Quanons many projects.

[Quanon 263]

Nice detail on the leather

 

So, for the boots, are you going to remove the painted highlights altogether and make it shine with an envmap?

 

 

Please do! PLEASE

 

Yes, that's the idea. I'm certain I can get a nice effect with the envmap. 

It's just to obvious on the Bastila skin. With Mission and Canderous, it was all more subtle on the old skins. It didn't stick out so much.

So I was able to use the old skin, a black/ white version, to get the highlights and shadows back for all the wrinkels in the clothing, leather, etc...

 

All of her underwear variants use the model P_BastilaBA. And all the clothing is P_BastilaBB. P_BastilaBB02 is her cutscene model (clothes); the only difference is that the flaps aren't flex meshes, but instead are weighted to additional bones. I don't believe the model is ever used in the game; rather, it's left over from when the Bink videos were animated.

 

Thanks, this should make things easier to get everything replaced in one go.

 

I have to admit, that I don't like your Bastila face texture. Maybe it's my monitor or the screenshots but there seems to be almost no detail on the skin but just one flat color. Only her eyes and mouth stick out and don't seem to blend with the rest of the texture. But then again, what little detail there is makes her look way too old.

 

I have no idea how to fix this, but maybe my critique helps anyway

(The clothing looks amazing btw)

 

No, I appreciate all the feedback I get. And, yes, honestly I'm not happy on how the head turned out. It keeps bugging me at some level. And it's clear it just isn't good enough.

I feel it doesn't match the quality I had with my Mission and Canderous reskins.

 

For all the curious, this is how the skin looks like in Photoshop, plus the fair lady I used as a basis.

@SuperSzym: she isn't old, but I guess my work on her made her look old

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Further tweaks applied. I did a little trip in Kotor, so I can show how much a skin can change, just depending where you're standing.

The skin is still rather flat... On Manaan she really looks sick, Selkath smell bad?

Although Bastila has a pale skin. I've tried to match it all better, but in the end, I'll just need to scrap and throw it up the junkpile

 

I did get a few new ideas on how I should do my layers and effects for my next attempt on Bastila.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

I assume the picture of that woman is the model you used as a source for her skin? Maybe that's part of the issue?

 

Like the eyebrows and lips seem too thin

 

Maybe it's just me, but I think brunettes with thicker eyebrows might have a better effect?

 

Emilia Clarke

 

 

Lily James

 

Better stop there before I just start fancasting for my own personal KOTOR movie

 

 

EDIT: Another thing I noticed is that her skin looks an awful lot like the skin used for her mother Helena... is that intentional?

[Kexikus 994]

This new skin looks really great!

 

It might be a little pale on Manaan but otherwise it's awesome. My only minor complaint now would be that the hair on her forehead (if that's what it's called^^) is a little uniform. And I'm not a fan of her eye shadow, but that's personal taste

[Quanon 263]

I assume the picture of that woman is the model you used as a source for her skin? Maybe that's part of the issue?

 

Like the eyebrows and lips seem too thin

 

Maybe it's just me, but I think brunettes with thicker eyebrows might have a better effect?

 

Emilia Clarke

 

 

Lily James

 

Better stop there before I just start fancasting for my own personal KOTOR movie

 

 

EDIT: Another thing I noticed is that her skin looks an awful lot like the skin used for her mother Helena... is that intentional?

 

Yes; the model I used doesn't look like Bastila at all, but I only use bits and pieces. These get scaled and warped a bit to fit on the UVmap.

Then it all gets desaturated or turned black and white. Or color matched, any of these steps or a combination. It gives different effects.

 

I picked that model because, I have a few more portrait shots of her. All with the same lighting setup. Which makes it easier to match up color and balance the contrast. More options to work with.

And of course the size of the pictures. 

 

Nice choices though on your actors pick

 

This new skin looks really great!

