Imp Wip
by Rene Damm · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 01/01/2009 (6:28 pm) · 19 replies
This is just a little fun/side thing in-between hacking Torque. You surely know this little fella--albeit the last time you've probably seen him he was a 41x57 sprite projected into a 2.5D world. Always thought they were called "Imps" but in the Doom WADs, they're abbreviated with "TROO" which seems to indicate they were actually called "Troopers."
Whatever.
This is still an early stage of creating the high-res mesh for the guy.
I'm not quite sure where this will go or whether it will go anywhere at all. If I manage to end up with a reasonable final model, I may go on trying to animate it and then bring it into Torque.
The basic premise is to just learn something here as I'm pretty much a noob to creating 3D models for games. I've already made some mistakes like creating what I thought would be the final basemesh up front and already unwrapping it. After taking the whole thing into ZBrush, though, I realized that creating and unwrapping the final in-game mesh only makes sense *after* you're done with the high-res sculpt. Quite obvious in hindsight.
Whatever.
This is still an early stage of creating the high-res mesh for the guy.
I'm not quite sure where this will go or whether it will go anywhere at all. If I manage to end up with a reasonable final model, I may go on trying to animate it and then bring it into Torque.
The basic premise is to just learn something here as I'm pretty much a noob to creating 3D models for games. I've already made some mistakes like creating what I thought would be the final basemesh up front and already unwrapping it. After taking the whole thing into ZBrush, though, I realized that creating and unwrapping the final in-game mesh only makes sense *after* you're done with the high-res sculpt. Quite obvious in hindsight.
About the author
#2
01/01/2009 (7:02 pm)
I thought he looked familiar. He shot fireballs?
#3
Thanks, Mike!
@Kevin
Yep, he did. That's him in all his pixelated glory:
01/01/2009 (7:11 pm)
@MikeThanks, Mike!
@Kevin
Yep, he did. That's him in all his pixelated glory:
#4
01/01/2009 (7:21 pm)
Nice looking model. Been a few months since I had one of those things running at me.
#5
And a quick pose (that has some visible deformation problems)
02/25/2009 (10:42 pm)
Not progressing that quickly with this guy. As far as "high-res" goes, this is still low-poly stuff. Did a quick normal map bake in modo and rigged the character in messiah.And a quick pose (that has some visible deformation problems)
#6
02/26/2009 (5:52 am)
@Rene: That is some really nice work. What's the poly count on the low-poly stuff?
#8
While not having touched this model in a while, I have moved forward some and would like to ask the artists among here for some advice. This is basically the first ever real texturing work I've begun and after dabbling around for a while, I realized that this model will come out tremendously boring when baked down and put in a game engine. Basically, it will be a brown blob with some red dots and a few white-ish spikes thrown in for good measure.
So, my question is, how do you go about creating interesting and rich organic textures while sticking to a dominant body color? What are the most glaring mistakes I am making here? What are your steps for this kind of work?
BTW, this will probably end up on a ~2500 triangle model with 2k diffuse and normal maps.
PS: this thread ended up in the wrong forum after the site rebuild.
//Add: I sort of opted to do the finer detail along with the texturing which is why the skin detail is only there in some parts so far.
06/22/2009 (7:51 pm)
Hey guys,While not having touched this model in a while, I have moved forward some and would like to ask the artists among here for some advice. This is basically the first ever real texturing work I've begun and after dabbling around for a while, I realized that this model will come out tremendously boring when baked down and put in a game engine. Basically, it will be a brown blob with some red dots and a few white-ish spikes thrown in for good measure.
So, my question is, how do you go about creating interesting and rich organic textures while sticking to a dominant body color? What are the most glaring mistakes I am making here? What are your steps for this kind of work?
BTW, this will probably end up on a ~2500 triangle model with 2k diffuse and normal maps.
PS: this thread ended up in the wrong forum after the site rebuild.
//Add: I sort of opted to do the finer detail along with the texturing which is why the skin detail is only there in some parts so far.
#9
There's a great program called the Doomsday Engine which plays the original Doom data files in OpenGL. The engine is amazing, but most of the monster models are low quality and nowhere near the quality of your Imp.
Let me know what you think.
02/13/2011 (5:21 pm)
I love your Doom Imp model. Its the best one I have seen. Would you be willing to release it?There's a great program called the Doomsday Engine which plays the original Doom data files in OpenGL. The engine is amazing, but most of the monster models are low quality and nowhere near the quality of your Imp.
Let me know what you think.
#10
I don't have a problem releasing the little guy from captivity here with me, but I don't think he's very useful in his current state as I never really finished the model. The texturing really had only just begun and the rig needs a thorough pass to get rid of the deformation problems. Also, other than one single Doom-like attack pose, the guy has no animations which makes him even less useful for games.
