Action Hero - ONE

[Harmonic]

Action Hero entry by Jesse Heath

After the tragic murder of his girlfriend Neil Thomson falls into a haunted depression for many years. He travels to India in hopes of finding some inner peace. While traveling in some remote mountains he stumbles upon a hidden cave with intricate symbols carved around the entrance. Inside he finds it is a lost temple to the ancient goddess Akdia, the goddess of purification through fire. He prays for her to come to him and cleanse his darkened soul of the demons that haunt him. The goddess appears and agrees to grant him inner peace. She transforms into flame and enters his body.

So much energy flows through him his bones glow and his flesh becomes translucent to the light bursting from within. He is surrounded in holy fire. He now knows peace as his flesh is consumed in the fire that radiates from within. And then reemerges from the ashes. Her fire cleanses his body and soul and he becomes a Bodisatva warrior. He becomes the light of consciousness that eradicates all evil. He has now become ONE.

He has the power to shed the fire of consciousness directly on the deepest the most vulnerable and highly protected places in your psyche. To those who have chosen a life of evil and who fight against life with all their might, this light burns with a physical emotion and spiritual pain, that is both debilitating frightening and confusing. Those who fall to his power become unsure of their chosen life of evil and must fight to remain rigidly aligned with the total negation of life that has driven them down their dark path.

He now serves Akdia's purpose and travels the earth cleansing the world of darkness.

hero concept 4 1.jpg

[C-Mad]

Wow. That is one heck of a backstory! I am jealous of your sketch, I love color, but never thought to use it this early in the design...

It will be interesting to see what action pose you incorporate into this concept, it has a lot of potential from a lot of different body stances.

Great start!

~OM

[Malleable man]

Quite the back story. Like the use of colour in your concept.

~James

[Teyon]

Sweet. So is he pure energy or does he take a physical form?

[SolidSnakexxx]

Very cool Story.... Would love to see more :)

[Captain Sensible]

Excellent. Love the story. You've certainly done your homework! Looking forward to seeing your progress :)

[maxinkuk]

I really like this one, if I think about it I can see that it offers a lot of possible ways to develop it as a sculpt. I look forward to see how you tackle it.

[Slosh]

I agree with the others... the backstory is great. I wonder how his translucency will come across in a sculpt. You definitely have your hands full. Maybe it will become more clear to me (no pun intended) when you have submitted more sketches or beginnings of the model.

[C-Mad]

With some of the MatCaps out there, the translucency could be simply visually jawdropping with that inner "fire..."

This sounds like it's going to be one of those "eye candy" pieces of color!

~OM

[JUPITER]

Wow great story,and also concept.Remind's me of the human aura.
excited to see how you create this in sculpt..

[Lucky_1]

Heavy stuff, looks very cool !
keep it up

[Harmonic]

Hey thanks for your comments everyone.

C-Mad thanks, using color is an important part of the creative process for me, certain colors or combinations can spark my inspiration. And its just natural for me I paint mostly and usually just star building up shapes patenrs and colors and take my inspiration from there.

Malleable man thanks!

Teyon, the way I am thinking about it now he has physical form that is constantly being consumed by fire and then reborn from it, so his flesh is sort of melting away and reforming.

SolidSnakexxx Thanks!

Captain Sensible thanks, not really homework though, I more just played to my strengths, things I am already interested in and excite me.

maxinkuk Thanks, I have a fairly clear Idea of what I am going to do, but we will see!

Slosh thanks, at this point I am not really planing to do a lot with the translucency, as this is more of a modeling contest than a clever render compositing contest. I am thinking of using bight colors to kind of indicate sub surface scattering, and work more on the flesh burning away and then emerging idea.
And I definitely have my hands full, but if I am going to commit 2 months of my time to this I figured I better do something I am excited about.

JUPITER thanks, I graduated form the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, where I studied the Human Aura, Hands on healing and body centered psychotherapy for 4 years. The idea is based on the human aura and concepts like transcendence and transmutation and presence.

Lucky_1 thanks!

Here is my star on my base mesh. I made a very quick rough in with Zspheres, then used the move, transpose and sculpting tools to block in proportions and a bit of form. Hoping to retopo today and start sculpting.

Post 1 base mesh ZS.jpg

[Harmonic]

Here is my mesh with new topology. I think it will be enough for the design sculpt at very least. Decided to give him mitten hands and feet to make the retopo job easier. I think his hands will be engulfed in flame so it should work fine. But I may replace them later.


post 2 rt mesh.jpg

[C-Mad]

You have a bit of a twist in the foot, but other than that, this looks like a great basic to sculpt. Nice hands.

~OM

[Harmonic]

Hey C-Mad thanks, so far the twist in the foot doesn't seem to caused any problems with sculpting.

I finally got some sculpting time in. I work at a Toy store so my life has been a bit hectic.
Here is my progress so far.
Comments and Crits welcome
post 3 SC 1.jpg

[DAnconia]

I would bring the bottom of the abs to more of a point. Great style though. Really like the sculpting around the ankles.

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow, Harmonic, what you have at this stage is really awesome. Very anatomically beautiful :) :tu: :tu:

[JUPITER]

WO!! very nice...
:D coming along well..

[canndis]

good work so far,like the way how the model is shaping up

[sendhilv]

coming very nice, keep it up! :tu:

[gang]

nice sculpt keep it up

[Harmonic]

Thanks for the comments SolidSnakexxx, JUPITER, canndis ,sendhilv and gang.

DAnconia thanks for the crit it is appreciated. I have been working on the abs.

