HMC 14 Heavy Metal: General Grievous

[simjoy]

good luck with it. Its a hard subject to get right ..

first impression is the inside corner of the eye socket needs to be sharper ...

[Stimpi]

Simyoj @- Thx , and ya it needs to be sharper thx for pointing that out.

Here is another update.I think i fixed that eye socket part.
http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/8853/wipupdate2aig1.jpg

I will start making renders when i have more done.

[Stimpi]

Here is an update.Next thing to make are eyes and flesh around it.C&C would be apprechiated.

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/4848/wipupdate3aw1.jpg

[Murks]

looks good.
you´re modelling in maya? right?
how did you model those cables and wires in maya. I had to do something simillar at work once, and ended up extruding a cylinder :banghead: (http://forums.cgsociety.org/misc.php?do=getsmilies&wysiwyg=1&forumid=0#).

btw, could you apply a blinn shader instead of the lambert for your screengrabs?

Cheers

[Stimpi]

Murks @- Ya im working in maya you are right.Well i made those cables using nurbs cv curves and one nurbs circle.I put curve in place and then i select circle 1st and then that curve and i use extrude (its for surfaces not for polys) and then u scale circle until u get wanted size of the cable(in this case). There are few options u have to set but u will figure it out.

I hope i helped.

[Murks]

yeah thanks. hoped there was a different method, since i don´t like the nurbs tools in maya. Stuff like that is so much easier in Max :D

Cheers

[RageOfAges]

murks and stimpi, when you extrude a nurbs circle in maya, for something like wires, in the property page you can actually set the output to polygons
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll52/hades4president/extrude_pp.jpg

for type I select quads rather than tris, and for tesselation method I like to select count. It represents the amount of polys of the output geometry, so the higher the count, the smoother the result will be. you can also set it really low then convert to sub-d or apply meshsmooth. If you set it to control points, it will create a section only at the cp's on the curve.
Hope this helps :)

[eyeayen]

Stimpi that's look a strong start to far, whenever I see Grievouse now I can't help thinking of Treehouse Animations - Revenge of the Brick with him balancing on top of the TV to get reception, classic.

Looking forward to seeing your progress on this, looking nice and detailed already.

[Stimpi]

RagesOfAges @- Thx for takeing time to explain that.

eyeayen @- Thx mate.I hope to make an update later today.

[Stimpi]

Hi again everyone,here is an update.I decided i will make eyes later cuz now i wanted to start modeling his body.Here is a printscran of what i have with some basic shaders just to break monothony.I still didnt make render i plan to do that a bit later.

Here are side and front wiev of what i have so far.

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/7260/wipupdate4rd8.jpg

[Murks]

you got a nasty kink on the breast plate. Most likely due to an uneven edge distribution in that area.
Check the pic:
http://funkyimg.com/t/231/310/wipupdate4rd8bump.jpg (http://funkyimg.com/viewer.php?img=/231/310/wipupdate4rd8bump.jpg)
should be easy to fix and the rest looks quite promising.

@ RagesOfAges: thanks for explaining. I´ll give it a try the next time i start maya.

[Stimpi]

Yeap ill fix that np.Thx mate.

[Lukavi]

Aside from whats been pointed out I think you have really nice looking start there, keep it up.

[Stimpi]

Here is an update.

I will be away for 5 days so this is what i have so far and i have been trying to do as much as posible today.Ofcourse there is still a lot to model and a lot work on proportions to be done.Here is what i have so far

hand so far
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/9299/wipupdate6agj8.jpg


Here is the body with big green object inside which is where his organs are but i dont think i will have time and energy to make his organs so detailed like in movie.
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/9719/wipupdate6le3.jpg


And ya when i come back i will defenetly work on materials and i will make a render.C&C would be apprechiated.

Thx.

[Dudebot13]

Wow that looks really nice! Love the attention to detail around the head. But does he really have 6 fingers? I have never noticed that before and I can't get a clear look at them in the reference pictures. Good luck with the challenge!

