Haldir HD Textures

[magickoala]

Hey ^^

I think ill start playing with textures again this new year and remake some hero textures, and as Haldir is my favorite hero in Edain so far, so he gets the first shot







The texture was remade in 1024 x 1024, and its working pretty well ingame for heroes. While i think its impossible to work with 1024 textures for hordes and units, heroes can display 1024x without messing with performance ^^

If folks of Edain Team have any use for this, ill be happy to share^^

[Ealendril der Dunkle]

Impressive, this is really well done! We will definitly use it, thank you very much.

[magickoala]

Thanks, thats great news ^^

Ill PM ya the files o/

[Fine]

The textures are looking great, nice work

[Adamin]

Nice HD Remake. The Bow is looking pretty awesome. You drew the gold yourself?
You could reduce the red around his nose a bit more. And I think he wore a light scalemail instead of chainmail in the movies. There are a lot of reference pictures of Galadhrim online.

[magickoala]

The textures are looking great, nice work

Thanks chief^^

Thanks Ada Tbh im planning to bring you in at this little effort and make a collab like old times XD I got a little reference for the bow strings from a dagger somewhere, but the bow looked too crampy, with too much detail, so i expanded the brown a little to make the contrasts and the actual lines. About the nose... Ealendril told me as much lol, nobody of you guys are in the christmas spirit.. Good point i did fixed the nose.

About the chainmail, its a little confusing. In most of the source pictures, the mail looks like a multi-colored metal pattern,not being a classic mail. So i wasnt sure wich
texture to go to when i covered it.

Multicolored weird:
http://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/Elf/ElfArmor/Third/Full_149_nz_la_med.jpg
http://www.jedielfqueen.com/elvenwarriors/armor/costumefix/side.jpg

The chain pattern looks to be more like squares then rings, so yea, i think that need a closer look. I dont like this red-to-gold approach thou, as it kills the main gold pieces that are above it, so i gone with a more darkish gray scheme.

Thanks for stopping by man ^^

[Adamin]

No Props. If you need anything just ask. I'll be glad to help.

About the chainmail, its a little confusing. In most of the source pictures, the mail looks like a multi-colored metal pattern,not being a classic mail. So i wasnt sure wich
texture to go to when i covered it.

That's because Weta designed the coat to be made out of tiny diamond shaped gold scales, oder leather scales with a gold finish (I'm not completely sure on the material).
The scales are very lightweight, so they flow with the movement of the elf and reflect light in different angles. That's were the multicolored look comes from.

You can get some helpful reference on this website:
http://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/Elf/ElfArmor/Third.htm
There you can see the pattern very well on this and this picture.

[magickoala]

Hmmm, interesting, that does clarify a lot. So its like the scale shape itself is a diamond, but the toning isnt folded, but micro-reflexed according to the light. That sounds very, very complex lol. I guess we can interpolate between gold/black , but would ask for individual lighting at each scale, wich means.. a lot of drawing. Ill consider this and see what i can do.

Those links are really useful btw ;D

So, as we know your brushing skills fairly surpasses mine, maybe you can help me fix the problem with the hair. Both hair pony-tails are cramped with black parts, and i cant seem to fix them.

Ill PM ya then and we discuss about the next hero. Im thinking Galadriel but ...

[Adamin]

Yes, I think the best way to emulate this effect is to simply use a color gradient on the scales, like the Ridder Clan did on their Galadhrim.

Sure write me a pm, or we can also talk about it here. Who knows, maybe someone else might find it helpful. ^^

Both hair pony-tails are cramped with black parts, and i cant seem to fix them.

What exactly do you mean? The only thing I noticed on the hair, is that the borders are too soft. A hard border would look a little bit more natural.

[magickoala]

Hmm  seems to be a good workaround.

About the pony tails, i mean the hair that covers the armor chest. Theres the texture itself, and theres a 3d bone wich uses the same texture. But, ingame, the edges of this bone look blurry and gray to black in the bottom part. Im not sure if its working all right.

Im digging throu some scale mail textures on google, let me know if you have any suggestions.

So... Any ideas to the next hero?

[CragLord]

Hello mate,

I want just to express my admiration to your work.
No matter what you chose to do about this game, you simply improve it.
That new Haldir looks great! 

P.S. Maybe to polish a bit Boromir or Boromir's face, it doesn't look similar to movie's one (or to Sean Bean's face to be precise ) in current shape? As fan of Boromir, I hope you will  do some "make up" on him in general, if it is needed in your opinion.

Best regards,
CragLord

[magickoala]

Heheh thanks, Crag ^^

Its all good fun and badly slept nights. Boromir sounds like a fancy challenge, ill look into his skin today!

