtreme:

PS. ok, a bit of text: AWESOME Zr0 - ABSO-F***-LUTELY AWESOME!
Wish I had your modelling skills!
TEACH ME MASTER!! TEEEEEEEEEACH MEEE! I'M UNWORTHY! :bowdown:

[ZrO-1]

Thanks very much for the crits and praise. It makes the all-nighter I pulled worth it.

@ 'cube: I'm glad you like the changes. I did them just for you ;) :p

@ espaki: there are 0 polys it's all NURBS. LOL just kidding around. To be honest I'm afraid to check how big this model is. Lets just say that right now there are 105 individual rivits (which are nurbs spheres). Going from there you can guess at how many hairs there are (the wireframe view with the hairs visable looks like a solid mass). :surprised

@ faeroon: thank you thank you. You do have the modeling skills. I'm doing this the easy way by starting with nurbs primitives and modifying them to work in a piecemeal format. You are building your pollys from scratch to make a solid object. That's a lot harder than what I'm doing. If you (or anyone else here) would like to ask me how I did something in particular I'd be more than happy to show you how.

[Kira]

hehz awesome. :)
bugs... love the idea.

greetz
respect
Kira

[BrainFaucet]

Is that fur modeled?!:surprised:

You sir, are a better man than I.

[erilaz]

Rivets are always a pain. Next you'll be hand modelling the wood grain! Yikes. Really good stuff.:eek:

(Hypercube, your rapper imitation scares me! :) )

[ZrO-1]

Hey gang, I got started on modeling the sled which is pulled behind the bug on the slime trail.
Here's the pic:

[wedge]

ZrO-1, you're not from the Long Island area, are you?

[Mr. Nice Guy]

he it looks cool. But the slime trial of your sled is very straight and make it thinner.
Spread the slime a little more

And I still wonder what will come next.:applause:

Can you also show us a wireframe shot

[ZrO-1]

@ wgeddes: yeah man I am from Long Island! Glen Cove to be exact. I only just noticed with your post that you are too. That friggin rocks man. LOL What town are you from?
Long Island in the house
Long Island in the house
:buttrock: :buttrock:

@ Mr. NG: yeah I still need to do a lot of work on the slime. I'll get some wireframes up tomorrow.

[Equinoxx]

oh man that's sweet . . . very good man . . .

the model itself and the cart on his back are ACE i tell ya :thumbsup:

[ZrO-1]

:bounce: thanks a lot 'noxx! :D

[KnightWhitie]

Very nice model, great concept:beer:

[ZrO-1]

Here's that wireframe Mr. niceGuy. I left the hairs hidden because it all wouldhave come out looking worse than the carriage part does in this pic.

[ZrO-1]

OK gang, I did some more work on the sled and the slime trail. I have two pics to sohow you of it. These two renders are pro'lly my favorites so far.
Here's pic 1

[ZrO-1]

And here's pic two. You can see the new hairs really well in this render also. I still need to make the chain or rope connecting the sled and carriage.

[wedge]

Holy crap, dude, I'm from Locust Valley! I used to work at Farmers' Bazaar, before it got sold!

[ZrO-1]

Dam bro that's close. Here I'll yell out my window and you tell me if you can hear me :D. I checked out your website, that's a pretty dam fine Star Wars animation you did. It had really great camera control.

[stereo]

very original !
it is growing better and better:love:

[Gamoron]

Zro-1 this is such great stuff. :eek: I'm sorry I didn't check it sooner. I like the "wagon" on top of the insect the most. Personally. But it all looks great. What the hell are you gonna do with the time you got left? :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Bezerker75]

that is too cool...man this piece is great...the only suggestion I have is that I would bake the supports for the covered wagon a little thicker...they look a bit like 2 by 4's right now....and 4 two by 4's ain't holdn much weight...other than that keep going man...:thumbsup:

[Meka]

This is freaking me out:eek: I'm stunned:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
just a little crit on the slime : i think it's shadow is way to strong, try dimming it down quite a bit.

awsome work, wish i could do just 10% of that :applause:

[three]

one word:
Shiznitz.

