WIP canon Maiev Shadowsong

[JesusHipster]

Basically i realy REALY want to make Maiev model that resembles her concept art and wow counterpart more. Since i haven't found the artist i will do it on ingame textures. For the cloack animations and mesh i'm gonna utilize edited BloodElf. Maybe i'l just end up editing wc3 Warden model, but it's worth a shot, isn't it? The thing that bothers me right now is the wrap. Since Warden texture is an utter pile of shit i've decided to go for a more clean steel look that might not go too well with wc3 models. Any thoughts?

 

[HappyTauren]

Make sure that, as you go on with the body, you curve it properly. I've seen many (scratch made) models that presume humans are straight sticks. You should start with curving the model properly at this point, it just already looks wrong from the side. Aside from that, nice job with the texture wrap.

 

[JesusHipster]

Make sure that, as you go on with the body, you curve it properly. I've seen many (scratch made) models that presume humans are straight sticks. You should start with curving the model properly at this point, it just already looks wrong from the side. Aside from that, nice job with the texture wrap.

I wanted to write in the post that i'm well aware of the current proportion problems. The thing is - i threw those parts that i develop separately together to make a WIP screenshot, so i pretty much haven't rigged the proportions yet.

Also i'm not planning on making a traditional body - i'm aiming for the look of Night Elf victory screen in wc3, the cloack will cover everything lower the shoulderpads.

I'm glad you didn't say that wraping is bad! This is the part that concerns me most at this point. Thank you for your comment!

 

[NhazUl]

You're actually doing a nice job wrapping a low quality texture on a hd mesh (some modelers have the opposite problem - using a HD texture on a lowpoly mesh ruins it). I can only see small problems such as the shoulderpads having a bit of a shadow on top where shine should be (just trim the wrap there a bit to exclude the shaded area), and the weird Batman-shaped shadow on the chest plate (distortion). These would only be visible in a close-up. Other than that the steel is looking fine. In fact this is the amount of detail on the mesh this texture needs in order to look good.

Also, since it clashes with the detailed gold trim mesh, I'd recommend that you wrap the cloak using a more detailed mesh on which the current wrap fits twice, more finely draped. Otherwise it might look a tad too blurry for the rest of the model.

 

[Stefan.K]

I had an idea to make her too, just didn't have time to. Nice start, did you thought of attack animations?

 

[JesusHipster]

I had an idea to make her too, just didn't have time to. Nice start, did you thought of attack animations?

Yep. I'l make my own using Kael's cloack animations. Just need to tweak them here and there.

E: Am i on the right track in terms of proportions? I think that her shoulderpads work well with her head, but body is the problem for me.

can't realy figure if not making her body a giant suit of armor is the right thing to do. it kinda conflicts with the shoulderpad area. I would rather not make the body at all but it will be eventualy visible during walk and attack animations

clashing texture quality is also an issue, but for now the proportions are more important to perfect

 

[PROXY]

I'd make her a tad bigger. (speaking of the added body) Also that ponytail is incredibly small. And I'm not sure if you plan to keep that body, speaking of the poly count and detail, or if you just put it as placeholder for proportions and going to edit it later?

I'll give you a more detailed insight per PM when I have time

 

[JesusHipster]

I'd make her a tad bigger.

The butt?

This isn't a ponytal, just a start of it. I haven't worked on the other part of it just yet.

The body, well, i think that cutting polycount where possible will be a good move from me. I added more anyways, but that's a solid base for it IMO.

Ok, finished two variants of her armor. Can't choose the one yet. Trying to make her femine but not overly sexualized. She is like an armored blinking death machine, not a bikini model:0 Also made her a sword. I'm not a weapons guy, so i've taken the more lazy aproach. If someone wants to collaborate and supply me with a high-poly weapon i won't mind sharing the credit for a model ha-ha.

Am i on the right track with mesh and UV?

Started rigging\animating. Legs work out just fine with Kael's bones, but the arms will have fully custom skeleton and animations. The base animations of Kael's cape are great material for editing.

Right now halting the modelling for a week or two coz job and exams. But that's a good enough time to gather comments so i can choose what to do next. That's a hint, i'l be glad to hear out opinions.

 

[PROXY]

Took the opportunity hehe.

The wrap on the blade is not perfect yet but I may leave that up to you to fix it. Pink is TC. Poly count is damn high though, somehow oversaw that. Around 600 polies ;_;

 

[JesusHipster]

Oh hey holy shit. I tried to make the fingers on the weapon but failed miserably. This is great. Damn it i love coworking with you

 

[HappyTauren]

You can kiss the bride

Anyway, 1. is better choice I think.
And for the weapon - you kinda already criticized it itself, PROXY xD

 

[NhazUl]

I prefer PROXY's version, and I feel like there are areas (the blade's edge maybe?) where you can substantially reduce polycount without a noticeable effect in-game. The other version seems rather repetitive and too pixellated. I imagine that JesusHipster wants a cinematic-quality model. To have a decent wrap on such a model, you have to imagine how big you want the model to appear in game (in this case, on the whole screen) and have the textures wrapped so that there is no blur on this scale.

