Alice Cooper

[dogbone]

Not a bad technique on the eye but there is a bad repetative pattern at about 6.30 o' clock. Also the transition from iris to the white bit is too harsh. If you're going to have red veins then do not be afraid to put in a small but prominent one or two as it looks more real than an even faint sort of pattern. Also don't forget that the white part gets red when it is past a certain point.

I had a good starting point for the Iris texture once by applying the green grass texture No.25 onto a sphere with the viewer looking down the z axis.

I took some screen shots with the v repeat at 1 and the Hrepeat going from 1 to 6. I might have used a couple of vRepeats as well to use for cloning.

I made some various levels of sharpening to some of the layers and also duplicates with different contrasts.

Next I blended the various bits into one iris. Looked good after the highlights and internal reflections were drawn in.

[DarthWayne]

Not a bad technique on the eye but there is a bad repetative pattern at about 6.30 o' clock. Also the transition from iris to the white bit is too harsh.

The reason for this is the iris is actually pieced together from about 4 different photos of iris's in photoshop. Some areas matched better than others. As the eye is never going to be seen thats close up anyway I didn't spend too long on it.

If you're going to have red veins then do not be afraid to put in a small but prominent one or two as it looks more real than an even faint sort of pattern. Also don't forget that the white part gets red when it is past a certain point.

Yeah I did miss out the red at the corners of the eye but as I'm going to go back to all the textures on this model again before the final render I'm not too worried at this stage. The vines included are more there as a 'hint' to the veiwer. The eyes on this won't be seen close enough to even notice them probably in the final render. There's no point putting detail onto a model that no one except me will ever see.

This model has been a bit of a battle to get right so far, but I'll keep knibbling away till I get it right. The second eye I posted looking at it now isn't really up to scratch for the model so I'll do another one and that should turn out better.

Wayne...

[DarthWayne]

Another bash at the eye. Unfortunatly the red at the corner of the eyes on the eye map isn't showing well here, so I'll have to go back to that later.

Wayne...

[polyguns]

one thing (and the hair will be the hardest part im sure) that I notice on the model is the eyemakeup. It doesn't look like facepaint, not specular enough. are you rendering in z? or taking it into another program?

right now it look like you just did an airbrush over the texture model, maybe give it some depth n ps, and work on the brushstrokes, and varied specular shading for it

its still looking sweet. when your done make king diamond , or GENE SIMMONS

[DarthWayne]

polyguns: The last few renders or so have been in Zbrush, primarily as I can get results faster that way and match my mental ray render later for the final versions. So far he has no spec map, the main reason being I am terrible at them! I've been putting it off and trying to escape without on but I think the time has come to realise I have to do one to get this model looking right. You're right about the make-up, it needs some serious spec map work so let's hope I'm up to the job!

I messed around with the eyeball's again last night so I'll post the latest render. (I was working on something else tonight, whic is a shame as the eye's were miles better)

Wayne...

[aminuts]

hi Darth,

I kinda agree with polyguns on the eye makeup. I think if you "erase" some of it so that its thinner in parts...like the upper eye (where more sweat is) so some skin is sort of seen under it would seem a bit more real. I hope that makes sense?

Anyways keep going...fun to watch.

[DarthWayne]

A little more worn?


Colour corrected version in Photoshop (obviously a version minus eyes )



I've taken the advice from Polyguns and Aminuts and done a quick couple of tests. Also I realised that I could use a skin texture from a model from a couple of nights ago and get a better skin effect. Although I would like to know which you think is better for the look I'm going for the old one or the 'new and altered'one.

I've used a few different settings to try and give the eye makeup a slightly 'worn' and rubbed off effect. I really am going to need some good specularity on the makeup to make it lok like anything other than black paint.

As usual C & C welcome, do you think I'm heading in the right direction?

Wayne...

[aminuts]

the bottom one is kind of what I meant.

I am thinking a way to go about it would be to create a mask where you want the makeup then use a paint brush with the colored spray stroke...playing with spacing so that from a little ways away it looks solid but closer up you can see some skin thru it. Does that make sense? Plus a worn thru spot...perhaps not quite as worn as below.

I think you got the idea tho....if I get a chance a little bit later I will try to do an example to show you what I mean by the above in case I didn't explain it well.

[DarthWayne]

Un-colour corrected Maya Mental ray render


Ok I did a quick test a little while ago by using a stencil I made in photoshop and tried what you outlined (not sure if I got it right or not). As you can see with the above mental ray (maya) render it still looks somewhat more like a tatoo. There's a more complex spec map as well, but it doesn't seem to be making much difference at all.

The difficulty is getting the higher specularity of the black makeup (while making it look like make-up and not a tattoo or paint.) Why do I have a feeling that this may take a lot of tests to get right?

On a side note, Shave and a Haircut for Maya is driving me up the damn wall! Fine for short-ish haircuts. But to do a convincing styled long hairstyle its like removing your own liver with a chopstick! I'm sure I'm missing something, anyone used this and managed a long hairstyle let me know your secret...please

Wayne...

