Here we go again. 
By popular demand (actually Holly demanded it) I'm going to start a WIP thread for my newest 3D project. I started talking about this project over in the Carrara and 3D forum, but now I'm moving it over here.
This is the final alien character I have to recreate for the New Worlds Project. I've been doing some work for them for the past year, and I've saved the best (most difficult) for last. This will be my third attempt at getting this character right.
When I started working with the New Worlds Project, I was by no means a figure creator. I'd never modelled anything more than clothes for the various characters I'd created for use in Carrara and Poser. The last two New Worlds aliens I worked on required me to become a figure modeller no matter what. This last figure is proving to be the most complicated of all, at least for me.
I anticipate some difficulty when it comes to rigging. You'll see why as the project progresses. I know very little about rigging beyond basic human biped figures. This figure is going to be bipedal but not very human. I'm going to be rigging in Poser because, while rigging in Carrara is simple and easy, weight mapping, in my experience, is not. And since I also anticipate using the figure in both Poser and Carrara, I'm going the Poser rigging route.
I'm modeling the figure in Silo. I switched to Silo from Hexagon. I loved Hexagon, but I had issues with it which are never going to be fixed, so after a bit of research I decided on Silo. I find Silo extremely easy to navigate and very robust and stable.
I will be using 3D Coat for UV mapping and perhaps some 3D painting. I used 3D Coat to UV map my last creation for New Worlds. It was the most fun and trouble free UV mapping I've ever done.
Carrara is going to be the final program I will use in this project. I like Carrara's ease of use. It's just plain fast. I'm also much more familiar with Carrara's shader system, and I like the results I get with it. I also like to render in Carrara. I can get superior results in Poser also, but Carrara, once again, is just fast with much less hassle.
That's the background. Comments are welcome and appreciated. As soon as I can figure out how to add images to my posts, I'll get started
I brought in a cube to create the sensitive inner workings of the alien. I modeled the basic form outside of the main model.
Once I was happy with the general shape, I brought it over into the main shell structure and tweaked it to fit better. I made a few small changes (which don't show very well in this shot).
I wanted the inner part to be integrated with the outer shell, so I used Silo's extrusion and bridge commands to connect the two geometries with a network of what I hope will look like plant like fibers (after texturing). The head extruded and pulled into shape for the final touch.
I've sent sample images to the New Worlds people for approval. This is the part of the process I dislike the most, waiting for word of approval or disapporval. I'm hoping this version will be approved. I've gone through two other versions of this particular alien. Both versions were rejected. If it is approved, the next step will be UV mapping and textures. If it's not approved it's back to the drawing board. Either way, this has been a fun experience.
I'll let you know what happens.
yes I echo 'wow', now that's some model you have whipped up. And it looks the part very well. The vines on the legs are super-purb. And I kinda liked it with the hollow part in the head, So rigging it should be fun and should keep you off the streets for a while How wil you texture it? Looke like a job for blacksmith 3d ! congrats, and fingers crossed for approval.
Some very fine poly pushing there booksbydavid ! 
Hope it gets approval and then we can see what 3D Coat can do texture wise. Are there plenty of tutorial resources for Silo? Did it take you long to get to grips with it?
@ headwax- Thanks for the 'wow'
You're right, I think I'm in for a beating when it comes to rigging this beast in Poser. I'm going to play with 3DCoat's pose tool and see how that works. If it works I can pose the figure in 3DCoat and export to Carrara for any future action based shots. Knowing that rigging could be an issue, I modeled the figure in the pose I would use to render the character shots.
As for texturing, I'm going to be UV mapping in 3DCoat. UV mapping in 3DCoat is as easy as falling off of anything. It has a host of features that make mapping almost a pleasure (never thought I'd say that about UV mapping). I'll be doing some initial painting in 3DCoat (maybe) then moving to Carrara to use its shaders along with texture maps. I hope to use a combination of bump and maybe displacement maps to help complete the plant look I'm trying to achieve.
As for Blacksmith3D. I've got it, but I very much don't like it. I don't get along at all with its UI, and its workflow is awkward (for me). So far this year, it's the only software I regret buying.
@videatoculo- Thanks! I've found quite a lot of video tutorials for Silo on Youtube. A guy named Glen Southern has some very informative and educational videos on creature creature and Silo in general. The Silo site has a section of video tutorials as well. Also, over at Renderosity Fugazi1968 has quite a few video tutorials on content creation most of which use Silo.
Like I said before, I started with Hexagon. I used it for years. The jump from Hexagon to Silo was almost effortless. Once I found out how to navigate around the Silo workspace, it was pretty comfortable. Most things you'll need for modeling are a right mouse button click away. I like that. You can also open and dock various windows for the different tools. The videos I mentions were extremely helpful in helping me get up to speed with Silo, but its simple design and (to me at least) intuitive UI made it a very quick learning experience.
Well, bad news (for me). The New Worlds people didn't approve the model. They liked some aspects of it, but not others. Unfortunately, their likes and dislikes are a bit vague. I'm waiting for what I hope will be more concrete direction before I hit the drawing board again. Such is life.
The good thing is this figure was a great test of my modeling abilities. I think I will continue this particular figure to its finish after I'm done with the new version of the plant alien.
As soon as I have some more direction from New Worlds, I'll continue with this WIP.
Should we get a posse together?
You are not permitted to reply on this forum.
Saving...