[CragLord]

Great!
I am really glad to hear that.
Thank you!

Regards,
Crag

[hoho96]

Brilliant work mate! the model is amazing indeed.

[Adamin]

Hmm  seems to be a good workaround.

Oh, maybe I exagerated a bit. ^^'
I meant to say, using a gradient is the best time efficient way. If you really want to draw every light reflection by hand it wil most certainly look much better, but it might also take a bit longer... 

About the pony tails, i mean the hair that covers the armor chest. Theres the texture itself, and theres a 3d bone wich uses the same texture. But, ingame, the edges of this bone look blurry and gray to black in the bottom part. Im not sure if its working all right.

Really? oô
You got a screen of this? I cannot picture it exactly right now.


Boromir sounds like a good idea. ^^

[magickoala]

Nah i would die in boredom at the dawn scratching them, so i just sucked up a texture from google. Looks... folded. lol. XD I guess its ok.

Progress!


So, im uploading the 1024 file,dont feel like giving a Ada touch to the hair, i mean the big hair, nvm with the ponytails, im probably just freaking out lol.

OK, maybe im not: Heres the two devilish creatures:


Boromir sounds as a fun hit.

[Adamin]

Oooh okay.
I'd say the UV-Layout of the model just isn't particularly good at this point.

A quick workaround could be to just make the ponytails a bit longer. The dark spots seem to be parts of the breast armor.

The scale mail looks marvelous like this.

[magickoala]

LOL, I have no idea of how to fix the UV layout.

Whats a UV layout?

Yea, but theyre starting to look awfully long, and the old one had the same length as the actual. I guess its worth a try.

[Adamin]

LOL, I have no idea of how to fix the UV layout.

Whats a UV layout?

That's nasty modeling work. Crazy modelers do that in even crazier programms. 

[magickoala]

Sounds shady, dont awake it! o.0

[CragLord]

No more red nose.
Great improvement about those  scale mail's parts.

[giwrgosol]

Awesome work man. Only thing to add is to darken the leather piece between the chest piece and the hip armor, change the bow to the one of the movies(like ridder clan but a little more thicker) , make arrows longer (they reach the elf's head in the movies) , and he has a little glove in his hands to make it easier to fire arrows XD . Also his bracer is pointy in the edge like the armor a guy sent in other posts .Lastly haldir has his sword/hilt in his belt not in his back. A lot to ask but i am a haldir's fan XD XD Keep the good work man you are very very talented and gooooood.( make the models for the regular galadhirm too , we need your models everywhere     )
In the photos there are some pics from a games workshop model where you can see edges ,points in his armor and how the cloak is close to his body with the quiver.

[magickoala]

Nice, thats really accurate !

Sadly, im not very experienced on working 3D models thou, so i cant really mess with the bow shape or positions. The toning changes on the hips are accurate, so ill give a look into those and implement. Maybe ET guys can work on the remaining changes ^^ his gloves seems to be a good idea aswell.!

[giwrgosol]

I am sure you can do it But if you work with ET it is an easy job for you XD XD XD Anyway your model is very very good so keep up the good work ! We are all waiting for your SUPER work

[Odysseus]

I'm not sure if you are busy with the holidays and all, but... would I be permitted to propose a next hero?

What do you think about Hama? Or Galadriel? I remember seeing that you stated that you would give her some attention.

Sorry for asking, but I can't really help myself hehe.

Kind regards.

[Walküre]

I'm not sure if you are busy with the holidays and all, but... would I be permitted to propose a next hero?

What do you think about Hama? Or Galadriel? I remember seeing that you stated that you would give her some attention.

Sorry for asking, but I can't really help myself hehe.

Kind regards.

Yes, I totally agree 

If I'm not wrong, the basis of her model (or the entire model?) is still based on the vanilla model.
A great model, but still something that comes from the vanilla BFME2.

I'm sure that her textures could be greatly improved according to the high standards of this Mod.

While still focusing on her LOTR appearance, maybe her Hobbit concept could still be integrated, somehow; it's a really good concept, soft, White and so elegant 

[magickoala]

Hey there:) I do want to work on her skin, but last time i checked, i couldnt find the texture on the Edain files, so i guess theyre using the vanilla texture for it.

The thing is, the texture is so amazingly good (the face is very good, the headband and the dress strings) that i dropped it and started working on the Tower Guard. As the TG is almost done, im looking for a new hero to work over . (In 2016, probably XD).

That being said, Hama sounds like a great idea, assuming his texture really NEEDS a reskin. Ill give a look at it ^^

Kind regards and a great Christmas!