[SD/Modeling] Model Request: Leaf Beings

[ThomasEddington]

Hi all,

I have a model request:

A humanoid, made of light at its core, a bursting brilliant light, whose light is shrouded by the cover of many leaves that float about it, perhaps so that those not of the forest can look upon the being without being blinded...

The types of animations I envision would be leafy, windy, light, light beams, and perhaps a form that is just a pile of leaves, and then the death animation would be an orb of light ascending, dropping leaves behind it. For camouflage, an idea would be to use the intrinsic skin of leaf terrain as a template for the pile of leaves. I would be okay with movement animations to simply be hover/gliding, since these are light-beings using leaves to dampen their brightness.

Why do I request this? I want to use it in a project that I hope to finish, and even if the project is not completed, this would be a really cool unit that someone would be able to use.

I saw beings like this in a dream I had a long time ago, and their images are burned into my memory - I wish I were able to draw the beings from the dream, they were so beautiful. It took place in an old, bright forest with hills and giant trees, and one of the beings' children showed me its telekinetic powers using a couple rocks. In the dream it felt like the beings were trying to reach out in communication and peace, via one of their children, who was immensely powerful. I feel that these beings deserve some kind of homage, at least to be immortalized in one of our external technologies which we call "WC3".

If anyone wants me to try to draw this thing to get a better idea, I would be happy to try. And I also know that I am asking a lot since the leaf animations would take some elbow grease.

I will attach a pic for inspiration - Dryad Arbor, from MtG. The closest thing I can find to what I envision.

Anyway, thanks for considering.

Best,
TE

 

[Retera]

I played around with an idea inspired by this while I procrastinated from reading my DMs, and it got really late here so now I have to sleep.
More often I have done model merges than actually making something new feeling like this, so I'm probably not the right guy to do it, but I was just having some fun.

 

[ThomasEddington]

View attachment 396215

I played around with an idea inspired by this while I procrastinated from reading my DMs, and it got really late here so now I have to sleep.
More often I have done model merges than actually making something new feeling like this, so I'm probably not the right guy to do it, but I was just having some fun.

This "going into pile of leaves form" is pretty much EXACTLY what I imagined. Cool!!

 

[Kuzakani]

It sounds interesting, let me take some time to make it. And yeah, a draw would be extremely helpful. It doesnt need to be artistic, but descriptive mostly.

 

[Retera]

to make it.

In case if you use any parts from my drafted model up there, one thing I realized is that the model I was working on does not have a death animation. But @ThomasEddington clearly said:

the death animation would be an orb of light ascending, dropping leaves behind it.

So, that's just something fun to keep in mind -- since I clearly forgot about that while tinkering on my side. Good luck!

 

[ThomasEddington]

It sounds interesting, let me take some time to make it. And yeah, a draw would be extremely helpful. It doesnt need to be artistic, but descriptive mostly.

It's strange what happens when you're asked to draw something. As I drew this, I remembered my dream more.

I put some emphasis on the eyes being bright, not much facial features since it is just a light being covered in leaves. I changed the size of the leaves in places to emphasize parts of the body. Light bursts out between leaves from random parts of the being's body. The center of mass (what would be about the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th chakras) has a slit-shaped area of light where the leaves are less dense and you can see the being's light a little easier. To demonstrate an aspect of my dream, I put the rocks in its left hand. In my dream the child leaf being had a larger rock with a smooth hole in it, and it put a pebble in mid-air and made the pebble levitate and spin within the smooth hole of the larger rock, and then made the pebble shoot out like a projectile. Its was mainly a playful display of ability since it was one of their children that wanted to play with me, as the adults watched in silence. Also note how I drew the right arm - it's kind of formless, moves freely, and in this particular instance it's almost like a wing. I did define the legs, but it doesn't necessarily need legs, since it glides/shuffles about the forest. The legs do look kinda cool though.

It's almost a cross between Psylocke and Swamp-Thing but with leaves...? But much more calm and contemplative.

Like the Dryad-Arbor, it would be kinda cool to have different colors of leaves. If you can pull this thing off, I wonder if you could have different versions that match different tilesets in wc3, and then a form that is more artistic like the Dryad Arbor.

Based on what I did with the right arm, it would seem that the Medivh model could be one possible base for this model, but not sure.

I hope this helps a little!

 

[Kuzakani]

It's strange what happens when you're asked to draw something. As I drew this, I remembered my dream more.

I put some emphasis on the eyes being bright, not much facial features since it is just a light being covered in leaves. I changed the size of the leaves in places to emphasize parts of the body. Light bursts out between leaves from random parts of the being's body. The center of mass (what would be about the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th chakras) has a slit-shaped area of light where the leaves are less dense and you can see the being's light a little easier. To demonstrate an aspect of my dream, I put the rocks in its left hand. In my dream the child leaf being had a larger rock with a smooth hole in it, and it put a pebble in mid-air and made the pebble levitate and spin within the smooth hole of the larger rock, and then made the pebble shoot out like a projectile. Its was mainly a playful display of ability since it was one of their children that wanted to play with me, as the adults watched in silence. Also note how I drew the right arm - it's kind of formless, moves freely, and in this particular instance it's almost like a wing. I did define the legs, but it doesn't necessarily need legs, since it glides/shuffles about the forest. The legs do look kinda cool though.

