DKC Atlas Forum

[Raccoon Sam]

Blender is free, open source and has pretty much everything a professional 3D modeling/rigging/texturing/whatever software has.
The only downside it has is the interface.

[Cosmicman]

I have to try Blender too, I have seen a few videos and it doesn't look bad.

Lately I have been practicing my coloring and textures.

[Cosmicman]

Painting hogwash, not done but getting there. Need to take care of some weird glitchy paint spots when i try to fill up the whole model.





Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=katP8sjm ... e=youtu.be

[Phyreburnz]

This is fantastic, Cosmicman! How are your other models coming?

[Cosmicman]

I would say all of my models are about 95% done.

[Qyzbud]

Brilliant work, my friend! Very true to the original designs.

I can't wait for a time when we can marvel at seeing your (re)creations brought to life, animated in a fully rendered DKC/L-esque environment...
Keep up the good work!

[leo_core]

Impressive! Keep up Cosmic!

[Geno]

Wow! With all these models, If one were to animate said models, all they would need, would be a program to convert the animations to SNES sprites!

[leo_core]

cool avatar!

[Geno]

cool avatar!

Why thank you!

[Cosmicman]

So Hogwash, do you think it looks good enough to do justice to what Rare would had done if they had released this little guy on the DKC series? If you can give me some feedback I can fix it if not then I will put the DKC ATLAS seal of approval and move to the next without having to worry about him again.

I don't know if anyone noticed from the video I updated his eyes with a shiny material, it looks a lot better, the update made it to the video but not to the pictures.
Here is one with his updated eyes



Qyzbud That would be amazing stuff, I can't wait for that day to come, I have been going insane with work from all angles lately but I think I can get most of my projects done really soon, at least the modeling and painting part. Then I can start helping some guys on the board with their projects and more of my own.

Leo thanks! I wish all these models somehow end up in your game, so I guess soon there will be good news and you will be able to use them if you please.

Geno the animation part should be easy with the right program, the sprites should be even easier, all you have to do is take a screen picture of the model and scale it down or something like that until it looses the quality, I'm sure that's kind of how Rare did it back then.

[Phyreburnz]

I think he needs a curly tail! Does he have one in the render or in the sprites of DKL?

[Cosmicman]

I tried adding a tail but I didn't like it and scrapped it, if anyone finds a render with a tail it will help, if not I will try to add one again.

[Cosmicman]

Mr.X progress.

[leo_core]

Absolutely amazing! I hope to use your 3D models in my Donkey Kong Country - Tiny's Safari project =O)

[Cosmicman]

Sure Leo

I decided to create a body for Kiddy since there is not 3d model for Kiddy anywhere.

[leo_core]

Amazing! There is no Kiddy commercial 3d model, it's very nice to know that you're doing it. Your work is very, very good!

[Phyreburnz]

Kiddy is probably the best model of an existing character to make, since he has so few frames of animation. This will be so much better to use than my attempts at editing his sprites.

I love watching these all come together!

By the way, is anybody on here going to be able to animate these and make sprites?

[Simion32]

There's a remote chance that I might be able to animate and render them, but don't get your hopes up.

[Cosmicman]

I'm getting familiar with Zbrush rig system, looks to be the easiest so far and Kiddy will be the first model I want to fully animate so I'm putting more effort to finish him.

His buttons done


more progress

[Qyzbud]

Great modelling work, Cosmic! It looks just like him.

Having a well constructed model of Kiddy would be wonderful, as you've all expressed; he was the only 'Country Kong not to get another appearance, and given how many opportunities the various development teams (Nintendo, Rare, PAON, Namco, Retro...) had to bring him back, it's high time we saw more of the little fella!

I meant to say sooner — those Hogwash and Mr. X renders are looking fantastic, too. Magnificent work.

Perhaps Hogwash would look even better with a bit of a pinker shade? The shiny eyes look good, but I'm not sure which way I prefer them, to be honest. I think the plain white eyes have a more 'classic' Rareware look, which I must admit I quite like... nostalgic charm I suppose.

Mr. X looks completely badass — excellent job on the darker lighting... very cool.

[Cosmicman]

Thanks Qyzbud. I have to agree with you about the eyes but I wouldn't worry too much about the coloring, most of the details like shiny eyes will get lost during the sprite making process due to the massive quality loss of the model. The colors can also be easily modified even after the sprite sheet has been made with a simple photoshop color adjustment, I'm just worried about the riging process, I'm trying my best testing various programs and they are so fustrating to use, blender is a nightmare, I spent half and hour just to learn how to rotate the camera around the model, I tried Poser and Daz studio, both didn't work for me before I went back to Zbrush, but this one is a mess too.

Update!
I finally found a program that I can understand, it's called Cinema 4d and is very easy to use. Here is some progress on Kiddy, he should be able to move later today.

[Simion32]

^is the program I have. shcweet.

[Tonberry2000]

What an amazing job! It looks just like him! Do you plan to texture him?

I feel like I have to plug http://www.models-resource.com/ here. This is just quite fantastic.

[Simion32]

I have to agree with Tonberry on this one. The models look as if Rareware themselves did the modeling!

Absolutely 105% quality.

[Cosmicman]

After messing with the program for a few hours I finally got him to move and walk but it didn't work how I wanted to due to his arms touching his body and fingers touching other fingers, I finally learned why models are made with the arms extended so I had to go back to the model and extend his arms, I have to do this to Mr.X too.




