LESSONS LEARNED (Animals in Motion): Lets TalK!

#1

First I would like to congratulate all who were able to finish
their entries for the current challenge. I am floored with the quality of the entries that were submitted. I mean WOW.

I think we all stand to learn a lot from the work we have done in the current challenge.

So Tell us
[ul]
[li]What were the biggest challenges in the challenge?[/li][li]What were the biggest roadblocks?[/li][li]How do you guys feel about team entries more feasible? (For example Imagine we had a challenge were we joint built an Aircraft carrier)[/li][li]How would you guys feel about more challenges based on Concept art?[/li]Some samples: link1 link2 link3 link4 link5 link6
[li]How would you guys feel about challenges where we produce animation ready models? Would you be willing to share those models with the Folks at the Rigging challenges section?[/li][/ul]Looking forward to your comments
-Roberto

#2

Considering I just didn’t have the time to even enter this challenge, I would say the first two don’t apply to me :stuck_out_tongue:

I’m not all that interested in the joint challenge, but that is mostly because my schedule is so
crazy I would have no way of knowing if I could actually commit to it.

I DO love the idea of doing a challenge from concept art.

I’m also interested in creating a ready-to-rig model, though I’d be curious to know what that would entail.

#3

• What were the biggest challenges in the challenge?

—For me, the biggest challenge was time management. Joggling and or anticipating possible down time between client projects that would provide a window of opportunity to commit myself to a challenge through to the finish within the allotted time frame. This includes assessing the time I think it will take to complete the challenge from start to end.

• What were the biggest roadblocks?

—Besides timing, for me it was wrestling with the 3d hair aspect of the model. I had some texturing problems that I did not foresee. The biggest roadblock was deciding to use Projection Painting in ZBrush as a short cut to create the models textures. This was a time consuming task.

• How do you guys feel about team entries more feasible?

—With client commitments being top priority, I think team involvement could be problematic. I wouldn’t want to let teammates down by bailing out on a challenge because a client wants to pay me to do some work for them. On the other hand, it could work if the challenge time was ‘t too short.

• How would you guys feel about more challenges based on Concept art?

—This would be, well, a challenge. I like the idea. Concept art can be hard to live up to with a go-to-finish follow up.

• How would you guys feel about challenges where we produce animation ready models? Would you be willing to share those models with the Folks at the Rigging challenges section?

—I’d be willing to share.

#4

-What were the biggest challenges in the challenge?

I would say that figuring the anatomy out for the dogs was the hardest part. It needed to be anatomically correct or it wouldn’t be convincing since I left it untextured for the most part.

-What were the biggest roadblocks?

Presentation. Two of the Greyhounds in my setup were off the ground and I struggled with different ways to mount them on to the base that would work with the flow of the dogs. In the end I just couldn’t come up with anything, so I used a somewhat less-than-elegant solution of just two straight rods to mount them.

The other roadblock was the antique bronze material. It took several days just to work that out. I needed it to look very convincing.

-How do you guys feel about team entries more feasible?

I think it could be good as long as all team members are committed to it and have the time. There’s some workflow lessons to be learned there. Say if one person is working on a horse and another is working on the rider, at what point would they share models so that they might integrate better. Or how one’s design workflow mesh with anothers. Some do their best designing more on the fly, while others need to concept everything out first. It will definitely be interesting.

-How would you guys feel about more challenges based on Concept art?

Sounds like a lot of fun!

-How would you guys feel about challenges where we produce animation ready models? Would you be willing to share those models with the Folks at the Rigging challenges section?

I’m not sure if I have the time to do any more challenges for the moment. I’ve neglected some other projects on the table. But that sounds like a good challenge theme. I’d be OK with letting others use the model for the animating challenge.

