Sagitenjikara - The Strength of the Herons of Heaven
You can view the Unreal Tournament 3 in-game model here:
http://generalsoundwave.deviantart.com/ ... 3-83786943
This is my first real Next-Gen game ready character. I am a HUGE Transformer fan and I created this original fan-fic piece based off of a character named Dr. Fujiyama, the creator of the NIGHTBIRD. Samurai were typically fishermen, so I found it fitting to base the his Astro-Unit name off of the Heron. Sagiten refers to "The Heron of Heaven" who are incredibly intelligent strategists who know how to draw in and trap their prey.
Total working time is approx. 6 months for 1 total concept, 1 character, 1 vehicle, and 3 weapons. This includes Modeling, Texturing, Technical Directing, Animation, ActorX Export/Unreal3Ed Import, and Unreal3 Script. The Character is customizable in the respect that the 'men ornaments' and 'haidate' can be deleted to diversify rank, enabling the creation of 3 total characters. Once the skin textures are replaced, a plethora of diversity is enabled. Dr. Fujiyama does not transform, however, the Motorcycle does. The Root-Mode is design off of 2 snowmobiles named the Hyanide and Ba'al with all-terrain capabilities. In it's Alt-Mode, the Energo Bike attaches itself to the back of the strength enhancing Sagiten armor of the Doc. This backpack also enacts as a Jetpack-Hanglider. The center section of the entire jetpack that attaches to the back of the character is based off of the actual pack used in The Transformers episodes "Dinobot Island Pt. 1 and 2. (Just making sure I'm getting all the right people the right credit).
The Sagiten general was awarded 3 swords from the United Earth Defense Government; A Masamune, Sousetsu- Creation, and Kaimetsu- Destruction. Each sword has customizable features including the Same, Fuchi, Tsuba, and the Katana/Wakizashi Blade itself. The Fuchi of the SouKai duo are engraved as well. The Masamune was based off of a combination of these actual historical Masamunes:
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The Unreal3 screen shots are print-screens from within the Unreal3 editor. The only thing I did was place the character inside of the Torlan/Vehicles map. The map, lighting, and the environment was all created by Epic Games.
Everything saw Z-Brush, even if it was only for a mesh-smooth normal map export. The Shading Netowrks from Unreal3 are all handwritten. I learned the Material Kismet system and had a TON of fun with it. I setup my characters textures just like the Unreal3 Goliath Tank. In other words, it is setup that when you fire upon the character, damage will occur specifically where you are firing, not damaging the rest of the character in the mean-time. I must admit that I borrowed 3 textures for the burn-out damage overlay; VH_All.Materials.T_VH_All_Axon_Damage_D, VH_All.Materials.T_VH_All_Axon_Damage_N, and VH_All.Materials.T_VH_All_Axon_Detail_N. I do not have the ability to export those 3 textures out of Unreal, so I don't really know what they are in order to re-create them. However, I did compensate by creating an entire damage set for the character on my own. I did not create custom damage textures for the vehicle itself. I used Unreal's preset, but the shader network is still handwritten.
The character itelf is coded and broken down further into minor entities as well; Head_Helmet, Head_Visor, Head_Mask, Upper_Torso, Upper_Arms, Upper_Shoulders, Upper_ShoulderR, Upper_ShoulderL, Lower_Thighs, Lower_Boots, Lower_Haidate. It was much easier to assemble everything in the environment inside of UnrealEd by entities rather than parts, so thats why I didn't include them into the polycount list. This character can use all of the Unreal3 animations, however, I am currently preparing to export my own custom set. I've done this numerous times in UT2004s UnrealEd2. I get hung up on the faction coding section... In case anyone is curious, I have 1 entire model dedicated to each kind of bone structure; 3D Max Biped Bone Names, Maya bone names, and Maya bone names broken down by entity.
Special Thanks:
Yuji - for having the patiencefor teaching me Japanese and basing this entire character off of you.
Ron - for always giving me an honest opinion and pushing my art further
Demp - for being such a badass mentor and really showing me how to unleash my talent
Ty - allowing me to ask you 'what do you think' all day
Buckshot - Showing me how to make Transformers stuff applicable to humans.
Rich- for lending me your Motion Sickness....
R3d - for always, always, ALWAYS giving me the straight answer, even if the truth hurts. BOOYAH FOO I GOT THIS.
JSter - now maybe we can go to Epic?
And a very special thanks to Mr. Alessandro Baldasseroni. You can imagine what it meant to me for you to critique my work. Thank you again for posting your Hellgate tutorial online.
If youre a 3D person and want to know more technical info about this piece, you can view it here:
http://generalsoundwave.deviantart.com/ ... a-83787379
- Sagitenjikara
Copyright Donatelli, Vincent M. 2008
Dr. Fujiyama - Copyright Hasbro 1983-2008
