Gnome Model

[slooper]

Here's my reference image that I composited from source photos.
http://scarystorythefilm.com/~Members/Sean/gnome/front_01.jpg

[olivier Defaye]

nice model i want it in my garden

[slooper]

what about the hands? someone mentioned that the hands look funny - any suggestions?

[Corn Dog]

The hands dont appear to have a palm :), giver some creases.
His belt needs afixing to but Im sure you realise that.

Looks cool. Maybe Ill make an evil one :)

[slooper]

Two main changes:

1) How does the fold in the jacket look? I will be adding a button or two there to hold it together...

2) I'm trying to decide how to "seam" the sleeves. Should I model the seam (left arm in rendering) or leave it smooth (right arm in rendering) and texture the seam with a bump map?

THAT"S ALL FOR NOW!

Oh, btw, the pic I'm referring to is in the 1st post, no progress pics here - just one updated one ;)

[slooper]

Ok, as you can see, I fixed the hands - better? I tried to give them more definition. I also switched him to 3 fingers rather than 4 - which kinda looks weird to me, what do y'all think?

I also added a button to the vest and tweaked some other areas here and there...

Next is to add the belt, model the boots and START TEXTURING!!

WOOHOO!!!:bounce:

[proton]

The hair looks great....can we get a close up?

[PsychedelicMind]

aug... yesh. i would love to have this cutie in my garden... if i had a garden... :D

[TheWraith]

that isn't the gnome from UAT is it? if u have no idea what i'm talkin' about then just disreguard this hehe :)

[slooper]

Here is a closeup of the head. I'm not planning on getting any closer than a full body shot, which is why the level of detail is fairly average...Thanks for the compliments guys :D
TheWraith> sorry dood - no idea
http://scarystorythefilm.com/~Members/Sean/gnome/wip_cu_01.jpg

[slooper]

Here's a wireframe in case anyone wants to see it...Let me know ANY suggestions PLEASE!!!

http://www.scarystorythefilm.com/~Members/Sean/gnome/wip_wf_01.jpg

[ThirdEye]

Increase the subdivision level in the rendering and decrease it in the wireframe so we can see your cage

[slooper]

Here's the new wireframe...Hope this is legible...

http://www.scarystorythefilm.com/~Members/Sean/gnome/wip_wf_02.jpg

[slooper]

Ok, so I've added the boots. What do y'all think? Too tall? Pants need to be wider? What?
How does the button look? Do I need to give him two buttons?
I'll be adding the belt next, and his eyebrows, then I think I'm done with the modeling.

Any suggestions for UV Mapping??

[slooper]

Done with modeling!! I hope ;)

What do you all think so far? I'm really having a hell of a time using unwrapUV in max 5. I know how to use it but I'm not sure how I should work with the Edit Polys. Do I work with the unsmoothed polys and smooth it at render? Or do I smooth it, then map the UVs?

arggh

[slooper]

well, if this is the only way to get replies in this forum....

*bump*

[LFShade]

Don't get too bent out of shape about the reply thing. This is a forum full of free-minded, independent thinkers, after all. If nobody wants to comment, well, waddyagonnadoaboudit?

That having been said, I'm looking over your gnome. The proportion is good...you've done good things with the clothing...nice boots...hmmm...

I'm deeply troubled by the hands. I've never seen a garden gnome with any less than the full complement of fingers (four, plus the thumb). Would you consider adding one to each hand?

There are also, I think, some issues about the face. For instance, the corners of the mouth are too sharply creased. There's a little bit that sticks out there when smoothed, kinda like a fish's mouth. It's hard to tell from any of the wires you've posted, but are there several concentric loops around the mouth? If so, ignore this; if not, then you'll want to make sure to structure it this way if you're doing any facial animation involving the mouth. Makes it much easier, or so I've heard.

I don't really like the way the cheeks puff out, but that's only because I used to know someone who kinda looked like that. I didn't get along with him at all. You probably don't need to change this feature; I'm just spouting stream-of-consciousness nonsense as I look over your character.

