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vylycyn
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icon Beethro's Head... (+12)  
As anyone who has looked at my post on the questionare thread may have noticed, I enjoy making 3D backgrounds in my spare time.
I use POV-Ray no make most of them, but that program has started to become somewhat outdated.
Because of this, I have decided to learn how to use Blender.
Blender is an extremely different type of program, so it will take me some time for me to improve my skills in it.

In an attempt to improve my skills with Blender, I have decided to take up a project to make a 3D desktop background based off of DROD.
Not only is this likelily the most complex background I have ever made, but I will be making it on a program that I have not yet mastered.
This should take me a while, not to mention that I
By the time I finish, I should be very good at using Blender, and have a nice DROD Background for my computer.

I intend to make a full body model of beethro and a model of a giant roach for it, but I may change my mind if it becomes too difficult.


So far all I have done is make this model of Beethro's head, but I thought that I would post it here to give everyone a hint of what is to come.
I haven't added any texture yet, mainly because I don't understand how to do textures that well yet.

When I make more progress I will post it here.

And now, the head of Beethro...



[Edited by vylycyn at Local Time:03-26-2005 at 02:38 AM: added picture]

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[Last edited by vylycyn at 01-20-2006 10:46 PM]
03-26-2005 at 02:37 AM
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vylycyn
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File: beethrovshoard.blend (473 KB)
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icon Re: Beethro's Head... (0)  
Although I'm not done yet, I guess I might as well post the blender file. You will need Blender to open it.
You can use it for whatever you want, just give me credit if you do.


For those of you who want to see some of my older picturesthat I made using POV-Ray, I have a deviantART website here.
I have the Beethro renders in the scraps section since they are not yet finished.

[Edited by vylycyn at Local Time:03-26-2005 at 10:57 PM: newer version]

[Edited by vylycyn at Local Time:03-28-2005 at 05:38 AM: added link to old pictures]

[Edited by vylycyn at Local Time:04-22-2005 at 01:47 PM: much newer version with roaches]

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[Last edited by vylycyn at 01-20-2006 10:49 PM : Changed file and licencing.]
03-26-2005 at 02:42 AM
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Mattcrampy
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I love how much detail you've given the face! I can't wait to se what you with a roach.

If you don't mind some constructive criticism, I think the hair needs to be a bit thicker, though. But it's still far and away better than anything I could do. I tried to use Maya once and managed to make a cube. Oh, and a sphere.

Matt

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03-26-2005 at 08:12 PM
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ErikH2000
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That is really impressive, Vylycyn. I've recently messed around with modelling software for a work project, and the main thing I've learned is that I have a long, long way to go. Well, more accurately, if I were going to attempt a professional level of proficiency, I would have a long, long way to go. It would take me a while to catch up with you and make something like that Beethro head. And by that time, you'd probably be making Pixar-quality movies of Beethro scampering around perfectly rendered dungeons.

In DROD:AE, when I made a spinning Beethro head, I actually modelled it with clay, photographed it at eight angles, then cartooned over it. If you were around back then, I might have asked you if I could use your 3D model instead. :)

Keep up the good work, buddy!

-Erik

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03-26-2005 at 08:33 PM
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vylycyn
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icon Re: Beethro's Head... (+7)  
Thanks for the compliments.
I added some more to it today, as you can see in this new picture.



[Edited by vylycyn at Local Time:03-26-2005 at 11:00 PM]

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[Last edited by vylycyn at 01-20-2006 10:50 PM]
03-26-2005 at 11:00 PM
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ErikH2000
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Hey, Vylycyn!

I have this thing I gotta get done for another company quicklike. It is a spinning wizard head. Can you throw a wizard cap on top of the Beethro head, make his nose thin, and get me some frames at certain angles? I would use the frames to cartoon over like I did for AE. I'd pay you something for it, if you could do it in a hurry (like tonight). I only ask because right now you happen to be doing something amazingly similar to what I need. Maybe we could knock it out quick and simple. It doesn't have to look beautiful because I'm only using the model as a guide to drawing.

If you are interested, I'll post some more details about the number of frames and angles needed.

-Erik

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03-26-2005 at 11:12 PM
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larrymurk
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BEAUTIFUL!!!

:thumbsup

So, what are the chances these images could be incorporated in JTRH somewhere?
If it's not too late.

[Edited by larrymurk at Local Time:03-27-2005 at 03:23 PM]
03-27-2005 at 12:59 AM
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ErikH2000
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In case anyone is interested, Vylycyn and I got together off the forum and he made a very nice spinning wizard head with a passing resemblance to Beethro. Perfect for my project!

-Erik


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03-28-2005 at 02:04 AM
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ErikH2000
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icon Re: Beethro's Head... (+1)  
And here is V's wizard in a spinning animation from the frames he gave me. The encoding is screwy, but you get the idea.

-Erik

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03-28-2005 at 02:17 AM
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Malarame
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Very nice. You're very talented, Vylycyn. That's not something I could do. Erik, are you allowed to talk about this project of yours? What do you need a spinning Beethro-like wizard head for?

