The Journey Begins Challenge (3D) Entry: Lee Niven

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142706585_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142706585_large.jpg)

Starting off with some really quick proportions tests, complete with some minor armour work.

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142706963_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142706963_large.jpg)

Working on mounts, armour, weapons and proportions (still).

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142707135_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142707135_large.jpg)

Beginning of the head model.

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142707230_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142707230_large.jpg)

Beginning of the head model.

[Womgoose]

After the defeat at the river Telos, the Shazram tribe of monkeys have all but lost the war with the violent and desperate wombat clans.
With wombat armies marching towards the village, the last Legion of Shazram heads out to confront them one last time.

My first post on the forum :)
Hiya :D

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142718286_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142718286_large.jpg)

Composition test.
Low angle shot of the legion leaving the stronghold for the final time.

C&C's on all work very very welcome :)

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142737799_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142737799_large.jpg)

Shield model concept with some very rough textures for testing.

[Womball]

Cool concept and it has monkeys in it! My only crit is the monkeys head is squarish, it could use some roundnig in my opinion. I do like the overal square shape, just not at the corners. And another Wom<x> character!

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142785494_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142785494_large.jpg)

Hi Womball :)
Thanks for looking at my work.
I totally agree, the Monkeys head is far too square.
I hadn't really noticed until you pointed it out - I guess I had blurry eyes from staring at verts all day ;)
(Cool name btw hehe)


Update: Sword model test.

I've highlighted two problem areas I know about.
Can't for the life of me figure out how to do nice woven banding on the grip.
Other area is the nasty elipse gems.
nice spheres without resorting to boolean hell is testing a bit.

Off to work on the Helms now :D
Loving the challenge and enjoying looking at all the amazing entrys.
Some of you are far too talented ;)

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142797510_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142797510_large.jpg)

Quick sketch of the Monkeys transport that I had stuck in my head.
I can't seem to stop thinking of new ideas even when I'm away from the computer (hence the pen drawings sorry).

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142805943_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142805943_large.jpg)

I forgot to show the wires.
My Topography sucks but with the help of a friend it is slowly improving.
I still sometimes find myself with headaches after 4 hours of wrestling with loops though :P

EDIT: Hopefully fixed the little mans square-headed problems now. C&C's very welcome (please)

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142806008_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142806008_large.jpg)

Meshsmooth version.

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142806102_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142806102_large.jpg)

...and a cheeky glamour shot hehe ;)

Fed up wrestling with the helmet for today, so I'm going to make a start on the little chaps body.
Bye bye for now :D

[Womball]

There you go! Love the expression too. Um will any of monkeys have bags of poo ammunition? Its a monkey tradition of flinging it.

[paperclip]

Such a cute design of the face from the front. Crits I'd give is that it may look better from the side if the snout was not quite so long and also droopier jowls may match your concept better and give it more personality.


Looking good so far!

[Womgoose]

There you go! Love the expression too. Um will any of monkeys have bags of poo ammunition? Its a monkey tradition of flinging it.
He feels much better about himself now after the minor surgery you suggested Mr Womball :)
erm monkey poo LOL erm perhaps :P

Such a cute design of the face from the front. Crits I'd give is that it may look better from the side if the snout was not quite so long and also droopier jowls may match your concept better and give it more personality.


Looking good so far!

Tomorrow night Mr Monkey is having his snout snipped and his jowls pulled down hehe.

Thank you so much for the crits it really helps.
After hours of looking at the same model it gets so hard to spot the flaws.

[Vedic-kings]

I like your concept, and your modeling of the head looks good:)

Keep up the good work!

[Selina42]

Lol brilliant i instantly like him! I like the design and the tone of your piece too!

[Womgoose]

I like your concept, and your modeling of the head looks good:)

Keep up the good work!

Thanks for looking at my thread, Monkey feels much happier now.
I think he was getting lonely in this big forum all alone ;)

Lol brilliant i instantly like him! I like the design and the tone of your piece too!

hehe glad you like him, it makes it all worthwhile :)

[authentic]

great character. MAybe the chest is a ittle to straight but it has to be seen in perspective.

[Womgoose]

great character. MAybe the chest is a ittle to straight but it has to be seen in perspective.

I think I have a small challenge ahead modelling that area due to the proportions of the body.
I want him to be able to walk on his hands like a real monkey but also want to keep his body as small as possible to stay with the original concept.
yet at the same time he has to be able to hold a weapon/shield in a realistic manner :S
Once I get the pesky Helmets out the way I will start fleshing out the torso and maybe if he is good, I will give him some arms and legs :)

[M477]

Hey Niven, good to see you take part in the challenge!

Considering it's your first challenge you're off to a great start! I'm sure the helmet will turn out just fine, Show us more!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[MacAndre]

he looks so funny. great char... :-)

[Womgoose]

Hey Niven, good to see you take part in the challenge!

Considering it's your first challenge you're off to a great start! I'm sure the helmet will turn out just fine, Show us more!
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

Cheers m8,
I'm sure with your guidance I will get there in the end.
The Monkey will have a Helmet before nightfall YARR! ;)


he looks so funny. great char... :-)
Thank you sir.
Btw I have your Hamster render on my desktop ;)
Great little character you have made.

[authentic]

I'm sorry I said chest, i wanted to say chin. :rolleyes: I don't have any problem with chest...You know english and me...


I think I have a small challenge ahead modelling that area due to the proportions of the body.
I want him to be able to walk on his hands like a real monkey but also want to keep his body as small as possible to stay with the original concept.
yet at the same time he has to be able to hold a weapon/shield in a realistic manner :S
Once I get the pesky Helmets out the way I will start fleshing out the torso and maybe if he is good, I will give him some arms and legs :)

[Womgoose]

Ah yeah the chin does look very wrong.

In fact, now you mention it, he doesn't really have one.
When I get home I'll add a small chin and see what he looks like.
If he doesn't suit a physical chin, I will remodel the area so that at the very least, it isn't as flat.

Thanks :)

[Bonzodogboy]

Monkeys rule!
I think that he should have a chin, but I am quite partial to his square head. :)
Nice work Womgoose. :thumbsup:

[Womgoose]

Monkeys rule!
I think that he should have a chin, but I am quite partial to his square head. :)
Nice work Womgoose. :thumbsup:

Thanks Bonzodog.
With luck he will have a chin tonight ;)
I'm just rendering out a shot of the helmet so I will post that soon.
It took a while and it's not perfect but... phew I'm happy to have it done :)

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142938099_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142938099_large.jpg)

Phew...
The base Helmet model is roughed out.
There are lots of problem areas that need sorting but I'm just glad to get it 'almost' done :)

[M477]

Nice one, looking good. The texture for the metal is looking very nice. Will you be changing the red top section to be more like a brush - Roman stylee? I think that would look cool.

Keep it up! :wip:

[Womgoose]

Nice one, looking good. The texture for the metal is looking very nice. Will you be changing the red top section to be more like a brush - Roman stylee? I think that would look cool.

Keep it up! :wip:

Yeah all the textures were created for the render only and will be replaced.
I think the plume will have to be done with displacement.
I've tried cutting it up but have already suffered setbacks.

The Bronze will be similar to what you see but much better once I get more than 30 minutes to do it.

The Monkeys chin will be done tonight and I might attempt the commanders flashy helm :)
So much to do, so little time. I wonder if work will notice if I dont come in for 71 days hehe.


C&C's very welcome as always.

[Bonzodogboy]

This is looking awesome!...
just a question, will you be giving him fur? or will he stay smooth?
not a crit just a query...

and will you be putting sdome filigree's into the ear flaps?

i am liking what i see so far :)

[Womball]

More idiotic suggestions! But it fits the monkey theme. Ear picking, lice removal, tuckus scratching. These would be great things to have the other soldiers do. It can be a commentary on some armies too! Also are there going to be skeleton and zombie monkeys?

[Womgoose]

This is looking awesome!...
just a question, will you be giving him fur? or will he stay smooth?
not a crit just a query...

and will you be putting sdome filigree's into the ear flaps?

i am liking what i see so far :)

Hmm I think he will have to have fur.
I fear the fur because I know it will end up looking like a sweeping brush :)

Yes Filigree erm sure :D (That was me pretending to know what Filigrees are hehe)
Are they the flappy bit on the inside of the ear?


More idiotic suggestions! But it fits the monkey theme. Ear picking, lice removal, tuckus scratching. These would be great things to have the other soldiers do. It can be a commentary on some armies too! Also are there going to be skeleton and zombie monkeys?

I like the suggestions a lot! :D
I will try hard to have all of those poses in the scene :)

Hmm Zombies and Skeleton Monkeys would be so cool, now I need to think up a concept for that lol

Thanks for all the help and suggestions everybody.
Body modelling has started, so I should have more modelling to show soon.
If not I'll work on some more sketch concepts and post those ;)

[scorpion007]

Hi, you're off to a good start, may I suggest staying away from a dead center composition for your final shot? At least for the main character. Put him slightly to the side, with a helmet in is hand for example.
About the woven banding on your sword, perhaps model it on with a few toruses?

[Womgoose]

Hi, you're off to a good start, may I suggest staying away from a dead center composition for your final shot? At least for the main character. Put him slightly to the side, with a helmet in is hand for example.
About the woven banding on your sword, perhaps model it on with a few toruses?

Thanks for the suggestions :)
I will look at making a better composition tonight with the main character in a more pleasing position.
I look forward to attempting the sword banding with a torus model as a base :)

[M477]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142785494_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1142785494_large.jpg)

Looking back at the leader monkey's sword which is very good btw :buttrock: I think you could do with fattening it up a little to make it short and stockey, just like the monkey himself. Basically make it shorter and wider to suit the character better. :p

Hope this helps, Keep up the good work!! :beer:

[Womgoose]

Looking back at the leader monkey's sword which is very good btw :buttrock: I think you could do with fattening it up a little to make it short and stockey, just like the monkey himself. Basically make it shorter and wider to suit the character better. :p

Hope this helps, Keep up the good work!! :beer:

I think you are right.
I'm not 100% sure how wether or not the Commander will be carrying a shield.
Maybe he will be carrying a helmet like Scorpion suggested, or perhaps he will favor a huge 2 handed sword.
Either way, I think (hope) it will be quite easy to scale the sword to the correct proportions if it looks wrong :D

Now I'm imagining a scene where the remaining Legionares are escorting the villagers away from the village before the invading hordes arrive.