#5

[ul]
[li]What were the biggest challenges in the challenge?[/li][/ul]
Like everyone else I’m sure, time managment. Its just hard to focus on a personal project when you have money staring you in the face.
[ul]
[li]What were the biggest roadblocks?[/li][/ul]A good workflow to bridge Lightwave and ZBrush. Steve Warner’s tutotial is great, it should work for me but I somehow manage to screw something up everytime and have to retrace my steps. If I finish the sculpt in one session I usually don’t have problems, its when I have to go back a second time that it gets messed up. I’m still working out for myself how much mesh I should make in LW before I export. For this challenge I put alot into the head and scimped on the body. This caused problems when I wanted to add detail to the paws etc. Looking at Kraken and QuadArts base meshes, it looks like I could do much less on the base mesh as long as there is good poly flow. Hope you guys don’t mind but I’m probably going to use your processes as a reference next time I try something. I find it amazing how little you can bring into ZB and still get such amazing finished products. I really don’t know yet what I should leave in LW vs. what I should do in ZB. I’ll find myself in ZB sculpting and then I’ll want to start posing the model. In LW this is very easy to rig and then pose, in ZB I’m not really comfortable with it enough yet. So then I wonder, “Should I finish the sculpting first, when I export it to LW will it screw up the base mesh…” etc. Like I said, I need to understand the relationship between the 2 better.
[ul]
[li]How do you guys feel about team entries more feasible? (For example Imagine we had a challenge were we joint built an Aircraft carrier)[/li][/ul]Having worked on a few internet colaborations, I expect 1 or 2 people would do 75% of the work and would have to wait on the rest of us because of time issues. Look at the Minas Tirith project.
[ul]
[li]How would you guys feel about more challenges based on Concept art?[/li][/ul]Thats cool, it would be nice to not worry about the design part. Speaking for myself, anytime a challenge is introduced I have a dozen ideas I would like to do so its really not necessary for me.

[ul]
[li]How would you guys feel about challenges where we produce animation ready models? Would you be willing to share those models with the Folks at the Rigging challenges section?[/li][/ul]
Sounds like it could be fun. Imagine taking something like QuadArts Kudu or any of the other amazing models and setting them in motion. Would be very cool to see.

I guess the overall issue for all of these is time, but you already know that.

#6

[ul]
[li]What were the biggest challenges in the challenge?[/li][/ul]For me, replicating the fur in sculpt form, and findind some good reference, especially for the feet. I felt i was winging it a lot, just becuase i had no idea of the actual muscle structure. Being a bum who stacks shelves for a living, time wasn’t such an issue. :smiley:
[ul]
[li]What were the biggest roadblocks?[/li][/ul]Motivation probably. My base mesh for the feet didn’t flow at all well (my own fault for being a pleb), so that made sculpting them an arse, which in turn made it hard for me to concentrate on. Technically, and artistically, as mine was a straight model render in ZBrush, I had no idea what to have as a backgorund. My reference just had light through water, i would have liked to have made it onto a stand or some such, but I had no inspiration.
[ul]
[li]How do you guys feel about team entries more feasible? (For example Imagine we had a challenge were we joint built an Aircraft carrier)[/li][/ul]I’d be up for giving it a go. I think the problem would obviosuly be times available, and people dropping out. Look at the amount of projects started for this one, and the amount finished, there’s quite a large drop rate. (which is obviously fair enough :slight_smile: Didn’t seem so bad on the Star Wars one, perhaps this one was a bit harder :D)
[ul]
[li]How would you guys feel about more challenges based on Concept art?[/li]
Some samples: link1 link2 link3 link4 link5 link6
[/ul]I’m all up for that, done similar things for weekly challenges in the past
[ul]
[li]How would you guys feel about challenges where we produce animation ready models? Would you be willing to share those models with the Folks at the Rigging challenges section?[/li][/ul]Would we be making the entire thing? Base>Sculpt>Retop? Or just making meshes based on models already made? Either way, would be interesting to see the takes on it. And yeah, i’d share.

EDIT: meant to ask, when’s the next chalenge starting? :smiley:

#7

We go live sometime next week

-R

#8

OK guys,

I am going live before Friday.

Here are the CORe Threads were the artwork was produced:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=130&t=529595
CgTalk Daily Sketch 1190 NTL "Character Design: Shadow Demon "
CgTalk Daily Sketch 1199 60MN Concept Art “Vampire Lord”
CgTalk Daily Sketch 1200 NTL Concept Art “Werewolf Clan”
CgTalk Daily Sketch 1201NTL Concept Art "The Dark

I will create a MASTER gallery were modeller can pick the artwork they wish to sculpt.

-R

#9

We are live!

HCR MINI-Challenge #11: HALLOWEEN MONSTERS

#10

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.