this is my update for the evening and so far im a few hours in still allot more work to be done on this just wanted to show you all what i have got so far and to find out your ideas on this
Wed, 05/14/2014 - 20:05
#1
[WIP] telvanni molecrab helm
WHOA
Nice work, remember when adding future details that this is the sign of a powerful mage. I can't wait to see your progress :)
Looks fantastic! I would consider extending the piece that covers the mouth downwards, because at the moment the line between the two mandibles resembles a mouth and that doesn't really fit in with the powerful mage/insect-like vibe, nor look quite right to me. The rest of it looks dead on the money though! :)
this is so cool :D
Can't wait to see it textured!
Here's a really quick and messy warp job to kind of help with the shape of the face and little claw things, I don't know
It's looking very very good so far!
When this will be in combat - legs will be destroyed first.
thanks for the feedback i have been having the same feeling about the mouth part it really hasn't been fitting in and looks kinda off but i think discocult has hit the nail on the head with that pic i will be making the full creature that it is made from once ive got the main part of this sculpted will see what i get done on this today and post the results oh and alysander yes they would be but i find that if i remove the mandibles it would not look like the original model in any way and i kind of like the old morrowind style
alysander wrote:
Perhaps still having the legs attached is a testament to your combat skill- You were too evasive to ever receive a blow to the face that would break them.
i do think they should be kept regardless- they're such a big part of the original.
> it would not look like the original model
> should be kept regardless
i know. It's just like horned fantasy-vikings helmets - any hit will break his neck, but i could'nt notice it.
P.S. will be great if will be some broken versions.
i think there should be a part of the helmet that goes under the chin, it honestly looks a bit like its going to fall off if the head was to shake
im still working out at the moment how i can make it a functional helm but still look realistic when it comes to being a creature its proving to be a pain but i have made some progress but still needs some work i will post both results when im a bit more happy with the progress
Really nice work, it looks great so far! I wouldn't get too anal when it comes to functionality though, you have to suspend your belief a little when it comes to fantasy, especially morrowind! Sacrificing it's original appearance so that it can be applicable for real life would be a great shame.
dont worry about different races for now, bake just one version for all races and genders. We edit the low poly using morph targets after everythings baked and rigged. I think this is ready to be finished.
i thought it was just a case of morph targets but it was good to get some ideas about how i wanted it to look overall and the general shape hopefully i can get the rest of the main pieces down this evening for the helm and crab
the padding around the cheeks is part of the crab needs to be set as a new piece so i can remove it for the helm and theres several more changes to be made so this may change a bit :)
oh look, its a NOPE crab!
Is it positioned to use mudcrab skeleton?
no its set up for the ash hopper well thats if we can trim off the very bottom section of the ash hopper legs due to the bend and squash down the front end to fit in the shell i need to learn how to extract the damn animation rig so i know whats really going on and know the limits of the skeleton but i used the ash hopper mesh and scaled and did a slight reposition for the legs
> set up for the ash hopper
better to make hopper legs then (and other legs consisting of 3 comparable parts)
Just thinking, would not the Dwemer Spider skeleton be a good fit, they have the same general bodyshape and the similar "arms" as well
Reminder to all creature artists: ALWAYS position to existing skeleton/warped skeleton before sculpting.
Looks great, and conceptually I think its really cool how ya'll are fleshing out every aspect of the relationships between native dunmer aesthetics and their actual natural origin. Personally I think the legs would look great more as a creature that kind of scurries on much, much smaller legs relative to its shell much like a hermit crab. Maybe building off of that you guys could additionally add similarly shaped empty shells about the beaches and on the sea floors. I know it has to match a corresponding preexisting skeleton or whatever and its still a rather early development but they're just some thoughts.
im just going through the skeletons now for possible candidates the mudcrab is looking the most likely i like the idea with the legs being smaller will have a look into that to see if it fits should do if all im doing is shortening the limbs.
the shell is a possibility for making into a static mesh for a beach i guess but i think it would be a bit to easy to obtain as i will have the shell/legs made separate due to them being used as a crafting material for the telvanni helm and possibly food and thanx for the input :)
You should use the ash hopper skeleton. We just need to shorten the back legs. Then we can have the coming out of the ground animation. It is a MOLEcrab after all.
