i was brought on to help out on the nba jam project at acclaim after vexx wrapped up. my first task was to model an in-game version of bootsy collins. bootsy had agreed to do the opening track (which is awesome - you should check it out in the game) and do some voice over work. while he didn't want to be featured in the game, he had agreed to have a cg likeness of him in the opening cinematic and have his character as an "unlockable" player. i created a home and away version of him with his famous "star" bass. screenshots were sent to philly so bootsy could approve them. as the story goes, bootsy and his lawyer looked at the models and decided they needed to increase the licensing fee. apparently his lawyer felt the likeness was too close and therefore had to bump up the cost for acclaim to feature it. i guess that's a compliment, at least i took it that way. needless to say, instead of ponying up the extra grip, acclaim brand & marketing decided to cut the cg bootsy and just go with the song & VO work - which turned out great. since this was cut from the game and never used, i've put it in my "personal projects" section since i plan on taking it further than i would have at work. i really enjoyed doing this character and i eventually want to do some sort of fun animation with him. watch for updates!...

bootsy head 1180 faces - i had done a whole set of morphs for this head (including the classic bootsy smile), but i've since started playing with bones based facial rigs for lipsync, so i'm gonna drop the morphs when i do his final rig. i also think i'll do some sort of dynamic "floppy" rig for his hat and brim.

bootsy in all his glory 3407 faces total with bass. the yellow outfit was based on the outfit in this reference image - notice the "fresh pee". the leopard skin outfit served as the away uniform and it was based off several of bootsy's outfits - he seems to love the animal print stuff.

the bootsy star bass 150 faces - i was given a total face count of 3400 for just the in-game player. i was pretty proud that i was able to squeeze the face count down on the bass to fit it in & still maintain a fair amount of detail.

bootsy concepts before i started the modeling process i had to submit concept art for approval from the art lead. here is the original sketch and the two color comps.