Model for a new animal!

[andreip0pa]

Hello everybody!

This is my first post here.

I made a model for a new animal, more precisely, an elk.

I posted the model on Sketchfab here:https://skfb.ly/Q86I

If you guys think this is allright  (from an architecture,texture etc. standpoint) I will make some animations and eventually get it in the game.

The reason why I posted this here is because I need some help with making it an actor in the game, i couldn't find a lot of documentation on that.

Thanks for taking your time, I am looking forward to all of your replies guys!

 

Edited July 5, 2016 by andreip0pa

[sanderd17]

Hi, thanks for wanting to work on some models.

First of all, a technical notice: our engine can only handle triangles. While most 3D tools can "triangulate" models, it often doesn't make optimal use of the triangles. Certainly for more natural objects, like animals. Buildings are more square by nature, there a triangulate operation can give good enough results. So for animals, it's better to design in triangles already.

Now, for the actual model, I find the body way too rough. It should be made a lot rounder and more organic. But you also should keep it low-poly. So there are a lot of triangles in the antlers that aren't needed (those won't be seen), and there are also strange triangles on the bottom of the animal.

Try to keep the model as organic as possible with the least tris possible.

But in any case, thanks for wanting to work on this.

 

[andreip0pa]

Hi sanderd17, thanks for your hasty reply!

I tried taking your advice and did the following: I triangulated the model(Should I remake the antlers?), i "heavily" reduced the number of tris, and tried making it a little bit more organic (I'll have to work on that a little bit more, i kind of messed the model up).

Here's the updated model:https://skfb.ly/Q8tp

Thanks again for your reply, hoping to see a reply soon 

[sanderd17]

Hmm, now there are holes in the antlers. Also note that the game only renders tris from one side. So it's better to make the lantlers round, as else you'll have to duplicate the tris anyway.

Also, AFAIK, it's best to make sure the tris are more-or-less symmetric. It should make it easier to model and also easier to animate.

I'm no artist however, so I can't give advise on how to achieve these things.

[andreip0pa]

Reworked the antlers:https://skfb.ly/Q8zr

Taking a break for now, by the way should I start making the animations, and if yes are idle, walking, running, (idle) eating, death animations enough? if not what other animations should i make?

[Stan`]

Nice antlers ! How many tris do they have ?

I think you should start from scratch for the body though. Look at the deer model in the game to get an idea on how many details you can add. Also try to avoid stretching like there is on the neck.

For anims you are right those are the one needed. Try to make the idle long enough so that they don't loop badly.

Thanks for your time and contribution
and welcome to the forums.

EDIT : +1 For SketchFab

Edited July 5, 2016 by stanislas69

[andreip0pa]

Hey guys! 

I'm back with an update to the body of the model. Changed the texture too. Didn't do the animations yet, I think I'll do them later.

Here's the new model:https://skfb.ly/QsJI

By the way, I just noticed the stretchings on the forehead, and also neck again , I'll have to fix those.

 

[Stan`]

Much better ! Polycount is a bit high though... 

Don't know if you do this already but you should use symmetry on your mesh, so that for instance the ears don't look off like they do right now. There is something wrong with the spinal column.

BTW I must ask, where is the texture from ? You can't use copyrighted material unless it's CC0, public domain, or CC-BY-SA 3.0 CC-BY-SA 4.0 works too, though we don't have anything on that license yet.

Keep it up.