Reply To: ironsoul’s polybook

March Week 4: Half-Life Scientist Study

I did a scientist study this week. A few key differences from the actual game version is that I had a quad limitation for my mesh. Basically I gave myself 4 vertices for each “ring” of geometry, which resulted in the model being significantly blockier. Using this limitation allowed me to focus on the proportion of the character without simply trying to copy vertices point for point.

Texturing: I’m focusing entirely on the base colour layer so that I can develop my ability to imply things such as folds in the fabric using highlights and darker shades. I did use a 128×128 texture so that I didn’t get bogged down in details. But that did result in some problems in the texture mapping.

The UV maps on this model are atrocious, I need to spend some serious amounts of time practicing UV unwrapping (I can go through the fundamentals of texturing for more demonstrated practice). 

Also, the UV map/model is mirrored so I couldn’t do the diagonal tie texture, this is something I want to improve upon eventually but for now I’ll probably stick to 128×128 for now. I might get rid of the doubled UV map for some parts so I could do a diagonal tie.

I do plan on doing a more thorough study of this character so I can more closely match the source material, but for now I’m sticking to one per week until I get comfortable with the process.

Rigging and animation is probably where I’ll put my study efforts next because getting these things moving and posed will greatly improve the “done-ness”. Fundamentals of rigging and fundamentals of animation here I come.

All in all, I am satisfied with how my skills are progressing. I’m getting better at laying out proportion, my texture painting skills are improving and I’m getting some “miles” put down on just finishing models.