Hopefully this first pack will have 10 meshes and three texture versions each for a total of 30 "different" guys. I say hopefully because MB size might be an issue as the large textures add up very quickly.
However,
please, I want people to comment on which character they like most AND least. This will help me to decide if something needs to be removed for size issues.
BANDWIDTH DEVOURING POST ALERT
Here's an interim preview of the first nine characters!
(The 10th one is a generic guy with balaclava and no sidearm and has the slightly older non-fire resistant uniform with the regular top that doesn't get tucked into the pants).
I'm in the process of remixing/ballancing some of the colors for the woodland uniforms because they came out too dark- esp. the helmets. Marine01 has first-pass revision but the pattern is too washed out; I'm going for something between the that and the others. I'm also thinking I will make them extra grungy (sort of muddy) and possibly with face paint.
This is still with bump map applied. Holding off on baking because I want lighting consistency and need the basic textures all looking decent so that I can use the same lighting setup across the spectrum. I also need to bake AO which is going to be a little bit of a time sink rendering everything out to 2048 but I only need to do that once per bodytype.
These are almost to the stage now where I can stop working from the RAM devouring master .PSD file and add some minor detailing to the individual characters. For example; having different scuff marks on the kneepads or writing on some of the gear.
It's important to also note that the faces aren't final. They will be tweaked a bit to look different from each other but I will do that in a separate .PSD. The meshes are nearly all final except the couple with exposed heads will have the geometry tweaked a bit because from the front they look too rounded and I want them to be a bit more chiseled looking. It may be sort of a cop-out but the guys with balaclas could easily have their textures modified for different skin tones. All meshes are single-skin and under 4000 tris.
Once I finish the mesh for Marine10, I will be getting back into animation phase.
Addendum:
Here are two WIP characters which will not be included in the pack. They will be available separately on GCS. This is because they won't have alternate textures and because I am capping the pack at 10 meshes (with 3 map versions for 30 total). The first is sort of a MARSOC operator and the 2nd one is sort of like when sometimes Marines are used for close protection duty with bureaucrats who visit war zones. The MARSOC guy will have his sidearm changed to a 1911 with different holster style. There will be versions without the big radio too but not rushing into revisions on these bonus characters. I just needed representative bodies to help me avoid animation problems when I revise anims (such as neck being in weird positions that the body armor keeps me from noticing.
OK! That's it for now. Please, I would like to ask the community to give me the time and space to finish this project. So, please stop bumping old threads for a while. If there are updates for them, I will post.
Thanks for having a look!
