https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eokZJyQKe44


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo_xBNF6IDQ


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciir3SDT56E


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7en01YasHPU


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNN1Ivr2AO4


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjTqMozhStU


Google is a friend, and Youtube your cousin

@nija
great work so far!

woulda loved a side view of the apeman as well.
loving ur Jesus/John, would also have loved him fully textured and possibly in a pose.

i think u r truly gifted...n pretty fast too!
keep pushing ur boundaries!

do u animate as well?

@nija
big ups bro.
King Kong is looking good!

The Sango project wasn't stopped, I explained that I have a clients job to deliver.
(u know, real life gets in the way sometimes)

Hopefully, I will get thru by mid next month and finish the Sango scenario.
I think kazuna lost his source files with his lappy crash, so we r down a few members.
I will definitely finish it tho.

liking ur model, please post ur progress.

@fighal
Good thing is u have started n also u realise that u have a lot to learn, that kind of open mindedness leads to rapid progress.

If animation is ur area of interest, I suggest u take baby steps.

Start with animating simple actions, to master d principles. For example, take a video reference of urself sitting and talking.
Try to replicate that.

U will discover a lot about how d body moves with such exercises.
Advance to more complex motions like getting up from a sitting position etc.
Trust me, a lot of so-called animators lack these basic skills and it shows in their work.

Like d poster above advised, don't b in a hurry to showcase 1 minute clips. Perfect a 2 second action and build ur skill set.

Use video references as much as u can, shoot with ur fone if u have to. It helps train ur eye.
No part of d body is as perfectly still as is happening in most of ur clip, watching reference videos points it out clearer.

Master realistic motion then u can learn to exagerate or stylise.

Kudos on d start of an exciting journey!

@jjk
A combination of low poly trees and several cards with image textures to give the effect of parallax as the camera pans across them. A single card would appear static.

I also render d elements in layers, so I can play with the backgrounds in post, adding trees or any other details with png images in post.

ok, progress report.
my scene breakdown for the first part is as follows:

SCENE 1: Aerial shot of village showing empty shrine and focus on one house, the young worshipers house.
SCENE 2: Shot of worshiper at window staring at church while wrestling with a decision.
SCENE 3: Interior shot of worshiper removing pagan amulet and tossing into box alongside other items of worship.
SCENE 4: Worshiper carrying box to church, while encouraged by priest.
SCENE 5: Close up of box being dropped, spilling some contents.
SCENE 6: Box being set on fire by members.
SCENE 7: Shot pans following smoke to reveal the messenger bird, perched atop the church and observing proceedings.
SCENE 8: Messenger bird screeches and flies off to the gods cave.

i have blocked out some scenes, and yet to block out others.
have to focus on another clients job at the moment, so this will take a back seat for now ( tho i will continue working at it on my free time)

this is what i have so far.
comments n ideas r welcome pls (although taking into consideration the missing scenes, which would aid the storytelling)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP7T95UB3f8

just a reassurance that the thread is still active.

working on the first script.
made slight tweaks on the script to aid the story i wanna tell.

broadly tho, i have a creature, maybe an eagle, as the messenger that brings news to Ogun in his cave, that mankind has forsaken the old gods, in this case for Christianity.
i may create a memory flashback for this as the messenger reports to Ogun, or show the events as they happen, in which case that will be the opening scene. undecided at the moment.

anyway, Ogun is enraged and heads to unleash mayhem on the village/ villagers.
he unleashes a devastating attack, and at the last second a second deity appears and shields the villagers from the attack...the opponents circle each other, n we sign off.

will post wips as i proceed.

Script 2 has its pluses too, it focuses a lot on acting, which is something our animations lack.

I'd say we do both, as they highlight two very different aspects of the same person.

My major challenge is I hadn't planned on facial closeups for my character or major facial animation, but it adds to the challenge.

So are you down with both, over the course of 4 weeks?

I'm down with script 1, real nice.
Although the scene with the village necessitates adding extras as villagers.

Maybe what he sees in the village are empty shrines and full churches, and he's enraged that the old gods are forgotten.

Definitely has promise. I can work with this.

Nice, real nice.

Go full guns blazing, but something we can wrap up in a fortnight tho.

