   Critique: flat-rendered demon model
  This was a project for me to work on detailed organic models and rigging. I'd estimate that I spent on the order of 15-20 hours on it. It was made entirely in Blender. The rendering mode was achieved by using a solid-color shadeless material and turning on edge enhancement. It looks to me a bit like a smoother version of the old vector-graphics games. I kinda think that it could be nifty for making e.g. sprites for a retro-styled game. Does that seem plausible?I'm looking for any feedback you might happen to have, whether it be on the model itself, the rendering mode, or the animations. I recognize in particular that the latter are somewhat crude; this is the first time I've tried to animate anything nearly so complex (I've done walk cycles before, but they were creatures that didn't have complicated feet, and besides were quadrupedal), and I'm basically figuring things out as I go. Finally, this is what the mesh looks like in a more traditional rendering mode. You'll note I never bothered to texture it.
  I think the rendering style is pretty cool, but I also think it'd be difficult to keep the character separate from everything else if an entire game was rendered in that style.The character, when running, doesn't bob up and down. Running is a series of controlled falls. He should rise with each step and fall into the beginning of the next. There is very little anticipation in the lunge. You should get a copy of The Animator's Survival Kit. It is an excellent book and should help you with your animating.   ;  If I were to do an entire game in this style, it'd probably have a black background, and each sprite would have its own color (so instead of being outlined in white, for example, this guy would get a red outline).Thanks for the reference. I'll check the book out.   ;  I've never seen a deamon wearing high heels before...Just kidding.  I absolutely love the render style :)I agree with zero about the walk, though it still is convincing and much better than anything I could do.Nice Job !!!!!!!!   ;  you can refine his general shape a bit more (like his arms), and possibly make him a bit taller (to better fit the rest of his proportions). even though you're flat rendering him the silhouette would still benefit.but yeah, the rendering style is a neat approach.   ;  In addition to the lack of bobbing in the running animation, the jumping animation ends with an unnatural loss of velocity. Instead of falling forward or keeping balance by extending one leg backwards, the demon bounces (too softly) to a standing rest posture. Both legs move too little and too slowly: the forward one should be raised more, the backward one should push agains the ground for a longer time.The only way to stop so fast would be pushing back with the hands against a wall or an heavy object, but the hand movement (which would be good for an attack from a standing position) makes obvious that the demon has no such support.   ;  Getting crits is like debugging... you want people to focus one area or topic and remove all the other variables.  Right now your rendering hides what amounts to very poor modeling (it just takes practice, its typical of beginner models), and animation that is confused by the modeling (which is also hidden by the rendering).  Your rendering, likewise, is a good initial try (like the modeling and animation) but without quality models and animations, it is hard to get a solid crit (other than "looks cool," which it does).It would be better to focus on one thing at a time, starting with modeling; once you understand modeling (even if you aren't make great models, but they have good anatomy at least), move on to animation and rendering.You need to follow a tutorial when modeling at first.  Your creature doesn't have any anatomy, he is more like a gumbi than a demon.  Problems include: No shoulders, misshapen pelvis, no bones in arms (they're curved), impossibly angled legs, and that's only what's showing up in the animation/silhouette.  A suggestion and word of caution: never apply smoothing to a crappy model.  It merely tries to disguise errors and isn't at all helpful to a crit (its the exact opposite).  Once you are working on models that will eventually be smoothed (ie, not for games), then it is helpful to work with a smoothed proxy (or more likely in sub-d's), but for crits on the more fundamental levels of modeling, never, ever, ever, render a smoothed model.You don't yet have an understanding of anatomy, weight, or proportion, you shouldn't be attempting animation until you do.  They are pretty good tries, though, given your skill level.Rendering is "cool" but its impossible to crit properly without more accurate art.Didn't mean to come off harsh but these are the essentials.  You just need to practice.  Get some video tutorials and regular tutorials, and equally as important some books from Amazon or elsewhere, and practice.  Also, read up on anatomy and proportion (Anatomy Lessons from the Great Masters, and Human Anatomy Made Amazingly Easy are the two books I always suggest), as you will never be able to model characters without that knowledge, no matter how good you are with the programs.  And draw, 3D is a very bad medium to figure out 'art.'  I would start with things simpler than characters, and take it one step at a time, though projects like this are often helpful in establishing your studies in the grande scheme, knowing what's involved.   ;  Anatomy is certainly worth learning, but i, personally, wouldnt be so fast as to apply it to every single thing you may do. It only applies to human-analogued characters.Its like in the shows like Star Trek or Babylon 5, people want more "alien" aliens all the time, they nag the show's team about it, and if there ARE "alien" aliens - people are nagging the team about how those aliens dont behave like humans do.I think people these days are too fixated on anatomy. Sure, use it on human characters. If you are not making a human, or any Earth-based lifeform - go and venture out there, experiment !However, this here model is not exactly "thought-through", i agree here with Prof.   ;Quote:Original post by KarnotI think people these days are too fixated on anatomy. Sure, use it on human characters. If you are not making a human, or any Earth-based lifeform - go and venture out there, experiment !You're making the mistake of defining "anatomy" as only relating to humans. Anatomy applies to all living things. Dogs have anatomy. Horses have anatomy. Birds have anatomy.An alien creature like this may not be human, but it still has mass. It has muscles, bones, joints, skin, and organs. Unless you're shooting for a totally mind-bending creature that doesn't follow the laws of physics, all of those things are important. This does not look like that sort of creature.The rendering style does do a nice job of covering up the problems, though. With good enough animation you could get away with it if you really had to.   ;Quote:You're making the mistake of defining "anatomy" as only relating to humans. Anatomy applies to all living things. Dogs have anatomy. Horses have anatomy. Birds have anatomy.I said "Earth-based lifeforms". Quote:It has muscles, bones, joints, skin, and organs.That may be so, but those muscles dont have to attach the same way human muscles do, the ribcage may be not present at all, the organs may be at different places than human organs are.You may argue that applying anatomy is giving your creature more "believeability", but i say its because humans are incredibly self-centered. Angels are just humans with wings. Demons are just humans with horns and hooves. Et cetera. And when we will meet extraterrestrial life - we are absolutely sure that it WILL be humanoid. Thats fine and all, but in my opinion it gets boring quickly. Its like most fantasy races are always just mixes of human and animal traits, fishmen, birdmen, catmen, bullmen, insectmen... I applaud to whoever thought up the Zerg. Insects with muscles, now thats something new.   