 

It might be a little pale on Manaan but otherwise it's awesome. My only minor complaint now would be that the hair on her forehead (if that's what it's called^^) is a little uniform. And I'm not a fan of her eye shadow, but that's personal taste

 

The funny thing is, it's still the same skin but I tweaked my layers a bit differently. It still feels a bit flat/ smooth though. I'dd like to have bit more complexion back into her skin.

But at least, I now have a few more ideas on what I can do to get the result I have in mind. And, yeah, the hair has a good basis, but I need to adjust the flow of it. It goes straight and doesn't follow the model at all

 

The eye shadow is really bright; which wasn't my intention, I still need darken that further

Anyway, I'll keep working on this. Thanks everybody for all the feedback these last few days!

[Quanon 263]

So, yesterday I got a PM from RedRob. He has finished work on fixing a few issues on Bastilas head UV-map.

The skin now has less stretching and skewing on certain places, remapped a few sections to get better results.

 

The best part is he made me a package so I could adjust my new skin to fit nicely on his new UV-map, creating a better results!

This is just one of the many things I really like about our community

 

Many, many, many thanks Redrob, if you ever land and visit Belgium, give me a heads up. I should buy you one of our, many many many many many finest beers, can't thank you enough!

Just happens we have a lot of nice beers for such a tiny speck on the globe.

 

Ofcourse, I got home and just had to start working. Very pleased so far. Bastila has had a few minor changes again.

Yes, again

 

There's still a minor oversight; the inside of the mouth is a bit light; so it really stands out against her lips. Contrast is just a bit to much right now.

But I've darkened the hair, gave back some color to her skin. Adjusted the eye shadow, I just forgot she had a more purple tint. No idea how I got the blue

 

I'll keep working on it. Aiming to get her regular clothes and head done tomorrow. So I can move on to her underwear and slave clothing.

Here's a small peek on how things are looking:

 

I'm overdoing the picture stuff? x-D

 

 

 

 

 

 

[superSzym 155]

Finally Bastila looks nice and not forty (although I think it would fit with the lore more in certain places if she was forty, because Revan is something like fifteen years older than her). On some of the screenshots, her skin tone looks stagnantly, but I think it's just the light on Manaan, because on Tatooine her skin looks nice.

 

The only thing I'd work on is hair model. This ridiculous something on the top of her hair should be a bit flatter and less spiky. I also think it should merge with rest of the hair at some point instead of sticking out. I still think the ponytails are too narrow, spiky and sunken on the interior side while bulging to the exterior. I would highly appreciate fixing this lack of three-dimensional imagination, which is quite common amongst vanilla models.

[Quanon 263]

Finally Bastila looks nice and not forty (although I think it would fit with the lore more in certain places if she was forty, because Revan is something like fifteen years older than her). On some of the screenshots, her skin tone looks stagnantly, but I think it's just the light on Manaan, because on Tatooine her skin looks nice.

 

The only thing I'd work on is hair model. This ridiculous something on the top of her hair should be a bit flatter and less spiky. I also think it should merge with rest of the hair at some point instead of sticking out. I still think the ponytails are too narrow, spiky and sunken on the interior side while bulging to the exterior. I would highly appreciate fixing this lack of three-dimensional imagination, which is quite common amongst vanilla models.

 

Thanks ^^

 

Yes, the hair shows how low poly these models look; compared to more modern games or games from a few years later. Mind Kotor is very old, it's a dinosaur in the gaming scene

There are a few tricks to get away with the spiky look on those strands of hair. And that is by applying a mask, making things transparent. With such a mask you can get the effect of loose fine strands, not just big lumps like in my preview from above.

 

It still has it's limits, mostly on how the game engine from Kotor handles this stuff. I'm just happy to have gotten this far and make some progress on this project. Hopefully I can release this soon to the public. At this moment I'm playing around with some shiny effects on the leather, but I haven't decided yet if it's needed. It has it's drawbacks.

 

Mainly in that the effect then also MUST be used on her head skin. Not just the body. I can't seem to have two effects.

Anyway, just to show how it looks in game:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Revanator 60]

I love the look on the clothes. She still looks middle-aged, though, not sure if that's really fixable.

