Loki's UV's and Texturing

To my surpise, the Uving wasn't as difficult as I had first thought. It turned out to be almost straight forward.

The Texture map is slowly changing as it evolves through the process. I keep finding places that I perhaps didn't think about in a large amount of detail before I started it.

For me, the character is looking excellent!, I like how I see the character grow each day. He is starting to look more and more like a games character now and I can't wait to get him moving. There is still a lot to do in terms of texture because certain areas need refining. Plus the main thing I have to sort out is the problem with the chains, which I have forgotten about for awhile now...

Chained arms

The chained arms are modelling, however it leads to an extreme problem! There is now so many links in the model, which have around 80 polys each, it makes the poly count sky rocket to 164,000 polys which is rediculos and something needs to be done. I'm now going to experiment with particles to bring that poly count right down.

Modelling Update - Chains added

Stage one of modelling neally done

Loki now has arms!! Im getting so excited, he is looking even better than I thought and I am no where near finished yet :D His frame and details are changing slightly as I model him just because of the decisions I make when modelling. I have realised that all his details are quite big, for example his shoulder armour or his fingered torso. This is a problem because the bigger the detail, the smaller he looks. So the next stage requires me to add smaller details which I am more than able to do.

Fingers modelled into the side of the torso

When modelling the fingers I thought it would be best to model them in their extended state so that they can be rigged and then moved.

Modelling Day Two

I woke up today and looked at the model, I started to think that the neck just was not working. I didn't like the metal panels that cover the neck and I thought it would cause problems when moving the character. Now to make him feel more real and more believable, I wanted to have a fleshed neck. Something that I could work some skin textures in and a few added spikes (Mwhahah). This does also leave me to remove four of the six tenticles/legs, but I really don't mind that because they were also causing problems with the chest and the future rig.

I'm going to have a little break now and continue the model in an hour or so :D

Turnarounds and starting to model

Im starting to model!!!

I'm finally modelling Loki and already having fun just watching the character grow. As I model him I'm constantly thinking about how he will move and what his attacks will be like.

I can not wait for day two of modelling!! :D

Loki Concept art half way through

I have been creating a final look concept where the final fight between Loki and the main character Lif could take place. Obviously I haven't designed Lif so I just imported a small silhouette, it is simple but hugely effective for the overal piece because it makes Loki look the size that he is. So far I am happy with the piece, all that's left to do is add the chained arms and weapons. Whilst drawing the clutching fingers on his torso, I had a thought of those fingers opening up and shooting out molten chain form the torso. This would look like a bug firing silk or spit at a prey.

After this piece is done, I will work on the turnarounds and get making in maya. It is all very exciting and I can't wait to see him in 3-D.

Concept - Tail Flick

I wanted to imagine how the character would swing that massive rocky tail, and I thought that using the chained arms as ancors at the point of the swing to really propell him forward!

I like this painting however I would prefer it to be easier to see what everything is, unfortuantly the skill is lacking atm. However I feel like I already know my character more now, in the scene of how it moves, how the individial parts move and how he will look in 3-D.

I can't wait to make him!

Development

Here is the character so far. At first I was getting worried that it was starting to look like ALIEN so I brought it more to the flea side to get rid of the problem. However after talking to Alan and Phil it turns out the problem with the character is the foundation. For instants the spine isn't working the way it should be, it should be acting more like a question mark shape. This allows the shoulders to go right back, the spine to stick out at the top and have the shape flow into the chained rock form at the bottom.

I have been advised to create some dynamic poses because these are looking to stiff and it will help imagine the character. The character looks a little stumpy because the rocks are too far up so I'm going to give him the ability to extend the tail when needed for bashing and bring it back in for stability.

Shading the character

So far