Week 3

 This week I worked on the tail and made a few changes to the body. I also decided against making the mandibles of the centipede because they are so flat against the head it doesn't make sense to animate them for this project.

First of all, I had to shape the tail so it looks like an end piece. When looking at the tail of a centipede, it is rounded more than the body segment, but the hind legs jut out from the top as if part of the carapace, disrupting that flow by jutting out in two different directions. I created a little tab as well so that it feels like it just slides in.

For the hind legs, it's once again just another set of dual edge loops for a more mechanical joint instead of fluid.But, for the hind legs, the only difference is that I extruded from the corners of the main geometry rather than the sides, because that is where they extend from on a centipede's body.

 

So here is just another example of that extrusion and creasing method, giving it that segment appearance.

There you have it, the centipedes tail. I kept the legs straight for the future purpose of rigging them.

Putting it in place, it now has that nice little end to a flow of numerous identical segments.

Now, looking back I thought my body segments were neat and perfect. But I got some insight from outside opinions and they said the same thing, "It feels flat." That won't do now will it. I'm making a centipede not a flatworm.

So what I did was I reshaped the top side of the geometry, giving it more of a rounded appearance both from the side, from the front, and from an angle. Sadly I did not instance the body segments so I had to delete all but one of the segments and recopy them all.

Voila, the centipede model is complete! But are the UVs all in good order?

I'd say so.

 Next week, I'm going to sculpt out the carapace and joints of the segments and head. I'm thinking of sculpting the eyes in, but possibly not.










Also, gonna sculpt those gnarly little spikes in.