Need 3d Char Modelers and Animators

[kollos]

a few people? ^^
well orc and vampire mesh is done, laerazi is currently texturing them, rigging and animations still need to be finished, but its kinda low priority atm

[Laladilya]

I got a question... when modeling do you always model it standing straight up with arms and legs extended out, then pose them later?

This goblin for example would you just model it in the hunched over position i put him in from the get-go? or model it standing straight up with arms extended outwards and then bend it to that pose during the animation-phase or something?

Also what is more useful to model characters from... paintings like this or just some front & side views? I'm guessing front & side views, but how quick Blog did my staff from just one view in the other thread I'm wondering if it even matters as long as there is a frame of reference.

[Blog]

Characters are always modeled in with arms extended outward and standing straight up, otherwise the mesh distorts unevenly when it is animated. In terms of what drawings are needed for speedy modeling it depends: a perspective is great for conveying an approximate idea, the modeler has to take some artistic license to fill in the unknowns but that is no problem and for the sake of this project is likely just fine. If you want models that follow the concept art precisely then side and front views are good because you can model right on top of the flat picture to ensure that the geometry fits the sketch exactly, this allows speeds the modeling up a bit since the modeler dosent have to pay as close attention to relative proportions but for the sake of this project I don't think it makes a huge difference.

[kollos]

heres an example of how we work
at least for characters, a front/side view is pretty much a must, as well for any other complex object. adding a drawing of the actual pose or at least some notes about pose, how hes supposed to move etc, are helpful too when it comes to animation.

[Laladilya]

Yeah makes sense, both in this project and in general for concepts.

I occasionally browse conceptart.org/cgtalk/etc and they always have these ultra bad-ass paintings that you could hang in a gallery. Then whenever I'd see a screenshot of someone working in max/maya/blender/etc it'd always be like yours where it might as well just be a simple sketch on a cocktail napkin. Probably just safe to assume they're only posting the stuff thats impressive, or maybe just showing the ideas for environments.

One of these days I need to learn the 3d stuff. Just looking at your screenshot reminds me of how I get lost in the UI and give up though :/

[Faille]

I'm no expert, but I would say for general concept art, when you're still in the planning and brainstorming stage, then concept art that are in poses is probably more useful. Something that will give an idea of the world you're trying to create and how it might look.

When you're making concept art that is going to be directly used for model creation, then having them done planer so the modelers can use them as they are creating.

[Lenas]

Originally Posted by Laladilya

One of these days I need to learn the 3d stuff. Just looking at your screenshot reminds me of how I get lost in the UI and give up though :/

Maya is indeed one of the most complex programs out there, but if you learn things one by one, it isn't so bad. It's really only confusing because things are repeated in a lot of places, and someone's general idea when they look at a UI is that everything is unique.

[Laladilya]

Yep, redundant UIs are definately part of the problem, I also don't know what several of the different terms actually mean so many of the online tutorials feel like I'm reading a medical journal when they make even slight assumptions. I think I'll just have to get a beginners book or take a class on it sometime. It'd definately be a handy skill to have in my toolbox since you can branch it across so many different mediums (I'm a website developer for example).

Anyways for stuff I don't completely suck at. I'm trying to make me a couple "paper doll" type model sheets. Was originally just going to be so I could try out different armor/hair/etc quicker with photoshop layers but then figured with the infoz in this thread I'd try to tighten up my anatomy (hell I need practice anyway) and post it in case anyone struggles with that. It's still got some issues because I've been drawing anime style too much lately (as you can tell with the head *sigh*). I went ahead and noted the errors I could see right now, if you see any others, do tell. Can't find my anatomy book either so going off memory and photo reference here =/

I also realize much of the details will probably get lost due to poly limits but I'd still like to get it as accurate as I can for myself really. Avoiding Luclin proportioned models would just be a bonus ^o^