Zbrush

I've been playing with Zbrush all weekend. Here are the best results. I also re-sculpted the Bird Queen model that I was working on in Mudbox now that I've got the hang of Zbrush. The results are very different as you can see in the comparison image. It seems like Zbrush has better pressure sensitivity so sculpting in that software is more akin to digital painting where in Mudbox I'm always aware that I'm working on a 3D mesh which likely accounts for the stiffness. A note of interest: I spent twice as long working on the Mudbox version accomplished much less in that time. Hopefully I'll have time to get Buster the spaceman into Zbrush before I finish this project.

Also attached is the new concept art for the Bird Queen. I changed it around so that there would be more sculpted detail than in the original.

One last note: the female bust is based on a somewhat iconic Richard Avedon photo of Jacqueline de Ribes.

Buster (Just about done)

Here are some beauty shots of Buster. There are a few little things with the normal map that I want to clean up and some small details in his face and body, but this is pretty close to the finished vision. My goal was to combine the diffuse, spec, and bump maps in a way that somewhat "realistically" simulates many different kinds of materials.

More textures for Buster.

Been working on his suit and jetpack. Having a lot of fun with bump & spec maps (plus dialing in the blinn settings).

Buster's Colors (A Start)

Heres the first shots of Buster painted up. I've painted his face and hair, the body and jetpack are up next. Also tested out the normal map transfer for his body... a lot of artifacts are showing up that I have to figure out.

Buster's Hands

Did some work on his hands. Still need to tighten the design up, his fingers are losing a lost of volume from all the sculpting.

Successful Normal Map transfer

Here's my progress on Buster. Spent a few hours on hardening the angles in his hair and on his body. Also tried exporting a Normal Map to a low-poly mesh and am pretty happy with how the results are reading in Maya. There are a few artifacts I have to work out, but otherwise it looks much higher-poly than it is.

Buster Updates

Got some feedback on my model and incorporated some edits on the anatomy as well as a sharpening up of many features to make it more geometric.

Buster: Model

Here's a preview of the Buster Model. The first image is from Mudbox with 5 levels of subdivisions and the second two images are exported normal maps on the base model in Maya. Still tweaking him in Mudbox. This was an (unsuccessful) test from Mudbox to see how a normal map would render out for a base level mesh, but there is not nearly enough geometry to support it, causing the ugly shadows. Also a little lost on the textures. I'm caught between wanting to do photorealistic textures and stylized painterly look and just need to decide.

I am, however, pretty happy with the way that helmet is picking up light!

Upgrade

Got some feedback on my character lineups. The consensus was that the first character I should model should be the Spaceman because he is the protagonist but that the current design is too simple and boring. In revisiting his design I wanted to do two things:

1. Enhance the distortion in the figure for a more unique silhouette.
2. Add lots of detailing to his costume.

I went back to my research and did a bunch of sketching and came up with this. (Special thanks to this amazing Flash Gordon book I picked up at the library with hundreds of photos from the film serials) I think it still recalls the military uniform that I was going for but feels a little more high-tech and has lots of little things to look at. He ended up with a creepy sneer in the painting which I will avoid in the actual model.

Wolf Mount

I'm planning on doing a (pink) ostrich for the bird people as well to explain where all those pink feathers are coming from. Poor wolf could also make a nice hat for a king.

I painted this entirely in Photoshop with a process that forces me to be more geometric and considerate of building strong shapes. Would like to push the sculpts to be a little more "simple" like this.

Wolfmen versus Birdmen

Here are my character lineups, the regal Wolfmen vs. the tribal Birdmen (plus an Earth-man). Trying to decide which three characters I want to model. Definitely want to do the brute Wolfman, but not sold on the other two. Whichever I choose I need to come up with a little narrative so that I can set them all in a scene together, which makes choosing a lot more difficult.

Mudbox vs. Zbrush

Starting a new project that will focus on using Mudbox (or Zbrush?) for Game Design. The goal will be to create a series of concept paintings that inspire 3d models for a handful of characters and a set. I want to explore the idea of a more painterly look to 3d texturing but at the same time want to create different types of convincing materials (i.e. leather, hair, metal, glass, satin, velvet) Will be concepting and exploring different solutions.