This is where it stands today. I am trying to establish kind of a solid middle ground, so I can add lot of asymmetry later. I am planning to have places on the body burned away to the bone and other parts who and new.

pOST 4 SCULPT 1.jpg
pOST 4 SCULPT 2.jpg

I thought this was interesting, I have been pushing and pulling on this mesh so much. I thought it was kind of wild how different it looks it looks form my earlier post. O and I added a few edge loops to the head, so I could open his mouth and get more detail on the trachea

post 4 low mesh comp.jpg

[Fess]

Awesome sculpting! Really badass! I am wondering about his fingers though - are you going to retopologise them later or are they meant to be stuck together like that?

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow, that's some serious sculpt going on there...!!! It looks like real life sculpture! Really wonderful progress! :tu: :tu:

[dismantled]

its really great how in ZBrush you can add edge loops to the head at a low res.. and have it project to your higher res version.
Can't wait to see color .. but what you have is looking good
I can see your brush strokes.... so cool

[KrakenCMT]

Absolutely love the sculpting! But I would say the the hips look just a hair too wide for some reason. Something about the abdomen feels visually heavy. I hope you don't mind, but I took your last render into Photoshop and tweaked the proportions a bit to show you what I meant. The tweaked version is on the right.

Revision.jpg

[Harmonic]

Fess thanks! I did the fingers that way because fingers are such a pain to retopo. I was thinking that one hand will be engulfed in flame and i am going to replace the other with a hand made of bones. I also just like sculpting hands as a mass. But we shall see how it works out, I may end up separating the fingers down the road.

SolidSnakexxx thanks! I have been really enjoying the more organic look an feel of the clay and clay toobs brushes.

dismantled thanks! Yeah I agree man it is really incredible to be able to make changes like that on the fly. Especially for me , because I like to get my inspiration during the process of creating, so I almost never plan ahead.

KrakenCMT thanks for taking the time to do that, that is really helpful. I have tweaked those hips so many times. and have already made them much smaller, he must have had woman hips. I think a bit of the problem is the lack of flesh between the ribs and stomach is giving him kind of and hourglass shape. But I will definitely revisit his hips with your photoshoped version as reference.

[gregoconn]

That's a great start it's looking really nice. My only crit would be that his hips seem a little bit wide.

It's looking great so far!

[Gohanf22]

that is looking very nice but i will have to agree with grego that the hips need to be a little thinner to get the effect you need. overall very nicely done.

[Harmonic]

gregoconn and Gohanf22 Thanks, I appreciate the crits. I will definitely work on his hips.

I have been doing some sketches to get an idea of witch parts of his body will be flesh and what will be bone.

If anyone has preferences as to which version they like best, I would be interested in hearing.

So far I am leaning towards the top left.

post 5 desing sketch 3 4 set 1 botom s.jpg

post 5 desing sketch 3 4 set 1 top s.jpg

[nerveink]

looking pretty sweet!

[SolidSnakexxx]

I like the poses you are designing. It'd be cool to see him aflame with partial human flesh.

[Harmonic]

nerveink Thanks!

SolidSnakexxx thanks! Yes it will be cool to see him all aflame, I can't wait! But still so much to do!

I took my favorite sketch and worked on the energetic and flame elements in the background. I feel like I have a fairly clear idea of where I am going now. So back to modeling!

Comments and Crtis welcome

post 6 de sketch 7 1.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow, I just love your "set" design...it looks like Tibetan's statue or something...very very cool :tu:

[maxinkuk]

Pretty powerful stuff. Have you worked out yet how to use that in a 3d scene? Will those elements form the base with the character standing on it or will it be a drop set, or sparse elements floating or any other vision?

[Harmonic]

Hey SolidSnakexxx, thanks man your positive comments are very encouraging. I have been really enjoying a piece of buddhist art at my office lately, It is something I am planing to study more. But I will definitely take that as a compliment.

maxinkuk thanks, that is a very good question. I have a fairly good Idea of how am planing to approach this. All of those forms are going to be behind him. Hopefully a little ways behind so you can see his back. As far as getting it printed goes. I am thinking that the spiral of fire will connect him to the base and to all the background elements, which will all be intersections each other somehow. I hope that is possible, I need to research this 3d printing thing a bit more.

[Fess]

Sweet concept, I am interested in how you're going to do the fire elements (looking like fire and all)?

[dustbin1_uk]

Woah! Nutty character!

VERY nice work on the anatomy! I'm bright green with envy! ;)

[Fractalbot]

wow that looks nice. Can't wait to see how you sculpt the set! :tu:

[Harmonic]

Hey Fess Thanks! I am planing to make the fire very styleized. But I am going to have to to some experimenting. I am going to start on it today, hope to have something to post tonight.

dustbin1_uk Thanks! I recently got Zach Petrocs anatomy model, and I cant tell you how helpful it has been, by far the best anatomy resource I have come by.
Are you going to inter, I loved your entry in scared silly last year. :lol: I think we where the only ones who did poop jokes. You should get in on this action!

Fractalbot Thanks! I am planing to start on the set tonight, I can't wait to see How I do it too!

[dustbin1_uk]

Are you going to inter, I loved your entry in scared silly last year. :lol: I think we where the only ones who did poop jokes. You should get in on this action! Oh I'm in on this one!

I did set up a thread, but as it did not have a concept drawing in the first post it was suspended.

So I'm just getting a concept together now and will post up at some point today or tomorrow.

No poop jokes this year though! LOL :D

[Harmonic]

Hey dustbin1_uk, looking forward to seing your entry. To bad about the poop jokes though :lol:

I got started on a few of the other elements.
Both made from Zspheres.
I used the z project brush to project an old head onto the ring in the back. ZProject is really sweet, a bit buggy though. The faces will be completely re sculpted with flames all over them.


post 6 moc up 1.jpg

post 6 Fire base t.jpg

[DAnconia]

WOW! THAT LOOKS FANTASTIC!! Really liking it so far!