[eldee]

Dudebot13:
If memory serves from the star wars HMC (where there were quite a few general greivous entries, incidentally), the hand splits apart to form four arms with hands having three fingers each.

Nice looking model, by the way.

[Dudebot13]

Ah, yes, you are correct! Here is an image with a better view of the hand:

http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/0505/fig3.large.gif

Just never noticed that before :D. Looking good Stimpi.

[Stimpi]

Thx guys.

Im finaly back from vacation so i can continue with my entry.I hope to make an update very soon.

[vshen]

Great development so far, looking forward to seeing the end result.

[Stimpi]

Vshen @- Thx mate.

Here is an update.Not much parts to be modeled.I will finish and tweak hands for the next update.Until then here is what i have.

http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/6273/wipupdate7hu9.jpg

[Dudebot13]

Looking good! Can't wait to see what you are going to do with the heart! Good job so far!

[TheGoozer]

Nice modeling. Want to see it finished.

[Stimpi]

Thx guys.

Here is anouther update.Im almost done with modeling part.I have to model eyes probably in Z-brush and i have to add few minor details.After that im gona finaly play with shaders and lights and im going to think about the pose.

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/7585/wipupdate8wj2.jpg

[Dudebot13]

Looks great! Nice job modeling stuff on the back that you could really see!!

[Stimpi]

Thx man :)

Ok everyone here are the eyes.So finaly im gona start working on textures.Wish me luck.C&C welcome.I might have to do few minor tweaks on eyes but they are mostly done.
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/5012/wipupdate9tm9.jpg

[Dudebot13]

Looks great! You could probably afford to put a little more wrinkles under the eyes but other than that it looks great!

[WyattHarris]

I might have to do few minor tweaks on eyes but they are mostly done.


Like close in that empty space around the eye socket. :D

Just messing, looking really good. His burnt skin is looking really good and it blends pretty well with the face mask.

[Stimpi]

Dudebot13 @- Thx .I think im gona leav wrinkles as they are now.

WyattHarris @- Ya thats what i planed to do so thats why i said i have minot tweaks to do on the eyes but actualy that is not tweak on the eye its separate part behind the eyes.And im glad u like it.

Im gona start thinking about the final pose.Im going to make his cloack later when i finish with shaders.I have never tried making cloth so this is gona be a realy tough challenge wich i hope to do well.If any1 has good ideas about the pose i would like him to share it with me :).

I started downloading star wars episode III just because of my favourite character which is ofcourse Grievous.Last time i watched movie was 2 years ago.

[TheGoozer]

This looks realy great! I can't wait to see another update...

Strange question but what technique did you use to model the head for example? Boxmodeling or poly-by-poly?

[Stimpi]

TheGroozer @- Thx mate.About the head,I made from poly plane and i added geometry and shaped it and at the end i did extrude to give it thickness.

Currently im working on UV-s so i will make an update soon,if not today then tomorow for sure.

Stay tuned.

[Stimpi]

I worked on textures on the head and upper body.It's just a test and i know its not the best but i want to improve so i need ur opinion on this one.Be hars and tell me what u like/dislike.Im not sure if i need that much bumps on my textures but thats not a problem to fix.This is giving me a terible headache so i decided to post an update and w8 for more opinions.So everything is stil wip :wip:

Here it is:
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/6220/texturesupdate1bn6.jpg

Higher res:http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/568/texturesupdate1nm5.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/5558/texturesupdate1highresdo6.jpg

[TheGoozer]

First of al, I hate the texturing part myself. I haven't learned the best ways to do this so... I'm still lame at this.
I like it, but I get the feeling that the general exists out of marmer. And that it isn't some dirt and scratches from battles and so far. Mayby less dirt on the head and like you said, a better bump.

But I like it so far! Go fore it Stimpi...

[simjoy]

i think the textures look pretty good mate

i found this hi res pic which might help a bit
http://l.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/wrlds/strwrs/pr/img/orig/Episode_3_General_Grievous_Lightsabers_3.jpg

[Stimpi]

The Groozer @- thx for folowing this thread and im glad u like it so far.Im not very good with texturig either so i find it pretty hard and some times very frustraiting cuz i can't get what i want fast enaugh so i spend a lot time trying to get something which eventualy gets dona after several of time consuming tes.Anyway what can i do,I hope to get better with it..

simjoy. Thx for the reference it will help.

