New monster "Dragon"

[ScreamingFox]

I was making a dragon, in some of my 'spare' time.. it is the very first 'creature' i tried to make, more for learning some things, as i will try to show here...

It all started with a 'cube' , but then the thread would be really huge if i would really show step by step.. xd..

..well, the cube came into this, the 'basic geometry' of the 'dragon'..

I learned how to do 'wings' when i tried to do a 'winged hammer' (xd), but it is another subject..

The first 'mouth' i ever done too xd..


Then, some modeling on the 'head', i thought it would look like crap, but it ended up very acceptable =D.. Used 'Edit Poly', with Graphite Modeling Tools (i think 'graphite' is spelled differently but it is very close to it..)..

Then i (on the 'Edit Poly' mode) applied smoothing on parts, on all of the 'dragon')..

(eyes are and will be separate spheres)..


Well, i modeled 'from the Zero', but i was always thinking of a 'raptor' (velociraptor) like dinosaur but with the bat wings (all dragons i have seen have these bat-like wings.. i mean, the wing's structure, etc..)

Something like this:

That (when on ground, although it is more of a flyer actually..) would walk like this one:

It is like walking on the tip of the toes..


After the stage depicted on the last (model) image, i did a lot of fixes, and came to a part that i particularly not happen to like very much, that is mapping, but i 'stumbled' on this program (UVLayout) that really came to help, so the mapping became a lot easier, and i started to do some textures..

I started on the wings, every part (the lines on the UVW template) had a lot of layer effects and 'filters' and hues on Photoshop, this one is the second texture, the first one was too 'plain'

The 'legs' are small on this one.. and the 'Material IDs' were not yet separated..

3 Material ID's, 1 for wings, 'legs' and 'arms', 1 for neck, torso and tail, and 1 for head and bony spikes that come out from neck and back.. I liked the texture on the 'belly' (that goes all the way from the jaw to the tail, but on different proportions/aspects) but still needed some fixes on model and UVW.. Talking about 'belly', on the next one the belly to chest 'relief' will be more visible, especially viewing from the side.. The legs and fingers will be enlarged too..

Some fixes later, with and almost homogeneous texture..

(face texture)

(obviously the 'horns' and the teeth parts are still without texture..)
Aah, i increased the vertical size of the fangs, to go like a venomous fang, from a snake, etc.. xd..

And now i am rigging it with Physique, without blending between links, so i can put it on Priston Tale . I rigged just the face/mouth, chest/belly/hip, and tail, and got crazy to put it to an 'pose' XDD (when modelling, the 'creature' has to be all stretched, etc.. and that 'pre rig' pose is not very stylish XDD):

There is one thing missing right? (in fact, 2, hehe)..
.. yes, and it make really a huge difference:

(it is a 'temporary' texture on the teeth and horns, just to make a fun render =D, the horns will come out smoothly 'from the leather' of the head, or something like it XD)

The eye (especially one with self illumination, hehe) completely changes my subjective perception on ways i look at the creature, a very interesting difference (the 'dragon' looked more muscular, to me, after i put on the eye XDD).. The claws will have a slight buff, and better texture..

I loved the eye, and i will rig it, so it will move around on his animations..

Perhaps this weekend i will finish the texture and fix things that i see, and finish the rig.. With the rig finished, it will be fun to make some animations to test an INI (some leaked or converted inx that i found some time ago here at RZ..) with an ASE exported with Sandurr .ase exporter (with Physique block).. I thought it was becoming hyper high poly, but it is not really, well.. i hope Pt accepts it ..

I am trying to make on a way that it will be easy to change the colors of the dragon (some layers, etc..) =D

 

[Vormav]

Re: "Dragon" XD

Did you export mesh already? I might be wrong but it look like it could crash PT. Mesh look too complex.
Try exporting it without animation as hopy and see if it will work before you start rigging it.

If you tested it already then ignore my post, better safe than sorry =P

 

[ScreamingFox]

Re: "Dragon" XD

I have already added it to a map (when it was all red (without material ids, texture etc..)), like it were a 'tree' and it worked, we will see it rigged and with texture.. I thought too that it was becoming too high poly but that one 'igolation' have hi-poly stuff even beneath the clothing (high detailed face beneath a veil.. "talk about unnecessary polys" XDD), and i have done stuff like triplicating monsters/chars models to test effects, etc.. hehe.. my fear is to deal properly with the 'implementation files' (.ini)..

@edit:Oh and the good thing is that now that i learned those things i could take the first model (i saved some versions on the progress) and make it more acceptable perhaps..






@edit2: Some people seem to not understand things properly, i have just received an 'infraction warning', because 'the thread title was too generic'.. Well i suppose that if i had described it some more i would receive an infraction warning because 'my thread would be too large', etc..

"Dragon" depicts the creature quite perfectly, since i did not decided its name.

It is not a 'monster' yet, it can be a map asset (a dragon flying on a far spot (the less developed model, on this case), or npc, and, well, it is kind of silly, in my opinion, to think that 'New Monster - Dragon' is less vague than "Dragon", hehe.. if it were an 'old monster' it would not be in a a 'Development' section, a programmer would not be below this very basic logic notion i suppose. And 'monster', well.. i can not think of a term for a 'evil creature' that would be more generic than 'monster'.

So, Sheen, you have mocked my manners when i asked permission to translate things that i would not even use myself (correction - i really did not need to translate, since i could use that ("Vormav's Mod" (the visualization of armor pieces) on the spot, in minutes, i translated simply to 'foster the people's laziness'
(promoting knowledge, on Sheen's language)), and now this.. I suggest you not to try hindering me, for i was neutral when it came to your 'name' so far, do not try to create bad blood between us.. Your kind of attitude would make this forum a desert.. Be cool would you, hugs

 

[bobsobol]

Nice development. I think I would use the word "model" in the topic. (would be very nice for that 3D Portfolio we still don't have, as every fantasy RPG should have a Dragon IMHO. )

UVLayout looks cool, I love re-texturing (since I can't do "squat" with actual meshes) and well laid-out UV often makes the difference to my "enthusiasm". ^_^

The ancient Norse (original European) name for a Dragon is Wyrm, and "Orm" still means "snake" in Swedish. ^_^ In Europe, Dragons where seen as winged snakes, and many Germanic (Norse, Celtic and some Galic et.el.) depictions are without legs, which are much more common in ancient Chinese Dragons. I think "Dragon" comes from Latin "Draco". That's one of the most amazing things about them, seemingly unrelated cultures the world over (even the Mayans of Ancient America depicted them, but I don't think we don't know what they called them) recognise some form of this scientifically fictitious creature... where do they come from in all these cultures if they never existed, and we all knew them before we met? Is it just dinosaur bones? Why do they always have wings when most dinosaurs did not?

Cool model too. Well done. :

 

[DarkKnightH20]

That looks pretty good! Well-done.

All I can say is this -- I would NOT want to face that thing in-game =P Or out-of-game for that matter!