288 replies to this topic

[Eldarion]

It's been ages since I've posted any of my work on this forum (for that matter, it's been ages since I've had any work to post), but I think it's time to remedy that lack. So I present one of my most recent works, the Last Alliance Elven Warrior:



Entirely from scratch, except for the face and boots (from the Rivendell Lancer) and the gloves (from Elrond).

After I had done finished this, I was inspired by Celeglin's designs to do Third Age version that reflected the fading days of the Elves with a more autumnal color scheme. Hence, I present the Third Age Noldor Warrior:



As I am not attached to any mod team, these skins are up for grabs by any mod that wants them - and asks nicely. Please contact me by PM if you're interested. Preference goes to WoA and SEE.

Please comment - I'm always looking for ways to improve !

Edited by Eldarion, 22 May 2009 - 03:35 PM.

[Juissi]

Oh yea thats what Im talking about
Really good, and from scratch you say ? I really like that armour.

Edited by Juissi, 20 October 2007 - 08:55 AM.

[lycan]

these are nice excellent job

Edited by elvenfury, 20 October 2007 - 08:56 AM.

[Argolis]

fantastic as always...but then ive never gotten a "bad" skin from Eldarion EVER.

[The Best Guest]

Very Nice

[Lauri]

they look great, I totally love the T3A one
but... the helmet looks a tad to cartoonish imo...

[Eldarion]

Cartoonish? How so?

[Lauri]

well, it looks very obvious that you've only used Bevel on it...
If you compare the helmet to the rest of the armor you see a huge difference... it even looks like you've taken the helmet from something already in the game...

[Nertea]

I think the helmet is fine... it's the sash and the robe that look more off to me - they're rather blurry and pixelated compared to the armour, which is very nice by the way.

[Eldarion]

well, it looks very obvious that you've only used Bevel on it...
If you compare the helmet to the rest of the armor you see a huge difference... it even looks like you've taken the helmet from something already in the game...

As a matter of fact, I didn't use bevel on the helmet - it's entirely done with the Burn and Dodge tools. It might look quite similar to the Rivendell Lancer helmet, though, because I did use that as a reference for much of the pattern.

I think the helmet is fine... it's the sash and the robe that look more off to me - they're rather blurry and pixelated compared to the armour, which is very nice by the way.

Thank you, and I definitely agree with you on the cloth - not sure how it got that way. I'll make sure to have another go at it. The pixelation may partly be due to the fact that it's a TGA and therefore somewhat posterized, but the blurriness I should definitely be able to do something about.

Thanks for the constructive criticism and advice .

[Mathijs]

I think it looks good, but isn't that cloth unedited from EA's skin? Because I believe that's exactly what it looked like.

[Eldarion]

No, the cloth was from scratch, though the fold lines were sort of "traced" from EA's skin because I have very little sense of the way cloth folds. Anyway, here is what is hopefully an improved version:



The cloak and sash are entirely redone from scratch, though again I have "traced" the fold lines from EA's skin and then blended and smoothed them a bit. As for the skirt, all I've done is increase the contrast a bit on it.

Better, do you think? Or do I still have some work to do on it?

[Nertea]

a TGA and therefore somewhat posterized

TGA is pretty much lossless . It's dds that you'll get artifacts with. I suggest that instead of tracing the fold lines exactly, you look at your overall highlight scheme - notice that you have practically no totally black shadows on the rest of the model, while you do on the cloth. Remove those and things may look better. Also it looks like you're using a noise/similar overlay to give it a texture - I'd recommend not doing that at the kind of fabric you are simulating is very soft and velevety iirc.

[Eldarion]

Thanks for the tip . Funny, though - when I view the TGA-textured models in W3D viewer, they always seem kinda posterized. Of course, that might be an issue with the viewer rather than the texture...

Edited by Eldarion, 24 October 2007 - 03:40 AM.

[Eldarion]

Hate to double-post in my own topic, but oh well...

Here is what I would like to call the final version of the Noldo, with the shadows toned down and the texturing on the cloth removed:



When I say I'd like to call this the final version, I mean I'm tired of making changes. I also lightened the shadows on the skirt and enhanced the highlights on all the cloth.

Another thing: I know a lot of from-scratch Gondor Soldiers have been flashed around these forums, and most of them have been excellent (Gondor armor just lends itself to skinning from scratch, doesn't it?), but I thought I might as well put my own two cents in, so here he is:



Hope you like him. If you have any constructive criticisms to put in (apart from the mapping, which I can't fix), speak up! There's always room for improvement .

[Nertea]

I could point out that your Noldo is actually horribly inaccurate, since the shoulder cloth is actually part of the cloak and yours is missing it . Not really a problem though.

The soldier is looking nice, but rather wide-eyed.

[Eldarion]

I'm very much aware of the fact that the Noldo is supposed to have a cloak, and irritated by the fact that I can't model and don't really want to devote time to learning how . So I guess I'll just have to say that he's as accurate as I can make him with the model that's available to me .

Thanks for the tip on the Soldier's face - it's my first full face from scratch, so there are obviously a few problems to be ironed out. I'll work on it .

EDIT: How's this?



I made the eyes slightly smaller and closer together, and worked on the nose a bit.

Edited by Eldarion, 25 October 2007 - 09:27 AM.

[Lauri]

it looks very good...

still looks like he's taking a shit though
but overall, great work

[Dain Ironfoot]

Nevertheless, ingame it will be highly visible and clear and look great from a distance.

[Nazgûl]

As always, your work is really impressive Eldarion. I'm no fan of the Gondorian face to be honest though, but the armor is awesome as you already know, since we got the same details from you and the Noldor... gosh... suddenly I'm not that content with the ones I made anymore... Amazing! =)