Here is an update of the marble texture.I think its pretty much there,but i also think i might tweak it a bit later on.Now what I intend to do is to think of a pose and work on the metal shiny and scrached parts which now have pretty basic shader.I plan to make cloth but i will play with it when i finish texturing and posing.

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/8931/texturingrender4xe6.jpg

Dont ask me why i put those circles where he is standing, i dont even know myselfe :P...

[TheGoozer]

thx for folowing this thread and im glad u like it so far
I like your grievous and the way you show us your work. Thumps up!
So I will follow this thread to the end.

Your Grievous looks really great. Love it...

Dont ask me why i put those circles where he is standing, i dont even know myselfe :P...
Lol :-)

[Stimpi]

Thx on your kind words :)

I started riging it so i hope to get the pose tomorow and start finalizing the textures.

[ZIKEO]

Looking pretty cool Dude. :cool:

Looking forward to seeing a pose. :thumbsup:

[Stimpi]

Thx mate.Im folowing your progres and its awesome,i kinda like the way u make those renders.

Ok here is the pose with some simple lights with shadow.I wanted to post it yesterday evening but i had some problems i had to fix so here it is.I made very base lowpoly cape just to get an idea what it should be.
I have a question.Is it good to tweak levels in photoshop after the render?Im not sure if my render is somehow too bright so i tweaked it a bit in PS,but anyway i want to show both pictures and i need secont opinion on this one.

Here it is,second image is a bit tweaked in ps.
http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/4268/pose1tq5.jpg


http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/6943/pose1aml6.jpg

I think im actualy gona go with brighter wersion on the final image cuz those marble parts i more whit pink but not that brownish.Ayway i need coments on the pose cuz after the posing for final render im gona start rly perfecting textures,as much as i can :p.

[TheGoozer]

Oke, this is awesome!

About the pose... I like it. It give the same expression and feeling Grievous gives in the movie.
Nice job

[Stimpi]

Thx mate im glad u like it.

I could realy use some more opinions on this one.Thx.

[Boone]

Although this has been done before in a previous HMC - and is a tough act to follow - I would say this is a good effort. Well done, mate.:)

[BrutalD]

Put some lightsabers in his hands. Other then this it's charming piece of technical equipment.;) :drool:

[ZIKEO]

Dude.
This is realy great, but I find the pose is missing a little something. :hmm:
Have you rigged him to split along the arms?
Add some sabers and go for a more dynamic pose with the cape thing flapping. :lightbulb
I've only watched the film once. I much preffer the originals, although the later ones did have a couple of nice scenes. ( Grievous probably topped them :) )

Nice work, keep going. :beer:

[WyattHarris]

Yeah I'd have to agree his pose is a little weak right now. Like he needs a cane and a top hat.

Although that is close to his pose when he was bowing to Darth Sideous. A few tweaks and superimpose Sideous into the render.

[simjoy]

He looks more like he's just put his back out lifting too many lightsabers ..;)

id like to see something more dramatic, but its a personal thing. I guess most people associate GG with action poses, but he does do a bit of hanging around ..

[ZIKEO]

Simjoy has a point, :lightbulb
If your going for a character driven only scene (no back-drop)
Then I think it needs to be a very subtle pose or ultra dramatic. :hmm:
That may just be me though. :)

[Stimpi]

Hi everyone and thanks for feadback i realy aprechiate it very much.

Ya i agree with u about the pose and that it should be more dinamic.I kinda got that fealing when i watched my pose 5 min and i realized that its kinda lame but i wanted to hear ur opinions and i can say that im convinced to change the pose.I was away for the whole day so i will start working on new pose now so it will probably be done tomorow.

And ya this pose suits more with proper background.

[Stimpi]

Ok i just made quick pose.Dont pay attention to lighting cuz i didn't have time to work on it.I just wanted to post this new idea of the pose.C&C needed.