:xtreme:

[Twisted-Imperial]

hey zero first time i checked out ur string, yo man lookin good keep up the good work, i have a crit tho for ur peice so far;
the boards dont really look like there attached, u might wanna add more smaller detail like noticable nails and such, or just a bit more construction, thats about all i got to offer

:bounce:

peace

[ZrO-1]

Thanks for the praise and the crits. i'll see what I can do about addressing them. As far as the shadows (particularly with the slime), I'm doing a render now with ray-tracing turned on, but it's going to take a LONG time with all the hairs to draw shadows for. I'll post it either way once it's completed.

I still have lots to do. I need to fill the carriage and sled with coboy/wild-west stuff. And of course I have to model the cowboy. I'll try and make a sketch to show you my plans for him ASAP.

Thanks again guys. :beer:

[elekt]

WHERES THE DRIVER? that is such a good model but wheres his jockey?

[chadlychoo]

ZrO-1 these challanges are doing you good you just keep getting better! Your model is turning out great, I cant wait to see his driver!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[ZrO-1]

OK I've got a question for any body out there that can help me. It has to do with lighting (one my obvious weak points).

I want to get the shadow less intense for the slime. So I know that if I want transparent shadows I need to turn on ray-tracing. The only problem is that because of the complexity of my hairs (which are just a ton of nurbs cones) the ray-tracing takes all friggin day. I have all my shaders looking pretty good with d-map shadows instead (which don't get bogged down with all the hairs) but then the slime's shadow looks like crapola. So here's my question: can I lighten/soften the shadow for the slime and leave everything else? Or can I set up the hairs to be more ray-trace friendly? Any suggestions would be really helpfull. Thanks.
the scene renders fine with ray-tracing on as long as I hide the hairs. That's why I know it's the hairs bogging down the ray-traced render

[rizob]

whats up zero if your using max you can make the hairs raytrace materials, but then just turn of raytracing on that material, i had to do this once with particle systems.

[Fedron]

I've been following all your work from the beggining and it really keep improving to higher level each time :bounce: !!!
Your sketches where quite,....simple.. But your modeling technique are stuning.!!!
The sleam slidding system is really ingenious!!!!
Can't wait ot see more :).

One only suggestion is the size of the wagon, it could be bigger, i mean the beast is maybe 3 time the size of it! This powerfull insect could easelly pull a much bigger wagon, AND DON'T FORGETT the sleam trail system! So the contraption could be even more huge!!!

[wedge]

zro: we should do something. my brother works at Loews, so we could probably go see a movie for free :beer:

[dmcgrath]

Ok ZrO!!! I might be able to help.
The first thing you might want to try is just rendering the hair cones seperately and then compositing them.

(1)Change the color of the Dmap shadows to fake what you want

(2)Play around with Paint effects, do a couple of quick tutorials to get yourself aquainted with its quirks and paint some hair under those plates

or

(3) Get rid of all that superfluious geometry. Put in some time making a nurbs or poly plane and pasting a texture to it. It technically isn't cheating in the challenge. You still have to make it render properly. Texture maps cast pretty good shadows as well.

If I were you, I would cut the geometry down as much as you can for raytracing. If you dont have a spare computer for rendering, that may be your only option.

[ZrO-1]

@ dmcgrath: I apreciate the suggestions, but I think the only one that would work is compositing the hairs in in post. Lil'd or 'noxx had said in someone else's thread that tranparency/clipping maps are considered textures so they don't count. Paint FX and maya Fur are both also 2D post effects. So they don't count either.

The plane gave me an idea though. Maybe I'll make one plane and model the side of it in lots of long spikes to use as hairs. That way it'll still be geometry but one simple object instead of almost 1000 (no joking there's really almost 1000) cones.

[erilaz]

Geez Zr0-1, when do you SLEEEEEP? :surprised

Maybe you could take out all the hairs, then tell everyone that the hairs are now so fine you can't see them. Then you could do a really close up shot, put back in one hair, render that and show everyone just how fine your hairs are! It's called movie magic! :D

Whee! :bounce:



ps. Sorry,that probably isn't a practical solution!

[ZrO-1]

LMAO!! erilaz I might just have to do that. :D hehehe

[ZrO-1]

Hey gang, I finally have some more updates for you guys. I've got raytracing on now. But not for eye-candy. It's on for the slime, and for nicer shadows than I was getting with d-mapped shadows. Anyway there's four pics so here they come.
This first pic is a shot of just the nurbs cones I had made for the hair. They are now extinct in my latest version, and I'm working on a more geomerty friendly version:

[ZrO-1]

This second pic is a detail shot of the slime. I need to make it a bit less radio-active but generally this is how I wanted it to look:

[ZrO-1]

This is a wide-angle shot showing you the entire compasition and how it looks with the raytraced shadows:

[ZrO-1]

And lastly, here is the scan of the sketch I did for the cowboy rider and a couple other things:

[derwolpertinger]

the slime is really lookin' cool now zro! :thumbsup: but one question: does your insect have a colour texture? i think so-and is this allowed? or better will it be judged?

