WIP Ultimate Collection

WIP Ultimate Collection [Some big pics]

Ah yes I've decided after more than a year to finally post a WIP thread. This is a pack that will be my final skins/models for UT2k4. Although the Skaarj pack was going to be my last, I got inspired and decided to do one more thing before retiring.

The story behind it... A pack containing the best of my work for 2k4 (all updated and improved upon) and quite a bit of new stuff too. No skins for custom models. For various reasons, with this pack I've dropped anything that will cause online compatibility problems too (i.e., species, voice packs, etc.) and as per usual this will have 4 team support.

Haven't taken many pics as yet but four+ characters are completed (at time of posting) and there are a few half done... I expect to finish this by early December if not sooner with a release mid-December, so I'm in no rush compared with how fast I usually do things.

First up it's Kaang (early pics) in uPaint without fx.



More pics as I have them

WARNING I expect this pack to be in the region of 100MB+

That was quick. I just finished posting and saw the reply. Thanks Starry :tup:

@ SaD... Thanks Titan... Thanks too, D3@thChild more pics, this time with fx...

[SCREENSHOT]http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/7781/kaangpreview45qs.jpg[/SCREENSHOT]

And the TCs;



Oh, in case it's not noticeable those are three skulls etched into the top of the blades

MäxX is alive

[UPDATE]

Second set of pics, the updated Dmitri (original)... Note: These are not necessarily in any order; (may do a merc female in this/similar style, too)...

[SCREENSHOT]http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/1615/dmitripreview22hx.jpg[/SCREENSHOT]

And the TCs;

I know what you mean, Da Spadger. Contrary to anything I might have said earlier, I'm not leaving the community but I am stopping developing stuff for it (after this pack) for the time being at least. I went through a very bad spell that I won't go into but it's all okay again. I am certainly stopping skinning but I've yet to decide what to do next. Mapping I'd say as that's what I always intended doing in the first place when I joined

And now to Spike (for Buffy)...

[SCREENSHOT]http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/617/spikepreview6mq.jpg[/SCREENSHOT]

And the TCs;



[EDIT] Modified quite a bit since posting the pics

Thanks UglyPants, I dunno' how much he actually looks like the Spike character in Buffy but it's as close as I could get. I made the hair darker than it should have been and growing in a different direction but thought it looked better in game that way

Thanks Continuum. Luckily I got insomnia (always get it when working on a skin)

I can tell you how I started a face on my first UT2k3 skin, Hero and it might give you an idea how I've personally developed the faces over time. The face on that's almost exactly the same as on the UT2k4 skin Heroic bar some minor fixes so I got it pretty spot on originally. In the old days what I did was to take Wraith's face and split it down the middle. Flipped the half without the scar onto the scarred half. Fixed the eyes so they weren't reflected (light reflecting in opposite directions). Then, rather than having exactly the same on both halves, I just played with the texturing that was already done. Usually using the burn and dodge tools in Photoshop for changes in shadows/lines on the skin. Later I played around with the skin tones (say making it more pale) and then added colour to say cheeks (where people normally have more red). Cheek bones are a good place to play around with too as darker shadows can make a face look thinner while more lighting makes it look more rounded. When it came to that face, at least I concentrated on the eyes, nose and mouth as doing things with them (even subtle things) can make a face look different altogether. Did some parts in uPaint.

Final step and my favourite part was doing all the hair myself. The top of the head, goatee and eyebrows were all new so that too made him look quite different. Finally took the stubble and added very subtle hair over it. Used soft light in Photoshop to bring the colour through on the stubble.

Nearly every merc male face after that used the Hero face with more changes mostly to hair and skin tone.

It's was all about image editing at the time as I never knew the wireframes existed until quite recently... Some mercs I did later like Emir and Shah in Assassins were actually the same face with changes to skin colouring, changing all the hair again, etc.

Everything I do tends to be subtle. With the Spike face, it's the same face as the UT2k3 Diesel face only I improved the nose and done all the hair again. Oh nearly forgot eye colour which is important too to make a character look different.

The Diesel/Spike face is the Hero face with a new nose, eyebrows, eyes and mouth. Sometimes I'll give a character a cleft in the chin or scar him.

Where major differences are concerned, as with Ashur/Vrykolakas it gets more complicated as then I go all out to be creative and doing my own thing.

If I really wanted to spend some time on them (as per your query), I'd use the lighting that's already been done. Doing a completely new face but using layers in Photoshop I'd bring the lighting from a default game character through by using it as a base layer and working above that with different layer blend modes/opacity.

I never put in the work you obviously done with the Hellion faces building from scratch as I wouldn't have the patience and that's how I can do a new skin completely in a day.

Yelena's the closest I've come to doing something completely from scratch but that particular model and the way it's UVs are done is a nightmare for skinners.

I've never really used uPaint for anything since day one (apart from defining areas on a model before the wireframes) so mostly I just use Photoshop, Max and UnrealEd for whatever I'm doing.

I always concentrate more on the bodies as that's what you see more of in game and that's what catches people's eyes first. I've no idea at all what paths are in Photoshop, have never understood Alpha channels in it and really have very little experience using it. So, now you know why I'd be reluctant to write some tutorials I only know what I need to at any given time to get by.

Hope that helps... Any more questions just post again

[EDIT] Current WIP which I've just started is Ashur v2 for the pack;



Should be finished this later. Ignore the colour, etc., as this is a very early WIP

I wouldn't call that a tut, frosty but true it's good to see how others do it

Sure, Titan the only reason I changed it was it looks better as is compared to how it should be