Creature

[reeke]

For which Engine - NA
Current Polycount - 8000
Max Polycount - 10000
Texture Size - 2048
Description of background information on piece - Not for anything specific, i just felt like modelling a creature. no specific ref was used, i took inspiration from various animals and insects.
Where are you looking to receive criticism - anything
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Ive been working on this cute critter for a few days now, coming close to finishing off the low poly mesh. Currently sitting at 8000 tri, I have no real hard limit but would like to keep him under the 10k mark.

Any comments for improving the design before moving onto the high res version would be much appreciated

[requiem2d]

You've done a nice job previously texturing that critter looking thing, so this one should come pretty naturally. Limb placement seems sort of narrow/dog like, might be more interesting wider (i.e. extending out like a spider). Look forward to more...

[Detachable Toe]

Nice stuff reeke, its nice to see something a bit different.

The design is quite nice, though as requiem said, it seems a bit narrow. As it is now, I've no problems with the rear legs, but in their current position I can't imagine how the front legs would smoothly move for walking etc. I'd perhaps leave the rear legs in a close-ish position and splay the front ones out a bit.

In terms of modelling, I'm not too sure on the musculature(?) on its back. At the moment, instead of muscle it comes off as lumpy-ness. Also if it is muscle, I feel that in contrast to the back, the rest is a bit under defined. Likewise, the face kind of feels a bit too poly heavy and smooth compared to the rest, especially considering the visibly lower resolution parts like the bends in the tail.

The only other thing is that it seems like some polies could be used else where. For instance, the ring of polygons at the base of its tail seems to extend down the full length of the tail, but as it tapers off you could use less and less polygons to get more or less the same detail. You could use these polygons to refine other parts of the mesh.

Great stuff so far, I'm certainly interested in seeing where this goes. Keep it up.

[reeke]

Thanks for the comments, youre both right about the legs i could probably spread the front ones out a bit more.

About the back, thats actually a kind of carapace that covers the top section of the body and continues right down the tail. I dont want very obvious edges were skin ends and carapace starts, il be trying to make it look as if the carapace is submerged with skin growing over the top of it in places.

[Talon]

The front legs don't look too well built for propelling the creature forwards.

The back legs are, but the front legs are essentially mirrored back legs, meaning they look like they're built for moving the creature backwards.

Removing the extra joint in the front leg would help that.

[reeke]

I spread the front legs out a bit, and raised them higher into the body to give a more bulky vibe to them.

As suggested i also tapered the tail so it uses less edges as it goes along =)

I've just started to play with the high res version, roughing out some shapes in the legs and front. I quite like the idea of having loose/droopy skin along the bottom, kind of like some lizards

[Detachable Toe]

Looking good for the most part, but you'll want to re visit the shoulder. At the moment it isn't overly convincing. Try referencing a quadruped animal for the shoulder as opposed to person refs.

Though I'm certainly not an authority on anatomy, I would imagine that the front "segment" of the deltoids would be more forward and lower in comparison to the rear two "segments", to allow it to flow nicely into the chest muscles. Sorry I can't give a better description, I'm not too good with explaining things At any rate some references should help you out.

The loose droopy skin sounds cool

[reeke]

Working on this guy again, heres the base normal applied to the low poly, still need to add skin detail to the normal map but those will be painted and not sculpted.

[Thorjan]

Hi reeke

I tried to make your creature more aerodynamic.
The front legs is what bothers the most , they just feel wrong.
Beside that I did some small tweaks like increasing the size of the rear feet so that it looks like it would
propel it self forward.

and erh made a christmas tree version

Hope this is helpfull.
Whenever you use it or not.

[Talon]

Be careful with your muscles, remember that they're what bulge outwards to form their shape, the skin doesn't sink inwards to define them. At the moment it looks a bit like you've taken a carve brush and just traced their outlines, it's especially noticeable on the back legs. It also means they conflict oddly with the protruding lines (are they veins?), making them look more like they're a fault in the normal map than an intentional feature.

I think you could probably make the skin-chitin join a little more pronounced, too. So that they're clearly two different surfaces.

I still stand by my previous comments on the front legs (tense the legs up then release them, which way is it going to propel the creature?) although Thorjan's version goes a little way to correcting it.