[ZrO-1]

No there are no color textures anywhere on this. The closest I come is with the eyes, which use a samplerInfo and Blend utility nodes to create the color and bump transition on the eyes. That's it though, everything else is a solid color with bump.

[pit]

the hair is beyond belief:eek: :eek: looks ver....... hell, you know i love it:love:
For later i can imagine a nice nightscene with a fire - cowboyromantic - with this eeeekycreapy beast resting peaceful in the background -> come to marlboro country!

[Mr. Nice Guy]

The slime looks good with the raytrace shadows. And i think it doesn't look like radioactive.

And i like the concept of your bounty-hunter

[dmcgrath]

This first pic is a shot of just the nurbs cones I had made for the hair. They are now extinct in my latest version, and I'm working on a more geomerty friendly version:

I hope you find something that will work better for you.
How many cones were there anyway? 1000?:eek:

[toxichimp]

Looking great :D Don't know if you had this planned already but as a detail you could make the ground under and behind the slime darker, maybe even with more specularity to give it a feel of being wet.

How did you place all that hair btw? With a clone tool or something? If you wanna spoil the secret ofcourse hehe.

[ZrO-1]

I gled you guys like it. It took for ever to get the lighting to where it is now. I still need to tweak the faked bounced light under the BoB...but its getting there.

As far as making the ground wet behind the slime trail, I'd like to but that would mean using textures and I don't want to do that. ;)

@ toxichimp: All of those cones are done manually by hand. I made five, grouped them, duplicated and positned the new ones, grouped all those, duplicated and positioned... until I had on segment finished down one side of the shell. I then mirrored that for the other half and grouped the two halfes. Then I duplicate the entire segment for each of the seams in the plates and adjusted them as was needed....and I think there were more than 1000 individual nurbs cones all together by the time I was done. Needless to say it was really bogging down my system. It was taking just over a minuet just to save and open the scene file :p. But they're gone now :wavey:

[ZrO-1]

I've got a new update for you guys. I got the cow skull from the sketch all modeled. Next, I'll add the "Bounty Hunter" text.
Here's the pic:

[ZrO-1]

OK I got the brass part of the sign done as well.
Here's the pic:

[Twisted-Imperial]

wow zero im impressed!
and it takes alot to impress me :D

anyways lookin good man i never seen a front shot of the insect till now as well, and i was wondering what u were gonna do for the head, i like that grashopper look u gave it, instead of a beatle head.

anyways keep up the good work, oh yea and nice sketch.

cheers :beer:

-Twisted

[Ragnakim]

Originally posted by Twisted Imperia
wow zero im impressed!
and it takes alot to impress me :D

anyways lookin good man i never seen a front shot of the insect till now as well, and i was wondering what u were gonna do for the head, i like that grashopper look u gave it, instead of a beatle head.

anyways keep up the good work, oh yea and nice sketch.

cheers :beer:

-Twisted

:eek: :eek: Your not the only one whos impressed. Great work man!! :thumbsup:

[ZrO-1]

Thanks guys!
I was thinking about it and I thought I should have put up the same view of the sled's sign as the skull-only shot for better comparisson. *plus it's the first time I've gotten text to look half decient in Maya and want to show off* :p
Here it is:

[derwolpertinger]

love the skull!:love: but the text seems a bit strange to me-does not want to fit in the image very well i think. is it connected to the wood correctly? and i think it would help when you apply a bump map to the text which makes it look more..like older ya know? and the bright colour of the text is maybe also an issue...
but if that's all...just text....:) ....maybe i'm simply searchin' something wrong:D

[hypercube]

Really dig the skull and the whole bounty hunter idea..makes me think of Trigun or something, but not..er..you know, it's cool and stuff :D

I think I can see a little hangy thing where the text goes on..Not to be an ass, but my main crit would be it's a bit odd..if they can do text setting and metalwork that nice, why is their carpentry so nackered? I'm all for the loose frontier flavor, but it seems mismatched. Also maybe it'd be better off on the wagon part? I dunno.

