The forgotten Wonder Man costume

Helix · April 04, 2013, 01:54:47 PM

Ok. It's been a long time since I've done any skinning and I wanted to post a pic for some tips/advice/critique...but I forgot how to capture a pic while in character tool.

Help!?

Helix · April 04, 2013, 02:17:57 PM

Oh, yeah...it's this costume http://www.statueforum.com/showthread.php?t=131613

Tomato · April 04, 2013, 02:40:42 PM

print screen usually works.

Helix · April 04, 2013, 04:09:08 PM

Yeah, I already tried that. I got nothing.

bat1987 · April 04, 2013, 05:02:15 PM

You tried pressing printscreen and croping the image in paint?

Helix · April 04, 2013, 10:34:33 PM

Yeah, print screen won't capture the image.

spydermann93 · April 04, 2013, 10:46:37 PM

This might be rather tedious at times, but you could use the "Snipping Tool" (if you have Windows 7) if your prt sc button absolutely won't work.

TAP43 · April 05, 2013, 01:27:25 AM

This was what worked for me, open what ever program you are going to use to paste the screenshot into then do the print screen button and paste into the program you are going to use. I would open word or photoshop then press print screen go to word or photoshop and right click to paste, then crop to the right size. Hope that works for you.

Helix · April 05, 2013, 01:57:25 AM

Yeah, that's what it was TAP. Thank you.

Helix · April 05, 2013, 04:01:30 AM

Wonder Man
Costume design: George Perez
Mesh: Challenger by Grenadier
Base Skin: make_basic_TM by Tomato
Keyframes: Stripsey by Renegade

Obviously, this is a WIP. I have not finished the belt, boots, or bracers...and no 3D or highlight effects have been used yet. I guess what I'd love some advice on is how to make the skin look smoother. Basically, all I have done is color somebody Tomato's base skin. Now how do I make the costume look smoother (glossy, waxy, plasticy) without losing muscle definition? Any advice?

Tomato · April 05, 2013, 05:20:26 AM

If I'm understanding what you're trying to say correctly, there are two main ways to enhance the skin in that fashion. The best way, though admittedly one that's MUCH more tedious, is to add individual highlights to each muscle... it's a big pain in the tush, but if you save the results you never ever have to do it again.

The second way it to adjust the levels for each color... brightness/contrast is the easiest way to do it, but I get better results by combining that and the "Highlight/Midtone/Shadow" tool in Paint Shop Pro... I don't have photoshop to see if it has something similar(I can't imagine that it wouldn't tho), but it's essentially a simpler version of the "levels" tool.

In all honesty, the two work well in combination too. It just depends on which color you're trying to pull off.

(Also, technically that's still C6's base... I just made minor modifications to the original because it's so popular and some things about it nagged me to death)

Helix · April 05, 2013, 06:23:54 AM

Tomato-

I'm using Paintshop Pro XIV and have used all of the functions you describe. I've also tried using the softening brush in places to make the transition from highlight to midtone smoother with limited success. I know it seems ridiculous because you can't see such minor imperfections when you're actually using the character in the game, but it still bugs me to see pixelated splotches on the .tga file or when viewing the character in the character tool. I noticed that I don't see those kinds of flaws in your skins...or Courtnall's, or AA's, etc. I guess I'll just have to be more patient and keep monkeying around with the effects.

Cyber Burn · April 10, 2013, 06:16:31 PM

Looks good from here so far. My opinion though, would be to finish the skin with the effects added, it would make it easier, at least for me, to see what would need to be changed.

Helix · April 11, 2013, 04:22:40 AM

I'm almost done with it. I've been hopping back and forth between skinning this Wonder Man and skinning Youngblood's Shaft. I'll post a pic soon.

Cyber Burn · April 16, 2013, 04:09:51 PM

I would love to see a preview of your Shaft skin, what mesh are you using?

Helix · April 18, 2013, 05:27:00 AM

I'm using the vxmale_archer mesh, simply because I like my characters to have hair. The problem I have run into with Shaft is that there are no two sample pictures in which his costume is the same. It, apparently, changed from one issue to the next...so I may be making an amalgam of a few different costumes. right now, I'm trying to the left arm done correctly. Here's what I have so far:

Cyber Burn · April 18, 2013, 05:54:30 AM

Looks good Helix, funny thing is, I'm working on a skope and every reference pic I have for the character is different. I'm having to take quite a few creative liberties with it. But back to Shaft, your white turned out really well, that's something I've always had difficulties with.

Podmark · April 19, 2013, 02:27:17 AM

Nice Shaft.

Helix · April 19, 2013, 06:02:28 AM

I'm reworking Shaft right now. I wasn't happy with him. I'll have a new pic up soon.

Helix · April 19, 2013, 09:11:12 AM

The newest version. It's pretty basic, but the mesh doesn't have shoulderpad parts and I REFUSE to draw kneepads on any superhero. One version of his 80 different costume configurations has some shin guards on it, so I may add those just to jazz up his lower half, but I'm not sure yet.

Cyber Burn · April 19, 2013, 02:29:44 PM

That looks really nice Helix. Nice attention to detail on the extras.

daglob · April 19, 2013, 08:46:53 PM

I kinda like the nice, clean look.

Helix · April 19, 2013, 10:47:03 PM

What? You don't like all off the Liefeldian googolplexian nonsense that is normally piled on the character??

BentonGrey · April 20, 2013, 09:43:30 PM

Yeah, as DG said, very clean. Nice work!

Helix · April 21, 2013, 03:17:29 AM

Thank you guys. You know, though, I try blending the seams between colors with the "soften" tool, but it makes too much of a mess...even when I have the settings low. I thought C6 once said he used the "push" tool, but I can't make that work right either. Any suggestions?

daglob · April 22, 2013, 07:29:14 PM

You might try the "blend" tool (or your program's equivalent: Photoshop's symbol is an extended finger [no, not that one]). Set the pressure to something like 50% and "wiggle" back and forth actross the edges of the areas you want to blend. Larger brushes with fuzzy edges work best. You may have to play with the pressure to get the effect you want.

Liefield is not one of my favorite artists.

Cyber Burn · April 22, 2013, 10:25:32 PM

Quote from: daglob on April 22, 2013, 07:29:14 PM
You might try the "blend" tool (or your program's equivalent: Photoshop's symbol is an extended finger [no, not that one]). Set the pressure to something like 50% and "wiggle" back and forth actross the edges of the areas you want to blend. Larger brushes with fuzzy edges work best. You may have to play with the pressure to get the effect you want.

Liefield is not one of my favorite artists.

Liefield is an artist? Could have fooled me.

Helix · April 23, 2013, 05:40:36 AM

The soften tool is Paintshop Pro's equivalent of the blend tool. I probably just need to play around with the opacity settings on it.

I actually read an article recently about Liefeld's many, many failed attempts to bring big-name writers in to fix Youngblood and make it legit. But there is no saving his ripped off characters and no writer wants his name attached to any Liefeld project. The dude is an unoriginal, talentless hack.

Aaaaanyway...back to the skins I go.

windblown · April 23, 2013, 10:56:02 PM

That's a very nice skin Helix.

Helix · April 24, 2013, 02:58:27 AM

Thank you Windblown! I'm trying, bro!

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The forgotten Wonder Man costume