I have added the legs. I like where it is going, the legs help to make it look close to complete. I had a bit of trouble with that little wing shaped piece on the side. I tried modeling it in nurbs as I have done most of the suit, but that ended up being to time consuming and it didn't work to well, but I did learn a good deal more about nurbs. I ended up creating it as I did the first piece, using the "hobbit guy's" method of drawing a flat poly, adding cuts and pulling them out. Also this piece is the first one that I added some actual thickness to. I extruded the edges on the sides and then appended the polys. The geometry needs to be cleaned up a bit but I like it as it is for now. C+C are always welcome, thanks for looking. Knowing that some people look at my work is one of the things that keeps me going. :)

It's been almost a month now since I last worked on this model. This was due to computer problems, other projects that got in the way, and a weeks vacation. But I am back now and I decided to just do as much as I could in one day. So I went with it and was able to make the entire arm. I made the larger pieces out of separate plates like they actually are. I will have to go back to my older pieces and do the same to them as well.

There is still a lot to do, the rivets, leather straps, and some chain mail. Eventually I might actually add textures. I am happy with what I have so far but I am always up for some criticism. Thanks for looking.

me likes. finish great piece.

Thanks Raull. I have started to add detail and I got over a large mental hurtle, adding depth to the nurbs surfaces. I ended up duplicating and scaling the neckpiece down about 95%. Then I drew a line snapping it to the end of the original piece and then to the end of the duplicated piece. I moved the CVs around to make a curve then used the birail tool to create the curved edge. I repeated this for the top, and used the wonderful birail tool again to make the raised section near the bottom. That time I used a curve on surface that I drew as one rail and the other rail was an isoparm from the lower lip. I tossed the button like shapes on as well, moving them to fit and rotating them to get the correct angles.

I do have one question... If there a way that I could of created one button that was lined up nicely, then move it around (constrained to the live surface) but have it correct the direction it was facing as well? I would want each button to be facing towards the normal of the surface they are on. Does anyone know how to do that? Does that make sense? Thanks.

I have added more detail, this time to the shoulder. I like this addition a lot and I'm looking forward to adding details to the rest of the model.

I am still experimenting with the best method to add those curved edges. Actually I used a different method on each plate there. The best method I have so far is lofting all the edges then attaching to them each other, selecting the central hulls, pulling them out along their normals, then tweaking the corners by adding extra isoparms and tweaking those cvs. I think once I get a good method down I will go back and redo the edges so they are at the same level of quality.

Thanks for looking.

I have added a lot of detail and learned a good deal along the way. I think I am just about done with modeling this. All that I need to do now is add the leather straps and any other fine detail I can think of. I like the feet, but I am not to fond of the hands. Any suggestions, comments, or criticism?

looks awesome man, although the head seems a "little" out of proportion.

Thanks Zyk0tik, good point about the head, I have been looking at details for a while, I should revaluate the scale of the different parts.

I've now added a texture, this is my first time creating textures. It's basically black with dark blue for the specular color and a muted red for the reflected color (not sure if the red makes a difference). One thing I can't figure out is how do I add noise? I can't seem to figure out which attribute I should attach a node of 2d noise to. Any suggestions? Like I said earlier I am new to textures, so any advice would be helpful. Thanks.

I also increased the size of the head and added a neckpiece. It's hard deciding if the head is the right size. In front on views it looks find but in this angled view it seems a little to big. Any thoughts on that?

looking good - very nice metal texture

Thank you ereitz. I added the leather straps. I think the only things left for the model to be done are to fix up the connection point of where the visor meets the rest of the helm, and then to break up the symmetry between the left and right side leather straps. Then I think I will be done modeling. At that point comes the start of learning to rig. I really don't want to try and animate with a poorly rigged character.

I made the chain mail, and now I think I am actually done modeling and texturing this thing. Next step will be to rig it. I want to make sure I do the rig well so that when I animate it I have an easier time of it. Any comments on the chain mail? It sort of feels like chicken wire to me, maybe I should have made the rings thicker. I modeled it in Maya then took a still of it into Photoshop and played with it similar to how ereitz did for his chain mail of his scary ax guy. I made the transparency and bump map this way, and then I added the same metal texture for the color.

C+C are welcome, as well as suggestions on how to start rigging it.

this is coming along very nice i better follow this thread... good work

Thanks tricecold. I just read a very good tutorial on rigging by Jake Callery, www.subvoicestudios.com. It was very well explained and he has a sense of humor throughout it. I will have to see what I can do, it should take a while but I hope to learn a lot.

After having taken a break on this model I am back and working on rigging it, a first for me. I have my arm rigged for instance and I can control it well, but a problem that I am running into is that I would like to have the shoulder plates move when the arm would come in contact with them. I would like to avoid anthing to computationally complex such as rigid bodies (I am under the impression that they take a long time to compute).

I've attached an image of what I mean. Right now the arm moves up and the should stays still, I would like that when the arm reaches the shoulder plates they start to move up with it as if being pushed. I tried set driven keys and that works well when rotating the arm in one axis at a time, but not when I rotate the arm in two axis directions at once.