Anyway, I probably should go sleep or whatnot..since you never do, I'll look forward to tons more coolness on this tomorrow ;)

[ZrO-1]

those are good points guys. I'll see what I can do about changing the texture (maybe a light colored wood insted) and I'll add a bump to have it more weathered. Plus, I'll get rig of the hanging sign setup and have the letters nailed onto the planks directly. Maybe I'll have the letters diferent painted colors and sizes as if they were taken from different signs to make this one.

[erilaz]

Sorry to say this, cause I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I don't really like the text all that much. :shrug: The rest looks great, but the text seems a little out of place. Maybe if you grime it up a little, or take some chunks out of it to match the rustic charm, then it will be a bit better.

On the whole, text in 3d packages suck. Maybe it's just that we are chillingly reminded of that awful extruded text in Microsoft word, or that badly effected text they used to title the episodes in the first and second series of Dragonball Z.

Why can't 3d text look goooood? Whyyyeeee? It's definately not the fault of the modeller (Because let's face it, Zr0-1. You rock!)


Oh dear... did I just rant? Tick me off if you think I'm very wrong.:hmm:

[ZrO-1]

No...I guess I agree with you erilaz. I wanted it to look cool, but it doesn't fit with the rest of the stuff. I wanted to do it initially like faded paint on the side. But that would be a texture so I'm going to try it as an attached wood-leter sign instead of the wonky brass texture.

[pit]

u could use the text as a bumpmap for the wooden planks - so it would look like pressed into the wood. Well, just a thought - the rest is gorgeous!

[rizob]

looks great zero, i just had to let you know you are a threat posting machine, its great how you find the time to crit everyones work, great enthusiasm.


as for your beast its lookin good, i would randomize the spikes little more, it looks alittle to uniform. im runnin out of time so ill crit more later, keep up the good work

[ZrO-1]

New updates:
I redid the sign. It's now made of wood and nailed to the side of the sled. I also made the cross-roads sign to 'nowhere'.
Here's the sign with the first angle:

[ZrO-1]

Here's the wider, second angle of the sign:

[ZrO-1]

And here is a wide shot of the cross-roads sign ;) :

[derwolpertinger]

well, great improvements!:thumbsup: the text is perfect now-in my opinion. it fits into the image much better!

[Fedron]

Hey i have suggestion :).

When i saw the overall view you posted i though the sleam should leave a trail of humidified sand beside the convoy don't you think?

Only darkening the trail is enough i think.

[Bezerker75]

as always nice updates...maybe you need some nails holding the boards together in the back...sled wagon thing...keep it up ...looking really great!

[ZrO-1]

@ Fedron: Yeah I was thinking about adding wet sand behind the sled, but I would normally di that with textures, and those are not permitted in this challenge. So if I was to make the wet sand I'd have to model seperate sand that is wet and place it in the scene. I'll pro'lly end up doing that, but not untill later.

@ Bezerker: Yeah I'm going to be adding black nails in all the boards (like what's holding the letters on)...I just haven't gotten around to it.

Thanks for all the great comments and crits guys. You're the best (yeah you).

[Crash]

Pinch me :bounce: that'a amazing, I dig the wild west idea it's perfectly composing with the bug. The only thing i dislike are the eyes, I think you should change them a bit, but that'a only my opinion. Very qll :buttrock:

[3DZukini]

lookin' great, my comment...maybe one of the nowhere signs needs to point the other way, they seem to both be pointing almost the same direction...one is right turn, the other is also right turn...am I confusing you yet or just myself? I'll go to bed now, I think I've had enough caffiene for the day!:D

[Rex]

Looking really really good right now Zro-1!your texture of the skin is great,can you show me the texture and UV set of yours?One advice about the light at the rear truck is that I think it's a liitle too dark ,maybe you can add there a light!






Check out my Beast of Burden (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12984&pagenumber=2)

[ZrO-1]

OK, I've got more for you guys. I rendered another shot of the cross-roads sign but closer to show the angles more. I also made the nails to hold the planks together on the sled. And last I started working on a secondary ground plane for the wet sand.
Here's the pics in order:

[ZrO-1]

Here's the shot with the wet sand and nails in the planks:

[ZrO-1]

No comments on the wet sand? OK I'll change it. I had the idea to make it more like a dry creek bed anyway so I'll go and do that. BRB with the new ground.