[mantegra]

A very interesting design you got there. I have never sculpted flames before so that does sound like it might be tricky to pull off. I look forward to seeing how you do it. Nice one.

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow....(I've been using a lot of wow in your thread) the backdrop for the character's just......grande. Love your creative use of the ZSphere...making this like I've stated before a holy relic or statue. Simply amazing! :tu: :tu:

[Harmonic]

DAnconia thanks!

mantegra thanks, I have never sculpted flames before ether so far they have been an interesting challenge. I am thinking of making them kind of chunky and stylized. Seems like it will be allot of work and fun.

SolidSnakexxx thanks, I really appreciate you enthusiasm. It's incredible what you can do with a simple zsphere mesh in zb. Hopefully someday I will have a 3D printed holy relic!

[dustbin1_uk]

Oh I'm in on this one!Sorry I take that back I'm out for now. Just too much work to catch up on and more on the way!! :cry:

But hey! your work is looking amazing!! keep it up!

[maxinkuk]

I just saw the last update (catching up after only one day without internet), it's terrific. The esoteric feel is overwhelming. It's pretty clear that you're loving it.

[Fess]

I like how symbolic and timeless/"immortal" this is beginning to look. Keep going!

[Harmonic]

dustbin1_uk, that's a bit of a bummer, I was curious to see what you would do. But that's cool you have some client work.

maxinkuk thanks, I am definitely loving it, this is a project that I was kind of wanting to do anyways, and this competition seemed like a great motivator to really focus and get it done.

Fess thanks, I am glad you are liking it so far. I am excited to see how far I can take this. I learned so much in the scared silly contest. These contest are a great place to put my skills to the test and really apply what I have learned.

[MindFX]

WOW!!! You have some serious sculpting skills here mate. I like your design concept.

[Harmonic]

Hey MindFX, thanks man I appreciate that. I feel like thing are really coming together for me artisticly. I feel like I am finally grasp the basics the basics enough that I am really able to create what I envision. It has been wild to really try and apply myself in this contest and see what I can do.

I have been working like a mad man. I did some more work on the heads. Here is a quick paintover with a fire like mat, that illustrates the direction I am heading.

pOST 7 F H C3.jpg

And here is the shaded version.

pOST 7 F H 2.jpg

I also did some work on this background element. O man it has been a lot of work, I made a silluhete with the topo tool, deformed it, then retopoed, deformed, retopoed, deformed, and retopoed again, and maybe deformed some more, I can't remember?

pOST 7 SP C1.jpg

[maxinkuk]

Wow, amazing, that fire material is fantastic. Your tool is really ablaze. Strong, strong, strong piece!

[SolidSnakexxx]

I really like the fire material you put on the stage piece. While, the shade version really shows off the detail, the blazing fire really set the mood for the character you have! :tu:

[dismantled]

those fire blazing heads Rock! :tu:

[dismantled]

that background element made with the Topo Tool... is so clean looking
nice edge loops... sharp

[MindFX]

Your progress is coming along very well... can't wait to see his final post.

[dustbin1_uk]

Nice work!!

[Captain Sensible]

Hey, this is looking really good! :cool:

[goldo_O]

Incredible Fire effects! That is gorgeous :)

[pitchepuck]

cool :D where did you get this mat? it´s really nice

[Harmonic]

maxinkuk thanks I appreciate that!

SolidSnakexxx thanks !

dismantled thanks 2 times!

MindFX thanks, I can't wait to see it finished too!

dustbin1_uk thanks!

Captain Sensible thanks!

goldo_O thanks, yea it came out surprisingly well.

pitchepuck thanks, The mat was made by Erklaerbar and can be found here.
I did some over painting to get it to look that way, you can see below how it looks without the paint over.
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=46175&page=6&pp=15&highlight=matcap

I have been trying to get all a my pieces at least roughed in so I can gt a sense of how everything will work together. I still have 1 piece to build.
Let me know what you think.
pOST 8 moc.jpg


This cross piece was made form a pollycub, with some deformations, alfas and projection master.

pOST 8 CR.jpg

And here is what the mat looks like without the over painting.

pOST 8 F H C1.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

:eek: Wow, the back piece assemble comes together so amazingly. Very very strong back drop.

[Captain Sensible]

This is working so well as a whole. I think as a still this is gonna look insane! Are you gonna do any post work in photoshop?

[wethand]

woah, that just looks great! like the skull and his anatomy very much.
very exciting piece here. this fire-ring thing just looks nice! looking forward to see the final result.

[Firebert]

That back piece looks like mother effing fire. Even just the sculpt itself is a great representation. I know you still have a lot of work to do with everything, but I give you mad props for attempting something this out of the box with this many pieces. Keep it up and it is good to know that matcap does a pretty top notch job on fire!

[Hamilcar]

very intricate. Nice work! :)

[Drakelot]

Totally Cool ... Xcellent process :tu:

[dustbin1_uk]

Nice one!!!! This is looking simply awesome!!!

Damn this contest is really hotting up!! :tu:

[Harmonic]

SolidSnakexxx thanks!

Captain Sensible thanks, I am not quite sure how I going to frame the shot its going to be a bit of a challenge to get a sense of action and still be able to see the backdrop clearly. I am going to do post in PS and painter.

Firerbert thanks man, still have over a month left but I am starting to feel the presure! I still have so much to do.

wethand thanks I appreciate that!

Hamilcar Thanks!

Drakelot Thanks!

dustbin1_uk Thanks, yeah its getting hot !


