Constructing The Dragon

Upon Infinity · July 21, 2014, 02:19:17 PM

Attempting to get the topology down. So far, it's been rough going...

Edit: I guess that would be retopology, wouldn't it?

Upon Infinity · July 24, 2014, 12:40:11 AM

One of these days, it's just going to work.

One of these days, I'm going to have this thing in a great jaw-dropping Terragen scene.

That day is not today.

Probably not tomorrow.

And you may as well scratch all of next week, too.

But one day, you'll all log on to the forum, and there it'll be.

For now, I'm going to go scream into a pillow. Then at the pillow. Call it names and stuff.

Dune · July 24, 2014, 03:04:56 AM

I admire your patience. Keep it going, not for the dragon (there are dragons about, like in DAZ even), but for the experience of making stuff yourself. I'm patient

TheBadger · July 24, 2014, 03:09:30 AM

Your frustration makes me feel better.

By the way, that face is looking really nice. Those teeth seriously make me uncomfortable. they are not even teeth, they are just murder sticks!

Upon Infinity · July 24, 2014, 10:41:42 AM

Thanks for the good words, guys. Gives me more fuel to keep going.

Quote from: Dune on July 24, 2014, 03:04:56 AM
I admire your patience. Keep it going, not for the dragon (there are dragons about, like in DAZ even), but for the experience of making stuff yourself. I'm patient

I remember seeing Daz's Millenium Dragon a few years ago and wondering how anyone could model something so complicated. Just by sheer happenstance, I looked it up again yestereday to do a bit of a comparison. Granted, theirs is beginning to look a little dated, but it's still quite good. I think I may have them beat a little bit by modelling, but they have some seriously good textures on it (which is currently a serious weak point for mine, as I have no concrete plans for any decently realistic textures). I was actually going to use their dragon. Even about 5 weeks ago, the very idea I could be this far along on a dragon was a pipe dream. Still, this remains mostly a learning project, as my need for such a model is not great at all.

Quote from: TheBadger on July 24, 2014, 03:09:30 AM
Your frustration makes me feel better.
By the way, that face is looking really nice. Those teeth seriously make me uncomfortable. they are not even teeth, they are just murder sticks!

Yeah, I like the teeth, too. My initial plan was to go with ones that were larger and more overt. But these turned out nicely. The details are coming good, although most of them were baked into the normal map, which clearly did not survive the export process (along with a few other things). Although you can see them in the modeller's renders.

In any event, I think I'm going to take a few days, maybe work on some less complicated models see where the flaws in my process are.

PabloMack · July 24, 2014, 10:21:11 PM

Quote from: TheBadger on June 26, 2014, 01:20:30 AMThe top two are my low polly base and the bottom is my VERY VERY high polly sculpt...

Badger, I am impressed by your Deinonychus. What did you use to do the high-poly details? Z-Brush? I have kept all of my creature poly counts down in fear of the reasons you pointed out in your "Don't map high-poly objects" thread. Maybe some day I will add the detail. Right now I am interested in creating a lot of low-poly rough models.

TheBadger · July 24, 2014, 10:43:47 PM

Mud with maya.
I still need to get back to him and fix some areas. So I never rigged him. But I will. He was easy to UV map. But that one I did the right way, then I disregarded what I learned and started doing things the wrong way. But at least now I completely understand why the wrong way is wrong... Not the least of which is because the wrong way hurts

I dont have anything bad to say about Z. The work people do with Z is the reason I wanted to learn a sculpter in the first place. But mud in combination with a modeler is easier to learn I think. Also, Mud is free in some cases and Z is not free in any case. so, thats the big part of it for me.

Thanks for the complement.

Upon Infinity · July 24, 2014, 11:10:22 PM

Well, it's not jaw-dropping, but it's not bad.

Now, I can rest.

Upon Infinity · July 27, 2014, 10:36:45 PM

Time to fly...

Dune · July 28, 2014, 03:05:12 AM

The exhaust is on the wrong end (sorry, bad joke

). This is coming together nicely. You didn't rig the beast, did you?

Kadri · July 28, 2014, 05:17:54 AM

For a first try of a dragon it looks very good.
I wouldn't even try any organic model of that kind.
To me the part that mostly comes as needing improvement is this:

[attach=1]

It could be even more to the back side like on bat's.
It is your dragon of course

Upon Infinity · July 28, 2014, 10:40:24 AM

@Dune: I haven't rigged it yet. Wouldn't even know how... Of course, up until 4 weeks ago, I did not know how to model a dragon, so... But yes, I'm looking at some rigging options so I can pose it better.

@Kadri: Yes, Kadri, that's one of the changes I'm looking at for the next iteration of the dragon, among many others. I think I'll probably end up remodelling more than half of it. So far, I haven't used any reference images, as I wanted to see what I could come up with on my own. Now that inspiration is beginning to come back, I'll look up some other dragon designs, set up a plan and get back to work. This thread could go on for years as I tweak it endlessly.

Upon Infinity · August 01, 2014, 06:39:21 PM

Remodelling those wings was about the least amount of fun I've ever had. Hope I can redo the texture I had, too.

Upon Infinity · January 22, 2015, 04:58:21 AM

I'm back on the horse er, dragon... whatever.

Did some detailing on the wing 'arm'. Also remodelling the body, which I was never satisfied with (waits for verbal lashing from Badger on the correct procedure to do things

). Made him fitter and smaller.

Updates are likely to be fewer and farther between. I'm not 'in the zone' like I was in the summer, but I got some ideas and more modelling experience...