[Prophet666]

Heyo all.
I JUST found this site today... saw the Dungeons and Dragons contest and signed right up.
This is such a great topic for a contest. The judging panel is pretty d*mn awesome too!
Anyway, thread started, and concept sketches will follow soon.

Cheers all!

Chris


[Edited on 15/8/05 by Prophet666]

[Prophet666]

Hey all... things are really picking up around here! Cool stuff.
I have been working on my concept sketches...
The scene is a couple of adventurers stumble across what they think is an abandoned cave on a hill side... but they are ambushed by the local resident... a young and angry Wyvern. The scene has the Wyvern attacking in a dive and one of the adventurers has been caught off guard and has fallen prone... scrambling backwards... arms feebly attempting to ward off the attack. The second adventurer has turned around in surprise at the attack and involuntarily flattens himself against the wall just inside the entrance to the Wyvern's lair...

Anyway, thats the idea.. hehe. So, I've got a lot of work done on the concepts... the background and such for the scene layout. The Wyvern concept attached is a rough of the beastie himself... to be finished for the final concept layout. Modeling will begin very soon.

Cheers all!

Chris.


[Edited on 16/8/05 by Prophet666]

[lolec]

OMG !!! thats a very cool sketch i love it !!! wow i wanna see it in 3d soon

[Prophet666]

Thanks

I've given some thought to how I'm going to model the scene and have decided not to go with a standard reference pose for each character. Instead I'll model each element in its pose.
I can see some benefits and downsides to each. Chiefly with modeling in pose is that texturing could be more difficult. On the other hand, while modeling in a reference pose would allow for ease of manipulation and mapping, it may not allow the mesh to match the concept exactly... ripples in skin and such could be a problem.
I've noticed most of the artists in the contest seem to be going with a standard reference pose and then I assume they'll match their ideas afterwards. I've seen some others on the web who model in a specific position... Meats Mier seems to do this (http://www.3dartspace.com/3dart/3dart_01.html) and a few others as well. I've been doing 3D for many years, and I've yet to try this method...

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

With regards to texturing and such, I will be relying on hand painted textures (either photoshop or painter) to create the look and feel. I'll be avoiding procedurals when possible.
For the final look I want to emulate that "painterly" look that graces the covers of our favourite DnD books and such. We'll see I guess if I can achieve this, heh.

Things are looking awesome everyone... Cheers to all!
Chris

[juhone]

Hi Chris!
Your concept looks great! I allso have thought about modelling into pose. But like you said it has up and down sides. I think I'll model some parts into pose and some in standard reference pose. For exaple an arm is easier to unwrap, when it's straight and so on. Best thing with modelling in to pose is that you don't have to rig/skin or move/bend your character. Good skinning allways takes much time and because the deadline is relatively close, any chance to save time is wellcome.

[hammajamma]

Great sketch. I can't wait to see more.

[Prophet666]

Thanks for the comments!

Here is the same beastie pic, but with the environment around him. I'm finding him a little difficult to see against the rocky background, so I'm going to have to adjust the values, move him out a bit or rotate my "camera" to allow him to clear the background rocks better. Since I'm working in a model to pose method, I think I'm going to have to make sure the concept is bang on before proceeding.
(yes... that unlikly adventurer in the cave is me posing for reference. Hahaha. His hapless adventurer buddy will be smack dab in the middle of the Wyverns shadow... but I'll save you all from having to see me laying prone, arms raised in terror )

Juhone, you're correct that I'll save time in the skinning aspect of the model. I just hope the made up time isn't lost in the texturing stage!

Cheers all,
Chris

[gra7]

hey man.. u have too much work in the sketch hehe.. u know that is 3d dont u ?! heheh

great sketch.. c ya !

[Prophet666]

LOL... yeah, I know it's 3D. Heh, 3D I can do... I just want to make sure my base is solid, that's all.

I have alread begun modeling the Wyvern, and I'll show some of that soon.

Chris.

[Threedeemer]

Great composition! Looking forward to the progress.
I always find starting out in the neutral reference pose the most efficient method.

[Prophet666]

Hey All.
So... modeling is underway. I have mocked up the rocks in the scene and I'm full swing into the modeling of the Wyvern. I have given modeling to pose a try... and it's not working out for me at all. LOL. There are just too many benefits to modeling in a reference pose. Now, I can't see myself rigging it fully for posing, so I'll probably end up only partially rigging him for posing.
Juhone, I like your idea of setting UVW's in a reference on pieces and then assembling them. I'll be giving that a try for certain parts.
This image is a quick render for a WIP shot... (personally I hate showing my WIP shots... it's like having someone come up to you in the middle of a painting and ask "what's it gonna be? What's that part?" etc. and having to try and explain where you're going with it. )
I've adjusted the Wyverns positioning slightly from my sketch but that may change again once I'm ready to pose the wings properly.

That's all for the moment... back to modeling.
Cheers All,
Chris

[Prophet666]

A shot of the mesh so far...

[Prophet666]

And another mesh shot...

[mayconchaves]

Beautiful composition of the scene and excellent model!!!
Plus, plus,...

[juhone]

WOW! That's good looking stuff so far.

Like you, I've discovered that neutral pose has some great benefits. Allmost too great against modeling into pose, that I'm having second thoughts of modeling into pose.

[Prophet666]

Thanks for the comments guys!
Juhone, yeah it's certainly easier to model in a reference pose... the legs and wings on my Wyvern are that way... the head is posed, the body is somewhat posed (kinda scrunched forward in a striking position) and the tail will be built posed. I just need to then rig the legs and wings to manipulate them into the final shape (once they're textured).

I've been thinking of adding details on the Wyvern through Z-Brush... I've been messing around with the demo and it's super easy to pick up. I can't believe the details I could easily add to the models. Hm, somthing to consider as a final pass perhaps...

Cheers,
Chris


[Edited on 22/8/05 by Prophet666]

[nebezial]

awesome stuff mate...now as a somewhat dragon expert i would advise you to elongate the wings a little about 15 percent..that wil make the wing surface physically possible to sustain hinm in the air...sweet modelling

[5thsun]

dragons arent real so there is no such thing as a dragon expert

nice model

[nebezial]

hez mzths aint real and there are mythology experts..im saying that i ve been drawing and sculpting and testing the dragon anatomy for quite some time...and im making a huge graphic novel full of them so yeah id say i am an expert

[Prophet666]

Hehe, thanks for the advice. I'll see how lengthening the wings looks.

I like to think of dragons being able to fly as following the rule of the bumble bee. Apparantly, the way a bumble bee is shaped/put together, it shouldn't be capable of flight... go figure.

In other artists work I've enjoyed over the years... I think that Dennis Beauvais has designed the most realistic looking dragons (from a flight capability standpoint). His artwork is hard to find... but it's worth it ( one of my favourites http://www.denbeauvais.com/two_d/DRAGONS/bridge_sorrow.html ). His work graces the insides of all three Dragonlance Chronicles books and at least one Dragonlance PnP Module called "Mysts of Krynn" ( http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/dl/dl-dl15.jpg ). It seems he's getting into 3D as well...
On the other hand... Most of Jeff Easley's dragons seem like squat bulldog shaped things that don't resemble what I think a dragon looks like in my mind at all. They certainly don't seem capable of flight LOL.
(for example http://talpak.org/mano/dragpic/5/reddrag.jpg )

Anyway, back to it.
Thanks all!
Cheers,
Chris


[Edited on 23/8/05 by Prophet666]