Trying to get him refined so I can have a solid base to start the asymmetry. The torso and head are getting there. I haven't deiced if I will retopo before or after the asymmetry. Might be better to do it after, get a cleaner more efficient result?

pOST 9 tor up.jpg

[threetails]

this is looking wicked, i really like the complexity of the piece and its nice to see that others are starting off there figures in the same way. nice work.

[chindian]

Hey - wow... I dunno how i missed this thread... this is really comin along nicely... good work so far!

One little crit tho... that last image... It seems as if there's a problem with the insertion point of the deltoid onto the humerus bone...
Correct me if i'm wrong here - but to me it looks like if the deltoid is inserting between the separation of bicep muscles instead of between the bicep and brachialis muscle??... Looks a bit strange...
Should be like this:
1.jpg

top view
2.jpg
3.jpg


Anyways - can't tell for sure - but that's just what it looks like to me in this pic from this angle... might wanna check that...

In any case - looks promising... keep it up! :tu:

[Harmonic]

threetails Thanks!

chindian Thanks! And thanks for the crit and for posting those pics. I think it is actually inserting in the correct place.
I think the problem was that the bicep was rotated out to far. Let me know if it looks better now.

A little update on sculpting. Still trying to get everything solidified enough so I can start on the asymmetry.

pOST 10 t up 2.jpg

[dirkrulz]

nice update, :tu:

noob question: How are u going to make those fingers separate? or are u planning to keep them fused?

[dustbin1_uk]

Nice!!! :tu::tu:

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow, he really looks amazing in that new material... :tu:

[Y/Haüss]

It is my first meeting with ONE...
And I can tell you.. The best sculpt work I 've seen till now!

Congratulations!!

[Gohanf22]

hey harmonic. your doing one heck of job on your one. i have a question: how did you make the mat for the fire? cause I'm having trouble trying to create a mat for the base that is fire for my Nightfall. cheers.

[Marsyas]

Wow, looking really top-notch, Harmonic! Great stuff.

[Harmonic]

dirkrulz thanks, I am planing to basically replace the hands with skeletal ones.

dustbin1_uk Thanks!

SolidSnakexxx thanks! The mat is a modified version of the classic bronze.

Y/Haüss thanks, that is a huge compliment with the amount of talent on this forum.

Gohanf22 thanks! The mat was made by Erklaerbar and can be found here.
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/sh...ighlight=matcap (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=46175&page=6&pp=15&highlight=matcap)

Marsyas thanks! I appreciate that.



Well I have him solidified enough to start on the asymmetry. Hopefully will have an update on that tomorrow.

pOST 11 solid.jpg

[KrakenCMT]

Nice progress! Anatomy looks great.

[SolidSnakexxx]

Nice update as usual. He's more than a solid model now :tu: Look forward to your next amazement!

[toddworld]

First off, this looks really great. It's by far one of the most complex entries that I've seen so far.

If you don't mind a quick question...when you say "you're going to replace the hands later"...how do you mean. I'm familiar with using a retopology step to join two different subtools but to my (very limited) knowledge that will set you down to a subdiv level of one again (the one being the new topology). Are you planning on resculpting all the higher detail again?

Thanks,
Todd

[Harmonic]

KrakenCMT THanks!

SolidSnakexxx thanks! His back is not as solid but everything is in place at last!

toddworld Thanks! I definitely have my work cut out for me, I have been putting in some serious hours. For the hands I am actually planning to and skeleton hands as subtools and then mush the exinsing hand down and use it to sculpt the muscles of the hand. I think I will leave them as subtools and not combine them into one mesh.

[dirkrulz]

Skeleton hands will look really cool, aren't the biceps of the character a little thinned out? or are u planning t layer another muscle on the current shape?

[Harmonic]

dirkrulz yes the biceps are kinda mushed. I move them around a bunch with the move brush and have not fixed there shape. Thanks for pointing that out, I will definitely give them some attention once I get him posed.

I finally got the asymmetry blocked in. Skeleton arm and leg made with Zshperes. I think I will retopo him soon.

pOST 12 asem.jpg

pOST 12 s leg mesh.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

Cool ZBones...have been added... This is progressing very well. I like the half man half skeletal state now.. This is one scary hero :tu: :tu:

[Harmonic]

SolidSnakexxx thanks, eventually he will progress to being a half man half skeleton hero that is on fire. His probably a bit disturbing, but I think he is kind of beautiful at the same time.

[Moni-Poroni]

Oh wooowwwww:eek: :eek: :eek:

How could I miss this one ??
Really really cool!!!
The bones are amazing!
Can´t wait to see more ;)
Best wishes

[wethand]

wow! very nice!

looks clean... and fleshy...
nice

[sazar26]

looking ral nice man I like how the bones are looking

[Harmonic]

Moni-Poroni Thanks, I appreciate your comments, and I am glad you found me!
wethand thank!
sazar26 thanks! ral nice :lol:

[fluxist8070]

This is beautiful!

[Harmonic]

fluxist8070 thanks! I appreciate that.

Working on retopo. It has been an interesting challenge to retopo an asymmetrical modle. If anyone has comments or crits befor i finish this up I would love to hear them.

pOST 13 rt.jpg

pOST 13 rt h.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

Oh..man....Harmonic The only comment I'd like to express...is this is frikking awesome....the topoline really look amazing. :tu: :tu:

[Gohanf22]

harmonic, that topo is looking sweet. i love what your doing to the model. its very unique in its own way. i cant wait for the next update. kudos. :cool: :tu:

[animastur]

I like the third draw. Good start! :)

[SOLcreator]

I am Really into your character's back-story! My character, Knoweapon, is also a Warrior of Light.

