It goes without saying, that I have once again been away from this blog for a long time. This armaturing and posing was done a couple of weeks ago, but sheer procrastination has kept me from posting it here. I really must try to post more regularly. Anyway, better late than never, and at least this has not ended up as one more Blender project stuck in limbo. I finally managed to armature the figure, and started playing arond with posing it. I also assigned the loin cloth mesh to the same armature and after a bit of tweaking, it seems to distort in an acceptable manner unless the leg is bent to its extreme positions. At the moment I’m happy with it, but this is definitely still a work in progress. For animation I might have to rethink some of the geometry to be more anatomically correct for better deformation – such as the flow if the faceloops along the arms. Some weight painting might also help smoothen out the rough corners at the joints.
Recently there was a call for splash screen ideas for the latest release of Blender (2.34), and I thought that was as good an excuse as any to put my character through some more deformation tests. This mockup was the result of the exercise. It didn’t win of course, because it is by no means is a stunning example of what Blender is really capable of, but it was worth the effort just to get to know this model better. Here I rendered the character with smooth surfaces as a test, and also because I didn’t expect my rough look to be comprehended by most of the viewers as a legitimate choice. However, the solid shaded polygonal look will continue in my further uses of this character. I like that look for the world I am trying to create.
More to come.
Samir
