Hello! I started to make a statue of Molag Bal. I will write here the steps of progress. I will be glad to hear your opinions and advice. Statue characterized by its expressive pose, so I decided to first make the model in the standard T-pose, and then put it in the desired position.
Thu, 01/23/2014 - 02:29
#1
[WIP] Statue of Molag Bal
Edited by: grumpycat on 12/08/2014 - 19:08
At this stage I want to put the model in the desired position, and then modifying the proportions and details.
use transpose master for posing.
u can do that after u detail the model.
can u show pics of the model in a grey colour with matcap white cavity
Yes, I was going to use transpose ... I already applied it to this model and noticed that when the legs get strong enough distortion in the hips ... Maybe i need to more accurately make a mask ... But I thought it would be better modify these places after'll pose.And when a character is sitting in this position, as Molag Bal, will finalize the muscle groups separately, with a focus on this position. This is particularly evident on the legs
I really like the horns in ESO's Molag Bal
That statue looks really cool. The Molag Bal shrine in Skyrim looked somewhat similar actually, and depicted him as a horned monstrosity rather than a more classical devil.
See; http://www.giannipc.com/josh/guide/da_intro-010.jpg
Here's the crossroads - do we want to go in the direction of vanilla Morrowind/Oblivion where Molag Bal's image was evidently less defined since he was an overall less prominent figure in the Elder Scrolls lore or go with his new look a la Skyrim & ESO? Both are canonical but the newer version absolutely depicts Molag Bal as the cruel Daedric Lord that he is meant to be. Seeing how there is a lot of work already done on the statue though I can understand if the artist would rather go with the former.
Great work either way! I'm loving the progress :)
I think we should go with the more modern look of Molag Bal. Lore has changed since then, and I'm sure if Beth had to do Morrowind again they'd do the same.
Hi! That's progress at the present stage. Put the statue in the approximate position ... i need to work the muscles and body parts, proportions
Denevir, I think working to add certain items of clothing or accessories .... otherwise he completely naked (
Thank you all for your opinions, I just read them =) hmm .... maybe do something between classic and modern Molag Bal .... it can be clothing, weapons, accessories ... I'll think about it
I think the body looks great, and will only improve when you add the tail. I would have to say that you have the most opportunity with the head. I would say that Bethesda probably changed his head in Skyrim, because he looks like a horse with fish fin ears. In other words, an aquatic dualicorn. I don't think you should try to copy the ESO version, but I think sticking to the Morrowind/Oblivion build would be worse. As far as the head, I mean.
I like the old head but you need to be pretty careful remaking the ears or he'll look like a fish.
It's rare I say something positive about ESO, but here I go:
Their depiction of Molag Bal is flippin' sweet! And, considering that the Daedric Princes can appear however they damn well please, I see no reason why why we can't depict him like that.
I do not like the story in TESO-standard story about zombies and evil forces. Morrowind much richer story ... And let's not forget that in Morrowind Molag Bal is not the Devil, or the embodiment of absolute evil ... it's a Daedric Prince, crafty, cunning, the embodiment of the vices ...
"Molag Bal portrayed as a half-naked figure with a human body and the head and tail of a dragon, with no attributes. We know that he can take more anthropomorphic appearance, giant red-skinned, or a wonderful six-armed giant."
Niflhelm wrote:
Why not give him a similar head to Skyrim's dragons, if his head is meant to look like a dragon's? It still has horns and stuff and there is no fins on it. It would need changing but it might look nice.
Its also important to remember that we are modernizing Morrowind, and not everything has to follow the original design. In some cases it works well but I do think that the head should be more like the Skyrim/ESO version. You have to remember that Morrowind was made in a time where they were quite limited with what they could do.
I think that will make the head separately ... to see how will look better. Option will do with the head of Skyrim
Good job finding those pics, Denevir. I can't believe they are still using those fish fin ears. Its like a child drawing a monster in crayon.
sketch of head of Molag Bal
I like the new head a lot! It looks great and is a huge improvement over the old models. I also like the horns as a nod to the newer games. I applaud your skill.
I don't know that we need his whole dirty history portrayed in the statue, but maybe some big ass vampire fangs for the lore buffs?
The head is looking great, but where are his fins?
I must admit, Molag Bal's design in TESO has been the best yet for him. Shame it's the only good design thus far in it.
If you added fins to that head sculpt, I'd say it's perfect. It's reptillian look makes me think of the Argonians, which... considering the racism of many Dunmer, works well.
Denevir, i think, that's what you mean? Details on the body...like a gargoyle.
Hi all! some screenshots...
This is really cool! The detail adds a world of difference to the statue. This is coming along great, Nifhelm!
