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Bakednotphried
07-16-2002, 05:17 PM
Not only is this my first challenge, but it is my first post. I just started to learn 3d studio max about a month ago, so i know i wont win, i'm just joining this contest as a learning experience, I need to know what i'm doing wrong etc... I'll be happy if i finish before the deadline. Anyways here's my concept.

Parasitic beings have enslaved a race of gentle elephant-like creatures (minus the snout and big ears). The parasites use these great beasts as transportation, labor and food. The parasite lives on the beasts back. To steer the beast the parasite stabs one of its arms into a shoulder, the left side and the beast will go right. Anyways, here's my sketch, I almost have the parasite done, i'll post it later (i'm at work right now). And yes, i know, the front legs are too short, i just screwed up the sketch. Any comments would be greately appreaciated

ZrO-1
07-16-2002, 06:14 PM
It's an interesting idea with the parasites and all. Also, its a well thought out concept with how they will control and interact with the BoB. As far as your sketch....well let's just wait and see how the modeling comes along :D :p.

Bakednotphried
07-19-2002, 04:42 AM
So here is what i've got so far, i still have a looong way to go, the competetion is already more than half over and i'm not even done my first creature.... Anyways, this is what I have so far, please, i need feedback.

Bakednotphried
07-19-2002, 06:30 AM
Heres a little update, I pretty much just added the spikes on the back :eek:. I was going to put plates there, but i couldnt figure out how to do them, the texture is just a gradient with cellular as the bump and a little bit of noise. I'm not quite sure how it made that camoflage, but it worked out ok. I still have to learn how to make custom bump-maps though.

Bakednotphried
07-19-2002, 07:22 PM
doesnt anyone have anything to say? I just know that there is something wrong with this creature, it dosent look right, but i cant put my finger on it... Input is very appreciated.

ZrO-1
07-19-2002, 07:36 PM
It's pretty good overall. One thing I'd suggest is to make the spikes on its back more random. Right now they all look the same. Also try to model more detail into the tail section.

Good work so far. :thumbsup:

Bakednotphried
07-21-2002, 01:32 AM
just a basic wireframe of my beast. I think i'm figuring this out. I can see what i did wrong with the parasite, for it, i modeled a head, then i modeled arms then the body, all seperate peices, it is much easier, and it looks better if i model it from one peice. (i think) Oh, yeah, Thanks ZrO-1 for the input.

ZrO-1
07-21-2002, 03:14 AM
Yeah, some people can model each piece to full detail one by one, others model the general beast completely then go back and add details. What ever works right?
I look forward to more details. :thumbsup:

Bakednotphried
07-22-2002, 01:28 AM
Here is an update on my beast. I think it is comming along quite well. I dont really have any good programs for making bump-maps so, i'm just gonna hafta model everything. I'm not quit sure how to pose any of my creatures either... Anyways, this is what i have so far.

Bakednotphried
07-22-2002, 06:34 AM
I know i'm not doing all that well on this bob, but i'm not going to get any better unless i get some input. I'm still having trouble getting good details, but i'm slowly adding stuff, have a look. And i need crits please :beer:

DanielWichterich
07-22-2002, 07:38 AM
Great attitude! I think it's quite nice considering you are learning 3d studio for 1 month.
His eyes do not transport this sad emotion of your sketch. The legs are ok but the neck is still very boxy.
Hang on!

erilaz
07-22-2002, 09:33 AM
Very good start! Geez, I remember my early quadrapeds. Looked like a matress had mated with an elephant. Yours is progressing much better! :D

The legs are extremely stocky at the moment. You might consider bulging them a bit.

I like the parasite! Very pointy! :thumbsup:

YoGoLo
07-22-2002, 11:45 AM
great parasite :)
for the beast U should make the knees bigger. It seams that legs are only cylinders, big knees will break this impression

:thumbsup:

AroundTheFur
07-22-2002, 03:55 PM
take it easy with those pegs man, thats my steelo! yea for a month this is great. I started when i was like 13 yrs old and i am now 19 and i could never model organic shistuff until i went to a year of figure drawing! keep it up. :buttrock:

Bakednotphried
07-22-2002, 07:43 PM
Wow, thanks for all the awesome feedback!:bounce: I noticed the legs looked kinda weird, but i couldnt figure out what to do with them. I'll try bulging the knees when i get home from work. I still need to figure out a way to pose my creatures though, is that what bones are used for, and if so, can someone please point me in the direction of a good bones tutorial. And once again, thanks!

Bakednotphried
07-23-2002, 06:04 AM
Here is a minor update. I'm going to have to remake the parasite's body, i messed it up and couldnt undo. Anyways, heres the pic. And i dont want to sound repetitive but i could really use some crits :beer:

Bakednotphried
07-23-2002, 11:26 PM
mouth update, i think this has a decent look of fear now.

phil
07-23-2002, 11:45 PM
Hey Baked,
Wish I could model like that after only a month!!
Impressive.

Crits for you:

The knees feel odd, they seem a bit unnatural, if when you model you think about the underlying bone structure and where the muscles have to be for the character to be able to move, it will help you when deciding where you need skin folds and muscle definition.

the corner of the mouth is a bit too sharp, if you go back in and add some more poly's to give you something to work with. Chances are that you can select the edge that defines the corner and chamfer it. While you're at it i'd put some flab in those lips and thiken up the eyebrows.

Hope that's good crit for you, personally I think you have done an awesome job for having just started with max.

Cheers

Bakednotphried
07-24-2002, 05:28 AM
Thank you man, see, it shows i dont really know all that much, but this is the kind of thing i need to learn this stuff. I learned almost everything i know about 3d modeling is from lurking these forums, and participating in this challenge. Anyways, here are some more updates.

