In the past few days I've been writing out what I thought about modeling each cap mon, and I think now is the time to post it. Subjectively I rated each criteria out of 10 based on difficulty and amount of time/effort required. I hope this will be useful to anyone who's new and interested in 3D but don't know what to start on! =]
Here's my list from most difficult to least difficult:
Pyroak [6.8/10]
Wireframe=6 |
Texture=8 |
Rig=7 |
Bind=8 |
Animation=5
This is ranked #1 just because of the unfortunate outfit it's wearing. The wireframe wasn't too hard.. what I see is mostly going to be the texturing and binding. A problem with binding is that the wooden vest and slippers will intersect with the body when it moves. And even if I get the clothing to "gracefully deform" alongside it, it ends up being that both are overlapping meshes required to be skinned at the same time. On top of that it's got a wood texture that needs to be seamless (unless we go for less detail like with Trevenant). There's also the fire effect coming off those outlets which I need to think of a way to render properly... or maybe just leave it pitch black.
Tomohawk [6.4/10]
Wireframe=8 |
Texture=4 |
Rig=8 |
Bind=7 |
Animation=5
This will be a total nuisance to wireframe. There's some weird anatomy going on under that fursuit - from what it looks to me, it's got a virtually non-existent mid to upper body and a pair of arms that look like they're perma bent into an upside down U shape.
And I hope this picture is a joke too. XD Tomo is one of the two cap mons (along with Pyroak) that is truly wearing something, so naturally it's going to be harder to rig / bind without getting into troubles like intersecting geometry. Compared to Pyroak this one is a bit easier, at least its costume is big enough to hide some problems.
Cyclohm [6.0/10]
Wireframe=6 |
Texture=8 |
Rig=8 |
Bind=3 |
Animation=5
Everything is fine about this mon except the cloud part which is hard to replicate. I've not seen it animated before but I think there's meant to be some exotic cloud effect or something going on there. It won't be ranked this high if not for the clouds.
Volkraken [5.6/10]
Wireframe=6 |
Texture=5 |
Rig=4 |
Bind=6 |
Animation=7
Tentacles - tentacles are annoying to rig, bind and animate
and is just downright naughty of you, especially when you have a lot of it ;]
Cawmodore [5.4/10]
Wireframe=7 |
Texture=2 |
Rig=7 |
Bind=6 |
Animation=5
Doing its wireframe probably requires some understanding of bird anatomy. Texturing is simple, only one color per body part. Rigging and animating would be moderately hard just because of detail such as the claws and feathers. It's got a bit of clothing too but luckily it follows the shape of the body.
Kitsunoh [5.4/10]
Wireframe=5 |
Texture=2 |
Rig=8 |
Bind=6 |
Animation=6
It would be simpler but the fur on its body complicates the mesh. And it's quadrupedal, causing more overhead in rigging and animating (by that I mean stuff like FK-IK switching for each leg, etc). Probably unnecessary for a sprite animation though.
Revenankh [5.4/10]
Wireframe=5 |
Texture=9 |
Rig=4 |
Bind=5 |
Animation=4
Moderately hard to sculpt, rig, bind and animate, but extremely HARD to texture. Like seriously, I don't know what to say about those bandages o_O If it's a collab, the modeler and texture artist better have good working synergy.
