Competition #14 - Gephoria

[Gephoria]

Wikipedia Name: Jerusalem crickets
Scientific Name: Stenopelmatus fuscus






Unwrapping it tonight or hopefully thought i'd post my progress so far for critiques

Edit: 990 Tris

[sampson]

why... did you put doylle in your name?

[Gephoria]

To moderators, i'm new to your forum and don't know how to delete posts if you could please i'd like to repost

[ahopps01]

If you edit your initial post, you can change the Title of the thread. To your name... :P

[doylle]

hehehe, that's alright, changed it for you.

[Gephoria]

Alright now that i got my screwup of forum posting noob skills out of the way i'd like to talk a little more about my small warrior. The Jerusalem cricket is often referred to as a potatoe bug, and after researching the topic a little i found it to be an interesting shape and color. The sound that this bug makes isn't like that of a cricket that I personally am used to, it sounds like a small knocking noise. upon first impression the thought of getting up repeatedly to see if somebody is at the front door got annoying.

There will be a sachel of holy water, as well as a first aid kit attatched to this support unit. The drums it harnesses on it's backside produce moral and buff up nearby allied units. Going upon the idea that Jerusalem being a holy city in the name of the cricket it will have healing capabilities beyond that of a normal medic, almost like a medic/priest/wardrum combo support unit. the idea for the drums spawned from one of my favorite games of all time "Warcraft 3" and the orcish Kodo beasts.

I will still be refining the drums possibly enlarging them. Also i do not consider myself a good texturer by any means, if anybody can point me in a good general direction for what i am missing please do

All C&C Welcomed

The Unwrap:


Front Render:


Rear Render:

[Gephoria]

For a little reference i've been using and interesting stuff about this bug
Here is the sound it makes or "the cricket's song"
Image:Female Mahogany Jerusalem Cricket.EatonLACO.ogg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Image:Jerusalemcricket.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2006/07/0...us-species.jpg
http://botany.00server.com/jer-cricket1.JPG

as for my progress, i've been refining the texture and i enlarged the drums to make the character of this insect pop a little bit more. I still have to find a good way to indicate to my viewers that this bug is a support/healer type of insect







Critiques and Critisizm welcomed -

[Gephoria]

Just a quick update, added the red cross on the top of the bug so that overflying bugs can identify my unit as a medic. He or she now has bug blood all over them from performing on the field combat surgery and other tasks. the drums on the backend got a little more jazzed up and i'm contemplating how to direct this character from here.







I tried my hand at zbrush to learn that alot of people are stating that normal map exporting is broken in zbrush3. Either way i am new to that software and learning it diligently where i find the time. hopefully i can normal map this before the end of the competition if not though i'd say i am thouroughly happy with my work produced for this.

Rarely do i have projects that give me poly/trilimits so this is a new adventure for me. i hope to refine the texture more and add some spec maps

i'd really like to recieve some Critiques or critisizm on this also (good bad or otherwise) support units are not popular but are somewhat nessecary in my mind.

[rmac]

Now that I see the stills. On the texture for the red cross on the back, you may want to possibly outline it so there is more contrast between the cross and the back of the cricket. The red of the cross really blends into the back and you may have a difficult time viewing it from above.

Also you may want to so something to change up the texture on the antennas(sp?). They are looking a little flat and boring.

Hope that helps

[Gephoria]

@rmac: i will take it into consideration, i was hoping that i could get zbrush working so that the normals could be baked in, but i'm beginning to get burnt out i have class internship 2 jobs and the rest of life i am sorry i read your note late but i will change it up for the next post

with that being said, I have my first zbrush experience that resulted in something that (after i brought it into max) looked like this: sadly i don't know where to take it as much as i'd like to so i'll have to research that later and treat this as just a fun thing.



and with that being said/done you'll notice i added some specular map and an alpha. i also refined some of the texture to better what i am going for.





I will def change the antennae and do something else to the cross on its back. also my next post will have new poses in it and possibly final renders