Alien Queen Xenomorph 3D Model - 3D Design Final Project

3D Design - Rui Rela - 2037710

Universityof Madeira

FINAL PROJECT – ORGANICMODELLING

INSPIRATION

• Firstofall, I alreadyhadinmindwhat I wasgoing to do: A characterand a scenarioaroundit.

• Myidea for thecharacterwas a alien-likexenomorphcreature, basedinalien franchise.

• So I started to do some researchand I cameupon some

ofthedifferenttypesofaliensinthequadrilogy (notcountingwiththerecentprequelreleased

“Prometheus”).

INSPIRATION

• “Giger” – Necromoniconsurrealistprintthatformed

• thebasis for theAliens Design

• “Giger’s” Alien Design, inspiredbyhisearlierprintNecronom IV, for

thefilm “Alien”.

INSPIRATION

• AverageAlienfromthemovie “Alien 2”.

INSPIRATION

• DogAlienand “Giger’s” PantherAlienfrom “Alien 3”(David Fincher’sfirstmovie).

• Thistypeofalienisquadrupedal, hasdigitigradehindlegsandlacksthe dorsal

tubesofthehuman-spawnedVariety.

INSPIRATION

• “Newborn” Alienfromthemovie “Alien 4: Resurrection”.

• Creaturemutationbetweenhumanandalienorganism.

INSPIRATION• AlienQueen / Motherfrom “Alien2/Aliens”.

• HighestandmostpowerfulAlienknown, thisalienislargerandstrongerthanthe normal

adults, theirbodystructurediffersalso, havingtwopairsofarms, onelargeandonesmall. Theheadislargerandit’sprotectedby a large, flatcrest. Inthesecondfilm “Alien 2/Aliens” thequeenhadhigh-heelprotrusionsfromitsfeetunlikeotheradults.

Theeggslaidbythequeen

are ellipsoidalleathery

objectswith a four-lobed

openingatthetob. As a

potential host approaches,

the egg's lobes unfold like flower petals, and the parasitic facehugger extracts itself from the egg and attaches itself to the potential host.

INSPIRATION

• More picturesoftheAlienQueen.

INSPIRATION

INSPIRATION

• So, despitebeingthemostcomplexcharacterbetweenalldifferenttypesofaliens I decided to

acceptthechallenge to modeltheAlienQueen,

evenbecauseit’smyfavoritetypebecauseofit’sshape, natureandcharacteristics.

• TheAlienqueen, likeotheraliens, hasacidblood, highintelligence, quickmovementsand a

inner-head-tongue.

• Addicionalpairofarms, largecrownonthehead, biggeranddifferent torso.

• Sincethereis a lotofamateurartonthe Internet I decided to mix a lotofdetailsinto a

uniquetypeofAlienQueen.

• Atthebegginingitwashard to have a viewofthecharacterbecausethe torso(notonlythe torso)

wasalwayschangingfrompicture to pictureandsometimesitwas too dark too

seeandanalyzethedetailswell, so, I decided to make some sketches

withalltheinformationto havethecharacterinmymindbefore I startedmodellingit.

DRAWINGS

DRAWINGS

DRAWINGS

DRAWINGS

PROCESS – DAY 1

• So, since I foundatleastonepictureon Google with

“AlienProfile” itwas more accurate to drawaboveitinsteadof

Hand-made sketches, I drewsplinesandextrudedthem, I didit

Inthehead, the torso, thelegsandthetail.

PROCESS – DAY 2

• Then I startedbythehead, I addedSymmetryandbegan to addtethandtherest.

PROCESS – DAY 2

• I puttedalmostperfectsquaresintheteeth zone, added a

tinybevelandthenextrudedandcollaped to haveonlyonvertexontheedgeoftheteeth, then I

didtheinner-head-tonguewith a spline too, extruded,

addedtinyteethwiththesameprocessandinsertedinsidethemounth.

