Senjen's Earthbound/Mother Custom Model

[Roxas358]

In Blender you need to select the faces you want to unwrap, then press U and choose Unwrap. In the UV editor you can move the Unwrapped UV's to wherever you want. S to scale the UV's. G to move them around. R to rotate.

That's how you can fix the lips.

[senjen]

i redid the texture here's what it looks like now tell me what you think?

[TGE]

It isnt smooth... you just have to use a soft brush on some of these places...

i redid the texture here's what it looks like now tell me what you think?

[Peardian]

The texture needs a lot of work. Other than the improved image quality, I'd say your first attempt was better. Basic image creation/editing is a bit out of the scope of those forum, but I'll still try and help.

The biggest issue is that the lines aren't smooth. They're very rough and lumpy, and the top side of the mouth has a lot of unnaturally sharp lines. There are two solutions for this. One is simply very careful painting, going in and making sure everything looks nice and smooth. If you're using a mouse to paint like I assume you are, try using broad quick strokes when painting. Going slower allows more time for you hand to tremble, which results in the kind of lumpiness you see here. Another solution is to use vectors, which take care of the smoothness for you. I'm not sure what you use to make the textures, but Photoshop has vectors for sure. If you need help with this, there are plenty of tutorials out there for using them.

The other big problem is a lack of symmetry. In case you haven't heard that term before, having symmetry means that both sides of an image or model are practically the same. If you flip around a perfectly symmetrical image, it will look exactly the same. The problem here is that the image doesn't. The shape and thickness of the mouth change all over, meaning that one side is much different from the other. If you compare the tallest points of the lips and mouth line, you'll see they are even at different heights. This is asymmetry, which can make images look bad if looks like something that is supposed to be symmetrical.

Now, it can be difficult to gauge symmetry by looking at it, especially if you're not looking for it. It can be even harder to make a symmetrical image without lots of careful measuring. So, my advice to you is to focus on one specific half of the image, and when you're done, copy that half, flip it around, and paste it on the other side to complete the image.

The last thing is really more of an artistic thing than a technical issue. When you're making a drawing or model from a source, like a sprite, it can be really easy to blindly duplicate what you see in the source without thinking too much about it. We've all done it at some point. In order for your creation to be really good, you have to actually sit and think about what the sprite is supposed to be, not just what it looks like. You're drawing a mouth like the one on the sprite, but what it mean to draw a mouth? What are the white lines? What is the black line? Well, think about the parts of a mouth. The white parts must be the lips, since they surround the mouth. What does that make the black line, then? The black line is the dividing crease between the upper and lower lips, the shaded part of the lips that meet each other in front of the closed mouth. The black line is not an object, or a part of the model, but an outline of the lips. As such, it's going to be either very thin or not seen at all. Think about this as you redo your texture. Here's something else to think about: if you're drawing a mouth, then try to imagine what the mouth would look like if it were to open. You don't have to draw it, but imagine it in your mind as you look at the image. This should help you make a more natural-looking mouth.

The shading's not bad, though it's not perfect. Fixing it can wait until you improve the shape of the mouth first.

[senjen]

ok i tried using some vectors from some tutorials i watched, as well as i made the symmetry the same on the texture here as well i hope this is perfect now

[Peardian]

It's an improvement. The symmetry makes it look nicer, even if the shape still isn't perfect. However, you still need to work on the shape. The lines are rough and wavy, and there's a sharp corner above the mouth line, which looks unnatural. How many handles on you vector are you using? Because I'm guessing you're either hand-drawing the vectors, or using a lot of handles. (The handles being the points you control the line with.) I challenge you try and make the mouth shape with only 5 handles, 2 of which being in the center. The mouth line is also still a bit too thick and rough. It shouldn't be hard to fix with vectors.


Though, I am baffled as to how you create your images, though. How are you going about making them? Why is the mouth suddenly all pixelated and jpeg'd? What is your process?

[senjen]

i don't know why my textures do that honestly i've used alot of photo manipulation programs and it does the same thing, good news is though i i redid the model from scratch again, also i think i need help with my textures, every time i tried using the vectors again it makes it look worse than my third attempt at the textures, here's the textures in their original design http://www.sendspace.com/file/a1qjy9

I made 2 versions of Smilin Sphere again,



i prefer the one on the right side what do you think?

[Peardian]

The textures still look pretty bad, if not worse than before. What exactly are you doing to make these? Drawing it small, exporting as a jpeg, increasing the size, and then coloring it? Because that's what it looks like.


As for the new mesh, those do look better. At least from this angle, the shape looks good and more like a natural mouth. For the left one, the lighting makes it hard to tell if it is symmetrical or not. If it is, that's good. For the one on the right side, it's a good idea. It shows that you're getting a better grasp on the concept of the character you're modeling.


As for which one is better, the best thing to do would be to combine aspects of both of them into one model. With the left one, having the lips raised out gives it nice detail, but you have to remember that it is a mouth, and that the top and bottom of the lips are independent from each other. Having them both combined as one single bump doesn't look very natural. Each lip has its own complete curve to it. As for the one on the right, having the mouth inset is good, but it's too thick. Rather than being a smile, it looks more like a carved hole. You want to make it thin to the point of being almost a sliver, so that it looks like a mostly-closed mouth. So, in order to combine these two designs, you would have the curves of the lips, which curve inward into the crevice of the mouth.

If you're having trouble thinking of how to do it, try looking up reference images of profile views of mouths and lips. Sometimes having a good visual to look at makes all the difference.