Check him out, click the image below to read the latest chapter!

http://www.solcreator.com/knoweapon/assets/knoweaponbanner01.jpg (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=66749&page=27&pp=1)

[Drakelot]

Xcellent updates ... Way cool !!! :tu: :tu:

[Captain Sensible]

Great retopo job! :tu:

[Harmonic]

SolidSnakexxx thanks! I honestly did not know if I had done a good job on the topo, but I guess I am getting the hang of it.

Gohanf22 thanks! I appreciate that.

animastur thanks!

SOLcreator thanks!

Drakelot thanks!

Captain Sensible thanks!

Here is the finished retopo. I will start posing soon.

pOST 14 rt f.jpg

[animastur]

I like the retopo mesh!. :)

[Harmonic]

animastur thanks! So far it is sculpting really well.

I have been working on getting this guy a bit more finalized before I pose him.

pOST 15 f 2.jpg

[womball]

Very nice anatomy! And really cool ring of fire heads.

[Moni-Poroni]

Oh :tu: :tu: :tu: really really great! especially the left side of his face rocks..
no..well to be honest.. everything rocks :)

[dustbin1_uk]

Amazing work!!! Love it!!! :tu::tu:

[SolidSnakexxx]

Excellent update, man Harmonic. It already looks so marvelous before pose :tu: :tu:

[Gohanf22]

nice update harmonic. its very good indeed. the topology is very well done. and the skeleton arm is cool. i love it alot. :tu:

[wethand]

woah! nice update!!! i love how the muscle holds on the bone!!!
this is going to be a STUNNING hero!!
the form and shape is just so nice

[Harmonic]

womball thanks, glad you like!

Moni-Poroni thanks, I appreciate that!

dustbin1_uk thanks!

SolidSnakexxx thank you!

Gohanf22 thanks a lot!

wethand thanks, it has been great too learn a bit about how the muscles attach to the bones.


Well I got my base pose done I had a lot of problems with exploding ploys and unmasked pieces of mesh that just don't move with the trans pose line.
If anyone knows how to fix that please let me know.

pOST 16 tp 1.jpg

Also I manged to record my transpose movie with out crashing. But it came out like this

Does anyone know how I can fix this, he looks like a fat midget. I think it happend becouse I canged the document size :rolleyes:

pOST 16 mov prob.jpg

I have after effects 5 does anyone know if I can like stretch the frame or something :qu: :b4: :qu: :qu: :b4:

[Marsyas]

Love the asymmetry and pose. :tu: Looking really nice.

[SolidSnakexxx]

Hey there....Harmonic....it looks like the aspect ratio's off somehow...what's your screen resolution size? Could that might have affect the video render?

[Harmonic]

Marsyas thanks!

SolidSnakexxx, yes the aspect ratio is off but it appears to be an issue with changing the document size. I did a quick test at the default document size and got this result.

MOVE PROB 2.jpg

[Gohanf22]

oh no! that isn't good at all. what happened? i can see there is definitely something wrong there with those extra polys coming out of the mesh. :(

[Harmonic]

Gohanf22, yes definitely not good, and I have already fixed it like 5 times. Every time I tweak the foot a bit with transpose it goes flying out again :qu: :qu:

[wethand]

oh yeah, this look weird!
i think there is something with the topology... i dunno this little buggy thing...
i had a similar problem after retopo something.
what i did to solve this problem:
i exported the lowest level out of zbrush as an obj. reimported it and devided it like my original. after that i projected the details. the problem was solved (for me)
maybe this works for you, too...
hopefully you will solve this problem...

[Hex0254]

DUDE!!! this thing looks like something out of one of Mnight Shyamalan's flicks. I like the rotted flesh look... the pose is like he is reaching for redemption. Keep it up!!

[spimmy]

Love the mixture of muscle and bone, great work :) , and the pose is looking pretty sweet dude :cool: .

[Harmonic]

wethand, thank you so much for posting that suggestion! I will definitely try it.

Hex0254 thanks! "reaching for redemption" I like that.

spimmy thanks! Creating the muscle and bone mix has been quite the fun challenge so far.

Well I figured out how to stretch the video frame so he doesn't look like a midget anymore.
I will post the vid as soon as a break it down into small enough chunks to upload to youtube.

I also retoped this piece real quick and dirty but its definitely better. I worked on sculpting a bit too.

pOST 17 hf 1.jpg

pOST 17 hf base 1.jpg

[gang]

nice going man
keep it up

[SolidSnakexxx]

The fire ring's just so beautiful... man :tu: :tu: The final piece will definitely be very mesmerizing!

[bryzol]

Yes. The fire is amazing! Super Sculpting and texturing!

[Harmonic]

gang thanks!

SolidSnakexxx thanks! I can't wait to see it all come together!

bryzol Thanks! sculpting fire has been a great learning experience.


Working on getting the sculpting and pose finalized. Still lots to do but its getting there! I will try to get the transpose movie up soon.

pOST 18 finalizing.jpg

[Gohanf22]

looking good harmonic. very good indeed. i love your retop work. its nice. :D :tu:

[Harmonic]

Gohanf22 thank you I am glad you like!

[SolidSnakexxx]

Harmonic, just love the rake feel to the surface.... This is getting very classic in terms of look... (I wish to have this on my table as a small statuette :) )

[wethand]

yeah, this looks like the raw muscle without skin.... oh damn, so.... ugly... i mean, the more realistic it becomes, the more i am afraid of clicking this thread... .... ....

anyway,very nice work!

[Captain Sensible]

Lookin good! I like the combination you have of skin and bone. Also how the muscles folding over and around the bones. Interesting from an anatomy perspective :tu:

[Moni-Poroni]

Aaaaahhhh :) I´ve just discovered the flames.
Fantastic work :tu: they look very natural..
*sing* I fell into a burning ring of fire...I went down down down and the flames went higher....
:) :) :)
can´t wait to see it finished... this will definitely be HOT :D !!!!!!

