CGTalk - Character: The AIRMAN

Landis

09-20-2003, 02:55 AM

Ok....here is the concept art that I used during the modeling phase in a tent out in the middle of the desert...just me, this sketch, and a laptop. Anyways, here it is:

http://www.landisfields.com/conceptart.jpg

....and here is a relaxed version of him:

http://www.landisfields.com/airman_013.jpg

I working on adding the water bottle and the sketch book soon! By the way, the above image with him and the rifle is kind of a joke....you see, contrary to popular belief, not everybody in the military gets issued a machine gun....and not everybody in the Air Force is a pilot....after I get done with this character everyone will know this....you can bet on that:thumbsup: !

Cheers,
Landis

mark_battista

09-20-2003, 03:23 AM

i luurve it man, i like the whole sense of style that you got going on there. Its definitely unique! You use max? Keep us updated, nice of you to share this with us
keep it coming
regards
Mark Battista:thumbsup:

ps you hav a webby?

seval

09-20-2003, 05:56 AM

Go ahead Landis. Tell everyone what software you used for this.
I have been following the creation of this character on another forum. Nice work.

ODoul

09-20-2003, 07:34 AM

Yes, yes, yes....what software. Looks very good, BTW. -- 3d_e

Clockwork

09-20-2003, 08:00 AM

I just love this little guy, reminds me of myself when I'm waiting to see if my funding came through or not.

Nice character.

Landis

09-20-2003, 08:15 AM

LOL....well....you guys ready for this...I uh....I use Blender for all of my modeling AND rendering. Thats right! All of the images shown here are 100% pure Blender. On my W.I.P. thread there are some images (and they are labeled) that I rendered inside of an application called YAFRAY (the raytracer of the Blender community). I really like the application. Initially it allowed me to "get my feet wet" with 3D, however, it did not take me very long to realise that it is perfectly capable of making my vision a reality.

As far as texturing is concerend, that is all done in Blender as well, although, the textures are derived from pictures taken with a digital camera that were later given a good once over inside of photoshop before being used inside of Blender.

I have alot of other stuff if anyone is interested....I just dont want to abuse the server by cross posting. The administrators seemed a little upset in the annoucment thread of this forum, and from the sounds of it, they have a very valid point. Anyways, let me know if anyone is interested. Thank you all for your feedback and thank you seval for following my work :wavey: .

Cheers,
Landis

Shade01

09-20-2003, 08:45 AM

I love it!

kr3ml

09-20-2003, 09:42 AM

ooh yea i've seen this on cgchat.com , very cool character :thumbsup:

Sqwall

09-20-2003, 09:51 AM

AIRMAN IS ONE NASTY FELLOW :buttrock:

Landis

09-20-2003, 12:28 PM

Just a subtle update for you guys before I go to bed....I give you......(sound of trumpets)...EMPTY BRASS (two guys in the back of an empty night club, one coughs and the other claps slowly because "it's the right thing to do").

http://www.landisfields.com/airman_012_brass.jpg

More to come soon!

Cheers,
Landis

Terro

09-20-2003, 08:17 PM

GREAT :)

Landis

09-20-2003, 09:00 PM

Ok....I have a lot more to do on the mask but I wanted to show it to you before I leave the house today. When I return tonite I will work on it a little more and ofcourse upload the update. Anyways, here it is:

http://www.landisfields.com/airman_013_gasmask.jpg

I hope all of you are having a good weekend. Take care and dont drink too much.

Cheers,
Landis

DC2002

09-20-2003, 10:54 PM

Originally posted by Landis
Ok....I have a lot more to do on the mask but I wanted to show it to you before I leave the house today. When I return tonite I will work on it a little more and ofcourse upload the update. Anyways, here it is:

http://www.landisfields.com/airman_013_gasmask.jpg

I hope all of you are having a good weekend. Take care and dont drink too much.

