Action Hero - Nerve

[KrakenCMT]

Artist: CHRISTOPHER TACKETT

Hero Name: NERVE
Super Powers : God-like Strength, Healing power (himself and others), Cannot feel pain (due to his illness and not really a superpower)

Background Story:

Shane Grissom was a champion UFC fighter. He is a skilled master in many different types of martial arts, but he also has had a unique condition since birth. He has Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA) , a disorder of the nervous system which means he cannot feel pain. This ailment had another side effect of emotional insensitivity which made him come across as brash and mean at times. A year ago, he suffered a broken elbow which forced him into early retirement.

While this condition kept him from feeling physical pain, he sought compensation on an emotional level, so he journeyed to a remote part of Japan in search of spiritual consult. While there, he became involved with an unknown branch sect of Buddhist monks which held in their possession a powerful artifact said to be linked with the spirit of Bishamonten, the god of war and healing. Legend had it that this artifact was guarded by a corridor of fire in a secret temple, and that only the most worthy would be able to retrieve it. The one who retrieved it would be given a fraction of Bishamonten's power and wisdom to bring back to his people. Over time, the monks believed that Shane was sent there to retrieve the artifact and to share the knowledge that lied within it.

So Shane took the journey to the hidden temple and walked through the corridor of fire to retrieve the artifact, a small pagoda, which contained the spirit of Bishamonten. As he took it into his possession with his charred and burnt body, the spirit of Bishamonten sensed a great potential for good in the man and imparted to him a fraction of his power for war and healing. A power that when called upon, transforms him into a physical war machine of incredible god-like power and strength.

INITIAL CONCEPT SKETCH:

Here's the basic concept sketch. I didn't put forth as much time as I'd like on the initial sketch, cuz I couldn't wait to jump right into the modeling. :) A lot of things about this could still change. Maybe adding wrist bands, tattoos, etc....

Nerve.jpg

*EDIT* - ADDED LINKS TO VIDEOS OF SCULPTING THE CHARACTER ON VEOH

LINK TO NERVE - PART 1 VIDEO ON VEOH (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v16993375apbjmbw7)

LINK TO NERVE - PART 2 VIDEO ON VEOH (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v16993728b7dcqE7y)

LINK TO NERVE - PART 3 VIDEO ON VEOH (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v16993971H88PYSq6)

LINK TO NERVE - PART 4 VIDEO ON VEOH (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v170345149E2QFqwS)

LINK TO NERVE - PART 5 VIDEO ON VEOH (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v17109990R8yePbQd)

LINK TO NERVE - PART 6 VIDEO ON VEOH (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v17109495g7Jth59x)

LINK TO NERVE - PART 7 VIDEO ON VEOH (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v171100124FXG9RfJ)

LINK TO NERVE - PART 8 VIDEO ON VEOH (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v171161192Ecc5kbH)

[ravioli_rancher]

KrackenCMT,

Great concept and hero name. Though, as an ultimate fighter, I think he might look tougher without the shoes. With the healing power of the Buddhist pike, he needn't worry about athlete's foot fungus ever again.

Saw your webpage gallery and am intimidated with your Zbrush skills. This is definately a thread worth following.

Good Luck!

[SolidSnakexxx]

This is going to be cool. I just has a trip to Singapore and saw a stucco statue of Chinese/Japanese God. I can immediately relate your Hero to this Oriental God. It's going to be great :) :tu:

[JUPITER]

That would make a great movie!!maybe he would look like ryu- from
the street fighter games..

[Captain Sensible]

Nice stuff. I just know you will make an awesome sculpt!

[C-Mad]

Nice backstory, lovely character sketch.
Like the rules stated, don't let that preliminary sketch (or your backstory) become a straight jacket. They are only to give you a "jumping off point." It's almost a given that your character will change and evolve over the next few weeks. That's half the fun!

Great body shape, although the wrists seem a bit too big, and the feet a big too small (which the shoes emphasize).

The sculpting should be lots of fun with this guy!
~OM

[KrakenCMT]

ravioli_rancher,
LOL! Yeah you have a point. I was thinking about removing the shoes anyway as the sculpting of the bare feet would be good practice and also add more sculpted organic detail to the piece. My thinking with the shoes was that it added a bit more of an ancient feel to it, but I think I'll lose them.

C-Mad,
I realize I'm not bound to it. I just often like to solidify most of my design in sketch form before I start a piece. I just didn't do it this time to the level I normally do cuz I just wanted to get it done. Yeah, I know the proportions are off. But sometimes stuff like that happens when rushing a sketch. I can usually correct any proportion problems while sculpting. That's part of the beauty of using ZBrush. :)

[KrakenCMT]

Here's the base humanoid mesh created in Lightwave and imported into ZB. Now the real fun begins!

BaseMesh.jpg

[Lucky_1]

Great sketch and start Christopher !

[maxinkuk]

Good sketch, and good story.
I'm looking at your mesh and thinking that whilst doing it you gave some thought to the way it would behave with topological masking. Am I correct?

[KrakenCMT]

maxinkuk,

Not really. However I was trying to pay attention to topology for structure purposes so I wouldn't have the topology working against me while sculpting. But I guess in doing so, it would also seem to help with the topological masking. :)

[SolidSnakexxx]

The base mesh's starting to take form and looks really great. It'd be fun to see the evolution of this mesh to ZBrush sculpt!

[KrakenCMT]

Great timing there Solidsnake! I thought the same thing. I've been making vids of my whole sculpting process. Thing is, I'm on a Mac and I'm having a bit of trouble exporting vids to quicktime from ZB 3.12. I'll probably have to play them all in ZBrush while running a movie screen capture app. I have SnapZ Pro which should work OK for that.

But once I get them uploaded to YouTube or Veoh, it I'll post the links here.

