[Request] Finalization on a Troll model(s)

Ok. So I have these two models, from the acclaimed (yet dead) Ominous Horizons project from Tijil and BHav. They are in various stages of completion. I have 3ds Max 9, so I can only view them; I can't export, unwrap, animate, rig, ik bake, uvw, etc etc... I don't even know half of what I need to do, but I know it isn't working right now :P.

So anyway. Let me go into the details, I guess:

Model 1: The Troll Headshrinker

This is a hero Troll model. I have both a .max file (for 3ds Max) and an .mdx file (for the game). However, I have no skin, and he has only 1 animation. I don't know what's required to make it "useable" ingame; hopefully you do. I believe that you’ll need 3ds Max 5 with Blizzard Art Tools installed to make it work right.

What I’m looking for: This is like a creepy Troll hero, who does all sorts of unspeakable rituals and creepy potions and stuff. He’s got a mini-cauldron strapped to his back, and a shrunken head on a string. His staff… I don’t know what the feathery things are, actually. Nor do I know what the things coming out of the cauldron are. Be creative?

- SKIN: Urgh, I’m bad at this. Probably something jarring and eerie, like a purple/green combo with his clothes, perhaps a bit jester-ish (maybe, maybe not; just throwing out ideas here). The shrunken head should be elf, high elf preferably. The staff should be normal wood, but I don’t know what the feathery things on it’s tip are, so be creative; perhaps some sort of jungle vegetation? With it’s vines wrapping around the rest of the staff?
Generic Jungle Troll skin colors and tusk colors. Make sure to get a bit of a Trollish hunch in there with his animations; I believe he’s really tall otherwise.

– ANIMATIONS: This is a bit easier… Would need Stand, Walk, Attack, Death, Dissipate, and Spell. (If the [Attack] animation was him raising up the shrunken head to eye-level, this could serve doubly as his [Spell] animation). Anything more is extra and would just be awexome.
- - Stand1: normal wc3 “standing”.
- - Stand2: plays “Shakespeare: Hamlet” with the shrunken head (i.e. putting it in his palm, facing him, and speaking to it with a straight posture).
- - Stand3: perhaps something where he sticks a finger in cauldron at his back, tastes the brew, and his head shrinks momentarily or something.
- - Walk: somewhat of a slouch; he’s got a big full cauldron on his back, so have him limp a bit and use his staff heavily.
- - Attack1: darn, I don’t know whether he’s ranged or melee… Ok, if Ranged: generic staff swing/point. If Melee, perhaps add a jagged knife texture in his opposite hand for the attack.
- - Attack2: if Ranged: taps/slams his staff straight down (akin to Gandolf in the bridge scene of LotR) while pointing straight out (pwned!). If Melee, have him swing the shrunken head!
- - Death: Meh, generic “fall-down” death. Or where he slumps to his knees, tightly gripping his staff for support, then the cauldron falls off his back (??) and he slumps over.
- - Dissipate: normal hero dissipate from the death anim.
- - Spell: Raises the shrunken head to eye-level, the lowers it
- - Spell Slam: Smashes the ground with his staff; both hands on it. Perhaps a small magicy-effect at the base of staff.
- - Spell Channel: Puts the shrunken head away and pulls out a “death rattle” (like a dark-colored squash/gourd); then does little mini-jumps side-to-side, all while shaking the rattle like crazy!
- - Spell Throw: Dips the shrunken head into his back-cauldron, then throws it forward! (he grabs another from his side/back).

- MODEL: One of the big things to worry about is polys, however. Knowing Tijil, he makes his models really poly-heavy, and I can’t have that. So wherever you see a chance to lose some faces while maintaining Wc3 standard-quality, that’s perfect (like all the hanging doodads, or the bumps on his skirt-pants, or the legs inside the pants, eyebrows, replacing the fingers with a block; maybe even lose the cape.) Stuff like that.

~~~

On second thought, I’ll just post the one request for now. If anyone feels interested or able, I’d rather PM or e-mail the attachments, than post them out here (unless, of course, that’s against this forum’s policy; then that’s fine with me). Any help is greatly appreciated; I mean, if I even had the undone skin, I could try and work on that… I just can’t do anything with the model file(s).


(100th post, w00t!)

well, if it's unwrapped I'd definitely be up for skinning it.

Unfortunately, I don't think it is. I have a few guides to coloring it, and I have an .mdx version as well. But I am completely clueless, so I don't know at what stage it is.

But if it's ready for that; thanks, that'd be awexome!

easiest way i can think of to check if it's wrapped would be to change the textures in magos to see of it's a blurry mess... try converting the mdx to mdl and opening it in Oinkerwinkle's Vertex Modifier then go Tools->UV Mapping

Hmm... Well, I did that (see pictures). It seems to "unwrap" nicely; I have a few .jpg unwrapping guides, as well (see other pictures). If this is what you mean, then sure.



If that's all you need and you still want to work on it, great! Thank you. What I said still stands; but I'm talking to Tijil to see if he had any other thoughts on the proper coloration.

So here's the "guide":
And here's the skin/unwrap file, I guess: Headshrinker.tga

ahh thanks, can you make a pastebin thread for the model and PM me the link? without it, i'm kinda flying blind here :P

Go AR!

Oh, is that how that works? Awexome; I didn't know that. Ok then, I'll get right on it.

Thanks again!

WIP shot :)

the model has some issues, mostly some unwelded vertices and bad wrapping in places. Its beyond me to fix the verts without destroying the wrap, so you'll have to get a modeller's help there

Holy cow! That's amazing! I wish Tijil would answer me back; I still don't know what to tell you for his staff and such...

As for the model's problems; yeah, I should've known. I'm kinda looking around for a modeler's help; if only to add animations (it currently has "Stand" :/ ). I have Magos and Oinkerwinkles, but I don't think I'd get very far with those; even if I could open it up, scaling the polies down to 0 doesn't necessarily remove them. Meh.
So in the meantime, if you know any modeler's that aren't busy, I wouldn't mind some advertisement; I'll probably make a topic for it once the skin is "complete" (who knows, working on a model by Tijil with a skin by AnemicRoyalty might just get people coming! :P).

AR, you're my hero. <3

Texturing complete!

I await your thoughts and critique

As you can tell, the model definitely has some wrapping issues (see the face on the back of his head? :P)

Hey, no time tonight. Tomorrow morning fo' sho'...

But at first glance (and second, and third... :P), I absolutely love it.

Simply awesome.

AR quit giving away hawt sex.