SalmonGod
02-26-07, 02:23 AM
About 2 weeks ago I decided I wanted to make something for fun, unrelated to any of my serious projects. I fished out my old and dusty D&D Monster Manual (I can't stand to play d20 anymore) and a beholder was the first thing that caught my eye.
I started playing with zspheres, my favorite modeling tool, and decided to make his eyestalks droop to one side for some attitude. Then I decided to do something with that empty space on the head. I've been reading Battle Angel Alita and gearing up for a project with lots of sci-fi influence, so I decided to slap a big cybernetic plate on that area. His lower jaw will also be mechanical, and he'll be generally decked out with cybernetics.
Here's my process so far. From left to right you can see my zsphere setup to adaptive skin to a bit of zplay to Maya clean-up. The bottom row is the current state of the Ztool.
BeholderWIP.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%2750667%27,%27BeholderWIP.jpg%27 ,1,0%29)
I want to make some decisions regarding the detail on the head plate and lower jaw before I do any subdividing, but I'm a little fuzzy on that as of yet.
Between 2 yr old kid, school, and work, hopefully I will manage to keep this one going. I start so many things like this but never finish them. I need the practice and some portfolio pieces. Hopefully if I post this here, you guys will keep me motivated and help me make something pretty. ;)
** Update **
A bit of sculpting before I give up for the night. Thanks Sebcesoir for the awesome material.
BeholderWIP2.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%2750668%27,%27BeholderWIP2.jpg%2 7,1,0%29)
** Another Minor Update **
Here's another subdivision and a little more sculpting. I'm getting a slightly better idea of how I'm going to handle the mechanical details on the jaw. I'm still not sure about the plate. So far it's ~55,000 polys.
BeholderWIP3.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%2750758%27,%27BeholderWIP3.jpg%2 7,1,0%29)
I started playing with zspheres, my favorite modeling tool, and decided to make his eyestalks droop to one side for some attitude. Then I decided to do something with that empty space on the head. I've been reading Battle Angel Alita and gearing up for a project with lots of sci-fi influence, so I decided to slap a big cybernetic plate on that area. His lower jaw will also be mechanical, and he'll be generally decked out with cybernetics.
Here's my process so far. From left to right you can see my zsphere setup to adaptive skin to a bit of zplay to Maya clean-up. The bottom row is the current state of the Ztool.
BeholderWIP.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%2750667%27,%27BeholderWIP.jpg%27 ,1,0%29)
I want to make some decisions regarding the detail on the head plate and lower jaw before I do any subdividing, but I'm a little fuzzy on that as of yet.
Between 2 yr old kid, school, and work, hopefully I will manage to keep this one going. I start so many things like this but never finish them. I need the practice and some portfolio pieces. Hopefully if I post this here, you guys will keep me motivated and help me make something pretty. ;)
** Update **
A bit of sculpting before I give up for the night. Thanks Sebcesoir for the awesome material.
BeholderWIP2.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%2750668%27,%27BeholderWIP2.jpg%2 7,1,0%29)
** Another Minor Update **
Here's another subdivision and a little more sculpting. I'm getting a slightly better idea of how I'm going to handle the mechanical details on the jaw. I'm still not sure about the plate. So far it's ~55,000 polys.
BeholderWIP3.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%2750758%27,%27BeholderWIP3.jpg%2 7,1,0%29)