5000poly char- modelling and UVW c&c??

[Gaboon]

Well, its difficult to tell. The way you can gauge the effectiveness of your UV layout is how much your texture is stretching on the model. You cant really tell that from the texture you are using.
The best way to do this is to assign the model a checker material and then greatly increase the size of the uvs in the uvw editor so that each square in the texture is prety small. This really shows you where it is stretching. The goal is to minimise the stretching.
Hope this helps. Good luck!

[cgtalkiest]

does this help?

http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/3290/texture3we.jpg

[itsallgoode9]

well does it help you? the purpose of the checker is so that you can see if it is stretching or not. so does it look like it's stretching to you?

[cgtalkiest]

umm, it looks pretty cool to me, but i was just wondering if i could get some feedback. Its the 1st time iv done this, so im not 100% on how it should look. more if you guys can see any blatant faults.

Im guessing the topolgy and uvs are fine... onto the texturing! now this i feel will be a stumbling block.. does anyone have any idea of a good place to start? iv checked the sticky but was wondering if you guys know any good game specific character tuts?

[itsallgoode9]

ok, I didn't realize that you weren't really clear of the purpose of the checkers on the uv's. the checkers should all be square and similar in size when applied to your character. they obviously aren't on your character. so you need to go through and move your UV's around until the checker pattern is all squares and no rectangles

[cgtalkiest]

ok, I didn't realize that you weren't really clear of the purpose of the checkers on the uv's. the checkers should all be square and similar in size when applied to your character. they obviously aren't on your character. so you need to go through and move your UV's around until the checker pattern is all squares and no rectangles

i thought that some would be bigger than others, since you would maybe want to dedicate a larger part of your map to certain areas eg the face. In that case the squares would be smaller on the face? i do see little strecthings here and there, but cos its my 1st piece i think i will have to bypass for now, and hope they wont be too noticeable.. its quite a head jarr doing it, and iv taken alot longer than i should have. but thanks for pointing out the problems. Ill work on that for the next one.

[itsallgoode9]

it depends about whether or not the squares should be th sae sized. you generally want to keep textures in the same, or similar scale. You don't want super high res texture on parts of a pice and a super low res texture on parts of a piece. If I were you I wouldn't skip fixing the UV's...the textures will more than likely end up looking like shit once applied. it could end up not being real noticable, but it usually stands out. ANd it shouldn't matter if it's your first piece or not.....when you use that as an excuse, all you are doin is saying it's ok to be bad.

[cgtalkiest]

it depends about whether or not the squares should be th sae sized. you generally want to keep textures in the same, or similar scale. You don't want super high res texture on parts of a pice and a super low res texture on parts of a piece. If I were you I wouldn't skip fixing the UV's...the textures will more than likely end up looking like shit once applied. it could end up not being real noticable, but it usually stands out. ANd it shouldn't matter if it's your first piece or not.....when you use that as an excuse, all you are doin is saying it's ok to be bad.

nah. Im not saying that. im just saying "iv spent enough time modelling and uv'ing this one. Iv learnt my major lessons. I need to hurry up and make loads more for my portfolio."

i dont think it will be that noticeable my friend. My major issue will be the mirroring seam!

what do you think of my model?

[TwitchyHamster]

If I were you I wouldn't skip fixing the UV's...the textures will more than likely end up looking like shit once applied. it could end up not being real noticable, but it usually stands out. ANd it shouldn't matter if it's your first piece or not.....when you use that as an excuse, all you are doin is saying it's ok to be bad.


Could not agree more!

You cannot build a house on a bad foundation, the house will not be level and fall down. Same can be said for modeling/texturing. If whats under-neight driving the texture (the UV's) are buggered to hell, you will spend more time trying to "fix" the textures on the UV's than making the textures how they should be in the first place.

Trust us. Fix the UV"s. Don't be in a rush to move on to the next great piece down the road. Finish what you start and finish it well. =)

It is a good lesson to learn that now rather than later.

Hope that helps!

-Twitchy

[cgtalkiest]

i understand ur point. it is very true and one that i am aware of. I dont spend as much time oding 3d as i should. Just small bursts. Let it be said i agree with ur point and i will use this aproach in future but not now.

U didnt see the pics i assume as the hosting site is down. Please have a look in a few hours or so wen they are up again, as i would love to hear ur opinion. thanks for the reply.

[Augh]

nah. Im not saying that. im just saying "iv spent enough time modelling and uv'ing this one. Iv learnt my major lessons. I need to hurry up and make loads more for my portfolio."

Hehe I think the guys are trying to say one really solid uvw job will impress much more than several "just ok" ones ;) I always wanna get stuff sorted and do all the various bits asap, but it always does pay to be methodical.

The host seems to be down atm yeah, try http://www.imageshack.us for no strings attached image hosting, they have a fairly useful automagical thumbnail function too which is good for forums.

Cheers :)

[kOmoo]

It's to bad we can't see them, i love samurais.

[cgtalkiest]

the pics will be back soon guys i promise!! ifnot ill host again on image shack :)

[cgtalkiest]

Their back!!!