Cheers,
Landis

LOL that is hilarious! keep up the good work!:buttrock: :applause:

try making an animation of him running then taking a BIO-chemical mask, puts on boots, then swims underwater!! lol (with a little exaduration of course ;) )

EVIL

09-20-2003, 11:33 PM

lol.. he looks like he would piss his pant's the moment he see's an enemy

flyingP

09-21-2003, 12:49 AM

Like it, very nice style.

Skyraider3D

09-21-2003, 01:01 AM

Great stuff! :thumbsup:
The gasmask is hilarious! :D

iDnoMore

09-21-2003, 04:53 AM

can post a bigger one?

brkn

09-21-2003, 07:43 AM

Landis, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Damn sweet :D

I love his new 'accessories' like the rifle and mask!

Chris

09-21-2003, 08:05 AM

Fantastic - I love this model! :thumbsup:

Landis

09-22-2003, 02:33 AM

I added an ammo can to the rifle render and tweaked the colors a little to match the the look and feel I am going for down the road:

http://www.landisfields.com/airman_012_ammocan.jpg

I am also working on the gas mask render right now so I will have some changes for that render probably here in another hour or so!

Other items on my "to do" list:

-make him look as though he truly is hanging onto the rifle (he isnt very "tough" so he must look as though he is struggling...I have already been working on this and should have something for all of you soon).

-work on various facial expressions for future facial animation tests

Take care.

Cheers,
Landis

BaranWearraan

09-22-2003, 02:37 AM

I already loved the look in his eyes without the gasmask, but if you put the gasmask on he really is outstanding !!!

Love to see more additions with this funny little soldier ! :applause:

Landis

09-22-2003, 06:10 AM

Here is anotehr gasmask test render with the eyes as they would be with dark anti-glare lenses...let e know on this because I am a little hesitent. Also, added the mask straps (below HIS right ear there is one that is visible) and the microphone texture map (which I am still working on).

http://www.landisfields.com/airman_gasmask.jpg

Cheers,
Landis

Sirius-x

09-22-2003, 07:48 AM

wow,very nice style man !
i like it:applause:

Landis

09-22-2003, 07:51 AM

Thanks man. Here is a hooded version of the gasmask render...not sure if I like it much though....but again...its just a test render:

http://www.landisfields.com/airman_gasmask_001.jpg

More to come...in the morning...time for bed now...damn....I have to be to work in 5 hours....man...I DEFINATELY have to land a job doing this when I get out or I wont last past 30.

Cheers,
Landis

sixthe45

09-22-2003, 08:03 AM

:applause:

endi2

09-22-2003, 11:21 AM

very good character, i love it
can we see a closer render on his face? or a high res. pic?
or a side view?

Media_Soldiers

09-22-2003, 02:30 PM

looks awesome
nice style, i would like to see an animation

facial

09-22-2003, 03:53 PM

LOL, poor boy, he looks so weak. Keep pust up.
Well done.

tachion

09-22-2003, 05:15 PM

Excellent work. I don't know much of Blender but are you thinking of making a short animation? How about "Airman - The Unforgettable Bootcamp Memories"? I might be interested to write a scene or two.

DarkHydra

09-22-2003, 06:36 PM

Hi Landis good to see you posting again. I haven't been getting over to the elysian forums lately, but was wondering how progress was going. You should also mention that The Airman had a still published in a mag, eh? As far as the gas mask goes, you wanted some feedback on the lenses. I prefer that we see his eyes. I mean I'd love to see those huge eyes get even wider when the area gets filled up with some greenish smoke and hear him trying to speak with the mask on. End up being like a high pitched muffled voice. Look forward to the animation tests.

P.S. Thanks holding it down for Blender. Always helps to see top notch work coming from a program I use. Rock on...

