City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Recent tests with the Justice League (3D stuff)

CoH_NPG

By CoH_NPG,
Posted on: 2008-03-05 12:41 in Multi-Media Fan Creations

 

Posted

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Looking good, but should'nt Superman put on a bit more muscles and Batman a little bit less shinely?

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I tried to keep him reasonable in the muscle area since he's often drawn bulky, but not overly ripped. I think in the comics, his tights soften his muscle definition some.

As for the shine; that's been a topic of debate between myself and my brother. It's been my perception that matting out his costume has the negative side effect of making his definition not show up quite as well - the shine helps highlight his abs and ribs. I tried to keep it to a minimum, though.

 

Posted

Hmmm

Mind some Constructive Crit? Because while I like the piece, some things are jumping out at me and i feel compelled to bring them up.

1: Proportions. Maybe it's because i'm too used to seeing these characters in cartoons, or in comics by people who were payed to make everything "supersized", but would it kill you to maybe exaggerate a little bit here, or are you going for as realistic as possible? More to the point, everyone seems to have kinda stocky legs, particularly Green Lantern, Black Canary, and Speedy (which is funny, because....)

Secondly, and related to point #1, everyone has the same body (well, for their gender). GL needn't be ripped... yeah, he has muscles, but how often does he use them? He shouldn't be as big as Batman, who's said to be the pinnacle of human achievement. Speedy should have larger arms, and perhaps thinner legs; Being an archer, he uses his arms all the time, after all. Superman should be bigger all around (unless you ascribe to the theory that he can't possibly build muscle without being exposed to kryptonite... which would kill him... though DC artists are usually encouraged to beef him up, so mweh). Wonder Woman could use a bigger bust... I'm sorry to sound perverted, but when DC goes out of their way to hire a guy like Adam Hughes (who's renowned for how he renders boobs) to do WW cover art, i think it's pretty much a given that she should have better-than-mere-mortal proportions.

These are the types of things that I'd hope an artist of your caliber and success would consider... along with not giving everyone the same boot folds. I know that's the dumbest thing in the world to mention, but if there's a decently easy way to fix this, please do so. You're an amazing artist and i know you'd never purposely DRAW figures this way, so why would you take such shortcuts now?

-STEELE =)


Allied to all sides so that no matter what, I'll come out on top!
Oh, and Crimson demands you play this arc-> Twisted Knives (MA Arc #397769)

 

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...you'd never purposely DRAW figures this way, so why would you take such shortcuts now?

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Short answer is, these renders are before any sort of postworking. They're raw models which I would never place into a final image. Photoshopping to make corrections would defeat the purpose of a model render test.

A note regarding exaggeration; I'm trying to achieve a more realistic look in their physiques, so I don't want to overextend their chests and busts. Alex Ross' pieces are so incredibly successful because they look like real people. I'd like to present a similar mythos. However, just wait'll you see Power Girl... =)

As far as using the same physique; they're actually all different. While I accept that Green Lantern might not have reason to be as ripped as Batman since he's all about the Power Ring, the truth is he's drawn every bit as shapely as Batman is. However, I will consider the critique and might make the differences in the models more apparent.

Thank you for the critique. That's the kind of feedback that's needed to help me get to a more 'perfect' set of models.

 

Posted

yeah I noticed something *off* about the legs also...but didn't feel it was my place to say anything...

@MrsAlphaOne
Member of the [url="http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?GuildID=171543&TabID=1451954"]RIMC[/url]
[url="http://www.freewebs.com/mrsalphaone"]DA![/url]
[color=red]Official Beer Wench of PWNZ[/color] Arc 452196 When Madness Reigns over Reason. Play it and PM me your constructive criticism on what I can tweak before Oct 20th. <3 U all

 

Posted

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yeah I noticed something *off* about the legs also...but didn't feel it was my place to say anything...

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I posted these test pieces to generate critique, so any feedback (both postitive and negative) is welcome. While I might not agree with the feedback or act on some suggestions, critique gives me things to consider.

 

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...Wonder Woman could use a bigger bust...

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Well, after some lengthy analysis of Wonder Woman's bust (gotta love my job), I've decided you're correct. I've given her chest area an overhaul that will be reflected in the next render I use her in.

Maybe Black Canary needs some analysis next...

 

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Maybe Black Canary needs some analysis next...

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&lt;_&lt;

&gt;_&gt;

...can I help?

Goodbye, I guess.

@Lord_Nightblade in Champions/Star Trek Online

nightblade7295@gmail.com if you want to stay in touch

 

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and another thing I noticed about Wonder Woman

....

....

She Kinda looka lika man...(in the face)

@MrsAlphaOne
Member of the [url="http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?GuildID=171543&TabID=1451954"]RIMC[/url]
[url="http://www.freewebs.com/mrsalphaone"]DA![/url]
[color=red]Official Beer Wench of PWNZ[/color] Arc 452196 When Madness Reigns over Reason. Play it and PM me your constructive criticism on what I can tweak before Oct 20th. <3 U all

 

Posted

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A note regarding exaggeration; I'm trying to achieve a more realistic look in their physiques, so I don't want to overextend their chests and busts. Alex Ross' pieces are so incredibly successful because they look like real people. and for that you get a healthy AMEN from the congregation. I'd like to present a similar mythos. However, just wait'll you see Power Girl... Yep, she was based around Wally Woods individual tastes (since he designed her) and shares certain characteristics with all of Woods' women.

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Posted

When I was in art school one of my first 3D pieces was a Green Lantern, and here you've got him almost 12 years later with the same pose and ring effect! Holy time loop, Batman!

These are excellent! You've really done a wonderful job on them. Red Arrow, Black Canary and Vixen deserve some praise because you've done a great job with them. The skin textures work really well on them.

The only one that sticks out for me is Red Tornado. I know he's not depicted as being very robotic or "android-y", but maybe a sharper specular highlight could help set his look off slightly from the other spandex costumes? Plus I'm not sure... is he wearing gauntlets anymore or is he all spandex like Black Lightning nowadays?

 

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Oh! One more thing that might help with Batman to help differentiate his look...

Here's a link from the DAZ Forums where I asked about performing a Rim Light effect in Poser. It's a way to create a look as used in the Batman animated series. Check the link to see, but it might be something that could be used on Batman to give him a different look. I think I read that you use Maya, but I was able to create a similar effect in Carrara and in Lightwave.

Here's a sample in Carrara that offers one non-tooned look. The edges and colors could be tweaked and the specularity brought down for our Dark Knight, but it gives an idea of how it looks on a semi-realistic figure.

I hope this helps!