Here's the sculpt after a few hours today. I'm just working on getting the proper musculature down, then I'll get more into detail after posing him.

NerveScreen1.jpg

NerveScreen2.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

You know what, KrakenCMT, this looks amazing even at your initial ZBrush sculpting phase. And you are recording the whole process! This is going to be great to see your Vid as well. The thread is very exciting! :tu: :tu:

[maxinkuk]

Woha, he's a big fella. He's got a lot of character, very good.

[Y/Haüss]

Woooww.... fantastic!!!

[Bingo_Jackson]

Wow, you really spanked that base mesh! Coming along nicely.

[KrakenCMT]

Hehe, thanks!

I had a bit more time tonight and did a little bit of work on the head as well.

NerveScreen3.jpg

[KrakenCMT]

OK. Here's the first video which shows part of the first sculpting session starting from the base mesh. I'll post the other half as soon as it's uploaded.

And if the embedded vid doesn't work, here's the link to the movie on Veoh's site.

LINK: Nerve Sculpt Session1 (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v16993375apbjmbw7)

EDIT: Updated vid added. First one played too fast.

v16993375apbjmbw7

[KrakenCMT]

And here's the second vid from the first session.....

LINK TO NERVE - PART 2 VIDEO ON VEOH (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v16993728b7dcqE7y) as well.

v16993728b7dcqE7y

[SolidSnakexxx]

KrakenCMT, that's some sculpting sessions you got there! Good progress. I think you are in a very good shape....not to mention your hero's shaping up nicely! :tu: :tu:

[Slosh]

You are an amazing Z-Sculptor, always have been. He is looking very much like your sketch already. I love the idea of adding tattoos and wristbands. As far as the shoes go, you could try a sandal with laces on the shins... would still have that "ancient" feel. But I agree, the genie shoes did nothing for his ferocity.

[Lucky_1]

Love those vids Christopher! :tu:

[KrakenCMT]

Thanks, guys!

On my Arnold Schwarzenegger model and on this guy, I've had some problems working out the Serratus Anterior muscles. Does anyone have any tips on getting those sculpted correctly? They never feel quite right after I sculpt them.

Slosh, great idea with the sandals. I might just go that direction. :)

Also here's another small vid of the face sculpting so far.

LINK TO NERVE - PART 3 VIDEO ON VEOH (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v16993971H88PYSq6)

v16993971H88PYSq6

[SolidSnakexxx]

The vids are great :) I think for the model you have the Serratus Anterior seems a bit displace where it intertwine with the other muscle.

Not sure if this would help much...Check out this ref and it also seems your Serratus Anterior is a tad short.

shserant.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('118707','shserant.jpg',1,0))

[KrakenCMT]

Appreciate it, SolidSnake. :) I just need to research that area a bit more.

I worked more on Nerve's face and added a bit more detail and character to it.

I also just noticed that I will at some point need to close the holes in the eyes and mouth to make it a completely closed form.

NerveScreen4.jpg

[maxinkuk]

He's scary! Very nice details coming here.

[JUPITER]

Looking great :D very mean looking :D

[KrakenCMT]

Just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! :D

[MGebhart]

Dude, you got some skills. The face is wild. I really like it.

Keep on trucking.

Marc

[Moni-Poroni]

Really amzing... it´s one of my Favourites...
The Muscles are looking soooo realistic and the Mimic is --- WOW :tu: :tu:

You have so much Time left... I´m wondering where this shall end up :)

[KrakenCMT]

I wanted to fill in the holes of my model so I used some sphere primitives to fill in the holes for the eyes. I use one for the mouth and sculpted it into a basic interior mouth shape. Then I used the retopology tool and filled them all in.

I also got a bit further in sculpting the arms, neck and torso. I found several pics for reference on the Serratus Anterior muscles and studies them hard then went back and tried to sculpt them better. I think I'm much closer, but they could be overly defined now, so I might smooth them out a little more.

RetopoScreen.jpg

NerveScreen5.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

Really great progress.. this character's really wonderful so far.. and the area on Serratus Anterior you have sculpted so far is really good.

[jp_smith]

Nice job on the abs, and the face has a lot of character...this is gonna be a cool one. :tu:

[Teyon]

Woah. Turning out great. It looks like he has a massive back. :)

[willbrown1]

Chris,

This is looking really cool! Loved your Conan! I'm sure this will be even better.

I think the serratus muscle are correctly placed. They very rarely appear as well defined as you have them on your model, except in bodybuilders deliberately flexing them. In most real world situations they tend to be more understated, at least on normal humans.

Doh! What was I thinking? This guy ain't normal! Where's my Duff Beer?

I'll shut up now… :eek: :tu: :confused: ;) :D

[mantegra]

Good start on the model however I think the anatomy could be improved. The shoulder only has 3 sections making up the whole of the deltoid, that is, front, middle and rear. Right now it is difficult to distinguish the contours of each deltoid head. I am no expert but I think it would be better to see each deltoid head more properly defined. Also, there seems to be no distinctness between the brachialis and the triceps head. I think they could do with some distinguishing so that they look like two separate muscle groups. Also the intercostals are quite lumpy and should be flatter and more streamlined. The love handles could probably be lowered a bit too. In my opinion I would also not put as much detail in the T-pose sculpt because this can be refined when you actually pose the character. Hope what I said makes sense and I look forward to see your progress.

[gang]

really coming out great

[KrakenCMT]

Thanks all!

And thanks, mantegra! That's exactly what I need. Another pair of eyes that can spot parts like that. I'll check the areas you've mentioned and address them.

[KrakenCMT]

Here's a new vid with more work on the torso and triceps areas.