Landis

09-25-2003, 06:20 AM

Landis

10-08-2003, 11:08 PM

Ok....here is the start of my expression studies. This is derived from an article I once read in 3D World magazine which discussed some of the tactics used by Ardman Animation Studios (creators of Chicken Run) in regards to thought expressed through eye behavior. Psychologists once studied the direct relation to eye movemnt and the thought process. The result was a basic breakdown in which I plan to use as a foundation of the AIRMAN's expressions. Anyways...here is ummm....my uh...thought sheet?

http://www.landisfields.com/closeup_charactersheet.jpg

Cheers,
Landis

tomaya

10-08-2003, 11:38 PM

Hi matte!
Sorry, i like him, and when i like something, i vote five !...
:thumbsup:

Humorix

10-09-2003, 06:30 AM

Real cool character design. Love the personality which has come through! :thumbsup:

paulogm

10-09-2003, 12:09 PM

Hey, very cool! :applause:

The soldier boy is completed war power prepare!

Try create a enemy for him!

Até mais...:wavey:

Kinjiru

10-09-2003, 12:10 PM

very nice one!

Love his expression :D

ufo

10-09-2003, 02:11 PM

Very stylish soldier , I love the pose with mask .
Hope to see the band of brothers !!!

aQu

10-09-2003, 02:28 PM

Lol, that's great! :beer:
How did you model the helmet?

Aldo

10-09-2003, 03:12 PM

AWESOME

:applause: :thumbsup:

H3x

10-09-2003, 07:50 PM

hahah that's hilarious. I know someone that goes by airman, so I especially think that funny. Nice work:beer:

Dave Black

10-09-2003, 08:45 PM

Lovely stuff.

My only crit is sorta stupid considering the massivly stylized look you have going here.

The spent brass is too big. Way too big. Of course, it's stylised, but we are talking about a .223(5.56mm) caliber. I'd reduce the size of the casings by half.

But then, noting how you stylized the M4, perhaps' it's unimportant.

Just a covering all the bases.

Again, lovely work.

-3DZ

:D

pezz

10-10-2003, 12:51 AM

Simply a totally awesome character. I could definitely see him in his own short film :)

Landis

10-11-2003, 10:54 AM

Here is a closer shot of him:

http://www.landisfields.com/airman_closeup_002.jpg

paulogm,

As far as an enemy is concerned, it is already in work. I created a sergeant (an N.C.O. to be exact) whome plays the role of his supervisor basically. Very mean crusty old man who does everything the old fashioned way....definately not a "work smarter not harder" type personality. I will see if I can dig up his model and touch it up a little for ya.

aQu,

I modeled the helmet the same way I modeled everything else...simple polygon extrusion with subdivision surfaces applied in the end at render time.

3DZealot,

lol...yeah....good catch man! The round was actually modeled from a 20 mm brass casing that I was given during Operation Enduring Freedom that was left from a mission flown by an F-16. I had it sitting on my desk while I was modeling and texturing it. I have been meaning to shrink the round a little more to accomodate the magazine in the rifle...I will add it to my "to do" list.

tomaya, Humorix, Kinjiru, ufo, Aldo, H3x, and pezz,

Thank you all for your feedback...it inspires me and really keeps me going.

vader_dk

10-11-2003, 12:45 PM

i think he needs a radio, with a long antenna he can get in the eye and trip in. Nothing worse then a long antenna when you are on a mission :D

DustinBrown

10-11-2003, 10:12 PM

heh, thats great. reminds me of how they used to take what were basicly kids and throw them in the middle of carnage back in the WW2 days.

-Dustin

Landis

10-13-2003, 06:53 PM

Here is a sneek peek at the AIRMAN's friend..."BROX". He is the reason why the AIRMAN throws all of his money away on gym supplements. His last name is "Broxon" (pronounced "brocks-in") but the AIRMAN just calls him "Brox".

http://www.landisfields.com/brox_001.jpg

SKippyMcHaggis

10-13-2003, 07:19 PM

wow, this is some great stuff. i look forward to seeing more.

goin back a bit, to the gasmask version of airman, with the anti-glare lenses...

the mask seems to be not quite as...diffused as the rest of the body. look particularly at the chest and then at the mask...it feels like it's missing some atmosphere.

with the anti-glare lenses, it also looses much of the feel of the airman character. his eyes are sooo expressive.

brox looks like he'll be a fun addition to the mix. i take it "normal" people will be somewhere in between their two sizes? or is airman gonna be THAT scrawny? (did i spell scrawny right?)

