Watcher Character - WIP

[djembe]

Hi all, I've only posted infrequently here before, but I've been an avid reader of these forums since purchasing VRay Basic sometime last year and then VRay Advanced a couple of months ago. My art background is primarily in traditional media (acrylics, inks, soft pastels, etc) and I'm still very new to 3D. It's turned out to be quite an expensive hobby and far more challenging than I anticipated.

That said, this work-in-progress represents my first semi-serious attempt at creating a 3D scene. Sci-Fi/Fantasy is not my usual genre, but it seemed like a good project for learning. It's below the quality that I'm hoping to eventually achieve and even further below the high quality work I see posted here.
But I thought I should see what kind of feedback I could get from experienced VRay users. While there are many things about the modeling that I'd do differently in hindsight, I'm primarily interested in suggestions, observations and criticisms any of you may have regarding the lighting and materials. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.





Software:
3ds Max 8.0 SP2
VRay 1.47.03
ZBrush 2.0
Photoshop CS2

On a side note, I'd like to thank Chris Nichols for developing the Gnomon Global Illumination DVDs. I can't imagine how I would have even gotten started without them.

[jacksc02]

woah, great work!
Dont be scared to post more work here.
Your modelling is really good, maybe just add some more atmosphere to the scene eg. distance fog, DOF things like that.

Do you have any plans to animate this character?

[priad]

Welcome and Great job!! I like it
Seems like a sculpture, warm and sweet.
regards

[mmikee]

Very creepy ! Nice modeling. Textures are cool to.
Please share updates.

[djembe]

Thanks guys! I appreciate the feedback.

Your modelling is really good, maybe just add some more atmosphere to the scene eg. distance fog, DOF things like that.

Do you have any plans to animate this character?

I agree that the DOF and atmosphere are lacking. I was initially afraid that I used too much DOF effect, since it's often overused, but I think I'll try another render with more shortly.

I don't have any plans to animate him, though he is rigged for posing. I'm still very new to 3ds max and character modeling so it's all a bit tricky still. I'll try some different poses and camera angles next.

Thanks again!

[jacksc02]

fantastic, im looking forward to updates!

[Da_elf]

oooo. sweet work man

[djembe]

Thanks!

I've since posted this on the ZBrushCentral forums to gather more constructive criticisms to help me make it a stronger piece.

My current 'To Do' list, based on critiques I've received:

- Adjust the wrists and position of the upper hand to be more natural.
- Strengthen the ankles to better illustrate the bone structure.
- Sculpt the loin cloth further. More wrinkles and gravity.
- Study my anatomy references to determine why some don't like about the shoulder/back.
- Add more atmospheric haze and DOF.

I'm going to work on it further and see if I can improve those areas now.

Regards

[RErender]

Cool concept and nice detail. One thing that stands out to me is that everything looks very smooth sort of like silly putty. Maybe some map to break up the speculars a bit or even some micro displacement would help.

[jujubee]

Hey - don't be a stranger to the forum. That's really cool - if it could only be a slight bit tad sharper with a little more specular on the skin - then it would be perfect to me.

[DaForce]

Fantastic!!!!

[dellis]

You might want to:

-Increase specular highlights on the creature as well as some translucency.
-Maybe use scatter or particle flow to through some rocks and pebbles around.
-Develop the texture on those monolith things as well as the ground...i would go with something like the Badlands.
-I would maybe have him look at the camera as well. It would be a bit more ominous.
-Fray his loincloth and add some transparency and a fabric texture
-Maybe some desert vegitation.


The character is great! I really like his tail! I think that the image needs to be a bit more striking....

...keep up the good work and keep posting!!!

[Da_elf]

hehe share the scene so we can all have fun with it (hehe kidding)

[djembe]

Thanks everyone.
I'm still fussing with a long list of adjustments from critiques I've been collecting. My anticipation to make it a strong piece is, thus far, outweighed by my newbie learning curve. I hope to post some intermediate work-in-progress images soon that address the first round of suggestions (modeling issues first, and then some more lighting, material and rendering specific issues next).

I'm looking forward to learning more from you guys as I progress.
As much as your patience and time will allow, in fact.

RErender: Yeah, that's the number one critique it's gotten, though your description really nails it. I hope to fix that. I'm not totally sure I understand what "micro displacement" is. I've Googled the term some, but haven't determined quite what it is yet. I am using displacement and bump maps that I created with ZBrush, but it seems I've maxed out the SubDiv levels that my computer can handle. I didn't use multiple UV regions on the character model. A mistake I won't make again.

jujubee: Thanks for the warm welcome. I agree that it needs to be sharper. Learning how to get really good AA and good DOF without devastating render times is still a struggle for me, but I'll get there. (fingers crossed)

Dellis: Thanks for those suggestions. I'm still learning how to use a couple of the features you've mentioned, so it might be awhile before I'm ready. I agree that some small pebbles, in particular, would be really helpful. Likewise, the frayed and semi-transparent loincoth. I've been experimenting with that tonight without much luck. I may pose some questions about that specifically.

Da_elf: Thanks. I'm almost tempted do do so! But I've seen enough of your work on www.elfpro3d.com and know you'd leave me in the dust! I will certainly ask for tips as I go along though, thanks.

DaForce, priad, jacksc02 & mmikee: Thanks again for the encouragement. This is a great forum.

Best regards!

[panthon]

Amazing character!

As it has been said before, the landscape could use a bit more detail, and currently i can't get rid of the sense of miniature when i watch this still, probably because of the use of DOF. The character itself looks xtremely cool, and its skin seems like plastic or latex, and, IMHO is all good for an "alien" character like this.

I´m glad u haven´t had any problems with zbrush-vray workflow. Most of the people spend a lot of time trying to figure it out!

I guess you will be able to get more feedback about materials, lighting and in particular render settings from the vray forum, and the hardcore sculptors from zbrushcentral will help you with those tiny things u´ve mentioned about the anatomy, as they always do!

Contributions like yours are always refreshing in this forum. Keep it up!