DomainWalker Posted November 17, 2011 Report Share Posted November 17, 2011 First of all hello everyone, this is my first post here. I did a few posts back on TWG and then it was gone Finally ran across this forum and have been lurking for a while. I came across the pictures of the axehound and thought I would give it a shot at modeling it in 3D. I feel pretty good about the way the model came out but when I went to add some textures and color to it……. I just could not remember the details from the book. “Need to reread it’ So I thought why not post it and get feedback from the group? So how about it, anyone want to submit idea’s or facts from the book and I will try and get this thing finished in the next few weeks? And please if anything just doesn’t look right about the model please let me know, I want to be as true to the book as possible. “this is my first try at any type of animal” 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkthinker Posted November 17, 2011 Report Share Posted November 17, 2011 (edited) Not a bad start! Some easy notes to start with: (this is presuming you're wanting to model one the way I designed 'em. If you're wanting to create your own variant breed, you can do as you please). -The basic inspirations include lobsters, snapping turtles, and arthropods in general. You won't go wrong looking at the way lobster scales or turtle scales fit together and around each other. -The mandibles along the jaw line are designed to fit seamlessly with the lower jaw, so that when the mouth is closed they tuck in smoothly along the jaw and under the beak. -The inner teeth should be set further back than you're showing here. The outer beak is for shattering shells, the mandibles feed bits into the inner teeth, and then cilia along the inside of the inner mouth help push it down the throat. Axehounds eat their food in big chunky shreds, and the space between the inner jaw and outer beak helps give them room to really tear in. -The carapace along the back of the neck, as well as the neck itself, should widen towards the base/back. It becomes a bit of a flattened diamond shape, wide at the top, sloping up to a shallow peak and sharply down into the neck. -The neck from the throat to the jaw is covered soft, flexible scales like a snake belly. The back of the neck forward to the head is covered in hard, thick, segmented plates. The head and face are covered in fused scales of varying density. -Don't forget the antennae! They're not only major sensory organs, they're very expressive. They're based on moth antennae, but are more flexible. When the axehound is feeling agressive, they cling narrowly to the central spine and lay against the head. When the axehound is happy, they lift and spread out. When they're curious, the spread out further and lean forward. The Axehound was an incredibly challenging design... it had to be aggressive and threatening, but also potentially adorable, and at the same time (like everything on Roshar) it had to start off with arthropods. I dunno if you ever tried to make a lobster look cute, but it ain't easy. Edited November 17, 2011 by Inkthinker 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomainWalker Posted November 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2011 thank you for the reply inkthinker! and yes i would love to get it as close as possible to your design. i will make some changes to the mesh in a day or so and post the updates. what was your thoughts on the eye color as you created this? also i added the nostrils because it looked empty to me in that area as i was building it, what are your thoughts there? what colors did you invision it? DomainWalker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkthinker Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 I'd either leave out the nostrils, or place them at the very top of the "nose", where the beak meets the carapace (one segment above where you've placed them now). The eyes would probably be dark brown or black. As for the rest of it, almost any color or pattern of colors would be reasonable (like dogs, there ought to be a wide variety). We also talked about people painting them, given than they have a combination of hard and soft shell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomainWalker Posted December 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2011 i hope to be able to work on this sometime this weekend and be able to post the changes. been real busy with work and havent had a chance to work on it. thanks for the comments! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos he/him Posted December 1, 2011 Report Share Posted December 1, 2011 This is awesome, DomainWalker. I really like it. Can't wait to see the new and improved version! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomainWalker Posted December 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 so i spent some time on the axehound this weekend. i added some bulk to it and made some other changes. i will not be able to get back to it until next weekend. so i thought i would post the work and get some feedback on it. please let me know what you think so i can make it better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomainWalker Posted December 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 So I have been working on this thing on and off for a while. I decided to go with what I would consider and elder axehound that has gone mad or maybe blood thirsty. The base mesh I was working off of just seemed to plain and slick. So I put a lot of age into this axehound and tried to show that it had been through a lot. This is the finished mesh and I am working on adding color to it now. Please let me know what you think…… Thanks DOM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Djerf he/him Posted December 24, 2011 Report Share Posted December 24, 2011 I like it, a lot! This is how they look for me now, but with antennae. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomainWalker Posted December 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2011 thanks! still working on the antennae, i will have that posted along with the axehound with color. still working through the colors. havent found any i like yet....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomainWalker Posted January 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2012 Here is my final renders of the axehound. I have really enjoyed making this and hope that I have come close to Inkthinkers and Brandon’s design of it or at least close enough for them to approve. I did make some changes from the sketches and I would like to let everyone know the story I used to create this “elder” axehound. I have often been told that when creating something you should have a story behind it. Many may not know this but this project has been my first completed solo project ever. I have been learning 3D on my own now for about a year in my spare time. [Merchant] what do you mean I should take this down, do you have any idea what this…this thing has cost me? [Townsperson] you are scaring the children, here you have a pet that many of them and you have it mounted on your wall like some kind of trophy. It isn’t right.. [Merchant] that my good person is NOT your average axehound that these children play with. I believe it is an elder axehound that came out from the wild or some dark hole. [Townsperson] you are a fool, elder axehounds are children’s tales they do not really exist [Merchant] Let me tell you my good man the story then you will see I was bringing back a caravan of goods when we made camp for the night. I had 6 armguards along with me and my normal caravan crew. Later in the night as I was sleeping and this thing must have stumbled across us or hunted us or whatever, it really doesn’t matter. I was awakened with the screams, I immediately went out to investigate and found my slave just standing there. Still amazes me how he could have stood there with all that screaming, always wearing that pure white and all. Anyway he told me that the guards had heard something moving around in the dark and went to investigate. Next thing I knew, well this beast of a thing comes strolling into the camp. One of the cooks went to try and catch it and it tore him limb from limb. It had this look in its eyes like it was mad. I mean look at it, you can still see those eyes and I knew immediately something was wrong. It didn’t have any antennae’s and the way it looked around hunting for something. Well it found me and I knew it was coming, I screamed for that blasted slave of mind to do something. I looked around for him and when I did he was looking at me like I was crazy or something. I told him if he wanted to live through the night he better kill that dam thing. He had this god awful grin but I commanded him again to kill it. I don’t know what it was everything happened so fast…… I swear it looked like the camp was suddenly darker and that slave I don’t know but I swear he was glowing. Like light was seeping out of him, that creature noticed it too. It just stopped and starred at him and didn’t move. I screamed again at that slave to kill it and it must have done something because that beast jumped at me then. Right before it got to me it suddenly dropped to the ground like all of its life was taken. The slave had a dagger of some sort and then it just disappeared. I know, I know all this sounds crazy and it might be the fear I had in me that night. You want to know the craziest part of it all… do you….. I looked at the slave and he had a tear, a tear I tell you but I don’t think it was for me. I think he wanted that beast to kill all of us or something….. and you want to know what else…. The body didn’t have a mark on it Anyway I wasn’t about to let that beast go to waste, but it was too heavy to pick up. So I cut off its head and had it mounted. //END\\ Anyway that is the story I had come up with and while I know it doesn’t make too much sense it did help me to work on it. It also helps to explain why it doesn’t have antennae’s. I did try and create them but could not come up with anything that I thought matched the design. Also if for any reason anyone would like a higher resolution image of this just let me know and I can render one out. This is only a 1K X 1K but I can do a much higher one if need be. Thanks DomainWalker 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelek he/him Posted January 2, 2012 Report Share Posted January 2, 2012 That is EPIC!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomainWalker Posted January 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2012 That is EPIC!!!! thank you, it is much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeatherWriter she/her Posted January 3, 2012 Report Share Posted January 3, 2012 That looks really cool! I love your take on them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkthinker Posted January 3, 2012 Report Share Posted January 3, 2012 Not bad! Do you feel that you're done with it, or do you want me to put on my work hat and pick at it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomainWalker Posted January 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2012 Not bad! Do you feel that you're done with it, or do you want me to put on my work hat and pick at it? actually both, i am done with it because at this point i see so many things i would need to change from a mesh perspective and texture resolution that i would be better off starting over. but i value your comments and would very much appreciate and welcome your comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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