[Harmonic]

SolidSnakexxx thanks, your comments are always appreciated! I would love to have a small model of this on my desk too, but I would really love to get it output in bronze someday :eek:

wethand sorry dude! I didn't mean to gross you out! But its kinda funny to me because I think the muscles are beautiful. But I can certainly understand that they can be a bit disturbing.

Captain Sensible thanks, I have learned so much about anatomy from doing this. If I don't win a prize at least I will have greatly furthered my knowledge!

Moni-Poroni thanks your comments are fun. Glad you like the fire.



I have been trying all day to upload my traspose vid to YouTube, and after and hour and a half of YouTube thinking about uploading the vid I get UNKOWN EROR! Does anyone know what is up with that or what I need to do. It is getting very frustrating!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Well here is my work for today. This will go in the center of the ring of fire. Its all primitives, except the cross, that was made with the topo tool and radial symmetry.

pOST 19 disk 1.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow, this is awesome......The design has a hint of Tibetan look and very cool :tu: :tu:

[Gohanf22]

you sure it isnt some other culture? anyway your doing a good job harmonic. amazing work. :)

[Harmonic]

SolidSnakexxx thaks! I am not sure where the design that I based this off of came from, just an image I had on my computer.

Gohanf22 thanks, I am not sure but I would think Tibet is a good guess.

[Harmonic]

Finally got the traspos vid sorted out. It was a lot of work.

nWq7avo5prY&feature=channel

[Moni-Poroni]

Cool subtool there :)
but your last post with the youtube url...looks :confused:
BUT it works :) :tu:
Why is the size of the zmovie so small?
Sorry I don´t know anything about that :)

[SolidSnakexxx]

Cool that you have the vid problem sorted out... The vid dimension's rather odd though like Moni-Poroni has mentioned...but at least we can see your great posing vid now. :cool:

[Harmonic]

Moni-Poroni Thanks, Sorry about the vid I changed the size of my ZB document to tall skinny document because my character is tall and skinny, and I guess that it only records the active widow, so it came out a bit weird.

SolidSnakexxx, thanks, yea sorry about the vid, I didn't realize changing the document size would have that affect.

I have been working on detailing this guy, I hope to start textureing soon.

pOST 20 detail.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow.....this update's looking real cool. Love the rake feel very much. :tu: :tu:

[MindFX]

Looking great... keep it up!

[Moni-Poroni]

Great update.. :tu: I love the details
Especially the musclefibers..:)

[petekasim]

Beautiful work, it's like a traditional clay sculpt :tu:

I love the treatment of his anatomy, there's really lovely sense of style, as opposed to just being a slavish scientific diagram.

I'm intrigued to see how you capture the feel of that concept painting: this could easily be one of the most original entries I've seen in the contest.

Good luck with your progress, I'll definately keep an eye out :)

[Gohanf22]

nice work harmonic. your doing a good work. i love the muscle structure and the skeleton structure very good work.

[Marsyas]

Sweet radial symmetry! And the teeth on the guy really add a lot of twisted emotion. :tu:

[Harmonic]

SolidSnakexxx thanks, this is the first time I have really played with the rake brush, I like it a lot.

MindFX Thanks!

Moni-Poroni Thanks!

petekasim thanks! I have definitely tried to give him life and character so it would not just be anatomy reference. I am interested to see how I will capture the feel of the painting as well, I am not quite sure how I will do it, its going to be some experimentation.

Gohanf22 THanks!

Marsyas thanks! Unfortunately radial symmetry with the topo tool does not seem to work much past 4.

I have been working on finalizing the bones and integrating the them into the body. I added another skeletal had and foot as well.
I made this moc up to see how everything is fighting together. All the color is painted on in 2.5D just to see how it would look.

moc 4 2.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow.....the color piece's looking marvelous. even at 2.5D stage... :) Can't wait to see the final product!

[KrakenCMT]

Flames are looking kick ass!... Well, everything else is too really. :)

[Drakelot]

Awesome work xcellent !!!:tu: :tu:

[Marsyas]

Very cool test! :tu: :tu:

[Shapeworldwide]

I'm still way back at basic topology. Once thats done I'll get ahead with more posing.

I slipped past your image #144 too fast. It truly is terrific work. If you have time you may want to make your main character more dominant as if he were coming out of the fire and perhaps interacting withit more as if it were swerling because of him. Then the background colors seem to distract me a bit. if they were toned down a touch then the front would pop. as an action pose the main character could be leaning foreward. hopefully some helpful hints.

Best wishes.

[rasmusW]

great work. really like how all the pieces come together here.
great sculpting.

-r

[Captain Sensible]

It rocks! In fact I could see this on a rock album cover. Really nice work going on here :tu:

[Gohanf22]

nice work harmonic. with the pieces together its looking very swell. good job.

[spimmy]

Awesome scene layout, all the elements really work with each other and the flames give the piece alot of life :cool: .

Looking forward to the next update, great work! :tu:

[Harmonic]

SolidSnakexxx Thanks!

KrakenCMT thanks, I appreciate that!

Drakelot Thank you!

Marsyas Thanks!

Shapeworldwide Thanks for your suggestions, I found them extremely helpful. I am working on putting them into effect. Especially the idea about the fire that really helped. I am working on the fire interacting with his body a lot more and am really liking it. I will post an update on that soon.

abyss103 Thanks!

Captain Sensible thanks! Yeah it would be a sweet rock album cover! Maybe someday :rolleyes:

Gohanf22 Thank you!

spimmy thanks! I am glad you think everything is working together, I feel like it is but its good to get some confirmation.

