High Poly model
Here is the final render sheet for the high poly model, i am really happy with the overall result and how the texture turned out, it took a while but i think it paid off. I also managed to keep the model under the 600 Tri budget even with the hourglass accessory.
Evaluation
Here are a few images and renders of the final character for reference so i can explain and analyse the successful and the negative points about the character model. The actual 3d model was relatively easy to create, the only area i had a bit of trouble with was the hands, feet and creating the head. I tackled these by keeping each part separate from each other so i could easily change or even delete that part of the model such as the hand until i was happy with the result. Next i planned out which parts of the model i wanted to have symmetry so i could save of texture space and optimise it as much as possible so more detail can be added. I then unwrapped half of the model and used symmetry to duplicate the model so i then had all of the model unwrapped, i then unwrapped other pieces that i didn't want symmetry to affect. Texturing was a large step for me as this is where most of the detail can be added without using any Tris, i first encountered some problems with the head and the shoulder armour, because they had been mirrored i wasn't able to add the cracks i had in the concept art, because it looked to obvious that it was mirrored which was the only downside to the symmetry tool, although it was a great help for texturing the body which took the longest, but would of taken even longer if i had to texture it all and unwrap both sides. There were to minor problems with the unwrap that i noticed once i finished texturing, the hands were far to large in scale to the rest of the unwrap, they should have been much smaller saving more space to make other parts larger such as the cloth which is too small on the unwrap and could have been much bigger, even so everything turned out to be quite detailed, i painted the texture at the resolution of 2048 then downsized it to 1024, this held much more detail than trying to paint the texture at a smaller size. After finishing the texture i then wanted to do some final tweaks to make the renders much more interesting, the first thing i did was position the character so he didn't look so static, i positioned his cloth so that it looks like its breezing in the wind, i then also added a small textured base to make it look like it fits an environment or game. These final touches are what made it look much better and i am pleased with the result, apart from the small mistakes, but this will allow me check for these problems in the future.
Low Poly Model
This is the final render sheet for the low poly model, i am also happy with the result of this model, the model is a little over budget, due to the complexity of the design i couldn't cut out anymore Tris without affecting the overall design.
Evaluation
With the low poly model everything was pretty straight forward, the only tricky part is keeping everything tidy and using as little Tris as possible. The modelling part went fine, the only problem i had was that i had to many accessory's on the concept that a low poly model shouldnt really have so this is why i am slightly over the budget because i had to make the holy water bottle, the bible and the little scroll pieces that hang from the belt. I am also really happy with the unwrap, every things pretty efficient as i mirrored half of the body and also mirrored other sections such as the wing pieces so the most amount of detail could be applied to the model. I also added a specular map and a normal map to help define more details of the model and really make them pop, you can see in the UDK render below it works great on the back armour to 'fake' more detail and give it a metal appearance. I also created a presentation base and the weapon just to increase of the overall presentation and the believability that this is a game suitable character. With doing the high and low poly models i much preferred the high poly character mainly because more detail can be added to define the character more, although the low poly model was fun to make its far more tricky working with stricter restrictions and budgets which can affect the overall design.
