Dragon's and such....

[Jason Belec]

Well I had another 15 minutes.... :lol: Started this guy in the Monday night challenge, "Low-Poly's".

I really wish I had the time to just do this kind of stuff forever.

dragon2.jpg

[cosmic*f00l*]

zsphere tastic :tu: beautiful work :cool:

[Jason Belec]

Thank you cosmic*f00l*.

And here are some quickies...

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[Moochie]

Amazing control and imagination.

[Jason Belec]

Thank you Moochie, he is still evolving from ideas that were bashed around, but I am liking the progress myself. ;)

[KingOfCornbread]

Very cool!

-Den

[NURGLE]

neat stuff! I noticed the magnet spheres for the wings, did you do anything else to get the large span and that first thumnail, was that a toon shader? and how do i make one? :tu:

[krishki]

:tu: Complicated Zsphears :D

[aminuts]

Ahhhhh nice to see the whole fellow!!

Am gonna enjoy watching this one develop!

[Jason Belec]

Thank you krishki, but actually this is a rather simple setup, I have been experimenting for quite some time on various threads. Here is a great link or two.

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=9904

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=24796

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=21407&highlight=challenge

Thank you NURGLE, I've attached a better shot of the wing. As for toon stuff, search for my name on the forum you may be delighted - downloads and all. To start you off...

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=21356&page=1&pp=15&highlight=toon

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=21627&highlight=material+problem


Thank you KingOfCornbread.

I may have more time to day waiting for people and get to add more to the base of this character.

[Jason Belec]

For NURGLE... The red lines are the magnet spheres used.

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[Jason Belec]

Messing around some more, specifically the feet. I need to fix the rear feet with the XYZ script, I haven't employed it yet. As you can see, a couple of pose tests to detemine problem areas. And all in all it seems great. More detail can now be slowly added.


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[cosmic*f00l*]

jason how do you get the wings surface spread out like that

looks great fun posing that model btw :)

[Jason Belec]

Spread out? You mean from a thin Zsphere pipe to a thin paper like wing? Magnet Spheres. Posted an image above with just a wing and some red lines to show where the magnet spheres start and end.

Also you need to set your (under Tool>Adaptive skin) settings as follows.

Ires 6
MBR 0
Mc (on - yellow)
MP (off - grey)

That should pretty much do it. You can play with these settings for cool skin effects as well.


If you mean posed spread out, just make sure to store your Morph (under Tool) in the Zsphere original pose. Then hit switch and repose as you like.

[cosmic*f00l*]

magnets gotcha;)

i was trying to pull points after hitting (A) and getting a wicked mess :lol:

[JABBERWOOKIE]

ive been trying to find more information in the help menu as well as the practical guide on magnets and attractors. Mostly how to use them, and why you would use them but I cant find anything! can some one please tell me where that is? I must not be seeing it!

thanks

[Jason Belec]

Help>3D modeling, Adaptive skinning... starting on page 3 - more exists through out. A search of the forum will also yield quite a bit of info.

Here is a link to show you what they do...

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=9904


In essence, it's just a Zsphere that after being pulled into position you alt-clicked on the extension between the zsphere and this one you just made. It turns transparent and now pulls or pushes, scaling also affects things as does rotation.

See the above link why you might use them, just a tool. Some people do without, I just love the idea of Zspheres for concept work as the model is forever poseable in Zbrush, allowing a lot of flexibility, especailly modeling and texturing.

Everyone will get different mileage.

Enjoy.

[JABBERWOOKIE]

thanks a bunch, thats helps a lot, cheers

[Jason Belec]

OK, today was slow - haha. Yeah right.

Here is a little more messing trying to get the basic shape and style down.

Dragon_U01.jpg

Dragon_U02b.jpg

dragon_one.jpg

[Suzana]

I like this the best from your work.
A style for itself.
Best luck.
;)

[Jason Belec]

Thank you Suzana. I wish what I had time to post was 'my work' in the sense you mean, maybe someday.