Here is my first concept painting of what could be one of the characters or inspiration for them. I used this as a guide for modeling and painting in Mudbox. The goal was to create a fairly simple piece of geometry sculpted entirely in Mudbox (without and help from Maya) and use Trompe L'oeil painting techniques to create the illusion of depth. The painted render below uses no lighting, the entire effect is painted onto the model.


After completing this test I wanted to give Zbrush a try. I've chosen a completely different subject so it's not a perfect 1:1 comparison but Zbrush is certainly a better sculpting tool. Something about the way the tools impact the 3d form is far more natural. Additionally it has an array of beautiful "materials" that look remarkably like different types of clay. I think this helps me get in the mindset of sculpting, whereas Mudbox materials always look like 3D models. However I'm not impressed with Zbrush's user interface and think its "2.5d" paradigm is very confusing. Will continue exploring.

Rooftop: In Progress

Here is a third composition. I'm still working on the final render, but here are test renders that show my process from posing the characters to setting up the lights. Lots of little tweaks along the way.

I used this as an opportunity to try out volumetric fog. A cool effect, I don't think I got it to work quite right, but I think this solution fits with the stylized reality of this world.

Yes, it's based on a still from La Femme Nikita that is in my moodboard.

Finaler

Updated! Made some big changes to the Madonna scene (new buildings & lighting) Thinking about enhancing the textures some and/or try a new method with all of the hair. (Also want to take some close-ups).

(close to) Final Scenes

Here are the two complete images that I am turning in for this class. I put the sets and lights together as fast as I could to get this project to a complete stage for today, but I definitely want to continue working on this. The Madonna scene, especially. The room doesn't have the "holy" quality that I was going for and the buildings in the background are pretty rough.

There are also a few things I had planned on incorporating into the Smoking Room image (such as reliefs on the wood objects) and a couple textures that could be refined (like the glass/crystal) that I didn't get to.

To take a look at the original sketches click here.

Test Render

Here's a little taste of one of the scenes I'm creating. The poses are still rough and the background isn't in place, but it gives a sense of what this is going to look like.

Mother (semi render)

I spent the weekend creating the costume & textures for "Mother." Also posed her up and began lighting, but realized that I don't know anything about lighting, and need to watch some tutorials. This is an approximation of what I want, just better!

Here dress is inspired by Prada's Fall 2010 collection. Her hair was going to be a big curly mass but then I saw this amazing picture of Catherine Denevue and immediately wanted her to look like that.

...And More Texturing.

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Saw this music video by "Oh Land" yesterday night and was suddenly inspired to use the same makeup for "Mother" in my project. (She's the lady in the frame in the Red Room). First I did a [really ugly] painting to see if I liked the makeup in combination with the face shape and hair, then I started mapping it out. I also played with making her appear older via a rougher bump map with some light wrinkling. Wanted her to still have a timeless appearance like Streep or Mirren.

This was fun because I got to contrast the robotic appearance of "Anna" with slightly more humanistic detailing and skin-tone variation in "Mother."

I also spent a bit of time on a proof on concept for a matte & metallic wallpaper treatment. The result is pretty ugly, but I think I could refine this to be something really wonderful.

More texturing.

Painted Anna up the other day and have slowly been refining her. It's so exciting to see this character go from being a smooth gray model to something that feels very fleshy and real (in the right light setup). Her textures were significantly easier than Gaston's since the her skin is basically all the same color and texture. Her hair was also a breeze because I setup the uv maps in such a way that all I had to do was draw a bunch of vertical lines. (much simpler than the 3-day mudbox-fest that was Gaston's coif).

Playing around with some really cool possibilities for the material on her shirts. The floral-satiny texture is simply an old wallpaper piped in as a spec map. Mental Ray does the rest!

Rigging

Started watching some rigging tutorials the other day and began the rig for "Anna." It's so exciting to see this character "alive" after spending so much time modeling! Here's a little taste.