Custom Content Challenge: July 2014: Deities and Demigods

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

Early Malkazid with mangled custom texture.

 

 

I took the animation base from c_harat and modified the feet and left hand. This is a new custom head and texture to which I will be applying the mane of hair.

 

Malkazid is described as having a mithril shirt and a bastard sword. The sword is unholy and silver, so I am not sure how to go about doing that graphically. Novels have described all his gear as simply black, and upgraded his mail to something sturdier.

 

I was thinking of letting him keep his mithril shirt and his silver sword, but in a condition more suitable to his old celestial life. I'd give them a bit of crud and blood and darken them down a bit, making them almost black with soot from the hells. I'd probably keep his sword looking like something a celestial would have, and then damage it a bit. After 30000 years, you'd think it might have been messed up a bit.

 

I took the giant bat wings off the model and simply applied a wing node 3x scale angel wings. They seem to look ok, although I need to fine tune the wing node. I let him keep his original tail. I also removed the lower jaw, since his breath weapon is more likely to come from his forehead anyway.

 

If I make him actually use his sword, the c_harat animations may not be sufficient. He has more attacks with the sword, but his claws are just as likely to hit and cause high damage. I was thinking of putting his sword in the offhand and never actually using it.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               

<slipping through...>

 

Unholy and silver? Silver tarnishes black... how about that cool shadow-caustic effect used in some shadow realm tilesets?

 

<...some shadows>

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

I may need a guiding link for that

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               

<digging frantically...>

 

I can see the screenshot I want (in my head), a throne done with a gray-scale arturo txi texture. 

Damned if google will find it for me though :-/

 

<...through a mountain of scrolls>

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

<digging frantically...>

 

I can see the screenshot I want (in my head), a throne done with a gray-scale arturo txi texture. 

Damned if google will find it for me though :-/

 

<...through a mountain of scrolls>

 

It's Sunday night and the library is down for repairs. Something will turn up eventually.

 

In the meantime, I screwed around with Malky's hair a bit, and I'm not happy with the mohawk thing. I may try some other mane-like 80's styles. I also got some decent little horns on the guy.

 

I was showing my wife what I'd been working on and we both came to the conclusion that the c_harat animation is no good. He looks like he needs some meds or leg braces, or both. The attack is decent, but the walk mode is...well...frighteningly zombie-like.

 

I may try to migrate his parts onto the balor or pit fiend and see what happens. At least one of those would also give me something better to work with as far as weapons held.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

               

Done some movement tests.

Not entirely what I was hoping for, but I will be doing Kali as both a statue or two and a Creature model.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

A little bit more work on Malky this morning. I may just keep him using the c_harat animations. He just looks very uncomfortable walking around that way, but then again, Corellon and Lolth played him pretty good and forced him to look like a chicken, so why not walk like one too.

 

Here you can see the mid-swing claw attack. He looks pretty bad ass, especially for not being one of my normal skinned monsters. I'm still trying to find the perfect angle and position for the wing node, which is somehow difficult at 3x size modifier. He still needs to go clothes shopping too. I've also shrunk the neck and head by about 20% so he's not so much top heavy.

 

 

In addition, I've been working on the facial features a bit, trying to make him both attractive/handsome, yet disturbing. Just wait til his unhealing, dripping, brow wound is added!

 

 

Edit: And here is the first attempt at the scars. I've added a tiny glowing red layer above the scars so it shimmers slightly and can be seen in the dark.

 

 

I've also darkened the horns, tail, and talons by quite a bit, but not made them black. The description says that his scaly bits are gray, while his skin and feathers are marble in color (assuming white marble). Darkening those parts also brings out some character in the texture.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Verilazic]

               

Looking forward to seeing Malkazid. I'm working on a Drow-themed module right now, and it'd be awesome to have him as an option in a later chapter. =D

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

I've had a bit of success fixing some of Malky's animations. I took all his base creature animations and renamed them off to f-type animations. Then I cloned the no-weapon sequences to 1h sequences so he can use his bastard sword. With a few tweaks to hand and arm keys, I was able to easily make his attack look more like a sword swing. I just need to fix his walk and pause animations so it doesn't look like he has a floating sword.