PROCESS – DAY 3

• I added a turbosmooth to theheadand I wasreallypleased to seewhat I hadsofar! Itgave

me more motivation to continue mywork.

• I continueddoingthebodybut I didn’tlikedit, so I startedoverthe torso(rightpicture).

PROCESS – DAY 3

• Attheendofthethirdday I hadthis:

• Allthreepieces(head, tongueandbody)

withturbosmoothandsimmetry.

PROCESS – DAY 4

• Inthebegginingofthefourthday I stumbleduponmyfirstobstacle: I wanted to attachthehead,

neckandbody, but for some reasonitwasnotpossible to weld faces anditsaid “illegalnew

face” when I wanted to create a face fromvertex. I

postedonAutodeskforumsandotherusershelped me, theproblemwasthat I had to flip some

faces to fitbothpieceswell.(rightpicture).

PROCESS – DAY 4

• Attheendofthefourthday I hadbothpairofarms, backspikesand I wasstarting to do thelegs.

• Thearmsandspikesweremadebyextruding faces andworkingdirectlywiththebodypiece, later

on I re-madeeveryarmbecause I didn’tlikedit.

• Themaintools I used for themodellingwasbevel,

extrude, ringandloop(edgeselectiontool, veryuseful!), I

usedbreaksometimes to splitedges, I used a LOT of

“insertvertex” onedgeselectionandconnectedthem, ALL

ofthemodellingwasmadeon 3ds Max, I

couldn’thaveacess to

Zbrushsoallthedetailsinthisprojectweremadedirectlyin

3ds max, scalling, moving, rotating, connectingvertex,

creating faces byselectingvertexandsplines to

createnewparts.

PROCESS – DAY 5

• Fifthday: I finishedthelegsshapeandstarteddoingthecrown.

• I created a

splinewiththeapproximateshapeofitandthenstartedaddingvertexandconnectingthem to

createedges as alwaysandthen I addeddepth. (leftpicturewithoutturbosmooth).

PROCESS – DAY 5

• Then I puttedthecrownonthecharacter’sheadapplying a bend

(thecrownisusuallyflatinthemoviesbutthisisnot a exactcopyofthecharacter, I added some

personaldifferences).

PROCESS – DAY 6

• Then I adjustedthecrown a bit andthe face ofthecharacter.

PROCESS – DAY 7

• Minoradjustementsonthebody.

PROCESS – DAY 8

• Starteddoingthebackspine, itwasnoteasy to workwiththesimmetry, later on I

removedthedouble-spikedsplineandupgraded to a single-spikedspline, also, I

distributedequallythedistancebetweeneachspike, inthispicture,

itwasbeforethosechangessotherewasstill some spikesshorterthanothers – I

didn’tlikeiteither.

PROCESS – DAY 9

• A lotofprogresswasmadeonthisday, I did a lotofminorchanges,

includingthebonesalloverthebody, ontheneck, onthesideholesofthe “armor” andonthelower-

frontalpart. I addedthe “neckless” boneandchangedthebackspikes.

• Also, onthebacktherewasalreadythe “gap” where I wasgoing to put later thenewspine.

• And, sincetherewassomanyvertex I removedthe “edged faces view” to have a

betterviewofthemodel.

PROCESS – DAY 9

PROCESS – DAY 9

PROCESS – DAY 10

• I deletedturbosmooth to takethisscreenshot, we can seethatnowit’s a single andnotdouble-

spiked-spline, also, it’s regular unlikebefore. Inorder to makeit regular I divideda large

rectangular intoseveraledgeswithequalsquaresandthen I alligneditwiththebody, itwas a

hardprocess.

PROCESS – DAY 11

• I continuedto buildhespineuntil

theendofthetail. spikeswhereadded.

I manuallychangedthesizeofthe

spikesuntiltheyweretinyontheother

edgeendingin a finalspike.

PROCESS – DAY 12

• A lotoftinychanges, alsoreplacingbotharmsagainuntil I likedhowtheylook, I

didthemapartandthenattachedthem to themainbody.

