Rent-A-Cop
by Teck Lee Tan · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 02/20/2005 (7:48 pm) · 25 replies
Hey guys, some of you on IRC might remember me looking for input on this guy last week. I've more or less finalized him, and I'm down to the tweaking stages now (edge flow, making sure the joints deform properly, etc), and hope to start unwrapping and texturing him tomorrow. Then I'll get on to the rigging and animating. For now he's got vertex colors on him so I can more easily visualize what I want to do with his textures.
First, wires:
www.lotekk.com/files/rentacop-wires.jpg
and a viewport shot:
www.lotekk.com/files/rentacop1.jpg
Before you ask, he's not really for any particular game, just something that started out as an anatomy study, and evolved into something somewhat interesting that may or may not become a main character model in a future game. And yes, he's supposed to look kinda goofy, in a white-trashy kinda way. ;) It's my second more-or-less-completed character model, but I've been dabbling with other genres for some time now. A bit of back-story I cooked up as I was developing the guy:
I'm working in Wings3D for the modelling and unwrapping, switching over to Blender for the rigging and animating.
Critiques would be greatly appreciated. :)
edit: Oh, right. It currently stands at about 3200 tris (this includes the cap, belt, and dropleg holster, but not the Mateba revolver which is roughly 310 tris)
edit2: I've gone ahead and converted all but the latest images to clicky links for the benefit of anyone with a slow connection
First, wires:
www.lotekk.com/files/rentacop-wires.jpg
and a viewport shot:
www.lotekk.com/files/rentacop1.jpg
Before you ask, he's not really for any particular game, just something that started out as an anatomy study, and evolved into something somewhat interesting that may or may not become a main character model in a future game. And yes, he's supposed to look kinda goofy, in a white-trashy kinda way. ;) It's my second more-or-less-completed character model, but I've been dabbling with other genres for some time now. A bit of back-story I cooked up as I was developing the guy:
Quote:SSG (Ret.) Ron "Hellcat" Reynolds served out a glorious career in the employ of the US Army, the majority of his tour of duty spent with the Special Operations Detachment-Delta. Sustaining debilitating injuries during the course of aoperation in , his courageous and selfless actions nonetheless earned him a Silver Star. Following this incident, Reynolds was honorably discharged, and he returned to his hometown to a hero's welcome.
Fast forward 6 years, and we find "Hellcat" making a living as a rent-a-cop ["private security agent," as Mr. Reynolds prefers to be called -Ed.] at a large suburban shopping mall. He spends most of his time trying to re-live his glory days, telling war stories to anyone willing to listen, and sometimes to people who could care less. When not at work, he appears to enjoy kicking back with his two best friends, Jack Daniels and Sam Adams.
I'm working in Wings3D for the modelling and unwrapping, switching over to Blender for the rigging and animating.
Critiques would be greatly appreciated. :)
edit: Oh, right. It currently stands at about 3200 tris (this includes the cap, belt, and dropleg holster, but not the Mateba revolver which is roughly 310 tris)
edit2: I've gone ahead and converted all but the latest images to clicky links for the benefit of anyone with a slow connection
#22
For another example, on the character Im working on right now, I have a layer that is a photo I took of moss and dirt and rocks as an overlay on the skin. I set the blending to color burn (i think... im away from my computer right now) and made it pretty transparent. The end result is skin that looks like it has texture and history. Its a wierd photo to use as an overlay for skin... but the effect was spot on.
But that aside, Im looking forward to animation. The shading and all is looking great so far.
03/07/2005 (2:57 pm)
Another thing that I find really helps textures is to experiment a bit with overlays. When I do characters, I usually have at least 5-6 overlays effecting different parts of the texture. For instance, take picture of someones palm or the back of their neck and use them as overlays on skin. This is just an example off the top of my head... Im actually planning on doing a tutorial on this topic. For another example, on the character Im working on right now, I have a layer that is a photo I took of moss and dirt and rocks as an overlay on the skin. I set the blending to color burn (i think... im away from my computer right now) and made it pretty transparent. The end result is skin that looks like it has texture and history. Its a wierd photo to use as an overlay for skin... but the effect was spot on.
But that aside, Im looking forward to animation. The shading and all is looking great so far.
#23
03/07/2005 (3:22 pm)
Yeah, I haven't started messing with photo overlays as of yet, but I always overlay the hell out of my stuff. Whether it's adding details, being paranoid, or whatever, I typically average about 20-odd layers at any one time. :-p I'm working on rigging the guy now in Blender (I've just about pulled out all my hair by now), and I'll probably be working on touching up the texture every so often in the meantime. Thanks for the comments so far. :)
#24
And a simulated in-game view (if he makes it into the game I've been semi-planning, it'll use a first person view similar to Operation Flashpoint, down to the free-aim, but with iron sights using the actual weapon model).
A 100% illum view of the unposed model.
And wires, for anyone interested:
www.lotekk.com/files/rentacop-wires2.jpg
As always, comments and crits are more than welcome. :)
edit: Sorry about the color banding in the first two shots. Blender doesn't seem to want to display the textures at an acceptable color depth, for whatever reason.
03/12/2005 (4:36 am)
In addition to a minor mesh tweak (thanks to Peter K) and some minor texture work, I've gone ahead and spent some time rigging this guy up in Blender, which was quite a learning experience (frustrating, too). I've come up with a pretty decently-articulated rig, and I think I've got the skin weights more or less firmed up, so I decided to pose him for fun. Gave him a Mossberg 590 that I modelled for fun before I started this model.And a simulated in-game view (if he makes it into the game I've been semi-planning, it'll use a first person view similar to Operation Flashpoint, down to the free-aim, but with iron sights using the actual weapon model).
A 100% illum view of the unposed model.
And wires, for anyone interested:
www.lotekk.com/files/rentacop-wires2.jpg
As always, comments and crits are more than welcome. :)
edit: Sorry about the color banding in the first two shots. Blender doesn't seem to want to display the textures at an acceptable color depth, for whatever reason.
Torque Owner Teck Lee Tan
www.lotekk.com/files/rentacop-tex6.jpg
As always, crits are more than welcome (aside from the visible seams, which I'm already aware of). :)
edit: Gawd, I just realized what was bugging me about his legs. They're completely bare. I think I might add some hair there before I start the rigging work.