[M477]

Now I'm imagining a scene where the remaining Legionares are escorting the villagers away from the village before the invading hordes arrive.

cool :cool: there will therefore be lots of emotion, as I expect they are none too happy about leaving. It should be quite a moving image, I'm looking forward to the concept sketch(es)

:arteest:

[Womgoose]

cool :cool: there will therefore be lots of emotion, as I expect they are none too happy about leaving. It should be quite a moving image, I'm looking forward to the concept sketch(es)

:arteest:

:)
Working on the concepts now.
My Wacom doesn't arrive until Sat - Monday, so until then I will have to make do with Pen/Paper scans :(

Still... the new concept is much nicer to work with than my boring original attempt ;)

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143310984_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143310984_large.jpg)

Concept sketch for a small background scene.
A soldier saying goodbye to his son.

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143323668_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143323668_large.jpg)

More concept detailing of the background activity.
I suppose I'm just delaying now... time to work on the main subject :S

[M477]

Nice work on the sketches! Very emotive, they could almost be their very own 'Journey begins' image! I just hope you are not giving yourself too much to do. Perhaps get one of the last two sketches modelled and presented perfectly and having that as your final piece?? Just a thought, your work is very good, keep it coming! :wip:

[Womgoose]

lol tell me about it ;)
The Wacom turned up this morning so I want to make amends for the nasty Mouse drawn images at the start of my project.
The next image will be the main focal point and I think I will try to cut down the concept and base it around the Commander guy.
Other than that, I'm hoping to have enough excess concept work to keep me going until the competition closes but I have a sneaky feeling I will be spending 2 weeks on Lighting alone hehe.

I'm loving the Tablet though and now I'm actually looking forward to texturing :S

Thanks for all the crits, it's really helping to keep me going - It can get quite lonely in here ;)

[Womball]

I hope your not getting rid of the monkeys! You don't have to go that emotional, although a little wouldn't hurt. The soldier grooming the baby monkey is nice. Little family monkey touches coudl make it moving and funny at the same time.

[Womgoose]

Fear not Mr Womball the Monkeys are here for good :)
The previous sketches were ideas for background scenes but I will only add them if I have loads of spare time (very unlikely lol).

The main composition (no2) is just about done and I'm going to post up a load of colour/mood samples in a minute :)

[Womball]

Heh heh. Mr. Womball. "Its Mr. Womball to you!" Are these compositional color tests?

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143395361_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143395361_large.jpg)

Time to start uploading my concept sketch mood/lighting tests.
Please let me know which one you like the most because I'm sure to choose the worst one on my own :)

All the backgrounds are simple comps using photos/paintings/crops etc and will be scrapped completely for the final work.



COLD
A cold, dark and lonely feel?

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143395700_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143395700_large.jpg)

MORNING
More of a cheery feel to this picture with the sun coming up in the background casting pink shades across the scene.

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143395858_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143395858_large.jpg)

SINISTER

A creepy feel with lots of shadow :)

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143395999_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143395999_large.jpg)

SUMMER
Neutral/boring?

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143396114_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143396114_large.jpg)

WINTER
Very cold, with lots of blues.

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143396187_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143396187_large.jpg)

BACKLIT
Hmm more of an idea than a workable scene.
The idea was to have the scene lit from behind, maybe with torches on the fort.

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143396282_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143396282_large.jpg)

SUNSET
This started out as a sunset colour scheme but I think it has a kind of a storm feel to it.
Slightly sinister and creepy but with warmer colours.

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143396968_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143396968_large.jpg)

...phew all done.
Sorry for the amount of images.

As always, all crits are very welcome.
Please be as brutal as you need because that's the only way I will spot the errors (All im seeing now is pixels hehe)

[dunderdan]

really nice :) I'd go with the third or the sixth one and then add rain to it, that would give the real feel to It I think.

Good luck.

[Womgoose]

really nice :) I'd go with the third or the sixth one and then add rain to it, that would give the real feel to It I think.

Good luck.

Oops I forgot to add numbers to the thumbnail sheet :(
Was that #3 and #6 on the thumbnails or the big pictures? (sorry)

[Womball]

The 5th or 4th, the colour combos work nicely. Your monkeys don't look like those monkeys. As for the composition, I would pull away from the character. I would show some landscape and a hint of the destination (just for experimenting). It feels kind of enclosed and non epic.

[Selina42]

Its an interesting new focal point -but I have to admit that I was so fond of the concept of the troupe of monkeys marching out of the gates which had a very strong tribal vibe to it -i could just imagine them all piling out and being in your face! Looking at the images i could almost hear war-drums in the background! -and you could really capatilaise on the feeling of torchlight and vibrant colours. Conceptually it has elements that remind me of that fabulous TV show Monkey (you know -"aiiiii ieee ieee ieee Tripitaka!" that we all watched as kids -and im still addicted to!), combined with the Lion King and the lemurs from Madagascar -that kind of strength and vibe i mean- while being something very individual and original conceptually. So I'd really like to see you still capitalise on that! -I was also hoping you'd combine it with the image of the commander on the warthog -even though you say you drew those pictures with a mouse they just have tons of character so i truly hope you use them!
I think its great to add in some emotional elements -but I do agree with Womball and think it would be good to combine emotional elements with more humourous ones.
Having said that I'm a big fan of this work and i'm sure that whichever direction you go in will be splendid!

[M477]

the last big one (or the bottom left) for te win!

[Womgoose]

The 5th or 4th, the colour combos work nicely. Your monkeys don't look like those monkeys. As for the composition, I would pull away from the character. I would show some landscape and a hint of the destination (just for experimenting). It feels kind of enclosed and non epic.

Ah my 3D model monkey was proving quite tricky to draw in different poses, so I decided to use a simplified version just for the composition. He will remain the same as the 3D one though ;)
I see what you mean about how the scene now looks enclosed and I do feel myself wondering if it is the right choice.
I think I will take the colour work from these and try to make it all feel a bit more epic in scale (combine it with the original concept in 3d).
Thanks again for the crits Mr womball, always appreciated. :)

Its an interesting new focal point -but I have to admit that I was so fond of the concept of the troupe of monkeys marching out of the gates which had a very strong tribal vibe to it -i could just imagine them all piling out and being in your face! Looking at the images i could almost hear war-drums in the background! -and you could really capatilaise on the feeling of torchlight and vibrant colours. Conceptually it has elements that remind me of that fabulous TV show Monkey (you know -"aiiiii ieee ieee ieee Tripitaka!" that we all watched as kids -and im still addicted to!), combined with the Lion King and the lemurs from Madagascar -that kind of strength and vibe i mean- while being something very individual and original conceptually. So I'd really like to see you still capitalise on that! -I was also hoping you'd combine it with the image of the commander on the warthog -even though you say you drew those pictures with a mouse they just have tons of character so i truly hope you use them!
I think its great to add in some emotional elements -but I do agree with Womball and think it would be good to combine emotional elements with more humourous ones.
Having said that I'm a big fan of this work and i'm sure that whichever direction you go in will be splendid!

This is exactly how I'm feeling :)
I was trying to cut the scene down to something more manageable but to be honest, I think there is just as much work needed in this small composition as there was in the original.
I would still need to make 3 different monkeys and then rig/light and texture them.

I like the original as well but was worried that it didn't fit the journey theme too well :S
I think I will plod on with 3D and see which colour/mood theme people like, then make it all epic like the original :)
(Then I will probably run out of time and not finish but have fun in the process yay! lol)

the last big one (or the bottom left) for te win!
That one reminds me of the Gladiator DvD cover ;)

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143404514_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143404514_large.jpg)

Now with added numbers :)

[makaron]

nr 4, it´s daytime and still are the couple sad... that´s kind of emotional or for really go with the sad felling, nr 6... nr 1 is nice too.. hmmm... all those hard choices.. :)

[Womgoose]

nr 4, it´s daytime and still are the couple sad... that´s kind of emotional or for really go with the sad felling, nr 6... nr 1 is nice too.. hmmm... all those hard choices.. :)

I hate making these choices because I want to make them all :'(
I need some Guinea Pig helpers who are trained in the art of Max and Photoshop.
Hmm I wonder where I can get some of those :)

[Lovas]

I can see an excellent concept here. Besides the obvious good feeling and talent for stylisation and for character work, also impressive technical background that can be seen in the test renders of details. Not to mention the very good proposed composition of elements inside the picture.
I have no doubt this illustration is going to settle high.:thumbsup:

[makaron]

I need some Guinea Pig helpers who are trained in the art of Max and Photoshop.
Hmm I wonder where I can get some of those :)

haha .. well I have two, they are trained in photoshop and a tiny bit of C4D ... :D and now when I ask them, they say... we kind of growing found of nr 1, he have knight kind of clothes and that big castle goes very well with that :)

and they wanna add: a peanuttree must be heaven...

[Womgoose]

I can see an excellent concept here. Besides the obvious good feeling and talent for stylisation and for character work, also impressive technical background that can be seen in the test renders of details. Not to mention the very good proposed composition of elements inside the picture.
I have no doubt this illustration is going to settle high.:thumbsup:

Very kind words, thank you.
I will try very hard to realise my concept, or at least come close to the concept that is in my head :)
I won't be able to produce a final image up to the quality of yourself and many others on this site but I am enjoying the challenge and the good feeling the community brings.
It's also great to be surrounded by such talent so that when I eventually do get stuck I have 2000 masters to aid me :)

haha .. well I have two, they are trained in photoshop and a tiny bit of C4D ... :D and now when I ask them, they say... we kind of growing found of nr 1, he have knight kind of clothes and that big castle goes very well with that :)

and they wanna add: a peanuttree must be heaven...

LOL!
I never knew Guinea Pigs liked castles.
I wonder if your Guinea Pig knows a Max trained Guinea Pig hmm :)
I bet they like monkeys and would love a flying monkey lol

[hhssuu]

Cute idea and nice work so far, i think i quite like the number 3 and 6 from you colour tests

[Glosep]

Hi Lee, My favourite image is the number 2. I also like the background from no. 3 and 5.
Keep going!

[Womgoose]

Cute idea and nice work so far, i think i quite like the number 3 and 6 from you colour tests

Thanks Hhssuu, glad you like it so far :)
Your Whale image was spectacular and your Journey image looks like it will be just as good.

Hi Lee, My favourite image is the number 2. I also like the background from no. 3 and 5.
Keep going!

Thanks for popping by to see my work Snowman :)
A really cool idea you have for yours, the landscape looks immense and the journey certainly looks epic :)
Love it so far.

