(Not So) Well-Defining Textures
I finished off my last blog post with a screenshot of my model and just for completion's sake, I will post another screenshot of the model with textures. I used the ink 'n paint material in 3ds max to give the whole model a cell-shaded look and while this was already quite hard to get right, it wasn't the biggest problem that I had with my textures:
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| Textured Angel Character |
The main reason I think that my textures have failed is because I simply overestimated the power of normal maps. I relied on adding quite a lot of detail into the mesh by using normal maps, however I couldn't exactly get it to work as well as I had intended. Together with the stress I had from running closer and closer to the deadline I just had to draw a line and ultimately was forced to hand in my work as it was: "Done, but not polished."
The project is over and while I am definitely glad that it is done, I wish I could've gone back in time to start over! There was quite a few things that I could've done better.
What Went Wrong?
So, where exactly did I fail? As much as I hate to admit it, I think I definitely spend way too much time concepting (once again), however this was not fully intended by me. I had quite a lot of struggles coming up with an idea and after 2 failed attempts I finally managed to get at least something, yet I still think that while my concept wasn't too bad, it's nowhere near as strong as it could've been.
The idea was quite cliché and my failed attempt at making it more unique when doing my colour studies didn't help. I really tried hard for the demon character but when it came to the angel character I kind of had lost a bit of motivation and instead of actually doing it, just resorted to going through various colours in my head. It became clear to me that I thought, that my darker value on the dress would not work, as I couldn't think of any colour that an angel's dress could have, however I think I should've definitely just tried it out, just to be certain.
Since I spent a lot of time concepting, my time for creating the model was very limited. The whole model was done in less than a week and it definitely shows. I intended for it to be quite low poly, however I ended up with just under 2000 tris, which while compared to modern game characters seems not too high, it would've been easy for me to achieve a tri count of less than 1000.
I had managed to waste quite a lot of polys and comparing my model to my original concept, shows that I have lost quite a bit of roundness. The model looks a lot more edgy and overall the silhouette doesn't quite match up. If I were to do my model again I would focus a lot more on roundness and putting tris where they are actually needed, but I would also try and add in a bit more detail to make the model look a bit more like the original concept.
Looking Ahead!
Like the title says: "It's too late for regrets now." The project deadline has passed and I need to look into positively into the future. Christmas is coming up and I will be getting my well-deserved rest, but once I am back I will aim to put more effort into creating my models in future project. Hopefully I will be able to produce some great work.
Stay tuned~
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