Enchanted forest, chracter, alaklij

[alaklij]

close up...

[Thoth]

Hey, looking -------- great! and sounds good too. Got the feeling that this one is going to be really marvelous ;) Good luck....

Ok, i'm going to take a brake now so this is the last one that i got the first reply on :)

[levin]

i smell texture eyecandy!

[Chico]

Thats Beautiful.!
Do you plan to model the detail or texture it..?
Or Both..?

I would be impressed to see you model the detail in.
Good Luck:thumbsup:

[alaklij]

Chico,
Yes I mention that in my first post. I plan on modeling everything. A very high poly mesh. For the itsy bitsy details I will eventually texture it, but not for this challenge.

I have big plans! whahaha!

[Chico]

This will be a strict amount of insane modeling only. I want to spend much time modeling this complex form and geometry.

Sorry Man, I dont know why I missed that, I definatly read through the rest of it..???:shame:

I want to see this seamless:p Just to make life evern hardder:surprised

Just kiddin.

[alaklij]

That's why they call this a "Challenge".:D

[alaklij]

:bounce:
Hello, just so everyone knows, I'm still doing this. I have been sidetracked by many important things. But I'm still going to do what I said I was going to do.

here's the beginning.

[leigh]

Hey that's a really wicked concept sketch :thumbsup:
There isn't really much to crit on the model so far though... all I can say is good luck!! And hoping to see an update soon :)

[alaklij]

update

[Sangotten]

Wow!!!

That looks really promising!!!
If the 3D model is gonna be as good as the concept than this one would be great!!!

Succes!!:wip:

[alaklij]

a little further. I concentrated on the mouth today.

[alaklij]

Some more,
Boy, Am I going to be tired at work in four hours. But... it's fun!:buttrock:

[alaklij]

another angle

[alaklij]

A bit of a dramatic angle, and I did a little work on his left eyeball (upper right section). Not Much. I started a summer job today, so I had less time.

Good night, all.

[ZrO-1]

This is really coming along well. It's starting to look a lot like your initial sketches. I love it so far. I guess my only crit right now would be to maybe set up a more standard 3-point light setup for your renders to really show off all your great modeling goodness.

[alaklij]

Zr0-1
I'm really sorry, and admit, i don't have degree in 3D animation. So, maybe you could tell me what this standard "3-point lighting" entails.

I'm using a standard dramatic phototgraphy lighting used for portraits. Achieving the darkest darks and lightest lights. Which I'm sure you are familiar.

thanks.

[alaklij]

So I did some research, and talk to my photographer. Standard 3 point lighting... got it! (Sorry for the assumption of needing an animation degree. I now know it is a photography degree). :)

[FYI: I have a degree in sculpture]

I've posted a similar image with better lighting for seeing the form.:D

[alaklij]

I was able to work on this for about 3 hours today. I increased the variation in the form around the mouth area. I have a close-up as well.

[alaklij]

overall...

[ZrO-1]

WOW! :eek: it really jumps now! I like it :D this baby is really coming along

[alaklij]

Thanks Zr0-1, I really appreciate your patronage. :beer:

[alaklij]

I was able to work for about 7 hours today.

Some significant changes.

[alaklij]

another...

[ZrO-1]

WOW, great update. You have been busy. It's really coming along well. So is the level of detail in the modeling driving you nuts yet? :D :p lol

[alaklij]

Actually it's quite fun. Taxing, but fun. The decision processes make me tired after about 8-9 hours straight, and I like to get out of my chair too. I try to bike for a couple of hours each day, so I don't get stuck to my chair permanently. :)
I have the next two weeks to dedicate to this, so I will be having an increase in detail. (modeled).

My real challenge is to animate this puppy. I want his surfaces to move and have life as much as his legs and arms. Quite complicated, could take me awhile.

[alaklij]

About four more hours.

