ut2k4 Character: Juggernaut 'Lite'

[asphaltcowboy]

Hey guys. Well, I've been playing loads and loads of ut2k4 of late and have been doing lots of reading about modding, character modeling, skinning and texturing etc and I've decided to have a crack at it.

The backstory/inspiration for this design came from the standard (Gorge) Juggernaut model that ships with ut2k4 (updated from 2k3). It's probably my favourite model in the game and I fancied adding my own twist to it. So here it is: When I started drawing it, it was supposed to be a Lite version of the Juggernaut model, perhaps something that new Juggernaut recruits would wear before being taken on in the squad.. but it's ended up kinda hefty.. Although, it's still definitely smaller than the Juggernaut model and since most characters in ut2k4 are hefty, I think I'll be ok.

Original Drawing (at 25%)
http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/25pc_fullscan.jpg

Front Image
http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/front.jpg

Side Images
http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/side-noarm.jpg http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/side-arm.jpg

The drawings are fairly simple, but they have the detail I need to start putting it all together. I started with the front-facing image (and only actually did half of it, I copied and mirrored the other side (for symmetry). God, the side drawing was soooooooo difficult! I did that after doing the front shot. Then.. well.. there's the arm. I kinda left it out of the original side drawing because I was trying to concentrate on how the body would look. A quick bit of photoshop magic and now I can change between the arm and 'armless pics with the greatest of ease!

All my reference pics are scaled and aligned, so that should prevent any major complications and the design is based on the original Juggernaut model, so I should be able to port the existing animations over to this guy (although, I'd like to do some of my own animating at some point).

Crits, comments, ideas all appreciated.

ps. Before anyone says "Oh, the head is waaaay too small", I'd encourage you to look at the original Juggernaut models, as their heads all look really small compared to their bodies.. It's weird.. in-game, it just all kinda.. works..

Gorge (Juggernaut) - Original Model from UT2K4
http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/gorge-front.jpg

[asphaltcowboy]

Modeling (in Maya) so far: Just the leg, but it's going ok (I think.. ). I think I'm pushing the polycount a little at the moment, so I need to clean it up a bit. Nearing 700 polys just for one leg.. not sure if that's waaaay too much or not - I think I'll just need to be more reserved when it comes to the upper body! The final model should be in the region of 2500-3000 polys, though it can be higher (so I'm told).

Comments and crits appreciated!

Leg Playblasts:
http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/leg1.jpg http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/leg2.jpg http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/leg3.jpg

[.soulty]

nice start :thumb: i didnt know you could use Maya and model :!: ;)

is that all one mesh or seperate objects for the leg? Keep in mind to not over work the model. keep it simple and really work hard on the texturing, which is what they pretty much have done.

[asphaltcowboy]

Yeah, computer animation student and all (supposedly :sure: ). I was inspecting the stock models from the game and it looks as though (to me anyway) that the main leg is all one object, but the appendages (such as armour, ammoclips, backpacks etc) are separate objects, so I've tried to replicate that (I've got a few posts on some Unreal Modeling forums - seeing what other people that to say about that). Yeah, I do need to clean up the model quite a lot - It's amazing how simple they can keep the stock models. I think I'm fairly safe within the limits for now though. Texturing is gonna be a b!tch (isn't it always? ;)), but I'm looking forward to porting it into the game :D

[EZEkiel]

looks cool as !!! you gonna show kirupa your final model cause that would be super !!!!


hope it all goes wel!!

cheers
:panda:E!kO:panda:

[T-O]

WoW that's awesome... I just started learning Maya... I am looking throw the 3dBuzz video's...

[.soulty]

pretty good arent that t-o, the video that is.

[asphaltcowboy]

WoW that's awesome... I just started learning Maya... I am looking throw the 3dBuzz video's...
Cheers dude! yeah, I've been looking through some tutes as well - unfortunately, in order to get the ones about ut2k3/4 character modeling, boning, skinning, exporting etc you have to have a 'star' - by contributing to the community: so I'm posting crits left, right and centre :)

[Sauce2k]

Nice start :}

[asphaltcowboy]

Update: Ok, so it seems as though I haven't done that much extra work since before, but trust me, I have - removed a whole load of excess polys from the model - both legs (plus the stomach shown) now weigh in at just under 1400 polys. And that's with all the faces triangulated as well (on the legs anyway) - no 4+-sided faces on this baby's legs! Kinda gone back to basic as much as possible with the model (to both decrease the poly count and make it easier to texture) - Gonna concentrate on texturing to add the real details.

http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/mid1.jpg http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/mid2.jpg

http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/mid3.jpg http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/mid4.jpg

Let me know what you think! :D

[McGuffin]

Very nice. Props to you :)

[T-O]

can't wait till the top goes on.

