I'm working on a model of Ben Kenobi from Episode 4. Here is a very early screenshot of his head. even though the head mesh isn't finished, I've already skinned the face. I tend to build my face mesh and skin at the same time so it comes out looking more like the person I'm trying to build. This is still in it's very early stages, I plan to make the beard and hair stick out a bit from the mesh, right now it just painted right on his face and head.
http://www.babylonius.com/invasion/jedimodels/oldbenearlyhead.jpg)
OK.......interesting production pipeline you have there. I would consider that highly unproductive. It would seem to be more benifishal if you at least completed the facial mesh. Then applied you texture. If I were you, you might wanna consider a new pipline, you might be pleased..........Anyways. FIX the beard please..Make it more random, we are talking about an old man here, He needs a little bit of randominess in the beard, Its too neat and organized.
The actually skin tone is that of 20 year old. Rich and colorful...By the way, Take back your light source when rendering. Also to improve your mesh.......Take off any specualr highlights off the texture....if your using max there is a dial in the texture editor.
I like the eyes alot.....they appear to be the right size, However that beek of a nose is throwing everything off....Other than that......it appears you have the proper protions in the facial area _BESIDE the nose_
great work keep it up.
Hey, best of luck, KevinCoyle!
Ep4 Obi-Wan is hands down my most desired character for this game and probably the most overlooked character in this community.
I shall keep my eye on your progress for sure.
It's an early start still, but you have captured his look slightly :)
His nose, no doubt looks a little too wide, but his eyes, nose and mouth seem to be lined up well, in relation to eachother.
-nomad
May the force be with you
OK.......interesting production pipeline you have there. I would consider that highly unproductive. It would seem to be more benifishal if you at least completed the facial mesh. Then applied you texture. If I were you, you might wanna consider a new pipline, you might be pleased..........Anyways. FIX the beard please..Make it more random, we are talking about an old man here, He needs a little bit of randominess in the beard, Its too neat and organized.
I guess I should have phrased that differently. I don't mean That I start making the skin when the head is still a box, I do make the mesh first but I don't wait until I think it's perfect before adding the face skin, once the mesh get's to a certain point, I do both together to really get it the way I want it. It doesn't take to much more time to select the face polygons and click the "apply texture" buttons.
Good idea about the beard, I'll work on that soon, and I do plan to fix the skin tone, like you said, it makes him look to young, plus it contrasts to much with his hair and beard. And I'll definatly fix the nose.
Originally posted by nomad
Ep4 Obi-Wan is hands down my most desired character for this game and probably the most overlooked character in this community.
Well, I have 1 skin of him already out. There are probably more around, just have to look. :o
Good job so far, but anything I have to add it looks like you said you'll already fix. I'm looking forward to your next update! Nothing more fun than old guys running around with sabers. :D
Edit: Is he supposed to have a line running down the middle of his face like that?
Here's a slight update to the head. I haven't gotten to changing the beard texture yet, but I changed the skin tone somewhat, added some various detail and thinned out the nose.
http://www.babylonius.com/invasion/jedimodels/oldbenearlyhead2.jpg)
Good update. A few comments though. Shave the point from the end of the nose. And his face looks a bit odd. Like it doesn't fit on the model right. Try some altering of the facial model. So it better fits the skin.
you really need to add detail to the face, it looks like you pasted the skin over a flat surface with a bump for a nose.
I think considering you just started, you've captured his likeness pretty well. I do agree that more detail needs to be added to the face, and the beard looks a little too thick, but i'm sure you'll get to that as you go along. Keep it up, it's a good start.
WoW! That is so much better than the other pictures. I hope you can keep the quality up throughout the model.
[edit]
Though I do beleive that the nose is just a tad bit big.
I don't know if anyone's mentioned this or noticed this yet (although it's hard NOT to notice), but his nose is a bit big.
Have the facial hair stick out. And don't forget real eyes.
im impressed, but i have to agree there needs to be real eyes and his beard needs to be attached (if thats the right word?) but on the whole it looks very good.
FATTEH
For a first attempt I'd have to say good job man. The new update is looking great. Good job! :)
Well, I gave him real eyes instead of skinned ones. I think they need to be tweeked still, he seems to look less like ben then he did before, also the eyelids need work. I also worked on his nose a little more and made it a bit smaller, and pulled out his mustache and beard a little
http://www.babylonius.com/invasion/jedimodels/oldobiwanhead4.jpg)
By comparison i think when u have completed the eyelids then it should look like ben again, its the darkness around his eyes that is the reason for the nonlikeness ( <- is that a real word ???)
