Batt (wip)

[chadtheartist]

Hello again everyone! I started working on another model today. My goal for this guy is to see how "versatile" zsphere's can be for modeling, and posing. So I spent the better part of this day, about 6 hours or so, making the Batt creature.

Anyway, to make a long story short. All zsphere's, posable, more or less. There are problems with the mesh in certain poses, but workable. It definitely gets me excited about the new zsphere update!

Enjoy:

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/sphere.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/1.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/pose1.jpg

And a time lapse thanks to Pixolator!

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/batlapse.jpg

Using the same technique I did for my Kathlyn model, I'm going to be adding wings, and other things to this guy. I'm going to do more with the topology this time though. That way I can pull it back into Zbrush and get some mad crazy details going on!

Thanks for looking!

PS: Since people always ask, the poly-count on this is 600,000. I think it's a little over 100 zspheres.

[Gary Komar]

:tu: great modeling,cool character,nice zsphere work:tu:

[SolidSnakexxx]

very cool BAT!!!!

[chadtheartist]

Thanks for the compliments. This guy will be a lot easier to do than the Kathlyn model I did. So it won't take me nearly as long to complete.

If you want to see a turntable of this guy, I made one last night.

Right Click and Save. 3.8 MB file (http://homepage.mac.com.chadtheartist/.Movies/batt.mov)

Thanks for looking.

[ilusiondigital]

Wow friend, i really like this one.

I hope to see the final version (textured) as soon as possible :D

Great great job.

Excellent.

5 stars for you

[ambient-whisper]

hey. you definitely improved a lot over a short period of time. finding jobs will come with ease if you keep this up ;).


cheers. btw. how good is zacks dvd? cuz im very close to ordering it myself.

[Ctrl-Z]

how good is zacks dvd?
you definitely improved a lot over a short period of time. Seems to me you answered your own question!

Well, that's not fair. These things do depend on how much you put into 'em. Chad's obviously working very hard at it, and his models before the DVD, I thought were already of great quality. But, he is a step beyond now, and whatever steps he's taking to structure that improvement are doubtless worth following...

Note, by the way, that ZSpheres aren't covered at all in Zack's DVD, but that the techniques involved in refining your model do carry over (as shown in this thread).

[chadtheartist]

Thanks Martin. Personally I think I've improved a lot in the past few months, and for others to see it makes me feel pretty good about what I'm doing. As far as Zack's DVD goes, I like it. Maybe that's an understatement! LOL

Seriously though, I like the way he sculpts using Zbrush. I think that alone is what made me "improve" overnight so to speak. I was sculpting all wrong, and looking at how he works was a real eye opener. I didn't want to copy his model right off the bat, so I did the Kathlyn model on my site. Although it's not the greatest, I think it is a pretty strong example of how Zack's DVD influenced my work.

Anyway, Here is an update on the wings. I was working on trying to get the wings to look like an extension of the arms. And I figured why not make it to where he has to use his hands to control them. So I made this tonight. I also lengthened the forearms, since bat's have a pretty long forearm so to speak. And I added another toe.

Next up is teeth, tonque, eyes, nails, and anything else I think up along the way.

Thanks for looking.

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/wingfront.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/wingback.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/wingisoback.jpg

[chadtheartist]

Seems to me you answered your own question!

Well, that's not fair. These things do depend on how much you put into 'em. Chad's obviously working very hard at it, and his models before the DVD, I thought were already of great quality. But, he is a step beyond now, and whatever steps he's taking to structure that improvement are doubtless worth following...

Note, by the way, that ZSpheres aren't covered at all in Zack's DVD, but that the techniques involved in refining your model do carry over (as shown in this thread). Ah, you bet me to it! LOL

I forgot to mention the zspheres. After watching Zack's DVD, I felt it was only natural to try my luck with them, even though he didn't show that on the DVD. My only problem is getting accurate proportions. Of course I can still import orthos in, so if I do another human I will definitely go that route.

[chadtheartist]

To show how little geometry I started out with, using the zspheres of course, I did a comparison shot with the different sub-d levels in Zbrush.

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/4.jpg

I think this is one of the coolest features of Zbrush. Their whole sub-d implementation is second to none IMO.

[chadtheartist]

I updated the feet, and added some teeth and nails to him. I don't know if I like the head or not, so I might redo it tonight.

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/battteeth.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/battfeet1.jpg

[jantim]

Great Model,...in what way did Zacks way of modelmaking make you see" the light" ....i believe the gist of his method is keeping the mesh you start from very basic..or is this oversimplification ?..and would his workflow also work if you used Silo or Wings ?

jantim

[chadtheartist]

His method of sculpting is what helped me get better. I can't describe it as it took him a whole DVD just to do so. You really have to see it. Maybe other people see things different than I do, but for me his sculpting method is awesome.

I'm using Zbrush, Maya and Silo to do these models. So I guess you can use Wings too. He used Maya for one small portion of his workflow, and if you really think about it it isn't really a necessity. It's just quicker. I'm going to try something different with the Batt model, which may or may not work.

[andreseloy]

is a great artist and always make effort to help what he knows and that make Chad a great and splendid human being¡
Congratulations for this images.
Andreseloy

[jantim]

Well i'm a bit of a skeptic....i think Zack is a great artist and i think you made great models also...so his method is perhaps more of an eyeopener for people who can make good models in the traditional way...but if it wasn't for the high cost of post and delivery & import-cost for europe it would have bought Zack's and Meats dvd's already !:confused:

jantim

[Chaos12]

where can you order zachs dvd?

[chadtheartist]

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/zpe01.html

[chadtheartist]

I updated the head tonight. I think the first head I did didn't really match the body, so I did something that I think matches it better. I think the head as it is now is a bit too big too, so I'm going to size it down some and see how that looks.

