I met up with a guy who said he was quite new to modelling and wanted to get some practice in so I gave him a vision and we have been working towards getting it realised. I feel the model has come along quite nicely and thought I’d get some feedback from you lot.
The character was an apprentice wizard that got treated like a maid and wipping boy. So he grabbed whatever he could and ran… As such, he is a poor peasant with nothing to his name, wearing his former master’s clothes…
The body itself is fine and looks good.
The textures of the clothes could use more dirt.
The gloves seem to be too thick at the beginning and not enough at the end.
I dont like the big boots, they seem to come from a futuristic manga, and dont really fit the rest of the clothes, he has snow boots with a small tee shirt.
i kind of agree about the boots but more that they could do with a small bit of scaling down as for the socks now that is what lets the character down. (they are way too big/thick) Other than that since he’s wearing his masters clothes the leather gauntlets are good and maybe just muddy/scuff him up a bit socks, boots, vest and gauntlets. 8)
the purple jars are a little off to me - purple is a color often representing royalty, which isnt really what i think you are going for - also if you choose to go with purple i would make the liquid inside purple, and the jar still glass so that it stands out a little less
I agree on the viles. They looked the part when the model started but now just don’t fit. The viles were already scheduled for deletion so that will not bean issue for too much longer
I am disappointed to hear you don’t like the shoes, though. These oversized boots were all that was left of the master after he accidentally killed him. So he took the evidence and is now wearing the oversized boots. The boots are to be a main theme in the story so I wanted them big and make them a characteristic or trademark of the character. We have been discussing the fact that the black just doesn’t work, though so I can’t fault you on that.
The socks I am a tad disappointed with as they looked really good in high poly but when they became low poly they went from good looking to ultra thick looking… I guess that will definitely need some sprucing up… that and the face that currently looks like a puppet…
Winningguy: No strings, just no cheeks to define a face for the doll. It’ll get there eventually
This model truly has come a long way from it’s origins and since I am in a position to see the before and after images I guess I am blinded by how good it looks now. Thus your opinions are highly appreciated
I am now busy thinking up ways to scuff him up a little. I was focused on how everything should be in the correct proportion and thought I was bringing the story into the character… I can’t believe I forgot to take into consideration that the clothes shouldn’t just look simple but should also look worn out… I had that idea with the single cut in the bottom of the shirt that was meant to be partially sewn back up again but my English isn’t good enough to explain that I don’t want 2 cuts in the shirt so I will merge the 2 vertices over the right leg when I get the model.
My intention was to have a random cut in the clothes to make it look worn and then have the patch to make it look like damage that occurred long ago. The fact that there is a perfectly matching cut on the other side of the model takes this “worn out clothes that he has worn for a long time” and turns it into “The height of fashion with extra breathing room for extra comfort” so that is definitely something that needs to change asap. So, after merging those two polys, apart from adding muddy handprints to the shirt, what other “scuff” can you think of to make the clothes look more worn out?
Well if you think about it look at your own clothes yhat gets scuffed first?
boots: Toe and heel ends get scratched and scuffed the most but these being a wizards boots he most likely had the Aprentice pollish them for him so maybe some light dulling of that leather shine in these area’s, but of course the apprentice cant fix folds in the leather so across the top of the boot where the foot bends then add a few wrinkles to the texture.
Gauntlets: well the palms and knuckles could to with some darker shades to indicate wear and tear as well as around the top of the gauntlet where you would hold when pulling them on.
Chainmail Greaves: maybe a single broken link somewhere maybe not. look at an old pair of jeans and look at where the denim gets lighter from fading with age and such maybe make these area’s slightly shinier than the rest.
and maybe darken the belt a little all over just a shade ot two
All valid points. When I started modelling I used to think a shirt shaped polygon over the chest was enough to say I have made a model. When I read the Game Character design in maya book from www.ant-online.co.uk he explained that models are created to simulate real life. If you want to see how a character would walk, walk and pay attention to yourself…
That was such an eye opener! A shock really… So I tried to always keep that in mind but I don’t seem to be doing a good job at that…
I Photoshopped a next-revision and sent that off to the guy and I have to admit, this new look… I actually like it quite a lot. I reckon the comments on the gloves are still applicable, but I think adding a broken chain in the trousers … it’s just not something I am keen on… In fact, I wasn’t keen on the chainmail trousers to begin with… as you can see in this next image.
The crease in the boots, though, I don’t think that can be ignored! I can’t believe I never noticed that! Thanks ever so much for pointing that out to me!
I was thinking, though, that this character looks more like a poor farmer than an apprentice wizard. To make him look a tad more magical I was intending to add a second item into his headband, next to the feather. This item will be about twice the size of the feather and bend forward as if very heavy.
I then intended to have a wizard’s hat levitate underneath it. The stick’s purpose is merely to show the hat belongs there instead of the hat just floating around the character for no apparent reason… I was thinking of adding these levitating hats to the boots also, again as character trademark, but I think having floating hats above your shoes is just plain stupid… So not sure what to do there but I would like to add some form of animation if I can think of something. If not, then so be it.
Anyways, if you recall the game Primal, the lead character had a tattoo on her back that indicated her current health via the colour of the tattoo. I intend to make this floating hat a visual power gauge. At full health it is plain brown and just hovers beside the character’s face… The closer your health gets to being depleted the faster the hat spins and the colour changes to red. I intend to make that a separate object and controlled independently via pure script so it is not part of this model, but that is going to be added to the final character also… Just thought I’d share…
Credit for the boots go entire to him. While you were leaving comments on the first one he was busy fixing the boots. We had discussed the black boots earlier so minutes after the comments started coming in he had fixed the boots to what they are now. I then made the suggestion of the socks and am now just waiting to see if he can do it while still staying in the allotted polygon count…
I have to admit I also really like this new look. I wouldn’t really want to change anything in terms of polygons unless it will make a big impact but the texturing I think can still be improved upon.
An example of polys that can be added is to the crease in the shoes, examples of texturing that can be improved are the comments on the gloves above and also perhaps a section of the shirt can be textured to look like a hole in the shirt… Not really sure if I want to add a few small cuts to the shirt around the neck area if textures would cut it or if pollys would be needed… I think transparency in the texture should be able to do that though…
Overall I like this new look a lot but the comments thus far have pointed out stuff that I had clearly completely overlooked… I think starting this post so close to completion but BEFORE completion was a real smart move…
Deffinitely more rounded and nothing looks out of place any more but if you think he looks too dirty you can always tidy him up a little lol what i mean is that the art is in finding the right balance while still maintaining that distinguishable look in the game world that makes the character easily identifyable to the player at all times. and i definitely think the new socks made the biggest impact visualy compared to the previous image
Psy, now you’ve done it! Now I want a second texture set.
I am going to make a new level… level 3… “The great clothes washing session”
So guys n gals, thoughts on this? Socks still to thick? Looking fine? I preferred the burgundy coloured trousers, Psy likes the lighter colour… Which looks best?
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It’ll get there eventually 