[asphaltcowboy]

cheers! :) I have noticed though, that the boots are a little thin and the upper body is perhaps a little smaller than it should be. Anyone else think this? Rather than risk messing with the reference images, I'm gonna carry on modeling as is and then probably make the body wider/larger afterwards. Much safer :)

[.soulty]

nice work dude, glad to see you are going to concentrate more on the texturing. model is coming together nicely :thumb: Reasonable poly count too :).

Keep it up ! ;)

[I am the Noah]

Wow! keep up the good work, thats amazing :beam:

[nobody]

I'm not really into FPS and the like, but I think this is really cool, I hope you continue with it and finish, it looks really nice.

[mdipi]

wow man VERY nice! :thumb:

The boots do look a bit small, but whatever, looks great still :thumb:

[DariusMonsef]

Good Looking and Talented too!
This is looking awesome mate. Keep it up. I want to see the next stage.

[Lost]

****, impressive, I myself am a multimedia student at ITT. hope I get to do this crap. Props to you, great job

[Raydred]

Wow! ... man i can NOT get the hang of modeling lol

well maybe im impatient, but good Job! =) cant wait to see (and use) your model =)

[asphaltcowboy]

Cheers guys!!

Update: More or less done with the chest for now (happy with it at least) - will have to make some minor modifications along the centre line once I've actually combined the two halves and stitched them. This is also why he has big holes where his nose and mouth should be at the moment, since the polys will cross the centre line. The head still needs work imo, but it might just be because it has no texture (see how incredibly simple the stock models heads are..) I can't tell..

Still need to make the boots bigger (and rounder) :rolleyes:

Just one half:
http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/half_noarm1.jpg

Front of mirrored halves (no wire and wire):
http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/half_noarm2.jpg

http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/half_noarm2w.jpg

Back of mirrored halves (no wire and wire):
http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/half_noarm3.jpg

http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/half_noarm3w.jpg

Front and side x-ray wires with image planes:
http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/half_noarm4f.jpg

http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/half_noarm4s.jpg

Again, opinions appreciated! :)

[prstudio]

i like it so far man,
the only thing i can think of - is the support bars on the calve muscles- might try to make it look more like a hydraulic arm / car shock (that is a piston device) - it looks awful stiff and not like it would add any functionality to his suit.

I think the feet size is ok after all - wearing combar pants/suit gear would make your legs and body appear bigger than your feet proportionally speaking.

[danielthelion]

i think the character in general looks stiff...i know juggernauts...and juggernauts are powerful unstoppable forces. this guy definately looks tough, but he needs to look agile as well. think about how you are going to give this character life. modellers are a dime a dozen and usually engineers are hired to model, but the animation is when this character is going to come to life. can he move in a realistic, lifelike manner? or will his movements be robotic and stiff?

[asphaltcowboy]

The main thinking behind the bars was to give a look of rigidity and support. Interesting idea turning them into pistons.. but I'm still undecided.. I like the idea of having some bars supporting his poor 'not quite ready for the full juggernaut suit' legs ;)

http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/gorge-front.jpg

He looks agile to you? I think the main reason they both look stiff is because they're in their bind pose and haven't been boned and put into poses. I don't think the original Juggernaut model looks particularly stiff in-game and since my model is fairly heavily based on the original, I can't see their being a problem. We shall see I guess..

Cheers lads!

[T-O]

Cheers dude! yeah, I've been looking through some tutes as well - unfortunately, in order to get the ones about ut2k3/4 character modeling, boning, skinning, exporting etc you have to have a 'star' - by contributing to the community: so I'm posting crits left, right and centre :)
true... the star... crazy... Now only 0.2% that are at the forums can download the movie's... those 0.2% probally know ever second of those movie;s


about the model:
the feet are to small.. It's like baby feet... You need to give him somewhat bigger feet..

[.soulty]

i like it :) i was thinking why dont u model the arm as well before you mirror the geometry?