[leigh]

:eek: wow there are a lot of twisted polys there!!
It's looking awesome so far, definitely :thumbsup:
And he's looking just like your original concept sketch, which is always a bonus ;)
I don't really have much to comment on, other than to just urge you to KEEP GOING!!!
:bounce:

[alaklij]

Hey Leigh, thanks. The polys are bent slightly yes, but it isn't too bad. About 5,000 polys so far unsubpatched.

[alaklij]

subpatched, level 3. approximately 90,000. (so far)

[blankslatejoe]

coming along very neatly. It looks very flowingish, kinda like that giant naightwalker thing from princess mononoke. It's be slick if you couild animate him like that, all flowing and such.

[alaklij]

Hey Joseph,
I just watched Princess Mononoke for the second time. And I don't see a tight connection between my character and the form or visual effects of the Night Walker. Nice thought though.

Moving right along, I have the arms started, and will have trees behind him soon.

This is an orthogonal image. Examining my accuracy to the drawing.

[blankslatejoe]

by looking like the nightwalker I meant all those organic limbs, particularly around the top of his head. They remind me the nightwalker's flowing watery limbs, like when he's transforming/dying/whatever you want to call it. I think your model looks excellent, by the way.

[alaklij]

Here's what I'm going to do with the legs.
I may not do the legs until I have some foliage and trees around him. (We'll see how the trees fall in place).

[alaklij]

About 5 more hours.

[alaklij]

perspective.

[Sangotten]

Djeeeeesssssusssss!!!

That's a very disturbing/complicated/twisted/beautifull model so far!!! I'm dying to see how this one will turn out...!!!!

Keep it coming!!:thumbsup:

[alaklij]

Now the upper body is finished. I'm going to work on the trees and foliage around him. And hopefully do the legs, but it isn't top priority right now.

[alaklij]

perspective.

[alaklij]

So I'm sketching out tree positions, and figuring out scale. Your opinions are welcome. If there is something you would like, and I agree with you; I'll do it. :)

[boonet]

The second one is the best.
I think a shot like the first would need sort of a fisheye lens effect, and it would need a bit of composition balancing.
The third would take attention away from your character, and it would need a lot of details in the environment, and this risks to be a bit distracting.

Great work so far.

[Carl]

I think the second comp shows it off the most. The character might pop more if you added a bit of depth of field to the tree. Is your computer choking to death on that model? I think mine would explode. :thumbsup:

[alaklij]

I thought I would share this image. I'm was just playing more with composition, and I thought it was nice how the shadow lays on the surface of the tree. Someday I'll come back and finish this image with textures. For now I'm going to press on and make the legs and feet for my character. It just feels like he is missing something right now!:hmm:

I'll be back...

[alaklij]

Carl,
I agree with a little bit of DoF (and large calm forms), to help contrast the complexity of the model. As far as choking is concerned, no... I have a nice setup. OpenGL is smooth and intuative, and the renders take anywhere from 15-45 seconds, depending on how close I get. And I think I have 1 of 5 lights that's raytracing. Total poly count with the tree is approximately 233,000 (in Layout). I use Lightwave.

I also agree with composition #2, but it still doesn't satisfy. I will be making more trees and foliage of sorts, and I will finish modeling his body. (So I can rig him this July).

[alaklij]

So I went for a bike ride today (mountain bike) and I rode to a local state park with a lake. I stumbled across a tree long the shoreline of the lake that was worn from people walking over the roots and climbing to the shoreline to cast their boats. Consequently the roots were exposed and the weeds and grasses around struggled to grow.

THAT is what I'm going to make. and started to as well.

Enjoy.

If you need more of an explanation just ask.

[alaklij]

more swamp constructed.
Just a reminder: I have chosen to do modeling only. I will texture after the competition, until then I will continue to create the complex geometry.

[alaklij]

closer

[Faeroon]

Damn cool character - he looks really
wicked and some kinda pissed off!

