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Philosophoholic163 — Introducing Ivy Valentine (SCIV default)
#blender #isabella #isabellavalentine #ivy #render #sc #sc4 #soulcalibur #sciv #soulcalibur4 #soulcaliburiv #blendercycles #ivysoulcalibur #isabellasoulcalibur #ivyvalentine
Published: 2018-02-03 08:06:44 +0000 UTC; Views: 16263; Favourites: 80; Downloads: 241
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Description
Conception: Eh? What? This is a bit out of the blue. Well, for me it's back to a bit of normalcy and keeping busy when I can't work on No.3 due to lack of privacy... ~It's all timey-wimey.~ Oh, shut up.Method:
XPS: Load model, open Material editor for texture reference purposes.
Blender: Import model, use Material editor to assign textures to node set ups appropriate to the mesh, smooth non-hair meshes, remove doubles, apply Subdivision Surface modifier to meshes with skin textures (for that extra silky smoothness). Check for inconsistencies.
XPS: Apply a pose, tinker. Save.
Blender: Import pose, tinker. Adjust camera, background and lighting parameters. Render.
Commentary: Ah... yes, Ivy. Had I gone about at my own pace, Ivy (or Taki) would have been the first Soul Calibur character I would have eventually added to my model library. And Ivy is one of the first white/silver haired character which caught my attention - even before Christie. Yes, there was someone else before Christie. "What?!" Anyway... another xXKammyXx model which is often easy to set up and clean. The hair is the worst bit for most models though and I find Material editor a must for finding the right texture.
I also attempted to fiddle around with the nodes for some of the metallic textures of her costume. Not sure if I managed to get the sort of shine I had in mind, but there was a bit of tinkering rather than just the old copy and paste job. I am exploring those options a bit more for what it's worth, but not sure how they're coming out. I do need to explore how the nodes work to get that transparency effect I'm looking for. Anyway, I definitely need better eyesight to see the difference if indeed there is any. Such as things are.
I was rather disappointed in the character design changes from SCIII to SCIV especially for Xianghua. I felt the changes made her look more ape-like. Losing Aya Hisakawa and Yumi Touma as VAs really didn't help the change either. Not entirely sure I really got over that... I mean, they lost Skuld and Urd! Anyway... character design changes aside I'm glad Ivy and Taki were relatively unscathed (except for their increasing bust size - wait... did Wally Wood have a hand in this?). To me, the Soul Calibur series hasn't been the same ever since SCIII.
As for this submission? Well, I came across isagiiirlyB's reupload of prometheus2950's poses (whose work I had not come across before). I did my usual minor tinkering to suit this model in XPS before exporting to Blender for a final tune up before rendering. I guess the only thing I'm not too sure about is her hair. There's a bit of black there which reminds me of what happened with Christie. And... I suppose I should have her left hand further up the hilt (or move the sword down a bit). Now I think about it... I would need appropriate settings to use for the Soul Calibur characters...
Given my PC upgrade, well... effectively a new PC really, the rendering is quicker on the settings I usually use. Might be tempted to up some settings a bit more for extra polish. Sampling is one aspect, also thinking applying the Subdivision Surface modifier to more meshes or increase the value for the skin... But this looks alright, doesn't it?
Credits:
Ivy model courtesy of xXKammyXx (Not sure where the link is...)
Pose by prometheus2950 courtesy of isagiiirlyB
Node set ups:
Basic node set up courtesy of DragonLord720
Cloth node set up by DragonLord720
Eye node set up by Hypster83
Skin node set up by Hiddenus
Tools:
Blender 2.79
XNALara Posing Studio 11.8
Assets/Copyright:
Bandai Namco
Render time: 11m 17s
Resolution: 1920x1080
Sampling: 1024
Other info: N/A
6th October 2017
