Velociraptor... I HOPE !
 

Hi guys.. I am trying to model a Velociraptor please tell me HONESTLY what you think and any tips or comments welcome.
At the moment i havn`t modeled the body/tail much so thats why they don`t look right but i`m working on it.
I modeled it on a wooden model i brought and took a side and a front photo to base it on.
Thanks in advance....

Honestly, right now it looks more like the startings for a Compy than a Raptor. It's neck looks much too snake like, it'd be more stiff. It also looks like it's hunched too much in the forward view.

Also, it's tail is way too wide. It'd taper down a lot more, it should be more cyllendrical, not rectangular. same with the legs.

Not to bad mate... Just more proportion issues.. I've attached adino I modeled for you too look at. Ii's not a raptor but close should be able to see shape a bit more.

Thanks for the replies guys.
I have attached a pic of the wooden model that i am basing it on with the ghost of what i have done so far.
I know the body is way out and the tail is but i havn`t touched them much.
And i`m glad i`m not the only one to think it looks more like a compy but i`m working on that.
I`m a REAL newbe as you can tell but i have been getting into 3d for about a month and on this model for just about a week so i think i am doing quite well at the mo.
Thanks for the pic Kurt, gives me some thing to work on and if you don`t mind me asking but how long does it take roughly to make a model like that ? I know i got a LONG way to go yet:D
As i have said this is a very basic model at the mo but i`m getting there.

Hi, sorry for no updates YET !!! watch this space as thanks to Kurts dragon video tutorial i am doing a total re-model at the moment to see if i can do it based on his way.
A GREAT Tutorial Kurt, Thanks.

Looks a little wide aswell.

After almost a week i`m almost there apart from the detail part.
I`ve been watching Kurts Dragon tutorial and basicly started from scratch with a whole new model. See what you think guys and any comments welcome. I`ve YET to stich the model as one that is why there is a gap on the head. From the side it looks pritty good if i do say so myself, just the front view looks a bit naff but i`m working on it. Thanks Kurt for your dragon tutorial, it`s great, i`ve got all parts for the body but only got parts 1 & 2 of the head tutorial at the mo.
I`ve modeled around the Jurassic Park 3 raptors this time not on the wooden model. Tell me what you think so far.:)

The Front....

And the Persp.
Fogot to say, He has no teeth or gums in yet but he is going to the dentist any day now.....

That's looking really good, good idea to ditch the wooden model reference. Keep it up, looking forward to seeing teeth and colour,

Mat.

Looks much better than your first attempt, good work. The arms look a little too muscely atm, try and make them slightly skinnyer.

It looks good so far, but I think the head just needs to be a tad smaller, and the neck a little more elongated (but not as elongated as in the first attempt at your Velociraptor). Also, I think the arms need to be a little thinner as well. Ahhh...brings back old memories of all of the velociraptor artworks I did. :cheeky:

Hi again, sorry not too much of an update just a bit more detail, have made arms and the head smaller and done the teeth and the tounge but the jaw is shut at the mo so i have done a render of the inside to show. The tounge will be done proper when i merge the whole lot together. I am going to atempt the texturing part to see what it looks like then and then maybe add more detail then. Thanks for the comments guys all helps.

And the teeth.

Hi guys, sorry for not many updates but after getting round the problems i had of getting everything to go proper on the UV map i have now finished the raptor. I know that i could do more on the detail side but i want to have a go at something else when i get the time to do so. Any comments welcome and if all`s well i will put it in the FINISHED WORK part maybe in a week. I`ll also try and get it onto a background aswell. Thanks.

Sorry about the last image size i forgot to alter it to 640 x 480 for the W.I.P. section.
Not to worry just altered it. thanks

You could always edit you're post, and re upload with the smaller picture.

Hi Guys, i`m getting there but i have hit a little snag.
I`m trying to render the raptor on a background but i am unsure of how to go about getting a shadow on the ground. The background is not the final one, just a test to see how it all goes together. And i have used the default lighting to render this image. Any help much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

One way this can be achieved, is to Composit the two in post (after rendering) if you have access to a program like Photoshop. This way you can try to match the two so they look like the were shot at the same time/place.

For that shadows, I beleive you make a plane in maya, and apply the "Use Background" shader, which will render out ONLY the shadow.

So you have you model, you're shadow-plane (with use bg shader) and you should render out to TGA (transparent) so all you have to do in photoshop is pull up you're test bg, and add you're latest render right on top. Then you can start playing with "Levels" on each layer to get them to match.

Sorry if I went a lil overboard.

You should set up a plane that matches the contour of the ground in the background plate. Don't worry about applying a material to it because you won't be using it. The default material will do just fine. Light the shot to cast the shadows you want then render the shadow on the plane as a seperate pass and composite in after effects.

If you're not familiar with rendering seperate passes then read up on it. The easiest set up would be to put the dino in a seperate render layer than the plane then batch render the dino as a beauty pass without the background or the plane under his feet then, render the plane BUT you only need to render the shadow pass so turn the other passes (beauty, diffuse, specular) off. Composite and make adjustment in after effects.

ps when you set up your lights, look at the shadows on the houses in the background. The dino shadows should match the direction. You can adjust the darkness and diffusion (blurriness) of the shadow in AE...

I rendered a dino onto a background using the techniques I just wrote about. You can see the clip here

Thanks guys, i`ll try it out either tonight or tomorrow.
If you hear a loud screem, don`t worry, it will only be pulling my hair out.:D

Hi, here is a quick test using the background shader. Please tell me what you think.

Hi, I`m movine over to the FINISHED WORK part now as i think i am done with the modeling now just the render side to tweek now. Thanks everyone for the comments, etc.
And thanks to Kurt for the dragon tutorials as they have been a GREAT help in designing this raptor.
There`s a full size (1280 - 1024) image in the finished work part now. Here is the finished render.
http://www.lighteningjim.co.uk/raptor_640.jpg