I think that I did a pretty good job so far, the low polygon model is only 1950 triangles. Considering that the high polygon model was 11952, it’s not bad at all. I could probably go further down but Shigeko is going to kill me if I do. I need to the final UVWmapping but there is no hurry at the moment, whatever I have now is good enough to work with.

Next step: Adding all the hooks, eyes and lace it all up properly.

I’d like to add that bothering to make a low polygon model is not just “nice” it’s what make the difference between a good and a lazy modeler.

The high-resolution model is pretty much done, Unwrapping, stitches and I also have a hidden spine. I might add a couple of extra thing things later, but now it’s time to focus on the low polygon version.

Progression has been very slow, I’ve been asking their opinion to several people, getting their suggestions, doing slight changes here and there. I finally decided that this was enough, and really… this is as good as it is every going to get.

Now… to the next step.

I finally managed to write my own little voxel system on Torque3D. The code is extremely crude and pretty much unusable for anything but this specific example. This does give me a better understanding of how to write into a vertex buffer to create a 3D model “on the fly” based on dynamic parameters.

Good progress on the boots today, i added some details which should have been bump mapped normally, but I wanted the toes upper seam to mark the starting point of the lacing, speaking of those caps… I’m not entirely sure whether I like them or not, now they look a little too hm.. dressy, but once textured, maybe it will blend in the background and won’t pop out as much.

I’m also tempted to have a spine on the back and maybe a pull loop like on the pony boots.

It’s pretty rare that I do not already have a very clear idea of what I want to do. This was one of these times. But I’m finally getting somewhere; and past the “design roadblock”.

That’s where I realize that boots are definitely not my area of expertise. I’ve done nothing the past few days but tweaking the shape of the mockup model and I’m still not fully satisfied. by it.

If you made a purchase the past two hours , it may not have been delivered. Just send me a PM and I will fix it for you.

That’s right, “vacation” (not sure what it was really) is over and it’s time to get back to it. This new project is inspired by the “concealed heel” boot design where a boot is designed with an internal heel that is much higher than the outside would suggest. The project I’m working on is basically a pair of stiletto boots that are constructed around the structure of a ballet boot, with an abbreviated and purely cosmetic toe box.

They are ballet boots pretending to be something else 🙂

Don’t judge them from the picture yet. It is a very early, very crude, test model. I’ve spent most of the time today tweaking my sketches to make it look right and I’m still not fully satisfied.

Real life birthday, 10 April, woohoo one more year!

…I’ll have pizza tonight to celebrate this non event 😀