Lumaras - Taliax (CLOSED) (CLOSED)

LUMARAS -TALIAX




Species: Lumara
Description: The Lumaras are an ancient and enigmatic species inhabiting a remote, hidden corner of the galaxy known as Noxoria. Their unique biology combines features of Earths animals with advanced regenerative abilities. They adapt remarkably to various environments, and their iridescent skin enables camouflage in both well-lit and shadowed areas.

History:
Taliax is one of the last members of her species, born at a time when her race stood on the brink of extinction due to an ecological disaster that wiped out much of the life on their home planet. The Lumaras, once renowned for their wisdom and technology, were forced to hide in Noxorias deep caves, evolving and adapting their bodies to survive in these new conditions.
Taliax possesses an exceptionally developed empathetic ability, allowing her to sense the emotions and intentions of other beings. Her mission is clear: to find the remaining members of her kind and restore the former strength of the Lumara. However, the path before her is fraught with dangers and challenges.

Symbolism:
The Lumara as a species symbolize hope, resilience, and renewal. Taliax, as one of their own, bears the weight of the past but is also the spark that could ignite a new era for her people.

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By the fourth day after the contest announcement, when I first came across it, I knew exactly the character I wanted to create. The idea came to me on its own: a unique blend of human and axolotl. In my minds eye, I saw delicate, translucent, iridescent skin, large, gentle eyes, and a graceful frame.
The only thing left was to bring the project to life. In fact, within two days, I had an initial outline of the character. It was a bit rough around the edges, but it set the stage for everything else.
But life isnt all passion and creativity. In the end, I ran out of time to perfect everything as Id imagined. Originally, I had planned for Taliax to wear a stunning garment of soft leather, with dynamic, flowing fringe. But, as it turned out, my vision was one thing, and my equipment another. DAZ Studio simply refused to process the dynamics.

Sure, I could have tried to run it through other software, but after all, Taliax was what mattered most. I think this small imperfection can be forgiven. Who knows? Maybe those unused garments will come to life someday.
Below, in my posts, Im sharing the entire creative process, from the first cubes onward. Of course, Taliax also has her own UV maps, and even… her own song!
So, for the impatient, Ive included a short video along with the final render, which gives a quick look into who Taliax is and the potential she holds.



The first and greatest challenge was keeping the model low-poly. Of course, I could have made it highly detailed, sculpting endlessly, but that wasnt the point. This meant the geometry had to be well thought out from the very beginning.

It was equally important that the polygons be quadscompatible with my beloved DAZ Studio, which has its own subdivide option. Since I intended to create a skeleton and facial expressions for the model, a low-poly structure was far easier to refine later on and allowed for more freedom to build detail through texturing.

The second challenge was creating the skin texturea texture that balances the delicate, almost ethereal quality of an axolotl with the necessary thickness for a humanoid form.

An important note is that Taliax is a completely original model, fully adapted for the DAZ Studio environment.
If there are any questions, I am able to provide additional materials, as well as the model and textures from different stages of the creation process.






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To avoid clutter, I will post more materials below: 

Journey Through Creation


It may seem absurd, but I started creating a new character with the most difficult thing for me - hands and feet. Also they were the first to get the uv grid. 

The next step was to create the torso and establish the uv grid with that. 

After that, the elements were combined and subdivided.
Then the hands, feet and torso were again separated to improve the quality of their uv mesh in Blender, and through the uv mapper export the templates for 4k quality textures. 

Only then was the head solid created. It was a cube, split three times, and then started moving the points around.
first finger 

Nails:

Hand:

Arms:


Legs:

Torso:


Increase details:









Tail:
This was the easiest task. All I had to do was make a simple tube and split it. Then, after creating the uv mesh, copy each divided section, extending the outer ends of the polygons so that a polygon fur was created.

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Head:
First step is to create a simple box to scale


I started with a really simple solid, cutting polygons and moving the points symmetrically.


Here, all stages continued to proceed laboriously.



The next step is to add lines, which later, after subdividing the solid, will allow you to foreground the emotions. 



The next step was to increase the number of polygons and smooth out.



Painstaking work began on details such as the inside of the mouth, the eye corners. They were the first to have to get the uv net.



Only then could I process the uv grid for the face.


The next step was to add eyebrows and eyelashes.



Eye:
based on typical cat eye anatomy 





Teeth:






Tongue:



The result was a finished step: base figure for Taliax



Feathers:

And my favorite: UV-Templates!  
Confess, whos curious about what the UV maps ultimately look like? These maps were created in real time as I developed each element of the model. Thanks to Blender's smoothing option, I was able to achieve perfect results. Check it out! 

Eyes, teeth and tail:
  

Face, lashes and feathers:
  

Torso, arms and legs:
  

This was the moment I eagerly awaitedthe first test renders in DAZ Studio! Seeing everything come to life is pure magic. Lets dive into this creative journey together! 




Let's add some textures!



Yeah, yeah, I know. Anyone can do it in Blender...

Better, isn't it?  

I was going to show you the creative process, but it seems like it's slowly turning into quite the tutorial! Who knew creating a 3D model could be so... educational? Let's dive in and see where this adventure takes us!


Wire Shaded:







Let's not be too cruel to Taliaxhow about we give her some bones to play with?









And there you have itour magical journey through the birth of Taliax! Thank you for being part of this creative adventure. 
I hope you had as much fun as I did!
 Whats the next step youd love to see?

Thumbnail for contest gallery

Quality work well done.  It is a mini tutorial