Hey guys, I did some texturing over the weekend, and I’ll post those updates, and whatnot a little later. I’m actually really happy with the results of the texture so far, there’s still work to be done on it, but it’s not bad right now. I’ll post my general workflow on that soon, too.
Here’s what I got for the textures so far, normal, diffuse, and spec. I also added his teeth.
The workflow for me with the textures is to get the base colors I want, as midtones. Then I’ll bring in different maps from my texture library, things like concrete, metal, rocks, etc., and change the blending options till I get something that looks pretty cool for the detail, and grunge. I’ll go back into the base midtones, and change some of the colors, add some burn and highlights to it. The painting is kept to a minimum by using the dirt grunge layers, as well as different tone layers of just about anything. I’ll use a texture of tree bark, or metal, or anything for a tone, or to break up the color.
[attach=45838]BladeWorm-Max_11.jpg[/attach]
Here’s the normal map I used, shrunk down, and compressed for the site.
[attach=45839]BladeWormNormals.jpg[/attach]
I’m still working on him, so if you got questions, now’s the time. He’s almost done, so if you need clarification, lemme know.
Here’s a wire screenie for ya to check out, as well.
[attach=45840]BladeWormLow_Wire_02.jpg[/attach]
Ive been following this from the beginning and Ive really been enjoying it.
I tried to get some models normal mapped a while ago and although zmapper did a good job…when it came to the external render in cinema 4d I found so many flaws. My edge loops were horrible and some of the UVs terribly squashed.
I think you have done an excellent job to get such clean results! Cant wait to see the texturing , your ideas for grungyness and crunchy details sound fantastic.
Personally I really dont enjoy UV mapping my models…it takes ages
and I still find selections in zbrush a bit of a mystery though, it must just be something people get used to. Would be good to find out more about these issues?
Hey, SilverTalon, glad to hear you’ve enjoyed the thread. I’ll tell ya, I hated uv’s for the longest time as well. It takes forever, there’s minimal (if any) creativity in it… They just suck. But with the pelt mapping options in Max 8, they became a breaze. I don’t know anything about C4d, but I know there are some stand alone uv mappers that are pretty good (from what I hear anyway). DeepUV, Unfold3D, and a couple of others I can’t think of right now. Have you done a search for C4D pelt mapping plugs? I just did a search, and couldn’t find anything except a promise of pelt mapping in C4D 10, I think. I don’t what version it’s at, or which one you have, but you can check that out. Believe me, pelt mapping is just about the holy grail for uv’s.
As for selections in ZB, I’m not exactly sure what you want to know. If you’re talking about the types of selections I did in the video, that was by holding CTRL+SHIFT, and marquee selecting an area. Releasing shift hides inside the selection, keeping shift held down hides outside the selection. But yes, it is something you get used to. If that’s not what you’re talking about, lemme know and I’ll see if I can explain better.
Alrighty, gave him the spots from the design sketch, and he’s pretty well done. I’m gonna put a little turntable under him, and get him ready for my reel.
[attach=45842]BladeWorm-Max_12.jpg[/attach]
Any suggestions, ideas, questions, or comments are fully welcome. I’m gonna be copying, and re-writing this walkthrough for my site, and getting geared up for my next model. The one with videos! 
The saturation and contrast of colors is the only thing I would say to boost a bit. It all looks very uniform right now. Some of the eyes are a bit non-spherical but it’s just something that I notice. I know you’re doing most of this stuff with a mouse and not a tablet though. nods
Those are just my suggestions and opinions. Take what you will.
Hey kyphur, thanks for the comments. Personally, I like the colors, but I’ll give your suggestion on them a shot and see what happens. About the eyes, I’m actually using a tablet. I got one a couple of weeks ago, and I’m kinda liking it. Is it just me or are all tablets wobly? It doesn’t matter what I change, or do, I still get wobly results. If I had used a mouse on the eyes, they would have turned out better. I can control a mouse like mad bastard! Maybe there’s a reason for that… 
I can still go in and edit the normal map and see if I can get better spherical shapes in it, but the ztool of this guy in his 5mil poly state **** on me, and won’t work anymore. I can load it, but when I change ANYTHING it disappears, and won’t do anything else. When I thought it might just be a draw issue, I tried to map it anyway in ZMapper, and ZB disappeared. No error, no nothing, just gone. Good thing I got the normal map when I did. 