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03-28-2005 at 03:18 AM
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ErikH2000
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Malarame wrote:
Erik, are you allowed to talk about this project of yours? What do you need a spinning Beethro-like wizard head for?
Sorry, no--I'm under NDA for it. It has nothing to do with DROD or Beethro. After it's released, I'll probably say more.

-Erik

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03-28-2005 at 04:23 AM
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vylycyn
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icon Re: Beethro's Head... (+7)  
Thanks for all the compliments.

This is really turning out to be quite the learning experience.
I keep figuring out these neat tricks in Blender, and am getting more aquainted with the interface.
Although it is an extremely complex program to learn, once you understand it, it becomes extremely powerful.

I've spent an excessive amount of time in front of Blender this weekend, so I will probably take a break for a week or two(if I manage to hold out that long).
Even though I sometimes forget, there are more urgent things than DROD and computer graphics.

In the previous picture, I had the picture at that angle to cover up where his hands should be.
This is because I had not made hands for Beethro yet.
I have made an attempt at modeling a hand for the first time, and I must say that it really is as hard as it looks.
I still need to reshape the hands so that they go around the sword, but at least I have them modeled.

Heres a picture of my rendition of the hand of Beethro.
I tried to make the angle so that you could see as much of the detail as possible.



[Edited by vylycyn at Local Time:03-28-2005 at 05:31 AM]

[Last edited by vylycyn at 01-20-2006 10:52 PM : changed image to public domain.]
03-28-2005 at 05:29 AM
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bradwall
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Another ray tracing program that I really like is Now3D.
http://www.now3d.it/Eng/
Here is a link of some of the things that I have done with it... it is not the greatest (I have gotten better since I posted this stuff), but here it is (incase you are interested):
http://www.now3d.it/Users%20Galleries/Users/Brad%20Wall/Brad%20Wall.htm

03-28-2005 at 04:23 PM
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wackhead_uk
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One you don't want to use is PTC prodesktop. It is the most horrendous modelling program I have ever come across, yet it is somehow the British standard one used in schools...
03-28-2005 at 05:42 PM
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LeForce
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Don't you swear like that wackhead_uk!

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03-29-2005 at 09:22 PM
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vylycyn
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icon Re: Beethro's Head... (+8)  
Bradwall:
Those pictures remind me of some of my earlier pictures that I made in POV-Ray.
Even though Now3D looks like it is a good program, I think I already know enough computer graphics programs.

Everyone:
I know I said that I would try to avoid working on this for a while, but I just couldn't help myself.

I started working on the roach model today, and so far I like how it's coming along.
I still need to add more detail, and have not yet made any roach legs, but it looks reasonable from this angle.
I must say that I think it looks really creepy, especially as a desktop background, but that was kind of the look I was going for.

Here is a look at the roach.




[Edited by vylycyn at Local Time:03-30-2005 at 04:52 AM]

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- Sanctum 2 - Beethro's Head - A Roach in Oil - Play DROD as Samus - Insta-Wall - TCB Volcano -

[Last edited by vylycyn at 01-20-2006 10:54 PM : Relicenced Image.]
03-30-2005 at 04:51 AM
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eytanz
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Wow - Beethro and the wizard were cool but I really love the roach (though, of course, if it was really a roach it would have mandibles rather than teeth, but that's just nitpicking)

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03-30-2005 at 05:03 AM
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rowrow
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I put it as wallpaper and it makes me jump every time I see it. I usually don't get scared by anything

[Edited by rowrow at Local Time:03-31-2005 at 05:45 AM]

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03-30-2005 at 05:24 AM
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icon Re: Beethro's Head... (+3)  
I created a sword for Beethro using Now3D.
I put it in a scene and here it is (attached).



[Edited by bradwall at Local Time:03-30-2005 at 04:58 PM]
03-30-2005 at 04:45 PM
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Mattcrampy
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Are the clouds a texture, or did you model them? I've always had trouble drawing clouds, and so I'd be interested to hear the techniques of someone who's modelled them.

Matt

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03-31-2005 at 05:23 AM
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bradwall
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Mattcrampy wrote:
Are the clouds a texture, or did you model them? I've always had trouble drawing clouds, and so I'd be interested to hear the techniques of someone who's modelled them.

Matt

This will make my picture seem less exciting, but the clouds are just a bitmap that I had placed as a background image.
I have some ideas to render clouds, but it would require a lot of particals and the computer I use would take forever to put a model like that together. If I come up with an idea on how to do that, I will let you know.

03-31-2005 at 03:54 PM
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vylycyn
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icon Re: Beethro's Head... (+4)  
eytanz wrote:
...though, of course, if it was really a roach it would have mandibles rather than teeth, but that's just nitpicking
I thought about that before I started making it, but decided that teeth were more fitting for a dungeon roach.
Before starting the roach, I actually looked at several pictures of real roaches, the roaches from both DROD 1.6 and 2.0, and the pictures in the monster desciption section of DROD.net for both the roach and roach queen.
I tried to take the aspects of each one of these sources that I thought would work best on a somewhat cartoony 3D model.
If you read the description for the dungeon roach, it specifically states that they have "long, flesh-tearing teeth."
Apparently cockroaches and dungeon roaches have highly differing physiologies.


Once again I have been working on a DROD related model.
This one is not even part of what I had been planning to do for the background, I was just in the mood to make it.
This time I have attempted to make a model of a tar baby.
Like the roach, I used the monster description page as by main source of information on how it should look.
Also like the roach, I have a desktop background that I made out of it.

And now here it is in all it's glory.



[Edited by vylycyn at Local Time:04-01-2005 at 07:37 AM: added picture]

[Last edited by vylycyn at 01-20-2006 10:56 PM : Public Domain.]
04-01-2005 at 07:36 AM
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J.O.
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Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Some awesome stuff there. I also poke with 3d modelling (and I got a big boy over here, max 7) but I never bothered doing organic stuff, they are simply too hard in my opinion, and never look right... :look
The tar baby looks awesome specially, if that could be turned into a blobmesh (metaball) you could literally do an animation of it ozzing from the tar mass... :smile
04-04-2005 at 11:23 PM
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vylycyn
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J.O. wrote:
... I never bothered doing organic stuff, they are simply too hard in my opinion, and never look right...
These are actually my first real attempts at organic modeling before.
All I used to do was basically abstract pictures using simple shapes.
If you look at my old picture gallery you would see what I mean.
J.O. wrote:
The tar baby looks awesome specially, if that could be turned into a blobmesh (metaball) you could literally do an animation of it ozzing from the tar mass...
I considered doing something like that, but I'm not really used to the program enough to do that without reading some tutorials or spending a while exploring the interface some more.
I have not really done much(anything) using metaballs yet, but that is a possible way for me to learn more about them when I decide to.


Another picture:

After playing through the mud level, I knew I had to make red version of the tar baby.
I made the tar and the mud in a face-off, and I think looks rather nice, or at least better than the lone tar baby.
I also tried out adding a border and some filters to it using the GIMP, but I'm not sure yet if I like that version better.
I have both versions here with the other pictures, so you can pick whichever version you want.

Last but not least, the picture:



[Edited by vylycyn at Local Time:04-08-2005 at 06:07 AM]

[Last edited by vylycyn at 01-20-2006 10:59 PM : Changed image licence.]
04-08-2005 at 06:06 AM
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rowrow
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Very good. But isn't mud and mud babies brown?

[Edited by rowrow at Local Time:04-08-2005 at 06:24 AM]

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04-08-2005 at 06:24 AM
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I love all your DROD pics.
The border works for me.
04-08-2005 at 02:10 PM
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Malarame
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The pictures are all very nice. Just out of curiosity, about how long did it take for you to make the different pictures?

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04-08-2005 at 02:31 PM
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icon Re: Beethro's Head... (+2)  
rowrow:

Isn't tar black? ;)

I checked using the GIMP, and mud and mud babies actually has somewhat of a 941100ish color(dark red with a slightly orange tint).
Here's a picture that compares the mud in the game to my mud baby.

That picture actually gives me a somewhat crazy idea.
If I were to make enough drod objects, maybe I could scale them down and make a graphical mod out of them.
I doubt I will ever make that many, but it might happen.

Malarmame:

I'm not really sure how long I spent on them.
When I'm working on them I sort of lose track of time.
My guess is several hours each.
The tar baby was probably the fastest, being the simplest and because I have more experience after doing the others before it.
I think that one only took about two or three hours, but again this is a very rough estimate.
Before I actually start working on one, I spent some time looking at all the different artwork that Erik has done before deciding what I wanted the models to look like.
I guess that wasn't really a very clear answer, but it's about as good as I can give.


[Edited by vylycyn at Local Time:04-08-2005 at 10:37 PM: picture added]

[Last edited by vylycyn at 01-20-2006 11:00 PM : updated link]
04-08-2005 at 10:35 PM
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icon Re: Beethro's Head... (+4)  
I haven't updated this in a while, mainly because I've been really busy lately.(three large projects and two tests this week)

I've been working on some of the smaller details, which you probably won't notice unless you looked at the blender file.(Speaking of which, I updated the file in the second post.)
I spent a while working on the texture for the belt and making beethro actually hold the sword, but both of these are barely noteworthy details.
Again I put a background size version on deviantART.

I think this one came out really well, and it's the first time you actually get to see all of Beethro, or at least all of him that I've made yet.
I also used raytracing this time so you could se the shadows.(It's amazing how much better it looks with them in there.)

Anyway, here it is:



[Edited by vylycyn at Local Time:04-22-2005 at 02:01 PM: added picture]

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[Last edited by vylycyn at 01-20-2006 11:02 PM]
04-22-2005 at 02:00 PM
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Chalks
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holy cow!

Chalks is in awe. :thumbsup

All of those pics look great. The most recent one you've posted I'm setting as my background right now. :D very cool. :glasses
04-22-2005 at 07:24 PM
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