I decided to start laying everything out for the final image on separate 2.5d layer es. I still have a lot to do but I felt like i need a frame of reference to see how things are working together. So as I continue working I will delete a layer out and replace it with the updated piece.

I did this quick test, I took the original concept painting and used it as an image in the fog and got this result with some photoshop tweaking. The fire spiral looks terrible because I started over on it due to exploding ploys.


fINAL MOC 11 fog 9 a.jpg

[fluxist8070]

THAT is a beautiful image!:eek:

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow, it's amazing piece.....like I've said before it's like an art work... :tu:

[Harmonic]

fluxist8070 and SolidSnakexxx than you both, I really appreciate your very kind comments!

[Harmonic]

Update for today.
I have been working on integrating the fire spiral into his body. So far its all move and inflate, just trying to get a pleasing silhouette. I will carve in more detail later.

pOST 21 fire.jpg

And still slowly finalizing the sculpt.

pOST 21 de.jpg

[gregoconn]

Looking good man! Keep it up it looks like this is going to be a nice piece once you've finished it up.

[spimmy]

Looking very sweet indeed!:tu:

[entrop23]

Very nice piece, I'm really digging the flames! Are you familiar with Alex Grey's paintings? This reminds me a bit of his work, only in 3d!

[Harmonic]

spimmy thanks I apricite that.

entrop23 thanks, I think the flames are adding a lot of life to the sculpt. And yes I LOVE Alex Grey, he is one of my biggest artistic inspirations.

[Captain Sensible]

This is just looking better and better! My only crit is that in terms of value in the image the flames aren't bright enough. They look great against the black background but don't seem to stand out enough in the composite. They would also play a big part in the illumination of what's around it. Looking awesome other than that! :tu:

[SolidSnakexxx]

wow, this is definitely gripping ..I like the fire version a lot...really heat up the model well :tu:

[Harmonic]

Hey Captain Sensible thanks for the crit. That is really helpful. I am definitely going to keep your advice in mind when lighting the final image. :tu:

SolidSnakexxx thanks, I am glad you like the fire!

[Gohanf22]

nice update harmonic. very nicely done. i like it alot. keep it up.:tu:

[Moni-Poroni]

Oh..I´ve totally missed your latest update :o
Really great work.
and those flames are so damned hot :) !

[Harmonic]

Gohanf22 thanks for your complements, I appreciate it!

Moni-Poroni Thanks! Glad you like my fire!

I have been working on refining his body and silhouette the of the flames, and just started textureing. I have basically just blocked in basic colors. Here is a little render test.

pOST 22 pp 4.jpg

[maxinkuk]

I think that it needs to glow. Maybe with the fog and an alpha you create some warm atmosphere around it.

[SolidSnakexxx]

The flame's looking great so far. I think if you add the glow/ haze in the final render he'll look very fired up! :tu:

[spimmy]

Wow, scorching!! ;) .

Great flames, they are starting to look hot! :) :tu: Great work dude!:tu:

[Harmonic]

maxinkuk, SolidSnakexxx thanks, I will definitely add some glow to the final image. I am planning to try a few different things with the fog and a few in photoshop. Hopefully he will really look like his on fire in the final render!

spimmy thanks, I am glad they are starting to get the point across.

[AVTPro]

Nice how you gave him anatomy muscles. (unskinned). Great thinking.

[gregoconn]

This is looking great harmonic!

Have you thought about putting any blue, or even green into the flames?

This piece just keeps looking nicer and nicer, keep it up!

[Seavannah]

He's awesome. Love the flames and his look. good luck and happy zbrushing.:D

[Marsyas]

Sweet flames. :tu: And that color test looks really great. Just play up the lighting like in that flame test and the final image should look great.

[Harmonic]

AVTPro thanks sculpting the muscles has been a cool experience, and they look darn cool too!

gregoconn thanks for compliments, I think blue and green is a great idea! I will play with that in my nest poly paint session.

Seavannah thanks for saying that it is appreciated!

Marsyas thanks, I appreciate your words. I will definitely use the material from that flame test in the final render in one of the passes on the fire. Should look sweet!

More poly painting and playing with materials. I thought this mat gave some interesting results.

pOST 23 cool mat.jpg

Turntable

R12vdEmA-VA&feature=channel_page

[SolidSnakexxx]

Very interesting look. I do notice some of the flame polygon's a bit low. But overall still looking great.

[Harmonic]

Hey SolidSnakexxx, thanks! I forgot go up to the highest sub d on that piece, it was late, oops! :o

[Moni-Poroni]

Wow.. I´ve totally missed your last update...sorry :o
Amazing work :tu: :tu: :tu:
Cool video:) and really great pose :)

[wethand]

wow. you really solved the problem with the flames very well!
nice sculpt!

[fluxist8070]

gorgeous colors! The pose is looking good too!

[Harmonic]

Moni-Poroni, don't worry I forgive you! :lol: Thanks for you compliments!

wethand thanks, I would say they are looking darn good but they are not quite where I want them.

fluxist8070 thanks I am glad you are liking it!


Can someone please tell me if there is a way to fix this problem. The mesh just stretches like taffy and gets all deformed when I try to transpose it.

I have tried it on a high sub d level and a low sub d level,
I have tried exporting the lowest sub d level and then re importing it,
I tried projecting a new mesh with the same topology with the topo tools.
I have tried the deformations "rotate".
I have also "unified" my mesh in the deformations tab.
I have tried transpose master.

and I sill get this result.
You can see there is no mask aplied.


screen.jpg

[fluxist8070]

I know there is no masking applied, but in areas where the mesh is dense, there may be places where the mask did not clear (I had this same problem). Try hitting the clear mask button a few times and transpose again. I hope it helps.

[threetails]

also make sure that none of your brushes have back face masking on. it happend to me today, and thats what it was. otherwise your work is looking good.