PROCESS – DAY 12 & 13

PROCESS – DAY 13

PROCESS – DAY 13

• I loweredthealien to give a more offensiveposition,

addedspikesonthelowerpartofthetailandadjustedthetail’sposition to bethecontinuityofthe

torso as the sketch shows.

PROCESS – DAY 14

• Otherminorchanges, such as rotatingtheleftleg to add a more dynamicpositionand I took

some photos.

PROCESS – DAY 14

PROCESS – DAY 14

PROCESS – DAY 14

PROCESS – DAY15

• Afterthemaincharacter I starteddoing some eggs.

• Thebrightershapeontherightwasthespline I created to add “Lathe”

modifier(sawitinorganicmodelling slides inmoodle), rotateitandcreatedtheegg, then I

usedbendoneachupperpartoftheegg to open itlike a flower.

• Inbendproperties I had to add 90º more

oneachsideandplacingthegizmoonthelowerpartofeachfoldedpart(onthesameweight as

thevertexonthe “V” shapedgap).

PROCESS – DAY 15

• Here I started to texturize! I startedwiththecrownandthetongue to

boostmymotivationandbecauseitwaseasier. I addedblue to the top andred to

thebottomofthecrown to seeifitwaswelldivided.

• (yes, I had to open on-screenkeyboardbecausemacbookdoesn’thaveprintscreenbutton)!

PROCESS – DAY 15

• Here I splitedthetongueintwo: thefrontpartwithteethandthe “tail”. Thetail I used box

mappingandthefrontpart box mappingapart, andthenorganizedinthemappingcanvas.

PROCESS – DAY 16 & 17

• Then I movedon to themainbodymapping.

Thecrownandthetonguewereprettyeasybutthebodywasn’t.

• Itwasthesameprocessbut I had to have a LOT ofmappingatoncesinceitwas a bigpiece. I

stumbledupon a secondissue. Theapplicationwasalwayscrashingwhen I

wasopeningthepeltmap, after some time frustratedandanalyzing I

foundoutthatprobablytheproblemwasthatmycomputerwasoutofmemory. Ithas 8GB RAM

butitneeded more thanthat.

• Onceagain I asked for helpin a forumandwhilewaiting for ananswer I

starteddoingthepowerpointpresentation.

• Nobodyanswered, never! Aftermanyattempts to goaroundtheproblem I foundoutthatif I

changedthevertices to faces itwould open thepeltmap(sometimes!!) withoutcrashing, I

managed to do alltheunwrappingbut…itlookedlikethenextpicture:

PROCESS – DAY17 (LASTDAY)

• Therewere a lotofoverlapped faces, I figuredoutthat I had to peltalmostalways to

avoidthisproblem, I couldn’t use normal mappingsomuch.

PROCESS – DAY 17

• Beforeshowingthe final mappingofthebodyhereis a picture to

giveanideaofthepeltseamsinthebody:

PROCESS – DAY 17(LASTDAY)

PROCESS – DAY17(LASTDAY)

• So, I wasready to starttexturizingthis! I changedthe OS to macbecause I

hadPhotoshop(basicallyallappsthereless 3ds max, onlyapplicationavailable for windowsonly).


• After MANY corrections, minoroverlapped faces, otherminorissues, corrections, adjustingthebest textures, adjustingsaturation, hue, brightness, addingeffectssuc as smudgestick, plasticwrap, poster edges, mosaicandothers I finishedthemapping for allthefourpieces(I forgot to mencione theegg). I workedwith a lotoflayermanipulationin Photoshop.

• Aboutmaterials, I addedbump(thebestmapever!!) andchangedtheintensityaccording to theobjectto fitbetter, theeggs for examplehave a higherspecularlevelandmediumglossines(90,25)s to have a highshineandreflection, thealienitselfhas a lowerspecularlevelandglossiness(50,10). Inthemoviesthealienshave a lotofreflectionbut I decidedthatisbetterlikethis for therenderedimages, also, like I saidbefore, I changeddetailscomparedto theoriginal character.

