HARDCORE MODELING!: 80's Cartoon: Bert Raccoon

#1

UPDATE: Here is a link to my final render - I had to put it in my portfolio since Photobucket won’t allow 1600 x 1200 images. I have an 800 x 600 version below. I’ll add links to my ortho views and turntables later, once I figure out the right way to post a final entry.

I’ve decided to try modeling Bert Raccoon from “The Raccoons” on his flying bicycle from the opening credits of the show.

 Here are a couple of reference screenshots from a Raccoons DVD I own:

[](http://forums.cgsociety.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=&stc=1)
#2

concept is nice… in what software r u planning do this??

#3

I’m planning on using Lightwave 9.6 for modeling and rendering, and possibly ZBrush for sculpting and/or painting.

#4

waiting for more posts…

#5

probably my favorite cartoon of all time. Great choice!

#6

OK, here’s more reference material… I hope I can get this Photobucket link working!

Here are some screenshots of Bert… It was hard to find pictures of him from a straight-on front view and a straight-on side view. Most of the time, he’s in a 3/4 view.

And here is a model sheet I drew as a modeling reference using Xara Xtreme Pro (my favorite vector app).

#7

Here are a couple more references I drew…

Front and side views of Bert (with and without sweater):




And my front and side references for modeling the bike:


#8

I’ve started modeling Bert. I think the hardest part so far was trying to get the right shape for the back of the head because it has to look right from all angles.

Here are some screenshots of what I’ve done so far (click thumbnails for larger views at Photobucket):

Wireframes:



Subdivision surfaces:

Next, I’ll model the tail and then work on the sweater.

#9

I vaguely remember this character, I was prob about 11-12 years old! Long time ago!

Since you mentioned you might sculpt are you going for a semi-realistic approach? Looking good so far, keep up the good work…

#10

Samartin - No, I think I’ll keep it cartoonish. I was thinking of sculpting mainly for adding wrinkles to the sweater and to add “fur” and minor details.

Thanks for the comments!

#11

I worked on sculpting in ZBrush 3.1 last night and tonight, and here are the results…


The sweater was extracted from the body mesh in ZBrush. I also decided to sculpt the eyes rather than use spheres because I thought it looked better, and also the eyes fit against the face better.

I’m pretty happy with the way the model’s turning out. Next is painting color and getting the mesh back into Lightwave.

#12

Two more large ZBrush renders from the back and bottom angles.

#13

I spent the better part of last evening and today working on getting Bert painted and generating displacement and normal maps in ZBrush, and adjusting displacement and normal mapping in Lightwave.

There are some problems with the body penetrating through the sweater. I don’t want to mess much with the displacement settings because they look pretty good. I may have to use the magnet tool in LW Modeler and pull the sweater out some, and go back and forth checking in Layout. (Can’t wait for LW Core!)

Also, there are a couple of artifacts on the feet which I think are in either the displacement map or the normal map (not sure which).

Any suggestions on how to fix these? I’d sure appreciate it (if it’s allowed in the rules!)

#14

Also, I spent some time this evening starting to model the bike in Lightwave. Here’s what I have so far.

#15

I don’t remember this show but you are doing a fine job bringing it to life. My only comment is that I think the eyes would work better with separate geometry but that’s just me.

#16

Could you post a closeup of the feet? I’ve been troubleshooting zb issues myself for this challenge and have gotten it mostly worked out. I may be able to help you out.

Looking good. Seeing the textured sculpt gave me a wave of naustalgia!

-Rage

#17

Good progress on Bert :slight_smile: I used to watch this show even though I didn’t really like it but then I suppose kids watch anything put in front of them :stuck_out_tongue:

Good luck!

#18

Funny, neither did I!

Looking good Cindy, have you thought about using FibreFX for the tail!? I would imagine it could use an image map to differentiate between the different colours, mind I’ve never used it so don’t know how easy it is to use!

The displacement looks a little strong on your LW version (only on the bottom part of the jumper) as opposed to the ZBrush version.

#19

Samartin - Yeah, I did think about that at first, but I’m not that experienced at using FiberFX yet. I’ll have to try it out and see if he looks better with “real” fur…

Also, thanks for mentioning about the displacement on the shirt. I guess I’ll have to do some more adjusting. I’m going to have to adjust the shirt anyway because the body is poking through.

RageOfAges - I’ll see what I can do about posting a close-up of the feet. I remember when I first imported the model into ZBrush, there were some polys on the feet that were invisible until I enabled double-sided surfaces in ZBrush. I think those are the same polys that caused artifacts on the normal or displacement map.

#20

Here’s a close-up of the artifacts I’m getting on the feet. It seems to be in both the displacement and normal maps because it disappears if I disconnect both of them.

Since I used GUVs in ZBrush, it'll be hard to find which tiles are the problem. Right now, I'm making another version of the mesh with eye and hair geometry to see if I can avoid using normal and displacement maps. 

[](http://forums.cgsociety.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=&stc=1)Also, I found that in Lightwave, if I want to see much of the detail I got in ZBrush, I have to increase the subdivision levels to a point that my computer can't handle it. So I may have to switch gears and try bump mapping or FiberFX for fur, and modeling more detail as geometry.