The best he'd be useful for is as an in-game Doom monument, I guess :)
Doomsday Engine is a great project but yeah, the models tend to... lack a little punch.
02/14/2011 (2:36 am)
Thanks a lot Lawrence. Glad you like the model.I don't have a problem releasing the little guy from captivity here with me, but I don't think he's very useful in his current state as I never really finished the model. The texturing really had only just begun and the rig needs a thorough pass to get rid of the deformation problems. Also, other than one single Doom-like attack pose, the guy has no animations which makes him even less useful for games.
The best he'd be useful for is as an in-game Doom monument, I guess :)
Doomsday Engine is a great project but yeah, the models tend to... lack a little punch.
#11
Credit will be given to you for the model of course.
02/14/2011 (5:23 am)
I think I can find someone to finish the model up (hopefully). It's a great start, and I think this model could be turned into something wonderful for Doomsday. Can you send me the source model and current textures? My email address is lawrence.popa@mohawkcollege.caCredit will be given to you for the model of course.
#12
The zip (64MB) contains the main working files of the current/last version (modo low-poly + baked NMs, ZBrush high-poly, messiah rig) as well as those files that led to the current model (ZSpheres start, 3D-Coat retopo). There's also an .obj for the low-poly (not for the high-poly, though; ZBrush is needed to open that one).
I've detailed the usage terms in the accompanying README.txt file.
Have fun with the guy and be nice to him. Remember it isn't his fault--he was born ugly.
02/14/2011 (7:17 pm)
Okay then, here we go :)The zip (64MB) contains the main working files of the current/last version (modo low-poly + baked NMs, ZBrush high-poly, messiah rig) as well as those files that led to the current model (ZSpheres start, 3D-Coat retopo). There's also an .obj for the low-poly (not for the high-poly, though; ZBrush is needed to open that one).
I've detailed the usage terms in the accompanying README.txt file.
Have fun with the guy and be nice to him. Remember it isn't his fault--he was born ugly.
#13
Also, think about how the guy is made. Are those spikes bone structure? If so I'd somehow make the flesh around the base seem hard and calloused; either by lightening it, or adding bits of different colour and texture. Also making them less shiny. If not, and they're just random Hell-born protrusions, then I'd either add some tender/broken/bleeding flesh around them, or some otherworldly tinges like purples and greens.
I'd look up reference pics of elephant tusks to see what sort of colour you could add to the spines themselves - a bit of brown and grey at the base, streaking to the tip.
The face and head seem like an obvious area to add textural detail. I'd maybe try and make the face a different (darker) colour so that the eyes would stand out more; at the moment, they're red-in-maroon and you can't really see them that well. Then I'd do liver spots on the head, if not over the rest of the body.
Speaking of liver spots, maybe just Google skin diseases and see which ones you can apply! Sounds like fun ;P.
Also, I would personally add some little occult symbols in faint difuse around the body. Kind of like pale tattoos. Just to reinforce the idea that it's a demon. But that's the 40k influence in me talking ;P.
...and then splatter the whole texture in fresh blood and you're good to go ;).
Hope some of those ideas help a little!
02/14/2011 (8:50 pm)
Great work there! Especially for a "noob" ;P.Quote:So, my question is, how do you go about creating interesting and rich organic textures while sticking to a dominant body color?I'm no artist, but I'm going to have to be soon and I'd like to take a crack at answering this. I'd vary up the base colour slightly, maybe just with a bit of a cloud noise pattern. Then I'd pale up the palms, armpits, under the forearms and inside the elbows and knees, maybe under the neck, etc. I'd add a bit of discoloration in between the giant neck muscles or between the toes. Also might be a good idea to pick out stuff like veins with diffuse colour, even though they're already part of the bump map.
Also, think about how the guy is made. Are those spikes bone structure? If so I'd somehow make the flesh around the base seem hard and calloused; either by lightening it, or adding bits of different colour and texture. Also making them less shiny. If not, and they're just random Hell-born protrusions, then I'd either add some tender/broken/bleeding flesh around them, or some otherworldly tinges like purples and greens.
I'd look up reference pics of elephant tusks to see what sort of colour you could add to the spines themselves - a bit of brown and grey at the base, streaking to the tip.
The face and head seem like an obvious area to add textural detail. I'd maybe try and make the face a different (darker) colour so that the eyes would stand out more; at the moment, they're red-in-maroon and you can't really see them that well. Then I'd do liver spots on the head, if not over the rest of the body.
Speaking of liver spots, maybe just Google skin diseases and see which ones you can apply! Sounds like fun ;P.
Also, I would personally add some little occult symbols in faint difuse around the body. Kind of like pale tattoos. Just to reinforce the idea that it's a demon. But that's the 40k influence in me talking ;P.
