Game Art Comp #9: Submissions

#21

Some really top notch finalists here! There are a few I was hoping would make it, (including myself) but I’m not too surprised. Not a single comp I’ve entered has had even close to all the people finish, not even limited to this site. A bit more mention on the front page this time, but more would still be better.

OK, so I’m going to break this down into Good, bad, and advantage - Being what that modeller did well, what I think are the weak spots, and what one thing sticks out as the best thing about it.

Neil - Russian Racoon Soldier

Good - Nice even texture resolution, love the slumped look of the character. Would be quite believable in some sort of animal war FPS. Would love to see him next to other creatures same period, with him only coming up to knee height.

Bad - Because you modeled in the T pose, a bit of your weighting seems a bit off, and a little stiff. He doesn’t have much in the way of facial expression, which makes him seem a bit dead. I like all of the little extra details except the fish skeleton, which is really stylized - where everything else seems to be going for realism. Some darkness in the barrel of the gun would work nicer.

Advantage - Good, believable character. I’d expect that if a human was crossed with a racoon, this is exactly how it would look. Kudos.

MonkeyBot - Gorilla- Mughal Empire

Good - Good poly distribution, good topology, and decent texture distribution. Nice character, lot’s of personality.

Bad - I think you were going for cartoony here, and it works, but I think you could’ve taken that much further. Generally, the proportions are nice, but I think here and there, it could’ve been a bit better. The size of his forearms compared with the rest of his arm, and his hands seems… off. Textures could’ve used a bit more lovin. More shading, particularily where the different pieces of armour overlap.

Advantage - Original take, and an original army to work from.

Tzax - Rabbit- WWII German Soldier

Good - Decent texturing with a nice even contrast would make this fit nicely into a historical sim game.

Bad - Proportions need some work. Partially this is due to the pose you modeled him in - with his arms perfectly straight down. The shoulder joint is actually a little closer into the body, so having your arms come as straight down as that, is pretty difficult - the torso tends to get in the way. His arms are also of equal thickness all the way down, and appear to be the same thickness as his legs. My suggestion would be to taper his arms more, adjust his shoulders to reflect real anatomy better. I would also say that more of his rabbitness should’ve extended to his body - make him leaner - much leaner, with powerful legs, possibly with a bit of a reverse articulate look to them.

Advantage - A fairly realistic rabbit head, and nice work on the weapon makes this model work fairly well.

funkyrayuk - British Bulldog Sargeant from the period of the peninsular war (1808-1813).

Good - Choosing an animal that actually relates to the country it represents. I like his rough and ready look, he looks tough. I quite liked the beauty render, would’ve worked more if you fuzzed the shadow quite a bit…

Bad - A bit of proportion problems, particularily with his shoulders - the top of his chest, and where his arm connects are way too far out, which makes them look broken. Textures are quite fuzzy, especially important in spots like the straps across his shoulders, which kindof blend into his jacket.

Advantage - A nice vibrant, illustrative feel.

DigDoug - Revolutionary Soldier Eagle

Good - Nice, cartoony feel, stuck close to your concept. Great texture work on the feathers and feet

Bad - Really should’ve used more of the poly limits. Nice to be under, but you’ve got a few spots that could’ve deformed better, a few spots that look a bit polygonal. Adding some alpha plane feathers would’ve been great too, especially when he makes a fist. Don’t know if it was how you weighted or just how you posed him, but the feet look really stiff. I also would’ve used that massive bank of exrta polys to model in a working eye and mouth, as he looks quite dead staring in the same direction like that.

Advantage - Great proportions, sihlouette reads really well. Because of those, he’d work quite well in a platformer, or other cartoony game.

Devised_Poly - Oryx (gemsbok) American Indian Warrior (navajo)

Good - Stuck close to your concept, really nice details like in the headdress, nice colour pallette. Some good, well defined anatomy, particularily the chest and arms.

Bad - A few too many of your polys ended up in the headdress, leaving too few for nice deformation in the chest/arms. Texture seems a bit flat - I either would’ve taken that to more cartoony, and added outlines, or added overlays of fur texturing, and a bit more shading. Would’ve been nice to see him out of the T pose…

Advantage - dynamic, well presented character.

terraarc - Crusader White Lion

Good - Nice, close to realistic texturing on his head, and most parts of his body. He looks like he’d fit in quite nicely in the next Elder Scrolls game, if there is one.

