The WarChild is a texturing challenge that I took on as an endeavor to further my texturing abilities using what I know of LightWave's layer based textures and to learn more about the new NODES system in LightWave 9. The first version I textured was a theme of a Roman solider or Gladiator type character that had seen his fair share of warfare. The total time I put into it was approximately 2 days as I experimented with NODES and weight maps, something that I had not tried before.  Having a fair amount of knowledge of LightWaves layer based textures from past versions of LightWave I was determined to get more into NODES than than layers.

The second version was something I wanted to attempt being the avid Star Wars fan that I am.  I envisioned a "Clone Trooper" version keeping a "Medievil" theme to it based on the characters clothing and armor. Using the knowledge I had learned from the ALL procedural version.  I embarked on this new version using image maps as well as the Node editor and layer based texturing methods.

The WarChild character was modeled by none other than William “Proton” Vaughan. Having access to this character was a great honor for me personally and I wanted to make sure I did this character and William the justice it deserved.

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To date this is the most texturing I believe I have ever done in my five years of using LightWave.

I experimented a lot and spent several hours just playing with and learning how the Node Editor worked, using different 3D textures and gradients as well as 2D textures and Mixers applied to weight maps and going from there onto the actual plan I had for both versions of the character.  The torn flags, banner and cloth hanging from his belt was something I knew I wanted to focus on as well as his armor.

I eventually used a Marble procedural applied to the flags surface and a gradient to achieve the torn look I was going for, Still being very new to Nodes I wasnt able to completely get the ragged edges to the material like I wanted, I knew I could do it with images but here again I wanted this to be completely procedural and no images.