 

[Heinvers]

Just in case you get back to this, the 1st version Warden mesh looks best.
It would need better gold/silver trimming around the edges to make seem like the real deal.

PROXY's weapon all the way, since it has that genuine NE vibe to it.
I was wondering if you'd do the metal curvy spikes or the wc3 wings that she had on her shoulders?

The wings would definitely give it that much needed lore description that she's known for.
For the boots, more trimmings would make that area less blob-like and more detail-friendly.

Last but not least, the cape's a bit less of an impact area. It needs some kind of details, even symbols should do.

 

[FireTiger]

Looks Good! ^^

 

[Kyrbi0]

Post-it to Sooscribe

 

[JesusHipster]

Finished wrap and such.

Rigged legs and the cloack. Works out perfectly. I only have to rig the arms now and animate them from scratch and edit the cloack movement.

Also i have to add her a signature ponytail and maybe (just maybe) those gigantic back-blades or whatever are those. Tested her ingame, textures look neat. Trying to keep it useable as a hero among blizzard made wc3 units. Kinda waiting now for Proxy to rewrap the blade and for my exams to end.

If someone (for some reason) wants to see this model before it's fully rigged and polished - feel free to PM me, why not.

Funny thing - turns out i tried to do this model when i was 12! It's a disaster, but it's still avaliable on XGM. I think it was supposed to be a male version of warden. Good thing now i'm going for more or less gender neuteral look. It was edited in 2011 due to a fatal glitch, but it was actualy uploaded 3 years prior. Holy shit i'm into this hobby for a long time now, ha-ha.

 

[PROXY]

I'd still fancyfy (is that even a word? her more.

More golden trims and seperate sections on the boot, on her chest, adding the golden middle line on the armor part under her helmet, a simple but effective belt, and a borderline for her cape.

The blades on her shoulders are a must have. And the shoulderplates I would make a bit smaller in case of broadness and add a second one to each shoulder, as it is in wow. Right now it looks a bit too... I don't know, heavy?

The helmet is also lacking those eagle-eye like golden things under the eyes.

Btw: she got a new model in legion, might take some inspiration from there too: Legion

 

[JesusHipster]

I'd still fancyfy (is that even a word? her more.

More golden trims and seperate sections on the boot, on her chest, adding the golden middle line on the armor part under her helmet, a simple but effective belt, and a borderline for her cape.

The blades on her shoulders are a must have. And the shoulderplates I would make a bit smaller in case of broadness and add a second one to each shoulder, as it is in wow. Right now it looks a bit too... I don't know, heavy?

The helmet is also lacking those eagle-eye like golden things under the eyes.

Well, it's kinda hard to completely mimic the WoW look, and i wasn't realy going for it. As for the shoulder-spikes - No. Maybe i'l add the construct like she has in wc3 and on concept art, but shoulder spikes just won't do. Her animations are not made with them in mind. Abou 2 shoulderpads - i'm actualy considering it. But i still don't know, considering all the rigging i still have a tonn of work to do, especialy keeping in mind their form. Right now nothing clips in any of the animations so it will be easier to just give up on those.

I kinda fancy the old look more for some reason. But yeah, i was thinking about doing those golden lines on the helmet.

 

[HappyTauren]

It's kinda too bland right now actually. I thought you'd detail it somewhat more.

 

[JesusHipster]

You mean like in "her helmet and shoulders are badly wrapped" or "what Proxy said"?

I don't think it's reasoneable to edit her body, it's not a visible part of the model. However i'l take into the consideration suggestions about shoulderpads, helmet and even boots.

 

[HappyTauren]

It's just awkward that the least visible parts of her body are detailed the most, since they have a varying texture. The wrap is clean, but I'd add really some ornamentation, it just lacks actual detail.

 

[JesusHipster]

This is reasonable, I will go and see what I can do about that

 

[JesusHipster]

Hey, am i heading in the right direction with ornament? I can't realy think of anything else besides stacking polygons.

 

[HappyTauren]

It's at times like these I remember why I love the original model. Honestly I think the original model/head is great, don't really like the concept art or the wow one, they look very bleak in comparison.

But if you still want to go for that shape/concept you should probably wrap it to something more detailed if you aren't going to add more detail with new parts of the mesh.

 

[stein123]

Maybe the face can be like this?:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qaUHBhiPAjI/maxresdefault.jpg