[Jason Belec]

OK I promised Aminuts some time ago.... So I've begun working out the rough of this zsphere character, based on the story creators vision. I think he got a little over excited, so I thought it worth posting. I'm only working at level 3 right now, but this is rendered at level 7 with Pixolator's dino light and shader. Yes I'm using the new Wacom Cinitq 21u - really I can't stress this enough - get one! ;)

Picture 4.jpg

[aminuts]

woohoo, i am jealous of the wacom and awaitin for all progress and updates!!! Looking pretty cool so far...just gotta love pix's mat and lights!

ok where's the next update? geez it's been 4 hours already!:D

[Jason Belec]

Greedy aren't ya??!! It's not like I don't have 15 other things to do any given moment you know! Shheeesshhhhhhh! I'm going back to my Cintiq, my new mistress - much to my wife's chagrin! ;)

[aminuts]

hahah ok now I have to hate ya.

What only 15 other things? Geez what a slacker!:D


No worries.....I have waited this long for my double entendre updates...will patiently wait a few minutes longer.;)

[Jason Belec]

Well I had a few minutes this morning and tried to pull the look out a little further.... ;)

Picture 8.jpg

[aminuts]

looking cool...have a question tho....is that an eye facing the front we see inbetween the horn there? wasn't sure from the pic and since I think most dragons eyes are on the sides was curious about that...and if it is why you put it facing forward?

[Jason Belec]

It is an eye and this dragon is cooler than the others. :D Well they guy who came up with him thinks so, I just asked him. Besides, prey animals have the eyes to the side - hunters have the eyes to the front - answer your question? ;)

[MrLearner]

Looks good!

Poor dragon though, must be hard to see behind those horns. But on the other hand with that magnificent set he probably gets all the ladies :)

[Jason Belec]

I think the front shot on the image above this one shows he can see just fine. ;) Of course, his primary sense may not be sight, I'm not sure as I have only rarely met a dragon over tea. ;) He does seem to have an impressive set when compared to the average Ram, or Moose. :lol:

Perhaps later tonight I'll have some more time to get into the detail levels before starting on the body.

[Jason Belec]

Well it has indeed been awhile. I was fooling around with some things your not supposed to do with Zbrush and pulled my old friend up as he is monsterous in file size, surface area and he is still fully zsphere poseable. I'll post more on the naughty thing I'm doing in another thread next week. This fella is far from finished but as a main character in the upcoming feature 'Origins', he is starting to take on the personality envisoned by the creator. So level 6 only, I'm about to completely rebuild him, to ensure he is cross-platform compliant. A few areas exist that are not following my rules in the zsphere thread, so I must comply. ;)

Any opinions on this fella? Aminuts, you are already logged down as first official ticket holder - I swear! LOL

Aminuts, you will be happy to know a blog is being setup for Robert (the creator) to start discussing the back story and building the power of the marketing machine for 'Origins'. ;)

Picture 3.jpg

[Jason Belec]

One of my old toon shaders, as I run through tests. ;)

That weird line appears using certain shaders and ATI cards, we've discussed it before, but this is the third card I've tried, 3rd system, second platform. Zbrush and ATI and certain Zbrush materials seem to have issues.

Picture 4.jpg

[elarcano]

It's alive! ...and I almost thought that this little guy got lost somewhere in the antartica. Good to see you're back showing your model in a non-experimental way -that was supposed to be a compliment :confused:

What happened to the body? Or is it the old hidden trick?

Hope it doesn't take another 6 months to see this fella again :D

PS.
I still remmember what you said about the bifocal view -frontal vision- that the predators have -most of they anyway-... had that in mind with Ezequiel :tu:

[Jason Belec]

Hey man, how are ya?

Body, well of course he has a body, but that is the area with the not so symmetrical issues that Zbrush is supposed to prevent. Ooopss! ;)

Picture 4.jpg

[odhinn]

Great stuff Jason.

[Erklaerbar]

cool!, looks bit like a fractal.:tu:
f you didnt already know, the odd line thats appearing on the render is caused by the "occluded ambient" material setting.

[Pride]

At first it looked like a sheep from Chernoybl......but now I see what's happening. Cool!

[aminuts]

ha! sorry been a bit busy lately

looking interesting so far, Jason! I eagerly...I mean...patiently await updates as each post gets me more curious of course! and now we know the source am ever more curious to see how things go.

please do post the link to the blog once it's going.

hmmm suddenly i crave some good old fashioned rock candy.....gonna have to make some now........good thing I am patient


oh yeah...crap i forget now what setting in materials creates that line.....someone...maybe jantim posted a hint about it in the troubleshooting thread a few light years ago and i narrowed it down back then but have since forgot..shoot.......if I get a chance i'll try to find my notes on it.....but don't hold your breath waiting.

oops perhaps nevermind....i believe erklearbar is correct on that one...it rings a bell.

