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BloodHoundRiderAxe

This bundle is marked as useful / simple. Simplicity is bliss, low effort and/or may contain minor bugs.
The undead notoriously lack in having an ordinary cavalry in Warcraft 3, so i decided once again to make a custom unit. What i wanted to avoid is making a unit from which several other variations already exist on the Hive. I know that there already exist some blood hound models on the Hive, but i couldn't find any so far that resembles mine very much. At first i had a few problems when making this model as i was unsure about which skins would be best, so my work came to a hold for a while. A few weeks later i continued the work, and after hundreds of "trial and error" results, i finally came to this one. It took me more than a month to make this model, as i had to create a skeleton for the rider and animate it manually in Magos (no joke, i CnPed the values from Thrall's bones and set the frame numbers accordingly). And even after most of the work was done, it still took me a few hours to give it the finishing polish. All in all, i have to admit that this was one of my most demanding and labor-intensive works.


About the model:
Many townfolks claim that there's no bigger menace to villages and even small cities than the Troll Boar Riders. Well, actually they're terribly mistaken! There's one kind of cavalry that tought even to boar riders the meaning of fear and demise: the undead Blood Hound Rider! Whilst both have developed a fondness for surprise attacks and pillaging, in any kind of confrontation the blood hound riders are always in advantage. The reasons are many:
-) the blood hounds can smell anything from huge distances, including invisible units and alert the riders in time
-) most creatures, incl. the "hoggers' " boars and also mammoths have learned to avoid blood hounds, hence they flee in fear when they hear their howl
-) blood hounds are as heavy as boars, but more agile and faster moving
-) boars are good runners too, but in endurance they can't compete with the blood hounds
-) the blood hounds' bites infest their targets with several diseases
-) the blood hounds are naturally living in packs, hence they can coordinate a perfect attack by themselves without needing guidance from the riders
In addition to every aforementioned fact, the blood hound riders are also more merciless, brutally and way more evil than any other cavalry. They don't only raid for enriching themselves, but also for entertaining their mounts with prey-villagers. They often even take captives and send them away, just for hunting them later down again.

Feel free to use this ressource in any imaginable way you want! Have fun with it! :wink:


P.S. I'm planning to make more variations of Blood Hound Riders soon. They all will have the same mount and armor, but different weapons, helmets and faces. :wink:

EDIT 1:
-) body proportions fixed, now he doesn't have ape-arms (too long arms)
-) vertex assignment problems on chest fixed (my thx to -Grendel for pointing that out)
-) applied a few changes to the mount's head, so that it doesn't clip through the collar again during the Stand - 2 and Stand - 3 anims
-) re-edited the Attack - 2 anim (performs more like an axe-swing now)
-) replaced the hair with a hood, as they brought mostly negative criticism
-) also applied a finishing polish to the riding crop

I hope it performs bette now! :wink:

EDIT 2:
-) fixed that odd snake-like movement of the mid-part from the chest
-) also added one more chain, it starts from the left side of the big torso chain and goes to the left hand of the rider. I added for not having it loook like the hand only floats above the model.

Should be much better now! If you downloaded the old version, make sure to replace it with this one, it performs better. ! :wink:

EDIT 3:
-) merged the model with the wolfrider's skeleton. It uses his anims now, with a slight modification
-) Attack -1 now lets the mount bite

EDIT 4:
-) further fixed a few vertex-to-bone-assignment issues, a few unnatural movements and all remaining skinning issues (the rider's right side of the torso had two minor flaws over and beneath the shoulder joint)
-) Attack 1 has been changed to its default, the rider attacks with one hand
-) ingame screenie also added (functions properly ingames) ;)
-) BONUS: added 4 more "custom" animations:
  • Walk - 2: same as Walk anim, only that the mount opens two times its jaw slightly, like grasping for air (similar to the Direwolf's walk anim)
  • Attack 3: another attack anim, mainly for the mount to do the job (quickly deliever a painfull bite)
  • Spell Slam: the mount now can grab the target enemy and shake him/her/it around or take a big bite out of a bigger unit, like an ogre
  • Stand Channel: this is an eat-like animation with the sound of the Ghoul's and Abomination's Cannibalize ability (sound integrated to model, it's not necessary to add the sound in World Editor too). Now the hungry hounds can feast on nearby corpses as well!
All anims are CnP's from the frames of the model's ingame anims. I just sometimes edited the movement of single bones to vary them a bit, and sometimes i combined frames from many anims to make a new one. ;) This was done in MDLVIS.

