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
Yes, it is very asymmetrical. I personally liked the previous version better, but this new one incorporates what the New Worlds people are now asking for.
This particular assignment has been difficult. I've now gone through three separate and distinct versions of this alien with the asymmetric one being the fourth.
To my reading, phylotaxy applies to leaf placement (saw a cool video on the relation of phylotaxy and fibonacci formula). I will probably be adding leaves to this model sooner or later and those will have a certain amount of symmetry due to how the software works.
Yes, this one is crazy. I've got some new images to add and maybe one more session with Silo and this version will be ready to submit.
Well, I got carried away last night and forgot to do incremental screen shots. Sorry.
Here's what I finally ended up with.
I have a very strong feeling that rigging this one is going to be next to impossible with the tools and experience (or lack of) that I have. Also, uv mapping and texturing are going to be interesting.
The New Worlds folks are asking for foliage to be part of the figure as well, but I'm not going to bother with that until they approve (or not) this model.
Also, the head/face is not complete yet. I'll spend this evening working on that part, then hopefully I'll be able to send this one off to New Worlds in the morning.
The way I see it is I've either gone too far or not far enough on this one. Either way it's been a learning experience.
Well the results are spectacular..., now seeing it "balanced" I get the assymmetry idea...
Beautiful work!
Thanks. Let's hope the New Worlds people accept it. I'm getting a little tired of plant aliens. I think if I see one in the street I might just haul off and slug them. Just sayin'. Heh, heh.
Your progress on this is very well done. It takes time to devlope something convincing like this, and also have it look "cool".
Did you do all the conceptual work in the 3d modeling, or do you do sketching as well? If you do sketches, can we see some of those?
Chris, thanks for the kind words.
As I mentioned before, asymmetric modeling of anything is not my preferred way to model. Symmetry is my friend. Normally, when I model something I need some sort of plan, either a reference image or some other guide. For this version, I just put on my headphones and cranked up some Blondie and let my creative side take over. I just pulled up a cube and started adding, subtactiing and pulling and pushing verts and polys. I tried very hard to just let it all come of its own accord. That's the way I normally do my character renders and scenes, just load the base add morphs and go from there.
I used to be quite good at pencil and pen and ink drawing, but not so much any more. I'm woefully out of practice. All the evil 3D and other digital software has taken over from my once cherished pens and pencils.
Well, I finished what passes for a head/sensory cluster for this bad boy/girl. It wasn't how I originally envisioned it, but it works for me just the same. I just ended up going crazy with extrusion.
I know this is going to be next to impossible to rig. I'm betting it's also going to be a bugger to map and texture. I'm looking forward to 3DCoat and Carrara helping with that task. We'll see.
Here are a couple of alternate/closer views of the new head just for clarity.
Well, I've sent it in to the New Worlds people. We'll see what they say.
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