#wanjuro and goatfrey

markhamedia:

I’ve been putting off modeling Wanjuro for some time now, since I was having problems figuring out how exactly to model his head to have it look right from all angles.  I finally decided that modeling out his skull would help me figure this out.  I studied as much wolf skull reference I could Wikipedia and Google Image search (just the full mandible alone was hard to find reference of, let alone a dorsal view of it), and modeled out a wolf skull that would reasonably fit the form-factor of Wanjuro’s head.  I know the design is heavily stylized and cartoony, but having some basis in reality really helps to figure out how the design will work in 3d.

Current progress on Goatfrey - I have his limb joints rigged, complete with bendy joint chains.  I haven’t bound the skin to anything.  I still need to figure out how I’m handling the spine and his head.  Plus, the geometry in the rig file is pretty old.

I’ve also been getting some good results in Renderman, though due to changes in Goatfrey’s geometry, the xGen fur broke.  I’m going to hold off on redoing the fur at the moment, so he’ll be a little bit naked for the time-being.

I’ve been putting off modeling Wanjuro for some time now, since I was having problems figuring out how exactly to model his head to have it look right from all angles.  I finally decided that modeling out his skull would help me figure this out.  I studied as much wolf skull reference I could Wikipedia and Google Image search (just the full mandible alone was hard to find reference of, let alone a dorsal view of it), and modeled out a wolf skull that would reasonably fit the form-factor of Wanjuro’s head.  I know the design is heavily stylized and cartoony, but having some basis in reality really helps to figure out how the design will work in 3d.

hyraxattax:

More progress on the eye rig script.  So far it generates a working rig.  Now I just have to make geometry that works with the rig, so that I can figure out what’s left to do on the rig.  I’m discovering that with how Maya averages vertices in smooth preview, the eyelid needs a lot more geometry than the eyeball, in order for the eyeball to not penetrate through the eyelid when I use the stretch controls.  I also wonder if it’s bad that I need a joint for practically every single vertex for the eyelid to deform correctly.

hyraxattax:

Lately, I’ve been working on a rig in Maya for controlling spherical eye lids.  I attempted this once a few years ago with blend shapes, but didn’t get the results I was hoping for.  Now that I have more experience with MEL scripting, I’ve been writing a script that generates the entire functioning rig, complete with controls, leaving me to finish with skinning the geometry and painting weights.

The geometry and animation here aren’t supposed to be ”good” or anything, it’s all test stuff I just slapped together since I didn’t want to potentially waste even more time on something that might have not even worked.

hyraxattax:

So it happens that this is the year of the goat, and I started this planning to finish at the start of the Chinese new year, but then I had tablet issues and didn’t get it finished until now.  Oh, well.  Happy new year of the goat!

hyraxattax:

I think this might be the first time I started a new sketchbook and didn’t draw an entirely crappy first page.  Also, crappy tablet picture because I don’t have a smartphone to take a crappy smartphone picture because I don’t currently have access to a scanner.

hyraxattax:

“Goatfrey” by Markham Carroll
Modeled in Maya 2015
Textured in Photoshop and Mari
Hair created using xGen
Rendered with Mentalray for Maya

hyraxattax:

I went back and modified this piece so that I could update Goatfrey to better match his current design, adjust coloring, and to add the parchment texture that I forgot to add the first time.

Concept art for my Wanjuro and Goatfrey 3d animation project
Parchment texture sourced from MyFreeTextures

hyraxattax:

Progress on Goatfrey’s fur.  A vast improvement from the previous render I’ve shown, bit I’m still trying to figure out what hairs are causing the weird clumps that stick out on his mouth.  Still, I really prefer XGen’s fur system to any other method I’ve tried so far.  It renders about twice as fast as that displacement map approach I tried earlier.

I’ve also been spending time figuring out rigging techniques, watching video tutorials and Digital-Tutors, and building parts to use when I get to that stage.  Sometimes it feels like my mind is folding in on itself.  I don’t think I can describe it any other way.

hyraxattax:

I wasn’t going to attempt an actual fur sim on Goatfrey, but then on Sunday I decided to try it out anyways.  Maya 2015 has an Xgen plugin that I’ve been working out how to use.  Currently I’m trying to get the fur shader to closer match the geometry shader.  Xgen uses Ptex files, and I’m not sure if anything is changing to the texture files in the conversion process.

hyraxattax:

I’ve been busy with school lately, so I haven’t had much time to work on Goatfrey.  The texture map is almost done at this point - all I need to do is paint a decent fur texture patch to paint onto him in Mari.  After that, I’ll move on to rigging this guy.

I’m actually surprised how well the procedural noise layers had already given him a sort of soft, fuzzy texture.  A few months ago, Blue Sky’s university outreach program sent a texture artist over to give a presentation, and she described a method they usually use where they layer three procedural noise layers - a large, medium and small fractal-type noise layer - to quickly add some variance and depth to a character’s texture.

I’ve previously posted a picture of Goatfrey before I touched Mari (ignore the lack of blending in the fur colors in the older version), and you can definitely tell how well this process removes much of the flat, plasticy, CGI feel that the older version had.

hyraxattax:

Current progress on Goatfrey.  Texturing is close to being finished, I just need to learn how to paint a decent fur texture in Photoshop…

hyraxattax:

I’ve been going between modeling, texturing, messing with UV’s, and re-texturing lately.  The legs still need work, but it’s far enough along now to bring into Mari to start getting some progress on texturing (and… figuring out how to use Mari in the process).

hyraxattax:

Almost done modeling this guy.

hyraxattax:

Working on color comps for an assignment in class. Trying to figure out what color scheme to go with.