LINK TO NERVE - PART 4 VIDEO ON VEOH (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v170345149E2QFqwS)

v170345149E2QFqwS

[joe55]

very nice modeling, keep up the good work

[jp_smith]

Kraken, you might want to consider moving his shoulder joint out farther since the width of the lats seems to be overpowering his delts, it's kind of making his silhouette look a little compressed and not as strong as his muscle mass would suggest. :)

[KrakenCMT]

Thanks, jp_smith. I agree. I ended up also scaling the size of the entire arm and shoulder area up a bit as well as the legs, though I think the legs coud be scaled up a little bit more.

The pics show that change along with more detailing of the arms and back.

And I finally had an idea for a pose. I'll work up a quick sketch on that as soon as I can.

NerveScreen6.jpg

NerveScreen7.jpg

[Lucky_1]

very nice update Christopher !
Keep it up.

[Teyon]

I think the knees could use more work. They're kind of plain compared to the detail in the rest of the model. I can understand not detailing the feet - they're going to be covered by shoes anyway - but the knees are exposed in the concept. Keep at it and good luck!

[SolidSnakexxx]

I think this is one great model. The muscle mass's just impressive! Love it! :tu:

[KrakenCMT]

Lucky, Teyon, Solidsnake, thanks!

Yeah, when I retopo'd the model, I had to project the details back onto the model. After increasing the resolution of the model, I got some weird creaing going on so I had to smooth the model to fix it. When I did that, some of the detail was lost. I haven't got back to the lower part of the figure at all yet to restore some of the detail, but I'm working my way down there. :)

As for the feet, I do still need to detail them because they will have sandals on.

[KrakenCMT]

I finally worked on the concept for the pose. Just a quick sketch to try to capture the movement with a simple base design.

PoseConcept.jpg

[Harmonic]

Hey KrakenCMT, love that sketch, the pose is fantastic. :tu:
I do have to say though I like the proportions in your both of your sketches much better than the proportions of your model. But that my be just my personal taste.

[KrakenCMT]

Harmonic,

Yeah I was just looking at that myself. Once I transpose him, I'll re-look at the proportions and see if it works better with him being thinner or bigger.

[SolidSnakexxx]

The pose sketch is looking awesome... It really shows his confidence and of course showing his shear muscle power! Looking forward to the model posed as well :tu:

[gang]

its coming out very nice
really great work

[smeagol]

really cool concept !

overall nice progress :tu:

[KrakenCMT]

I worked a bit more on the hands and feet today. When the hands and feet are posed, I'll try to add a bit more interest to them.

NerveScreen8.jpg

NerveScreen9.jpg

[Fess]

Impressive sculpting and a very cool pose sketch. Looking forward for more updates!

[Seavannah]

wow great model don't know how I missed this. Really great sculpting. Keep up the great work and love that pose.:D :cool: :D

[dustbin1_uk]

Woah! Now that's one big dude!!!

Thanks for posting the vids! It's actually helped me learn a fair bit on 3D sculpting!!

Keeping my eye on this one!

[KrakenCMT]

Woah! Now that's one big dude!!!

Thanks for posting the vids! It's actually helped me learn a fair bit on 3D sculpting!!

Keeping my eye on this one!

No problem, Dustbin. That's why I made them. :) There's more on the way too. I'm trying to document the whole process. Sometimes I forget to turn on the time-lapse recording, but for the most part, I'm getting it all down. I just need to find the time to transcode and upload the movies I haven't posted yet which are the ones for the hands and feet.

EDIT: I'm also thinking about possibly adding a mystical shield to the character. One that is summoned along with the pike/spear. It might go along with the concept of him calling upon the powers of the war god. I'm not sure though.....

[electricCAT]

Looking very cool. I couldn't see the videos thought. Didin't seem to load in Firefox.

[KrakenCMT]

Looking very cool. I couldn't see the videos thought. Didin't seem to load in Firefox.

FYI, There's a link to the vids on Veoh's website in my first post, if the embedded videos aren't working. Maybe those will work.

[ravioli_rancher]

KrakenMT,

Great thread. The vids are a great resource. Thanks for collecting them all on the first page.

The pose sketch is slick. I vote no shield, since, I believe, there's a no shields allowed rule in the UFC, and it just feels discourteous for a professional mixed martial artist to be toting around an indestructable metal disk that blocks punches and hurts his opponent's knuckles. His sensai would smack him in the head.

Anyway, awesome work and tutorials so far.

Keep making us look bad. :)

[SolidSnakexxx]

The hands and feet are awesome. Looking forward to more great stuff from you!

[MINTY]

Those feet and hands look brilliant. Can't wait to see some more! :D :tu:

[MrHappy]

Great work. I love watching you sculpt :)

[KrakenCMT]

Thanks everyone!

I vote no shield, since, I believe, there's a no shields allowed rule in the UFC, and it just feels discourteous for a professional mixed martial artist to be toting around an indestructable metal disk that blocks punches and hurts his opponent's knuckles. His sensai would smack him in the head.
:)
Actually, that's a very good point! You're absolutely right. I doubt Shane Grissom trained with a shield, so he wouldn't know what to do with one anyway.... It would just get in the way of his main fighting styles as well. So, no shield it is.

[KrakenCMT]

Here's the start of the pose with the Transpose tool. There's still some deformations to work out due to the warping from the transpose tool. And the pose needs refining after I add a proxy object for the staff to work out the mechanics of the pose.

NerveScreen10.jpg

[Harmonic]

Nice start on the pose, its working for him. Has a good sense of tension so far.

[dustbin1_uk]

Nice work!!!! That guy is just pure strength!!! :tu:

[markrulz]

He's looking very good, love the pose.

His legs look a bit spindly for such a huge upper body. Plus his hands... it just seems like the palms are a bit too small for those ultra-long fingers. The fingers shouldn't be any longer than the palm.

Great job!

