Valkyrie WIP

Hello everyone.

It’s been a while since I’ve been on here, but I thought I’d show my new project/ character which has been a long road to get to (third human attempt).

I was working on this female base mesh for a long time, with rigging and a couple of actions for posterity. but after I was happy with that things have sped up. . . anyway

This is taken from a drawing I did years ago, I’ve spent 5 days on the costume so far.


all subsurf modelled and rendered in cycles.

C+C welcome. I’ll post the drawing that I’m working from later. .

had a major breakthrough. . . . after hours of trying to figure out how to do a braid/ plait. and wanting to give up cos there ain’t a modifier for it (as far as I know). . . . .


I now have a massive smile on my face!

here is the character design- with those damn braids!


just about got the skin shader on the face, can’t believe I overlooked the material nodes before!


the eyes are a bit noisy (caustic light from the glass film over the eyes)- passes are only on 300 so I can bump that up a bit. but let me know what you think

quick update. been getting bogged down in the details of the base mesh, but spent this morning connecting the braids up!

I thought it was gonna be tough, and it was. . .


another update with simple colour added.


nice
Why are these fearsome goddesses always soooo sexy?

Not enough sss. And are the valkeries technically goddesses? I thought they were just like angel-thing-people. Anyway, good model and concept.

@GraphiX- I was wondering about the sss, cos i’m using cycles materials -I’m gonna have to mix a translucant material into the node setup. I"ll have a play with that because I’m not sure what results I’ll get.

This valkyrie is sent to collect those chosen for death- which is the literal meaning of the name I think. and are sent from Valhalla -kind of like a heaven for warriors.

I know of valhalla. I was taught that they were people who took warriors fallen from the battlefield and decided where they would go. Regardless, if you don’t mind waiting like half-a-year, sss is supposed to be implemented in cycles.

straight in, no messing.


been working mostly on face shapes the past couple of days, so thought I’d throw in a cheesy grin!

also, this is the best I can do as far as sss is concerned. . . .darker. . .more reddy in the shadows. anyway-


any suggested improvements would be great.

getting there, this is just a preliminary deform test (modelling still not complete), To prepere for the nightmare of weight painting THIS!


The hips are deforming wobbly on even a simple pose, given the amount of vertices, so I think the only option is a deform cage over that whole area. I’m starting to think I bitten more than I can chew.

I’ll not worry about that for now, got some boots to design.

hey’all, animation fo ya

I blew my processor so my computer has been out of action for nearly a week, hence not as much done as i would have liked, next is cloth/soft body sim, which depending on blender I may or may not use- lot’s of difficulty on setting up convincingly.

thought I’d take the opportunity to credit my friend Ka-mang Liu, who did the original line work design of this character, and have invited him to design the boots (seing as it’s his baby) and will be harmonious with the rest of it.

Run run run run!

the model is cute,
but I find that the animation is fantastic
including the simulation of clothing

thankyou, I was beginning to wonder if this character had appeal.

as for the animation, the Animator’s Survival Kit by Richard Williams is THE book. the walkcycle was the hardest to nail- I’ll post that some other time maybe (it’s getting close to the point where I can animate a scene).

still going (slowly) on the character as I’m still having problems with the dress deforms etc. though I have made some progress.

started on the setting which is my very first attempt at architecture/environment. . .


this doesn’t show much of the room i’m modelling- but just serves to get a sense of the character, seing as her model is ‘complete’ (at the time of writing).

I guess now would be the time for you guys to evaluate her finished look and give C+C as you see fit.

looks great
but the running
one wing is moving around so much it draws my attention to all the things that aren’t moving
the blouse arms don’t deform
the hair braids don’t move
and the wings go front-back but nothing jiggles up and down as the foot is planted

@KrohDaddi- thanks for your observations, you’re right- all of these need to be addressed.

  1. the wings -were- parented to the armature ribs, they now have their own bone which i’m going to have to animate manually or set up a fancy driver for-any help with latter would be awesome cos I don’t know the ins and outs of drivers.

  2. I might try softbody settings for the shoulder puff bits as long as they don’t look rubbery. the left arm sleeve i’m going to have to abandon and remodel without a hanging sleeve- cloth sim won’t retain seams/geometry detail, soft body doesn’t react to collision. ( I can always keep the original for static renders I suppose)

  3. the braids will need an armature, at this point seems simple enough but this project has kicked my arse on many occasions.

nice work on the braids, I myself had a hell of a time figuring out how to braid stuff, ultimately unsuccessful. I think your way was easier…

I watched a 3dstudio video of someone doing one (without any sound) and tried to recreate in blender as accurate as i could, understanding the geometry was key. but was all good learning for the snake bit merging out of her dress- which was actually harder to get right