Disregard my existence. I should have scrolled further up before posting.
thanx ash king im sorta torn between the mudcrab and the ash hopper as the skell as both bury themselves have 6 legs ect so they both fit the bill the mole crab was set up by using the ash hoper mesh warped slightly and built around that just need to remove the 2 bottom toe joints in the skeleton really and check whether the jaw would work correctly if not may just leave it static or try the mudcrab but as its my first time using the skeletons its proving to be a bit of a pain to learn
but i will get there hopefully
remember, for spider, just because it has legs, doesnt mean u cant use it. as long as u dont omit a supporting limb, u can just ignore one pair of legs.
Ravanna wrote:
Example:
looks really great
TusseHund wrote:
This is a solid idea. The Dwemer spiders also had an animation where they popped out of walls, and an idle for repairing those walls. Some of the concept art that is currently being done has silt towers inspired by crayfish holes that these crabs could pop out of if tied to the Dwemer Spider skeleton.
Here's an example of the 'repair' animation we could use to show the crabs building on their nests from the outside.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AThUKYyKzi0
Looks terrifying. Nice :D
> 'repair' animation
= I hope some of this fauna would be non-aggressive (more like behave of giants and mammoths).
= it is good when not all activity concentrated on player.
wait theres going to be a closed version right?
Nice, are you planning on adding little barnacle/lichen type details onto it later? Probably they'd be cleaned off a helmet but they'd be a cool aesthetic addition to the crab itself.
Also, are these going to somewhat replace mudcrabs in certain regions like zafirbel bay or will they live alongside them? I know crabs frequently fight and stuff so perhaps that could be another in-game relationship.
yes the barnacles and lichen were on my list of things to do also yes i am trying to get the closed version set up but getting it to look right is another story atm i will release that once im ready please understand that im basically building 3 models at exactly the same time (not including the ingredients) and it is difficult
Assuming the trouble with the closed version is the shape of the crab's faceplate, why not have the mask as a different material, like say netch leather, or bonemold?
I think bonemold would work really well in terms of color and texture
Glass eyes would be very nice here. Especially if smaller, extra eyes were added (like a spider)
Not sure if it needs to be ash protective, since Zafirbel Bay doesn't have ashstorms, and this helmet is pretty much Telvanni exclusive. I do like the idea of Telvanni looking like weird crustceans though, and their helmets in vanilla Morrowind never failed to give them that feel ;) So I'm definetly in favor of a closed variant.
And re:JorgenGorgen about materials: Based on its look in Morrowind, I've always assumed that the faceplate is supposed to be bonemold. The helmet looks good when worn with bonemold armor.
Also, were the protrusions actually legs in the original? They looked more like horns of some sort to me. Either way, it might be good to keep in mind that fleshy bits (such as the pieces currently holding the mandibles/legs/horns to the rest of the helmet) would rot away (unless magic is preserving them, which is of course a possibility in this setting).
I personally love the faceplate - more inhuman and intimidating if you ask me. A perfect fit for a Telvanni helmet.
The faceplate on the original looks possibly like a bonemold faceplate. I'm sure the dunmer could easily slap some bonemold material in there to craft a faceplate.
ok to put every one at ease a have plans for a few variations i love discos warped img but i have one issue with it being that it has to fit the creature too and having a long face like that just wont work i have tried as for the variations im thinking a full closed helm and a half open with rags for the dust i have done these rags but i have not posted the imgs as im not to happy with my skills with the fabric as of yet im getting better but its gonna take me a little longer to get some more practice with the techniques but i will post when im happy with it