I think you've done a good job overall, and your character has good "personality." Will we see a textured version soon?

[slooper]

thx LFShade! It's great to get some attention for this WIP...Very good comments. It's ironic, I originally gave him 4 fingers but the person who works for the company that I am sending my reel to suggested I give him 3 fingers for a more "cartoony look."

I know what you mean about the mouth. I've revisited it briefly a couple times, but since I'm on time constraints, haven't devoted the time it needs. I'm planning on going back to it at the last possible moment once I'm sure the rest of the model is presentable. Thanks for the concentric circle tip and the "fish mouth" comment - I couldn't put my foot on why it looked wrong...

Here's the textures so far...I'm working on them as we speak...

http://www.scarystorythefilm.com/~Members/Sean/gnome/wip_shirt_01.jpg

[michaelyip]

texture very nice....... u use digital camera?

[slooper]

the pants are 100% Photoshop and the shirt texture started from a small fabric jpeg I grabbed online...filtered and painted it quite a bit tho - it was originally a photo of wicker...
Thanks for the compliment!

[LFShade]

it was originally a photo of wicker...
I love how images can be manipulated into the texture you want :P

I'm really enjoying the textures so far. Especially how you've treated them for wear & tear, along the "button line" and around the shoulder seams. Looks like you might even have weathered the cloth around where the sash runs; nice touch!

About the fingers - Using only three can add to the cartoony quality of a character, but only on certain characters. In your case, three fingers is making your character look like an alien gnome rather than a cartoon one. If you focus on exaggerating the features of the hand rather than sacrificing fingers, you can get the cartoony feel and make the character cohesive. It may seem like blatant self-promotion, but I'll point you to a character WIP of mine as an example of how four fingers can work just as well on a cartoon character:

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=30897

[slooper]

ok here's my latest motion preview. I've FINALLY figured out how to use Character Studio, so here's the result of keyframing and Motion Flow Scripts:

http://www.scarystorythefilm.com/~Members/Sean/gnome/viewport.mov

[slooper]

Well, I "completed" this portion last week . I still have some more tweaking to do in pretty much every area....

You can download the file at:

http://www.scarystorythefilm.com/~Members/Sean/gnome/DEMO/

It's an MPEG2, which means you'll need DVD Player software (WinDVD, PowerDVD etc.) to view it. But it's NTSC so that's good. Any comments would be appreciated!!

It's a near 30MB download, but I think you'll find it's worth it ;)

[slooper]

For those with a slower connection, I put a shortened divx version here:

http://www.scarystorythefilm.com/~Members/Sean/gnome/shadow_justCC.divx.avi

It's only 1.5 MB

[slooper]

FOLLOW THE ABOVE LINKS TO SEE THE MOVIE!!!!

don't be distracted by the image, there are movies to see up above...I thought I'd post this still from the composite...

http://www.scarystorythefilm.com/~Members/Sean/gnome/after_sunset01.jpg

It's not from the FINAL composite, but you get the idea at least...

[slooper]

bump

[Heber G Conde]

Great Job Man!
The textures are realy cool and the shade fits in the background.
Congratulations

Heber

[slooper]

hehe thanks! I'm still workin on it :)

[grury]

nice and colourful, nice job dude! I hope u gonna paint out the hand that shakes the pot ;) , the shadows look a bit strange, far too sharp and flat (I guess a bit of displacement on the ground would do the trick) and also the flowers on the foregroung should cast shadow on the gnome as he passes by (or maybe i coulnt c it on the Divx).
well done!

[slooper]

thanks for the compliments! the video footage was not the greatest, but hey, it came out ok...I know what you mean about the shadow. I'm going to add a bit of displacement, but I think I want to re-render the shadow passes differently - the behavior of the shadow just isnt right. Good call re: the shadow on the gnome, didn't catch that one. Thanks!

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