[mikefeil]

looks mad to me...:airguitar

[ZrO-1]

I wasn't mad. Not at all. I was just looking for an excuse (any excues) to change the ground some more :D :p

[Danko]

You could maybe make the wet sand a bit darker don't you think? Anyway, you're going crazy on details man! I love this bug. :thumbsup:

[ZrO-1]

OK, I've been busy today so so far I've only made two changes. I adjusted the color of the eyes to better fit with the rest of the beast. And I modified the ground a bit to make it seem like the BoB is traveling down a dry creek-bed valley. Here's the pic of the eyes:

[ZrO-1]

And here is a wide shot showing the entire piece as it is so far:

[dmonk]

Maybe put some prints in the sand where the little tenticle things have gone through.

Looking really good though.:thumbsup:

[leigh]

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!!!!!

Hehehe I kinda hate insects *shiver*

Wow, this one sure is great, ZrO-1!! I don't really have any crits other than those that have already been mentioned, so I just thought I'd drop in a word of encouragement, and congratulations too - your work is just getting better and better!!

I'm actually surprised that there aren't more insectile entires in the challenge...
Your creature is very cool :thumbsup:

It reminds me of this creature from a book I once read called "Calenture", and in it there were insects that I imagined looked something like this, and people used to live inside the segments of the body - it was kind of like this cool symbiotic thang that was happening. Very cool concept - I always found the idea of these communes travelling around in these gooey insides of the bug rather gross yet intriguing.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this one comes together at the end!
Keep up the great work, Zr0-1!! :D

Oh, and well done on overtaking my post count :surprised
I intend to catch up very soon.... :twisted: I just haven't had much time to browse here in the last week.....

[ZrO-1]

@ dmonk: thanks man. I'll have to make some foot prints in the sand. great idea.

@ Leigh: Thank you Leigh! I'm so happy I have FINALLY made a piece that has met with aproval (I can now retire) :D hehehe. J/K

As far as those posts: Every one here can expect a reply from me very shortly. I have to stay ahead of Leigh in the # of posts. ;)

[Rex]

Hi man~awesome work !I really realy like the first camera angle of your pic and the sand look good!and I don't know what to say ,just great and great and great~update man!your are fast !



Check out my Beast of Burden (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12984&pagenumber=2)

[ZrO-1]

hehehe thanks Rex.
I've got some updates. First up I have the refined sketch of the cowboy. I'm going for a 1950's TV style look. Sort of Buck Rogers meets the Lone Ranger. Here's the sketch:

[ZrO-1]

OK here is a render where I threw in some primatives to sort of block-in the size and position of the cowboy. You guys will have to let me know if it's OK or not as far as that goes.
Here's that pic:

[ZrO-1]

This last pic is for whoever it was that asked for me to show them a pic of my bump maps and UV stuff (I'm too lazy to go and see who it was). Unfortunetly I can't do that because I'm modeling in NURBS and all of my bumps are procedural. So what I did was I got a screen capture of the hyperShade to show how I built the bump for the main shell:
Here ya go, hope it helps:

[pit]

looks great!! Love the hat - as of the cowboy "stand in" you might have to rework proportions a little -> the feet are to small -> in fact feet are almost exact the size of the lower arm (try it out). It´s hard to tell by the pic but the upperarm might be a tad to big, but hey - after all it´s a stand in!! Looking forward to the real thing - Lone Ranger rules!!!

[Fetus23]

Awsome cowboy zro-1...he'll look great pulling the reins on this beast.
I just put a cowboy on hold to enter this comp...take a look..

http://www.3dluvr.com/fetus/kronsmooth.jpg
(I guess he's sorta a mexican pirate or something:))

fetus

[ilasolomon]

:) verrry nice, GR8 work!
keep cockroaching!

[Biohazard]

Do you consider working again on the load. Nice idea to construct it plank by plank, but some of them are still intersecting with the structure. Details are important considering the general aspect. :)

BzW, nice bug. As you said, I'd better use a head like yours on mine. Keep up updating ! :wavey:

[ZrO-1]

Thanks guys!
@ Pit: I'm glad you like the hat. It actually was just a quick practice model I did, but the more I look at it the more I like it. So I think I'm going to keep it and use it with the actual cowboy.

