The Warrior

The Warrior

 

 

Done the modelling in Maya 2013. Quite happy with the outcome of the topology and details of the model. Modelled the entire model using a sketched reference picture I did in Photoshop. I would have use a realistic picture of a person should I were to model a similar character to get the proportion of the body precise especially the fingers and the face. This would help when doing the joints and rig at a later stage.

 

 

UV the character using a third party software, Headus UV. Using Maya to uv map this character is tedious and not as accurate. I find it hard to get the map without much stretching. I decided to redo the uv mapping using the later software. It is a lot faster and precise uv mapping. Minimal stretching of the texture.

 

 

Took the mesh into Mudbox and started sculpting details to extract a normal map. It's a new operation for me but finally got all the extra details I needed. However when I applied the extracted normal map to the character and did a test render, The character went bizarre. Wei suggested I take the normal map into Photoshop and repaint it. And after smoothing the normal, it came out brilliant. Instead of applying the texture in Photoshop, I used Mudbox's projection painting to apply the final texture. It is accurate and details can be painted on the mesh exactly where I wanted. I find painting the texture in 2d isn't as accurate. I find the other advantage painting in Mudbox is the accuracy of using tools like the dodge and burn tool to enhance the shadows and highlight area because of the real time normal map that indicates where the exact folds and bumps of the mesh. It will be hard to do that using Photoshop to paint in 2d.

 

 

 

 

The most satisfying stage after I completed this rig. It is a simple rig but it does everything we need to animate this character. As for the head, I use blendshapes I sculpted in Mudbox. It is fast and easy. I just need to sculpt the blendshapes required for this character. Rigging the head would take much longer time and I find the blendshapes work just as good. I took Wei's advice to skin the mesh using Maya's component editor after I painted part of it using the Paint Weight Skin Tool. This gives a better deformations of the character when animated. However I encountered minor problems as the topology and geometry of the mesh isn't as perfect. I overcome this problem especially when animating the elbows, shoulders and the knee using corrective blendshapes. Found a great script online called The DeltaExtract mel script, which saved me a lot of time.

 

 

 

 

Posed the character and did a test render using Mental Ray. There was some minor issues where part of the character poked through the mesh as the whole mesh of the character is made up from few different mesh. I managed to overcome the problem with the corrective blendshapes and I am happy with the outcome. The cape and part of the character's clothing will be ncloth simulation. Might consider using ncloth to do the hair but Wei suggested that leaving the head as it is will be good enough as ncloth will be expensive in render time.

 

In conclusion, if I were to do this character from scratch, I will use a realistic reference pictures to model it in precise proportion, it will definitely help when doing the rigging. Furthermore, extra geometries will be added for the mesh where needed to give a better silhouette of the character, which then will make the normal map producing a more realistic details. I will also use less geometries in the more complicated area like the eye's folds, as this will make the normal maps not as accurate. I can then later add the geometries back after applying the normal maps and the outcome will be more natural and better. The other trick in bringing out the details is to use high resolution texture but sometimes it is hard to obtain one online. It will be worthwhile to subscribe from website like CG Textures to get those high resolution texture. I went through the rigging process with minimal problems. Only problems are the rig is not as clean when completed. This is due to the lack of cleaning and grouping appropriate joints and controllers as I rig the character. If I were to do all that from the start, it would surely saves me time going through the entire rig to locate the problem. Overall, I am happy with the outcome. Can't wait to animate this character with all the other props and models in the complete scene set.