That looks amazing! I can't wait to see him all together with the horns and the tail. It's like the best parts of the old and new concepts. This will be the best Molag Bal ever!
It just looks...wow. It's awesome.
Thanks! I will try to make more progress this week. I have a little time after work)
Hello again! Completed the basic shape of the figure. Now we need to make details
and pose
Really freaking awesome, it looks great.
WOW! Just WOW!
oblivion got that a lot that creatures got no cloth ore anything between the legs always found that a bit disturbing
Nifl, that is beyond amazing! Well done and keep it up!
good job, could u make the hands a bit bigger? then it'll be fine.
then after that, low poly time. do u know how to make a low poly easily?
Denevir, thanks) Different opinions are always very helpful in any job, a fresh look at things. Always nice when you say useful criticism and advice)
Ravanna, i wanted to use zremesher or Topogun...or is there any other way then?
zremesher is a no. a static object like this can be made of triangles. There are a few methods to use. Isnt topogun manual? for best results do it manually, and uv manually. please show ur progress.
What about Decimation Master? The newer versions of ZBrush have that included. The newest version is absolutely amazing, by the way. I'm sorry I nagged so much throughout the process and I have to say I don't mind the ears with the horns taking attention off of them. Awesome job. I can't wait to see it finished.
yeah cant lie this is gonna be Fu**king BEAST (lol) when its done.
I have started to do some concept work on the "Molag Bal Mace" and contacted Niflhelm to do the model work on it. I think with the way the Molag Bal Statue is going that only seems fair he be the one who does the mace model he agreed he would love to do the model work for the mace also :) cant wait to see how it turns out too.
Denevir, you mean a loincloth, which is put on Vivek? what I have thought about it ... yes, Molag Bal referred to as Ruddy Man (I find it hard to translate it into Russian), is a synonym for "cursed man"? and it has the shape of dreughs. TES Online developers also made it quite like dreughs. But ... I rely on the fact that in each province of Morrowind, it could represent in different ways, depending on the attitude towards him. Molag Bal in Morrowind is one of the Four Corners House of Troubles. In the legends of the Tribunal Temple said that he was the lover of Viveka. I do not think it should be very similar to human or dreughs ... and second, and second, it seems to me that Molag Bal should be similar to Molag Bal of the classic Morrowind, for fans of the series:) I still think about the loincloth ... first I want to do low poly modelling of figure and make texture)
Wulf, thanks for the idea, I'll try it)
This is looking awesome so far!
Hmmm, I think Molag Bal's statue needs some indication of being horny though. Not as in actual horns sense though (there's plenty of those on the model already ;))
He's the prince of rape, slavery, vampires, blood orgies and BDSM after all, had sex with Vivec and half of Mundus. Maybe a big up-pointing phallus would be overdone... People would definetly find it disturbing, but to me disturbing is EXACTLY what Daedra, and especially Molag Bal are all about. And it's hard to make things disturbing nowadays, best use the last of the taboos - nudity. His equipment wouldn't have to look human though, to make it even more disturbing and at the same time more symbolic than porn :P Another thing is that ancient people didn't find it any wrong to show mythical creatures in all their glory.
If that's still too much anyway, how about a long, long tongue licking his lizard lips in a sexual gesture then? Could be a forked tongue (this gives me an idea that other organs of his could be forked too :D). His Daedric Face of Forbidden Tickle has a really long tongue too.
We had a bit of a discussion about that stuff in another thread, might be a good opportunity to find out how far do we want to push adult content ;) It's going to be just a statue anyway, so probably that already takes away a part of impact, and we could make it so that it doesn't look too realistic and more symbolic - still gets the message over, but is a bit less weird to look at (though as I said, to me the more weird it is to look at a Daedra, the better).
Instead of all out human phallus, you could make him look more reptilian and less Ken-doll by giving him the same pubic bone as two-legged dinosaurs.
Here's another image showing skeletal cross-section.
Dragomir,your idea about posture and tongue (forked) is very good!
I'll look additionally anatomy of reptiles. Smitehammer, thanks for images!
Disregard if it'd be too much of a pain to fix, but his tail looks less like a continuation of his spine and more like something plugged into his butt.
There were so many projects at work this week, I dug a little bit normal maps and textures. In the coming days I will try to finish everything!
Hi Nifhelm. Welcome back. It is a big relief to see you again.
Thank the three!
Hi! have a free minute, started doing retopology. Wanted to know, I do it right? may be necessary to make the grid more frequent?
I'm not a 3d modeller, but i hear its better to do everything in tris rather than quads.
All our models are done in tris, and so are Bethesda models.
happy: im sure you meant the reverse, quads is better than tris ;)
^^ Yeah what he said. I've learnt that once a model gets converted into a NIF then it becomes tris.
Carry on old chap, nice work.
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