[Womgoose]

Progress report:

Stuck in work so I can't post updates but last night/this morning I managed to finally 'finish' the Monkeys head.
He now has a chin and droopier jowls as well as a more defined snout area.
I've started work on pieces of his armour and have just about finished the body, although to be honest I'm not exactly happy with it and think I have added too much detail for what is required.
If I eventually do have 20+ of these guys on screen, the added detail could kill my PC... hmm decisions decisions.

With luck I will manage to get some time off work ;)
If so, I will update the modelling side of this with more images and concepts.

Any more people out there who want to help me choose a colour/mood scheme... the more the merrier.

Anyway, back to work for me, cya soon :(

[M477]

You know you could render the scene in stages to help your machine out a bit. You could render particles/foreground/background all sepparately and then composite all the elements together?


Just a thought :)

[Womgoose]

You know you could render the scene in stages to help your machine out a bit. You could render particles/foreground/background all sepparately and then composite all the elements together?


Just a thought :)

I really do need to set some time aside to learn that.
My machine will be ok with the full scene but I like to tweak forever, so the quicker the render the better (At least for a while).

[ChewyPixels]

Hmm, hard to say but I think I prefer number 4. Looks like you have more votes for some of the others. Regardless, good luck with whichever one you choose.

Great concept, btw! :)

[Womgoose]

Hmm, hard to say but I think I prefer number 4. Looks like you have more votes for some of the others. Regardless, good luck with whichever one you choose.

Great concept, btw! :)

Hi Jedi-Juice, thank you for popping by and taking a look at my work - much appreciated :)
Another vote for #4 then. That's my girlfriends favourite as well ;)

[JackZhang]

first thank you for visiting my post.

i couldn't make up my mind between 3 and 6 since they both good for a sad mood.

[Womgoose]

first thank you for visiting my post.

i couldn't make up my mind between 3 and 6 since they both good for a sad mood.

Thank you Jack.
Love your work so far, thanks for checking in here :)

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143549501_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143549501_large.jpg)

Finally finished the sword modelling.
Pretty happy with the new handle but I still couldn't figure out a way to do Woven banding - shame :(
Textures next :)

[M477]

Nice sword it looks very cool and shiney, I'm liking the texturing - still think it needs shortening and fattening for the monkies though :p

As for the handle, give me a shout, I've had a go here and I have worked out a quick and accurate way of modelling the binding

:buttrock:

[Womgoose]

Nice sword it looks very cool and shiney, I'm liking the texturing - still think it needs shortening and fattening for the monkies though :p

As for the handle, give me a shout, I've had a go here and I have worked out a quick and accurate way of modelling the binding

:buttrock:

Awesome thanks m8 :)
I'll post the wires up in a minute. Just waiting for an updated render of the work I have been doing on the Monkey atm... it's already sloooow lol.

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143563822_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143563822_large.jpg)

Small update on the modelling of the monkey.
Body roughed in.
Skirt roughed in.
Arm armour roughed in.

So much to do, so much fun :)

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143568420_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143568420_large.jpg)

Image detailing the full extent of my handles modelling errors as promised.

[Womball]

Now that's a sword! I think the blade could be much shorter. Like half the size of the hilt. And very wide. Its more comic that way. He looks like he would fall over if tried to stand! Big head, tiny skinny body. You might want to try to create lots of curves in the form. It would take it closer to the drawn images.

[Womgoose]

Now that's a sword! I think the blade could be much shorter. Like half the size of the hilt. And very wide. Its more comic that way.

That's two votes for a shorter/fatter sword now.
I will get to work on it soon ;)

He looks like he would fall over if tried to stand! Big head, tiny skinny body. You might want to try to create lots of curves in the form. It would take it closer to the drawn images.

Ahh proportions hehe, erm I have no idea what to do in terms of headsize.
To be honest I think it looks totally wrong as it is now, so I have to do something.
I will flesh out the skinny body soon as you suggested and then see if I can find a good balance between big head/skinny body lol :)

The last 8 hours(?) have been consumed by eyeball shader, iris textures and a lighting rig that follows them... omg where did the time go :S
Monkey almost has grown-up eyes now :)

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143603232_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143603232_large.jpg)

Too many hours spent on these :S
2048x2048 iris texture map hand painted over 24 layers.
I might adjust the mapping to show more black towards the outer edge of the iris.

Still... not now because it's 4:33AM YIKES!

[KangarooMan]

Hey Lee, excellent looking work! :applause: You are doing a great job on the modeling and texturing, and your theme is really up my ally. As for the color comp I especially enjoy #3,4 and 7. Keep up the good work! :thumbsup:

Matt :)

[Womgoose]

Hey Lee, excellent looking work! :applause: You are doing a great job on the modeling and texturing, and your theme is really up my ally. As for the color comp I especially enjoy #3,4 and 7. Keep up the good work! :thumbsup:

Matt :)

Hi Matt, really glad you like it.
Thankyou for taking time to check out my work :)

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143623849_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143623849_large.jpg)

Modified the sword to make it shorter, wider and more cartoon-like for Womball and M477 ;)

[frozenspell]

hey there..

kewl cute character.. cant wait to see the expression stage. u use max ya?

[Womgoose]

hey there..

kewl cute character.. cant wait to see the expression stage. u use max ya?

Hi Frozenspell :)
I'm glad you like him.
I can't wait to rig his head/face to get some expressions too - I think he will look funny :)
Yeah I'm using Max ;)

[M477]

Wahey! The sword is a much better shape now ;) Just need to fix the reflective surface and you're done :p

The eyes are very cool, :eek: well worth the time spent!

I agree the body is a bit weak looking, I'd suggest a pot belly the size of the head with skinny arms, big hands and feet and short bowed out legs. Maybe a slight haunch like real monkies too?

Good work! :wip:

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143631219_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143631219_large.jpg)

I'm having problems with Mental Ray GI/FG.
The eyes look like they are using SSS and are showing a translucent red across the whites.
This isn't happening with GI off and I can't find anything that would be casting that much red on the eyes alone :S

Anyhow... the picture highlights the problem and acts as a small update on the skin work I've been doing yay! :)
(not that much skin will be visible on the hairy critter)

[Womgoose]

Wahey! The sword is a much better shape now ;) Just need to fix the reflective surface and you're done :p

The eyes are very cool, :eek: well worth the time spent!

I agree the body is a bit weak looking, I'd suggest a pot belly the size of the head with skinny arms, big hands and feet and short bowed out legs. Maybe a slight haunch like real monkies too?

Good work! :wip:

Howdy buddy, I was beginning to think you had fell off the world ;)
The eyes are bugging me still because they are like little chameleons that change everytime I tweak a light/model etc.
Havent got as much done in my 2 days off as I would have liked and I'm still avoiding the hands/feet lol
Gonna go get an hour or so sleep I think and maybe I will then have the motivation/courage to do them.

[Bonzodogboy]

The shape of the head is looking much better Womgoose,
I like the fact that you have retained the square feel of the original model, but the facial features are coming along veyr nicely.
Good work :)

[Womball]

I don't think you really need veins in the eyes. But if you must have them, make them very very tiny (1-3 pixels wide). The red needs to be subtler.

[makaron]

LOL! I never knew Guinea Pigs liked castles.
I wonder if your Guinea Pig knows a Max trained Guinea Pig hmm :)
I bet they like monkeys and would love a flying monkey lol

they love grand houses... and they have put the word out on the site GP-Talk about a Max-user... and a flying monkey should be a nice friend, he can pick down peanuts :p

and this moneky is cute... gonna be fun to see him in fur :)

[Crin]

I don't think you really need veins in the eyes. But if you must have them, make them very very tiny (1-3 pixels wide). The red needs to be subtler.

If you read the post he just made the red in the eyes is not intended, or at least not to that degree.

Is it possible that the extra redness is coming from the small amount of red you have on the eyeball texturemap bouncing off the inside of the glossy layer?

[Crin]

Oh and I forgot to say, love your modelling style!

[Womgoose]

The shape of the head is looking much better Womgoose,
I like the fact that you have retained the square feel of the original model, but the facial features are coming along veyr nicely.
Good work :)

Thanks m8 :)
I'm at the point now where I think I need to do some further concepts for his face.
I never really went into much detail and now I'm looking at it wondering what to do but not wanting to just start cutting lol.
Atm I'm banging my head on the wall rendering out fur tests... such fun ;)

I don't think you really need veins in the eyes. But if you must have them, make them very very tiny (1-3 pixels wide). The red needs to be subtler.

I was a bit lazy and went with a white base colour and added a fresnal falloff to pale pink procedural texture for the eye whites.
The eye components (iris, cornea etc etc) are all modelled seperately for realism so I have to texture them all and so far ive only done the iris :(
Eventually I will get around to texturing the white of the eye with small veins and I will take your advice and use tiny ones :D
I think the red was being cast or recieved from an object with GI turned on because it almost vanishes (fresnal aside) when I disable it :S
puzzling...


they love grand houses... and they have put the word out on the site GP-Talk about a Max-user... and a flying monkey should be a nice friend, he can pick down peanuts :p

and this moneky is cute... gonna be fun to see him in fur :)
Oooh I have a mini treat for you :D
I've been tinkering with fur this night and have had somne funny results hehe.
I will post them in 10 minutes ;)


Thanks as always for the ongoing comments, it helps so much when you know people are watching and caring :D

[Womgoose]

If you read the post he just made the red in the eyes is not intended, or at least not to that degree.

Is it possible that the extra redness is coming from the small amount of red you have on the eyeball texturemap bouncing off the inside of the glossy layer?

Hmm yeah very possible.
After work tomorrow I will hunt down the pesky red and eliminate it or at least try to stop it spreading onto the eye.
Thanks for the help :)

Oh and I forgot to say, love your modelling style!
Thank you so much. :D
Monkey says thank you as well ;)

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143675641_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143675641_large.jpg)

Hehe this ones just for fun - one to add to the outtakes.
I was messing around with fur and well... it kind of went wrong ;)

[Womgoose]

oops my bad :)

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143675813_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143675813_large.jpg)

This is where I'm at with the fur so far.
It's taking a long time to tweak and fit around the helmet.
the colour is just temporary and I will eventually decide on the fur shades and make a colour map but for now it will do.