This program is so amazing I think I can also add fur, hair and paint the model right there, I just need to practice.

Edit: That is a huge compliment Simion and Thornberry...

[Qyzbud]

Thanks Qyzbud. I have to agree with you about the eyes but I wouldn't worry too much about the coloring, most of the details like shiny eyes will get lost during the sprite making process due to the massive quality loss of the model.

I realise this, but I certainly don't see 16-bit sprites as the only thing (or even the main thing) these models will be used for.

I finally found a program that I can understand [...] Here is some progress on Kiddy, he should be able to move later today.

That's one small step for Kiddy... one giant leap for this project!

[Simion32]

Remember that I'm building support for Hi-Res Mode in DELTA, which means we could very well be seeing extra-large sprite renders with 32bit color.

And DELTA is already 32bit to begin with, so don't limit your coloring.

[Qyzbud]

That's right — just because our projects are based on a 16-bit game series doesn't mean we're bound to the limitations of that era.

[Cosmicman]

You guys are right, I figured these could make some awesome wallpapers too.

Here is where he is sitting so far. I know I will have to redo everything once the model is painted and fur is added, unless I figure how to detach the bones.

[Qyzbud]

Looks like great progress!

Why would you have to redo everything once the model is painted and fur is added?

Also, it seems like the model is constructed from a HUGE number of polygons... how does your computer go working with all of that? I wonder if you'd benefit from... I think it's called NURBS modelling, which uses FAR less data to represent smooth (rounded) shapes. Might be worth checking out.

[Cosmicman]

Well, I meant by the time the model is done I would had probably learned so much more about this program that I'm going to want to create a brand new bone structure, better and more detailed. The computer is working perfectly, not even a hiccup, I think this model has around 200k polygons.

[Tonberry2000]

This is not me plugging this time, but we have a great modeler at TSR named Peardian. He did these "Brawl Style" characters;

Which you can download here; http://www.models-resource.com/custom_e ... index.html
You should show him your work and maybe he can help you out? Or if you'd like, I could ask him? If you want to do it yourself, that's totally fine/understandable too.

[Cosmicman]

Those are from Mario Rpg right? Awesome work I learn visually so I have to watch a lot of youtube tutorial videos, its the only way I can learn so I don't really want to bug anyone, thanks for the help but I have to go at my own pace.

[Tonberry2000]

Totally respectable. I'll be watching your progress. It's amazing so far!

[Qyzbud]

Yeah, visual learning works best for me, too.

Glad to hear your hardware's humming along like a charm, Cosmic. What is your setup?

[...]we have a great modeler at TSR named Peardian[...]

Interesting... I just mentioned TSR and Peardian — both for the first time, about (slightly) different things, in this post regarding VGMapper. Now there's a coincidence; I didn't even realise he was a TSR member!

[Cosmicman]

Thanks Thorberry.

Qyzbud I have an old HP with 3gb of ram, it handles everything so far with no issues.

Here is a quick render of Kiddy walking, it looks like crap now but I expect to get better at this with more practice



He looks like a ballerina

[Qyzbud]

Very impressive! These are some promising first steps.

[leo_core]

Great!! Is very promissing! Do you try make the model rig using 3d max?

[Cosmicman]

I'm using Cinema4d, and now I'm messing with the hair, its simple so I just tried some random parts, I even put hair on his back by mistake but I'm getting there.

[VideoViking]

Rare actually had to put in hair for the Kongs?

EDIT: Just saw the video of Kiddy walking. I wonder if you can do a Hunter walking test as well. Give them a little sneak peak.

[Cosmicman]

Kiddy was hairy, at least in the renders, I know I can get away with just painting the model but hair will make it more like the renders if I can get it right. I will try the Hunter model I have and see how he does...

Anyways I haven't done much except watch a bunch of tutorials, hopefully I make some big progress next weekend.

[Cosmicman]

I'm really trying to get better at painting because I was having a hard time at it but I found a really easy way to paint using the real colors that Rare used.





This is a 30 minute paint job, the method I found is so easy to use that I couldn't believe it, I just have to try different material and light angles. In this picture I just colored his arms and head, in the final model that will be hair. He still needs a lot more details I just wanted to show how cool he looks semi colored with different materials.

[Simion32]

Wow.

[VideoViking]

I second that notion.

[Tonberry2000]

This is coming along incredibly well! My only suggestion (though it may be too late now...) would be to make his socks longer. His feet are the right size, but if you look at his sprites, the "sock" part goes on for a bit. He even plays with it in his idle.

[Cosmicman]

The model is not done, I was just practicing my painting, his socks needs to be extended, his belly needs to be moved a little, his head too, his clothing around his arms need to be adjusted and his fingers too, i want to detail his face a little more and is missing a piece around his neck. I need to scale some parts of his body, by the end I'm confident it will look exactly how the game if i can master the hair part. I'm working on all that right now.

[Tonberry2000]

Ah, ok. Awesome!

[Geno]

*head implodes from sheer awesomeness*

WOW!

I can't wait for them to be finished!
AND I can't wait for the sprites to come too!

[Raccoon Sam]

These are amazing. I'm honestly speechless.
If you wish to redistribute your work, the go-to video game model page is models-resource.com