@ Ila_s: Thanks, I'll be buggin ;)

@ Biohazard: Yeah I have a lot of refining I need to do with the wood planks. I just haven't had the ambition to go in and start tweaking all of them. :p I have some great mantis photos. If you would like them I'd be happy to give them to you.

[ZrO-1]

Well guys after working all day on this. I have made the head for the cowboy. It's my very first human head. And I know it sucks but it'll be good enough for what I need it for.
Here it is:

[ZrO-1]

Here's a screen cap of where I'm at so far (as of 10pm). I'm calling it a night now since I have to get up early to go to MacWorld tomorrow.
Here's the pic:

[ZrO-1]

Hmmm no comments? Is it really THAT bad? :hmm:

[Biohazard]

I swear I was just waiting for an update for the shirt. ;) (like the pose & design - Simple and working)

Nice face!!
Will You smooth it a bit more ? (In a way, the character won't be viewable so close. So it's perhaps useless)...

[Bezerker75]

Hey Zro,
looking good man! just curious what are you planning for the sphere things on the side of his head? great sketch...maybe you could add a sherrif type badge on his shirt!! also the head model is fine coming along...maybe add some hair...other than that great start!

[pascal_blanche]

man first you are the most amazing typomachine I ever see, then, this! really good work so far, im not crazy about the big jim look of your cowboy, an old guy like gold miner or something would have been more interresting... something that add to your cool concept...

[ZrO-1]

Thanks guys.
I'll be doing much more work on refining the cowboy/bounty hunter once I get all the primary modeling on him done.

The sphere things are going to be part of the hat. I'm working on combining furtureistic stuff with wild-west stuff. The character will probably have an 'anime' feel to it but not anime styling. I am thinking it might turn out a little like "Mad-Max" in style.

THe old man is a good idea. I won't have the main character be an old man since in my head that doesn't fit with the bounty hunter theme. But having an old guy as the side-kick might be cool. We'll see what happens.

Thanks again guys. Look for new updates around Friday evening. I'll let you know how MacWorld was. :D

[erilaz]

Hey Zr0-1, over 10,000 views and still going strong! You are racking up the comments!

And why not? The buggy-beast-burdenny-bounty-hunty-thingy is brilliant, with another great model to accompnay it on its way!

That face is really nice. Clint Eastwood eat your heart out!

[sad]

don't forget to add scratches in the sand!
you are the man! :bounce:

[ZrO-1]

Well, I finally got a chance to get some more work done on the cowboy. I basically have the shirt finnished, though I still have refinements to make. And I decided to get rid of the sphere's on the side of the head. I'm going to give him regular ears.
Here's the pic as it is so far:

[derwolpertinger]

as almost always lookin' cool zro!:buttrock: the only thing that bothers me si the collar of the shirt. it just looks too plasticlike. but as you said, you are going to add some details :D

[tubby]

wow thats an awesome creature, i like your start of the cowboy guy. i dont know if its too late but what if he was more a mysterious guy with a huge trench coat(with a collar kinda covering his neck and a part of his face) with a bigger hat , i dont wanna throw you off but it was just an idea

[ZrO-1]

I hated the old collar so I re-did it. It turns out you guys were thinking along the same lines ;)

Here's a test render with the new collar:

[derwolpertinger]

looks muuuuch better now!:thumbsup:

[rolhionjs]

wow ! Nothing to say ! The whole thing will be perfect ! The cow-boy looks great too ! You're very fast and efficient as usual :) Keep going !

[ZrO-1]

OK guys here's a little update. I gave my cowboy ears....man they suck to stitch to the head when you've smoothed both and deleted history first :surprised

Here's the pic:

[ZrO-1]

Here's the view of the back:

[ZrO-1]

Hey gang, I've gotten the legs roughed in. This is the un-smoothed version. I still have lots of tweaking to do, but its a start. Let me know what you think.
Here's the picture:

[toxichimp]

Great work on the sled! (I know I know, bit of a late reply :p) Looks cool, wet effect behind it looks nice aswell :) Very well done, espcially since you didn't use any textures right?

As for the cowboy, looking good aswell :) Legs look ok I think, although I'm not sure about his ass, it's a bit too... tight. Don't know if you need it but perhaps this helps;

[otacon]

Looking good as usual.:thumbsup: It might look cool to give him a big ol' cowboy style belt buckle with an insignia on it thats similar to something on the carrige.:shrug: just an idea.:lightbulb