[Captain Sensible]

Damn that's lookin good! :)

[gang]

nice pose man
its looking great

[SolidSnakexxx]

Whoa.....the pose is super super cool. it shows almost every muscles movement.... real dynamic too :tu: :tu:

[KrakenCMT]

Thanks everyone!

markrulz,

I noticed the thinning legs after I was done transposing, but I didn't notice the hands, so good call there. I'll fix the palms tonight and see what I can do about beefing up the legs as well.

Once the pose is finalized, I'll start the re-sculpting of certain areas to better represent the action shown by relaxing and flexing the proper muscles in the pose.

[KrakenCMT]

I did a few sketch-overs of my transposed figure during lunch hour today. This is the one that felt the most strongly about and probably the way I'll go with him. The front arm is extended a bit more and he's slightly twisting his body a little more. And his right foot is not so far away from his body.

PoseSketch2.jpg

[aiman]

Looks like a great pose to me, lets see it

[neozerahan]

bro pose is amazing...

only one thing....is the finger delibertaley stylized(long)...
coz i feel it too long....mayb i m worng...
but amazing model....sumday we will make our models fight ezch other....coz mine is allso bulky one;) :D
keep the updates cumin...

[threetails]

like the pose as well, the anatomy looks good and has a great stylized comic feel, look forward to seeing some more.

[KrakenCMT]

Some further transposing done here in this update. Mostly on the hands and arms. There's still a lot of deformations going on from the transposing. Some should be easy to fix, some might require resculpting certain areas, but I expected I'd have to do some anyway.

NerveScreen11.jpg

NerveScreen12.jpg

[canndis]

love the pose so far , Only thing i find odd is that his arm is not bending in the right place .

[puzzle]

Looking good!

[KiVanDi]

Good pose.

[willbrown1]

Chris this is just getting more awesome! Excellent pose, great sculpt! :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :D

[richiewu1986]

Great Pose!

[pitchepuck]

oh no! we have near the same pose :lol:

[Disco Stu]

phenomenal muscle work you have done.

the legs look fantastic especially.

its clear to see that you have put a ton of effort into your sculpt so far:cool: :tu:

[SolidSnakexxx]

Simply insane work going on here. I totally love the pose you put him :tu: :tu:

[MGebhart]

Man, your entry is coming along very nicely. Nice work with transpose.

Marc

[bryzol]

Great scoulpting! I like the head. I see you know hyman anatomy very well. There is only this little strange thing with his wrist in my opinion...
wrist.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27120108%27,%27wrist.jpg%27,1,0%29)

[joebount]

Anatomy is good but small comment for 99% of the pictures posted in the challenge : why are all the muscles on the body tensed ? It's even less likely to happen in an action pose because antagonists muscles react together (biceps bulges when triceps is relaxed and vice versa).

Sorry for the diggresion :)

[KrakenCMT]

joebunt,

I can't speak for everyone, but sculpting each muscle in detail like that helps me to learn how they connect and function. And I'm still learning. It probably doesn't help that most reference I use is from body builders (which flex every possible muscle they can for extra points), but I need muscular forms that also have skin on them.

I did mention earlier that I'd try to relax some of those muscles cuz I agree with you that they all looked too tense.

[joebount]

No problem dude, I was just pointing out a general comment, it wasn't aimed specially at you :D Keep up the good work ! :)

[KrakenCMT]

Here's some additional vids on the sculpting process....

LINK TO NERVE - PART 5 VIDEO ON VEOH (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v17109990R8yePbQd)

v17109990R8yePbQd

LINK TO NERVE - PART 6 VIDEO ON VEOH (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v17109495g7Jth59x)

v17109495g7Jth59x

LINK TO NERVE - PART 7 VIDEO ON VEOH (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v171100124FXG9RfJ)

v171100124FXG9RfJ

[KrakenCMT]

Here's another video of the sculpting of the feet.

LINK TO NERVE - PART 8 VIDEO ON VEOH (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v171161192Ecc5kbH)

v171161192Ecc5kbH

NerveThumb.jpg

[mates]

hello, can u upload it somewhere else please ? because veoh is not available in my country :( thanks

[KrakenCMT]

I got some more work done on the chest and arms.

NerveScreen14.jpg

[pitchepuck]

with color he gets so much more! I like him... it would be cool when in the end all finished models were put into one composition. all together in one pic :D

[maxinkuk]

He's so solid! It's looking better and better. I just looked at your feet modeling video, good modeling really.

[puzzle]

So far so good!

[gang]

its looking really cool man

[SolidSnakexxx]

Just love the muscle movements beneath the skin that's going on this model. :tu: Simply awesome!

[KrakenCMT]

Thanks! I'm thinking of possibly adding a couple scars here and there. I know he's supposed to have a healing ability, but I figure some wounds might just be too severe to heal completely, especially from say, magical weapons and such. Maybe one on his chest and one on his arm. Just thinking out loud here....

[wethand]

oh yeah, this is really nice!
nice sculpt, but this pose is killer! love it!

[canndis]

This one is getting better and better each time you post

[maxinkuk]

How did you manage to embed these Veoh movies? It must the famous best kept secret of the net. Please share it with me, I won't tell anybody.

[KrakenCMT]

maxinkuk,

Here's a link to the info. It's about 4/5 the way down the page.

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/misc.php?do=bbcode

[maxinkuk]

Thanks.:)

[MindFX]

This is amazing. Love your character design concept. Keep it up.

CHEERS!

[gregoconn]

Hey Kraken,

Just watching some of your vids it's great to watch your sculping process. I'm curious, what brush do you use to put the divots between the muscles. I find most of the time when I attempt it they always coming out looking too rounded.

[KrakenCMT]

Hey gregoconn,

It's a variation of the slash brush, but with a custom alpha I made of a pinched gradient. It's similar to the attached alpha. If it's too sharp, blur the alpha in the alpha tab.

