May08: Dug

[DjVoyager]

This here is Dug. Dug is a knight, he also has a brain the size of a peanut. Look at the expression on Dug's face, does he look like he is a knight? Something's not right so here's the background story;

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll45/voyager4evr/dug.jpg

Dug didn't become a knight by acts of heroism, no, he was actually a squire (servant) to a knight, the knight that was supposed to fight a dragon who has been terrifying the village of Dimwits for a while now. So while getting the knight ready for the big battle Dug accidentally knocks him out. Fearing the villagers might turn into an angry mob and feed him to the dragon Dug decides to put on the knight's armor (before he comes to) and run away.

Now as the game goes Dug will find himself in bad after bad situation. Even though he is dumb Dug has some advantages on his side. He has strength and even a bigger heart to match. His adventures will eventually put him on the path to fight the dragon but before that Dug must realize where his true skills lie.

Modeler's note: I hope I can finish him in ten days :D

[bianconero90]

great looking character!!Have you sketch it??

[DjVoyager]

Yup, just this morning :)

[bianconero90]

cool. Your character looks a bit like Shrek. :)

Great work

I hope to see more

[DjVoyager]

Oh yeah, I've been wondering who he looked like and you reminded me, lol. That sucks because I wanted him to be an original character, now he looks like a rip off, albeit unintentional.

[Farla]

Dug looks pretty awesome though :).

Just don't make him look greenish :) that will solve you problem "catch my drift".

Nevertheless very cool design/sketch, i like it.

[johnny]

That looks great DJ!!!

[DjVoyager]

Farla; Nope, the only green would be the grass :D.

Thanks, Johnny :)

Here's Dug's head. I'm considering whether to model the three hair he has or where to texture them in, don't know if XNA can read transparency maps.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll45/voyager4evr/dug1.jpg

[supernegrojr]

lookin great DJ! cant wait to see it all finished!!!

[Liliana Maia]

Dj, it have an expression of a guy that drink to much in those old tavern, but i guess it´s the dumb face that u already acomplished.

[Farla]

Hehe POLY COUNT :).

I'm gonna look at yours in particular ;).

Nice head 10 000 Tris is such hard limit to do. Hats off to games modelers obviously texture artists as well. They need to work extra hard :).

Can't wait to see it all, fully rigged.

[DjVoyager]

Bravo2zero; I guess he looks familiar with Shrek is because he's got almost the same body build, and his ears are prominent.

Liliana; Great observation. If I do get around to creating the environment for this game I'll make sure to put an old tavern in there :)

Farla; Yes, game modeling is a pretty tough job. This is the first time I've created such a character. Not only do you have to keep an eye on the poly count but also make sure that the character has a believable personality, and textures play a huge role in accomplishing that. Though all of these factors depend on what game engine you are modeling for. X-Box game modelers have it real good at the moment, 20K to 30K easy.

Here's Dug. Model finished (6898 tris so far), texturing under progress, rig not started.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll45/voyager4evr/dug2.jpg

[Farla]

Its relaly cool i noticed the polycount hehe j/k.

Very nice mate ;).

Yeah the texture artists are the holy grails when it comes to detail for game characters and scene. Obviously like you said the new consoles have it easier than the older generations.

I know that PS3 supports something like 20k per character? i'm not 100% sure but thats what i was told ;D.

If they can do such great game character with 5000 quads i can't imagine what they can do with 20k :).

I guess i'll have to wait till next month to see whats happening for next month. I'm finished with my school so i'll have a bit of time to do something.

Currently learning Blender at the moment. Maya is not available to me anymore when my school finishes.
So i'll be using Blender to do the monthly project, although i don't expect to be counted as a contestant as it is supposed to be promoting DT's kit/trainning and Blender does not happen to be one of those on their list :D.

[DjVoyager]

You can use Maya's PLE version, though I'll see how we can get you in these projects without Maya :) I'll be posting the theme for June on May 25th.

P.S: The Tris count in the screenshot got pixelated due to the small image so I thought I'd put it in the post :p

[bianconero90]

Hey dj,

Are the poly count limit not 5000? or we can increase it?

Looks great so far

[DjVoyager]

You can exceed beyond the limit but then it won't be a game character, at least not for our project :) Tris are 10,000.

Btw, I've noticed some of you guys getting flustered about the Tris limit but the idea wasn't to create the most realistic or complex model, although DT's XNA character is less than 10,000 Tris and looks fantastic. Unlike typical 3D modeling, which we are used to, game character designer have to keep in mind everything from the character's personality to the game's plot and environment. In brief, you have to take the game in whole when you start designing its characters. Hope that made sense :)

[metryx]

Doug looks like one of the classic dumb strong guys from either Disney or Warner. Still he has some unique features, love the armor style Dj can't wait to see it finished.

[Farla]

To be honest if you changed it a bit more. He would not look like Shrek but rather Steineir from Final Fantasy 9 :).

I can't wait for the final render of this fellow ;)http://www.weekendhobby.com/offroad/newenergy/picture%5C2111255023300.jpg

[DjVoyager]

LOL, I never played FF9 or knew who Steiner was until you posted it. Amazing! I think Dug is a character based on a generic concept usually used for side kicks or comic relief, somewhat stocky, big head, muscular, short legs. Though, I sketched him early in the morning so not sure if there was something in my subconscious that led him to look so familiar. I was concerned that he might look like an executioner rather than a knight, lol. I can elongate his legs but it might affect his personality, but let's see :)

[Kyle_Studios]

haha! i love his look! Really cool man! Great work. The texture on the face looks great aswell! Neat character!

[bianconero90]

You can exceed beyond the limit but then it won't be a game character, at least not for our project :) Tris are 10,000.

Btw, I've noticed some of you guys getting flustered about the Tris limit but the idea wasn't to create the most realistic or complex model, although DT's XNA character is less than 10,000 Tris and looks fantastic. Unlike typical 3D modeling, which we are used to, game character designer have to keep in mind everything from the character's personality to the game's plot and environment. In brief, you have to take the game in whole when you start designing its characters. Hope that made sense :)

:D:D You have got about 6898 tris and no poly sorry I must go to the oclulist :D:D I have read 6898 poly :D:D