Well that's enough for one night, back to work in the morning so I'm off to bed.
Night ;)

[Womball]

This looks much better. The eyes look perfect here! I kind of like the crazy wolfman look. Hehe, but this haircut is probably much easier to get a helmut on. For the hair strands, do you have the ability to use ansiostropic shaders on it? Also when working with hair, I find that using ramps or gradients that control opacity look really nice.

[danielcestari]

Good work Lee. I like your style!


:thumbsup:

[Bonzodogboy]

hehehe this looks like my dad :)
I hope you don't mind that I played with your monkey Womgoose. :)
But I liked both your fur renders and thought i would put this up as a suggestion...
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/1909/womgoose9ha.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Womgoose]

This looks much better. The eyes look perfect here! I kind of like the crazy wolfman look. Hehe, but this haircut is probably much easier to get a helmut on. For the hair strands, do you have the ability to use ansiostropic shaders on it? Also when working with hair, I find that using ramps or gradients that control opacity look really nice.

I'm using the Max8 fur/hair thing - I've read that it's based on Shave and a Haircut.
It has map channels on all the settings but I don't think it has the ability to use anisotropic shaders :(
To be honest my experience with it is limited to yesterday mainly and a few hours mre just messing around.
I will spend tonight messing with it and see if I can find out a bit more about it.
hehe I like the wolfman one as well ;) (maybe I can find a place for a crazy wolf-monkey and some monkeys with long moustaches/beards lol.


Good work Lee. I like your style!
:thumbsup:

Thanks daniel, glad you like it.
Thank you for checking out my work :)

hehehe this looks like my dad :)
I hope you don't mind that I played with your monkey Womgoose. :)
But I liked both your fur renders and thought i would put this up as a suggestion...
http://www25.brinkster.com/artdroids/images/womgoose.jpg

I don't mind at all m8 :)
For some reason my home PC won't display any attached images on this forum, so I will have to wait until I get to work to see what you did lol.

[makaron]

awww. what a furry cute little handsome guy... :) the suggestion from Bonzodogboy seems to be a good idea...

[Womgoose]

LOL that's awesome :D

I'm at work now so I can see the image at last.
I will work hard tonight to get it looking like that ;)

I figure each monkey can have a different hairstyle, so expect to see wild ones in there hehe

[M477]

Oooh yeah, the chimp has hair! I know you never used hair before this project so to get it looking that good is very well done indeedy! :applause:

[Womgoose]

Oooh yeah, the chimp has hair! I know you never used hair before this project so to get it looking that good is very well done indeedy! :applause:

Thanks m8 :)
Yeah the hair is quite a challenge.
One misclick and I find Max trying to allocate 6Gb of Ram and then crashing hehe.
Hopefully I will eventually get it looking good ;)

[freddylierman]

Monkey's own !!
Nice concept, and great design on the character.
Keep it up mate!

[Womgoose]

Monkey's own !!
Nice concept, and great design on the character.
Keep it up mate!

Thank you sir :)
/bow

[Nothingness]

hey womgoose,

i didn't had the time to read like everything but i got like the big picture.
Some comments:
* the chest of the character: i think the middle, where the 2 chest muscles come together, looks a bit too sharp for the character of the face. (my oppinion though)
* about the background: i like 4 and 6 a lot. But how about a mixture of 5 and 6. It's a bit like what i am going to do with my background - much more complicated - and make the sun brake trough at the left side, while at the right side there are thunderclouds coming. To make it a bit more scary :twisted:
* don't know about the problems you're having with the gi on them. I use maya and there are ways to give the eyes othere preferences so you don't get this problem. On the other hand, while the eyes are extremely big, why not make them extremely glossy. I also would make the iris some smaller to give the eye more of the green. I also have green eyes to GO GO GO GO. You could also put in some stripes of yellow to brighten them up. Not to much though.

* the hair looks unshadowed so i'm a bit in the dark to where this is going. But i suppose it will all fall in place. Can't help you here much since i don't use max (powerMac lover)


Keep up the style. I'm loving it.

[Womgoose]

hey womgoose,
i didn't had the time to read like everything but i got like the big picture.
Some comments:
* the chest of the character: i think the middle, where the 2 chest muscles come together, looks a bit too sharp for the character of the face. (my oppinion though)

Very true :)
The body will be totally hidden under the armour but I think I will go ahead and model it just for the practise and to have a totally complete model to be proud of :D


* about the background: i like 4 and 6 a lot. But how about a mixture of 5 and 6. It's a bit like what i am going to do with my background - much more complicated - and make the sun brake trough at the left side, while at the right side there are thunderclouds coming. To make it a bit more scary :twisted:

Yeah, I think I would also love to have it raining slightly to add even more to the mood.
(I am concerned how my PC will cope with loads of fur, reflections, rain and GI :( )
I think I might need to skip GI and mayb SSS because of the amount of fur I will have on show.
Unless it can all be done with Compositing that is ;)


*On the other hand, while the eyes are extremely big, why not make them extremely glossy. I also would make the iris some smaller to give the eye more of the green. I also have green eyes to GO GO GO GO. You could also put in some stripes of yellow to brighten them up. Not to much though.


Very good idea.
I will rig the pupils so I can expand/Contract them like real eyes :)


* the hair looks unshadowed so i'm a bit in the dark to where this is going. But i suppose it will all fall in place. Can't help you here much since i don't use max (powerMac lover)

Keep up the style. I'm loving it.

Messing around with the hair right now.
I think because I have lots of hair in the scene (10+ monkeys and boars) I will need to cover as much as possible with clothing/armour to cut down on render time.

Updates soon ;)
Thanks so much for the crits/help :)

[Nothingness]

i think it's best to try as much as possible in several layers and composite them. Like the rain and so. You could also do characters and their shadows seperate from the background. But i will need to experiment with that also. I'll have so much detail that it will be hell for me too.

But to keep things light, when i render with mental ray, i let the smoothing of my objects be done while rendering. Then you just have the lowpoly in your viewport and when you hit render it will come out smooth.
Only problem is that everything needs to be quads of you are gettinh weird stuff.
cheers

[Womgoose]

i think it's best to try as much as possible in several layers and composite them. Like the rain and so. You could also do characters and their shadows seperate from the background. But i will need to experiment with that also. I'll have so much detail that it will be hell for me too.


I'm dreading it ;)

[Nothingness]

you could experiment with trying to render the hair seperatly. I think this would to much in your render time AND comfort. You could then composite them in photoshop and use some small filters to smoothen them in the image. Or not :banghead: :argh:

At this way you can use mutliple GI and FG settings to optimise render time. for example: the characters will need more detail than the background.

In maya you could even render the occulation with mental ray and use as a map of shadow layer in your textures. Best thing even is that you can edit them and correctivly paint them. Then you won't even need mental ray at end render time.
Altough you need a lot of experimenting and experience to do this thing.

[Womgoose]

you could experiment with trying to render the hair seperatly. I think this would to much in your render time AND comfort. You could then composite them in photoshop and use some small filters to smoothen them in the image. Or not :banghead: :argh:

At this way you can use mutliple GI and FG settings to optimise render time. for example: the characters will need more detail than the background.

In maya you could even render the occulation with mental ray and use as a map of shadow layer in your textures. Best thing even is that you can edit them and correctivly paint them. Then you won't even need mental ray at end render time.
Altough you need a lot of experimenting and experience to do this thing.


I will need to learn how to do all of this because it looks like the only way to render my imagined image.

Assuming the monkeys have 20,000? hairs.
and maybe 30,000 for the Boars.
That could be about 260,000 hairs to render... oh my :(

I need to render those hairs and hair shadows seperately then lol.

Thanks for all your help Nico :)

[Nothingness]

tell me what you're using.
3d max with a special hair plugin?
what u should do is render only what objects contain fur or block it. Meaning what is in front of the fur.
All those objects could use a material - like the surface shader in maya - that isn't rendered but keeps the alpha channel it's transparency. Get it?
bad description.

in the end, you have the hair on some color - depending the background of the camera - but the alpha channel is very important. becouse this is needed to put it ontop of you image without the fur. This way the render only renders the things it needs and the fur is the hardest of em all. But here you wouldn't need the GI or FG. so you can render this at fastest or best settings.

Tell me what isn't clear. But i can't help too much becouse i don't really know max.

[Womgoose]

tell me what you're using.
3d max with a special hair plugin?
what u should do is render only what objects contain fur or block it. Meaning what is in front of the fur.
All those objects could use a material - like the surface shader in maya - that isn't rendered but keeps the alpha channel it's transparency. Get it?
bad description.

in the end, you have the hair on some color - depending the background of the camera - but the alpha channel is very important. becouse this is needed to put it ontop of you image without the fur. This way the render only renders the things it needs and the fur is the hardest of em all. But here you wouldn't need the GI or FG. so you can render this at fastest or best settings.

Tell me what isn't clear. But i can't help too much becouse i don't really know max.

I'm using 3DS Max 8 which has a hair/fur feature now.
I believe it is based on Joe alters 'shave and a haircut' program.

I will run some tests now and try to do what you just said :)
So... Render the object that the fur is on but make the object transparent.
and only render the objects that are in front of the hair.

So essentially I should end up with a render that has the hair and hair shadows only with an alpha as well?

[KangarooMan]

Hey excellent work with the hair, it adds another dimension to the little guy! :thumbsup: The crazy hair version looks too cute. :p

Matt :)

[Nothingness]

didn't got what i wanted but anyway, here it is:

i used a sphere and added 520.000 pieces of grass on it. 260.000 on the side you can see :twisted:

::::this one is with no shading and rendered on 28 seconds:::: (http://users.skynet.be/nothingness/3idee/fur_28sec.jpg)

::::this one is with shadows on the fur, but not on the object. Couldn't fix this :argh: took 30 sec :::::: (http://users.skynet.be/nothingness/3idee/fur_30sec.jpg)


this is not to scratch your eyes out, but it's to show you the fur in maya. Been standard for a long time now.

[Womgoose]

Hey excellent work with the hair, it adds another dimension to the little guy! :thumbsup: The crazy hair version looks too cute. :p

Matt :)

Thanks Matt, I'm really glad you like him :)
To be honest I think I really prefer the crazy hair one as well... just much more funny and fitting with the whole style.
I think it will have to stay but be squeezed into the helmet like bonzodogboy suggested :)




didn't got what i wanted but anyway, here it is:

i used a sphere and added 520.000 pieces of grass on it. 260.000 on the side you can see :twisted:

::::this one is with no shading and rendered on 28 seconds:::: (http://users.skynet.be/nothingness/3idee/fur_28sec.jpg)

::::this one is with shadows on the fur, but not on the object. Couldn't fix this :argh: took 30 sec :::::: (http://users.skynet.be/nothingness/3idee/fur_30sec.jpg)


this is not to scratch your eyes out, but it's to show you the fur in maya. Been standard for a long time now.