 

I've set his weapon scale to 2, and it looks awesome with the ChaosEater sword from Darksiders. Since his swing is more chopping, I think I will give him a single bladed sword. Something maybe elven looking in appearance. I'll probably post the weapon separately on my weapon a day forum, so as not to clog the CCC download with unrelated 2da stuff.

 

So I think I will release 3 varieties of Malky: one without armor, as he is shown in the WotC art; one with his stat block mithril shirt, somewhat dirty and blood crusted;  one with black devilish battle plate he may have custom made for himself as the king of Myth Drannor.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

               

PHoD and Kali have stopped arguing, throwing swords across the room and calling each other very nasty names found in the margins of the Mahabarata and are now getting on very well together... suspiciously well...

 

Still some work to be done but she just might be one of the best Creature models I've done to date. Images when she's nearer completion.

Aside from her being one of the most powerful warriors and destroyers in existence and thus not somebody to annoy, Kali is also, let's not forget, a Goddess who is still actively worshipped by millions of people in the 21st century. Though she is a Goddess of destruction and death, her single-minded bloodlust, evil and epic violence is something of a western misconception dating back to the days of the British Empire and the reaction of blinkered Europeans to the somewhat fanatical activities of the Thuggee.

The darkness is but one aspect of Kali to whom death and rebirth, destruction and salvation, are all part of a greater whole. Most contemporary Hindus respect both her savage and her benevolent sides; modern festivals in her honour do not tend to resemble scenes from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. As she's one of the most powerful and important of all the Hindu deities, I want to make sure I get her right.

I'm aiming at hitting a sort of midpoint between the wild lunacy of what I do and the traditional depictions of Kali in Hindu art. Currently got four differing statuettes of Kali that I picked up in India standing around my computer for reference. Whilst she's very much going to be a PHoD type Kali, I want her to be respectful to the Vedic "original", so to speak.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shemsu-Heru]

               

PHOD I'll never forget a scene in "The golden voyage of Sinbad" (1973), in which an evil wizard animated a statue of kali to fought against Sinbad...

 

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

               

Kali is commonly represented in Hindu art with anything between four and twelve arms... occasionally more...

 

The fact that my version has six arms is pure homage to Ray Harryhausen.

 

A maquette of Harryhausen's Sinbad version of Kali is, in fact, standing amongst the Hindu idols by my computer. Ray's influence is never far away!

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

Finally got around to texturizing the clothing. Also added ears, and ramped up the glow on the scar. This is a shot of the sword I was building, but I can't finish what I was going for due to my inability to mix envmapping and transparent parts in either a weapon model, or as part of the creature.

 

So far, I am not fond of the animation on generic wings. They are just too flappy and stupid looking. This is possibly due to the length difference in walking and wing animations. I may, re-import the original wing animations and apply the angel wing model to them, but I really just want to move on to somebody else now.

 

I really want my sword animation I came up with, so I may redo Malkizid one more time, removing the shiny texture on his appearance entry, dulling down his belt and bracers, and then attaching the sword on-model. It is the only way I know to achieve the effect I was going for.

 

On a different note, I have taken some interest in building a 4 armed demon for use as a Nycaloth. I'd like to start with the pit fiend animation and eventually build Aulmpiter and his two cohorts. Nothing goes better with a few models of Malkizid than three other demons from the fall of Myth Drannor. I'm thinking of going with the exact appearance shown on the forgotten realms wiki:




Of course I want to finish my Wendonai first.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Hekatoncheires]

               

Ive been wanting a nycaloth for years '> Godspeed. There's a four armed gargoyle in the arbor falls packs, also.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Pstemarie]

               

Baba Yaga - just a sweet little grandma