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/newhead3.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/newhead2.jpg

[jotajota]

excelente aplicacion de la anatomia..me gusta mucho el trabajo que ha hecho
mi amigo..un saludo :cool: :tu:

[Ctrl-Z]

Infinitely better, I think. He's already emoting in ways not possible with the original head. You may have to tweak him a bit more to fit the face to his ears, though.

[chadtheartist]

excelente aplicacion de la anatomia..me gusta mucho el trabajo que ha hecho
mi amigo..un saludo :cool: :tu:

¡Muchos gracias! ¡Estoy alegre usted tengo gusto de la anatomía! ¡Pienso que resultó grande también! (http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en)

Ctrl-Z:

I agree. I'm going to have to tweak the whole head I think, it's not just the size that is out of proportion. I think the rear of the skull needs more attention, and the ears could be lowered some.

[elfufu]

this new head is night and day compared to the last one... this is 40000 times better.. great work like always chad...

you know what i think....ive told you...its time to make the move dude..LA is waiting

[deepsea]

dude, some of the best anatomy I have seen cross this forum yet! excellent work. (..except for the 6 pack - right now the abdomen is too long. The top "two-pack" should straddle the crest of the rib cage, not sit entirely below it. This would move the entire 6 pack up by half a pack. This in turn moves the navel up to above the "anterior-superior illiac spine" of the pelvis, and approximately midway up the lower external oblique. -- The only reason I mention this in such detail is that your attention to detail on the rest of the body is beautifully done, but this could be considered a serious anatomical oversight - sometimes it just takes someone pointing it out. ((unless it is artistic license at work, which you are entitled to :cool:))).

[chadtheartist]

Thanks Miguel! I'll be headed out to LA eventually, I promise! I just don't have the money to do it now, so I'm looking at the summer maybe. I dunno yet. Any tips on apartments, etc... would be most welcome! LOL

Thanks for pointing that out deepsea, as that is a very easy fix. It looked funny to me too, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I'll fix it tonight.

[chadtheartist]

I didn't get a chance to work on this until today. So I spent some time this afternoon and fixed the stomach, and redid the head. I'm going to work a little more on the arms before I redo the topology.

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/newhead4.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/newbatt.jpg

[elfufu]

hmmmmm i hate to say this but i like the other head better... this looks more cartoony...the toher one was beautifull looked like the one from coppollas dracula...

[chadtheartist]

I did a version of the head with the new ears that still looked like the second head.

How does this look?

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/newhead5.jpg

[elfufu]

yup this is nice

[chadtheartist]

HAHA! Then that is what I'll go with!

Thanks for the critique!

[elfufu]

dont you agree though?? this is alot more menacing... the other dude looks like a gangster from compton :)

[aminuts]

I have to go with elfufu on the head. The second version was nearly perfect.

Looking good!! I forget now but did ya mention you might try to color this one up? I hope so! looks like it would be alot of fun.

[deepsea]

looking really good! :tu::tu:

[chadtheartist]

I would like to texture all my work, but I feel I am not quite up to par when it comes to putting together shader nodes, and lighting. If I can figure all of that out, then I might texture at least one of the models on my reel. I don't know which one though, as they would all look better textured! LOL

Thanks for the compliments again everyone! And if I do anything else that looks stupid, don't hesitate to call me on it. I appreciate everyone's comments.

Thanks,

Chad

[aminuts]

hi Chad,

I forgot to mention I love the wings! but they need some battle scars or rips or something....they are too perfect and ya don't live forever without having a few bumps in the road along the way!

[chadtheartist]

Yeah, the wings are looking weak as they are now. I worked on them a bit last night, and I don't think it will look right for the wings to come out of his wrist. The added joint and tendons made it look like an exhaust pipe. So I'm probably going to move the wings to the back.

I'll be sure to add other things to them too, like the veins, and some torn flesh. Battle damage! But there isn't a need to do any of that kind of detail yet, as it won't be necessary when I convert this to a better topology. Once I do that, I'll go in and add more superficial detail to the new model with the better topology.

[aminuts]

I have a question for you on the topo brush and how ya use it.

I have found that scaling up the model works better when using it so was wondering if you have to do that as well or am I missing something and if you do do that do you like just the head then another part and put em together later kind of thing or do ya just go whole hog and get it done in one? Also do ya end up having to do a lot of clean up on the mesh or is that just me? hahaha

[chadtheartist]

I wouldn't recommend doing everything at one time. I find it easier to keep track of things one small section at a time. Like do parts of the head, or parts of the torso, and combine them later.

I haven't really had a problem with scale issues. So no, I don't scale the model up or down. However you might want to go in and adjust the topology brush options to fit your model better. It takes some playing around, but it shouldn't take that long to set it up.

Also, if you lay out your topology lines cleanly, you won't have a lot of cleanup to do after you generate your mesh. However, sometimes I've found that the generated mesh will have an extra face that covers the whole mesh. Just select it and delete it.

I'm anxious to see how the new zsphere topology works. I think it will be an easier way to get "quad" based topology rather than guess at in Silo.

[chadtheartist]

Just an update on what I'm going to do with the wings. I'm not sure how I want to attach them to the back. Honestly I don't know how others do it and make it look "real". Mainly because I don't understand how the shoulders could move, with these giant wings coming out of them. I'm thinking about attaching them to the back just above the shoulders, and maybe adding a "joint" of sorts around that. Just a thought.

The base sketch is pretty much done. Now it's time for the hard and time consuming part. Redoing the topology. Yay! I'm going to try some different stuff with this guy than I did with the Kathlyn model, so this time it will take me a bit longer. Hopefully it will turn out alright. We'll see in about a week or so!

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/batman/newwings.jpg