Keywords:
undead, undead rider, undead cavalry, rider, blood hound, monster, wolf, hound, scourge, fallen
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BloodHoundRiderAxe (Model)

BloodHoundRiderAxe (Model)

Reviews
23:59, 6th Aug 2014 MiniMage: I've been trying to figure out what looks off with this model. The wolf head along with the collar needs to be scaled down about 10%. The wolf head is also kinda too square, A wolf head generally ends in a point. A...

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23:59, 6th Aug 2014
MiniMage: I've been trying to figure out what looks off with this model.
The wolf head along with the collar needs to be scaled down about 10%. The wolf head is also kinda too square, A wolf head generally ends in a point. A bulldog would have a flatter shape to the head, but this is clearly a feral dire wolf that guy is riding.

Also, work on the mesh of the rider, something looks off there too, but I can't really pinpoint it. I'll let you know if I can figure that out.

09:06, 5th Dec 2014
MiniMage: The latest update has introduced more problems. There's a lot of clipping in the animations. The rider is as disproportionate as ever and the wolf looks even more awkward now. The latest update has drawn attention to the oversized wolf head. It kinda looks like he's riding a derpy bear at this point. Continue working on it.
 
Hmm I like the style of this model. Weird in the good way.

2 points though.
-The face of the wolf somehow seems to be too "sharp", texture wise, than the rest which makes it stand out too much in my opinion.
-The Attack - 2 animation is really funky right now.
hehe, ty :ogre_hurrhurr:

-) i don't think it does all too much, i mean the armor and some other parts (like the chains) are also sharp-textured. :wink:
-) in how far exactly?
 

Kyrbi0

Arena Moderator
Level 44
Joined
Jul 29, 2008
Messages
9,487
I have to agree with Callahan. The wolf looks surprisingly good, and the chains are cool, but the rider is... eh. My biggest complaint are those ridiculous freaky-gravity-defying-dreadlocks he has... I swear I've seen that before, like on your Troll Peon (where I also thought it was out-of-place). Is that like a signature of yours? :< I'd highly consider finding an alternative.
 
Level 49
Joined
Jan 20, 2010
Messages
3,029
the mount, like everyone else said, is really well made. clever use of the gate texture for the head.
the rider though, is the extreme opposite of the mount. quality wise.
he is extremely disproportionate and the hair doesn't really scream undead to me.
also, you have a vertex on his back that is rigged to something else. it distorts so much during his animations.
 
Level 24
Joined
May 15, 2013
Messages
3,782
Lol, haha
This guys kinda reminds me of Cerberus taking Hercules to Hades to beat him up
The boa..eh i mean hound, is ok, unless it keeps its mouth open
But the rider

ridiculous freaky-gravity-defying-dreadlocks he has... I swear I've seen that before, like on your Troll Peon (where I also thought it was out-of-place). Is that like a signature of yours? :< I'd highly consider finding an alternative.

What Kyrbi0 said
 
I'm not sure I understand.
The whole animation (at least in the 3d viewer) is funky. And the weapon seems to detach from the hand in mid animation.
3d viewer (if you mean model viewer) isn't the best tool for viewing models. :vw_sad: Did you check it out ingames or in Magos?

His head kinda looks small for his body. He's also too bulky for your typical Forsaken.
rly? I haven't rly made many forsaken, just a female one, so i don't rly get the point...... :vw_sad:

While that is true. It does not have to be your typical forsaken :)
And the head... yeah. I call it the artist's expression ;)
ty :ogre_hurrhurr:

The mount looks good but the rider...
what's wrong with him? :eekani:

Indeed, good concept btw uncle:thumbs_up:
ty :ogre_haosis:

I have to agree with Callahan. The wolf looks surprisingly good, and the chains are cool, but the rider is... eh. My biggest complaint are those ridiculous freaky-gravity-defying-dreadlocks he has... I swear I've seen that before, like on your Troll Peon (where I also thought it was out-of-place). Is that like a signature of yours? :< I'd highly consider finding an alternative.
they aren't dreadlocks, they're supposed to be "geled" like the punks' haircuts. Yes, they're the same as with the troll gatherer. :wink: No, it ain't my signature.....i have no real signature in models. :wink:

The wolf is very well made but the rider needs much work. Find other, better fitting textures, remake the wrap etc. But it's a very good start and a creative texture choice.
Why change the textures? I wanted to make a heavily armored rider, not a classical forsaken. :eekani:

Groovy, groovy, groovy model! I just would recommend to add a sinister helmet. But If you want to keep his hair, you can add the coronet instead of helmet.
thx :ogre_haosis: i wanted to keep the helmet for the next version of blood hound rider.

