MH Bot

[2create]

Started creating an avatar character for a website and future ident me and a few friends are setting up. I'm going to try and create him with enough detail to hold up at full hd resolution. Any input would be very helpful



::360 Rotation::

All box modelled with sub-divs. I started using the newer catmull-clark but couldn't the the uv's to display correctly so adjusted the model an went back to the normal subpatch method.

Textures painted in photoshop at 3k. I'm getting pretty frustrated with vista + intuos + photoshop CS3 + Nvidia at the moment. The brush lag is painful and there seem no way around it other than constantly show/hiding the rulers with Crtl-R. For the first time I've started using the node based material editor. and some of the shaders etc are awesome. I'm using occlusion on the diffuse of pretty much everything, multiplying it with a gradient to turn it down if need be. Is that the best approach?

Here's the initial sketch I was going from:



Recently got a toshiba m200 tablet for around £200 on ebay and they're great for sketching out designs.

[SplineGod]

Nice job. Looks spot on to the reference

[StereoMike]

Looks ace. The only thing that made me think is the expression. Your sketch bot has some pride, your model looks depressed.
The model has longer arms which give the impression of hanging shoulders, the eyebrow is not as high as on the sketch and the sketch had also a bit of tension to the spine (I'm not a native speaker, hope you get what I try to say), i.e. he leans the head a bit backward (not rotated, just set back a little). The lower jaw could also add to the effect (the model has an underhung jaw to greater degree).

Of course it might all be intentional (such projects always live and change on the way).Or it's caused by the bot not being rigged yet.
In that case: Never mind!


mike

[2create]

Thanks SplineGod/StereoMike

Yeah, Think I might shortne his upper arms. I'm planning on rigging him soon so will be able to pose him closer to the sketch reference.

[Philbert]

Great work. i think the pride aspect comes more from the way he's holding himself. In the sketch his fists are closed and arms out a little more.

[tobian]

Love it! reminds me of the film 'robots'

The only thing which looks odd is the eyes. Not the odd sizing, just the indeterminate materials on them? In the drawing it looked like they were recessed, which might look cool.

Otherwise the texturing and surfacing looks superb!

[Iain]

Very cool.
I'd like to see him move and/or talk.

It is very like 'Robots' which isn't a bad thing.

[Kuzey]

Nice indeed..well done

Kuzey

[HappyMantis]

I really like this one! In my opinion you very close to your sketch, there is no need to tweak something. (Just wondering why you didn't choose a screen on his stomach? it could be a nice thing to write or draw message)

But the texturing work is really great, should we see more detailed shots?

[djwaterman]

I don't know what to input except to say you achieved your end result right off the sketch. I could only suggest things like now you got what you set out to do you could try changing colors and see if anything looks better than what you have. I wonder what he would look like with black metal on the chrome areas, or blue anodized to match the eyes. But it look really good as is.

[Gaia942]

Looks great! love the texturing, one thing that worries me is how the fingers bend/rotate if the "blocks" are so tight nit and not allowing for individual rotation. Unless they deform like a softbody?. Also the back of the feet seem to smooth compaired to the rest of the body.

[2create]

Thanks for everyone's input. I've made a few tweeks in colour and scratches as well as a socket for the elbow ball joint and snazzy shoulder protector things. I've yet to fully weight map him so fingers do deform like softbody at the mo.

[tobian]

That's very cool, and I love the little epaulettes Looking much better!

[PAL]

I think you model is really getting along and you have a fun and good style on this. I would like to post this link here as I would love to see him in an environment like this... http://www.luxology.com/gallery/image.aspx?id=5018 This is more like your first shoot that just look better, even the black one is more finished model and texture way... On the black he gets very hard to comment proper for me... I think one could have more punch in the contrast on the image I post here and it would be even cooler...

The metal ontop of the head look different from the rest of the model in a way... would be cooler with more like the one here: http://www.pixar.com/shorts/lift/lift_1.html

Your PAL

[bgraves44]

Super cool. but i would agree with earlier posts as far as the sketch has more "character". Maybe the face is banged up a little much - more anthromorphopication and/or personification would be helpful? (ok, used up all my big words for the week ). My eyes are kinda drawn to the detail of the chest and hands and not to the face is, i guess, is what I'm trying to say.... Very nice, though.

B

PS: Oh, it's the left eyebrow that's changeing the expression up...