Bakednotphried
07-24-2002, 05:30 AM
The parasite

Bakednotphried
07-24-2002, 05:31 AM
the wagon, yes i know it sucks, but i wanted to keep it simple. I bet you can see how i figured out what that torus knot was for...

Artifex
07-24-2002, 06:47 AM
Hi there Bakednotphried.
Here's a couple of crits and suggestions.

A good thing to do would be to rent some dvd's like Dinosaur by disney and take a look at there turn around models, try to figure out how and why they put there details where they do.

Everything starts somewhere. You have to put alot of time and effort in all the pieces of your model. Don't be affraid of trying stuff. Save using increment and go back when you need to.

For know my crit on your model is to try and play with the proportions a bit. There are certain rules to respect. Normaly you know it's ok when it feels right. Right know I feel theres a problem with the lengh of the body and the size of the head. When that's done choose a portion of the model and add polys, extrude, bevel, chamfer and move the vertexes around to get definition.

Hope this helps!

erilaz
07-24-2002, 01:24 PM
Hey, great use of the torus on those knots! :thumbsup:

It's good to see you're getting a nice handle on things. I don't want to preach, but make sure you save multiple copies of your work as you go, so you don't have a repeat of the parasite thing. In max particualrly I find that if something freezes during autobackup, you can lose your whole file. As it is, the turtle I'm working on has 66 incremental .max files! (Okay, so I'm paranoid). At the very least, it gives you something to go back to if you want to try something different.

The model is coming along. You need to round off some edges, like the wagon and it's wheels, but the beast itself is getting there. I've found teeth can be a lot easier to do if you model them as one big strip and put indents in for the spacing.
It can sometimes look a lot more natural than modelling every tooth.


I hope this helps!
:D

ZrO-1
07-24-2002, 02:37 PM
I really think using refrences or sketches would be a good thing. I personally swear by drawing out completly what it is I plan on making. All of the pro's make full character drawings before they even start modeling (not that I'm a pro by any means).

I really think you need some sort of reference material. :shrug:

Bakednotphried
07-24-2002, 05:49 PM
@ Marc

I've been watching Final Fantasy, and Shrek quite a bit now that i've started playing with 3d studio max, i watch shrek now and think, i know how they did that now, but when i watch final fantasy, i'm totally dumbfounded. Anyways, its kinda hard to rent dvds when you live 2 hrs from the nearest video rental place... I've been playing with the size of the head, i think i just need to make it smaller. Thanks for the crits.


@ erilaz

Actually i have been saving multiple copies, but the parasites old body just didnt really match with the beast, so i remade him anyways, i only have about 9 incremental .max files though...


@ zro-1

I made a few sketches, but i dont have a scanner, and i cant transfer from 2d to 3d very well. thanks anyways.

Merlin
07-24-2002, 06:44 PM
A month in and you're already doing well, man. My crits are pretty much along the same lines as everyone else's. Reference material never ever hurts. You may be two hours away from a video store (I'm not going into how much that amazes me) but the internet has loads of reference. National geographic would be a good place to start for Elephants and Dinosaurs and what not. My main crit, apart from what others have mentioned, is the rib cage of your beast. It seems to never end, look at an image of a Greyhound dog, and you can see a definate shape of where the rib cage begins and ends. The front chest is very thick, and then, at the last rib, begins to taper down until it starts to taper back out towards the pelvis. Your beast, while much fuller and heavier, would have a similar skeletal structure. If you lengthen the beast this may help, but start thinking about the underlying anatomy of it, and that'll help out a lot more. Everybody in these forums at one point, was in your shoes, so keep it up!

Sincerely,

Merlin

Bakednotphried
07-25-2002, 06:30 AM
I know it's hard to believe i'm 2 hours from a video rental place, actually its only around an hour and a half. I live in a small town of about 150 ppl and the nearest city is that far away. I havent even thought about the ribs yet, but that will be the next major thing i'll do to my model. I thickened up the eyebrows, added some lips, and remade my teeth. I also added something to the cart. I know it all needs more work.

More of the story:

The parasites are unfeeling creatures, they treat their beasts like dirt. They use these beasts for everything, when one dies (and this happens often) it is divided up for food, that is where the cart comes in. The beasts live in constant fear and pain, always hauling around their butchered family. Oh, yeah, the spike on the parasites tail is used for acceleration, if the beast isnt going fast enough, just stab it in the ass!

Anyways, another update: (and keep those crits comming, i'm learning a lot)

erilaz
07-25-2002, 08:31 AM
Still coming along well!

This is not a crit, more of an idea I had.
What if you shrunk down your parasite, and had hundreds of the suckers on the beasts back? i just think that would look cool. Or maybe have the large one, and hundreds of little baby ones, crawling down the rope to get at the food?

Just my two cents! :cool:

Bakednotphried
07-25-2002, 02:24 PM
That is a really awesome idea, but i think that the parasite already looses too much definition when it is this small. Mabye if i made some low poly parasites or something. Thanks, i'm gonna try that though

Bakednotphried
07-30-2002, 03:22 PM
I dont think i'll be able to work on this before the end of the contest. I think i got pretty far, and i learned a lot. I'm still happy even though i didnt finish.

@erilaz I tried to have a bunch of little ones, i made a bunch of low poly ones with exagerated features, but no detail showed up on the render, they just looked like little brown blobs... I'll have to scrap that idea until i learn more.


Anyways, i'm looking foreward to the next challenge, i bet i could finish it, and i'm always trying to learn, and i think that this is better than a class .:beer:

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