Crease.jpg

[rasmusW]

hey christopher!

this is such a cool character. really like muscles and general form. his right arm is particually nice done.
thanks for the alpha. gotta try it out some day.

-r

[gregoconn]

Ah great. Cheers for the tip. It's been one of the struggles for me. I'm still learning with sculpting in zbrush and am finding this contest a nice learning curve.

[Drakelot]

Awesome Chris ... good luck

[SolidSnakexxx]

Thanks for sharing your alpha and the technique man, the Vids are phenomenal! :tu: :tu: You have one of the best muscle man here.. :cool:

[Captain Sensible]

That's such a nice sculpt! I'm so envious of your skills. The finished piece is gonna look so cool! :cool:

[Hamilcar]

Nice work! Looks fantastic in that pose:tu: :tu:

[KrakenCMT]

Thanks all, glad I could help with the alpha. It really comes in handy when you want a crisp line without inflating. I wish I had more of an update, but I didn't have much time last night. Just worked on the chest, hand and neck some more trying to work out the muscles on the neck as well as get some sort of fleshy feeling to them.

NerveScreen15.jpg

[threetails]

looking great, the forms are really popping now, good it coming together.

[sendhilv]

Very good progress.... keep it up....

[henrysouth]

you see every time i think about scraping my profile on here i come across a gem like this. modifying the slash brush with that sweet alpha for muscle striations. it might seem like nothing, but its exactly what i needed. thanks Kraken.

[KrakenCMT]

I took my lunch break to sketch a base to this guy. I tried to keep it somewhat simple, but aesthetic and in sync with the overall movement of the form. I'll probably have to repose the feet for this base.

NerveBase.jpg

[GregStrangis]

Like the idea for the pose and base. Thanks also for all the videos and the alpha man appreciate it:D Keep it up!

[dustbin1_uk]

Looking awesome!!

Can't wait to see it completed!! :tu:

[gabo1991]

chris

I am digging the pose. Do you plan on making some MatCap Materials for this?

Paul

[KrakenCMT]

gabo1991,

Yeah, I'll definitely post all the matcaps I come up with for the contest once it's over. The greenish tan one in the last render is the first matcap I've done for the contest, but I'm still tweaking it a bit more.

[maxinkuk]

I'm very ignorant in texturing and very puzzled by the use of matcaps within a texturing and rendering context with different materials and so on. Can you texture and use matcaps at the same time?

[KrakenCMT]

maxinkuk,

Yeah, you can use both. But applying a matcap after polypainting will effect the color and value that you've painted. So that must be kept in mind when planning your polypainting strategy.

Scott Spencer has a great tutorial on polypainting where he uses a skin matcap to help his process. HERE'S THE LINK TO THAT (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=48840&page=1&pp=15)

But the trick with matcaps is that whatever lights you use need to coordinate with the lighting embedded in the matcap material. So if you use a matcap which shows the lighting coming from the upper left, then your lights need to be set up to something similar or the shading won't match up with the shadows.

[maxinkuk]

Great thanks for this very useful information.:tu: You perfectly clarified the point that I couldn't understand. I can start planning it using Matcaps too now.

[KrakenCMT]

I didn't get anything done at all last night on Nerve, but I took some time during lunch hour today to play around with the last render and try to get a better facial expression using Photoshop liquify. I painted in the hint of some teeth too.

NerveScreen3.jpg

[leandroloaiza]

great job man!!! i like the shape and the muscular mass, it look going in real moving :lol: :lol:

folow this path!!!

[dustbin1_uk]

Looking better and better with each post! :tu:

[Y/Haüss]

Great Pose...and very nice ballance of the body structure! Congratulations!

[Moni-Poroni]

Wow:) excellent sculpt :tu:

[gang]

looking really great
great work

[MrHappy]

I gotta say, that is a fantastic model. Keep up the good work :)

[KrakenCMT]

As I was having mass amount of problems uploading this to Veoh, I uploaded my transposing Vid to YouTube. It's about 7 minutes.

EP9rUgDTJXg


Thumb.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow, the transpose video's really impressive. :tu: :tu:

How dense 's your model the level you are doing transpose? (As I always resort to lower res when doing the transpose, but I can clearly see the benefit for posing at higher res now)

[Dark-Anim]

How did you move the model around like that? :eek: Thanks

[skullbeast]

Dude, that is simply a stunning pose. great work! I am very impressed. :tu: :tu: It made me feel the same way I did when I first started using zbrush and was watching the masters at work! awestruck. :D

[KrakenCMT]

Solidsnake,

The polycount was at about 185k. When I made the mask, I blurred it several times and it works OK at that level. But the next level up makes it hard to blur the mask enough for me to use the tranpose tool effectively.

[KrakenCMT]

Started some detailing of the hands.

NerveScreen16.jpg

[petekasim]

It was a real pleasure to watch the transpose video, and the resulting pose looks beautifuly fluid and balanced.

I'm sure you're going to pull off the fine details of the muscle deformation with panache! Although I'm sure it won't be easy, being such a muscular fella that he is...

Those hands are looking great, no crits, and best of luck! :)

[SolidSnakexxx]

Nice hand sculpt.....Now I'm starting to see the great fine wrinkle details.. :tu:

[KrakenCMT]

Solidsnake: Thanks!

petekasim: Thanks! That's one thing I was trying to really pay attention to when coming up with the pose is the rhythm of the form. Not just trying to come up with a cool pose, but one that has nice flowing lines and rhythm.

Those hands took quite some time last night. I'm not used to sculpting in such detail.

[leandroloaiza]

nice job man, the hands looks like an old sculpture or miniature, maybe the fingers are too tickness, y think needs a litlle bit of detail :tu::tu::tu::tu:

folw your path, an will be a finalist :lol::lol::lol::lol:

[Hex0254]

all I can say is outstanding...!!!!!!