Skip

Dave Black

10-13-2003, 07:27 PM

Lemme guess, Brox has either an m60 or a m249G...SAW? Nah...too small. Hehe.

This is gonna be great.

-3DZ

:D

Modron

10-13-2003, 08:19 PM

Looking good Landis. :buttrock:

Terro

10-14-2003, 09:11 PM

Hey Landis, We get our 3D World magz a little late here in chicago, but I'm going though the one with the Hulk on the cover. I get to the final pages and what do I find. Your Air man :) I knew I seen it in the Finished thread. Well just posting here to let ya know I see ya got published. Good work.

Landis

10-15-2003, 10:37 AM

Terro,

LOL...thanks man! Yeah I was pretty excited...you can bet I bought more than one. The AIRMAN is also going to be in the next issue of DIGIT magazine so keep an eye out! Take care buddy.

Cheers,
Landis

needed

10-15-2003, 03:35 PM

hey, this guy is really funny ! i love those eyes... of course you should animate him. :beer:

sizzlebits

10-16-2003, 05:28 AM

He's great! I can't wait to see some animation. Good job =)

roarty

10-16-2003, 08:35 AM

DUDE, that first character is rad.
Nice nice nice!

mudgift

10-17-2003, 11:46 PM

:buttrock: :applause: : cool work !!! really love the little guy hey hey !!!!!
continue with the good work soldier !!!

UnlikelyCorny

10-17-2003, 11:57 PM

Great stuff, excellent character...

One would wish that all wars and other 'operations' would produce only images like this.... (but life just aint so sweet)

DarkHydra

10-18-2003, 07:05 AM

Love, love, love it! I too can't wait for these characters to get animated but I'm not going to rush you. I'm happy to wait because it looks like you're putting the same good attention to detail and mood into everything you work on. Keep it up and start your own studio one of these days. This is Movie industry grade stuff.

Landis

10-20-2003, 09:23 PM

Here is the latest on the modeling phase of Brox. I still need to add the other webstrap to his belt, a chain to hold the dog tags and a key to go on that same chain that goes to a lock that keeps what is important to him safe while he away from his tent. Only some of the items are curently textured too but I should have the rest completed here in the next couple of days including the rig thanks to Blenders new auto skinning...that is considering the armature deforms correctly...have had some problems with it but will have to see. Anyways, here he is so far:

http://www.landisfields.com/brox_002.jpg

More to come very soon....

Cheers,
Landis

Landis

10-20-2003, 10:07 PM

...here are some angled views...

http://www.landisfields.com/brox_003.jpg

vader_dk

10-20-2003, 10:28 PM

Looks cool, think he needs a breast pocket for the smokes and other stuff.

H. Eisner

Landis

10-20-2003, 10:41 PM

Godd point...I will look into it...although he doesnt smoke...along with the AIRMAN...they are the exception to the majority of the military which DOES smoke. Anyways, thanks for the feedback.

Now, I have'nt forgot facial animation...still working on it...here are some sketches:

http://www.landisfields.com/facial_001.jpg

vader_dk

10-20-2003, 10:52 PM

nice face drawings :)

perhaps you need the face, that tells he have been on a drill for a week and is really tired. After no sleeping a lots of heavy lifting.

H. Eisner

Landis

10-20-2003, 11:23 PM

Now....here is some small thumbnails that I have created regarding how Brox would probably walk given his size and character analysis (which I need to post for both characters very soon). The first pic represents what I am aiming for right now and the second is nothing more than a sillouette of that one. The third one on the other hand is a sketch I did after having created the first one. I sketched the lines in the direction that I felt they flowed in order to get a better feel for the arcs within the body itself...I know it may sound strange but I do things like that. Anyways, here it is:

http://www.landisfields.com/brox_004.jpg

cg-freak

10-21-2003, 01:11 AM

Well Airman, have been foolin around a bit on this forum, but you are definitely the man. I love, love and love your character, great expression, great look and feel. This one's a winner babe.