The twisted modelling style is really...
disturbing... gives me the creeps *shivers* :surprised

More of it plz :beer:

[alaklij]

Actually, I derive the twisted effect of the branches from the Chinese histrorical aesthetic of the "Chou hook" (I could have spelled that wrong. The symbolism of Pine Tree is of longevity and tenacity. The twisted, yet unbroken branches shows the tree withstanding the test of time. This painting style is also derived from the chinese written language, with its use of calligraphy.

Note the twisted branches in the paintings.

Nuff talk, more pictures!

[alaklij]

a better example.

[Faeroon]

Hehe... I even get to learn something about
actual art here, great :thumbsup:

But You're right - enough talk, let in the updates :)

[alaklij]

Some minor changes: a better camera angle. Can see the details of the scene better. Ultimately, after this challenge, I will be animating and carrying this to a finished product. A fully immersable environment. I tend to build my sets in full 3D, then I crop it with the camera. This way I can get shots I never thought of.

Forgot to mention, each tree is modeled individually. And for this scene there's about 15 trees. Same will be true with the grasses, bushes, etc.

[alaklij]

Added some grasses and weeds.

[alaklij]

Look, he has legs! The beginning of them anyway.:)

[ZrO-1]

Alright legs whoo hoo :D hehehe

Seriously, that's a good start on the legs. Your character model really is awesome.
I like the layout of your environment but I think that since your challenge's focus is the character you should make him the focus of the scene. Right now he's lost among everything else. As far as the grass, at first I would say it needs to be much thicker, but as I think about it you could pro'lly get away with just making it really more 'clumpy'. Have the grass growing in clumps instead of individual leaves.

Just my 2 cents, sorry if that seemed overly critical.

[alaklij]

Originally posted by ZrO-1
Just my 2 cents, sorry if that seemed overly critical.

Not at all, good advice. I can get lost on all the infinite options of this medium, and sometimes forget to narrow my focus.

thanks

:beer:

[MikaelPersson]

Will be interesting seeing you rigging that character. I dont envy you ;). Otherwise I really like the model. Fun to see some heavy detail. Have you thought of how to texture him? It would be a pity to see all the detail get lost in a dark bark texture. You could try to make him out of birch wood (maybe). Just so you will be able to show off all the detail.

[alaklij]

Hey Mikael P.,
I certainly don't want to hide the effort put into the form with dark obstrusive colors. Yet, he will have moss and dirt since he is composed of the fallen matter of the forest. It will continue to be a challenge, and continue looking for him in the future. I'll be posting him in the finished gallery. Before I texture I want to rig him and start him moving, THAT is what excites me about him right now. Eventually, I'll grow tired of looking at a grey character and texture him.
For now I'm going to finish modeling for the challenge. His complicated geometry not only takes some time, but I'm also making it accurate for animation. So I don't have polys flipping or kinking too badly when I animate. I'm sure you all know this info. I'll stop...writing.

[MikaelPersson]

It sure will be interesting to see him textured. If you can keep the quality when texturing him. He will look good. I do hope you will find some nice mix between dark and light as not to hide to much of him.

[alaklij]

I'm almost done with the character. I should have it finished in my next post. For the final image I will have a closeup of the character next to one of the twisted trees.

[alaklij]

My final renders :bounce: of the modeled character. He is of the essance of the forest. Please reread my first post to gain any other information if you don't know already.
I have a few renders. I mimiced the original lighting from the drawing, with the exception of a couple to gain a better sense of the form.

[alaklij]

Rear perspective.

[alaklij]

side perspective.

[alaklij]

close-up.

[ZrO-1]

Your character looks absolutly awesome. I really like those last renders. That was a complicated model and you did a great job on it. It has stayed perfectly true to the original sketch.

Fantastic job I really like your piece.

[MikaelPersson]

Haha, I like it. Fun to see some really detailed stuff. I dont envy you rigging him for animation. Making that stuff deform nicely, wow. I have a hard time rigging stuff that is clean.
Great model! :thumbsup:

[alaklij]

ZrO-1, Mikeal P.,

thanks guys, I appreciate your thoughts.

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.