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/4880/up1jk9.jpg

[Dudebot13]

Looks good! You mihgt be able to put him in a more crouched position for a little more realism. Kind of like he is ready to strike. Other than that it is really nice!!

[TheRazorsEdge]

I agree with Dudebot13. The pose needs work. Overexaggerate it a bit and shift the camera angle to make it more dynamic. Right now it looks kinda bland. I'd also bring the left arm (his) higher and the right a little lower, angleing the sabre up a bit. Just my 2 cents.

Looking great overall!

Cheers!

PS: Are you going to add bump, ie scratches etc to the model?

[Stimpi]

Thx guys im glad u like it so far.
Ya i agree with u about the pose i will make him lower and i will move hands a bit.I hope to have a lot more time to work on him not.

And ya im sure gona add bumps and scratches.

[Stimpi]

Hi everyone.
I had some problems with program and with mental ray.It happends that sub-divisns and mental ray dont go well together cuz i get error while rendering and my whole comp gets slowed down and it makes me very nervouse.Anyway i kinda converted sub-d's to polys so i can make better render.

I have been thinking about the pose more and more and i get the fealing that the pose when he is bowing could turn up better in the end but who knows.I tweaked this pose a bit and made kinda strange render which im not sure u gona like but anyway here it is.
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/1294/up2xe4.jpg

Still alot of work to be done on shaders expecialy the ones with scraches,and one more thing dont pay attention to his eyes very much cuz something needs to be fixed,and i intend to do that tomorow,and i think im gona model lightsabres tomorow aswell.

PS: I think the cape is gona add much to this pose so I'll see if i can test that out tomorow.

[TheGoozer]

Like the grievous but there is some thing in that pose that doesn't feel right to me. The lower body is crouched to much compared with the upper body. Well... That's what I think. That's just 1 opinion.

I can't wait to see the other update with the sabers and cape...

Keep up the good work!

[ZIKEO]

I'm probably wrong, but in the film does he drag the tips of his sabers along the ground scorching up the rockcrete? :)
And if not why not !? :curious:

Might be another way to go with the pose. :shrug:
It would leave his head un-cluttered by the blades.
I just have this feeling that once the blades are illuminated they will distract the eye away from his head? :hmm:

[WyattHarris]

Yep, he whirls them like a saw blade and slices the ground up. That was freaking awesome when I saw it the first time BTW. That fight with Obi-won may be the best in the 6 movies. (But don't quote me on that :D )

[simjoy]

Im not really struck with pose either mate ..:sad:

as ZIKEO said, when the sabers a glowing your maybe going to lose his head behind them ..

although you could make it work for you with something like this :
http://www.cinematicwallpaper.com/movie-pictures/wallpapers/Star-Wars-wallpaper/Star_Wars_episode3.jpg

failing that, something like this would be cool :
http://www.bigbaddaddyvader.com/800px-The_General.jpg

[Stimpi]

The Groozer @-Ya i now nticed that his legs are way to crouched,i will have that fixed in no time.

ZIKEO @- Well i used image that simjoy mentioned for the pose reference and i think that Im gona move his hand a bit upper so the lightsabre will iluminate above his head.

Simyoj @- Ya as i said im gona fix that.I kinda like more when he is in that "2 hand mode" than with 4 but thats only me.

I would realy like to stick to something similar to this pose cuz im anctious to start finishing off textures and so many other things that i have to do.Posing has cost me a lot of time and i had problem with computer but that is fixed now.What i realy want is to try make this realy good,but im not sure if i will have enaugh time cuz of studying for collage and finishing homeworks ... :cry:
Anyway i realy am trying to hope as mach as posible that im gona finish this and that its gona look decent.

[Stimpi]

OK here is an update on the pose.I want to get the impresion that he is swinging his right arm to defend from the oponents lightsabre and with his left hand he is swinging in order to attack his oponent.Lightsabres need work ofcourse.