[Jason Belec]

Thanks guys about that line thingy. Been so long I forgot all about it. Will beat it out of my system.

Sheep! Oh yeah, you can be the first one Pride to get up close to this little lambchop! The rest of us will 'egg you on' from a safe distance, very safe. :lol: And we will tell great fictitious tales of your demise and bravery!

Erklaerbar, you aren't wrong, I've always had a bent for fractals, since way back at the dawn of time and the first computer I built, a Steve (WOZ) Wozniak special kit!

elarcano, yes remember that if they are looking forward, on earth at least, they are predators in general and quite often in fact.

Thanks odhinn.

I would like to get this guy done this month as I have several more characters to get worked up and my schedule isn't getting lighter. I will be posting them here in various states, and in near final look on the blog Robert will be handling. Poor bugger. ;)

[billrobertson42]

Please pardon the fanboy level of praise...

ooooohhhh! pretty...

[Jason Belec]

It's ok billrobertson42, gushing now and again just proves that your are still susceptible to external stimuli. ;)

Robert really appreciates it, his passion when explaining things in his vision of this feature, to me is very enthusiastic and a delight. I hope I can translate all that to something everyone will enjoy. ;)

[Jason Belec]

OK, so I've reworked the zspheres, and initial tests look good before detail is reapplied. Well we think he looks good. One last test on a PC then complete detailing begins. ;)

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[Domodab]

I like this model. Very oriental style, actually its more like a mix between an oriental and a european dragon. How you gonna colour it?

[Jason Belec]

Thank you. You are very observant Domodab. Saving the colouring for later, let's just say it will be a rather unique representation. ;)

[Marsyas]

Sweet stuff! I really like those ram horns. Could be a melee form for a Panzer Dragoon dragon. ;)

[Jason Belec]

Thanks Marsyas, they were one of the fundamental design concepts. ;)

[Atwooki]

Hey Jason - long time!
You're dragon's looking really cool :D I see you've posted some lovely
dynamic poses there .... Can't wait to see the fella's texturing updates :tu: :tu:

Chris

[Jason Belec]

Hey Atwooki, glad you popped in. I'll send him over to ya by Skype to see if the PC holds the detail.... ;)

[wckedsunny]

What would I have done without your reposing techniques, my comic would have remain uncompleted ;)

thanks

[Jason Belec]

Glad I could have been of some help wckedsunny, but it did include a lot of wonderful people working out issues or at least presenting them. ;)

[elarcano]

Ok... just because you have like a thousand projects in hand, a zen garden to take care, winning car races to your wife and getting like 4 hours of sleep on a daily basis you can't tell me you don't have time for an update ;)

Yeah, I'd like to see how you repose this big guy :tu:

Oh come out and play, would ya?

[doron]

cant wait to see it colord :tu: :tu: :tu:

[Jason Belec]

elarcano my friend, you must be telepathic! Worked on him a few hours last night. Sorry, the weekend was set aside for remodeling 2 bathrooms (good thing we have a third). I've modded him a bit more to be more efficient and restructured where I want certain mass to eventually be and modded the wings to be more insect like at the joints. Perhaps today I will have time to pose him some more and post something.... ;)

Also having Atwooki test antoher cross platform version.

Yes doron, that will be a fun part of this project, but will be on hold until several of the other beasties are modeled up. We want to have them, at least rough for animatics where interaction with live actors are involved, for the new year. ;)

[elarcano]

Darn, next time I'll go: Ms. Belec, can Jason come out this weekend?

[Jason Belec]

Well sure, but her last name is Martin, professional career afterall. She is also responsible for all the beautiful work in this house, I just lug things into the proper place. Make dinner, and say, 'Wow!' on cue. LOL. Working on dragon right now..... ;)

[Jason Belec]

OK, I reworked the form a bit to be more serpentine, wings more like a praying mantis and shifted the overall look of things closer to the blend of many cultural legends. Of course this is the White King's final form, I've been busy on other things. So I hope to be back on this in a week and his early form as well. Then on to the Dark King's and Grey King's final forms. ;)

Picture 5.jpg

[Jason Belec]

Ok, been awhile. So I think I've got the base right for the end result Robert wants, and will start building up the levels. Right after I run through about 10-12 pose tests. Hehe, I've only redone him 12 times! Well he is rather complex, isn't he?

