nattnewman - thanks, I hope I’ll get somewhere with it sooner or later… 
Been painting zillions of different textures, and they have all sucked. So I rigged it instead while waiting for a better idea in terms of texturing… Finally came up with a red-yellow-black scheme that might look a bit more interesting. Still far from done with the maps of course, but I think this might end up better than the black one…
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this is looking great indeed , i love the design particularly the " head" area : the multiple eyes and vertical mouth are quite creepy 
Some minore nitpicks though : i believe you could make a better use of the normal map, you could add a lot more details to your high res model like the “lumps” you had on the back, would add to the overall creepy look i think .
As far as the textures go : did you try some paterns like on certain tropical spiders ?
I actually thought the black version was quite good although too monocromatic perhaps
I looks great anyway ! Good luck on finishing it !
ckaos@om - Good points! It seems though as some adjustments to the specularity brings out some more from the normal map. The highres model IS in fact a lot more detailed than it seems , based on the previous render, and thus also the normalmap itself.
I might have to try to generate a new map later on and tweak some settings - I’m not overly familiar with the more esoteric aspects of Nvidia Melody, so maybe there’s something I’ve overlooked somewhere.
Thanks a lot for your input
Made some adjustments, and some more painting. Think I’ve found the look I want (on the yellow hindleg to the left in the render), but since I’m a sucky painter it will take quite some time to get that look on the rest of the limbs and so on
Upped the specular level and added another light here to bring out some more detail… And I’ve painted most of the hairy frayed bits along the limbs.
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whats u doin here bunny? showing off your fleas?
the black one’s the beauty, only add them reds n other funkies
to the joints, eyes and softie underspots,might even make the
black look a bit oily , worth a try yes ?
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“Mmmmm… tasty lobst-YARRRGGGGHHHHH!”
I love this little critter! The spikey frills are splendid!
Squib - Fleas? Nah, you must have confused me with the pig… That aside, I do like the black one too, but at the same time it feels a bit like a cop-out… I’m adding a bit more black to the red theme though…
erilaz - Yeah! “Join us tonight at 8 here on Discovery channel, for a look at deadly seafood together with Steve Irwin in ‘Dinner Attacks’…”
Some more painting done:
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Painting is done!
At least for now. I’m really itching to get moving on a small animation… already storyboarded a short cinematic cut-scene for the imaginary game in which this creature is supposed to be featured, so… I’ll be off playing around with that for a week or two
Here’s how he looks now:
And here are the maps for those interested in looking at… er… maps:
That aside, I’ve decided that these things are to be called Cray Pirhanas:
The original eurypterid (extinct since aeons ago thankfully) was, I assume, the primary form for what we now know as crayfish, lobsters and so on, hence the Cray bit - and considering the size of my creature, and the teeth… they’ll behave a bit like pirhanas… heaps of them sneaking up on you from behind, and once they’ve got a first little bite of your lower leg, they go into a state not entirely different from sharks in a feeding frenzy…
Oh, I’ll set up a little turntable animation now too… will post that later on.
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Aaaaaaand here’s the turntable clip (QT, <100 kb, mpeg4 compression):
<< http://web.telia.com/~u48040664/ugac_arthropod/turntable.mov >>
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oh yeah but it doesn’t loop now does it ???
just when u r starting to discern what’s goin on it’s gone
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Sweet! awsome looks great I like the color. I would like to see the ridges on its back more defined but thats just a thought GREAT JOB!
Brett…
whaat, i clicks da link n it just opens
the clip in fullscreen mode in firefox
and i see no qt player, no loop :sad:
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Then right-click the link and “save link target as…” - after which you can open the file in the QT player.
don’t u get complicated on me wabbit … ok , just this once
i clikcs n drags and pastes n pray for heavens, but these
shuld be like loopy to begins with… tellin u…
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Interestingly enough it already loops in the browser here… But then I’m using the public preview QuickTime 7… maybe there’s something funky going on there - otherwise you’ll simply have to pretend it’s looping
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loops in qt6.5 in firefox just fine 
looks great too - the silhouette is instantly recognizable and very distinctive. I think the coloration is a little muddy in general, adding maybe some stripes or spots or something might help it stand out more. The overall effect is just right though, this is definitely a creature that could become iconic of the game it was in, only a few of the entries so far have really met that part of the challenge. The teeth and Stag Beetle-like horn things are the things my eye is drawn to first. great work! I hope you do polish the texture up some though.
Adam Atomic - Thanks for your feedback. I agree that the texture might need a little more distinction somehow… think I’ll play around with some stripes. Just got notified of another job I have to complete this week, so the animation will have to be on hold anyway… but there’s always time for a little texture tweaking.
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good stuff man, all this stuff is really good but I think your moving to quick on the diffuse map, more of a rush job. I don’t like the way it looks at the moment maybe it’s the high contrast to the diffuse map that distorts the otherwise great look of your normal mapping?
well I’m no expert but that just my 2 cent, great work!
Hey, thanks, that’s an absolutely excellent point! Just what’s bugging me too, subconsiously somehow… So, I’m working on an entirely new colour map now that harmonises a lot better with the normals… and it’s already looking a 1000% better. I’ll post the new version when I’m done.