[chindian]

Kool man! Nice powerful character. It's progressing well... Lookin forward to more...

[KrakenCMT]

More sculpting on the neck, but then I just couldn't shake the feeling that my ribcage still wasn't right. I did a bit of resculpting of the ribcage and serratus muscle areas and I think it works better.

NerveScreen17.jpg

[skullbeast]

thats a great improvement! :tu: :tu:

[goldo_O]

Indeed, great correction on the ribcage! Very nice work man, keep it up!

[maxinkuk]

Really great sculpting there. The character is coming out massive, big but stringy.

[MINTY]

That has a much better flow under the pecs. Looking superb I must say!:tu:

[Y/Haüss]

Very well refined!

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow, you are taking this model to the max...literally....very beautiful re sculpt of the area..and the adjusted abs area's great and now correct.. :tu: :tu:

[wethand]

awesome progress! and the ribcage is looking much better now! nice!!

[Blastamon]

Hes got great form and muscle detail. Your ribcage fixes really did help out.

[luis2008]

damn. hes looking awesome. youve got some great detail going

[threetails]

wow looking ripped. i like your update, the side by side is great.

[dustbin1_uk]

Just when I think there is nothing else you can do to improve this you go and prove me wrong!!

Amazing work!!! :tu::tu:

[KrakenCMT]

Thanks everyone!

I gave him the expression that I mocked up with Photoshop earlier. I also sculpted more on the torso and gave him some hair. Still working on the hair details of the pony tail.

NerveScreen19.jpg

NerveScreen20.jpg

[Moni-Poroni]

First comment regarding the new hair:D
Really cool :) the details you´ve already added are great :tu:

[luis2008]

looks sick. i really like the skin detail in the neck. Im really liking where this one is going :)

[maxinkuk]

Stronger and stronger:tu:.
If there is one comment I'd make is that as he's got such strong muscles up from the face over to the head then you could make use of the hairline to emphasize is expression.

[skullbeast]

Wow! Amazing anatomy. I think the best I have seen for this challenge! There are just loads of strong shapes and forms! :tu: :tu: :cool: ;)

[puzzle]

I know which model to vote for now....great job!

[BARON_3D]

Wow !!! Amazing sculpt ! Great anatomy ! :tu: :tu: :tu:
_________________
SeaCreature (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=66002&page=2)

[Drakelot]

He looks impressive Kraken ... awesome pose and body ... wow :tu: :tu:

[KrakenCMT]

Moni-Poroni, Thanks! Glad you like his new hair dew! He just got back from the salon. :)

Luis2008, thank you! I've poured over photo reference and all kinds of art on the forums here to figure out how to sculpt the feel of skin. All I can say is without ZBrush Central for inspiration, I couldn't have made the skin as it is shown.

Maxinkuk, thanks! That was something I had thought about and I wrestled with the decision for a little while. Ultimately, the reason I kept his bowl shaped hair is because it has a slight religious look to it which touches back to his story and the origin of his powers from the Buddhist deity Bishamonten.

Skullbeast, thanks man!

Puzzle, :D Game ain't over yet. Still 5 weeks left and anyone's game at this point. But thanks for the vote of confidence!

BARON_3D, thanks!

Drakelot, thank you!

[jp_smith]

Kraken, this is looking bad ass! I'd caution going a little overly nuts with the striations, it tends to muddy up the solid forms you've created and kind of winds up being visual noise. I think there's a fine line between ripped and over-ripped. :) Keep up the good work on this. :tu: :tu:

[KrakenCMT]

Thanks, jp_smith! I'll watch out for that. I smoothed out the pecs area just a little.

Also, I finished sculpting the rest of the hair. I think I like this ashen color to his body. I might keep it and add a little color variation to it when it comes time to color the whole model.

NerveScreen22.jpg

[Harmonic]

Wow KrakenCMT that is looking awesome! Love the hair. Can't wait to see him with all his accessories, that will really take him to another level!

[- FoOD -]

Have to agree with JP......but man this model is looking badass - this guy could really do some damage :eek:

got some really nice movement here ....GJ :D

[nerveink]

nice sculpting!!!! the only small problem i see is it looks like his right chest muscle looks unflexed. when his arm goes up the pextor muscle should flex and move upward a lil bit.

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow...the added...hair piece is making him super Bad Ass! Your sculpt is just Top Notch! :tu: :tu:

[adroit.jr]

cool man:tu:

[wethand]

yeah, i only can agree! awesome!

[bryzol]

This is looking great! Fantastic job with the hair. I love details on this screen. Congrats and keep it that way!

[dustbin1_uk]

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :tu:

[KrakenCMT]

Thanks, all!

nice sculpting!!!! the only small problem i see is it looks like his right chest muscle looks unflexed. when his arm goes up the pextor muscle should flex and move upward a lil bit.

Yeah, I've been having a bit of a problem with that area. I don't have very good reference for someone flexing with that type of pose where their arm is up and back, yet flexing. So I'm not exactly sure what it's supposed to look like. But I'll keep working on it. I think I've resculpted that area like 4 times already. :)

[leandroloaiza]

realy nice how it look now, but the muscles fibers make them look like if does not have skin

[GregStrangis]

Not much to crit on everything looks pretty good and tense, I like the material you have on him now also, would be interesting to see what he would look like with a little added color variation to it. Keep up the fantastic work man :tu: :tu: :tu:

[dirkrulz]

your videos are highly educative, Thank You very Much.

[KrakenCMT]

I messed around more with the forearms and hands. I think I'm closer to what I want for the hands. Still way too much to do on the body - mainly the lower half and back... I think I'll start seeing what I can do about the base and then come back to the body for a little change of pace.