I've asked a fella on the forum to work up a concept for the next character becasue I really liked some of the style he showed me. We'll see how that comes along before outing him! ;)

Picture 40.jpg
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[Mr.Monster]

Jason Belec (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/member.php?u=12743),

Hey Jason, I see the Zsphere guru is busy as a bee :-)
Lots of good stuff to be found here, for sure.

~BW

[elarcano]

Is it me or this one looks cooler? Just can't point out what's different, but it does look better -to my opinion anyway-
I really like the line that flows through the spine :tu:
Redone him 12 times! WOW! You really carry out what you preach! Yes, practice does make you a Zsphere guru :tu:

Great to see updates!

PS.
Oh please post the test poses! ;)

[Jason Belec]

Oh I will elarcano, just going over the key poses and working out visual concepts of the scenes to test.

Did a little more work with details, Still at level 3 though. ;)

Mr. Monster, thank you, but shouldn't you be working an a few things right now??!! ;)

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[womball]

Pssshaw! Jason secretly works for Pixologic. ;-) Awesome design, reminds me of the Ancient Japanese dragon prints. 5 stars. This is intense effort. Your humbling me, I haven't redone something twelve times yet!

[Jason Belec]

Hahaha, thanks womball. Well usually I limit it to 2-3, but this guy has been a challenge for what the script calls for. Besides it's nice to know that I can do it repetitively and improve as I go. This base structure won't change anymore I don't think as it seems pretty solid for the needs. ;)

[Jason Belec]

OK almost done detailing Level 3, just the wings and facial area left. Then some poses that so many are bothering me about. Sheeesh, you'd think you never saw a dragon before! I mean really, we barbeque 'em every Saturday night where I come from! ;)

Sorry for not posting the link to the 'Origins' blog, but Robert and I have been really busy and he's been babbling too much for coherent thought, much less words. ;)

Picture 47.jpg

[Jason Belec]

Jumped to level 4 to do some poses, I'm happy with the overall look of motion that can be achieved very quickly. ;)

Picture 53.jpg

[Mr.Monster]

Jason,

Apparently a true Zsphere master never rests eh?
Good stuff amigo.

~Brian

[Atwooki]

Looking better and better J :tu::tu: great work!

Those horns have certainly 'signed sealed and delivered' his character :)

Barbied fillet o' dragon - mmmm....

http://www.custom3d.co.uk/zb/horns.jpg

Chris

[Jason Belec]

Thanks guys, getting close to going super detail on him.... ;)

Picture 6.jpg

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[Blaine91555]

Wow! Missed this one. Refreshing to see something original with a dragon .

I've started looking through your thread on ZSpheres again now that I understand what you are talking about. It has helped me a lot :tu:

[jais]

very cool style. I really like the surreal look and feel to it.
And also the complex and fine structure of the sculpt looks very good.
:tu:

[Soulstealer]

:D sweet dragon man, very sweet, Love the ram head....

Just a question ill like to ask for skin membrane between the wings how do u set it up so it works as a membrane. for example it stretching out or catching pockets of air as the wing flaps, and it squishing together when the wing closes. Modifiers?

[Jason Belec]

Well hello...

Blaine91555, always appreciated. If you have any questions running through the zsphere thread post them there so we can grow the library. And as time permits I can collect it into a solid and useful tool for people.

jais, thank you, appears someone has been reading my notes.....

Soulstealer, everything here is zspheres, at the top, first few images for sure so the zsphere structure early on. The membranes are pulled from the zsphere chain using the zsphere magnets, this also means that as I bend the wing joints I can control the centre flow of each area that such a magnet exists in. Then Zbrush does it's thing by stretching the mesh within the guides of the morph pose stored. The magnets act like zspheres, but pull/push/scale mesh.

I think that's what your asking, if not just rephrase and I'll try to wake again after breakfast and a large pail of tea. ;)

Just remember that this is all for look, motion/bending issues to the mesh and to nail key poses all before trying to rig in another app - in this case Maya for MotionBuilder use. It's really good to get alot of things worked out. If you were asking how it was going to be set up for animation, well this would not be the correct forum for that. ;) Of course you could do pose to pose stop motion this way, hhhmmmmmmm.....