That's awesome and only 28 seconds!
I will try the test in Max (and pray it doesn't crash or blow the world up lol)

[Nothingness]

i hope so for you womgoose!
if your computer blows up you'll need to wait to proceed the challenge.
would be a big bugger

[Womgoose]

Well.. 30 seconds in and it isn't at 5% :(
*Kicks 3DS Max*

EDIT: It took about 5:30 minutes but looks almost identical to your top one.
Shame about the render length :(

[Nothingness]

what render did u use?
Standard renderer or the mental ray?

if i use mental ray i have complex shadows but it takes a few minutes as well.

[Womgoose]

what render did u use?
Standard renderer or the mental ray?

if i use mental ray i have complex shadows but it takes a few minutes as well.

For that test I used the standard but for Monkey i'm using Mental Ray because of the skin shader :)

BTW now that I look, my hairs are not casting shadows either hmm (They do in the tutorial video how strange)

[Nothingness]

are you using raytraced shadows? Normally they need to have shadow.

about the standard render and mental ray:

what i ment was: render your guy in mental ray without the fur. Then you should render the hair only in the standard renderer and make sure you get a good transparency. Meaning that if you use this transparency you can put this ontop of another image.
it won't give a good result at first, but in photoshop you can do some tricks to blend them together. (trough painting, effects, color-correction etc)

Need an example on this? I'd be glad to demonstrate this quickly in maya. I could mail the results and layers in a zip.

cheers

[Womgoose]

are you using raytraced shadows? Normally they need to have shadow.

about the standard render and mental ray:

what i ment was: render your guy in mental ray without the fur. Then you should render the hair only in the standard renderer and make sure you get a good transparency. Meaning that if you use this transparency you can put this ontop of another image.
it won't give a good result at first, but in photoshop you can do some tricks to blend them together. (trough painting, effects, color-correction etc)

Need an example on this? I'd be glad to demonstrate this quickly in maya. I could mail the results and layers in a zip.

cheers

I think I understand.
I did some tests and it worked ok but I had one problem.
I rendered the head fine and then made it invisible to the camera but able to receive shadows.
Then I rendered only the hair.
Problem is the render shows the hairs on the back of the head.

I think I have missed a setting somewhere. The head needs to be an 'occlusion?' object.
I will keep searching but for now I must sleep.
Need to be up at 4:30am yikes! lol

Thank you so much for guiding me on the right path - I will read up on this technique when I get home tomorrow :)

Night night :D

[Nothingness]

yeah, have some sleep. I don't need to get to werk so i just continue till i get tires. Thats maybe around 2 or 3 in the night.

In max there should also be a material that doesn't render, blocks all that is begind it and that can receive shadows. This could also be disabled so that it doesn't receive them. They use this a lot when rendering a 3d object on a photo or a video. This is mostly used to get the shadow with a transparency and deformed by a shape.

if you don't find it, let me know and i'll have a quick search. For now i'll continue modeling because i'm posting to much.

cheers

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143753528_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143753528_large.jpg)

I couldn't leave you all without showing the small amount of progress I have made.
Yes I think the long hair is here to stay for a while YAY! :D

I think it will need a lot of trimming to get the helmet on but for now we can all laugh at monkeys hairdo ;)

Thanks for all your help so far... night

[Womgoose]

In max there should also be a material that doesn't render, blocks all that is begind it and that can receive shadows. This could also be disabled so that it doesn't receive them. They use this a lot when rendering a 3d object on a photo or a video. This is mostly used to get the shadow with a transparency and deformed by a shape.

cheers

I found a few options to affect models by not making them visible and such but will have a look for the material tonight, thanks again ;)

[KangarooMan]

Hey Lee, I am glad to hear you will be sticking with the fuzzy wild hair! The update looks great! :applause:

Matt :)

[BAMU]

hi Womgoose :), nice ideea and character so far, keep it up, and don't forget to make him some nostrils ;), waiting to see more of the character

[centavrus]

very cute!:)

[EliAbramovitch]

great grid for the head. maybe the hairs should be a little shorter.

[Womgoose]

Hey Lee, I am glad to hear you will be sticking with the fuzzy wild hair! The update looks great!
Matt
Really glad you like it Matt, thanks again for checking him out. :)

hi Womgoose :), nice ideea and character so far, keep it up, and don't forget to make him some nostrils ;), waiting to see more of the character
Ahh nostrils, I'll try to get them modelled today.
Thanks for viewing my work.

very cute!:)
Thank you Centavrus :)

great grid for the head. maybe the hairs should be a little shorter.
Hehe it is a bit wild isn't it.
I hope to have many monkeys in the scene with different hairstyles at the end.
Long moustaches, beards, bald? the works. :)

[M477]

Nice work mate, I'm liking the hair :) keep it going :thumbsup:

[Womgoose]

Nice work mate, I'm liking the hair :) keep it going :thumbsup:

Glad you like it Matt :)
however... I am no longer enjoying tweaking the pesky hair... it's time to leave it for now, move on and get a fresh perspective at a later date.
The final render is going now, so I will post it up when it is done.
I'm 60% happy with the hair as it is and I just hope it looks great when all the maps are done, else I can forsee lots more tweak > render > tweak > render days ahead for me YIKES!

Anyway, once I've posted the render I'm going to move on to finishing the body, texturing and rigging.

YAY! ;)

[Womball]

Final render? Or final hair render for now? And how long do these hair renders take?

[Womgoose]

Final render? Or final hair render for now? And how long do these hair renders take?
Just final render for now.
I can't take it anymore and my view of the hair is being distorted because i've been staring at it for so long.

However... having said that, I just found an option to render hairs with Mental Ray primitives and it is looking quite good.
I can't tweak the hair forever though, more models to make, textures to draw, so I will come back to it when the scene is more complete ;)

Oh, the renders take about 5 to 10 minutes each.

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143997215_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1143997215_large.jpg)

This is the last hair tweak for now.
I switched over to the Mental Ray hair engine for this one, so the render time was about 15 minutes but I think it has given the hair a new depth that wasn't there in the other tests.
The colour needs tweaking but I haven't even started the texture maps yet, so I'm not too fussed.

On to the modelling of those hands then yay... :S

[ChewyPixels]

Hair tweaks coming along nicely. I'm sure it'll look best when you have him finally textured.

Let's see some more! :)

[M477]

Yeah, the hair looks much better! It's less like brush strokes :arteest:

I think if you textured the face dark brown (almost black) where the hair originates and made the extremeties of the face fade into pink then the hair would look more natural on the face of the monkey. Also, might be worth adding a grey stubble like hair clump on his chin? Looks ace though, I'm liking it a lot.

... Now, see if mine has finished rendering after 4 hours :cry:

[Womgoose]

Hair tweaks coming along nicely. I'm sure it'll look best when you have him finally textured.

Let's see some more! :)

Thanks Jedi-Juice, really glad you like him. Thanks for popping by.
Your work is looking great btw, I'll be sure to pop over and post (If I haven't already.. hmm can't remember if I have or not lol)
Yeah, the hair looks much better! It's less like brush strokes :arteest:

I think if you textured the face dark brown (almost black) where the hair originates and made the extremeties of the face fade into pink then the hair would look more natural on the face of the monkey. Also, might be worth adding a grey stubble like hair clump on his chin? Looks ace though, I'm liking it a lot.

... Now, see if mine has finished rendering after 4 hours :cry:

Cheers m8 :)
I really want to go ahead and texture him up but I must resist! :(
Moved onto the body and decided to start from scratch on it.
I had added a lot of detail for back muscles and such that just wasn't needed.
90% of the body will be covered with armour, the remaining 10% will be covered in fur so why the heck I modelled muscles I don't know.

I want to rough out forms so that the hair contours are correct but that is all.
The rest of the detail will be on folds for animation only.

4 hours! OMG
Did you tick the box that says [Render takes forever] otherwise known as global illumination?

[se7enthcin]

I had a thought. You might want to texture the areas where the hair is applied with a Hair like texture map. A brown with streaks or something to mask the roots of the hair a little bit. Nice work. :)

[M477]

I had added a lot of detail for back muscles and such that just wasn't needed.
90% of the body will be covered with armour, the remaining 10% will be covered in fur so why the heck I modelled muscles I don't know.

I want to rough out forms so that the hair contours are correct but that is all.
The rest of the detail will be on folds for animation only.

4 hours! OMG
Did you tick the box that says [Render takes forever] otherwise known as global illumination?

Ha ha, trying out that Zbrush then? You're right about just getting form. Bear in mind that the fur will make the body bigger so compensate a little for that.

and 4 hours.. No didn't tick that box just need more RAM - and less polys! Good luck when you have all your monkeys in the scene and click - render :D

[Womgoose]

I had a thought. You might want to texture the areas where the hair is applied with a Hair like texture map. A brown with streaks or something to mask the roots of the hair a little bit. Nice work. :)

Hiya Andrew :)
Thanks for the tips.
Eventually it 'should' all be blended together with one texture map across the head like a real monkey.
I just hope my skills are up for the texturing test.
It will need to seamlessly blend between two seperate objects, so I'm a bit worried :(

Hmm I wonder if I could attach the two objects, map them, texture them then detach them... probably not but I might give it a try.
Pesky hair objects :S

Thanks ever so much for popping over to offer your advice :)

[Womgoose]

Ha ha, trying out that Zbrush then? You're right about just getting form. Bear in mind that the fur will make the body bigger so compensate a little for that.

and 4 hours.. No didn't tick that box just need more RAM - and less polys! Good luck when you have all your monkeys in the scene and click - render :D

Unfortunately not :S
I modelled all the detail in Max after I realised ZBrush doesn't like anything under 50 billion polys lol. Bit of a waste of time but a lesson learnt ;)
Hehe, when it comes to the final render I'm going to steal the girlfreinds PC as a node yay!