You can definitely sell t-shirts and the whole lot of this guy, I see some great merchandising future ahead of you. (not kidding):applause: :applause:

Spent the money well, my friend:thumbsup:

Grtzzzzzzzz...

CG-Freak

-=[RoX]=-

10-21-2003, 01:17 AM

wow
nice work.
looks funny

greets
RoX

evan

10-21-2003, 02:38 AM

Landis, great work on both characters, I think there fantastic! :beer:

Landis

11-23-2003, 09:00 PM

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I know that I havent been around much but you can thank my Algebra teacher for that. I cant even manage to day dream about my work in there....the information is like water to a sponge...it saturates my mind to where it cannot possibly hold anything more! Anyways, I do have some good news for those of you who also use Blender and others that may be relatively new to 3D in general. Due to the recent release of issue 46 of 3D World, I am happy to annouce that my "Blender Problem Solving" tutorial can now be accessed from the tutorials section of my site. If you have any questions please submit them to the tutorials support thread that I created over at the 3D World forums (the link is provided on my site right after the link for the tutorial itself). As far as any information pertaining to the AIRMAN project, I have about 3 weeks of Algebra left so until then I am sorry but no eyecandy, however, I promise I will make it up to all of you. Take care and enjoy the tutorial.

Cheers,
Landis

lulaassassina

11-23-2003, 09:05 PM

blender? that completly user non-frendly software? cannot believe!

it is true, the does not make the man! ;)

congrats, man!

chalkeye

11-23-2003, 10:20 PM

Originally posted by lula_assassina
blender? that completly user non-frendly software? cannot believe!

it is true, the does not make the man! ;)

congrats, man!

absolutely, blender is fast becoming an extremely powerful tool in the 3d world.

top notch stuff landis, good work. cant wait to see more.

CuTnPaste

11-24-2003, 08:54 AM

well....great quality....

but, I think that tha mood is really sad, unhappy....

...is it?
:hmm:

GFX-Arts

11-24-2003, 10:11 AM

really nice :D

Landis

12-27-2003, 08:11 AM

CuTnPaste,

Yes you are correct, the mood is to be a bit unhappy. I am focusing on M*A*S*H with a bit of a Tim Burton twist.

Well, I can finally start working on the little fellar again. Algebra is over and I got an A .....ohh yeah baby! Ok, enough about that crapola, now for the goods.Just to give you all a little background, the AIRMAN, Brox, and I had a bit of an obstacle not too long ago which has been holding me back a bit.....and that obstacle was hair.

As all of you fine people know this has always been a bit of a problem technologically speaking (yuck) for some time now regardless of what 3d platform you are using. Now I knwo that Maya has "shave and a haircut" and there are many other 3rd party answers to this age old problem. As a matter of fact, Blender has had fur capabilities for a few years now, however, it is very resource expensive and very limited. I looked into a number of scripts provided by users of the community although, much like Blender, they too approached this dillema on a mesh level. What I was looking for was something fast and flexible while still proving itself acceptable visually.

A few months ago I got together with 3 gurus (another artist and 2 porgrammers) from the Blender community. We came up with an application we call "beast". Beast is a python script used as a plugin inside of the Blender interface itself. It is based off of what is known as "the card method". Basically a number of small planes (or cards) are duplicated along the surface of....ohh...lets say the scalp. An alpha map consisting of several tiny hairs is then applied to each card. The end result....hair, grass, feathers, you name it! Now, this could be done manually but as some of you may know, it can get pretty hairy pretty fast which is why we decided to automate it. Anyways, here is my latest render of Brox after beast got ahold of em'....

http://www.landisfields.com/brox_006.jpg

By the way, I am still working his textures (as you can se by the stuble of his "5 O'clock shadow" creeping up over his bottom lip...hehe). I will have more on this the next couple of days. Well, take care and thanks for reading my long-ass posts.