Fidgit [5.0/10]
Wireframe=3 |
Texture=1 |
Rig=8 |
Bind=4 |
Animation=9
This is an easy mon to sculpt and texture, but it's not animation friendly AT ALL. For starters I don't even know how many limbs it has. What I do know is that it'll have a really complex walk cycle and a messy network of tangled arms and legs. Hopefully it'll be standing still and doing something like Mr Mime, but sorry, I just can't imagine myself keyframing this thing without smashing my keyboard <_<
Voodoom [4.8/10]
Wireframe=4 |
Texture=5 |
Rig=5 |
Bind=5 |
Animation=5
This is a typical build of a character that many online tuts use to teach you animation. The mesh is really smooth and doesn't have any details like fingers or toes to complicate the rig. It's bipedal which makes it harder to animate than floating mons like Necturna, but of all cap mons it's the easiest bipedal to animate. If that's what you want to work on, this is the mon for you. It's also got the simplest object of all - the pin! If you're a newbie try modeling the pin in its leg, and if you manage to do that, graduate to modeling the needle in its heart =]
Malaconda [4.6/10]
Wireframe=2 |
Texture=5 |
Rig=6 |
Bind=2 |
Animation=8
Its wireframe is basically a long cylinder with an apple at the end - good for practice if you're new. There's a fair bit of pattern on its skin for texturing but nothing too hard. Where it gets real though is the animation part. Like with tentacles, snakes are annoying to animate because of all those divisions and the fact they can sit and bend from any part of their body they want, really challenges your understanding of physics.
Arghonaut [4.4/10]
Wireframe=4 |
Texture=2 |
Rig=4 |
Bind=5 |
Animation=7
...basically an easier Volkraken =]
Necturna [4.0/10]
Wireframe=5 |
Texture: 4 |
Rig=3 |
Bind=4 |
Animation=4
It's floating in mid-air which eases the animation and rigging. Not too hard overall. Good for animation practice and if you like animating dresses! I do prefer coding a simulation in the rig though instead of having to manually animate the swaying.
Colossoil [3.8/10]
Wireframe=4 |
Texture: 7 |
Rig=2 |
Bind=4 |
Animation=2
I assume it's stuck to the ground surrounded with soil, which at best it'll just end up waving its arms around. It's fat and makes binding a bit difficult but the rig should be very simple. Overall I think it's really about getting the patterns / textures to fit properly.
Mollux [3.6/10]
Wireframe=2 |
Texture=7 |
Rig=3 |
Bind: 4 |
Animation=2
The only tricky part of this is fitting the animated texture onto its shell. Or it can be done with blendshapes, in which case "texture" and "animation" swap scores.
Syclant [3.4/10]
Wireframe=4 |
Texture=6 |
Rig=2 |
Bind=3 |
Animation=2
If I'm not mistaken, this thing is flying which is good news for animators. Shape-wise there's a lot of them but they are all quite primitive. Having an exoskeleton makes rigging much easier as well, to the point where I think one can get away with using a rigid bind over a smooth one. The only other mons I see eligible for this are Aurumoth, Stratagem and maybe Fidgit.
Plasmanta [3.0/10]
Wireframe=3 |
Texture=3 |
Rig=3 |
Bind: 2 |
Animation=4
A pretty straightforward one. I don't think there's anything about it which comes off as being difficult. Yeah it has tentacle-like stuff on its tail which is annoying to animate but the fact that it's floating in water (no IK) cancels it out.
Krilowatt [2.8/10]
Wireframe=3 |
Texture=4 |
Rig=2 |
Bind=2 |
Animation=3
A shrimp made of many primitive shapes. If you're starting out it helps to try modeling one of those shapes first (e.g. the head) and once you're done, work on another. Soon you'll have a Krilowatt. ^.^ Texturing is also simple although the UVs can be a bit tricky. As for binding, the entire body can use a rigid bind (which is a good news) and only the antennae I reckon would need to be smooth bound.
Stratagem [2.0/10]
Wireframe=1 |
Texture=5 |
Rig=2 |
Bind=1 |
Animation=1
Characters made of detached limbs and primitive shapes are easy to do, there's no exception here. Really the only thing to worry about is wrapping the texture for the head and body. Have a go at this if you're starting out!
Aurumoth [1.4/10]
Wireframe=1 |
Texture=2 |
Rig=2 |
Bind=1 |
Animation=1
Like Stratagem it's a detached body made of basic shapes. The only difference is that the texture is also basic shapes, making it even easier. Another one to practice on =]
