A Rework and a Remake
Yes, another blog entry, and so soon! I have been doing many things though, not just 3D models for printing. To stop myself from getting burnt out with the 3D printing side of things, I’m choosing to alter how I produce my work. Because the blog entry only covers two tidbits, I will tackle everything in one segment.
First on the list are the reworks of the Subject 218 hairs; every single character made to date has been updated, and their body mesh has been tweaked slightly to improve the future rigs they’ll get.
A few characters have had their hairstyles changed slightly for future performance reasons. The changes are subtle but I am sure someone will see the difference, so I thought it best to mention it. Each character also has a reworked mouth which I showcased in the last blog.
After doing these reworks over January, I stepped away from 3D modelling and picked up writing Heart of the Feles again. I ploughed out three chapters in February, and it now only has a single chapter left before the first draft is complete.
So far this month, I’ve finished up a couple of models for 3D printing, but have been dedicating my time primarily to remaking my Jinimaru/Feles base mesh. Several issues I highlighted in the last blog entry, relating to Subject 218’s models, existed in the Jinimaru/Feles ones too, only these problems were far worse.
The Jinimaru model was made using the Subject 218 “human” base mesh, so the digitigrade legs, tail, and ears were all sculpted individually and then grafted to the Human base model using booleans; this made the topology of the model atrocious to work with in terms of UV mapping it and rigging it.
Initially, I started this out as a rework project, to replace the feet of the original model, but when I compared the quality of the two meshes it just felt dirty putting my new feet on such a bad body sculpt. You can see below a picture of the new lower body parts (sandy coloured) next to the original (reddish brown coloured).
This remake gave me many chances to improve the body proportions of the Jinimaru/Feles.
The original, which was based on 100% Human proportions, meant the arms and legs were too skinny, which meant the hands and feet also had problems, such as being too large. Other issues include the original eyes being too small (which didn’t match my original concept art style), the mouth area not having enough edges for decent facial animations, and both the thumb and “little toe” being orientated incorrectly.
In addition to fixing these proportion issues, I also decided to make sculpted fur for the tail-tip, ankles, elbows, and neck. The hair on this model is a temporary edited version of a Subject 218 characters.
After a play around with texturing the model, I decided to make the entire model use a single texture, to help with future performance in the project these will be used for. All colours are controlled using shaders, though some will have a different “marking” layer to their texture, which I need to tackle next. This way, I can make a large crowd of Jinimaru/Feles that will all look different, but machine memory is saved heavily by using only one or two textures between them, instead of each one having its own.
See the below images: in the past, I would make four body, hair, and eye textures. Now, all four use a single texture, and, using shaders, I can create infinite colour ranges without killing my PC’s memory.
Aside from the main characters, which will need their own textures, this system will work perfectly for NPC’s and maybe even a “create your own character” thing, if I go with a game-route that is!
As the pictures show; the models are already rigged and ready to play with. Even if Subject 218’s models are being used for a comic, I need to practice animation eventually to make use of all the Jinimaru/Feles assets. I have the story for them, they’re the books I’ve written, I just need to decide what route I should take to tell that story using visual media.
Regardless of whether it’s an animated series or a video game, I need to have all the assets made before I can do anything. The Jinimaru base model is ready now for me to make “breed” variants, and once those variants are done I will be making a page here on the website where you can learn more about them, and see the 3D model.
I don’t want to jump ahead or make promises I cannot keep, so for now I am just going to continue making my assets, building my 3d printing library, and finishing off my book. Once I have less on my plate of these other projects, I can tackle “the big one”.
See you next time!