[Sithspecter 909]

I agree, the clothing looks phenomenal, and the details on the leather are working out quite nicely. But the face really isn't working at all. If you ask me, it just looks way too flat.

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

Clothing looks phenomenal!

 

Face looks much better! I'd up the mascara a little bit on the bottom lid and the face is still a little too same-y colored.

 

That said, there's no way I'd be able to do any of this, so wonderful job so far, my friend!

[Kexikus 994]

I have to agree with the last posts: On that latest screenshots her face looks too flat again.

 

Also, why are her hands made from silver? xD

[DeadMan 103]

 

 

Also, why are her hands made from silver? xD

It's not real Bastila. It's T-1000

[superSzym 155]

She still looks middle-aged, though, not sure if that's really fixable.

I think those are rather her ridiculous facial expressions rather than the new texture. However, Quanon, I prefer the version you presented to us on Tatooine, Manaan and the Ebon Hawk. It looks far more natural with her facial expressions and actually is the one version that doesn't look old. I would love this as a base for further tweaking of the skin tones (for me, it looks far better than the one you showed us on Taris, red lipstick goes better with her face, only the eyeshadow is too bluish, but don't take it from the Taris one, because it's far too small in range, if you're working in Photoshop, you can just add more magenta and reduce cyans through selective color), but if you prefer the one from Taris for further work, please, release the one from Tatooine as an addition.

 

Clothing looks beautiful. For Bastila's slave outfit, I'd recommend something in the shape of the one included in RedRob's underwear pack.

[Quanon 263]

I love the look on the clothes. She still looks middle-aged, though, not sure if that's really fixable.

 

I think it's because of the hue of her skin and lack of details. I've updated her look to match more with one of my previous updates.

It uses more color from her original skin mixed with my details. Giving back some brightness and contrast. 

 

I agree, the clothing looks phenomenal, and the details on the leather are working out quite nicely. But the face really ins't working at all. If you ask me, it just looks way too flat.

 

Yeah, I haven't used any or very little highlights and shadows from her old skin. I might tweak this version some further for personal use. I just like it somehow, but it doesn't match with the look she had.

 

Clothing looks phenomenal!

 

Face looks much better! I'd up the mascara a little bit on the bottom lid and the face is still a little too same-y colored.

 

That said, there's no way I'd be able to do any of this, so wonderful job so far, my friend!

 

 

I have to agree with the last posts: On that latest screenshots her face looks too flat again.

 

Also, why are her hands made from silver? xD

 

 

It's not real Bastila. It's T-1000

 

Hahaha, the hands are silver because I didn't pay any attention to the alpha map on that part of her skin. No, worries, it will get fixed in short order. Yesterday I just wanted to test a few things on her leather armor. That was the main focus

 

I think those are rather her ridiculous facial expressions rather than the new texture. However, Quanon, I prefer the version you presented to us on Tatooine, Manaan and the Ebon Hawk. It looks far more natural with her facial expressions and actually is the one version that doesn't look old. I would love this as a base for further tweaking of the skin tones (for me, it looks far better than the one you showed us on Taris, red lipstick goes better with her face, only the eyeshadow is too bluish, but don't take it from the Taris one, because it's far too small in range, if you're working in Photoshop, you can just add more magenta and reduce cyans through selective color), but if you prefer the one from Taris for further work, please, release the one from Tatooine as an addition.

 

Clothing looks beautiful. For Bastila's slave outfit, I'd recommend something in the shape of the one included in RedRob's underwear pack.

 

You'll be happy to hear, SuperSzym, I've gone back to that previous look. It's just the order on how I setup my layers in Photoshop. I've got various files on Bastila; so I can go back and copy the setups of previous versions if  need be.

So it's back with a little more eyeliner, make up and the red lips

 

I'll call this the release version; for the head skin. It's done! I'll now move on to the underwear.

Minor preview, on Dantooine, Tatooine and Ebon Hawk:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[superSzym 155]

This is *present continous form of the verb starting with F, when used as an adverb a synonym to "very"* awesome.