[asphaltcowboy]

I will, I'm just posting how the model looks overall: I'm still only working with one side at the moment - the arm is the next task :D

[Galenmereth]

[El_Thierro]

I browsed trough this thread with pleasure, it's always great to see the progress in projects like these all at once. Besides, I'm a huge fan of UT2k3 & 2k4, and although I generally don't like the Juggernauts, you're doing some great work here.
Can't wait to see the finished model :thumb:

[Redrvltn]

What game modes do you play, and what's your handle?

[El_Thierro]

What game modes do you play, and what's your handle?
Mostly CTF InstaGib, and if by handle you mean nickname: just El_Thierro :)

[asphaltcowboy]

I'm still working away at this beast and the good news is: I've almost finished! (The modeling anyway - yay!). So here we go, it's that time of the show again: screeny time!

http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/full-nohead1.jpg

http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/full-nohead2.jpg

http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/full-nohead3.jpg

http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/full-nohead4.jpg

http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/full-nohead5.jpg

I'm very pleased with how the body has turned out, I've done a whole LOAD of optimising and he's 2888 tri-polys (without the head). I should be able to keep him on or under 3000, but it won't matter if he goes a little over. I wasn't best pleased with the head but I like the face (see below). The head was an inconvenient shape and not easy to work with/make look right. So I deleted it.. apart from the face. Gonna take another look at the Gorge model to see how the head is constructed and might be able to take away some useful techniques (will do that tomorrow), it's late.

http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/full-face.jpg

I know the arms and legs look a little gangly at the moment, but bear in mind that this is the bind pose: this should all be rectified once I stick some bones in and get posing/applying animations.

I'm also thinking about character names. I'm thinking 'Rollcage' :D but if anyone has any other suggestions (along with all-important constructive comments and crits) that'd be great! :)

[mdipi]

I didnt read your post, but going from the images:

The arms are really thin, and there are no hands (i take it those are still a WIP, but the arms need to be "beefed" or "pumped" up if you catch my drift).

Overall the body looks really really good, just the arms make him look like a wimp (not a pimp).

The face seems to be coming along, looking forward to seeing more of that.

[asphaltcowboy]

Nope, hands are done. Take a look at the original in-game models: the hands are literally made from pentagon/hexagon shape with a vert in the centre. No point wasting good polys on them when they're almost always covered by guns. As for the arms.. I kinda see what you mean, but the point of the model was he was meant to be 'in training'. I could beef them up a tiny bit, but a) I don't have a lot of room considering the shoulder pads and shoulder covers and b) there is actually no armour on his upper arms, so they're not going to be as huge as his lower arms for example.

I'll finish the head tomorrow - should only be a few hundred polys (if that).

Cheers for your crits mdipi m8! Muchos appreciated! :D

[senocular]

just wanted to say Awesome Job asphaltcowboy =)

:thumb:

[mdipi]

I see what you mean dan, and once its textured, it will look TOTALY different.

cant wati to see the rest :thumb:

[.soulty]

wow man, looking great :thumb:
i was just wondering , what modeling method did you use to construct the body, create poly tool? box modeling?

[asphaltcowboy]

Cheers guys! :D I feel so loved :love: (I've had 660-odd views on cgtalk and about 3 replies :() Oh well :D As for the modeling method: box. I think the very first thing I started with was his lower leg. Should be noted that all the appendages (leg guards, arm guards and shoulder guards as well as the belt, tubes, kneepads etc) are all separate objects from the main body. Originally I was going to do each limb section as a separate object as well, but from looking at the stock models it it became apparent that they had got a full mesh for the body and separate objects for the extra bits that simply intersect the body mesh.

There were a couple of occasions where I used the Append to Polygon Tool, but I just found box modeling easier and faster (except when you make miscalculations about how many sides or subdivisions you need! :sure: )

Depending on how well it converts in ut2k4, I may have to do some major tweakage (i.e. sticking everything together - hassles! ;))

[T-O]

presss 3 3 3 3 3 3 high res.... :) Someparts your going to have to smooth out... not all but some parts.

[.soulty]

smoothed out? for a in game model :h:

(press 3 only works for nubs :P )

[asphaltcowboy]

Um, no T-O, don't think I'll be smoothing it - it's a low-poly in-game model: I'm trying to get it in the game, not trying to crash it! :) Take a look at the stock models for ut2k4... honestly, you'll be amazed how few polygons they use: things that look so complex in the game are so so simple when you look at them closely. It's all about the texturing babeh!

[.soulty]

It's all about the texturing babeh!TRUE DAT! texturing is One BIG step in 3d and can define the quality of the model.

