It's been a little while since I've posted my progress on this current environment, and well that would be due to that it's crunch time at my school and final projects are due really really soon. But as for the model....I've done all the texturing, modeled rocks, blades of grass and I've been working on the path that I would have the camera follow. I used some volume effects in XSI to create the clouds. I'm really happy with the look of this. I hope you all like what you see.
I've finished the
modeling portion
of this environment
and have been working
on some of the unwrapping
so that I can start to
texture it. So in keeping
with a cartoony feel,
I've been looking at
reference picture from
Viva Pinata and
Worms(video game).
I'm really impressed that
I'm this far along in this assignment.
I've got a week to get the textures completely done, so I've got to really push myself to get it done.
I started this environment about a week ago. I've based this up on a Japanese garden and placed in three cliff tops with a giant magical tree. The texturing will hopefully be done this week since it has to be done by December 6th. I'm going to have a cartoon feel to it and I've been looking at references of the internet for it. Any comments or critiques would be great.
Just to let those of you know who have either stumbled onto my blog site or actually know about it, sorry I haven't really updated in awhile. I will hopefully post some new material very soon
I've been working on the lighting again since my instructor didn't feel that I was getting it and I think that maybe now I've got something to better display my character. The two different images is that they have different lighting and intesity in the shadows.
I've been playing around with the lighting and had some help from my instructor. I've also been tweeking the points on the head leaves to make them loo0k more like leaves. I'm really happy with how it's turned out. I hope that those of you looking at my blog like what you see...
I've made some decent changes to Diasuke. The texture has been updated and I was able figure out some normal mapping problems that I was having before. I've still to get my lighting down and figure out what sort of base to place him on at this point. Hopefully get that done and have a render ready soon.
Diasuke has come quite a long way. I've currently placed on normal maps and ambient occlusion maps to bring out some of the features. I'm still trying to vary the texture a bit to make things really "pop". So maybe in the next update I'll have something cool in the texture.
So far I've been fiddling with the texture and lighting trying to get the proper feel for the character. I've got more work to do with the texture still and then I will begin to render and get the rotation going.
Just an update as to my progress on Diasuke. He's textured and I've got some tweaking to do on that. The lighting is just basic until I get a better idea of what I'm wanting to accomplish. my next step is rigging.
I've managed to reduce the poly count in XSI (trying to create my own low-poly without using the polygon reduction option). I pinched in the leaves a bit in ZBrush trying to give it a more organic feel than it already has.
After posting on www.xsibase.com, I was told that Diasuke was too symmetrical. I happen to agree with that after looking at him. So I took certain aspects from his arms off and some things from the vines going around his arms. I also added and second vine to each arm wrapping around, but attaching at different point on the front of the body. As well I placed in some small little straggling vines in random spots on the back and front of him. Please leave any comments or critiques...it would be greatly appreciated. 
I've moved some edge loops around and placed in some teeth on the the lower jaw portion of his mouth. Please comment and critique if you would like to. I cho0ose to get some closer shots of Diasuke so that you can see what had been done on some elements of the model.
This one of two custom characters that are going to be placed in Half-Life 2: Deathmatch level that I'm working on for school. Yes..it's cute and "chibi", but that's what my class decided (of course it's myself and one other guy in the class). The picture below is to show the progress of when I started, to what I have up to now.
Here is another update on Diasuke. I removed some edge loops and added the thorns on the arms...I think that I might add some more thorns or something, not sure yet. But please leave and comments or critiques..it would be nice to see what people think about it.
Here is an update of Diasuke. I've added leaves on the main vines, and the ones on the pod device as well. I've managed to remove some edge loops, but only to add them in other places. The model itself should be complete with in a week today.
I have revised my production schedule for 3DAM 300 just slightly giving myself more time to apply the proper texture.
Here is my first model for 3DAM 300. It's still the rough stages and I will be putting more time into this model. Any comments and critiques would be appreciated.