[Nothingness]

hey womgoose,

i go and have some fun, come back, and there are so many posts here. Been having fun he?
The new hair thing looks great. Don't know if you seen my last test, but i was having fun also :applause:

my time is up and tomorrow i'll be working again :argh:
from then on i'll have some time from now and then.

curious how i'm going to progress

keep up the good work man. Do something else to keep your mind clear. I did so today, but because i drank too much booze, i'll have to wait for tomorrow.

cheert

[Womgoose]

hey womgoose,

i go and have some fun, come back, and there are so many posts here. Been having fun he?
The new hair thing looks great. Don't know if you seen my last test, but i was having fun also :applause:

my time is up and tomorrow i'll be working again :argh:
from then on i'll have some time from now and then.

curious how i'm going to progress

keep up the good work man. Do something else to keep your mind clear. I did so today, but because i drank too much booze, i'll have to wait for tomorrow.

cheert

Hi Nico,
I've been taking it pretty easy too.
I was away on Friday and pretty much slept most of Saturday, so it is good to be back modelling :D
Glad you like the hairtests so far, they have been taking up so much of my time.
I'm off to work now, but tonight I will clear my mind with a bit more body modelling yay :D

Your updates are looking great, your clothing folds and models are perfect and the hair tests are looking great!
Keep up the great work, cant wait to see more :D

[Tigrenka]

Hi, Lee! Your idea is great. Fur test is good. I have only one question: will you texture the nose and the area around eyes and mouth?

Good luck.

Olga

[Womgoose]

Hi, Lee! Your idea is great. Fur test is good. I have only one question: will you texture the nose and the area around eyes and mouth?

Good luck.

Olga

Hi Olga,
Glad you like my work so far :D
Yeah I will be fully texturing the head, hair and all the blends, specular, reflection maps etc etc (not looking forward to it though hehe).

I will do my best to blend the texture between the face and the hair object.

[asbassie]

Nice. I really dig the style too. Go monkey! Go!

[Gunilla]

Very cute monkey - and the hair works fine, well done :thumbsup:

[Womgoose]

Nice. I really dig the style too. Go monkey! Go!
Thank you Asbassie, really glad you like him :)
Go Monkey! hehe

Very cute monkey - and the hair works fine, well done :thumbsup:
Thanks Gunilla, it took a lot longer than I anticipated ;)

EDIT: Small update on what I'm doing.
The hands and body are blocked out and just need the verts tweaking into place because the mesh is a bit messy at the minute.
I will try to get an update posted later today :)

[targus]

Hey, it's real funny and lovely, waiting for more compositions.
It should be something honest and child-feeleng i think !!!

[thedirtypaw]

try to make nostrils ?:shrug:

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1144191877_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1144191877_large.jpg)

wires for the body model and hands *shiver*

There are some really rough areas, so I can only appologise for that.
The hands need lots of work to look like monkey hands and the knuckles need shrinking.

Still... that's one of the hurdles almost passed ;)

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1144192004_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1144192004_large.jpg)

The render for the above wireframes.
I haven't had much time in between work, so the models are still bad (cover your eyes if you like clean meshes hehe)

Hopefully I will have more time soon where I won't be completely shattered after work ;)

*EDIT*
Oops forgot to point out why Monkey is bald in two of those poses.
Max is crashing if I try to render all three of them with hair, so I will have to do them all individually for the final renders :S

Yay! ;)

[Womgoose]

lol looking back at it now, I feel that body is going to have to be scaled up somewhat due to the size of his hairdo :D

[Bonzodogboy]

lol looking back at it now, I feel that body is going to have to be scaled up somewhat due to the size of his hairdo :D
i don't know about that Wongoose...
If he is going to have hair on his body, that could help bulk him up a bit...
How about a test render with some hair on his bod :?

[Womgoose]

i don't know about that Wongoose...
If he is going to have hair on his body, that could help bulk him up a bit...
How about a test render with some hair on his bod :?

My Max seems to enjoy crashing whenever I try to render the body as well :(
However, 90% of his body will have armour on, so hopefully he will be bulky enough.

You like his proportions like this then?

[Nothingness]

hey womgoose, are you still rendering the hair seperately and compositing them, or doing them together? I think i know a bit how you could easily get a better transition of the hair in the face.

First, paint the same color of the hair on the face where the hair needs to be. With some shades of dark as well i think. Then also try to look if that hair thing in max has the possibility of making the hair transparent at the start of it. If they stole the hair thing from maya it should be there :twisted:

cheers

[KangarooMan]

Hey there Lee, this little guy is really shaping up, the slight pot belly you gave him really adds a lot to his character! :applause: Also I agree that the MR hair has a nice depth to it, though I think the other hair felt a little softer. Great work man!

Matt :)

[Bonzodogboy]

You like his proportions like this then?
OOh yeah... :thumbsup:
He is seems somewhat fragile, but as with monkeys they are agile and strong and lithe little buggers :)
And he has a neotenic character/feel.
I dig his pot belly and the hands are coming along nicely, good long simian fingers.
I can see him with the brown fur over most of his body, and somewhat sparser white hair on his belly and chest.
You are doing a really good job. :)

[Womball]

He turned out great! I like the proportions! He looks kind of like a game character.

[Womgoose]

Hey, it's real funny and lovely, waiting for more compositions.
It should be something honest and child-feeleng i think !!!
Good point.
I think the emotional/funny approach should work quite well.
Sorry I took so long to reply, I missed yours and thedirtypaws posts completely.


try to make nostrils ?
I will try but I'm worried it might detract from his overal look.
Lets see. ;)

hey womgoose, are you still rendering the hair seperately and compositing them, or doing them together? I think i know a bit how you could easily get a better transition of the hair in the face.

First, paint the same color of the hair on the face where the hair needs to be. With some shades of dark as well i think. Then also try to look if that hair thing in max has the possibility of making the hair transparent at the start of it. If they stole the hair thing from maya it should be there.

cheers
At the minute I am still doing full scene renders but I have been reading more of compositing and I will be rendering all the hair passes seperately. :)
Hmm I think it might be similar to the Maya hair, so maybe it does have that transparent feature.
Thanks m8, I will look into that.


Hey there Lee, this little guy is really shaping up, the slight pot belly you gave him really adds a lot to his character! Also I agree that the MR hair has a nice depth to it, though I think the other hair felt a little softer. Great work man!

Matt
Ooh I might be able to soften the MR hair with render passes. hehe I think I forgot about them :S
Really glad you like him so far Matt :bounce:

OOh yeah... :thumbsup:
He is seems somewhat fragile, but as with monkeys they are agile and strong and lithe little buggers :)
And he has a neotenic character/feel.
I dig his pot belly and the hands are coming along nicely, good long simian fingers.
I can see him with the brown fur over most of his body, and somewhat sparser white hair on his belly and chest.
You are doing a really good job.
Hopefully the armour will cover most of his body fur, else my PC may explode.
For now I will pretend I know what you mean but after I post this I will Google search 'Neotenic' ;)
Personally I think I have been lazy recently... monkey needs more love! :thumbsup:
This weekend I will try really hard to get loads done on him.
Thank you Sir.

He turned out great! I like the proportions! He looks kind of like a game character.
Yay! that's kind of like I had in mind, so it must be going to plan lol
Cheers Womball :D



Thank you all for the support and advice :bounce:

[Nothingness]

sounds great!

by the way: if you find some great sites about compositing, you're free to post 'm at my tread :twisted:
would be sweet m8

cheers

[Womgoose]

sounds great!

by the way: if you find some great sites about compositing, you're free to post 'm at my tread :twisted:
would be sweet m8

cheers

I will let you know as soon as I find some decent ones m8 ;)

[shakes]

this little monkey guy looks great! very cute stuff.

[Womgoose]

this little monkey guy looks great! very cute stuff.

Thank you sir :D

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1144491385_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1144491385_large.jpg)

WIP render of the chest armour (lorica segmentata).

[BAMU]

looks good so far .... [you make somthing and for his arms?]

[Womgoose]

looks good so far .... [you make somthing and for his arms?]

Thanks Bam :)
Yes, most of the arms will be covered with a red Tunic.
I might also make some form of bracer or glove for some of the monkeys.
The rest of the arm will be fur ;)

[Womgoose]

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/7351/armourtestcopy21xm.th.jpg (http://img404.imageshack.us/my.php?image=armourtestcopy21xm.jpg)

A new update for the armour modelling.
Roughed out the belt and started some fictional bracer work.

[M477]

Nice one, looks ace! Good to see you getting on with the body. Can't wait to see more! :bounce:

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1144515811_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1144515811_large.jpg)

Another update on the armour progress.

[Womgoose]

http://img449.imageshack.us/img449/1346/armourtestupdatenewwires7ho.th.jpg (http://img449.imageshack.us/my.php?image=armourtestupdatenewwires7ho.jpg)
Wireframe view of the image.


http://img449.imageshack.us/img449/1268/armourtestupdatenewjungle1ij.th.jpg (http://img449.imageshack.us/my.php?image=armourtestupdatenewjungle1ij.jpg)
...and for fun, Monkey visits the jungle! (yes I'm bored)

[Whyst]

hahah aaaw glad you're having fun with it =) Love the new details on the armour... this is just a suggestion but how about something to throw off the symmetry a bit? Like an armband on one arm or something?

[Womgoose]

hahah aaaw glad you're having fun with it =) Love the new details on the armour... this is just a suggestion but how about something to throw off the symmetry a bit? Like an armband on one arm or something?

Hiya Mai :)
That's a very good point and one I had totally overlooked.
I will give some serious thought into breaking up the symetry now, thankyou.
Glad you like him :D

[shakes]

love the new armour..real cute. the crest on his helmet looks a bit too big for him though..couuld you make it more feathery?

[Womgoose]

love the new armour..real cute. the crest on his helmet looks a bit too big for him though..couuld you make it more feathery?

lol I didn't spot that at all :S
Looking at it now, it's as big as his entire head.
Hmm... maybe I could use the hair plugin to do that.

Thanks for the help Shakes :)

[makaron]

awww... he is cute now... with body and armour... well done :)

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1144537102_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1144537102_large.jpg)

I've started work on the face textures.
The blending between the hairline and the skin is proving to be quite tricky and I don't think the colour map alone will do the job.

I will block out the area in the spec map because the highlights are making it worse.

I will come back to the colour map soon but for now I want to move on to the bump/spec maps to try and eliminate the errors.

EDIT:

awww... he is cute now... with body and armour... well done :)

Not quite as cute as a GP yet ;)
Thank you for checking back on him Mona.

[targus]

It's seems so evil..

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1144583489_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1144583489_large.jpg)

Almost done with the colour map now.
I've added a basic bump and spec maps to this to define the ridges on the lips and stop the hairline receiving specular.
Freckles and wrinkles added as well.

