GOW Character Dissertation

[JesseMoody]

Shooting for the stars huh? I'm not sure where to start on the crit since honestly it looks nothing like Marcus Fenix. His face is too thin, chin too pointy to start with. Have you seen the GOW art book? How about the Character Modeling 2 book coming out from D'Artiste. It's advertised right here on CGSociety.

Trying to recreate this character is going to be hard unless you really have good reference and know what you are doing. How many characters have you done in the past? I'm not a major character guy and I have only done a few and I know for me this would be something really hard to accomplish. Good luck to you though.

[glynnsmith]

I agree with Jesse. I think you need to understand facial structure more before you try and copy such a (all be it boringly) characterised lead character like Fenix.

It really is to a point where the eyes on your guy look Eastern Asian, the nose looks odd and the face, an the whole, doesn't really look wide enough to look like Fenix's musclehead.

Also reiterating what Jesse said, you'll find it incredibly difficult to model any character unless you either have an amazing memory/ability, or solid reference.

I can't say I applaud your choice in character, as I find Fenix to be pretty lackluster as a lead character ("how do you connect with someone that looks like him?" being my main point :P), but with learning decent technique of organic topology and structure, you'll get there.

Good luck!

G

[Anchuvi]

Ok, here is my two pennies worth....

Looking at the side view.

The ear is too small, its needs to be longer.
The back of his head needs reshaping. Look at human skulls and you will see that the head isn't completely round - Skull Image (http://www.richardbrak.net/images/2Dgallery/skullSide.gif)
The nose and mouth needs to be brought out further, and the eyes taken back.
The nose needs reworking.
Now for the front.

Head needs to be wider.
Eyes slimmer.
Nose reshaping.
Jaw sharper.
I agree with the other guys on this post, the first place you should be looking before you start to model is in an anatomy book. Learn the basic proportions of the face first and then you can play around with them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm nto saying the model is bad, far from it. Its a great start but just needs a little more TLC...You will get there...

[GradiusCancer]

If you're serious about this project, buy the Gears of War Art Book. It shows high and low rez meshes of almost all the characters, as well as material sheets. It will help you more than any of us can (unless someone gives you scans), but to be totally honest, you need to learn a LOT more about the basics before you try to tackle this. Learn to walk before you run. The GoW characters are extremely high quality, and you're sitll botching basic mesh flow and proportions.

[Anchuvi]

Have a look for a basic head modelling tutorial, one which shows good topology. Then once you have a good base head you can manipulate it to get the basics for this model...

Just found this - Character Modelling Tutorial (http://www.nevercenter.com/tutorials/html_tutorials/user_tutorials/character_modeling/)
Or you could try my tutorial... (http://www.ant-online.co.uk/downloads/ModTutorial.htm)

[LittleTigger]

Thanks for the feedback all taken into account :). I do know the form is all off, i mean when drawing im fairly confident in body forms and anatomy to an extent, it just becomes much harder when trying to portay this in 3d, practise practise i know. Plus sometimes when you know something is wrong you still cant work out how to change it, but the feedback you give me is all very valuable. Ive started modelling the head again from scratch, taking more time with the forms, it is obviously hard without good references. The idea to model this character was not mine but a lecturers, he had just been playing lots of GOW lol so i thought id try anyway, even if it doesnt come out right its okay because i will discuss this within my dissertation. Anyway i will post an update soon of my re-attempted model.

[LittleTigger]

Heres what ive done so far on the new head, i believe it is starting to look more like him, though yet again far from brilliant lol but will hopefully be an improvement on my last attempt when finished.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/TiggerD/head2ndside.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/TiggerD/head2ndfront.jpg

[ojko]

The second attempt at the head is still not quite right, but it is a lot better than the first one. I'd be interested to see a wireframe shot of the head as well.

[tofugorilla]

fenix (http://www.tracertong.com/gears/files/Fenix_16x12.jpg)
You could probally use that in the front ortho to get his facial measurments close.

I suggest building the facial pieces by themselves. Build the nose and really look at it, make it the best nose ever then move on to the eye socket, mouth, ear, chin then connect them later and see where you went wrong and fix it. This will make a much prettier model in the long run, especially if you have little experience.

My other suggestion is measure out his face and draw orthographic views yourself so you know his face better. Burne Hoggarth's Dynamic Anatomy has a good page or two on how to do this or you could check out Riven Pheonix's Series on drawing people Here. (http://inventiontocompletehumanbeing.blogspot.com/)

And my best advise :) if you want to get into games for a carreer, learn how to draw. If you do you will go up the ladder faster, get paid more, and get to work on better projects. Trust me, I did it the other way around :).

[Anchuvi]

Hi LittleTigger...

This second attempt is much better, any chance of a wireframe?

Just a quick glance tells me the eyes are maybe too small, and from the side his face is far too flat...

Have a quick look at these...

http://www.sixside.com/img/muscle.jpg http://www.derm.net/images/ed_face_muscles.jpg

Knowing where the muscles lie will help you build a better model, and using the muscles to guide your edge loops will give you good topology which will also deform well.

[LittleTigger]

Just wondering if anyone knows what the hair technqiue is for the gears of war characters, i know the main guy doesnt show much hair as hes rockin a bandana, i know there is some hair, is it just textured on as an alpha map, or modelled in and then textured, its hard to really see what method it could be :shrug:

[LittleTigger]

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/TiggerD/head-1.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/TiggerD/headwire.jpg

Heres another update, the back of the head isnt yet finished or the neck. Now i am more pleased with this version so far than the first version, but i can see lots wrong with it, but at the same time it is looking more like intended. My personal crit is...the chin, getting there but maybe over the top?, i think his cheek bones need to be out a bit further? lips, looks like hes pouting too much, plus general tweaks. anyway feedback as always much appreciated, thanks guys for the links too, i have actually been using the reference picture already you showed me, is a good one for the front though hes a little twisted, it would help if i had had drawn my own side view but kinda rushing into it, this is a definately a rushed job as final dissertation is in shortly :sad: but it all goes into the write up :D

[Anchuvi]

Woe! Thats some chin!!! i think you need to bring the jaw out...In answer to your earlier qustion I would guess the hair is sculpted into the high res model, then applied to the lower as a normal map. Alpha hair is usually used for long hair, or to add strands to shorter hair...

[LittleTigger]

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/TiggerD/head2front.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/TiggerD/head2side.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/TiggerD/head2perspective.jpg

Okay chins not so huge now, its mostly finished, some more tweaking, please give me feedback. Though i dont really have much time left to chang it a great deal more but will take it on board and change any crit if possible, just need to take it into zbrush and put more detail on it for a normal map. But i am pleased for a second, or third now, head attempt, better than the first version anyways :P.

[JYoung]

Eyes and ears need to be larger. Eyes/browline should be moved down. Looks like his nose is probably a little wider than what you have. Jaw still could be squared off more and wider. His face is still too flat. Can you post the latest wires so we can critique topology?

[Anchuvi]

Definatly better...although his nose is still a little flat, and he looks more like primative man than a future soldier...

Pull his nose, mouth and chin forwards slightly, add some flesh to his cheeks too so from the three quater view he is fleshed out a little more and his chis isn't so pronounced.

[LittleTigger]

Cheers guys all been a great help, thanks Anchuvi, your right he does look a little ape like lol and i will try to tweak the model how you and Yungimoto have said (but i have other work to do which is due in very soon so need to get on with that). I know next time i model a head ill think about what all you guys have said plus ill have to make sure i have a good profile picture. If i get time to mess around more with this ill post it and the wireframe too. Thanks again.

[Anchuvi]

No problem, glad to help...

Good luck!

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