@edosbaba
Is that your work?
It has promise, studying more on directing choices and shot composition will make it stronger.

I'd also stay away from motion capture data at this stage, it doesn't add to your strength at this level.

@tirigbosa
Thanks, there's room for tons of improvement still.
Looking forward to seeing ur textures, keep at it and u will master it soon.

@prince
well, there are other options if you dont particularly want to rig the model yourself, and you dont mind a generic rig

sites exist, where you can upload your model and an online auto-rigger creates a skeleton and rig for you.
check out mixamo, it used to be mixamo.com but i think they have been acquired by adobe, so the address may have changed.

google the site, its one of several

@kazuna
yeah, the muscle system really makes the difference between a lifeless rig and a believable one.

@prince
for the cloth, a couple of options exist...
i would either use apex for maya.
its a plugin developed by nvidia, u can check if equivalents exist for blender.
its a cheat for cloth, in that, it binds your modeled clothing to your rig, and then by adjusting parameters you can make the modeled clothing deform like fabric,

alternatively (and most probably wot i will use) i would create a rig for my pieces of armor that i want to behave like cloth, and use a dynamic curve to drive the skeleton of the rig. u could do something similar.
i will post screen shots of the process as i progress.

in lieu of muscle, i will employ jiggle deformers to give the muscles some slight motion while he is moving.
i am currently working on a simple walk cycle in Motionbuilder that i will use to test the rig and how it interacts with the accessories/model.

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

@tirigboosa
there are lots more tutorials on youtube dealing on the subject.
watch as many as you can, then practice some more. thats the only way, if you dont lay out uvs then ur model texture wont be right.

ok. just redid the shield and the axe.
pulled a texture off the web as a base for the shield, and modeled around it.
combined a bunch of textures, plus did some painting to texture the axe.
for the uvs for both, i did a basic planar mapping from the front (z axis) and split the uvs at the sides and did a 3d unfold which laid out the uvs flat.

don't want the character to be too realistic, still want to preserve the game feel.

will proceed to proper rigging.
i would want the raffia on his legs to deform with his motion, and the armor to also react to his motion as he walks.
if this were a serious project, i would sculpt some muscles and rig them to help the skin deform more realistically as he flexes his muscles.
i may still do so if theres time.

@kazuna
had to make an unscheduled outtatown trip.
back at my workstation now, should post updates today.

looking great with the textures on the face of your model!
hadn't planned on an up-close view for mine, may have to revisit the model.
i hadn't even modeled eyes, or a functional mouth...just used textures...lol

nah! PHCNs gat nothing on me. in inverter i trust!

post updates later today.

again, great job. will like to see a full shot pls.
and we need to start thinking of the plot we are animating to.

Lol, funny how serious threads get derailed n degenerate.

We should learn to respect the focus of personal threads.

Anyway, @sugarhugs if it's 3d animation u r interested in, I'd say ur options r ....

Enrol in an institute
Do an online course
Find a mentor (free or paid)
Download and watch a ton of video tutes (free and paid)

Any one of these or combo of these will set u on ur path.

Personally I would go about it starting from the last on d list. If u have tenacity and drive, u may not even need the first two.

My tots. Feel free to holla

@prince
OK, we will discuss how to tackle d animation as a team then.

Hope your power situation improves.

@tirigbosa
In my opinion, u have a great attitude and willingness to learn....thats a winning combo.
Keep it up, and indeed u will excel rapidly.

Correction tho, so far, this has been a modeling exercise....animating is a whole different ball game. So you're on ur way to becoming a great modeler, we will see about animating from next week.

Part of increasing ur value is knowing specifically where ur strengths lie in this vast 3d universe and positioning urself appropriately.

I for example, would rather animate than model, and in an ideal job scenario, would give out the modeling to someone better and more passionate about modeling, unless the budget was very tight and can't accommodate it.

Specialisation is crucial and we will get there eventually, I believe.

@tirigbosa
Glad I could help.
Lol....what I don't know far surpasses what I do know. I just happened to know this.

@prince
Nice ideas, I will implement them to test.
I chose an elephant just because it was reflected in the attributes of Ogun, but I agree the lion would be way cooler!

Will dream up a more imaginative axe.

Thanks

PS:
An average person is about 7 and a half heads high, so you can use that as a guide regardless of your reference.
Heroes are usually portrayed as 8 heads high

@henry
Nice of you to appreciate, there are actually loads of talented artists both on this forum and others, as we overcome our egos and learn to synergize, we shall soon begin collaborating on great projects.

Would be nice if you offered to supply a voice sample for us to animate to. That could be a start.

Thanks

@kazuna
Really loving your character!
It just has something truly African about it.

I also think the wrapper thingy works well with the overall feel...maybe a few more folds on the wrapper.