Any other suggestions?
I’m starting work on my next model, and if you’re a comic character fan like me, you might like it. I’ll wait till the thread is posted before I say who it is, but he’s pretty cool. Nothing serious at this point, just getting the flow of the character since he’s not my design. I made a bust of him (eeeewww), and it looks ok, but the character is missing. It’s all good, I’ll get him.
Well, I gotta admit, your suggestion was a good one, Kyphur. I changed the saturation, lightness, contrast, and made several other adjustments, and I think it looks much better now.
I edited the eyes on the normal map, but I’m not sure what else I can do for them at this point. I think they’re looking pretty good, could be better, but I don’t really have a way to fix them as far as I know. But I’ll keep looking.
[attach=45856]BladeWorm-Max_13.jpg[/attach]
No problem man, I think what you did was a heck of an improvement on all points. nods I think you could even pump it up a bit as far as contrast but keep the saturation the same. You might even want to try a little bit different lighting solution to show off that texture a bit more. He’s outside so you have a lot of bounce light when you’re outside so you might want to put an omni underneath for a simple and quick bounce effect. Just remember to tint it the color of your ground just a hair. If you want a good reference then do a search on some horses, elephants and other large mount-like animals on google to get an idea.
This is the closest thing I could find to the lighting solution you’re using. Notice his underbelly isn’t in complete darkness and that you can make out details. You can also tell this is an afternoon shot with a low angled light like yours. There’s a warmth to the light and high contrast shadow but even this shadow is not as dark as yours. This is due to the bounce lighting radiating off of other objects in the environment.
I think the thing that’s getting me is that you have the tips of the legs almost at a black which shows off NO FORM whatsoever. You’re working in 3D man! You want to show off the form! LOL I mean I can see it now to some degree but I think you could raise it just a bit. I think you could even bump the specular up in some areas especially on the eyes. You have this flat look to the eyes that needs to be a pin prick of light rather than a glossed over look IMHO. The skin could be pushed just a tad with the spec too to give it a more living feel to it. Right now it looks like hide but I think if you pushed the specular a bit you could make it look like it has more life to it. You might not even have to edit the map itself for that but just the actual settings for your spec.
Are you viewing this on an LCD by any chance?
I think you’ve got a pretty sweet model and texture going on here and I think you can make this a damn good showreel peice. Keep up the good work!
HAhahaa, LCD… Yeah, I just got one cause the colors were going out on my other one. Is there something I should know about? I can still take it back if I need to.
I understand where you’re coming from with the texture crits, and admittedly, I’m still learning a LOTabout texturing nuances, but I am gonna have to say that I think we have different tastes when it come to textures. I like it, it shows what I want to show, it looks (to me) like I could touch him, I just like it. However, I’m not ignoring your suggestions, and crits, I’ll pay closer attention to those things from now on. It’s still kinda hard for me to get a grasp on some of these suggestions, as I’m not very well versed in all of them.
Yeah, I can see what you mean about the eyes, but I’m not exactly sure how to get that effect, and make it where it changes position with the light. Especially in real time stuff. As I look at him again, that’s really my only problem with him. Any suggestions on that?
Alright, I put this guy on my second monitor which is not an LCD, and it looked quite dark. It’s hard to tell the difference with this setup, so do you think the LCD was a bad choice? If it was… I don’t know I should be able to take it back, but I’m just about out of money. I mean completely broke here.
Anyway, I adjusted the colors, and contrast/brightness to look better on my second monitor. I hope this looks better. Oh, and I put an omni with low intensity under him too. Don’t know how Ifeel about it yet.