...and then splatter the whole texture in fresh blood and you're good to go ;).
Hope some of those ideas help a little!
#14
Hey, that's some great ideas. You actually make me want to pick up work on the guy again. I really like your suggestions. Good point about the eyes; looking at the original sprite, they really glow and stand out. And the body markings, yeah, that'd be cool.
Hehe. Yeah, and some chicken and whatnot ritual in true id style.
Never quite got the whole id pentagram obsession but well... to each his own.
02/14/2011 (9:43 pm)
@DanielHey, that's some great ideas. You actually make me want to pick up work on the guy again. I really like your suggestions. Good point about the eyes; looking at the original sprite, they really glow and stand out. And the body markings, yeah, that'd be cool.
Quote:...and then splatter the whole texture in fresh blood and you're good to go ;).
Hehe. Yeah, and some chicken and whatnot ritual in true id style.
Never quite got the whole id pentagram obsession but well... to each his own.
#15
02/15/2011 (10:27 am)
Thanks a bunch!
#16
02/16/2011 (2:48 am)
Haha, I didn't even realise this was nearly 2 years old :P. I thought this was for your action RPG tutorial!
#17
With the SlashDash art, I definitely am going for a more stylized/cartoony look and am trying to stay away from having to do as much detail work.
This Imp here was for a recreation of the first Doom level in Torque 3D. I wanted to create the whole level in modo and use modo's GI to prelight the level. However, I never quite got the baking working. While the GI results in modo were stellar even at low settings, when baking them, they were all noise even when cranking up the settings (and render times) to insane levels. Not sure whether that was a problem with modo or me.
02/16/2011 (3:00 pm)
Hehe :)With the SlashDash art, I definitely am going for a more stylized/cartoony look and am trying to stay away from having to do as much detail work.
This Imp here was for a recreation of the first Doom level in Torque 3D. I wanted to create the whole level in modo and use modo's GI to prelight the level. However, I never quite got the baking working. While the GI results in modo were stellar even at low settings, when baking them, they were all noise even when cranking up the settings (and render times) to insane levels. Not sure whether that was a problem with modo or me.
#18
I made a model like that once and sculpted it to all its glory but never uv mapped my original 200poly model. even though the textures looked great in zbrush polypaint they wouldnt upload to max because of the lack of uv map on the original... did you uv map your low poly model before sculpting it into a high poly map?
[edit] for some reason only the fist few posts showed up when i looked at this thread the first time. now i see the rest of your posts and see that youve uploaded it to the low poly already, looking great!
04/20/2011 (9:48 pm)
dead thread post, but i wanted to say i really like your model.I made a model like that once and sculpted it to all its glory but never uv mapped my original 200poly model. even though the textures looked great in zbrush polypaint they wouldnt upload to max because of the lack of uv map on the original... did you uv map your low poly model before sculpting it into a high poly map?
[edit] for some reason only the fist few posts showed up when i looked at this thread the first time. now i see the rest of your posts and see that youve uploaded it to the low poly already, looking great!
#19
I UV'd him right after building the base mesh. However, given the flexibility you have with ZBrush now in reimporting stuff while preserving all your sculpting and painting or with baking outside of ZBrush, I think it's the wrong thing to do. Seems to me that quickly proceeding to sculpt out a character, then retopologizing the high-poly mesh to build an optimal low-poly base, and only then UV'ing it gives you better results and tends to waste less effort.
Still, as I ended up UV'ing the guy three times until the result proved satisfactory, I learned a lot which I guess made it worth it.
[ramble]
Man, I rather envy all you guys who can do 3D art fulltime. Programming tends to be such a tedious, complicated, joyless, unrewarding way to spend your time. Artists get to build all this great stuff and use all these great programs whereas programmers get to worry about stuff as exciting as "do I need to type a '<=' here or a '>' here??" It effs up your brain...
[/ramble]
04/21/2011 (9:11 am)
Glad you like the model :)I UV'd him right after building the base mesh. However, given the flexibility you have with ZBrush now in reimporting stuff while preserving all your sculpting and painting or with baking outside of ZBrush, I think it's the wrong thing to do. Seems to me that quickly proceeding to sculpt out a character, then retopologizing the high-poly mesh to build an optimal low-poly base, and only then UV'ing it gives you better results and tends to waste less effort.
Still, as I ended up UV'ing the guy three times until the result proved satisfactory, I learned a lot which I guess made it worth it.
[ramble]
Man, I rather envy all you guys who can do 3D art fulltime. Programming tends to be such a tedious, complicated, joyless, unrewarding way to spend your time. Artists get to build all this great stuff and use all these great programs whereas programmers get to worry about stuff as exciting as "do I need to type a '<=' here or a '>' here??" It effs up your brain...
[/ramble]
Torque Owner Mike Rowley
Mike Rowley