It's great that the exercise is highlighting areas you need to focus on, that's exactly the aim.

Let's aim at ending modeling and texturing this week so we can rig and animate next week.

Great job so far man!

@eroski
You are very welcome to join...look forward to your work-in-progress screen shots.

It's a personal challenge tho, not a competition.

@tirigbosa
your determination is admirable....well done bro!

when you mirrored the object, under the polymirror tab in the attribute editor, there is a node called "merge threshold".
it should be under the polygon mirror attributes, adjust the value (usually lowering to about 0.001 works)
tweak the value until u get one that allows your object be mirrored without joining vertices undesirably.

i mirrored half of a simple sphere in the attached picture to show you what the tab should look like. i highlighted the node that you need to adjust, in yellow.

let me know if this helps

ok, decided to model an elephant-inspired shield and a simple axe for our chap.

i think i will give him more pendants on his neck and some swinging chain links between his lower armour (not decided yet)
in any case that will depend on what we are animating him to.

did a basic rig just to test his pose with the weapons, not quite sure if the weapons inspire god-like fear...lol

@prince
Nice. Does he get a shield?

We will wait for kazuna and then decide on what action to animate our characters to.
Good going.

Haven't had time to work on my axe n shield, but will do something tonight.

@prince
wow, i love your concept of the hammer....especially the intertwined handle.
cant wait to see it fully textured!

would be fun to see him go head to head with ogun...lol

@tirigbosa
that is truly awesome stuff. great progress!
if that is your first head, make sure to archive it, to benchmark ur progress.

please be sure to continue and complete the exercise, its truly an impressive start.
a quick tip on modeling ears, is simply extrude faces from the side of the head and tweak the shape.

good job bro

took a snapshot of the uvs and exported to Photoshop for painting the textures.

repeated the process for all the other body parts, and then assembled the uvs for texturing in Photoshop.

i took various pictures of my body parts (pictures also exist online), and using various tools in Photoshop (mainly the puppet warp tool), i distorted the photos to match the uv layout, and filled the background with a matching skin color.

that's it. i repeated the same process for the armour pieces.

next is the sword/axe and shield

repeated the same process for the ear, then using the 'move and sew uvs' command i positioned the uv for the ears in place to ease the painting/ texturing process

unfolding the uvs for the head, after creating the seams

creating cuts for the head

so i do a planar mapping from the front just to get a good startoff point for the uvs.

ofcourse the uvs overlap at this stage, so i proceed to cut the uvs along various seams, at points where it wont be obvious.

@iyke
good start! you should have seen my first model, looking back now, it was terrible...lol!

truth is, we are all learning...we are just at different stages of the same journey, that's why i find it disturbing when we artists allow our egos get in the way of true exchange of knowledge. that's also why most of those bbm/whatsapp groups don't work out, but i am always available to interact with all artists interested in synergy.

ok, back to the project...
i didn't save the shots the first time i laid out the uvs, so i went back to an earlier saved file and redid the uv layout process so i could showcase the process.

@kazuna, will post a how-to tomorrow....but the basic steps i did were,

1. do a planar uv mapping from the front plane (z axis for me)
2. cut the uvs at the hidden seams on the model
3. pin some key uvs that i wanted as anchors
4. unfold the uvs
5. tweak the unfolded uvs
6. save a snapshot of the uv map
7. upload the uv map to an image editing software, i used Photoshop
8. employing a combination of painting,photographs, and various textures (pulled off the net) as layers with different blend modes in Photoshop, i created materials for the model and his armour.

that's it basically.
i didn't save snapshots of all my steps, but i will repeat the process and post screen grabs

the model images i posted above are renders of two passes, the beauty pass and an ambient occlusion pass composited in Photoshop using mental ray, with physical sky and sun activated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2MVrsDt8c4&feature=youtu.be

my back aches and my eyes hurt....will finish on monday

and this is what i have so far.
next, is to work on a huge sword or axe and shield, and that's about it.

i am open to ideas or suggestions on improving his appearance, or outfit.
i am thinking of giving him a couple of large tattoos on his chest and arm regions.

i created the chain for his waist by modifying some torus primitives.
i then trace a curve around his waist by making the torso a live object.

i then attached the chain to the curve as a motion path, then deleted the path animation and history, to get the chain along the path in the position i wanted following his waist contours.

i modeled and placed the armour protecting his em.... vital parts.

started on his waist belt.

by making the torso a live object, i can trace a curve along its surface.
i then extrude geometry along the path to get the belt.

to break the monotony of the task, i began laying the uvs for the main torso.

i needed some contrast in the materials, so i could see when something was interpenetrating.
it wasn't a planned step, i kinda got carried away and started applying some materials.

anyways, using curves i lofted some geometry for the raffia on his legs, and applied an .iff image with transparency for the raffia material