[Jason Belec]

OK I had some time while on the phone or listening to messages and watching farms and servers play merry heck with the little lights under the supervision of iTunes - REALLY LOUD!!!

Here are 2 head images level 3 for the first, and level 4 for the second which has the horns hidden to show as the structure builds on itself. It really is still at the spatchula full of putty stage, slap it around, until the shapes start appearing. I've hidden most of the tongue and body as well. ;)

Picture 3.jpg

Picture 4.jpg

EDIT: added a nice bit as I start on the horns....

[Jason Belec]

OK, more on level 4, and quick look at how it's going with level 5 just for render. ;)

[CassandraRoth@Centre]

I like, he looks really awesome!

[oR_Creeper]

Looks great Jason. You must have a really sweet vid card to able to go to level 5 with that model.

/me is jealous.

[Jason Belec]

Well hello CassandraRoth@Centre, welcome to the thread.

And hello to you oR_Creeper. I can actually goto level 7 - MacBookPro 17" ATI X1600 with 256MB graphics card and 2GB RAM - Note: running under emulation! These things rock! Handles full 24p HD frames as well, multi stream, the power is intoxicating. ;)

Thank you both for your comments and interest, I have to get more stuff posted soon. ;)

[CassandraRoth@Centre]

Lookin forward to it!

[elarcano]

The flying poses are awesome! The way the wings seem to be flapping really gives the sense of his weight... it seems that all that time dedicated to your Zsphere thread really paid off

Can't wait to see level 7! Ooooooooh yes, the details!

[Jason Belec]

Thanks elarcano, I did that just to make the animators work real hard later on to best me! Hehehe! ;)

Details are coming, just have to find time, away from the phone, Skype, email, etc., concentrating on getting the Blog up for Robert to spew forth his vision to all. Well, all that leads upto the movie and isn't within the movie anyway, we hate to spoil suprises.... ;)

[feureau]

Ooh! There's somekind of movie comin' out of this model? Sweeet! :D

Just found this thread. The dragon's lookin' great! Any updates?

[Jason Belec]

I will hopefully post an update this week, and maybe introduce 2 more main characters. Meeting with a lot of people, sifting through actors and generally having my time wasted as usual this time of year. Rather be doing this stuff. ;)

[Jason Belec]

Yes, still working on this fella, just had a bit of work fall from the heavens. ;)

Level 5, roughing in a claw to see if I like the original idea I had months ago. ;)

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[GrayEggs]

Jason...U and ur work alone on this inspires me greatly...damn.......damn...........damn...how can i get to this level!

[Jason Belec]

Well for a couple hundered thousand a year, you can pretend to be me, I won't tell anyone and I'll just work like a madman to make you look good. Of course if you don't have the bucks, no buck rogers! That's my 'Holidays near time of year discount' by the way.

Seriously, thank you for the compliments. ;)

[Jason Belec]

Still not sure if I'm liking this look, but I'll have to take it further to see if it holds up. I love the smooth tool! Wipe 'em clean and begin anew! Well that and the morph tool I suppose.... ;)

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[wckedsunny]

Man what is that, I missed this thread for a long time now...

I am just getting down to carve out such a paw into my dog creature and guess what i forgot to add feet fingers zspheres lols

[Jason Belec]

I think I'm liking the style for the foot, still level 5. ;)

Sorry for not posting more, but it's turned out to be a busy season. ;)

Picture 8.jpg

[elarcano]

Pretty cool structure and details! Must have a hell of a time looking for the right slippers ;)

More whenever you can

[elarcano]

I insist... more whenever you can ;)

[Jason Belec]

Hahaha, well I have more, just not a lot of time this month. Meetings, money, meetings, more money, meetings, piles of money, it's getting rough I tell ya. Did some work over my holidays when I had a few moments and 'The White King' is really coming along famously.

Robert was in town for a few days last week and was barely able to contain his joy. Ah, hell, he went bonkers. He also really loved the concept work yet to be posted here for 'The Grey King'.

So more is definitely on it's way.... ;)

Thanks for the reminder...

[Harmonic]

This looking really good, your dragon is very fun, great job getting so much detail at such a low subdivision level. But you are the master of the Zsphere. :tu:

[Jason Belec]

Thanks Harmonic. I see you've been following along, I do hope it has been of some use. ;)