Hope you like it :)
Crits very welcome at this stage ;)

[Womgoose]

It's seems so evil..
I think it is because he is staring directly at you ;)


Click the thumbnail below for the full 1600x1200 version of the latest submission.
(Shakes, I tested the direct link and it worked but the image was a bit big for the forum hehe - thanks again)

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/5992/texturewiptest3mentalraylarge5.th.jpg (http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=texturewiptest3mentalraylarge5.jpg)

[Nothingness]

lookin great womgoose!

but whats up with those white hairs? Are they seposed to be a sign of age?
and why dropped the specular color on the hair? At the latest render i think the contrast between the hair and the face is a bit too much. It also looks softer and more furry to me

keep up

i'm getting slow progress now. Too much work. And now i really am considdering a aptop :argh:
I think i'll wait untill the hollidays when new macbook pro's arrive.

Cheers

[Womgoose]

lookin great womgoose!

but whats up with those white hairs? Are they seposed to be a sign of age?
and why dropped the specular color on the hair? At the latest render i think the contrast between the hair and the face is a bit too much. It also looks softer and more furry to me

keep up

i'm getting slow progress now. Too much work. And now i really am considdering a aptop :argh:
I think i'll wait untill the hollidays when new macbook pro's arrive.

Cheers

Hiya Nico :)
Glad you like it so far.
Erm the white hairs were a test for chin whiskers but I guess I forgot to turn them off again :S
I tweaked the contrast on the first texture test but forgot on the second one, hence the difference in hair colour :(
I prefer the first one personally as well.

Any more updates for us soon on your work?

[coochaki]

nice texture!

looking for more man!

good luck!

[Womgoose]

nice texture!

looking for more man!

good luck!

Thanks Mohammad, glad you like it.
Hopefully I will have more to show later ;)

[Womball]

Planet of the apes! Are the white hairs intentional? As for hair blending, you could paint some additional hairs on the colour map. And if you really want to be fussy you could do blending with card method based hairs (polygons with alpha maps hair textures). Actually you might want to use that method for the majority of the bulk of the hair. It should save a lot of time rendering in the long run. He's looking real good! And you have quite a following too!

[Womgoose]

Planet of the apes! Are the white hairs intentional? As for hair blending, you could paint some additional hairs on the colour map. And if you really want to be fussy you could do blending with card method based hairs (polygons with alpha maps hair textures). Actually you might want to use that method for the majority of the bulk of the hair. It should save a lot of time rendering in the long run. He's looking real good! And you have quite a following too!

Hiya Mr Womball :bounce:
Hehe it has somehow ended up looking like a cartoon version of 'Planet of the apes'.
The white hairs have been eliminated now but will return as chin whiskers later ;)
I really wish I knew how to do polygon hair planes but I think it would take too long to learn at this stage in the challenge and I would probably make a right mess of it :(

For now I will have to plod onwards with the hair like this and try hard to fix the nasty blend problems I have.

I did a few hair tests with the helmet on earlier and it was shocking to be honest.
More problems to find solutions for *sigh*

Still... I have all of you to cheer me on yay :thumbsup:
Thanks again for checking out my progress Mr Womball.

(New helmet hair tests coming soon.)

[Derferic]

I love your concept sketch and the expression of each monkey !! But the fur is a little long no?


http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?postid=3433678#post3433678

[Womgoose]

I love your concept sketch and the expression of each monkey !! But the fur is a little long no?


http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?postid=3433678#post3433678

Very much so Derferic :)
The more I build up the Monkey/scene, the more I realise that such long fur isn't manageable.
I think I will have one monkey with long fur like this but all the others will have to make do with normal fur and helmets ;)

Thanks for checking out my work, glad you like it :)

[thedirtypaw]

hi man. try some hair textures on the hair strands. . whats with the white hair ? its a glich or is it on purpose ? try also some eyelids ? look at king kongs face(i know know .. but reduce that and look at scratches and bruises and details like that) and you will a have an ideea how to detail your womgoose :) oh and you might try to meshsmooth a little the ears ? they're kind of polygonal ? just some ideeas .. cheers and good luck !:thumbsup:

[Womgoose]

hi man. try some hair textures on the hair strands. . whats with the white hair ? its a glich or is it on purpose ? try also some eyelids ? look at king kongs face(i know know .. but reduce that and look at scratches and bruises and details like that) and you will a have an ideea how to detail your womgoose :) oh and you might try to meshsmooth a little the ears ? they're kind of polygonal ? just some ideeas .. cheers and good luck !:thumbsup:

Hiya Nicolau,
The hair textures should be working but I just can't get it looking good at all :(
White hairs were a test that I forgot to remove but I have taken them out now.
Eyelids are modelled but the eyes are really wide open ready for rigging - I think I could do with texturing the area better to highlight them more ;)

Ah the ears. I totally forgot to turn my smooth on for that render :S

Hope you like him so far. I'll render out a test now with smoothing on and white hairs removed :)

[shakes]

he does look very cartoon planet of the apes! cute. good luck with the hair and helmet.
I'm struggling with my hair at the moment..I know how it feels!

[Womgoose]

he does look very cartoon planet of the apes! cute. good luck with the hair and helmet.
I'm struggling with my hair at the moment..I know how it feels!

Good luck with it Shakes.
I've somehow clicked the invisible 'Render takes forever' button and now the head alone takes 15 minutes to render :S
Bah... time to look for an old save me thinks :)

Looking forward to your hair tests m8.

[thedirtypaw]

oh oh , let me reply let me reply ! thanks... well i've got another ideea for your fur.. that is the models.. try curling and crumpling, it should add a twist of "reality" so it doesnt look so cg.another retard ideea: try to finalize your composition and see what part of the head is seen and from the other part remove the hair ? it shoul cut half of your hair rendering time if you have light on the back of the head and its not showing obviously its calculating in vain.. the most processor intensive task is shadow calculation , watch the type of shadows.

good luck

[Womgoose]

oh oh , let me reply let me reply ! thanks... well i've got another ideea for your fur.. that is the models.. try curling and crumpling, it should add a twist of "reality" so it doesnt look so cg.another retard ideea: try to finalize your composition and see what part of the head is seen and from the other part remove the hair ? it shoul cut half of your hair rendering time if you have light on the back of the head and its not showing obviously its calculating in vain.. the most processor intensive task is shadow calculation , watch the type of shadows.

good luck

You know, I never even considered shadows when thinking about what was causing this to render so slowly.
Tonight I will turn them off (Raytraced on one light) and see how quick it renders.

Thanks for the great tips :)

[element5]

Hiya Womgoose,

Your Journey is coming along nicely :thumbsup:

Thanx for dropping by on my thread :)

Keep up the great work

[Womgoose]

Hiya Womgoose,

Your Journey is coming along nicely :thumbsup:

Thanx for dropping by on my thread :)

Keep up the great work

Hi there element :)
Thanks for popping over to say hello ;)
Great work in the 2D comp so far, it makes me want to join you all next time.

[Guile_tc]

very nice fur job!
great result...
good luck!!

[Womgoose]

very nice fur job!
great result...
good luck!!

Thanks Guile :)
I'm forever tweaking it, trying to find a good balance between looks and rendertime and I'm slowly, slowly getting there ;)

[shakes]

the texture looks great! nice detailing. you might want to tone down the eye whites a bit, so it bends into the face a bit better. looking good!

[Womgoose]

the texture looks great! nice detailing. you might want to tone down the eye whites a bit, so it bends into the face a bit better. looking good!

Ah I need to note this down because you have just reminded me that I haven't textured them yet :S
At the minute I have a Fresnal falloff from white to red on them and like you said, it's a bit bright as well as boring ;)

So much to do and the time just keeps on ticking away... yikes.

[thedirtypaw]

so you are crazy with the raytracing on hair .. :scream: try shadow mapping with a map size of 256 if everything else fails and if without shadows its looking wierd.. c'mon update already i cant wait to see

[Womgoose]

so you are crazy with the raytracing on hair .. :scream: try shadow mapping with a map size of 256 if everything else fails and if without shadows its looking wierd.. c'mon update already i cant wait to see

Yeah I think the majority of my problems were the shadows. Thanks m8 :)
I've tweaked the hair density and shadows and now my render is about 3 minutes for the full head YAY!

Tonight I will be making hair maps, so it should (hopefully) start to look much much better ;)

[KangarooMan]

Hey Lee, great looking updates! You've done a really great job modeling the little monkey's armor. You have put a lot into making it look authentic and I think that adds a lot to his feel! :applause: You have also done an ace job on the texturing, I could just see him sitting there eating a banana. ;)

Matt :)

[JurajMolcak]

With your characters, The Planet of the Apes will be one of my favourite movies. Keep going! Good luck :bounce:

[Womgoose]

Hey Lee, great looking updates! You've done a really great job modeling the little monkey's armor. You have put a lot into making it look authentic and I think that adds a lot to his feel! :applause: You have also done an ace job on the texturing, I could just see him sitting there eating a banana. ;)

Matt :)

With your characters, The Planet of the Apes will be one of my favourite movies. Keep going! Good luck :bounce:

Hiya Matt, Hiya Juraz :)
your kind comments gave me the motivation to push on with my UV Map hell tonight and I think I am now very close to fixing the mess I had made.
Having not used the hair app before, I thought the hair had to be on a seperate mesh so I chopped my model up :S
I've since learnt (from looking at shake's texture images) that hair can be controlled using textures :(
Tonight I had to completely redo the UV maps for the monkey and make new textures by scaling the old ones.
I've also made some simplistic textures to control the hair... yay!

However... I still need to weld the model back together YIKES!
This will take a long time but at least it is working ;)

Thanks to you both for giving me the motivation to get through it in one piece and checking on my progress, I appreciate it a lot :)

[Bonzodogboy]

Having not used the hair app before, I thought the hair had to be on a seperate mesh so I chopped my model up :S
...
I've also made some simplistic textures to control the hair... yay!


Hi Womgoose,
Hair is great fun to play with. heheheh. I am using Saslite and it hates complex meshes, and high poly models and sub-d's, so I am using a combination of seperate meshes and texture maps to fool Saslite into working so I can still get a good render at the end. Its all a big learning curve but we get there eventually.
BY the way, I am really liking how the armour and monkey are coming together...
Any chance of seeing a posed Monkey centurion in action ? :)

[medunecer]

Hi Lee! Very nice updates with the armour modeling and with the textures!