NerveScreen23.jpg

NerveScreen24.jpg

[willbrown1]

Zang! Chris this is getting wicked awesome! :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:

[maxinkuk]

The sculpt looks great and those hands are a fabulous sculpt in their own right. You're really working it into excellence.

[sendhilv]

Great Man I love the Pose of this guy and hand detail is awesome..... :tu: Keep it up.....

[romilkchoprazb]

Great progress man.like the pose ,keep it up.:tu:

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow, that pose and the muscles...are so wicked! This is the definitive...cool pose :tu: :tu:

[Webhead]

I hadn't been following this thread recently, but now that I'm checking it out again, I'm amazed how much work you've put into it - and, it really shows. Fantastic job! :tu:

[Moni-Poroni]

I truley love your detailed work:tu: :) The hands are awesome!
He´s looking so cool!
But I don´t want to have an accidental meeting with this guy:lol:

[gabo1991]

Chris

This is looking great. Keep it up and thank you for involving yourself in the contest and participating on everyone's threads. Keep it up.

Paul

[brettSinclair]

Wow! Looking excellent Chris. Love the pose and forms. Good job :tu:

[skullbeast]

This guy must go through staves like pretzel stix. Kinda' like a freight train with a lance in the front! Great sculpting! :tu: :tu: ;)

[rasmusW]

hey christopher!

very nice work on the hands and pose. looking forward for more.

-r

[JHK3D]

Wow! really nice model and pose!

[KrakenCMT]

Thanks for the nice comments everyone!

Skullbeast, I have just the solution for that! :) The plan was to give him a spear worthy of one touched by a God's power. But I still have to design the darn thing... But he will have a spear which looks like it could handle the punishment he would dish out with it.... That's the plan anyway. hehe. But progress has been slow going for the last week and I'll need to pick up the pace again if I want to get everything done that I wanted to get done in the next few weeks.

Here's what I have done on the base so far. It's just a start. I still need to add the stone steps and a bit of grassy texture in areas plus some other smaller rocks spread around. Then I'll repose his feet to fit.

NerveScreen25.jpg NerveScreen26.jpg NerveScreen27.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

:eek: I like the added base.. Looks very fit to the pose you've already made. Just in awe staring at the work you've done! :tu: :tu:

[maxinkuk]

Grrrrrrreat!

[Trurl]

Nice sculpting and posing. congrats.

[ivar_sn]

Amazing sculpt.......
all the best man !!!!!!!!!!!

[Gohanf22]

well this is my hundredth time seeing this thread and i think its about time i post something. dude your nerve dude is F'ing amazing. im telling the truth. its out of this world. the detail you have put into this and the time that mustve taken to do this must be immense. your doing an extraordinary job on this guy. i cant wait to see what it will be like with the base finished. :D

Edit : One more thing, the look of your nerve is very cool with the asian look for being a god. i love the asian culture and i wish i could move over there but probably not going to be able to with the money i have. i adore asian culture especially the racing over there. :cool: :tu:

Edit: P.s. - your skills are phenomenal.

Edit: p.p.s. - i wish i had your skills. right now, my model just doesnt feel right anymore. :cry:

[digichu]

You got a lot tension on your model, I like it!!
From the back it seems like the spine is arched a bit too much, oh well I'm just nitpicking....

[monstermaker]

Great stuff Kraken!

[SOLcreator]

Wow! :eek: Amazing work so far! Really great job on the skin taughtness!

No other comments, just loving your work :D

I'm back on board with my character, Knoweapon. Check it out!

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

[sazar26]

:eek: awesome anatomy bro!!! and the base is looking awesome to:tu:

[Drakelot]

Awesome pose and GRRR8 rock ... just some posing left on the feet, lol ... Xcellent Kraken !!! :tu: :tu:

[KrakenCMT]

Thanks everyone!

Moving around yet again to another part, I got more into the concept for the spear. I sketched the overall design, but still need to add more interest to the handle section. I'll get to that eventually. But I started on the spear head last night. I figured ZSpheres would do the trick for that section.

Basically I used the ZSpheres to make the basic shape, then flattened it to the thickness of the blade, then sculpted with X & Y symmetry the dragon skull. Still need to work on the blades and sharpen the points a bit more, but I'm satisfied with the initial overall appearance.


SpearHead4.jpg

SpearSketch.jpg

SpearHead1.jpg

[Gohanf22]

this is going to be one sweet ass spear. i envy your skills kracken. your damn good. i just wish some of those skills would wash on me right now. :cry:

[Harmonic]

Hey that is sweet, great work and out of zspheres too, that's impressive. It looks sharp and clean. :tu:

[maxinkuk]

More excellent work!! This are the best props I've seen in this competition so far.:tu:

[bryzol]

Yes, this is very nice wepon. Great hard surface scoulpting!

[industripop]

KrakenCMT, I see you've been using pics of me for your model. That's cool man, I won't charge ya. ;)

Seriously, I really love the raw power of this guy. I've always wanted to do an ultra-ripped character like this. The head of his weapon came out great! I've gotta get a handle on zSpheres someday.

[Teyon]

It's very cool. Reminds me a little of Joe Jusko's paintings in sculpted form. I'm looking forward to the final pose. The weight distribution seems good so once the feet are posed to sit on the stone, I know it's going to look great!

[Moni-Poroni]

WOW!! this is the ultimate perfection :)
Really cool!

[KrakenCMT]

I changed the pose slightly. I thought it added more power to it. I moved his back leg a little further back and propped it up on it's toes a bit. That gave a better feeling of the potential energy building up in his body. I bent his left knee slightly and angled his left foot more. And his left wrist was bent to allow for a better rhythm in the arm. Still need to attend to the warped muscles (from transposing) in the lower body.

NerveScreen28.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

And I thought the previous pose was already perfect..you've improved even further...and yes it does look like he's building up the power and about to crash his enemy with the new adjustments. :tu: :tu: You are the master of Transpose master, KrakenCMT :)

[adroit.jr]

just to say one thing woooooooooooo.enough.