@tirigbosa
id like to see a screen grab of the tools settings tab, with the paint weights tool active.

on a secondary note, u dont need so many joints in your skeleton, especially the arm.
you only add a joint where u wish to deform your model, else ur weight painting will be a nightmare.

for starters, u need only a shoulder joint, one at the arm, one at the elbow and one at the wrist, then the finger joints.
as ur skill increases, u may begin to introduce specialised joints for things like rolling and twisting, but for basic movement, what i outlined will suffice.

pls post a grab of your tool settings with the paint weight tool active.

id also like a screen grab of the channel box/layer editor with your model selected.

@bukky
nice. do you animate?
how long have you used blender?

@prince
pls still keep an eye on the thread, and contribute in any way you can (eg. script to animate to).
if you are comfortable with animating, you can still follow along with any other rigged character, even if its a download.
good luck man!

@tirigbosa
it would help if you post a screen shot of the model with the paint skin weight tool active, and the tool settings tab active.
off the top of my head, i would ask if you are sure the model is skinned?

next, try resetting the paint skin weight tool, and retry. make sure the mode is set to paint NOT select or paint select.
finally try re-skinning and testing the paint skin weights again.

but posting a screen grab would be the best starting point to trouble-shoot.
let me know.

prince, kazuna...
script pls!!

@kazuna
nice axe

@kazuna
Lol. Ur a natural for d script.
We gotta wrap this up real quick, I'm about to get busy.

@ tirigbosa
Ur welcome bro
The walk cycle is a great test to embark on.
We r always here to aid ur process

@tirigbosa
kudos, its a start. you can only get better from here.
study and practice is the key bro!
congrats on ur first custom texture!

if you are lighting to show off your model, the three-point light setup is your best bet.
have your main light (key light) off to one side of your model, and ur second light (fill light) on the opposite side at roughly half the intensity of your key light, also disable shadows from ur fill light.
then place a third light (rim light) behind your model to create a rim of light outlining the edges of ur model, adjust the intensity and disable shadows.

try it, and u will get a more pleasing composition.

u currently have two lights at the same intensity, both casting shadows- and its creating double shadows on ur model and causing a hot spot on both the helmet and the shield. you also have no rim light behind ur subject.

this our 3d world is a vast field, and almost every aspect has volumes to master.

well done, ur determination is very encouraging!

@ tirigbosa
no pic attached to view


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlcFO2SXV44

having fun with the rig.
waiting for us to agree on the script to animate to.

lets not spend too long on this stage, part of the challenge is working to tight deadlines.
we can always tweak later.

That's basically it, just keep manipulating the pic to fit, or alternately u can manipulate the uvs to fit the pic in Maya (whichever u find easier).

Its the same process for the rest of his body. The real work is laying out the uvs. You can even paint the textures directly in Maya, although I wouldn't recommend it for models that will be close to the camera, unless u happen to be a professional artist and u use a graphic tablet.

This is an extremely simplified breakdown of the process.
For serious textures you would have several layers, contributing various features like skin blemishes, pores, veins etc.
ideally u would also create normal maps, reflection maps etc but they are all derivatives of the base map.

Cheers, n lemme know if ur good!

STEP 7: Now that you have the base texture, reactivate the uv layer (which I hid in the prior pics).
Using the warp tool, pin the areas of the image that fit where they should be in the uv layout, and by manipulating the pins, u can warp, stretch or deform the pic to fit the uvs.

Normally, if using a pic as part of the texture, I would strive for a straight line around the mouth and eyes of the uv layout as it is easier to manipulate than the circle u have.

Also, if u modeled ur eyes and dont need them in the texture, u can just paint over them in the pic.
I skipped the ears cos u dont have them, and most of your models head is covered under the helmet, else more attention would be paid to those regions.

STEP 6: Paint in the subtle shades of the skin, constantly sampling different shades from the face.
I normally also paint lightly over the face with the brush to make the whole image blend better.
At this stage its purely artistic, and the results depend on the power of your artistic kung-fu...lol

STEP 5: Select a brush with gentle falloff at the edges to paint and blend the colors with

STEP 4: Using the eyedropper tool, sample a color from the face, and fill the area around the face with the color.
Select a shade of color that blends with the edges of the face to ease the painting process.

STEP 3: Select around the face to eliminate the undesirable region.

STEP 2: Import uv snapshot and place as a layer over the pic.
Set the layer mode to Multiply or whatever mode that allows you to see the picture beneath as well as the uv layout ontop

STEP1: Take pic n import into Photoshop

@tirigbosa
I assume u understand the significance of the uvs.
Take a snapshot of the uvs, and save it as a.png, or jpeg, and open it in Photoshop.