[Meats Meier]

Wow, that is some really nice stuff.
I love the wirez version. Creepy as hell, it's great.
I look forward to seeing where you take this.

I've always like Alice Cooper myself...

[aminuts]

Thats a little better there! Since I doubt he used a stencil to do it...just his finger....I wonder if you feathered the edges...not so uniform....same method.....spray stroke so looks solid from a distance but up close skin shows through will help it look more natural?

I didn't get a chance yesterday and no promises this morning but will try to experiment a bit and see if I can help ya out with this somehow.

[DarthWayne]

Wow, that is some really nice stuff.
I love the wirez version. Creepy as hell, it's great.
I look forward to seeing where you take this.

I've always like Alice Cooper myself...

Thanks! I find it slightly ironic that you like the wire version of the alice. ( Especially with it being your 'trademark' technique LOL.) What with you being the reason I moved from low poly stuff to high res and photorealistic modelling. It's also nice to see yet another person who likes alice. It's amazing how many modellers share similar tastes.

It may interest you to find out you've actually been to bed with me and my other half!! ( I spent a few nights working through the gnomon dvd's while in bed... being an insomniac has it's uses)
There's another better wire type effect render with the Alice head over at this link on my Zbrush alpha site ( I belive in getting as much mileage as possible from my models):

http://www.dashdotslash.net/photogal...p?image_id=113

Thats a little better there! Since I doubt he used a stencil to do it...just his finger....I wonder if you feathered the edges...not so uniform....same method.....spray stroke so looks solid from a distance but up close skin shows through will help it look more natural?

I didn't get a chance yesterday and no promises this morning but will try to experiment a bit and see if I can help ya out with this somehow.

I've not had a helluva lot of time to do anything on the alice today, it's been just one of those mad days. If you can get a decent effect I'll stand and appluad you for saving me much weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth. Hair wise I'm expecting the next update of shave and a haircut soon and hoping that it'll make doing the hair a bit easier. Mind you I'm having saturday off from modelling as it's my other half birthday...any sign of Zbrush, maya or photoshop and I'll get shot and roasted alive PMSL

Wayne...

[joe_seig]

Hi Wayne,

This is coming along quite well, the paler color corrected version has a real creepy Alice feel, but perhaps his nose is bigger,lol!
Was wondering if this will be moving or a still shot, and if the the hair generation is being determined by this end result.
I've used it for a few years, but never for long shoulder length hair.

If moving, I can understand the need for Shave dynamics, if a still perhaps there are other avenues.
At the Shaveman - Yahoo User Group there may be info on long hair, but you've probably searched there already.
A good example of animated long hair from their site: Exorcist Quicktime example (will load in browser).
But you've probably seen that one too.

They do update Shave almost weekly at times, usually for the better, unless you're locked into settings on a file which could be changed automatically by a newer version.
Expect longer render times for lengthy dense hair, that's the way it is presently. Hopefully an update breakthrough will put an end to all that one day.

If you'd like to post a screengrab from the maya-ui showing your shave-setup, it would be great to see your arrangement.

This is really enjoyable seeing how you create A.C.
So many parts to the puzzle, right?

[DarthWayne]

Hair Test (at least it doesn't look like he's been electrocuted this time)

This render is as far as I've got today after spending 5 hours working with shave and a damn haircut. (I'm really starting to hate that plug-in LOL). At long last I've got something that looks something like long hair, and not like someone's plugged Alice into his electric chair! I'll be sure to post some screen grabs of the shave setup etc as soon as my eyes can keep open long enough. If you have ANY suggestions Joe I'll really be pleased to here them as I'm having a tough time with this plug-in.

Hair workflow is this:

1 - As mental ray takes about 4 hours to render the hair as geometry (or fails 90% of the time) I render the hair as a pass using the maya default renderer.
2 - Once hair is looking other than like someone plugged into the mains, I do a mental ray render with model and camera in same position.
3 - Photoshop and composit the hair over the head render using the alpha info on the hair render to cut away the rest of the render. (this is hair only).
4 - This looks 'ok' but I found that copying the hair layer about 4 times and bluring the 2nd from bottom 1px(gaussian) both fills the hair out a bit and gives it a little more character. Well at least more than I was getting anyway.

Maybe I'll start to get this looking a bit better now lol. So far animatio isn't a priority, although if I can get the thing to render fast enough I have an intereting idea for one. Failing that I have a couple of compositions in mind for the 'scene' when I'm finished.
Enjoy.

Wayne...

[joe_seig]

Nice one Wayne,
You've peeked my curiosity with longer shoulder length hair, I'll try something tonight to compare notes - settings with you.
What is your hair count setting in the shaveGlobals - shaveNode panel ?
Seems we could get a mentalRay render down below 4 hours.
Nice likeness