Bad - His chest seems a bit too cylindrical, it needs a bit more shape. The belts really seem painted on, and with the realism of the rest, it makes it look like they were supposed to look painted.

Advantage - Really nice, realistic feel, very MMORPG. Seems it would work for a modular character system.

Kwak - African/Roman Rhino Gladiator

Good - Great modelling, really clean mesh with good topology. Proportions and anatomy are both spot on. There’s not much I would do differently. Great job.

Bad - I think the model feels a bit let down by the texturing on the head, and by the mouth. Around the eyes is really painted looking, and not nearly as nice as the work on the body. If his mouth was darker inside, and looked a little more like the inside of a mouth, it would finish this up nicely.

Advantage - great character design, and a nice, solid model. Mostly great textures as well.

Serul - German World War 1 Panda Flametrooper

Good - Great proportions, great modeling, great texturing. You’ve designed this nicely to keep him recognisable as a Panda, but still staying true to the trooper look. I really like his simple shapes with realstic, but slightly cartoony texturing. Spot on.

Bad - Really not much - I think the Holes for the eyes in his mask look too much like hexes - would’ve been better to either add more faces there, or cover it up with alpha to get the round look you have on all the rest of the geometry.

Advantage - Really nice, solid figure. Nice texturing and modeling. Great job.

sysop - Tribal Wolf Warrior

Good - Really nice render, with some great details - especially like the bones through the legs, they look great! Some nice handling of fur, and great proportions.

Bad - Poly layout is a little off. There are areas that won’t deform very nicely, or at least not as nicely as they should for the quality of model. There are places with a bit too many, like the double line around his pants. The skulls on his shoulders are not very good. You would’ve been better off faking the eye-holes with texture, the squareness of them is not nice. There are also some really nasty seams, a bit on the front, but really noticable on the back. I’d say with a bit of work in these areas, you would’ve been a major contender for first.

Advantage - Really cool, if historically innacurate character design. Looks really nice from a distance.

So there you have it. Only about an hour and a half…

Oh yeah, placement!

1st - Serul - German World War 1 Panda Flametrooper
2nd - Kwak - African/Roman Rhino Gladiator
3rd - Neil - Russian Raccoon Soldier

#22

My judging is based on whether or not you have brought a unique and original character to life while displaying all the essential elements of character creation. I left the technical requirements loose so many could participate without feeling intimidated by the high standards of today’s games.

Neil - Russian Racoon Soldier

Mesh: Your polygons look sloppy in some areas. You have edges around the coat that have no influence on the outline shape of the mesh. Those edges could have been placed on areas of the arms and legs for better deformation. The fact that you modeled in a complete T stance also contributed to the possible lack of flexibility for the character. This usually gives unwanted results around the shoulders and chest when rigging, and takes away from the feel of the character duing the design process. If you had designed with a more relaxed stance, many of the problems noted would have been avoided. As for your geometry, I believe more effort could have been placed into the hands and legs. It’s difficult to judge topology with such a low poly object. It appears very low poly since more details were centered around the face and hands. Relying on the texture could have helped to balance the geometry of the entire character.

Texture: The UV layout looks nice and organized to me. No wasted space that I can see. In the beginning you stated you were not aiming for realism, even though you have acheived a mix of qualities. The head looks very real, as if manipulated from actual reference. On the other hand, the suit and props have a more clean and cartoon style. Fortunately, the styles do not clash with each other, and the character has a unique and consistent appearance. Close up, those eyes look scary. I know from camping experiences, you don’t mess with tha raccoon.

Presentation: I can’t help but enjoy looking at this character. At first I thought it was odd to have a raccoon head on top of a human body. But now I see the direction you wanted to follow. Just from observation, it looks as if a raccoon stole an army uniform from a pile of garbage. Great backstory. It really gives the character purpose. When I view characters such as this, I think “Earthworm Jim”. A creative design and all around unique character. To see this in a game environment would be hilarious. The trash adds to the raccoon aspect. The action renders brought the character to life for me.

