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I have been working on this for about 8 months now in my free time. It was a project for learning Mari. And practicing other SI elements like hair, skin and facial rigging. I am still working on texturing and materials. I constantly have a tough time getting teeth to look right. And of course I always end up deep in the uncanny valley.... But, maybe some feedback could help this look decent in the end.
(Inspired by an image I found on CGHub)

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Very good work, Izze. I like it.

May I suggest more hair at the top of her head and play with lighting to add shadow and contrast.
Maybe some grunge/grease stain on one of her cheeks for good effect.

As for the uncanny valley, well that is the holy grail of CG, don't be too hard on yourself.

Have you posted this on CGTalk?

beautiful work!
I love the expressions

Hair might need more work.. I think it should be softer, and more hairs..

Great Only minor critic is bump map on her face, and maybe hair is too thin/sparse
You could learn mari on cgsociety challenge. Thats what I've done to get familiar with this software;)

Absolutely awe-inspiring!
Keep the grimaces, they work surprisingly well.

Daniel, smudges on her skin will make a big difference. Good idea. That is something I have not tried with the skin shader. I will have to do some testing. And, no. I have not posted on CG Talk. I might if I can get her looking good.

OzAdi, I have the hair a little thinner near the hair line. But it sounds like I need to make it thicken up faster towards the back. I will work on that. Thanks!

Piotrek, You think the bump map is to strong? I need to tone it down a bit?

Mari is pretty amazing eh? It took me a while to figure out how to texture displaced objects without artifacts. But I think I finally got it working pretty well. Have you seen the new procedurals? http://vimeo.com/77954481

Harazi, Thanks! With the help of the community, I hope I can get this to a good enough level.

I will work on these changes over the next few days. But keep the comments coming!

Yes, bump map is too strong and too even, maybe also scale is abit off. Especialy bumps under eyes are wrong
https://encrypted.google.com/search?tbm ... l&imgdii=_

working on the dirt smudges, and tooth shader

beautiful! very nice, I love how it looks realistic and just slightly cartoonish with the big expressive eyes and all...

I like her eyes a lot! I agree about the bump map and hair. And the teeth is a little to plastic, but I don't know how to solve it. Anyway, nice work!

Awesome work . . . really great texturing. This is inspiring, and really, well done on pushing on with this - 8 months is a battle mate, so I salute you.
What renderer are you using? Skin shader? Her expressions are great, and I think they lend themselves to a style on it's own, so I wouldn't worry about the uncanny valley - that is really noticeable in animation, but if you are trying to create a hyper-real human, then maybe look at the size of her eyes (for some reason their size makes her feel less real? My opinion, but I wouldn't change them). My crits would be the hair, maybe add a bit of the helmet glass visor 'peaking' out of the top of the helmet so your focus isn't drawn to her hairline, and it would make for a stronger silhouette. I do think you need to sort the hair out - feels like thin straw, and not fine hair. For me the skin bump is really close. I do think you have done a superb job, and it would be great to see full body in a great pose. Congrats

SquirrelSa: Thanks, all good suggestions. I appreciate the feedback. I am using Arnold to render, and the Andreas Bystrom's skin shader.

I have been away for the holiday and just got a chance to work on this some more. I have the hair looking a little softer now, but do not have the hair line quite right. I changed the hair shader so it should not be so wiry now. I also worked on the teeth shader a bit.

Started texturing the front of the mask.

Looking great . . . do you think the hair is too uniform. A really close observation, but it feels too tight and drawn back. It isn't an issue, but maybe encourage a more natural feel, by bringing some hair strands from under the helmet, a bit scuffed to emphasise her working role. It might be overkill, but some infringement of hair, on her left side of hair line, would be perfect? Just a thought. What are your plans with this?

I'm trying to get some radom-ness in the hair. Need to make it a little more prominent I think.



I worked the lighting and materials on just about everything. Straight render.