[phreaknasty]

she started out as a bad sketch

she became a simple object
http://216.156.121.226/sijun/cmw_ShapeMasses.jpg
then developed into a more refined model
http://216.156.121.226/forums/cmw_twig3.jpg
and then got ripped to shreds to appease an engineer....


what do you guys think. any suggestions on the tame version, nothing radical... i don't have much latitude on this project, i'm mainly looking for anatomical suggestions though if anything more wild is suggested i might incorporate it into future iterations (the hair, sock and pants are works in progress)

thanks

[Thee Phunk of Kale]

I'm new here, and don't really know a thang about 3d modelling, so take my words with a grain of salt.... but to me, the model, first of all, really rocks. I like your non-engineer-appeasing version better, but oh well. I like how the shoes came out -- true to the sketch and definately "rad". However, I think the hair loses something when you tone down the Princess Leia buns... they need to be Big and Loud and RAD to balance out the shoes.

That's my $.02, at least.

[[Shizo]]

behheh yeah, that big blade is splendor
say, what do you use to model?
and what game is it for.. probably top secret eh

[Novacaptain]

I like the first sketch a lot. It's irregular, asymetrical, cool. I like the menacing look the dark eyes give it and the untamable strands of hair that stick out here and there. It gives it a lot of character: it says "I'm little but dangerous". very nice.

The second one has less folds, less chaos and the face is a tad expressionless. The only thing i find interesting here are the feathers and the design of the sword's handle. The rest of it doesn't quite look as nice as the colored 2d pic.

The final 3d picture (compared to the 2d ones) seems like a major backstep. The hair looks all in-order and slimed down with hair gel or something. There are no loose strands. The too-large shirt and skirt (i think i prefer the skirt) are gone. The skirt is less orderly than the shorts, IMO.

The expression is gone, ok this is 3d, the expressions can be added later. The all rounded out dolly-face isn't as appealing though. Maybe the upturned nose could be changed. Sharpen something. It all looks too round. (goes insane)

Is this the same character that you started out with?

[phreaknasty]

Three Phunk - thanks. i totally agree with the big hair being cooler, oh well... can't win all of the battles

[Shizo] - thanks, i used max for the original part and then switched over to maya for the refinement and animation portion of the project. its actually not specifically for a game, more of a tech demo....

Novacaptain - i couldn't agree more with your overall assessment. your dead on. the original idea was indeed supposed to be cute little girl with a badass demeanor and packing a bunch of mischief (its good to see that some of that came across in the colored sketch). the b&w sketch was just an exercise to see where the design could go but like you stated, overall it lost a lot in translation... so i started creating the model, aiming for something similar to the colored sketch but realizing that the abstract, dirty, and loose manner of the sketch would be very difficult to replicate in 3d. the final model with the sword was my attempt to simply get the form down. i had hoped to then go in an rough her up a bunch using a combo of more polygons, a bunch of textures, lighting and animation to get her back to the original design though i'm not sure how successful i would have been. all my work is for real-time application so it can be pretty hard to get the cloth and lighting to really work. the lack of facial expression was simply a product of how 3d modeling and animation works and i had hoped to add it back once i had the bones and blendshapes in place.

...however a different project presented itself and we needed a new more "generic" character and quickly... so i temporarily ditch the original design and tried to turn her into something more "run of the mill"... so no, this isn't really the same character. i probably shouldn't have included the early sketches and models in my post since they cloud the issue, i guess i was just peeved that i had to tone her down so much. the reason the hair is smaller and slick in the final image is a combo of the fact that she needed to be more "normal" and that the rounded cones are really just placeholders i find some decent reference material.


anyways thanks for the feedback, and i hope it doesn't sound like i'm trying to explain away everybody's critics because truthfully i agree with all of the comments. unfortunately for now i have to continue with the toned down version.... if anyone else has any further comments about her anatomy and the like rip away...

thanks

[ January 10, 2002: Message edited by: phreaknasty ]