Seth
started a while ago with some sketches.
I don't normally spend too much
time in the design phase, I normally
have most of it in place in my head
and just draw it out to see if what
I envision in my head is gonna look
remotely
cool in the end.
After
that I just tackle the modelling
head on. I usually add TONS more
detail than my sketches show, but
that's a
good thing. In this case
I started with the Mechanical Skeleton
that would underlie Seth's "Shell"
Next
I moved on to modelling his legs,
there are three parts to his legs,
Upper, Middle and Lower, the Uppermost
section is actually part of the
mainbody above. It is also attached
to the joint that controls, rotation
on all axis, so his leg can move
freely if needed.
The
Rest of his legs, Middle and Lower
Sections. I use quite a lot of duplication
in my modelling, to add lots of
detail. I duplicate and an object
modify it slighty and the fir it
into my model. Sometime I start
off with a clear idea of what I
want and then think, hey wouldn't
it be cool if, and then add that.
I also use beveling to no end. 90
degree edges in my book suck ass,
just about everything in real life
has a bevel to some degree. Beveling
is also beautiful for picking up
highlights and adding detail without
really much work. USE IT !! But
rather be subtle than obtuse, large
bevels can look crappy and fake,
best left to being used in American
Footbal Logos *grin*,
also, now
I am not sue how this works in other
3D packages, but as I work through
modelling, everything gets surfaces,
not textured or coloured, given
names for later surfacing, it might
seem like a lot of work building,
naming, building, naming, beveling,
naming etc etc, but believe me ...
it's worth it. Also don't worry
about colour when modelling, in
fact use bright green, pinks, blue,
so you can see what you have given
a surface name to and so that you
can disinguish between them. If
I had a buck for everytime someone
gasps in horror when they come by
and look at this multicoloured fashion
sensless model I am working on.......
well I'd be rich.
Next
it was the feet. I wanted to have
a hard sorta armour looking shell.
Not exposed mechanics. Here's also
some texturing for the feet that I
did. I love texturing, and spend quite
a bit of time on it. Love to make
it look dirty, worn and used.
Below
are the maps I used for his feet.
First the Texture Map, the Colour
of his feet. I first paint the overall
colour, in this case the beige on
a layer in photoshop. Then on another
layer I design the paintwork, then
I create the underlying metal on
another layer, add the decals on
another, and then a screw it all
up, erasing parts of a layer here
to reveal exposed metal, adding
dirt and smudges, scratches. I always
use different layers for everything,
it makes it so much easier to change
or add things, and for creating
and manipulating my bump, spec and
reflection maps.
I
am sure I don't have to explain
how bump, spec and reflection maps
work, but just in case the whiter
areas define areas that will be
highly relfective, specular and
in the case of bump maps raised,
the opposite applies for dark areas.
I
always paint my textures at very
high resolutions, always higher
than broadcast quality, so if you
needed a full frame shot of his
foot for example you could have
one and the textures would hold
up. The foot textures were created
at a resolution of 1000x1200 (and
that's quite small for my texture
work).
3DTotal
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Next
I moved onto the Main Outer Casing,
His Body Armour. I spent quite a
bit of time on this. Wanted it to
have almost an organic feel to it.
Someone on a newsgroup put it best
I think, and called them Cockroach
plates, which is just what I wanted.
I
then set about texturing the amour,
this was the area where most of
my detailed texturing would be done.
I knew exactly what I wanted, what
type of metal it should look like
and what kind of wear and tear I
wanted.
I
started with the same procedure,
lay down the initial colour, the
painted on the orange paint, added
text and fine details and then started
to add wear and tear. You'll notice
that around the scratches, there
is always a fine white line, this
is something I love adding, also
added to the bump map it adds a
little raise before the dent into
where the scratch is and looks beautiful
when rendered, and easy way to do
this is use you layers in photoshop.
Paint the scratches solid black
on a seperate layer, when done select
the black using colour range, and
then delete the layer with your
beige colour using this selection,
then still keeping that selection
active, create a new layer and expand
the selection by 1 or 2 pixels and
fill it with white, go back to the
solid black layer, reselect it using
colour range again, and then select
the new solid white layer you just
created and delete the middle of
the white scratched using your selection,
you now have a nice white outline
which you can use for bumps, specs
and textures around your scratches.
If
you don't follow all that ask nicely
and maybe I'll send you a .PSD with
the layers so you can see what I
mean.
This
is the map for the front mask armour,
Above Right.
Below
are the Bump Specular and Reflection
maps for the Front Mask. I find
that what I do more than often for
dents and scratches is, the scratches
are lower than the paint section,
i.e. darker on the bump map, but
they reveal scratched metal underneath
so this is shinier than the matte
paint used as coating, so it's lighter
than the surrounding colour in the
spec and reflection maps.
The
completed Armour Coating (Left).
Last but not least, I created his optics (Below).
Initially I had thought of a human
i.e. organic eye, but then thought
that would make it look almost comedic
so I changed my mind and went for
more mechanical industrial design.
This is where duplication is king,
and is very effective, well I think
so at least.
Anyway,
that's all for now. Please if you
have any further questions or requests
mail me at
dave@wickedpixels.com
And
last but DEFINATELY not least here's
a final render. Using Radiosity.