MonkeyBot - Gorilla- Mughal Empire

Mesh: Your mesh is well organized for the most part. You roughed out the shapes very well early in the design. The legs look odd and could have used a few more polygons. It was mentioned before that the mouth area needs more of a “natural flow”, because it looks like two coconut halves places together. It would be difficult to display any sort of expression with the current design. The double edges used to design the seams of the outfits are unnecessary. They have no influence on the final shape of the mesh, and could easily be faked with a texture. The geometry taken from that area could have been used more effectively for the legs and mouth.

Texture: The texture looks unfinished, and flat. The fur is very dark, making it difficult to see details of fur, and could use a few highlights. The design of the outfit suffered from the detail created from geometry. The edges of the designs are “blocky” where a smooth texture could have been used to raise the overall level of detail, and saving geometry. A bump map alone could have produced seams saving you dozens of edges. More effort could have been used to add more variety and lighting to the outfit. It’s very flat and plain for a game based character.

Presentation: The comments above on Mesh and Texture explain most of the bad areas of the overall work. Your concept is nice and has potential as a fun and unique character (much like other gorillas we’ve known and loved over the years). It’s eyes and mouth of the concept give a playful expression. The 3D version lacks the spark that makes the concept so appealing. The Gorilla appears lifeless. If you placed the character on it’s back, it would definately appear dead. Consider this in your future efforts. You have the skills needed to create amazing game assets. And I hope you make strong efforts in upcoming challenges. Just remember, when an artist creates, he creates with purpose. What do you want your finished product to convey to it’s observers? Look for your purpose when bringing a concept to life. This was a great effort, and I hope you benefit from the critiques you’re given.

Tzax - Rabbit- WWII German Soldier

Mesh: The mesh looks very clean, but also unrefined. For an organic model, the mesh has a very “primitive” design. Very chunky and shapeless as one judge has already mentioned. Many edges have little to no importance to the silhouette. Deformation would be an issue for this mesh. With its current shape, a much lower polycount could be acheive without any change to the finished product. The weapon is well designed. You must have experience as a weapon modeler.

Texture: The UV layout is very nice. I haven’t seen that style too often in maps, where everything is squared off. The texture itself is very clean and consistent. Hardly any complaints here. In fact, the texture almost hides all the faults within the geometry. The weapon texture is terrific. You know your metals. A small amouth of detail could have been focus on the head texture to give the character more of a personality.

Presentation: You started this entry very late in the game. I gave you permission to try, but there was really no point. You didn’t show any progress, and therefore didn’t allow for any suggestions for improvement during the course of design. So there is no proof of how long this creation actually took to complete. This was a two month contest, and you contributed all your efforts within one day’s time during the final days of the challenge. You participation suffered heavily from this. Please try to make more of an effort within the community for future events. Your final result could have improved from advice shared during the creation of this entry, which is what this event is all about…learning. You concept was very simple, and your final character improved on it. But, it lacks personality. It’s lifeless. You have no problem with texturing solids, and weapon design, but I believe you should spend more time learning how to model and texture organics. I know your next effort will be respectable in quality.

funkyrayuk - British Bulldog Sargeant

Mesh: Good optimization. The mesh his little waste, but could benefit from more detail in areas of deformation. Edge placement around the crotch area could use some improvements as well. The hands look out of place. Maybe large paws would have improved the character’s concept.

Texture: The UV layout shows many areas of wasted space. Using those spaced appropriately could have improved the fuzziness. The texture itself is suffering from an overdose of the Burn tool. Try to bring color to your shadows. Look up some articles on color theory, and painting highlights and shadows. The fur texture is great. The eye texture doesn’t work. You have what looks to be a human pupil to represent the entire eye of the character. Very sloppy. Try actually painting the white of the eye, and the pupil with the correct colors. The eye is the window into the soul…without it, characters lack any sign of life.

Presentation: Clever wordplay. A british bulldog. It’s the type of idea I was hoping to see from most entries. It’s a unique character, and I enjoy the beauty render. Nice effort, and I hope you contribute more as you develope your talents.

DigDoug - Revolutionary Soldier Eagle

Mesh: Excellent! The stance works well, and the polygons and edges are placed perfectly for deformation. Nice hat.