• Thelastdayhad a lotofprogress(ofcourse, I had to finish), but I plannedanddistributedwellthetime, because I wason time ofdoingwhat I wanted, theonlyproblemwasthepressureofknowingthatthedeadlinewasgettingcloser.

• I didn’tworkfull-time, more onthelast 2-3 days. Thisway I was more relaxedwhiledoingmyproject.

• So… theresultwasthis:




• A firstattempt to texturize, personally, inthispicturethealienlooksbetter,

theabsenceoftheelm, thecombinationwithbrownandthewhitelinescreate a

goodoverallcolorbalance.


• I evenhad to sketch becausethemapping

wasreallyconfusingandcomplex.

• Basicallythereweretwomain textures: the

skinandthe “armor”. Thearmorwasmainly

inthe torso andalsotheheadandbigger

hands. Theskinwasonthebegginingof

thebiggerarms, smallerarms, legsand

alsothesideofthehead.


• Itlooksprettysimple, buttheworkbetweenthose slides washuge, creatingseams,

findingthebestones, folding, bestmapping, pelting, relaxingandothertools. Texturizing,

puttingintherightposition, severalblendingoptionsonphotoshopsuch as satin,

shadowandothers.

• For theegg I used “Shell” modifierbecauseithadonly faces ononeside.

• I joinedallthemodifiersonthemaincharacter, bendedthetail 4 times,

alsoonearmofeachpairandmovedtheleftlegforward. Allofthis to create a

dynamicpositiononthecharacter (I movedthelegbeforebutreturned to symmetry to work,

itwaseasier, even more becauseofthe textures).


• Nextstep: Scenarioandlightning!

• I usedsoftselection for thesandonthegroundand UV map to addthe texture (box),

addedgreenomnilightsinsidetheeggsandanotheroneonthe top

andnothittingtheedgeofthescenario to create a

goodtransitionbetweenthesandandthelandscapeatnight. Andfinally, a smoothfogtroughthe

“environmentandeffects” window(pressing 8 onkeyboard).

AndFinally….

...The Final RenderedImages…

RENDEREDIMAGES

LESSONSLEARNED

• Increasedmodellingskills(insertingvertex, connectingedges, extruding…);

• Learnedandgreatlyincreasedhow to mapcomplex textures(seams, pelt, relax, unfold, flatten…);

• A lotoftinytrickswereadquired(neverconnectthreeor more verticesatthesame time, itcreatesoverlappededges);

• Now I knowwhyprofessionalmodelshadtwopeopleworkingonit, onemodelsitandtheothertexturizes, it’snoteasy to texturizeand I had a lotofdetailonthemodelandthe textures covered some ofthem (bonesaroundthebody for example).

• PerseveranceisPriceless!

• Also, keeping (almost) always a extra save file as always!

FINAL NOTES

• I startedworkingat 9th ofAugust, I hadbreakdaysandtherewasn’tsomanydayswhere I

workedallthe time;

• I tried to use Zbrush for thedetailsbut I couldn’thaveaccess to it, so,

allthemodellingandunwrappingwasmadeonAutodesk 3ds Max;

• I onlyused Photoshop for the textures;

• To reachtheprofessionallevel I wouldhave to add more detailsinthe future and I

wouldprobablyhave to do turbosmoothtwice andmodelafterit for thesmallerdetails.

• Onceagain, textures make a hugedifference, andenvironmentattributessuch as

fogandlights.

• I wasluckybecause I onlyhad40 minutes leftafter I finishedeverything.

• Thisisdefinitelyoneoftheworks I willputonmy online portfolio!

PLANNEDVSARCHIEVED

• Everythingthatwasplannedwasarchieved!

Documents

Alien Queen Xenomorph 3D Model - 3D Design Final Project