[Gohanf22]

WoW is alll i can say. nice work kraken. :D :tu:

[dirkrulz]

cool update, very nice composition,the left foot of the character is not gripping the ground properly,isnt it?
thats a killer weapon !!!

[animastur]

Wonderfull work. It's a very strong character and strong pose. It remember me the Burne Hogarth's draws. :tu:

[maxinkuk]

I like the direction the pose is going towards, much more dynamic now. And I also like those upward toes, really good idea.

[Captain Sensible]

I thought he looked powerful enough, but great update. The spearhead looks really good too. Can't wait to see it all in place! :tu:

[brettSinclair]

This guy can punch a hole straight through my head. haha.
Loving the update :tu:

I'm just wondering about proping him up on his right foots toes. If he wanted full force of his leg wouldn't he use the full surface area of his foot? Just a thought.

I'm liking the tension of the left arm being curved over the pole.
Powerful stuff :tu:

[wethand]

this is so awesome!!!
very strong!!!
i love how the skin is stretched over his brutal hard muscles!!!

[- FoOD -]

got to agree with recent comments - pose looks really good :tu:

[MDGeist]

this is just great :D i really like this kind of charakter. fantastic modelling and anatomic skills and and a stunning pose for the character. just changed my desktop backround to this... :tu: :tu: :tu:

[Gohanf22]

blah.

[KrakenCMT]

Thanks everyone! Been out of commission for the last few days cuz I've been feeling a bit under the weather. Still am, but managed to feel well enough yesterday to do a bit more work on this guy. I did a bit more refining of the feet and thighs. Still need to get to refining the shins, and back. Also worked on the shaft of the spear. Plus messing around with matcaps for skin looks.

brettSinclair, that crossed my mind at first, but when you lift that foot up on the balls of your foot, you get more pivot motion in your hips which increases the range of your swing, which effectively adds more power.


NerveScreen30.jpg

NerveScreen29.jpg

[Gohanf22]

looking sweet kraken. i think the only crit i would see is that the left foot just doesnt seem right. its not conforming to the rock that well. should curve a little with the rock face to be more realistic. might just be me. :confused: anyway, your doing an amazing job. good work :D :tu:

[wethand]

awesome like every time!
can't wait to see this nice spear in his hand! just nice! top one!

[david_adan]

Amazing job Kraken, The material on the weapon is very nice (besides everythink else =)) is it a matCap material?

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow, KrakenCMT...that shaft's looking so wicked. :tu: :tu: amazing design and sculpt :)

[KrakenCMT]

Gohanf22, yep I haven't added the stone steps to the base yet, but when I do, his foot should conform OK. It will be flat on the step. Thanks for reminding me though. I need to work on that next.

[bryzol]

Awesome render! Great job! I whould put his left foot on the stone, now it does not look natural. Anyway whole scene looks fantastic! :tu:

[Moni-Poroni]

Really amazing! :tu:
although I don´t collect any weappons let me know when we can buy this spear in reality;)

[KrakenCMT]

Working again on the base trying to get some stones put in. I had to move his feet slightly to match. There's a small space under his feet for where the soles of his sandals will go.


NerveScreen31.jpg

[Gohanf22]

looking great as always kraken. your skills are great. :tu:

[maxinkuk]

A very imaginative base. An ancient temple carved in the rock maybe. I love it.:tu::tu:

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow, that looks wonderful...the ideas of the stone step base is quite neat. Reminding me of Japanese garden or something Very cool :tu: :tu:

[fluxist8070]

Nice pose and very strong character :D

[skullbeast]

Wow that looks great! The only thing I see is that the feet need some weight and fatty displacements where they touch. Great update! :tu: :tu:

[jp_smith]

Lookin' tough Kraken, when are you planning on adding his clothes? Wouldn't that have been easier before you posed him? Looking sharp man. :)

[brettSinclair]

brettSinclair, that crossed my mind at first, but when you lift that foot up on the balls of your foot, you get more pivot motion in your hips which increases the range of your swing, which effectively adds more power.

Ah I see. Never tried it that way(ye was testing the pose in my room :lol:)
I guess this way he could also further the reach on the pole as he thrusts forward. Good job, I'm glad you disagreed with my crit :tu:

This piece is turning out awesome. Already has that statue feel going for it :tu:

[spimmy]

Wow, that looks great, love the Pose and the way the scene is set up :tu: .

Great weapon design, love the details!! :cool:

[Captain Sensible]

This is gonna look great WHEN it's printed out hehe :tu:

[Drakelot]

Awesome work ... xcellent update on the spear !!! :tu:

[KrakenCMT]

Thanks all!

Skullbeast, Yep, haven't gotten that far yet, but will definitely make sure to make it look like he's putting pressure on his feet.

jp_smith, I've been putting off the clothes because I'm still debating on the designs. But it shouldn't be too hard to add them even after posing. A couple items will just be mesh extract right in position.

Almost finished with the base sculpting. A want to add a small bonsai tree on the side as well.

NerveScreen32.jpg

[jackdaniels666]

wow, that looks great. Looking forward to seeing the bonsai tree.

[maxinkuk]

More excellent job on the base.:tu: I thought you had finished with it, instead here you come with more goodness. It really shows that's been made with attention. It's so good that it can stand on its own, even without the character. A bonsai tree would be the icing on the cake.

[KrakenCMT]

Finished up the base by adding the bonsai tree. Ended up using ZSpheres for the tree which worked out really well. So I'll call the base done.... well until it comes time for polypainting. :)

NerveScreen35.jpg

NerveScreen33.jpg

NerveScreen38.jpg

[Nattawat_OBBI]

Looks perfect, great sculpt man :tu: