Military

I'm in the midst of creating a Military Personnel 3d/Animation pack. This is the first model I've cranked out (though he's not animated yet) for it. He's just over 1600 polygons. I'm shooting for 4 - 6 personnel total, and have begun modelling and skinning weapons and accessories for them.. Currently, I'm trying to figure out which animation cycles to include to make the characters generic enough for developers.

<edit updated pic as of June 25>



Hope you like it!!!

The texture looks fabulous.

I don't know if you were looking for feedback but: It might be the perspective and effects on your shot there but something doesn't seem quite right with the body shape. Like the arms look really thin and smooth - not much muscle definition. The feet and legs look great, torso's fine, but when you get to the head neck, things start looking out of scale a bit.

In all, though, this looks great. For fun, you should check out Boston Dynamics (www.bdi.com) they make human models (and simulators) for professional applications. Very cool stuff.
M

Very cool site (bdi)! I appreciate the feedback.. Part of the distortion you're seeing is the perspective, but I have been tweeking his arms a little. I'm trying not to create the "Superhero look", so I don't want to over define the arms.. Actually, now that I look at it (I've been away from the project for a couple of days now), I think I need to thin out his hands..

Yeah, I think thinning out the hands would be a good one. I thought the perspective on the pose might have something to do with it. Where'd you get/how'd you make the texture? It's very nice indeed. [edit]Though, you know, US military wear brownish green tees, not camo. Don't know about other countries.[/edit]

This is great, it`s just what I need for Island Storm, please let me know when you have some animations...

The texture is stunning, but I agree with Mearrin that the proportions *look* wrong. I know from experience that sometimes you can get your proportions bang on according to the books and it just looks wrong. I've had to go back and rescale things a bit even though they were anatomically correct before, just to get it looking right.

In this case ( and you're right it *could* just be perspective ) I would say the arms are a bit too long and too thin. They need a bit more shape below the elbow, and quite a lot more shape between the shoulder and elbow. I know you're not going comic book, but a soldier is going to have some decent biceps.

Either the head needs to be a bit smaller or the torso needs to be a bit bigger. Particularly he needs a broader chest.

It's difficult to judge the legs from this perspective.

I hope that doesn't sound like a lot of criticism for such a great model, but it's actually a backhanded compliment. If I didn't think it was such a great model, I'd just say "yeah, it's nice." It's only because it's so good that I think it's worth taking the extra time and making it perfect.

Thanks for the feedback.. I sat down with my wife last night and took a hard look at it with her. We cracked open the anatomy books, and the "how to draw your favorite human figures/comic characters etc... references. Then I had her stand in his pose for about 5 minutes... It was kind of funny, but we saw a few things, and so I've fixed them (I think)... So here's a front-on pic (to prevent perspective skewing).

Here's what I changed:
-- Thickened shoulders in both the y and z dimensions
-- Created more definition around the forearms
-- Decreased the wrist and hand "thickness"
-- Decreased the head size by about 8%

I know I still need to:
** retexture the boots
** lengthen the upper arms, and shorten the forearms
(I found this out after I tried to rig the skeleton
and compared it to my anatomy books.. The overall
arm length is correct, but the proportions of
length between upper and forearm are wrong)
** smooth the facial textures (there's some creasing)



Anyway, tell me if you think this is better or worse.

mearrin69:

Digital camera and BDUs (Military Battle Dress Uniform). These are from real BDUs used in the States. My father was military, and I worked for 2 years on a local base. So I have plenty of access to that info/clothing. Actually, if we get picky on the reality of it, the soldier's hair is out of regs (the side burns specifically) ;-)

CopperCircle:

Thanks CC.. I downloaded Island Storm when you posted it a while back, and was really impressed (you gotta love it when a game gives you motion sickness, but you still churn thru 'cause you want to keep playing).. I found the vehicles a little difficult to control, and the enemies were a little tough to kill, but overall it was an awesome piece of work!!! Once completed you should consider publishing! I've been working with Binary People, and they've been doing great for me (plug... ;-) ) Seriously though, you did an outstanding job on that.

Yep, that looks better :) The head/neck still looks a little off for some reason but I'm at a loss to tell you what to do about it. Below the neck it looks great.