Texture: This is where things take a turn for the worse. The UV’s are organized well. But, it seems you assigned very little space for the elements which make up the head of the character. And these elements are spread across different regions of the map. Because of these factors, the final result is inconsistent with the detail of aspects such as the uniform and feathers. The texture of those areas are fantastic…you know your 2D. For the reasons listed above, the head texture lacks the same quality, and the overall work suffers. One thing to mention, the eyes could have been easily mapped individually, considering they’re placed on seperate hemispheres of the model. Be careful about arrangement, and areas of focus next time.

Presentation: Great choice of character. It’s all American. With more focus on the head, it could be amazing. The character’s expression is bland where his poses are terrific Try to improve on that and you have yourself a skillfully designed game asset. At the moment, it looks best from a side angle at a distance. Try to improve the front angle as well.

Devised_Poly - Oryx American Indian Warrior

Mesh: Your mesh work and topology is well placed. You went a little overboard with the headdress. A simple curved surface with an alpha could have given the same result. From the side, your stance appears stiff and lacks posture or balance. The shapes of the arms, hands, and chest are great. But, what were you thinking with the head? Throw some edges in and give it shape so it represents and Oryx accurately. The saved polygons from the headdress could have added more edge loops to the head.

Texture: The textures look flat, inconsistent, and unfinished. More time and effort could have improved on that. The face texture does add a small amount of detail where the geometry lacks. But not enough. The UV’s are well organized. The texturing is a little sloppy, and looks rushed. Try to keep it neat, even in places that aren’t visible on the mesh. It will help presentation.

Presentation: The final result does match the concept, so you are aware of your direction, although the concept could have been improved to avoid the faults discussed above. It’s a unique character, and fun to look at. I wish more effort had been made to give it more of a personality. It seems so stiff and lifeless. The face doesn’t show any expression, and appears to be more like a mask for an indian warrior than an actual animal. But, in the end you did very well and created a presentable character.

terraarc - Crusader White Lion

Mesh: Your mesh is sloppy in some areas, while effectively crafted in others. Work on your consistency. Your arms are accurately shaped, but the torso is oddly shaped all around. A slim anatomically defined torso could have improved this mesh. Everything else seems fine.

Texture: The UV’s and texture look great. I applaud you for creating so many maps. The texture for the armor is superb. The cloth could have used some wrinkles to show weight.

Presentation: Your concept had a lot of potential as a fierce and unique character. But, the 3D version doesn’t display the concept in the same likeness. The cloth aspect of the uniform, and the odd shaped torso section really took away from the finished product. But, in the end it is a great character and presented courageously. Good choice of beast and armor by the way.

Kwak - African/Roman Rhino Gladiator

Mesh: What can I say? Perfect. Clean, consistent, easily deformed. You know your polygons. I hope to be as professional in quality one day soon with my own efforts. Your work is something to admire.

Texture: This is where I get a little iffy. I will go ahead and say the teeth look terrible. The texture work is indeed phenomenal. So much so that I checked in the dictionary to confirm that I spelled “phenomenal” correctly. Anything less would be rude of me. I don’t know how you did it. But, when I look at the character as a whole, it becomes very dull. Nothing special grabs my attention over a period of time. Some areas of the armor seem to blend in with the organic skin. After a few glances, it’s not as pleasant on the eyes. It’s hard to believe, but I think the overall design of the character could have been better. I’m sure time was against you in this step of creation. The attention to small details is beyond amazing, but most of it is lost in the big picture. In a realtime game setting, this would be an issue.

Presentation: The beauty render is just as it says…beautiful. It’s hard to imagine this is in fact a low poly object. You have skillfully presented the power and quality of normal mapping. If gaming is pushing towards cinematic quality graphics, I’m sure you’ll be on the front lines. I’ve had a difficult time deciding where to place you in points. With such a variety of characters to consider, it’s not easy to judge on higher standards of detail alone.

Serul - German World War 1 Panda Flametrooper

Mesh: Remarkable! Well done. Every single edge has a purpose. No waste that I can see. My only complaint is the top of the feet. They appear somewhat odd shaped to me. But it’s only a trivial detail compared to the complete work.

Texture: Outstanding! Everything is smooth and easy on the eyes. The red lining around the coat was a nice touch. The tanks…perfect.

