The VG Resource

This is probably not the most subtle introduction I've ever made as a new member of a forum, but I figured...what the heck?

I'll be posting some of the wireframe models that I've been working on in 3DS Max in this thread, starting with one that I started working on several months ago:

[attachment=4553]

In case anyone's wondering, Mega Man's proportions are based on the Kotobukiya Mega Man Plastic Model Kit that was released a few years ago. I ended up having to cherry pick certain traits, though, since Capcom's design of the character has been anything but consistent over the past 27 years.

Looking good! Can't wait to see it textured!

Also, welcome to the forums!

(08-10-2014, 12:14 PM)Mystie Wrote: [ -> ]Also, welcome to the forums!

Thanks.

(08-10-2014, 12:14 PM)Mystie Wrote: [ -> ]Looking good! Can't wait to see it textured!

Thanks again! You might not end up finding the final result all that impressive, though, since I'm going for a hand-drawn look by combining 3DS Max's cel shader with a vector map texture so I can get an "infinitely sharp" resolution.

I incorporated a preliminary version of this model along with one of X from the Mega Man X series into a submission I made to Archie Comics' recent art contest. Once the winners are announced in about two weeks, I'll post that render here.

Well, I didn't win the art contest or even merit an honorable mention, so I can post this without any problems.

[attachment=4662]

This is preliminary and I'm redoing the textures now that I have more time. Plus, Mega Man has been weighted and rigged for animation demo reel purposes.

Those look great! I really hope you consider submission. Wow!

Yeesh, sorry about the long absence, everyone. Quite a bit happened. First GamerGate, then unemployment, then a four week long vacation...it's been a crazy few months. But I'm back, more or less. ;

In any case, I finally got around to redoing the textures for my Mega Man model so I could start making a proper animation demo reel. Here are the preliminary versions of the walk and run cycles:

Very good, but maybe you could add some movement to the upper part of the body so that it looks less stiff?

(02-21-2015, 09:51 AM)E-Man Wrote: [ -> ]Very good, but maybe you could add some movement to the upper part of the body so that it looks less stiff?

I've been hearing that quite a bit. Do you have any specific suggestions? One thing I've been told is that a "head bob" might help, but I'm not sure about direction or timing on that...

The head bob should more or less overlap with all the other parts also, try giving the torso a twist.

(02-21-2015, 01:33 PM)E-Man Wrote: [ -> ]The head bob should more or less overlap with all the other parts also, try giving the torso a twist.

The head bob continues to elude me, but I've made some updated versions of the animations, among others, and posted them here:

http://1drv.ms/1whN9wK

I was gonna comment on how awkward the walking looks, but if I had boots and gloves that big, I wouldn't be walking right, either. The running looks much better.

Are you gonna be putting these on the site? Or maybe Source Filmmaker? SFM is really lacking in good Megaman content.

(03-06-2015, 05:44 PM)Kelvin Wrote: [ -> ]I was gonna comment on how awkward the walking looks, but if I had boots and gloves that big, I wouldn't be walking right, either. The running looks much better.

Are you gonna be putting these on the site? Or maybe Source Filmmaker? SFM is really lacking in good Megaman content.

The walking looks a bit awkward because, as you've surmised, the size of Mega Man's feet means that it's impossible for him to stand with knees and feet together (something which can clearly be seen in my first post). It would technically be possible to give him a more normal-looking gait, but that would mean that his feet would clip through each other, something I'm trying to avoid as much as possible. There's some major (but sadly unavoidable) clipping around his elbow joints and gloves, but that's because this thing is assuming poses the Kotobukiya plastic model kit - on which this was based - can't in real life.

To be honest, my intention is to assemble an animation demo reel, so you can expect better quality video in the future. As for the model...I may put it up somewhere if there's interest, but I may need to make some significant changes beforehand. The texture actually looks pretty bad when you get up close due to some quirks of 3DS Max. Specifically the excessive pinching that occurs when you apply the MeshSmooth and TurboSmooth modifiers to models with reinforced edges required me to distort the texture in certain areas to make it look right when applied. Oddly enough, eliminating as many three-sided polygons as possible also created some artifacts with the eyeballs, so I may eventually end up breaking the helmet down into polygon constructs that clip into each other rather than leave it as one solid piece, adding some three-sided polygons with the eyes, and redoing the unwraps. Right now, though, my priority is to animate.

And my 3D animation demo reel is finally ready. Bit sparse right now, but I plan to try doing one to two more animations per month in order to pad it out.

The walk/run cycles aren't too bad, if a bit 'robotic' - even taking the character into account you can look at any of Mega Man's cycles in his games and there's a lot more hip/spine motion going on there, especially his big sprites in Marvel Vs. Capcom:



Granted these are drawings that aren't conerned with his giant wrists existing in 3D space.

I don't use biped rigs any more (Digital Tutors have a great series on character rigging in Max) but his feet appear to have some IK issues with wobbling as his feet slide across the floor there. The arcs on his limbs and center of mass are on the right track though, maybe his neck could do with being angled ever so slightly more forward.

His wrist appears really weird during the pitching motion like it's just kind of juddering about without travelling on smooth arc (trying keeping the elbow straight as the arm swings forward). That pitch all seems a little weightless - the windup is kind of half-hearted and then he very slowly tosses the ball in a jittery stop-start motion as he steps foward (the IK solver on that foot appears to be wobbling a tiny bit too here) before coming to a sudden halt halfway through balancing himself.

I really recommend reading up on the 12 principles of animation, especially squashing and stretching and exaggeration for a character like that, as well as anticipation and ease in-ease out.

(03-31-2015, 05:13 PM)The 100 Mega Shock! Wrote: [ -> ]The walk/run cycles aren't too bad, if a bit 'robotic' - even taking the character into account you can look at any of Mega Man's cycles in his games and there's a lot more hip/spine motion going on there, especially his big sprites in Marvel Vs. Capcom:



Granted these are drawings that aren't conerned with his giant wrists existing in 3D space.

I don't use biped rigs any more (Digital Tutors have a great series on character rigging in Max) but his feet appear to have some IK issues with wobbling as his feet slide across the floor there. The arcs on his limbs and center of mass are on the right track though, maybe his neck could do with being angled ever so slightly more forward.

His wrist appears really weird during the pitching motion like it's just kind of juddering about without travelling on smooth arc (trying keeping the elbow straight as the arm swings forward). That pitch all seems a little weightless - the windup is kind of half-hearted and then he very slowly tosses the ball in a jittery stop-start motion as he steps foward (the IK solver on that foot appears to be wobbling a tiny bit too here) before coming to a sudden halt halfway through balancing himself.

I really recommend reading up on the 12 principles of animation, especially squashing and stretching and exaggeration for a character like that, as well as anticipation and ease in-ease out.

Thanks for the feedback. Comments on your comments:

1. I was only able to take the hip and spine motions so far because I wanted to minimize clipping and bizarre deformations. The Kotobukiya plastic model kits this was based on can't even assume many of the extreme positions this 3D model was forced to. I'm going to have to go back and reweight the thigh and hip areas and rerender this again sometime.

2. The IK issue was something that I was aware of, but, before you gave it a definitive name, I couldn't figure out how to google the problem so I fix it. I'll have a closer look at it for the next demo reel.

3. The pitch has fewer issues now that it previously did. I'll try and incorporate some of the changes you mentioned, but, to be honest, I used quite a few real-life references while doing this and none of them had a straight arm while the arm swings forward. The wrist looks odd because it continues moving backwards when the arm stops moving, something which is also seen in real life. I noticed this as well, but I was doing my best to mimic what I was observing.