[attach=45863]BladeWorm-Max_14.jpg[/attach]
The reason I asked about the LCD was that it tends to appear brighter. I have both and LCD and a CRT at work so I usually flip between the two to see what pops and what doesn’t. There’s no reason for you to take back your LCD just keep it in mind that things appear brighter than when on your CRT. You might want to find a happy medium between the two with your texturing though so that way when you send off a reel the people viewing it will be able to see what you’re trying to show them. You don’t want them seeing something entirely different than what you’re seeing. Especially if you’re trying to get a job from them.
About the omni, you don’t have to put it between him and the groundplane. If you leave shadows off and pull it way out in the middle of nowhere you’ll get a more even light distribution. OR, you could do both as directional lights which will give you even distribution and possibly even a more reaslistic lighting look without worrying about distance.
Oh thank god for that! I just got this thing, and I’m loving it, but if it was gonna screw my work, then it’s gotta go. But yeah, I see what you mean about the happy medium. Do what I can to make it look great on CRT, and even better on LCD. I’ll keep that in mind from now on, I promise.
Alright, I’ll putz around a bit with the lighting, and see what happens. Also, I was checking out some of my ref photos for bug eyes, and since he’s outside, the highlight isn’t bad. I got a pic of the worm creature from Starship Troopers, and his eyes are doing the same thing. Of course, that things eyes have reflection as well, and mine don’t.
Anyway, I hope I didn’t seem like I was pissing on your attempt to help me out here. To be honest, at first I felt like I was, but then I saw that you were right, and like it or not, I need to study up on lighting, and texturing nuances. I do appreciate the input, and suggestions. I still like his texture, though.
I’ll keep tweaking him, and trying to get better results over time, and maybe when he goes in my reel, he’ll look a little different than he does here. I’m REALLY wanting to start work on my next model right now, but I’ll tweak this dude for a while longer.
Thanks again to everyone who checked this thread out, and huge thanks to everyone who commented, critted, suggested, and otherwise shot their mouth off. I am trying to push my work to the next level, and your suggestions, and ideas really help me out.
Heh, don’t worry about coming off as a prick or anything like that. If I thought you did to any extreme attempt I wouldn’t respond. I’d be like, “Well I’ll just leave him to his own devices”. Plus, it is your model and your work and you should realize that people are here to help you out unless you get one of those guys who just goes, “this sucks” and doesn’t provide any type of constructive criticism. I try to give ideas when I comment on something I see that could have a little tweak here and there and I hope others do it for me.
Anyways, I think it’s a good model and something worth putting on a reel. Just rig it and pose it now.
Also, do what you like. That way you get hired for doing what you want to do rather than something you have to do. The suggestions I’m giving you are just that, suggestions. Take them or leave them at your discretion.
That’s good to hear, bro. I hate it when I say things without taking the half a second to think, “now this comment could be *******-ish, you sure you wanna say that?” Of course sometimes I do say *******-ish things, and mean them. But not in this case.
Ooohh, rig and pose, huh? That’ll be something I haven’t tried in a looonng time, rigging without using biped. Ah, a challenge.
Just calibrate your screens and you’ll get the same look (close) no matter what. It’s not hard.
I like it. I liked it better with the default shader though because now it’s very hard to make out a lot of the interesting detail you put into the normal map.
You are making it for a game though and I am aware there are limitations associated with this. I’d like to see you attempt a film-quality version of this thing too.
Hey the texture looks cool man,I like it…but I cant see all the normalmap detail that you’d put in him…maybe you should up the specular a bit ? Or maybe its the shader…how about trying a shader that allows you to give a reflection map too ?[for the eyes]
Anyways,nice job overall,when are you planning to make a rider for this creature ?
looking forward to your comic book guy…
@kyphur: your posts in this thread were very informative,thx for sharing the info about lighting the model
EDIT : I couldnt help myself from trying to play with the lighting in your render…hehe…well,I’m posting some PS BS,
1) A slightly Brighter Render with some bloom
2) Isnt this the color you had in your concept ?
3) A Comparision
Alright, once more into the trenches with the texture. I’ll brighten it up, and make a few more changes. Back in a while.