Again I am assuming u have basic knowledge of Photoshop.
In photoshop, make it a layer by double clicking on it and set the layer mode to multiply. This enables u see through the layer to layers beneath it.

Now take a front photograph of yourself, or any other model, u can even pick one off the internet.
Position the face to match the face portion of ur uv map. U may have to stretch portions of the image to fit the uv mesh.
I use the puppet warp tool in photoshop to achieve this. It allows u insert pins in d image to hold portions in place while u stretch other portions.
It is under the Edit menu in photoshop.

When u have fitted d face portion to match d uv layout, u can flood the canvas with a color, sampled from d face.
D rest is purely an artistic affair, painting and blending the colors.

Periodically save d file and apply it to ur model to assess d work n d level of detail needed.
I'm assuming u know how to apply a texture file as a material in maya.

Lemme know if u need d process in pic form.
Goodluck.

@tirigbosa
No probs.
Let's take it at ur pace then.

Post ur uv shots, n we proceed.

@tirigbosa
Posting a screen grab of the uv layout will help me troubleshoot ur textures.
Off the top of my head, I can tell u tho, that u will rarely get a good texture by just flooding the model with a single color.
U need to create the texture by either painting it in mays, or creating it in a graphic software like photoshop, that way u create d subtle shades and variations.

I use a combination of real photographs, painting and various textures to create my final material. And u will need several different maps applied to get a final desirable look.

U need to adjust ur skin weights so ur model deforms properly without collapsing certain portions.
For instance, the lungs area is collapsing due to d influence of ur arm joint, remove d influence of d arm joint on the vertices at dat point....transfer it to d relevant spine instead


Are u simulating real cloth for him or did u model the cloth?
if modeled, u need to bind it to his joints, if ur simulating u need to extend ur timeline and begin the simulation from a t-pose then animating into the starting pose to allow the solver solve for the fabric correctly, ensuring ur scene playback is set to 'play every frame'

U will need to parent the helmet to his head joint and the club to the relevant hand joint, to have them move with his skeleton.

Let me know if u need further clarification.
Good job bro! Trust me, ur learning a lot. Keep up d pace n zeal, n u will surprise urself.

@prince
Thanks, still loads of tweaking to be done tho.
My workstation is an i7, 3.6ghz processor, 16gb ram, 4gb nvidia graphics card unit. But the units I render on have 32gb ram and 2gb graphics cards.
Will upgrade as soon as I can.

@tirigbosa
Did u follow the video tutes?
Can u post a screen shot of ur models uv layout currently?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgA1B-wrWgQ

my bad. pls confirm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKtATkx4VgA

screen test of the rig.
seems to work okay, just need to adjust some penetration issues but i will leave that until the final script to animate to.
also need to tweak the jiggle on some parts of his body, like the chest and his forearms.

will also leave any accessories that i want to deform dynamically until the final animation, i mean things like the chain/pendant on his neck.
im also wondering how he would look with a trailing cape made of animal skin.

anyway, i can work with this rig for simple animations. so im set for the next phase!

@prince
keep it up, thats our calling.
im sure there are tutes that can help online, or at the blender forum.
i cant really see the line u refer to, maybe a closer screen grab of the area?

@jjk
u r welcome. please feel free to join the challenge.
reference pics were posted on the first page of the thread, just pick any that grabs you or design ur own concept for the african god character.
liking the looks of ur zbrush creature!

@tirigbosa
u can download zbrush from their pixologic website.
u can use it for free for 45 days then decide if u want to purchase.
http://pixologic.com/zbrush/downloadcenter/

@prince
Well u didn't state precisely wot ur challenge is with the shoulder.
There are a couple of ways I could solve it on maya

Using influence objects to preserve the volume at specific joints I choose. Those are just geometry modeled to the desired shape and added to the skeleton rig as influence objects. Dunno about blender tho.

Properly painting the skin weights. By properly sharing the weights on the vertices that lie above and below the shoulder joint, u can eliminate unpleasant deformations there.

If using your custom rig, u can create two joints for the shoulder in the exact same space, one joint will be purely to retain volume, while the second one serves to connect the arm and hand. Dunno if u catch d logic?
On d second joint u adjust the shoulder weights to almost nil, so that it deforms mainly from the arm.

Let me know when u finally sort it out. I'd like to know blenders solution.

Does blender read .fbx format?