[WIP] Ridley model

[Turret 49]

I originally started him out of boredom in the Metroids! thread, but it was in the request forums and kind of off topic, so I'll show his progress here.

For those of you who are asking "Who's Ridley?", this page should provide you with enough information.



Here's his progress (watermarks ahoy!):



Also, I have two questions:

1. Should I get rid of the (horribly done) ribs, or should I try and make them look better?

2. Which one of these backs look better (or more correct)?

 

[Random Elite]

1) Try and improve I'd say.
2) 2nd one, but only by the smallest of fractions..try blending both together...

 

[Turret 49]

1) Try and improve I'd say.

Alright.

2) 2nd one, but only by the smallest of fractions..try blending both together...

...Like this?

 

[Random Elite]

Yes. Good, keep it like that.

 

[Turret 49]

Very slowly moving along...

Did some minor tweaks, added "plates" on his back, gave him tail spikes (which I may remove, not sure), and improved the ribs.


FYI; I'm basing this model mostly on the Metroid: Zero Mission Ridley.



EDIT: I'm also thinking about moving his neck back (for easier animation, and the fact that it looks weird coming out of the front of his chest).

 

[klasnic]

Looks cool, Turret :tup:

He reminds me of some cartoon character which is probably like who he's based on(?) can't remember the cartoon though *getting old*

 

[Turret 49]

gave him tail spikes (which I may remove, not sure)

Looks a lot better to me

 

[Random Elite]

Me too.

 

[AizenSA]

very nice Turret, whats the overall size (i mean model tallness not dl space) you think the end model would stand up to be?

 

[Turret 49]

Maybe... 2 heads taller than a Gen Mo'Kai?


(I wish I would stop stalling in my modelling )

 

[AizenSA]

so that would make it almost to right at the height of the skaarj or inbetween human and skaarj

 

[Turret 49]

The Gen Mo'Kai aren't short. If anything, they seem taller than the humans and skaarj.



(note that his big height is only because of his head and neck)

 

[Turret 49]

He's just about done, only one real problem:


For some reason, weapons are off at a 90 degree (?) angle. Is this to do with the skeleton I got from here (look under "Default Skeletons and Animation Files")?

Is there any way to fix it?

 

[Turret 49]

Noes triple post!

That problem has been fixed, but now I have a new one:



How do you work around this ugly twist?

 

[-Tj-]

The wrist is always a tricky area to handle. A lot of models work around the problem by completely detaching the hand at the wrist from the arm. What you end up with is what looks like an amputee victim that received blown-up latex gloves tied at the wrists for hands.

Also, are you working in Maya with Z as the up axis? I'm not sure if that would cause a problem, but I've been told to work in Z for export to Unreal.

Looks great so far btw

 

[Turret 49]

The wrist is always a tricky area to handle. A lot of models work around the problem by completely detaching the hand at the wrist from the arm. What you end up with is what looks like an amputee victim that received blown-up latex gloves tied at the wrists for hands.

Bummer.

Also, are you working in Maya with Z as the up axis? I'm not sure if that would cause a problem, but I've been told to work in Z for export to Unreal.

I've got Y as up... does anything change if I switch it to Z as up?

Looks great so far btw

Thanks.

 

[LeGeNDaRy]

Looks like we've got ourselves a new modeler, well done Turret!

 

[-Tj-]

Sorry Turret, I'll try and get you some pics of what I mean about the wrist area. In actuality, it doesn't look as bad as it sounds.

But the Z-up thing, I don't know. I would assume that your Bone_weapon is using the Z axis as the gun direction, so if you're working in Y-up as your axis, it makes sense that the gun would be pointing straight up when you use it in UT. I say this because if you set your up-axis to Z-up from Y-up, your model goes from standing up to lying on it's back, so put 2-and-2 together and the gun aiming up in the air kinda makes an odd sort of sense.

Anywho, I'll try and work on getting those snapshots up soon.

 

[Random Elite]

I'm confused: why mess around with X Y and Z angles in the 1st place?
Anyways, hope you fix the wrist soon Turret.

 

[-Tj-]

Unreal uses a Z-axis up coordinate system, while Maya uses a Y-up system by default. Between different programs, the coordinate systems are different. For example, XSI uses a Y-up system, as do several other 3D apps. Others, like trueSpace, use a Z-up system. When you convert models from one app to another, coordinate data is passed along whatever method the file exporter uses, and a lot don't necessarily change the up axis automatically. Sometimes this can cause problems between Y and Z axis conversions, especially in cases where the program uses the up axis as a kind of aim constraint.

I believe you can go into the Attach area in the Animation browser and manually adjust the weapon bone to the correct rotation. It'll likely be a 90 degree increment on maybe the X axis, but maybe experiment to get it right.

Now, on to the wrist examples. Below you'll find a few images of Gorge's left wrist, and the wrists of one of my own characters (to be released at a later date). Note the red wireframe and how it relates to the yellow wireframe, where the wrist and the hand are disconnected. The hand itself is a separate object, completely detached from the rest of the model's mesh. Hopefully this will give you a better understanding about what I meant.