Presentation: This character is best selling game material. I’m glad you found the time to throw in a posed render. This guy looked excellent from concept til finish. That’s the kind of talent needed in game design. The ability to bring pencil and paper to a new dimension. Great work in every aspect. Two thumbs way up!

sysop - Tribal Wolf Warrior

Mesh: Topology is great. Muscular shapes are constructed nicely. I agree with another judge that the skull could have relied more on a texture. The square eyes are a major loss in detail. The feet and claws also look a little odd together.

Texture: Unbelievable. Most likely the best fur I’ve ever seen on a low poly character. I can imagie you put a lot of time and effort into it. It looks as if you have some wasted space in your map.

Presentation: A posed render with a weapon would have really made the design scream. I remember you designed a high poly source for normal mapping, but it seems you didn’t use it for the final submission. I question you about that. It’s difficult to judge a character such as this. Your choice of “indian warrior” is vague, mostly considering the fact Native American war attire was not uniform. Each warrior and each tribe has its own personal decoration. So accuracy can be debated. You carried this character design nicely from concept til finish, and that’s talent. Enjoy your time studying at Playground Squad. I’m sure you skills will expand quickly. Ivars is a talented artist, so learn well from him.

I’m a terrible judge of individual efforts. But it’s my responsibility to do the best I can, much like you all have. Take the critiques lightly, but use them to improve your abilities over time. There are many artist I wish had finished. So here we are…

My choices:
1st - German Panda Flametrooper
2nd - Tribal Wolf Warrior
3rd - African/Roman Rhino Gladiator
Honorable Mention - Russian Racoon Soldier

Time to add up the totals…

#23

FINAL RESULTS:

[color=yellow]1st place with 11 points - [/color]German Panda Flametrooper

[color=orange]2nd place with 10 points - African/Roman Rhino Gladiator[/color]

[color=silver]3rd place with 5 points - Tribal Wolf Warrior[/color]

Congratulations to Serul for his winning entry!

PolyMarauder will be around soon so that you may claim your prize.

Feel free to comment and applaud. :applause:

#24

Congrats Serul…

I honestly hoped you’d win as your character just seemed to HAVE more character…the shape and feel of it really stood out for me…well done :slight_smile:

The other entries were really good too and a great source of inspiration for me…

I think the judging was fair for the most part, i disagree with some points some judges made, but that’s just my opinion…i was hoping Neil would get on the podium, he had a great idea with his Bazooka Racoon…but maybe next time…

Good job judges…

Just one question to Elysium…you stated in Neil’s judgement that he suffered because he modelling his char in the T pose…

What pose IS best for modelling games chars ?

I usually model bipeds with their arm’s at about halfway between the “T pose” and “arms by their sides”…any advice would be great…:slight_smile:

Cheers

G…

#25

Blimey!
I was expecting Kwak to win for sure!
Good job serul - a mighty fine character!

Overall, i think that it was dissapointing that we had so many entries that were never finished (or even started!) like ninjanoodle’s chihuaha and that excellent bison soldier that one guy did. I think, if anything, the frontpage plug was responsible for this. Casual viewers saw it, decided to enter it, then couldnt commit to it.

So… whats next serul?
What are you gonna choose for the next comp? I hope it starts quickly, unlike Kman with the last comp.

#26

Sweet!!! :smiley: That was a close one!

Thanks guys and thanks to all who voted for my creation. I had tons of fun working on this character since it was such a cool subject to begin with.

And there were so many cool entries, to bad some of them didn’t get finished. :frowning:

As for what the next comp will be… well let’s say I’m open for suggestions :wink: Being in crunchtime with a headcold isn’t too much fun I can tell you that. At least all this made me feel a bit better. :smiley:

Anyway I have no problem setting it all up, but right now I’m very busy, probably for the rest of the week. I thought about starting the next comp after Dargon’s mini one but the end to that one is still a month away. So… :shrug:

But I’m up for designing something original again. And maybe the same lenght as the last one? I’ll keep you guys updated.

#27

Andy, your right… it’s really almost a hateful thing…

Kids just can’t seem to commit and those that aren’t, probably are to busy with a job or finding one? we did get some great entries, though few entries…

And Congratulations Serul for a job well done for some reason I’m not that surprised, anyway I hope we have better luck this next time around, with more entries and all.