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/4949/up3zl6.jpg

Next what i want to do is finish of his eyes,tweak lights a lot more and make his cape and finish texturing some parts which contain scratches.
C&C Welcome.

PS: I hope that this pose is better than the others and that you guys agree that i should stick with it.

[ChewyPixels]

The pose looks a LOT better. Keep going!

[eyeayen]

It's better than the last ones but there is no sense of movement or strength in his pose, if he was about to defend himself it should look like he's coming at you more than this, maybe a different lens would accentuate this more.

Modelling looks great, hope you get on okay with the textures.

[Dudebot13]

I agree with eyeayen on this one. It looks like he is just floating there you know. Not trying to do much. I don't know what could make it better really, just try some things I guess. Maybe one where you could put a guy fighting against him in the scene if you had to. It would look like that basically. Some sort of action. Great work though!

[Stimpi]

Jedi-Juice @- Thx mate.

eyeayen @- Thx mate im glad u like the modeling,I think I'm pretty good at it but im more less trying to improve texturing so i hope to get what i want.

Dudebot13 @- Well i have one idea about the pose.I think it might look cool to make his lightsabre in movement so it could look like the picture was taken while he was swinging to strike.Ofcourse i would change his hand and sabre position a bit and i would maybe try to take make a shot from a different angle.What do u think?

Anyway it would be extremly good that I finish the pose tomorow so i can start making his cape and textures and other stuff that need work........

[Dudebot13]

Yea like kind of a motion blur shot of just the saber? That would look sweet if you could do both of them. You should try it!

[eyeayen]

Put his weight on his front ( forward ) foot, lean him into the shot a bit so he's coming at the camera rather than standing in front of it, he doesn't have to be charging but getting ready to engage or defend would be a good thing.

[Stimpi]

Actualy i realized that im not sure how to make that motion blur of blade but never mind i might find a way to do it later.Here is a bit tweaked pose and new render.Lightsabres are not illuminated cuz im still figuring out how to use Maxwell Render.

http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/8074/up4ph0.jpg

[TheGoozer]

Nice pose. Mayby if he looked into the camera it would give a more impressive impact. But that's just a tought.
Keep it up and finish your scene because it is worth it! It's great man!

[ChewyPixels]

Actualy i realized that im not sure how to make that motion blur of blade but never mind i might find a way to do it later.

Animate the swing and render with motion blur set to on. Of course, render only one frame. There's also creating the motion blur through comping, but that's not my area. :)

[Out]

Nice pose. Mayby if he looked into the camera it would give a more impressive impact. But that's just a tought.
Keep it up and finish your scene because it is worth it! It's great man!

Well, i just don't like the right foot in the pose because it looks a pretty strange to me:/

Anyways, it does not change the fact that it is a very nice model... awesome!

[simjoy]

I think that once you get a floor under him, the pose might look better. The camera angle on the previous render was better i think.
If you do the cloak well, that will give him some sense of movement.

As for motion blur, i would suggest doing in PS or whatever you use. I think it would be much easier to control that way ..

[sapienz]

Is his left shoulderblade supposed to rotate along with his arm?
It gives me the feeling of a disjointed arm currently.

My suggestion is not to have the saber with motion blur.
If the saber is gonna be motioned blured, the hands holding them will need to be motionblurred as well.

Assuming you are familar with post.
Animate the character and render out a rpf frame with velocity channel, import it into AfterEffects or some other post software, extract it and do a FAKE motionblur pass.
Its not the most best looking motionblur out there but it WILL save you alot of rendering time.

[Stimpi]

Thx for coments guys.

I decided that i actualy wont make motion blur of lightsabres.And ya he is gona be looking into camera on the final render and now im working on his cape which is hard but i hope to get it right.I hope to get new render tomorow.

[simjoy]

I hope to get new render tomorow.Is it tomorrow yet ??
come on man, dont let us down at the last moment ..

[Stimpi]

Im sorry for not posting it yesterday it wasn't good as I expected.I have been busy lately with school.Im on final year and i have few more tasks to do so thats what has been takeing my time these days.

I realy realy hope to poste an update tomorow.I promise.

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