Cheers,
Landis

Landis

12-27-2003, 10:33 AM

....and here is yet another render of the big guy....textures are a bit better now ....

http://www.landisfields.com/brox_007.jpg

Phew....off to bed...4 am...man I'm beat! Take care all...see you in the morning.

Goodnite once again,

Landis

Ogi

12-27-2003, 02:39 PM

Iam just loving your style dude :D Damn its nice...
I have read everything in this thread and i just want to see more and more. LOVE IT!!!

Keep up the good work and Good Luck whit your project.

:buttrock: :buttrock: :buttrock:

foxco

12-27-2003, 06:00 PM

very nice, its definatley demoreel quality. i really like your idea and its kool to post your studies and all that, the style is great, keep up the good work

XsifoX

matswo

12-28-2003, 07:37 PM

how bout slightly smaller eyes and slightly wider jaw. he looks too nice to be so big! :)

UR WORK ROCKS! AIRMAN SHOULD BE A MOVIE!

Digimatrix

12-28-2003, 10:49 PM

Airman is so incredibly funny. What is his back story? Newbie Admin troop pulled for security and his first time on the gate (too scared to call a bathroom break on the radio)?
LOVE Brox. Guess we all know somebody like them..... :thumbsup:
Super Job
Have you submitted this to your unit?

Lem

12-30-2003, 01:41 PM

oh my god,
thats remembers me of an old ww2 cartoonist. absolut lovely, your airman.
congrats,
Lem

k4k

12-30-2003, 04:41 PM

:bounce: AIRMAN - thats superb man!!::bounce:

khaleghi

12-30-2003, 06:03 PM

very good character you have modeled :buttrock:

paconavarro

12-30-2003, 07:56 PM

Very nice duo :) ... you've got here... Id like to see them in theyre desert tent...

Give us some animation test :)

Etchy

12-30-2003, 10:51 PM

hi Landis

Saw the article in 3d world mag isue 46, and found the guy funny right away.
And now i suddenly stumpled over him in here, and could see the develope historie that has run for some time.

I hope you are out of that Airforce/Navy (don't know what part you are in) cause it would be bad not to be able to see this to the end.

I just took up my fasual drawing again after i saw the scetchs in 3d world mag, cause I too would like to be able to draw like that (and I guess thats even simple drawings you got there)

Keep up the good work, I'll follow it closely, now that i found it here..

found it amazing that you had been working with this while on mission. Glad that its posible to spend the time in a good way there too.. :)

Etchy:thumbsup:

darkefire

01-01-2004, 03:54 PM

im pulling a 12 hour shift at work on this fine new year's day (takin phone calls for a big company), and man this thread totally brightened my day up!

only complaint: no updates since July???! what happened to Airman?? is there a website that im missing?

Airman's eyes alone immortalized the character in my mind. completely beautiful. you definitely captured the spirit of Tim Burton's character work. the shot with the gas mask nearly floored me! but it really takes away from the eyes. i'd put the mask hanging around his neck, if that's possible (not sure how standard issue equipment operates).

amazing work! its a solid inspiration!

kaiten

01-01-2004, 08:53 PM

Really impressive work :applause:

Zack

01-02-2004, 03:32 AM

Very nice character! I tried to learn blender but I had trouble with advanced modeling in it.

Landis

02-06-2004, 08:22 AM

Well what can I say.....it has been a loooooong time since I opened any AIRMAN files....too long! So, I've decided to take a break from my self portrait and play around with some of my old friends. Here are a couple of facial tests for Brox using only 2 keys and no eye movement (see below).

http://www.landisfields.com/brox2_blog_001.jpg

Now the AIRMAN's thought sheet was derived from eye movement EXCLUSIVELY where as this test was exactly the opposite. Just think how cool it will be when I combine all of my notes into one....it will actually start looking like the characters are alive!