On the accurateness of the texture ;) I was in the Army and, unless they changed up in the last 13 years the shirt should be a brown tee, not a camo one...unless I'm seeing it wrong. Is that a BDU top with the sleeves rolled? If it is then I can't see the pockets and other details. Also, the belt should be black.

You're right about the hair though ;) I had no end of problems keeping my hair in regulation while still having enough to look decent in the clubs :)

Seriously, it's looking good. Keep it up.
M

That neck is way to small. If you want proof look at the size of the head hole in his tshirt. Would he get his head through that. I think not :)

Look at your anatomy book. The width of the neck is generally just slightly narrower than the width of the head (at least it is in my anatomy book :)

Otherwise it looks quite nice. Personally I think he is too skinny but in general it's pretty good.

Yep yep, the shape is much better now, but both of Binary Moon's points are correct. He still looks a bit too thin in general to me, and his neck is disproportionately thin.

Ahhh, you're right about the neck. Not too big of a deal to fix. Or.... maybe I should keep it and entitle him the Egghead Soldier!! ;) After you stare at this stuff for a while, it all starts to blur together. As for the clothing, I'm going to have a couple of skins I think. My Dad just dropped by (retired Maj USAF), and mentioned that there are occasions where they will use jungle camo tees, but not often. Mearrin69's right in that they use a brown t, and actually within the last 2 years have allowed a plain black t-shirt (at least for USAF, I don't know about other services). So, I think I'll create a few more skins to cover the board. That should satisfy most.

LOL, well, what does the AF know ;) J/K. They do go a little out there with the uniform rules, though. I was MI, stationed with Marines, AF, Navy, Army, etc. The AF dress protocols (those BASEBALL hats!!!) always threw me :)

Hey, you should also see about making one with a bdu jacket if you can. Usually in combat you'd be wearing one - unless you're starring in Platoon or FMJ or something :)

While you're making new skins you might want to select all of the camo pattern areas and see if you can hue shift them to be desert camo - for the whole Desert Storm look. I don't know, but I'd assume that's probably going to be something people want these days. Gotta get them WMDs.

hey, that's a lot better than any people model i can come up with...

... but the guy doesn't look much like a grunt to me.

he has a pencil neck, his torso is much to long (in comparison to the length of his legs), and he looks like he needs an attitude boost.

good luck, you're more than halfway there with this GI...

--Mike

Me saying this is kind of pointless since others have mentioned it but the neck is way too small. There's other stuff I would tweak but that's just subjective stuff; the neck is the only part which is beyond the normal range of variation.

Oh yeah, and the texture on the boots needs fixed. Add a mapping plane across the top and/or front to correct the texture stretching and add laces.

The perspective is all out of whack. It's not something I would ever use. He looks camp and feminine.

You need to beef that guy up. He's been in the army...

For proportion, there are rules. From the head, we are able to determine correct human proportions like so:

BODY:
The entire body is seven heads high.
Shoulders are a Head and a half from the top (thats half a head from the head). The Shoulders end at 2 heads to the side of the head (more for muscular types and less for wimps)...
Hips are about a head and a half wide. Hips should be narrower than the shoulders.
Hips are 3 heads down.
Knees are 5 heads down.

HEAD:
Heads are five eyes across.

NECK:
The neck is four and a half to five eyes across, usually it will be slightly curved, depending on muscular build.

Not for babies. ;)

Lol ! - Rob you 've been reading "Mein Kampf" again !

Hi, the neck should be almost as wide as the head, and the head is a little too big. I have no problem with him not beeing some muscle dude, a lot of army guys are not.

As for animation suggestions. Here are a few:
Standing still
Walk
Run
Jump
Climbing (ladder, wall)
Crouch
Walking while crouching
Lying flat on stomach
Crawling on stomach
Shooting with pistol
Shooting with rifle
Shooting with machine gun
Shooting with submachine gun (could be the same as MG)
Shooting with bazooka
Throwing grenade
Slashing with knife
(all of the above in standing, crouching and lying positions)
Roll side ways
Die (more than one way would be cool)
Falling from great height

Ragnar

Don't forget dying painfully from exposure to imaginary WMD materials. :) lol
M

lol smiff