[Revanator 60]

Now THAT looks fantastic.

[Malkior 476]

I think you may have a bigger problem than makeup.

 

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110815015702/starwars/images/1/19/Bastila_Shan_Hasbro.jpg"

 

The trick to avoid making a character's face look flat is to imply the underlying bone structure through either subtle shading or using the model's own facial features with a transparency mask (painted in using the model's photo) it would also be important to pay a lot of attention to the details around the eyes, specifically the deepness of the eye sockets and edges of the eyelids.

 

That said, your work on the outfit looks great most notably the gaps between the leather.

[redrob41 86]

Many, many, many thanks Redrob, if you ever land and visit Belgium, give me a heads up. I should buy you one of our, many many many many many finest beers, can't thank you enough!

Just happens we have a lot of nice beers for such a tiny speck on the globe.

You're welcome Q. I don't know if I'll ever find myself in Belgium, but if I do, I might have to waive my non-drinker status, although chocolate would be a good substitute 

 

As for why she looks older, one thing that I can think of is that the mdl has some unfortunate shadows that happen at the outside corners of her eyes. These aren't a part of the texture, but rather the in-game rendering. The reason for it is that there are some unwelded vertices all around her eyesocket. Normally this is so that there is a hard edge where the eyelids are, but in her model's case, there are a few extra verts that aren't welded, but should be. I tried to fix it in max, but somewhere along the process (either de-compiling with MDLOps 0.6a1, or exporting from 3DS max 2016, or re-compiling with MDLOps 0.7a2) all the seams get buggered just a tiny bit. This results in a little bit of flickering when animated because the seams don't line up perfectly anymore (similar to many of the models in TSL). I'm guessing that it has to do with the vertex coordinates getting rounding differences.

 

The only thing about the texture that I can see that might make her appear older, is that the laugh lines around the corners of the mouth might be a little off. I noticed that your source image has the woman in a great big laugh, which makes the folds (where the bottom of her cheeks wrap in towards her mouth) end up very deep and shadowy. In most of the K1 head models, the face textures are painted with a neutral expression, so that the fold isn't very pronounced. 

 

You might want to find some photo source that has a nice, neutral or blank facial expression.

 

Edit: Although, the latest screenshots (post #314) look pretty good

[N-DReW25 1,319]

That is A LOT better though I still believe the eyes could do with a bit of an improvement, though overall it is alright.

[Quanon 263]

@RedRob: Yes, the smile also made her cheeks bit too puffy. I've adjusted them all a bit to fit better around the mouth. I've also - just on that part - adjusted the contrast so it doesn't stick out so much anymore. I've added back in the old skin, though slightly blurred and desaturated to get back in some highlights and shadows. Like this, I feel I got the best of both worlds.

 

It's really tricky stuff to pull off on faces. With Canderous I could boost the contrast a bit more, since he had to look grizzled and older. So that made it a bit easier and more forgiving. The ladies are just harder to do justice

 

I'll let the face rest for a bit, I think I got it to a good release quality. Instead I put in some time for her underwear model: Which I can then use as a base for the slave skin, as seen on Taris.

Here's what I got so far: Arms, legs and torso, the fleshy bits are done. Just need further tweaking on the hands and fingers. And more work on the bra and underpants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Revanator 60]

Looks really good.

[Teddy273 4]

That looks a lot better. I might be alone on this but I think her lips look too dark though. Other than that it looks awesome.

[superSzym 155]

I think underwear looks quite nice, but for slave outfit I'd rather choose something in shape of the one included in RedRob's Underwear Pack.

[Quanon 263]

I think underwear looks quite nice, but for slave outfit I'd rather choose something in shape of the one included in RedRob's Underwear Pack.

 

Hmm, did Redrob release that mod here on Deadly Stream? I can't seem to find it back

[DarthParametric 3,777]

This it? http://deadlystream.com/forum/files/file/344-player-party-underwear/