Here is a schedule of what I have to accomplish before I go into 3DAM 400. So it would seem that I have a fair amount of work ahead of me.
Here is what I have done for 11 out of the 12 hours. I've managed to get more detalis in and separated the legs a bit more. I did some more close up shots since I think that it would be a good idea so that people can see what's been done.
I'm now up to 8 hours into the drill. I placed in the hands and made her arms, I've been working with the topology to try and keep it clean. Other details added are on her thighs and the manacle concepts on her arms.
This is my final drill. The time limit on thos drill is 12 hours. I've done the first 3 hours today and I have to have it done by Tuesday at midnight. I think that will be plenty of time for since I seem to have a better grasp on re-creating HR Giger's Numbian Queen model than I did last time.
Well I was given a chance today in class to really prove myself. My instructor was worried that I wasn't really getting it. But I was told to model an ear in one hour. well I managed to have him tell me to move on with only 30min left. I'm quite pleased with the outcome.
Well I've donw to 4.5 hours into thew drill and found that there isn't really anything that I can do to this model. I've managed to remove some edge loops, and still keeping it low poly (I'm really happy about that). The poly count is 1706 and it's still has the required shape to it.
This is my post for the 4 hour mark on this 6 hour drill. I've made some changes around the eyes and the noseas well as the lips. I still feel that I should work some more on the lips. I'll post again within approx. 30min to 1 hr
This is now my fourth time doing this drill. This post is marking the 2 hour point. So I've managed to make what I would believe to be a better looking ear that I've modelled in the past. The lips still need some work, and the nose is coming along. I will be posting again in about 2 hours.
Well I managed to do to this for about 5.5 hours...a little longer that usual since I did some more work on the lips. I'm leaving it at this since I'm reallt pleased with the outcome. Hopefully this is it for the human head. Next up....Character Drill (12hours)
Here is what I have to show in my 5th hour of working on this drill. I would say that he still looks slightly asian, but that is okay for me. I worked a bit with the nose shape and the jaw region (incl. the lips and chin). Feedback would be great, I'm hoping to pass this drill.
This is my post for the 4th hour of this drill. As I have stated in other entries, this is a 6 hour drill. I've come to realize that my model looks asian to some extent, since I'm using a resin model from a DVD tutorial that was given to me. 
This is my third time doing this human head drill and well I would say that I really have improved in my modelling. 
Well here is what I've done in 4.5 hrs. I really can't seem to find anything left to work on since all I would be doing to move points around. Still C&C is appreciated!!!
Here is part 2 of my drill. I've been working on this for 4 hours. I've made his nose a little more narrow and not so wide and tried to make him look less african american. He looks like a white guy to me. My referrence images haven't changed since I did this drill last week.
I figured that I would have to redo this drill and I'm quite okay with that. since it seems that I might have gotten a bit better since last week. of course this is a 6 hour drill, and the images in this post are what I have done in 3 hours. Please leave comments and critiques, as they would be most helpful to me as to help me improve.
Well here is what I have for my final head. I can't see anything that I need to do, and yet I know that the nose isn't great, but I likie the rest of it. So this is 5 hours, of course this isn't my first time doing this drill, so I should be faster.
This is my second posting of my human head drill. This has come down to the 4 hour mark and I have duplicated the head and merged them together. I'm still working on the nose since it seems to be giving me some troubles. But, I should be done hopefully within the next hour or so.
This is 2 hours into my human head drill and it seems that I'm really getting better at this speed thing. So the goal is to make a human head in 6 hours. I'm off to a good start so far. Please comment and tell me what you think.
Here is my human hand drill. The reference picture belongs to Stephen Chmilar. this a three hour drill and I feel that I have done better this time than in previous attempts. But still feel that my topology leaves something to be desired.
This is a human hand that I'm going to have to model out in 3 hours. This post is what I have done during a practice session.
Here is my Spartan Helmet Drill with referrence picture
(3 hour drill)