[asphaltcowboy]

texturing is One BIG step in 3d and can define the quality of the model.
Yeah and it's my next big hurdle! :huh: (any tips soulty?)

[.soulty]

-dont try to close the door with your foot in the way.. it hurts.....yeah...

ohh you mean texturing tips... hmm really all depends on your model. try to look for some unwrapping uv tips cause thats prob the biggest hurdle.

i think 3d-palace and 3dbuzz have some vid tut on texturing.

[asphaltcowboy]

3dbuzz is b0rked at the moment - can't get to the forums, can't get to the vids. Nothing. Zip. Nowt. Found a good thread tutorial on UVing on CGtalk though thread tutorial on UVing on CGtalk (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=76206), which I found via LearningMaya.com (http://www.learningmaya.com/). Had a skim read, and it seems ok.. seems to be the most comprehensive one i've found so far.. gonna look into that properly once I've finished the head.. which is what I'm gonna do now :)

[Lost]

ooooh, looking very nice;

As for the character name how about, Commander Lost ?? // lol;

-edit- lol did you notice I put ; on the end of every sentence? I just got done from a HUGE programing session in PHP, funny, it was on sessions too.

[ironikart]

Nice work so far. Have you given much thought to rigging him afterwards? his knee joints aren't set for much flexibility... I can't quite see his hip joints clearly, but you might have a little trouble around the arse with textures being stretched.

The only thing I don't like about modelling in tris is the texturing afterwards. It's harder to get a good visual reference of where the UV's lay, and how all the flattened parts fit together. With a UT2K4 model you can afford to spend more polys (I'd set 4K as your max)... I'd really only model in triangles when you need to scrimp and save on each poly spent.

[asphaltcowboy]

Cheers ironikart: I have thought about rigging and whatnot and it is a little worrying, but I've been using the stock models as reference all the way through, so I'm hoping it should work out in the end. When you see the models in game, there is actually quite a lot of deformation in the mesh during movement, but it still works. As for the arse, the way they texture it means that it should stretch a little and look normal (by adding folds in the texture).

I'd rather not go too far above 3000 polys if I can help it - I want everyone to be able to use it. Cheers for your comments :)

[Kajinku]

This is... well, (I just *have* to use an American for this) AWESOME! Great job! :thumb:
Extremely sexeh!

[asphaltcowboy]

oooof! Sorry for not posting for so long guys - been stuck trying to get this thing done - This thread actually made it all the way to the 3rd page! :eek: But, the good news is... it's done! :) The model is complete and I have actually done the UV unwrapping as well, but I'm not very happy with it and may actually start that again (despite how frigging long it takes to do!), but the model itself is complete. Done. Finished. Finito. Fin.

Lemme know what you think!

http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/Finished_S.jpg

http://www.asphaltdesign.co.uk/images/juggernaut/Finished_T.jpg

[.soulty]

cool stuff, give him a clown skin for much around sake. lol

or a kirupa tshirt. lol have him as a kirupa mascot. :P

[T-O]

The back looks cool... But from the front he looks like well just tubby


The colored one is less... Can't see it that well...

So when are the textures going to be aplied.

[Coppertop]

*hopes that tute's will follow - it would be among the best tutes on kirupa.com*

[.soulty]

hows the texture going asphalt? any wip?

[mdipi]

His arms still seem a bit smooth, but it looks GREAT!

[asphaltcowboy]

*hopes that tute's will follow - it would be among the best tutes on kirupa.com*ooof! A tute... I could do - would take a really long time though ;) Now I'm back at uni, with exams coming up, not sure how much time I'll have to dedicate to 'fun stuff' :)


hows the texture going asphalt? any wip?Hehe, as I say, back at uni - so not a lot of time to juggle this stuff. I'm considering redoing my UVs because I don't like the map at the moment. but we'll see. I've got my tablet back, so I can start soon :)

[mlk]

errr - why is your UV map not following polys at all ??? how does it look unfolded ?

[GreenLantern]

This is some amazing stuff.

[pratik]

This is some amazing stuff.\

Just A W E S O m E :p:

[El_Thierro]

How on earth did you dig this up? :P

[Coppertop]

My best guess ;):

[El_Thierro]

Yeah, that or:

[REEF·]

Hahaha key word(s): p0rn! - rofl :lol:.

[BullDog_Flash]

Did you Buy Maya or did you get the Leanring version

[mlk]

heh if you're talking to asphalt

methinks he's taken a long holiday off the forums =) !