Friday, July 31, 2009 Tifa WIP: Phase 2 Complete!

Well, sorta.....
Anyway, I've finished building Tifa, well except I haven't finished her hands just yet. I noticed that her head is.. well, quite heavy coz of her hair, and it's putting quite a strain to her neck. Would'ya believe that papercraft models can have stiff necks too?! Anyway, yeah it's a bit heavy and it's causing her head to tilt back and making the paper at the back of her neck to cave in. I may need to make some changes in the 3d model and see if there's a way to overcome this... either that or just don't bother with the double sides and use lightweight paper for the hair... dunno really, I'll just have to test those things out.

That means I won't be able to release Tifa anytime soon, Tifa was actually meant to be released today. Although, she did turn out quite well, that I must admit. She pretty much resembles the 3d model, just need to finish up with the hands and she's done. I'll probably give this model away though, so I can work on the re-build. Having Tifa around me might make me lazy to even bother fixing the neck issue..

So, just to "tease" y'all a bit.... here's Tifa, standing right next to Cloud... Don't worry Tifa, Fezco will finish your hands tomorrow....
PS: I swear, taking that last picture was a weeee bit creepy. It's almost like Tifa was looking straight at me!

Sunday, July 5, 2009 Tifa WIP: Phase 1 Complete!

Just finished up on Tifa's pose and edits in Sketchup. A good chunk of her was missing around the hip area, since these parts are supposed to be "merged" with the front and back skirts so the model didn't have a complete butt. Decided to fix these parts up to provide better stability for Tifa, having the skirt as the main base for the entire upper body may cause problems in the long run. Adding these additional faces is necessary. Didn't bother to add any textures here since they'll end up getting covered by the skirt anyway. Also preserved the double sides for the skirts, hair and ribbons so it's your choice to add these to your final model. My opinion though, best to keep 'em so the final product would look nicer.Currently into Phase 2, which is unfolding the model and arranging the template. She'll have lesser pages than Cloud of course so it's gonna be easy (hopefully). Although, once again the fingers may be of a problem for some. But heh, a little bit of patience goes a long way.Oh yah, and to give you a better idea of what the final product should look like when she's posed beside Cloud, here's a pic of them. Both in Pose A and Pose B arrangement. (Pose A is Cloud holding the Buster Sword over his shoulder, Pose B is Cloud with the Buster Sword on his back)So anyway, that's it for this update, will continue the unfolding and then will pick up where I left off next weekend, by then I'll prolly start on the build. So Tifa will be yours shortly. (damn... wish weekends should be 5 days long and school days should be 2 days long instead)

Thursday, July 2, 2009 Tifa Lockhart WIP

My apologies for not posting as much updates as necessary, it's just that after getting home from school, the last thing on my mind would be paper craft. Besides weekdays are just too short and too tiring for me to do anything else after homework is done.

Anyway, working on Tifa is giving me the opportunity to try out a new way for me to pose models. Albeit a more tedious process, but it does ensure that I get the pose done properly without much backtracking on where I messed up. Yes there is an "undo" button, but you can only go so far with that, that it doesn't usually help as much.Well, as you can see she actually has a MUCH better looking elbow pose than Cloud. I hate to admit it, but hey, at least this new process I'm working with is providing a better result. She's more or less nearing the actual pose that I'm going for, but of course I'll change it a bit to make it more.... hmmm, "girly". Tifa just screams "tomboyish" to me.. still... rawr!This is where I left off last weekend. You can clearly see me using Tifa's right forearm as a guide to pose the left forearm... yeah I know that's cheating, but that's the best way to actually replicate the process I did on the right arm without messing up too much.

Hopefully I'll be able to finish up on the pose this weekend and if I'm lucky enough start on the unfold. Anyway, guess that's all for this update... need to get some much needed sleep *yawns*.