MACMaN
04-14-05, 06:11 PM
Hello All!
I am happy to say that after three nights I’ve made enough progress on my first model to post it. I’ve been working with ZBrush diligently and I’m very excited by the control and precision ZBrush gives the modeler! Modeling in Maya seems clunky and barbaric by comparison!
MACMaNs Creature01.jpg
Here’s my little introduction:
I’m a student at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. I’ve been “playing” with 3D programs since trueSpace 1.0. When I started school, I figured I could build up my skill”z” using Maya and Maya seemed to be a safe long term investment. I’ve come to find that Maya is more than what I needed and not enough of what I wanted. I hoped that with Maya I would eventually be able to create models that would stand up to the detail in my drawings. In fact, in my pursuit of this lofty goal my plug-ins folder has been designated its own zip code; which of course is terribly embarrassing to the neighbors. But since that faithful night of watching the Digital-Tutors tutorial CD I knew then what has become all to clear:
ZBrush is "da bomb”!
ZBrush is just what I always thought a modeling program should be! I figured interacting with the model as though it were clay made since, and as soon as someone figured out how to do it, modelers would pounce like rabid babies deprived of milk!
ZBrush has made that possible!
I’m as ecstatic as a school boy who wakes up in a girl’s locker room and happily finds him self to be invisible. ZBrush is the best idea since the compact DISC, automobile, or even sporks! Of course my urges to jump wildly onto my desk and thrust my pelvis at my monitor in a rather unorthodox and completely inappropriate manner were contained, but my enthusiasm for ZBrush is just as genuine!
Notice: You can take the above as me poorly introducing myself, or better still, as ramblings of mindless prattle.
MACMaNs Creature02.jpg
Anyway, I drew this creature for my “Clothed Figure Drawing” class and decided it would make as good a subject as any. The model isn’t finished but it is coming along! I have the head done and once I’ve caught up with my diligently ignored homework I’ll be able to finish the rest of him.
I created a base model in Maya, unfortunately I made a mistake. I found that ZBrush doesn’t align the faces according to curves you create while modeling in ZBrush. It goes off of the base models poly alignment. I’ll remember that for next time. My first models poly count was way to low and some edges were a pain unless I built up the detail to insane amounts. I just figured ZBrush would handle the ploys direction. Is there a way to pull or change the direction or flow of polys as I see fit?
On a similar note, is it possible to add polys to a model? If I bring in a base but find that I need an extra finger or fold of skin, would I be able to arbitrarily add polys to my surface? Will this affect the divide history? Do the lower levels automatically add the missing polygons?
I was also wondering about creating holes in the model, for instance the handle to a coffee cup or a large ear ring hole in a character’s ear. Would I have to build the holes into the base model, or is it possible to do this in ZBrush?
My first real mistake was adding the eyes too late. It seems that if the original geometry is meant to be divided, the second geometry (such as eyes) is expected to be added early on in the modeling process. If not, all the divide history of the original geometry will be lost. Why can’t I rotate two separate models on the same axis while still keeping the history of the original geometry’s divided mesh? I need the eyes to figure out the eye sockets and how the skin connects to the eye. This area is tough enough to model with out dealing with the possibility of ruining the eye it self. This situation goes for any secondary geometry. Am I missing something? Does the displacement map solution solve this, or maybe someone’s got a work around?
PS – I created the model using a mouse! I don’t suggest attempting this at home kids.
I am happy to say that after three nights I’ve made enough progress on my first model to post it. I’ve been working with ZBrush diligently and I’m very excited by the control and precision ZBrush gives the modeler! Modeling in Maya seems clunky and barbaric by comparison!
MACMaNs Creature01.jpg
Here’s my little introduction:
I’m a student at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. I’ve been “playing” with 3D programs since trueSpace 1.0. When I started school, I figured I could build up my skill”z” using Maya and Maya seemed to be a safe long term investment. I’ve come to find that Maya is more than what I needed and not enough of what I wanted. I hoped that with Maya I would eventually be able to create models that would stand up to the detail in my drawings. In fact, in my pursuit of this lofty goal my plug-ins folder has been designated its own zip code; which of course is terribly embarrassing to the neighbors. But since that faithful night of watching the Digital-Tutors tutorial CD I knew then what has become all to clear:
ZBrush is "da bomb”!
ZBrush is just what I always thought a modeling program should be! I figured interacting with the model as though it were clay made since, and as soon as someone figured out how to do it, modelers would pounce like rabid babies deprived of milk!
ZBrush has made that possible!
I’m as ecstatic as a school boy who wakes up in a girl’s locker room and happily finds him self to be invisible. ZBrush is the best idea since the compact DISC, automobile, or even sporks! Of course my urges to jump wildly onto my desk and thrust my pelvis at my monitor in a rather unorthodox and completely inappropriate manner were contained, but my enthusiasm for ZBrush is just as genuine!
Notice: You can take the above as me poorly introducing myself, or better still, as ramblings of mindless prattle.
MACMaNs Creature02.jpg
Anyway, I drew this creature for my “Clothed Figure Drawing” class and decided it would make as good a subject as any. The model isn’t finished but it is coming along! I have the head done and once I’ve caught up with my diligently ignored homework I’ll be able to finish the rest of him.
I created a base model in Maya, unfortunately I made a mistake. I found that ZBrush doesn’t align the faces according to curves you create while modeling in ZBrush. It goes off of the base models poly alignment. I’ll remember that for next time. My first models poly count was way to low and some edges were a pain unless I built up the detail to insane amounts. I just figured ZBrush would handle the ploys direction. Is there a way to pull or change the direction or flow of polys as I see fit?
On a similar note, is it possible to add polys to a model? If I bring in a base but find that I need an extra finger or fold of skin, would I be able to arbitrarily add polys to my surface? Will this affect the divide history? Do the lower levels automatically add the missing polygons?
I was also wondering about creating holes in the model, for instance the handle to a coffee cup or a large ear ring hole in a character’s ear. Would I have to build the holes into the base model, or is it possible to do this in ZBrush?
My first real mistake was adding the eyes too late. It seems that if the original geometry is meant to be divided, the second geometry (such as eyes) is expected to be added early on in the modeling process. If not, all the divide history of the original geometry will be lost. Why can’t I rotate two separate models on the same axis while still keeping the history of the original geometry’s divided mesh? I need the eyes to figure out the eye sockets and how the skin connects to the eye. This area is tough enough to model with out dealing with the possibility of ruining the eye it self. This situation goes for any secondary geometry. Am I missing something? Does the displacement map solution solve this, or maybe someone’s got a work around?
PS – I created the model using a mouse! I don’t suggest attempting this at home kids.