Hey guys! 3 months down the lane ... 653 files later ... and lots of last minute changes suggested by my buddies! my latest offering ...
.. :: La Reina (in spanish) means ... ' The Queen ' :: ..
Created using 3dsmax 8, rendered with mental ray 3.4 ... and .. drum roll please ... Adobe photoshop CS for the major post work!
yep ... never have i ever used photoshop to this extent .. i mean .. image editing is one thing .. but .. post work is another ... hehe
Anyways, to be very honest ... i'm not all good when it comes to character modeling, texturing and all ... this is my second attempt in creating a female character, the first one didn't work out that well... so, in a way ... i do need to refer to tutorials to go with the flow and then use my own creativity for that personal touch.
> Post Work <
As mentioned earlier ... Photoshop gave my render a serious face lift!
skin blotches, specularity, tatoos, shadows, glows and even fake caustics!
see for yourself! compare the actual raw render ( notice a seam ? ) with the post work :
> Goodies! <
NOW HOW ABOUT THAT CLOAK!
Ok guys! ... heres a lil something! ... how i created the cloak :
> A : create 2 seperate splines, keep an eye on the vertex count ... they must be equal ...
> B : attach the splines and add a crossSection modifier ...
> C : convert the cage to editable spline and refine the new segments and connect all the vertex points and don't forget to move them about to get that wavy look ... in other words ... go with the flow ...
> D : add a surface modifier ... threshold : 0.01 ... steps : 5 ...
> E : still with the surface modifier, reduce the steps to 1 and convert it to editable poly ...
> F : then using paint deformation, carefully brush the mesh object to get good folds ... creases ... lumps ...
the Push / Pull value > brush size > brush strength .. all must be experimented with ... use + / - values for Push / Pull to get lumps and dents ... very cool indeed!
> G : next, add a shell modifier ... thickness value : 0.05 ... ( depends ... value can change accordingly ), then convert it to editable poly again, ring select the new edges and click connect once ...
> H : final object with meshsmooth ...
Assign the cloth material, add a UVW modifier and change the tiling values as necessary ... keep test rendering to see what looks good
SAUCY LIPS!
Here's another goodie! though i didn't use it in my post work ... i thought, why not show you guys how to dazzle your models with that drop dead glossy lipstick! just by using good ol' photoshop!
> A : sample image layer
> B : using the pen tool ( with shape layers enabled ), trace the shape of the lips as shown, don't ever delete this layer ... keep it hidden for later use ...
> C : Ctrl click the shape layer to get a selection ...
> D : create a new layer and fill this selection with a medium dark colour, more of a pinkish tone ... no flashy colours please ... later you'll come to know why ...
> E : with the lip colour layer still selected, change the layer blending mode to ' multiply ' ... hide it
> F : remember the hidden shape layer .. ? Ctrl click it again to get the same selection, select the sample image layer, copy and paste to get a another layer containing only the lips ... desaturate it .. also make sure that this layer lies on top of the initial lip colour
> G : with the desaturated layer still selected, goto > image > adjustments > levels and enter the values as shown
> H : finally ... the icing on the cake! change the blending mode of this layer to color dodge!
Woooohoooo! thats just about it! ... i hope you all found it useful ...
all in all i'd like to thank my buddies! who helped me along the way ... even at the last minute ... i really needed the feedback ... as for my character model .. i know it's filled with a lot of flaws as far as body posture ... expression ... is concerned ... i hope that in the near future, i outdo myself totally! ... my second attempt ... tough ... but worth it all! ... satisfaction level ... reached!
God bless ya all!!
CHEERS!!!
