First of all thanks for all the comments I appreciate the input. Yes Toad the bear is a bit front heavy but the neck was even longer then that before lol, it just starts looking wimpier the shorter the neck gets for some reason, I figured this length was acceptable, although I agree that a lot of weight would be on the front legs (but that?s why they are so thick ;P ) and yeah, like i told you in that PM, that concept for the texture looks awesome and ill send you the model when your done with your ship(or before if you want)
Thenior, thank you for all the advice, I checked out some normal mapping tuts and I think I will learn it after this hill dweller project is done. And yeah I know that helm texture really sucked, in trying to make It better one night I actually got pretty annoyed by its crappyness and just deleted it lol. I came to the conclusion that it was partly to do with the general design and ill just start another one with finer, more delicate design on top. As for all the shader effects, I believe planeshift doesn?t support any of them, which is a shame I agree. HDR lighting would contribute to making some pretty nice effects indeed!

Anyways ive basically got the general model for this guy down but he is already at the polly limit I set for myself so I may just raise it up to 600 . and I will just be focusing on him until he is completely done and I have him the way I wanted. That being said he did kinda start going in a more humanoid direction than I really wanted but I think this way using some armors and a bit more advanced weapons will fit better which should be pretty nice- ill make some item sets for him with different kind of weapons and objects that could be used around where they live.



so I want to add 2 shoulder plates and some chain connecting them and then start the texture.

btw these are thumbs so click on them for bigger views:


here is a very quick little scene that I did just to get a feel for the type of texture to use and what type on feet or footwear to model (as you can see the feet aren?t done) but it shows what I am thinking for a texture: pants for the legs with those knee plates and chest is mostly bare, although I will add those shoulder plates like I mentioned.
(and yeah that blue figure is just to get an idea of size compared to the average human)

Comments, ideas ? post em

BTW I will be on holiday for about a week so don?t expect any updates for about that time.

~Dunadurium

Nice drawings there, i like the perspective in the ship concept and would still like to see the model once done (even though it would not likely fit into planeshift as mentioned by Karyuu) and thit just means you dont need to watch your polygons, just go nuts on the detail
The crossbow would make a very nice model also.
keep them comin

~Dunadurium

Ok, sorry for the delay, ive finally got the texture up. Its not the best right now but it was a quick one. I just wanted it to get done.  So yeah this was all done by mouse, hence the ugly lines.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Dunadurium/crappytexturefullhelm3.jpg

thanks Gentar for clearing up the little details, i did intend to change the texture anyway, thaat other one was just a place holder (just to have something there )
Ill pm you the unwrap bitmap so you can make an actual nice texture ;P besides, you\'ll be able to paint it how you first imagined

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Dunadurium/crappytexturefullhelm.jpg

EDIT: just did a few last touches:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Dunadurium/crappytexturefullhelm4.jpg

and the back view in default light (yeah i know the seams are really bad but i didnt have the patience to do them up properly )
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Dunadurium/crappytexturefullhelmback.jpg

So yeah, ill start working some other models now, maybe put up a few older ones ive made

-Dunadurium

Originally posted by Nilrem
Your abilities are great, without any doubt.

Although you say that the texturing of this latter model is worse than the first (and it\'s true it is) I don\'t think there should be really a big noticeable difference once in game, and obviously the low polygon version would look as fine as the high one, imo.
EDIT: In the second image of this last post, it seems to me that the open place, where the eyes of the soldier should go, have lost simetry, is this a weird effect or shadow? seems that in the first one the simetry is fine /EDIT

Yes my intent was to keep the original look and quality as much as possible. The way i model some objects is make a high polly version first and then you get an idea of what looks good and what can be removed, that way the low polly version ends up looking as good as possible.

*And yeah in that last pic, i had accidentally moved a vertex before i rendered. (lol dont know how i didnt notice that though) so thx

About the sails, i imagined them to be a lot less rigid lol. first i considered making a sort or feathery texture, but i thought it might end up looking like a native american style which it is not

Anyway, i\'ll start working on a texture for the helm soon and correct the \"sail\" texture so its not warped.

-Dunadurium

Originally posted by Karyuu

(If you don\'t mind, could you edit the post you made in Gentar\'s thread, to contain just a link in this direction? So people comment on your work in this thread, and on Gentar\'s work within his own.)

Sure NP,
And yes im working on the low polly version as we speak
-Dunadurium

Hey,
I like your concept art here, it is pretty imaginative and creative, which is what i like about it.
The person, who critiqued you about putting shading in and shadows under the characters I think, while constructive in his reply, is incorrect because while it would improve the actual artwork, as concept art it is unnecessary. All you need is the defined lines and clarity as what is present already
I think that your new stuff also shows a lot of improvement. Just remember to keep them original (which they are) because that makes a fun time modeling .

So yeah i did this helm off your first posted pic. It was very fun modeling it:

PS: i made my own thread so i wouldnt be hogging Gentar\'s (as requested by Karyuu) http://www.planeshift3d.com/wbboard/thread.php?threadid=21378&boardid=22&styleid=3&sid=7b95c537d0c11298f955769618ae9972
-Dunadurium