Minotaur finished.

[J Bradford]

Here is the current dude im working on, a minotaur. I should have some animation tests ready about teusday, once modeling is done.

*update below

:bash:

[BryandL]

That's comming along great, would like to see it all finished.

What's your polycount at by tha way?

[AfroLaxMan]

could you post a wireframe (before any smoothing, if that is possible).


looks great

[J Bradford]

BryandL : Hah, the polycount is probly past 10,000. This isn't a low poly model.

Here are some wireframes.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jbradford49/minowire1.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jbradford49/minowire2.jpg

[J Bradford]

Here is a small walk test for my character:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jbradford49/walk1.avi

[BryandL]

Thats a good start on the walk cycle, like the head motion. It seems to me to need mabey a little more personality in its step..or more bounce in his step. Not sure exactly what would work. Anyway keep it up, like to see more. :)

[GriNGo]

cool stuff James. Really like it. Is the minotaur going to get skinned?

[J Bradford]

He got skinned a little bit, but due to time I had to rush it. :mad:

Right now im working on a set for him, just some kind of backdrop, hand painted in deeppaint.

[amphex]

Awesome model =D
I wish I could see the anim. but its just not worth trying to dl on my 56krap =P
But from what Ive seen here only, great work!

[Eric Lange]

I think your Minotaur is coming along great! The one thing that bugs me is his neck- it seems flat, like a heavy weight landed on his head and he never straightened back out.

For such a large head, you'd expect the next to arch up before it meets his torso to give him proper support and also a more interesting profile.

[J Bradford]

amphex: thanks! I hope you can check out the animation at some point! :D

Eric Lange: I agree with you there, and I wish I could try out that look but I already rigged him and that was a mission.

I'm going to be teaming up with another classmate to compose a fighting scene with the minotaur and a giant armored lizard. Right now we know that the lizard is going to get smacked by the axe - if anyone has suggestions on what kind of fight they want to see let me know.

[GriNGo]

well, I would love to see something like this:

- The minotaur is walking along a cave, going .. somewhere.. the cave is illuminated by soft and small torches..
- after like 30 seconds of walking, the Minotaur comes along cavern lagoon, complete with waterfall and all. Upon getting there, he stops to take a brief look, but then continues his way..
- meanwhile, the lizard can see through the water (he is below the surface).. when the minotaur has his back towards the logoon, and is entering the lagoon caverns exit, the lizard jumps out of the pool and pounces on the minotaurs back.
- the minotaur yellss with fury, and hits the lizard with his axe with a backstroke, and trys to hit the other beast in the face, the lizard barely outmaneuvers the minotaurs blow.. the lizard then runs toward the minotaru jumps in the air, and trys to scratch (with his claws) the minotaur (this is done lightnin fast).. the minotaur quickly reacts, backs a little, and strikes the beast with his axe.. not completely done, the lizard tries one finalattack and starts pouncing on him, the minotaur seeing that the lizard is clearly defeated, just evades the slow attacks.. and prepares to make the final blow. .. when he does it,l he cuts off a part of the lizards tail :D .. the lizard then goes shrieking and disappears into the lagoon.

-the minotaur laughs to himself a bit and then continues his way.. :p

THE END :chug:

[AfroLaxMan]

very cool, my friend.

lets see some motions!

edit...

hey, you at SCAD? If so, I grad in '96. sup bee...

just saw your walkcycle, and the only thing I would say is to add some weight to him. He looks like he floats, like is made of styrofoam.

[WerxOne]

looks like you have a good start, give more weight when he walks though, weight is very very important in animating anything. for instance maybe make the upper body and head more proportional to his legs, or even bigger than his legs, this would allow for you to make him move as if his legs had to work hard to carry his huge frame around. you want to exaggerate his up and down shoulder and torso movement, this should help make your walk really come alive.

great start, nice mapping, look forward to seeing your progress

[J Bradford]

GriNGoLoCo: Woah man, If I was able to pull that off I could die happy :beer:

AfroLaxMan: Yup im a SCAD student, junior to be exact. 96' eh? Things have gotten pretty large here, the computer art building was moved from Norris Hall to this huge warehouse out in midtown, it's crazy. The weight issue is something im trying to work out, his legs are the biggest problem because when any more weight it pressed down, the deformations go for a joy ride. :realmad:

WerxOne: You are dead on there, im still trying to hit that exaggerated look more.

Quarters almost over so I should have something final pretty soon. :eek:

[AfroLaxMan]

well, I wouldn't worry too much about adding his weight this far into the quarter, unless the proff is a total hardass. I would make sure that you work on it for your final portforlio, it will be a nice piece to have on it.

Curious, what skeleton system are you using, CS, or the Max bones? Either way, you can add weight the way Werxone mentioned. look at the principles of animation, 2ndary motions (chin and arms) and the squash and stretch (maybe in the gut, where it wouldn't be really a lot of wqaush and stretch, but a mimic of such) would really add that much more with out adding too many keys to the total animations.

good luck in the finals...

[amphex]

Holy crap..thats an awesome idea gringo =D

[GriNGo]

thanks amphex :D

[juprez]

think the proportion r a bit out of order,
arms n hands should be stronger or bigger,
the neck is a bit too long and straight,
the hip-area is too loose, not defined,
but all in all a good idea(minotaurs r strong mythologic
characters)

btw its time to get the tech for high poly characters hehe :-)

[J Bradford]

juprez: Thanks for the comments, I guess it is more of a matter of taste than anything.

Everything got finished, I have a link to the final movie that you can see, along with a few shots. Thanks again to everywhere for the feedback, it helped out quite a bit.

Any additional opinions are also appreciated.


Link to the divx movie: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jbradford49/minotaurdivx.avi

Some final rendered shots:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jbradford49/theminotaur.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jbradford49/minotaurset.jpg