[Womgoose]

Hi Womgoose,
Hair is great fun to play with. heheheh. I am using Saslite and it hates complex meshes, and high poly models and sub-d's, so I am using a combination of seperate meshes and texture maps to fool Saslite into working so I can still get a good render at the end. Its all a big learning curve but we get there eventually.
BY the way, I am really liking how the armour and monkey are coming together...
Any chance of seeing a posed Monkey centurion in action ? :)

Hiya Kieran,
Oooh I am very tempted to rig him now, just so I can start work on the poses :)
The armour still requires more detail because it is looking a little bit rubbish at the minute.
I want to attempt an embossed pattern but I am not sure my skills are up to that challenge without trashing the mesh lol.

Thanks for coming to check on my progress m8 :)

Hi Lee! Very nice updates with the armour modeling and with the textures!
Hiya Marco,
Thanks for popping by to check on Monkeys progress :)
I think he is small enough to fit in your capsule.
Does your robot need a monkey companion?

[medunecer]

Sure! With this kind of mission we'll study the way a nanobot and a monkey could live together!

[Nothingness]

wey womgoose,

i've been working for some days now. So today i can do some 3d, finally!
got anything to show us? Would be great.

keep ging m8

[Womgoose]

wey womgoose,

i've been working for some days now. So today i can do some 3d, finally!
got anything to show us? Would be great.

keep ging m8

I will be posting the results of my hair maps tonight yay!
Also I will weld the head mesh back together, so the seam should be nice and smooth :)

The blend between the skin and the hair is almost correct now and it is looking much better in general.
I'm happier now lol

[Nothingness]

can't wait!!

[Womgoose]

can't wait!!

Rendering out now. ;)
Might need to tweak the hair colour but should have something to show in 20 minutes :arteest:

Finished welding the head (I hope).
Made new spec maps and bump maps.
Finished the colour maps (again... I hope lol).
Blend is looking better.

Ooh and I tweaked his eyelids as well so he isn't staring wide-eyed as much now.

:bounce:

[Nothingness]

i think the 20 minutes are up :p



gimme gimme gimme

[Womgoose]

i think the 20 minutes are up :p

gimme gimme gimme

lol blame my PC ;)

*kicks PC*

[Nothingness]

ain't that a shame :twisted:

that's why i got a Mac :p

[Womgoose]

ain't that a shame :twisted:

that's why i got a Mac :p

lol, I will send a letter of complaint to Bill Gates and AMD tomorrow.
In the meantime the Guinea Pig powering my PC needs more energy drinks!
:buttrock:

[Nothingness]

you can't blame amd for that !


and no need to send old bill a letter! he got it too busy with all his lawsuits. By the time you test vista, you'll be sorry you didn't switch sooner :p

you could always start by trying maya :twisted:

fun fun fun fun fun

[Womgoose]

you can't blame amd for that !


and no need to send old bill a letter! he got it too busy with all his lawsuits. By the time you test vista, you'll be sorry you didn't switch sooner :p

you could always start by trying maya :twisted:

fun fun fun fun fun

There has been many a night where I was prepared to remorgage the house and buy Maya (usually after Max has crashed for the 50th time in one night hehe).

However, the large amount of cash and the amount of time needed to learn a new 3D program put a stop to those thoughts quickly.
I will just have to carry on with Max and pray it is nice to me and doesn't crash on my final render lol.

[Womgoose]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1144887467_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/11086/11086_1144887467_large.jpg)

I am almost done with the head textures now.
I want to add some really fine detail and tweak the skin shader and that should be it.
The spec map needs a small tweak near the eyelids.
The bump map could do with a slight tweak to make it more apparent.

I made the silly mistake of Unwrapping the head with the eyelids open and now I have to deal with some pretty bad warping on the eyelids but I think I can fix it.

Phew... render done at last. Time for sleep.

Night all, have fun :)

[shakes]

looks great Womgoose! the hair is lovely and rich. textures working really well too

[rasamaya]

Time to update your Avatar, this last render looks great! I like your concept, but want to see more! We learn a lot from these challenges dont we! You have a very popular thread, be careful there trying to distract you ha ha

Poof!

[Nothingness]

just sweet, womgoose!

amazing update. Really looking awsome. Now it looks like a very cute monkey.
Would you shoot me it i had some remarks? :argh:
not that i can say much, but there is something with the top eyelid at both eyes. It looks like it is extremely flat with a very hard edge. Any idea on what it is?
I think the eyelid bended a bit too much inward when you changed them to a more closed position.
But amazing stuff now. When you're done, put your mind on some other stuff to get your mind focussed on the goal dear friend. Would be sweet to see ya finish this little bugger.

cheers

[makaron]

awww... what a cute monkey he is now... the fur is looking perfect now :thumbsup: and the green eyes makes him special...

[Womgoose]

Oh wow, so many replies.

looks great Womgoose! the hair is lovely and rich. textures working really well too

Thanks Shakes, studying your work helps so much ;)

Time to update your Avatar, this last render looks great! I like your concept, but want to see more! We learn a lot from these challenges dont we! You have a very popular thread, be careful there trying to distract you ha ha

Poof!

Thanks Rasamaya,
My monkey concept seems so tiny compared with yours and yet it still seems like a mountain to me.

just sweet, womgoose!

amazing update. Really looking awsome. Now it looks like a very cute monkey.
Would you shoot me it i had some remarks? :argh:
not that i can say much, but there is something with the top eyelid at both eyes. It looks like it is extremely flat with a very hard edge. Any idea on what it is?
I think the eyelid bended a bit too much inward when you changed them to a more closed position.
But amazing stuff now. When you're done, put your mind on some other stuff to get your mind focussed on the goal dear friend. Would be sweet to see ya finish this little bugger.

cheers

Of course you can crit it m8, it's the only way I will spot most of the mistakes ;)
I think the two edges only have about 3 pixels of textures strecthed across them :(
I made the mistake of mapping it with the eyelids open.
I think I can fix it if I drag one of the edges down from the eyebrow area and then fix the texture.

awww... what a cute monkey he is now... the fur is looking perfect now :thumbsup: and the green eyes makes him special...

Hiya Mona :bounce:
Thank you so much, it means a lot to hear that coming from the master of the furry creatures.
GP forever!


EDIT: Bah I've just noticed I have messed up the UV maps with that symmetry modifier :(
Looks like I will be remapping again tonight lol

[M477]

The hair is looking really good now, nice work! Good luck with remapping,sounds like a real pain in the butt that one :banghead:

[Womgoose]

The hair is looking really good now, nice work! Good luck with remapping,sounds like a real pain in the butt that one :banghead:
Cheers m8.
The whole Monkey has been a pain in the butt lol

[scootermaya]

Hey ! Pretty cool the monkey ! I like it :thumbsup: get going man ! :bounce:

[elmasfeo]

it somehow reminds me of planet of the apes.... in cartoon version, hehehe, it's looking very good!

my only crit would be that maybe the nose-holes are too dark... some light might go inside there too (IMHO)

keep up the good work :thumbsup:

[Womgoose]

my only crit would be that maybe the nose-holes are too dark... some light might go inside there too (IMHO)


You are totally right, thanks for pointing it out to me - I think I overdid the darkness on the texture hehe


Hey ! Pretty cool the monkey ! I like it :thumbsup: get going man ! :bounce:

Thanks Scootermaya, so glad you like him :)

[zdepth]

hey nice chracter. I like cartoon style graphics.

[KangarooMan]

Hey there Lee, I am really digging the work you're doing on the texture! :buttrock: And not to mention on the fur, that hair looks so soft and real. :beer:

Matt :)

[Womgoose]

hey nice chracter. I like cartoon style graphics.
Thanks ZDepth, I'm glad you like the style, it took such a long time to get right.
I'm never doing another Monkey again after this lol - I dream about the things now YIKES!

Hey there Lee, I am really digging the work you're doing on the texture! :buttrock: And not to mention on the fur, that hair looks so soft and real. :beer:

Matt :)

Thankyou for your kind words Matt :)
Rest assured I will not stop until he looks real enough to jump out the page and wreck your room lol.
Work is continuing on the bump, spec and diffuse textures and I am rendering a GI test out now.

Fingers crossed it looks ok because it's been rendering forever lol

EDIT: Oh and I have fixed the symmetrical mapping problem, so he is textured correctly now YAY! :D

[Gunilla]

Great update for the monkey - the fur looks really good ... and I love the spots on his skin - good work :applause:

[Womgoose]

Great update for the monkey - the fur looks really good ... and I love the spots on his skin - good work :applause:

Thankyou Gunilla :D
The texture was mirrored on that render so it will hopefully look much better now I have fixed the UV's.
Render is still going... 46.5%... yawn GI is so slooooow.
Progress update soon I promise ;)

[makaron]

tell your computer to work faster Lee...
so we can see that sweet monkey fur update...
http://hem.bredband.net/makaron/chick_25.gif

[Nothingness]

GI ???

you mean global illumination? Don't you use Final Gather? I doubt GI is really necesary in this case. Tell me a bit about it, and maybe tomorrow i could help ya speed up the renders by tweeking your prefs.

cheers

and see ya'll in about 21 to 22 hours.

bye

[Womgoose]

tell your computer to work faster Lee...
so we can see that sweet monkey fur update...
http://hem.bredband.net/makaron/chick_25.gif

lol I tried Mona, I really did.
I even said I would give it 2 peanuts if it went faster but.. no result :(

Happy Easter to you, love the little peanutrabbit? that is dropping eggs in my thread lol



GI ???

you mean global illumination? Don't you use Final Gather? I doubt GI is really necesary in this case. Tell me a bit about it, and maybe tomorrow i could help ya speed up the renders by tweeking your prefs.

cheers

and see ya'll in about 21 to 22 hours.

bye

Yeah I have GI on 100 samples and Final Gather on 1000 with a HDI in the enviroment slot.
The render time was great for the tests but then I turned on hair and my PC died lol.

I think the combination of GI/FG/HDRI and 250,000 hairs = lots of coffee and a trip to the shop to get munchies ;)

[komsa]

oh, you have such fun with rendering... I guess i should back up a month of time to GI stuff in my scene...
Your personage is really cute, keep going, want to see a scene!

myJourney (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/journey_begins/view_entries.php?challenger=10869)

[M477]

You think your PC is slow? Mine is full of lightbulbs and cogs :cry: I guess what you need to do - quite simply - is win the competition and then you'll have a nice shiney new one! To work with you, roll out that zombie monkey! :wip: