Spiker

[kharnov]

Sure, TGA works.

[lhdc]

phpBB [video]

Made the adjustments, still didnt put any details on the "shell" and on the spikes.

[Viech]

Looking good! I guess for the "shell" detailing you should make the toruses around the spike holes bigger/more visible. (You could increase spike width slightly in case that helps.) The spikes should extend more straightly, since they should look like they are under tension.

[lhdc]

phpBB [video]

starting the painting!

[lhdc]

Wip_low.jpg (254.36 KiB) Viewed 6880 times

also made the low poly version.
i was thinking about the holes where the spikes come from, shoud i make then in the geometry of the low poly model?since they are kinda flat the normal should be ok, but i really would like any other opinion about it!

[Viech]

High poly version in video looking really good! For the low poly, I think you can be more detailed around the holes. I also think you could save a few polys when you decimate the connection between the side claws and the body further. Have a look at the Booster low poly (high poly), which has a similiar geometry as the Spiker. Note that we'll need tris instead of quads eventually. I'm not quite sure about the limit, the 5k-6k tris kharnov mentioned seem like a lot to me, better aim for 3k tris (6k quads) if that's possible.

Once you're working on textures, one thing to keep in mind is that the eyes of our aliens glow like this:

[lhdc]

Wip_low2.jpg (194.19 KiB) Viewed 6868 times

I made some adjustments on the low poly. Made the details for the holes, the geometry on the shell is pretty ugly because the holes are not symetrical, im also asuming the shell is not going to move, so im not really worried about the poly flow for any animation on it.
i also remove some of the edge lops on the claws to lower the polycount. it is with currently 3.7k trys.

[Viech]

Looking decent! 3.7k is a pretty good value.

[…] im also asuming the shell is not going to move, so im not really worried about the poly flow for any animation on it.

My original idea was that the Spiker's body "puffs up" to the size of the current mesh to shoot the Spikes with air pressure by quick deflation/contraction. Do you think movement like this would work with the current mesh? I'm also going to ask gavlig, one of our animators, whether he thinks this could cause a problem. If it was one, would it be a hassle for you to add back a few tris to solve it?

[lhdc]

the top of the body would contract and inflat?if is that i dont think will be a problem, but the contract and inflat process is on each of the holes, this could have some improvments.
if the animator could give his opinion would be great! i realy dont mind in try making the shell with a better polyflow if the animator says that the current polys wont work.
only the shell is not symetrical, the lower part (body and claws) are symetrical.

[gavlig]

Well, if Viech wants shell animated, then yeah, i'd say the polyflow should be improved. And make it a bit more dense(add a loop or two between holes), or else "puffing" animation would look rough.