It's almost a cross between Psylocke and Swamp-Thing but with leaves...? But much more calm and contemplative.

Like the Dryad-Arbor, it would be kinda cool to have different colors of leaves. If you can pull this thing off, I wonder if you could have different versions that match different tilesets in wc3, and then a form that is more artistic like the Dryad Arbor.

Based on what I did with the right arm, it would seem that the Medivh model could be one possible base for this model, but not sure.

I hope this helps a little!

Yeah, this is perfect. You made a good description, Ill work on it.

 

[Kuzakani]

It's strange what happens when you're asked to draw something. As I drew this, I remembered my dream more.

I put some emphasis on the eyes being bright, not much facial features since it is just a light being covered in leaves. I changed the size of the leaves in places to emphasize parts of the body. Light bursts out between leaves from random parts of the being's body. The center of mass (what would be about the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th chakras) has a slit-shaped area of light where the leaves are less dense and you can see the being's light a little easier. To demonstrate an aspect of my dream, I put the rocks in its left hand. In my dream the child leaf being had a larger rock with a smooth hole in it, and it put a pebble in mid-air and made the pebble levitate and spin within the smooth hole of the larger rock, and then made the pebble shoot out like a projectile. Its was mainly a playful display of ability since it was one of their children that wanted to play with me, as the adults watched in silence. Also note how I drew the right arm - it's kind of formless, moves freely, and in this particular instance it's almost like a wing. I did define the legs, but it doesn't necessarily need legs, since it glides/shuffles about the forest. The legs do look kinda cool though.

It's almost a cross between Psylocke and Swamp-Thing but with leaves...? But much more calm and contemplative.

Like the Dryad-Arbor, it would be kinda cool to have different colors of leaves. If you can pull this thing off, I wonder if you could have different versions that match different tilesets in wc3, and then a form that is more artistic like the Dryad Arbor.

Based on what I did with the right arm, it would seem that the Medivh model could be one possible base for this model, but not sure.

I hope this helps a little!

What about this?, this isn't the final product, just some techniques, ideas and concepts. Do you like the effects, do you think they are accurate? Im going to sleep, see later.

 

[ThomasEddington]

View attachment 396337
What about this?, this isn't the final product, just some techniques, ideas and concepts. Do you like the effects, do you think they are accurate? Im going to sleep, see later.

I never considered moving leaves... interesting!

I did imagine that the leaves would NOT be moving, since moving leaves may not be as camouflaged, but perhaps moving leaves are okay.

This is a great start. If you have to keep the leaves moving (and cannot immobilize them) then it could still work; it might make for cool effects if you can get some light sources inside the being, and then the leaves will make the unit kind of shimmer.

I like the model choice, as these beings would have a female kind of appearance. A hood would be a plus.

Question, as I am unfamiliar with modeling program interfaces: is the light green intermittent shining simply an indicator for the invisible surfaces of the unit, and not how the unit will look? (ie, right now the model is the moving leaves in the invisible shape of the female unit, right?)

 

[Kuzakani]

I never considered moving leaves... interesting!

I did imagine that the leaves would NOT be moving, since moving leaves may not be as camouflaged, but perhaps moving leaves are okay.

This is a great start. If you have to keep the leaves moving (and cannot immobilize them) then it could still work; it might make for cool effects if you can get some light sources inside the being, and then the leaves will make the unit kind of shimmer.

I like the model choice, as these beings would have a female kind of appearance. A hood would be a plus.

Question, as I am unfamiliar with modeling program interfaces: is the light green intermittent shining simply an indicator for the invisible surfaces of the unit, and not how the unit will look? (ie, right now the model is the moving leaves in the invisible shape of the female unit, right?)

I can make them stop at the camouflage animation.

Ahh no, i just added that light, i didnt have time to add a light inside the body properly, just wanted to know if you are agree with the model at least (not the movemnt nor the light, but the leaves choice).

Dont be shy, ask whatever you want, it wasnt my dream after all.

 

[ThomasEddington]

I can make them stop at the camouflage animation.

Ahh no, i just added that light, i didnt have time to add a light inside the body properly, just wanted to know if you are agree with the model at least (not the movemnt nor the light, but the leaves choice).

Dont be shy, ask whatever you want, it wasnt my dream after all.

You can make the leaves stop and move with animation designations? That would be cool.

I do like the model choice, hood would be a plus if possible. I like the leaves' color and distribution; I do have a concern about the leaf size. In a typical wc3 map, the size of the leaves will be even smaller, and it may affect the unit's appearance. Perhaps the leaves need to be a bit bigger so they are easier to see? And I would space them a bit closer together.

 

[Kyrbi0]

View attachment 396215

I played around with an idea inspired by this while I procrastinated from reading my DMs, and it got really late here so now I have to sleep.
More often I have done model merges than actually making something new feeling like this, so I'm probably not the right guy to do it, but I was just having some fun.

I really rather like this. With a bit more polish it could be really cool. Still neat as-is.

 

[ThomasEddington]

@Dat-C3 I am not sure if this model is still being worked on by anyone, I saw you expressed interest in it. Would still love to see this thing come true some day