Axe Grunt [update 2]

Okay...not too fond of the results.

Texturing should be a whole new other challenge.  I thought I could get away with some baking and monotonous colors.  It's a whole new discipline that is very unfamiliar.  Painting is fun to do but when I had my maps baked, I felt restricted that I couldn't find a way around small missteps as in seams in the texture.  I spent a grueling 3 hours sculpting in details, baking, and "coloring" the texture.  Grunt ended up looking more realistic than stylized.  I have failed in creating a look I wanted and got carried away with sculpting.

I must admit that I got intrigued with how to do stuff that I let the time pass experimenting and doing things I haven't had any experience of.  I could have just stuck with the easier way which is photo manipulation and some freehand painting as it doesn't require sculpting and baking.  It was fun though and I feel there will be more projects that will need those but in this particular one, time is more of the priority.

That said, I would go on to rigging and skinning the character first before I get back to texturing it again--maybe do a remake of the texture.  Things didn't pan out well but I would still give the 3 hours spent back as I get back on track just to know if the challenge can still be completed following my original plan in 8 hours or one working day.

Axe Grunt [update]

Here's an update of the Axe Grunt.  I went on to try quick texturing by using the 3D paint tool in Maya. It does well enough to block off some colors but it doesn't fully give me the detail that I wanted.  It was still a quick way to see how the model will look with colors and a great way to find out how effective the UV layout is.  I noticed a lot of tweaks to the UV should be done to achieve a more effective texturing but before I went on and did it, I proceeded to doing a quick sculpt of the model to have a source for the texture.  I would then bake normal maps or bump maps in to a color map together with ambient occlusion maps.  I am not good with colors or painting that's why this method appeals to me more for the texturing process.

Sculpting in some details was fun but the tools and navigation needed some getting used to.  I used Sculptris Alpha 6 for this.  I am also hoping in the future that I could paint in colors using the freeware as Sculptris has a paint mode. 

Here's my initial sculpt:

With this sculpt, I exported an .obj file to be used as a reference and source of the normal map baking. When I put the high-resolution mesh in Maya, I had to adjust the low-poly model to suit the silhouette better.   

working low-poly mesh. 998tris

I then went on to finalizing the UV layout so I could start baking the texture maps.

In high quality hardware render mode in Maya:

with normal and ambient occlusion as diffuse. 1024x1024

Now that I know the method is good, I'll go on to finalizing the sculpt and putting in colors and more details from images to complete the texturing process.  So far I've spent 2.5hrs in this update and 4hrs total in the project.  I feel it would take me 1.5-2hrs to finish texturing so I would need to rig and skin the character in around 2hrs to stay in the 8-hour period of the 1 work day challenge I set upon myself.

1Day Asset Challenge #1 - Axe Grunt

Finally another post!  I got motivated to get back to my personal works as I try to build up my portfolio.

I am more of a 3D modeler than an illustrator or concept artist so I figured to fill the blog with more 3D works.  On the other hand, 3D assets take time to do so I made a challenge for myself to do one in just a day--8-10hrs from scratch.  Along the way, I may reuse some models I have but for this one, everything is done from scratch and I started with blocking it all in--skipping the concept 2D art.

I decided to go with a generic grunt and in this particular challenge the specs are:

1000 tris

1 512x512 diffuse map

rigged

Here are my WIPs:

Started with cubes then went to plane modeling from neck up.

the first 20min.  544tris and counting...

 Tweaks for silhouette/ added more verts. Generally added muscle contours.

now at 44min around 830tris

Tweaked proportions--enlarged hands, longer legs.  Added accessories and weapon.

1hr in...980tris, already with some uv projections

 Detailed the face.  More accessories.  Pulled some verts to suggest clothing in silhouette (boots,sleeve).

final WIP for tonight 988 tris, a total of under 1.5hrs (failed to monitor my exact time as I went for a lot of breaks)

I'll continue this tomorrow.  My target is to be finished with the model and uv by the 3rd hour.  Texturing will follow and is expected to take up 2hrs  leaving rigging with 3hrs.  I'm not so excited with texturing but it's worth a try.   This'll be one of many newer 3d works for my portfolio.