I like it! I think the rider is cool!
ty :ogre_hurrhurr:

Can you make an alternative version without the mount? I actually like the rider and want to use it for my map.

Looks good overall.
thx :ogre_hurrhurr: i was thinking about using the rider seperately for an infantry model. :wink:

the mount, like everyone else said, is really well made. clever use of the gate texture for the head.
the rider though, is the extreme opposite of the mount. quality wise.
he is extremely disproportionate and the hair doesn't really scream undead to me.
also, you have a vertex on his back that is rigged to something else. it distorts so much during his animations.
ty :ogre_hurrhurr: O.K.......which body parts exactly? Rly? Thx for telling me, will chekck it out soon.....i didn't realize any vertex-assignment disorder. :vw_sad:

Lol, haha
This guys kinda reminds me of Cerberus taking Hercules to Hades to beat him up
The boa..eh i mean hound, is ok, unless it keeps its mouth open
But the rider



What Kyrbi0 said
nice idea for what else it could be...... :wink: from undead to greek mythology :grin: i will do a few minor changes later....

Interesting use of the gate texture. A definite improvement over the WC3 default wolf.
hehe, ty :ogre_hurrhurr:
 
Level 51
Joined
Dec 8, 2008
Messages
4,357
They don't look good in general, and the proportions of the rider make it look even worse. Try to lower the seat and his waist line, change or remove his hair (he looks like Edward with the Scissors hands) and find other texture. His head is too small and his arms are way too long. His feet are to small as well or make at least his boots a tad bigger. The back of the head is extremly messed up as well as the neck, which is clipping through the back.

I would create a new mesh for the rider, it would create things easier.
 
While I do praise your creativity, I'd say like the others that da' rider needs more work indeed. Otherwise I'm smoking (liking) this:3
ty :ogre_hurrhurr: yes, i will make some changes in the rider. :wink:

They don't look good in general, and the proportions of the rider make it look even worse. Try to lower the seat and his waist line, change or remove his hair (he looks like Edward with the Scissors hands) and find other texture. His head is too small and his arms are way too long. His feet are to small as well or make at least his boots a tad bigger. The back of the head is extremly messed up as well as the neck, which is clipping through the back.

I would create a new mesh for the rider, it would create things easier.
Thx for the ideas.....@ least one who can give precise discriptions for a repair/change :thumbs_up:

Edward with scissors? :eekani: Who's dat? :vw_wtf:
 
Changes are good. The also looks good but I personally think the hair made him look more unique. Damn peer pressure.
ty :ogre_hurrhurr: yeah, but that was not the only problem with the hair......the head had some skinning atrocities on the back side of the head which i couldn't repair, so i thought giving in and adding a head armor would be better. :wink:
 

Kyrbi0

Arena Moderator
Level 44
Joined
Jul 29, 2008
Messages
9,487
It's much better. The hood, while (I can understand your problem with it being) less "unique", definitely helps him out better than the crazy-hair.

I think, though (based on the Model Viewer) the waist/torso connection is still a little wonky. Could be wrong. Great progress!
 
It's much better. The hood, while (I can understand your problem with it being) less "unique", definitely helps him out better than the crazy-hair.

I think, though (based on the Model Viewer) the waist/torso connection is still a little wonky. Could be wrong. Great progress!
i know, i just couldn't find the culpit bone so far. :vw_sad: I'm sure it's either chest or waist..... don't worry, i'll fix that too. It occured when i applied a few proportion changes @ the chest. I realized the problem after the update. The torso/waist are behaves a bit like a snake-body :vw_sad:

It is indeed. It's still deformed during animations. A lil' bit of animation tweaking could do.
or "simply" using the anim values from another unit's chest :wink:

Ok, it looks good now (not really, its just creepy)
Good Work
lol, ty:ogre_hurrhurr:

Awesome, nice work. I love the hound!
thx :ogre_hurrhurr: i'm glad to hear that :goblin_yeah:
 
Lower back is broken(nudged to the left).
He sits too high for his centre of gravity.

Attack - 2 animation definitely looks very undead. I like that one, even though it seemed strange to me at first.
I know, the upper body generally needs a little work. :vw_sad: It moves like a serpent. :goblin_jawdrop:

Did you DL the first version of it or the one after the first edit? The first version's attack 2 was somewhat......strange. :vw_sad:
 
Heh. I guess he means the model viewer here on Hive :)
Oh. That's not the best tool for viewing models. First of all, loading custom skins and those from patch stuff (like Goblin Tinker) are problematic in model viewer. This aside, it has been my experience that Model Viewer often has problems with custom made models. :vw_sad:
 
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