[SHEPEIRO]

i think with the scale of the uvws, you do need them all pretty much the same, apart from the face make this roughly 150% of the others as this is looked at more in games, esp ones with cutscenes and as youve modeled the mouth.....

but you definatly need to scale the uvws in one direction as the checkers are not square. this is important as you are wasting texture space in one direction. its very rare that you need unsquare uvws but sometimes its nesesary to reduce the size in one direction if you want streaking say.

[florian]

I still dont see anything.

I'm already totally excited :bounce:

[cgtalkiest]

hi guys, sorry for all the missing pics... domaindlx it seems is not a good image hosting site.

Iv re-hosted on image shack, which also seems to have its own long problems. but at least it hopefully wont have exceeded bandwidtch problems...

[florian]

ok. Now, I can see the pics :) heres my critic.

The mesh itself looks ok, but you should work on the head shape. It looks somehow big and the chin is too short.
If you go for a photoreal texturing, as it looks right now, you should think about not mirroring every UV. At least not the objects that belong together like face or front plates.
It would be ok for arms and legs.

Beside that, it has lots potential. Dont hurry :thumbsup:

[cgtalkiest]

ok. Now, I can see the pics :) heres my critic.

The mesh itself looks ok, but you should work on the head shape. It looks somehow big and the chin is too short.
If you go for a photoreal texturing, as it looks right now, you should think about not mirroring every UV. At least not the objects that belong together like face or front plates.
It would be ok for arms and legs.

Beside that, it has lots potential. Dont hurry :thumbsup:

Thanks alot! great crit!! FOR ONCE! iv tried showing so many people this and they dnt say nothing!

i agree with what u said about mirroring arreas... i noticed that as i was modelling and uv'ing and thought it would be better the way that u said.... i think ur right and i will have to make some changes....

the head shape also sounds interesting. Did u think that from the top 1st large pic? cos that one has been changed, and the other 3 pics is how it looks now.... actually ill post a pic....

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/6879/samface3ah.jpg

[florian]

The topologie itself looks good and clean, except the mouth loop. I would lead it further over the nose. There's a very good huge thread about face topologie somewhere here.
The nose itself is too thin. Especially for this face expression. If this is not the only expression he knows, you should model him with a more relaxed face. Otherwise it could happen that your UV's will stretch in a way, you dont want, when he is trying to look normal.
Please give him some ears. At least 2

cheers
flo

[cgtalkiest]

The topologie itself looks good and clean, except the mouth loop. I would lead it further over the nose. There's a very good huge thread about face topologie somewhere here.
The nose itself is too thin. Especially for this face expression. If this is not the only expression he knows, you should model him with a more relaxed face. Otherwise it could happen that your UV's will stretch in a way, you dont want, when he is trying to look normal.
Please give him some ears. At least 2

cheers
flo

beautiful crits thanks... i THINK i understand what u mean about the topology... do u mean the edge loop would circulate from say, under the lips, upto the bridge of the nose?

i think he will pretty much always looklike that, with only slight relaxation.. he wil never say, be happy.. (poor guy)...eeears,, are hard... so they get hidden behind his hair piece!:scream:

[florian]

do u mean the edge loop would circulate from say, under the lips, upto the bridge of the nose?

Yep. thats what I meant. And
here (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=38469) is the thread I mentioned. Its a MUST read for everyone. Even it has 500 replies ;)
If you find a picture with someone who has his hair like this, and hides his complete ear, let me know. :rolleyes:

[cgtalkiest]

Yep. thats what I meant. And
here (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=38469) is the thread I mentioned. Its a MUST read for everyone. Even it has 500 replies ;)
If you find a picture with someone who has his hair like this, and hides his complete ear, let me know. :rolleyes:

i will ;) hahahahaha

cheers for the link btw. great stuff

[WHW]

Hi CGTalkiest,

It's shaping up to be a good first character, I'd be interested to see the final result. But please do reconsider about spending more time fine tuning areas of him as it will add tremendouly to the overall feel of the character.

If nothing else, spend some time on the face and study your own face to see how an opened mouth face looks like (feel your face and check it out in a mirror) - take special note the jaw does drop so the chin in your profile would need to be lower. The nose too goes fat around the nostrils, whilst it is squashed vertically, which isn't being conveyed at the moment.

Have a look at this model which is quite similar to what you have and see how the artist has tackled the texture spacing issue:

http://www.cgchat.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19047

[cgtalkiest]

Hi CGTalkiest,

It's shaping up to be a good first character, I'd be interested to see the final result. But please do reconsider about spending more time fine tuning areas of him as it will add tremendouly to the overall feel of the character.

If nothing else, spend some time on the face and study your own face to see how an opened mouth face looks like (feel your face and check it out in a mirror) - take special note the jaw does drop so the chin in your profile would need to be lower. The nose too goes fat around the nostrils, whilst it is squashed vertically, which isn't being conveyed at the moment.

Have a look at this model which is quite similar to what you have and see how the artist has tackled the texture spacing issue:

http://www.cgchat.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19047

thanks for the advice friend.... as stated in my first post, this is the character that i have been heavily referencing for the topology of mesh. I did however find the thread here in cgtalk not cgchat....

it is such an excelent model.. everytime i see it... thats why i have chosen it as my first character... i already have all of his texture sheets and normal map sheets, wireframes etc but thanks for the link

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