now the model 2460 and I just have to model the limbs ( 1000 triangles = 6 limbs? ). for the
most part the mesh is all one part and could hold water if it were real. the horn and teeth
need to be finished, i will post more later. any one got any color ideas? I cant get my head
around RED, but its been over done.
thanks for all the feed back guys!
God thats cool. I think you should go for a red with black/silver highlights (I like black 
). If you really donāt wanna do red, then a green could work well, or a blue, or a purple. I think you could pull off any primary/secondary colour, especially with such a good model. But you shouldnāt go further than secondary IMO.
Super clean modelā¦ awesome work. Personally, I think emerald green would be a perfect color for the armorā¦ or perhaps armor with inlaid jadeā¦ JMTC
Keep up the great work.
Very noice! My vote would be for mostly black, with irridescence on the shell, (possibly achieved through a reflection map?) multicoloured, shimmering, like real beetles.
wow:scream:, I was almost about to crit that the head was too small, then I thought about it a different way and I think you should leave it as is, that way it reflects that itās body is more massive in a comparison, your doing very well and I canāt wait until you start the texture.
way cool! That is an amazing amount of detail for a mere 2400 triangles, and the head is too cool, excellent work! I think I assumed that he would be shimmery irridescent navy blue, but red could be cool too. Iām imagining this guy in a game where he moves kind of like real beetles do - really fast, darting/scuttling motions - very scary!
Nice update! I love the head and all the other details.
However youāre probably going to need to optimize the mesh quite a bitā¦ but you already knew that. 
I think that maybe the tail part could be slightly shorter, but thatās about it.
Ok, here is my wip update. Iāve been stressing about the poly count because I still have the
arms to do and just over 300 triangles?!?!! Oh, well I saw some places i could optmize it think.
still not sure about the colors and texture design but what ever.
thanks for all the support and great ideas! Let me know what you think about my progress.
Sweet looking!!! :buttrock:
300 Polyās for armsā¦ hehe, donāt forget his sword :twisted: .
hey LeeSalo, really nice job on your model so far! I am curious to see how you resolve your polycount issueā¦ 
In case you havenāt made a decision about how to work in colors and such for your texture, you might take a look at the ācuckoo waspā as a possible reference. It has an interesting combination of turquoise and green for the head and mid-body segments and the abdomen is a rather brilliant ruby coloration. Iāve attached a sample that I found after doing a quick google.
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From what I have seen of normal mapping, you could probably do one and do away with most of the poly count, especailly the belly steps and the leg step detail, also the detail height you have on the armor.
I would like to see him have more personality, right now the design is good, but if there was twenty other guys with him, what would make one stand out? How could the wings be incorporated, as movable armor or as a flight device? maybe as blades?
edit:Okay dargon:D , he could use a bump map and achieve a not quite as nice, but simular result of the steps effect he modeled.
You have such a cool thing going so early, I think you have time to push the idea further, good luck!
Actually, youād be surprised. Iāve done a bit of dabbling at this point, and you canāt really get away with too low a base mesh. You have to remember that Normal maps are essentially a complicated bump map, and therefore do nothing to the outline, and if thereās not enough topography to the base mesh, you just wonāt get very good results. Thereās not much he could remove that normal maps would pick up. Itās quite the complicated model!
But thatās enought thread hijacking! If you want more info on normal mapping, read the normal mapping thread, and feel free to post questions, thereās a lot of great resources there!
300 eh, i think youāll be able to pull it off, iām sure youāll find something to optimize, this model is great, iām loving it!
I need some one to kill this thread. The beetle I was working on was first and formost for a game I am working on. It will be a boss model and I need to use more polys to get the design to look like i want it to. So I will start a new thread in the main game area.
:wise: wow I knew it was something like that!.. ah well thatās cool, actually a real bummer man you need a wack for that~!:wip:
joken ā¦
best of luck.
EDIT: :shrug:
hmm, now that I think of it, Lee why donāt you just make a more lowpoly one for the contest it shouldnāt be that much work for an artist of your caliber, go for itā¦
why not make your cake and eat it to?