FATTEH
I must say Kevin, you have a fabilous resemblence thus far, what's the poly count on that head right now?
I'm starting to really understand why some modelers put a skin on their models very early into the game, it really helps with proportions. I'm going to begin to try and use this technique on my next model :)
Toonces
www.drivingcatstudios.com)
Powered by Sith :lightning
I think the latest update looks less like him then the one before. Whatever you did with the eyes changed his look too much. The skin tone is better now though.
I'll definatly fix the eyes, so don't worry about that. And for Toonces, the head has 850 polys in it right now. I shouldn't need much more, I mostly just need to tweek what I've got so far to make it look right
Well now I think he kind of looks like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. Maybe shrink his nose a bit?
Everyone one's been saying that ever since I did.
I think it looks good...and a lot like him...least better than the one in the game right now. Looks much much much improved since the first screenies of him you made.
Here's another update. I fixed the eyelids and made several adjustments here and there trying to make it look as close to obi-wan as possible. There's two screenshots here. The first one is an update like all the others, the second one is a rendering from the front next to one of the pictures I'm using for reference.
Update5 (
http://www.babylonius.com/invasion/jedimodels/oldobiwanhead5.jpg)
UpdatewithRefPic (
http://www.babylonius.com/invasion/jedimodels/oldobiwanhead5ref.jpg)
Very nice. My observation, the nose should be a tad shorter, and the ears should come out more. His mustache is also a tad less thick.
Really nice looking resemblence!
That reference picture is a little strange. Did you doctor that one up yourself to get a straight on image of his face? It's clearly a mirrored image (one half of his face) and some of the preportions seem a little off. Your model looks better than that ref pic. :)
One little thing, I see a problem with the pupils. They should lie centered within the iris. I see that the reference pic has these weird ecliptical pupils and that you have the same on your model. I've noticed this in one pic that I have of him as well (I think it's the same one you got most of that ref pic from) but I think it's just a weird shadow or the angle, because no one should have pupils like that. Just trying to help ;)
Keep in mind though, that the eyes look fantastic besides this point, and I hope that you can fix the problem without losing that certain something that you have captured thus far.
K.O. -
I'm aware of the skins out there, but I do not think a skin with prequel-like jedi garments qualifies as being a good representation of such a legendary character. I mean ZERO offense. I've seen three skins of him, and all have been good jobs with what there was to work with, but until there is an Old Ben with full length robes, in my obsessive, Star Wars-Puristic Opinion, he has been "overlooked" And please do not " :o " at me. It seems as though you were making an attempt to appear as though you were talking down to me. That is not appreciated.
Nonetheless, I did not mean to sound like I was complaining with my original comments. I was merely stating my happiness with the fact that somebody had begun a WIP of this character.
Keep up the good work KevinCoyle.
-nomad
MTFBWY
I have to say ur reference pic Mr obi-wan looks a little .....roughed up but it looks like u have compensated 4 that. on the whole its looking more like him again, the only thing i would change is making his beard a little more rough around the edges and move his ears out a little more to stick out a bit.
FATTEH
overall top job keep it up :)
I'd be intrested to see a flat shader on that head. You've got more than enough faces to pull a very accurate head off I bet, it's looking good :D A side shot would be nice too, the front of the head looks a little pointy
I agree with you nomad, the model itself looks much better than that refrence pic, and to back you up nomad, a custom model is always prefrable to a reskin of an existing model, there is just so much more that you can do
Toonces
www.drivingcatstudios.com)
Powered by Sith :lightning
His eyes look a little too crossed.
Another Update. I'm think I'm just about ready to start skinning the rest of the head and to finalize the face texture (Adding randomness to the beard, and making his hair wilder and combed forward and to the like it is in most of my reference pictures, instead of back like I have it now. Any suggestions before I continue?
http://www.babylonius.com/invasion/jedimodels/oldobiwanhead6.jpg)
This face has come along way. It looks very much like him now. I look forward to seeing this model completed very much. Great Job!!!!!!!:D
yeah, he still looks a bit cross eyed. otherwise, very nice!
PS. I want to learn how to MODEL!!! i need a tutorial that is actually helpful. ah well
Yeah, I guess he still is a bit cross eyed, no big deal to fix.
I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the compliments and constructive critism. You've all been a big help in helping me get the head to look right. No one really said "This model blows" in the early stages of develpment when it's obviously not going to look good. I appreciate that.
Kevin,
I suggest going back to skinned eyes versus real ones. With the skinned ones it looked WAY more like him. Since you changed to "real" eyes, I think it's lost his likeness. Just change it out again and put two pics of it side by side (one skinned eyes, one real) and you'll see what I mean.
Also, here's some links for reference pics:
http://cgi.theforce.net/theforce/multimedia/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Images/Classic_Trilogy/Characters/Obi-Wan_Kenobi/Miscellaneous&image=Kenobi2.jpg&img=&tt=)
http://cgi.theforce.net/theforce/multimedia/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Images/Classic_Trilogy/Characters/Obi-Wan_Kenobi/A_New_Hope&image=obiwan5.jpg&img=&tt=)
Looks quite nice
At least it looks like Ben, the skins we have now don't
There are way too many great models coming:D
It's annoying to know that there are so many of them coming
Well....I'll see what I'll do when they come out:)
Wow man I just got back home and I checked the forums. The updates are much better then I had expected. You've come a long way in such a short time. Great work man. Can't wait to see what you do next. Also a suggestion, Maybe try to make a cloaked version and a noncloaked version (like Tyrion). Or make two versions, one with the anh clothes and one with the aotc clothes. Just a suggestion. Take it easy everyone. ;)
Jessman can you give me JediPlus3.4
here (
http://www.jediknightii.net/files/index.php?link=file&id=925) ya go man. We actually use this mod on our server. Jetpacks are now available for use on this mod and our server. :) **plug** Take it easy fellas. ;)
Only slight adjusments would perfect it. Such as giving him a bit less forehead, and having his ears come out more. But its a great resemblance.
My only suggestion right now is to change the angle of his eyebrows a bit. Bring the outsides of the eyebrows up a bit and the insides down. Right now he looks a bit sad, and while in some ways that would be in character for him, he seemed to have more of a mischevious look to him most of the time :)
Here is an early rendering of the body with the head. I haven't attached the head yet because the two halves of the body haven't been welding together yet. He currently does not have the brown robe. Any suggestions would be helpful.
http://www.babylonius.com/invasion/jedimodels/benbody1.jpg)
His body looks a bit short and stubby.
Easy enough to fix, this one should look better..........
http://www.babylonius.com/invasion/jedimodels/benbody2.jpg)
Is that him with the robe on? If so the robe should come over his feet, and it should be alot baggier. I think that may be the problem. It looks better than before though.
Edit: That and his arms look a little short.
Thanks for the pics, you're starting to get me excited.
Are you using the .xsi skeleton as a basis to build the model around? That will help make sure you have the arm lengths and such at good lengths.
I would say that his torso looks a little too wide or thick from the front. That looks like the thickness he'd probably have with his outer brown robe on. I also agree that his arms seem to be short.
The belt might be a bit too low, but more apparent to me is that he should have a wide peice of cloth around his waist with the leather belt centered over it. You may have known that and just not gotten to it yet, but I just figured I'd offer everything I could think of right off the bat.
Well anyway, it is very cool seeing a body being made for good old Ben Kenobi!
-nomad
MTFBWY
I've Uvwmapped the model, and I've just started on the skins. Mostly all it is now is color with a few temperary lines I'm using to fit everything together and the make sure the robe lines up on the seperate parts. I know not all the lines line up yet, the robe is reversed on the torso in relation to the robe over the legs.
http://www.babylonius.com/invasion/jedimodels/benbody3.jpg)
Very cool!!
Oh, Heh I see you do have the cloth belt there.
I don't know how much you've tweaked anything, but it looks better now, possibly just because the basic colors are in place.
He still may be a bit too solid in the chest, but I'm sure you'll tweak it right. This model is looking very nice.
I really think you've captured his face extremely well.
I made a soundpack for Old Ben a while ago, and I was just making a new one with sounds fresh from the laserdiscs because my freind was going to make a model of him. However, your likeness is so good, it looks as though we'll be very happy with your work. I was wondering if you would like me to contribute towards the soundpack? Just let me know if you'd rather handle that yourself, because I can understand that.
Great job so far, and thanks for your hard work.
-nomad
MTFBWY