[SolidSnakexxx]

It happens to me once, and the problem was the mesh was too large once I reduced the size the problem was gone.....hmm..

[Harmonic]

fluxist8070, threetails, SolidSnakexxx thanks so much for your help!

I ended up hitting the clear mask button like 10 times, and then scaling the model down a bit with the transpose tool and it works fine now. :rolleyes:
With all my other models unifying stopped it from happening? :rolleyes:

Thanks again for your help! :tu:

[threetails]

glad to hear that under control, its nice to see some one take on the challange of sculpting fire, nice work.

[Harmonic]

threetails ,thanks I am felling very good about how the fire is coming along, and thanks again for you help!

Well I have been working on more poly painting and material tweaking, and now I am on to rendering!
Here is my first render pass, all matcaps.

From here on out it all rendering and post.

C and C welcome!

pOST 25.jpg

[JUPITER]

Great color scheme and sculpt,Nice work!!;)

Action Hero
Lightwave
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?p=534191#post534191

[Etcher]

Hypnotizing! :tu: !

[spimmy]

Looking good, I am looking forward to your other render passes!:tu:

[Marsyas]

I like the vibrancy of the colors. Should give you a lot to work with in post.

Are you going to use any renders with z-shadows? Looks a bit flat with the small (preview?) shadows.

[Harmonic]

JUPITER thanks I appreciate that, I am feeling quite happy with how he is coming together.

Etcher Wow thanks that’s quite the complement! :D

spimmy thanks I will try and post some of my other passes soon.

Marsyas Thanks, gland you are digging the colors. I am going to a shadow pass with a normal mat and lots of lights, this pas is basically a color pass. I think it will give me good results.

[Moni-Poroni]

WOW.. GREAT COLOURS :tu: :tu: :tu:
and so much to discover! :)
But may I ask you what you mean with first render pass...or first colour pass....?
I don´t understand that. :o
Do you render for example first all matcaps...and then for example the glowing materials?
If so- how do you get them together for the final image? :)

[SolidSnakexxx]

So colorful... He's like the master of all elemental in the last pic you posted. Seeing the inner green as Nature/Forest (Earth) Then the red fire ring (Fire) The Chakra of (Gold) and the Blue back plane as Water/Air elements....It can totally be viewed as an abstract piece of Art.....Top quality... :tu:

[Harmonic]

Moni-Poroni thanks for your compliments, rending in passes is a really fun way to get some great results. You render your image out in different materials or light set ups and then combine them in photoshop. Check out his old thread form back in the Zb2 days

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=26315&page=2&pp=15 (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=26315&page=2&pp=15)

IT is agreat way to get some happy acidents!

SolidSnakexxx, Wow! that is a really cool way to look at it, I can totally see what you mean! thanks!

[Moni-Poroni]

I don´t have photoshop. :) So I can´t do this. But thank you so much for the explanation. Now I know what you´re all talking about. :)
I made me crazy that I don´t know what´s going on.:)

[Harmonic]

Moni-Poroni, your welcome, photoshop is an incredible tool.

Here are the renders I am going to use to make the final image, I made more than this but I think these are the ones I will use.
This will probably be my last update before I submit my final. Good luck to everyone!

pOST 26 ren.jpg

[markrulz]

Really amazing!

I thought the final image had to come right out of Zbrush... am I wrong? About to upload my finals and if photoshopping is allowed then heck I need to do some more work!

[SolidSnakexxx]

Man, thank you for sharing the passes you render..I can see how this can be real useful t comp in PS now! Awesome work! :tu:

[Captain Sensible]

Very nice work Harmonic! I took the rendering in layers approach in the end too. Your finished entry is gonna look amazing. Good luck with this! :tu:

[Harmonic]

markrulz thanks, it says in the rules that you can do post process work in PS.

SolidSnakexxx your welcome. Compositing renders in PS is a really fun and creative way to get some cool results!

Captain Sensible thanks! I am looking forward to see your final piece comes out. :tu:


I have been working on my final piece and I decieded I needed a few more renders. Here they are.

pOST 27 ren.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

Nice the third golden ring's looking beautiful even by itself :tu:

[spimmy]

Wow, lovely render passes, looking forward to all them being put together!! Great work buddy!:cool: :tu:

[Harmonic]

Final Entry


Model only render

Hero ONE Final mod only copy copy.jpg




Model with a background

Hero ONE Final copy small.jpg


Turntabel

slWJGXwXzv4&feature=channel

Transpose Vid

nWq7avo5prY&feature=channel

Here is the link to my HD Image

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/ZBC/ActionHero/Hero-ONE-Final-e.jpg


A big thanks to Pixologic and all the sponsors for hosting this contest, and to everyone who has participated. It has been an amazing ride!

[jackdaniels666]

This guy turned out great. He has a cool look to him.:tu:

[SolidSnakexxx]

Although this didn't make it to the final 10 I feel like this is one of the most beautiful of all entries. Very vibrant and full of meaning. :)

[Etcher]

Hi Harmonic! Congrats on a job well done! Like I said before HYPNOTIZING!!!! :tu: !

[Harmonic]

jackdaniels666 thanks man, I appreciate you saying that! I am very please with how he came out.

SolidSnakexxx thanks, you have been so supportive threw this hole contest, and I really appreciate that you are tuned into the meaning behind the piece as well.
And congratulations on your win, you did some incredible work with the mantis man! :tu: :D

Etcher thanks, I really appreciate you compliments.


This contest was an incredible experience, it pushed me far beyond what I realized I could accomplish artistically and in zbrush.
Thanks to everyone who participated!

[Captain Sensible]

Very cool work! I loved the final image! It would make such a cool poster!! :tu: