Solu9's Sideshow

[Solu9]

Characters for War3 has seemed quite difficult to me but I wanted to throw myself into the ring.
Here is what I got for now:

 

[Solu9]

So I got a bit further with my Orc:

 

[Kyrbi0]

I can tell you the weapon & armor are on pointe for Warcraft sensibilities. ;P

 

[Solu9]

I can tell you the weapon & armor are on pointe for Warcraft sensibilities. ;P

I hope that's a good thing. That sneaky tongue smilie confuses me

 

[Solu9]

Here is an update on the orc.
I'm not sure about the color palette yet. But that is something I can always change.

 

[Kyrbi0]

The red seems a little... maroon-y? for an Orc. Maybe. I'm no color expert. I like the green, though, and "I really like her... mane?"

 

[Solu9]

The red seems a little... maroon-y? for an Orc. Maybe. I'm no color expert. I like the green, though, and "I really like her... mane?"

I agree. The red is perhaps too much of a variation of the "standard" orc. The colors are something I'll correct in the end

This sort of comment is what i like. What you think about the model. keep 'em coming.

 

[Solu9]

Another update on the orc.

 

[Roland]

That's just glorious, Keep up the great work!

 

[Solu9]

That's just glorious, Keep up the great work!

Thanks man


Yet another update. I am beginning to see the end of the texturing part.

 

[Roland]

His eye looks girly and a bit dopish. But hey, I still love it.

 

[Stefan.K]

That's a cool orc. Somthing like an HQ model. What about the rigging and anims?

 

[Solu9]

That's a cool orc. Somthing like an HQ model. What about the rigging and anims?

Thanks man.
The plan is to rig and animate it for War3. The only thing is that right now its tris count is in the 3k's (with the axe not shown here).
That alone makes the orc quite large filesize wise for War3.
And it will only get larger when the texture has to be implemented and animations will also take a good share of the filesize.
I foresee it will take up between 4-500kb. That's a huge amount when it comes to War3...

 

[Stefan.K]

Thanks man.
The plan is to rig and animate it for War3. The only thing is that right now its tris count is in the 3k's (with the axe not shown here).
That alone makes the orc quite large filesize wise for War3.
And it will only get larger when the texture has to be implemented and animations will also take a good share of the filesize.
I foresee it will take up between 4-500kb. That's a huge amount when it comes to War3...

Wow, that's pretty huge for warcraft, really. You could cut some polies, you know. Just look at Tauer's models, he made them just like in game models, the texture makes it look good, and you skinned it great so no need for more vertices. You could lower the green color on his head and arms, it wont look good compared to other in game orcs. What about team color, are those red spots tc or?

 

[Solu9]

Wow, that's pretty huge for warcraft, really. You could cut some polies, you know. Just look at Tauer's models, he made them just like in game models, the texture makes it look good, and you skinned it great so no need for more vertices. You could lower the green color on his head and arms, it wont look good compared to other in game orcs. What about team color, are those red spots tc or?

I am thinking of places I can cut but I'll have to experiment with it before making any decisions.
The texture is not complete yet, and the skin is coming right up as the next thing I have to work on

And damn... I completely forgot about team color... I have to come up with an idea for that too. I think the shoulder plates and the belt buckle could do.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Stefan.K]

I am thinking of places I can cut but I'll have to experiment with it before making any decisions.
The texture is not complete yet, and the skin is coming right up as the next thing I have to work on

And damn... I completely forgot about team color... I have to come up with an idea for that too. I think the shoulder plates and the belt buckle could do.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I'd suggest shoulder plates, like you said, and arm bracers could be a good spot for a tc. Nice model so far, never saw this kind of armor on some orc model, great idea.
Are you planning to give him in game animations or custom ones? What program do you use, btw?

 

[Solu9]

I'd suggest shoulder plates, like you said, and arm bracers could be a good spot for a tc. Nice model so far, never saw this kind of armor on some orc model, great idea.
Are you planning to give him in game animations or custom ones? What program do you use, btw?

Bracers are not a bad choice either.
I have taken some inspiration for the texture from this picture:
http://www.blizzplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/world-of-warcraft-artwork-orc08-full.jpg
Primarily the red color and patterns on the leg plates.

The plan was to make this model fully custom made. That's why I tried texturing it myself. So the animations will be from scratch as well.

 

[Stefan.K]

Bracers are not a bad choice either.
I have taken some inspiration for the texture from this picture:
http://www.blizzplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/world-of-warcraft-artwork-orc08-full.jpg
Primarily the red color and patterns on the leg plates.

The plan was to make this model fully custom made. That's why I tried texturing it myself. So the animations will be from scratch as well.

That's a nice reference. Then good luck. In game animations would make the model look bad. That's a nice choice. Wish to see it finished soon. We lack good orc units, human as well. Do you have any plans on making some human models?

 

[Solu9]

That's a nice reference. Then good luck. In game animations would make the model look bad. That's a nice choice. Wish to see it finished soon. We lack good orc units, human as well. Do you have any plans on making some human models?

Thanks man. I hope I can finish soon as well. I think sometime next week is a realistic deadline (I have exams this week).

Puh I dunno about more orc or humans. I need to practice my hand painting so future models would also come with custom textures = large file size. And they take pretty long to create.
I might though. At least I have some ideas for more orc units in my head.

 

[Stefan.K]

Thanks man. I hope I can finish soon as well. I think sometime next week is a realistic deadline (I have exams this week).

Puh I dunno about more orc or humans. I need to practice my hand painting so future models would also come with custom textures = large file size. And they take pretty long to create.
I might though. At least I have some ideas for more orc units in my head.

You could always use in game textures. As many vertices model has the better you can wrapp the model with in game models, just look at Grendel's or Direfury's models.

 

[Solu9]

You could always use in game textures. As many vertices model has the better you can wrapp the model with in game models, just look at Grendel's or Direfury's models.

Yeah I know. I usually do that. But I want to practice my hand painting. If the model can be used for War3 then it's only a bonus.

 

[Solu9]

I think I'm going to call the textures done. Perhaps make some finishing touches if I find the willpower to do so.

 

[Deleted member 238226]

i found jackpot. really nice

 

[stein123]

Nice model lml

 

[Solu9]

Hey guys. I would like to know what you think of this armor set so far.
The shoulder plates are done and uploaded but what about the other pieces, you got any suggestions?

I know the boots are quite off, but I don't want them to be all stone-ish like the rest of the armor. I need to figure something out.

 

[Naze]

It looks really cool, and I don't think the boots are quite off - a viewer wouldn't have any negative reaction to them, it blends well with the set and looks authentic.

If I were to suggest something, it would be changing the pants to something else - maybe cloth? Or something dark grey? Idk. Good work btw!

 

[Solu9]

It looks really cool, and I don't think the boots are quite off - a viewer wouldn't have any negative reaction to them, it blends well with the set and looks authentic.

If I were to suggest something, it would be changing the pants to something else - maybe cloth? Or something dark grey? Idk. Good work btw!

Thanks for the feedback.
Now to be sure. When you say boots, do you mean those on his feet?
Because I was referring to his lower leg armor actually. The ones with the straps and iron.

 

[Roland]

Keep up the good work man!

 

[Solu9]

Keep up the good work man!

Thanks

Hmm I don't know about this but I tried changing the upper leg armor:


Is this better or should I keep the original?
And the leather/strap part. Is it alright or should I change it?

 

[Naze]

Oh you got me, I was referring to the feet! haha.

On a closer look, the upper red leg may look funny, but ingame think this red armor should look better. Because the viewer will actually notice a change on his legs that way, while dark brown version wasn't much visible.

Now the leather/strap part, I think it is alright for ingame camera. However the materials used are indeed weird if looked closely (looks like some goblin device or something) In case you want to perfect it, how about some actual leather wraps (example skin) or some black material (like the ones used these armors example1/example2)?

 

[Solu9]

Oh you got me, I was referring to the feet! haha.

On a closer look, the upper red leg may look funny, but ingame think this red armor should look better. Because the viewer will actually notice a change on his legs that way, while dark brown version wasn't much visible.

Now the leather/strap part, I think it is alright for ingame camera. However the materials used are indeed weird if looked closely (looks like some goblin device or something) In case you want to perfect it, how about some actual leather wraps (example skin) or some black material (like the ones used these armors example1/example2)?

I'll try fizzling around some more with it.

Here is a wip of it looks in game:

 

[Solu9]

A little something for the spare time at the moment (while I'm not rigging the orc -.-)

 

[JesusHipster]

Is that orc made for wc3?

 

[Solu9]

Is that orc made for wc3?

More or less.
But it has become a strange bastard of a model. It is so far the most strange workflow I have done and the model has changed platform several times.
Right now I am optimizing it further, because I want it to be able to be used in War3. And then it really needs to be cleaned up. I think I'll manage though.

 

[Solu9]

Here is the high poly version of the night elf:

 

[Naze]

It seems as there are some asian references in the design. Aside from the asian-like moonwells, I wouldn't have thought of mixing NE style with asian, and it blended really well.

 

[Solu9]

It seems as there are some asian references in the design. Aside from the asian-like moonwells, I wouldn't have thought of mixing NE style with asian, and it blended really well.

Thanks.
I don't know if I perhaps overdid the details. I think, looking back, that I would have liked the whole outfit, detail wise, as the back head cover thing.

But I'll see how the normal map and ambient will turn out. If it's too messy I think I'll redo the sculpt. Or I might just create two versions.

 

[Solu9]

Here's a little update on the female elf:

 

[Solu9]

Nearing completion of the texture:

 

[Solu9]

Alright. So this is the first time I'm trying animating for War3.
It's quite different than what I am "used" to.

The skinning still needs some tweaks and the animation itself is nothing to phone home about. But I got started!

I've tried testing it in Magos, and some of the bones messed up a lot. I hope I haven't missed my chance to fix it.

This is what I've got so far:

Hidden

 

[Kyrbi0]

Everything but the head, lol.

Seems a little fast/jerky, but aside from that it's actually rather cool.

 

[Solu9]

Everything but the head, lol.

Seems a little fast/jerky, but aside from that it's actually rather cool.

Haha yeah
Kinda like chickens can hold their heads still even if their body is moved.

 

[Solu9]

So I spent the day animating this Night Elf.

Some of the animations are a bit clunky but I'm pretty worn out. Animation is not really my thing.



Now to the really hard part. Exporting it to .mdx.
So far it has caused a lot of problems, many of which I have no idea how to fix.

Despite what the .gif shows, the Spell Channel animation does in fact loop properly.


Edit:
Meh... I think I screwed up when I didn't start setting TCB rot/pos as default to begin with.
.

 

[Solu9]

Yeah, no.
I thought I had fixed most of the issues, and the model was soso in Magos. But once imported to the editor the animations were completely messed up. I think the elf is a dead project now. Too bad, I spent quite some time working on it.


Edit:
What the... hell.
Out of curiosity I tried importing the model .mdx back into 3Ds Max with Neodex (at this point I still thought of the model as dead).
Not only did it cut 1/3 of the file size, the animations also work in War3... I can't believe I'm that lucky.
I'm really grateful, because I kinda had lost the will to animate anything unit realated.

.

 

[Solu9]

And done! What a frustrating ride this has been, but finally my first character for War3 is done and uploaded:

Preview image

Hidden

In game screen shot

Hidden

And these are with the full resolution texture (big images)

Hidden

Hidden

 

[Solu9]

There was a common consensus that the night elf was too detailed. So I have tried lessening where I found fit.

All of the red color is team color.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Ooh, much better.

 

[Solu9]

Alright guys. I'm nearing completion of a complete retexture og the night elf caster. But I need you to decide which of these three has the best feel.

It's completely the same texture only with different contrast settings.
Please be aware that the contrast might change when converted to .blp and the textures shown here are 2k resolution presented in Marmoset Viewbag 2.



I have my own personal favorite but I would like to know what you think.


.

 

[Naze]

What's your personal favourite?

I think it would be the 50 contrast or 100 contrast, depending on ingame view. But I guess 50 contrast would feel better when she is standing next to the other Warcraft models (Blizzard's skins and icons have some serious contrast in Warcraft III).

 

[Solu9]

What's your personal favourite?

I think it would be the 50 contrast or 100 contrast, depending on ingame view. But I guess 50 contrast would feel better when she is standing next to the other Warcraft models (Blizzard's skins and icons have some serious contrast in Warcraft III).

Thanks for giving your opinion
Mine was the 100 contrast. It's also the one I went with.
I uploaded the new texture not so long ago. I'm done with the model now. Like, completely done.