Thinking about the next comp? Serul I might have some time away from personal stuff, so if ah, well lets get the next show on the road as they say… :smiley:

[EDIT] hmm well I can’t wait until then :expressionless: ;)…

#28

Congratulations Serul you had some serious competition. Not only that but the Panda Flamethrower also won the hearts over on gamingartist.com shadow contest so it’s a clean sweep. Contact me via PM on ether site to collect your prizes
and thank you to everyone who participated. You all have mad skills and you should be proud for even finishing the contest. You’re all winners in my book!

#29

Congratulation to all contestants! Nice work everybody. Extra applause on Serul, Kwak and Sysop!! Waiting for the next one!! Thanks again for a nice comp!:thumbsup:

#30

I agree with you that it’s best to model characters somewhere between T pose and completely dropped arms. But really it depends on how your character will be animated the most. For a low poly character who will mostly carry and fire a weapon, designing arms that high is somewhat unneccesary. It encourages you to add edges that will cause problems during adduction of the shoulder area. I love Neil’s character, and his choice of T pose modeling had little to do with my final choice for top three. When he displayed his character rigged and posed, I was hooked. That’s why I had to atleast mention his entry.

#31

I found its always best to use the what I call the “V-Pose” no matter what model I do high-res or low-res. You will always get the best deformation when you model all the joints at their half way mark. The T pose came about because that’s the way you had to model your character to rig correctly in character studio a while back if I am correct.

#32

polymarauder: yup I use this one most of the time, half ways makes sense, it’s the loose norm position…

#33

Thanks a lot guys…i thought it was a more natural pose to rig, as it’s about halfway between the extremes of movement (if the character will be holding a gun for the most part)…even when the char jumps, his arms aren’t going to rotate past his shoulders…

thanks again…:slight_smile:

G…

#34

See, you won because of my recommendations :wink: haha.

Congrats. Nice work. It would be funny to see all these entries lined up in a group shot. Similar to how the 2d guys on here had everyone submit their entry then made a composite shot. I would liek to work mine a little more now that I have some time, and then possibly finish it off for real. It could almost be like a saving private ryan shot of sort. I dunno about the indiana warrior entires though (sorry, no offense) haha, they just don’t seem to mix with the military ones.

I was kinda hoping for a contest someone would do something more texturing geared. Like doing a bum or something, something where you will get wacky combinations of clothes that you don’t normally see together. Like an army jacket over a mechanic tshirt with sweat pants and constructions boots…etc. I know that’s not politically correct, but it’s a character regardless.

#35

Congrats to Serul on his double trouble win! and thanks for finishing to everyone else.:thumbsup:

#36

Yeah - i could do with some tramp modeling action!

I likes the sounds of thats

#37

How do people feel about a challenge that focuses on technical modelling (vehicles, weapons, etc.)? I’ll have to come up with something special of course, so it’s not just cars or guns. :smiley:

But of course it depends on the level of interest of the other members. As for me it’s a side of 3D game art that I haven’t really explored all that much yet.

Furthermore would people be interested in working with some higher poly-limits/textures?

Let know what you guys think. For now I gotta go back to work. :wip:

#38

Me too - ive made nothing but organic models so far.
Ive got my heart set on making a 3d version of the Ingram mech from patlabor, so if i could somehow make that as part of the comp, id be chuffed :thumbsup:

I dont know if thered be much intrest in it though - most people perfer to make people and monsters (like me!)

I do really like the idea of making a tramp though :slight_smile: Its got a lot of potential…

#39

I like this, but I’d only be interested if it’s not “recreate a such and such”, and has an element of inventing involved. Something like the CGChat Supertank, or I think we had an official challenge that was some sort of crazy flying machines way back when. Something along those lines would be pure class.

#40

I’d enjoy a vehicle challenge. How about a “vehicle with weapon” challenge. Halo fans could appreciate that. 5000 polygons maybe. I’m waist deep in character modeling right now, a vehicle would be a change. With some good guidelines, and a front page plug, I think you would get enough attention. If you can acheive atleast 10 entires for the submission thread, you’re doing good.:twisted: The guidelines would have to be loose. Land, air, or sea…real or fiction.