Action Hero (Non-Entry) - Apophis (Hero/Villain)

[Audiodoc]

Non-Entry
This thread is for participation only, and is not eligible to place.


I didn't make the deadline for the Action Hero contest, but I'd like to finish this WIP anyways. I'm new to 3d and this will be a good learning experience for me. I'd love any and all helping comments and crits along the way. Some of you on here are truly amazing artists, and I only aspire to approach the talent on these boards.

With that said, he's my back story and initial project images. Thanks!

Yours Truly,

Alexandra Jameson, Chief Physicist - Apophis Anomoly



Name: Apophis

Special Powers: Quantum, extent not yet known.

Special report to SecDef, Top Secret, Alexandra Jameson, Chief Physicist - Apophis Anomoly:
Apophis was the greatest scientific "discovery" in the history of mankind. The power to save and the power to destroy.

We didn't see it coming.... we had know way of knowing that our experiements to help mankind, gave birth to our biggest threat.

The Apophis Event occured at 1430 on March 22nd, 2017. The lab was completely destroyed, along with the 3 square miles surrounding it. Myself and some of my team made it out safely, however we lost many good men and women that day. There was only one survivor, but he wasn't one of ours.

A man, we thought at first, an amazing survivor of the most horrific disaster our species has ever seen. He was scared, afraid. It was like he was seeing the world for the first time. He had know memory of who he was, but exhibited amazing intelligence. We ran a variety of tests and we found we had something far more than we could have imagined. His resistance to heat and cold we unfathomable, all of his senses seemed hightened to an almost superhuman level.


Then the army decided to try to see what made him tick. That's when it all went wrong. They tried to take him from our facilitiy, but something happened. We still arent sure what, we cannot explain it. He seemed to react to the violence in an almost instinctual way, like he knew what they were going to do. He became a different person, something terrifiying. The ground shook and the room began to feel dead, like something had sucked the energy from it. Apophis as we called him, attaked the soldiers, but we don't know how. Maybe some kind of energy or gravitational force. He was able to completely manipluate the world around him. Pick up objects, even dismantle them with his thoughts.




It was almost as if he had control of the very atomic structure of the fabric of time and space.



As you know by now, he has escaped and the army is tracking him. I emplore you to not take deadly measures, he can be taken in peacefully. Please Mr. Secretary, I'm asking you to give him a chance, put me back on the project.




Yours Truly,

Alexandra Jameson, Chief Physicist - Apophis Anomoly

[Audiodoc]

CONCEPT ART
conceptyf0.jpg

Base Mesh
charactersheetformatlo6.jpg

[Audiodoc]

Started some initial sculpting on the Upper Body...

characterstripupperze2.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

Hey there, welcome to the contest... The base is looking fine so far. I think you are on a good path :) Can't help but notice..you are working on quite a high level of subdiv. In my past experience, I think blocking out form with Move brush and Clay brush at lower subdiv generally yield quite a good result and much faster than starting to sculpt at higher level. But yours seem to be coming along fine.. Can't wait to see your next update. :cool:

[Moni-Poroni]

Hi :) welcome to this challenge.. nice to meet another female Newbie here ;) You´re absolutely right.. you´ll learn so many things here like nowhere else :)
Your start is pretty good...
Kind regards. Moni

[Audiodoc]

Started to define some of the muscle groups on the chest and arms. I haven't touched the back yet so ignore the lack of detail please :rolleyes:

1.jpg

[Audiodoc]

Update:

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[Gohanf22]

nice update mate. it is a shame you werent able to make it in. well, we will give our best advice to you nevertheless. btw, apophis your character isn't taken after the apophis from Stargate is it? :idea:

[Audiodoc]

Nah I ripped it from the Asteroid that's supposed to hit earth in 2037 :D

[Audiodoc]

Decided to completely redo my WIP since I wasn't that far along. I had way to many glaring anatomy issues.

Anyways, here's where I am now on the new version.

Can I get some critiques on anatomy? I'm a nub so go easy on me!

[SolidSnakexxx]

Hello there, Audiodoc. I think the work here so far's looking pretty nice. I think the abs area 's just a bit too wide for this frame....the bicep's a tad too small comparing the forearm...but this can be adjusted rather easily... but the rest's looking cool. Look forward for more... :)

[Audiodoc]

Another Update: Refined Frontal Muscles and Started on back.

Next is shoulders/arms/clavicle area.

1.jpg

[Audiodoc]

Another:

1.jpg

[Audiodoc]

Finished a first pass on the legs.

I'm still not sure what kind of outfit I want to setup for this guy. I have never used Mesh Extract or anything so I'm not sure how complicated it's going to be to get done. Being my first Zbrush project though I might want to try a bit of everything.

Well here it is so far:
1.jpg

[Audiodoc]

Update: Trying out some costume and pose ideas. Hands still aren't done, scared to touch them lol.

1.jpg

[Audiodoc]

What does everyone think so far?

[Audiodoc]

New Renders of Torso and Legs, I'm going to completely redo the head/neck as they were not proportioned correct.

Hard to get comments in this joint :P

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[Audiodoc]

New pose, going for a much more dynamic pose. Going to work on hands and feet next.

1.jpg

[Audiodoc]

Any particular reason for lack of comments?

[wethand]

do you write any comments or suggestions?

[Audiodoc]

Yah, I do, why?

[DAnconia]

Sometimes it just takes a while to get it up and started.

The model seems a bit too lumpy. I would go down to the lowest subdivisional level and delete all the higher subdivisional levels. Get all the forms down first without any detail. Switch your material to a flat colour and if the profiles look good to you then go to the next level and add some more forms. You dont want to jump up to the highest level when you first start out. For instance, i started this competition from day 1 and i still havent fooled with the highest sub d level cause not all the forms are there yet. Take it slow.

If you dont want to do that, then smooth out all those deep grooves in the muscles. They are a bit too severe. The buttocks muscle is a bit too long. The thigh should have more of a cylindrical shape. The knee is too pronounced. Or the shin is pushed too far back. Also push the chest back a bit.

Hopefully this helps.

[SolidSnakexxx]

I kind of like the latest pose you posted...But would love to see the hand gesture....as it would mean a lot to the pose you suggested. The overall model's coming along, but like DAnconia has mentioned, if it's a bit more defined in terms of form...it would also help when posing as well. But overall very fast progress. :)

[Audiodoc]

Thanks for all the comments guys, this is a learning exercise for me after all so it's good to hear the crits.

Does anyone know a good technique for hands? I see some people start with mitten type hands and somehow flesh them into seperate fingers. The base mesh I used with this wasn't laid out for hands well, it seems almost impossible to form them.

[SolidSnakexxx]

Hey there, Audiodoc. There are quite a few ways to do hands. Some might use the ZSphere to build the entire model with hand attached. While others would do hand separately as ZSphere then connect together using Retopology tool. And some would create the mitten type hands at very low res..and use edge loop to build up fingers... So there are some choices there.. :)

[Audiodoc]

I never knew you could connect body parts after the fact!

Is there tutorials around for sculpting hands using the mitten or retopo tools?


On a side note, I just invested in all of the RS_Matcaps, Absolutely amazing materials. What material type do you guys usually use when sculpting? I've generally used a fast shader but maybe now a new clay one using clay, clay tubes and smoothing. Still learning!

[Audiodoc]

Took your guys advice about low subd Sculpting, already see a difference in the form, I restarted from my base mesh, here's where I'm at so far.

How are my proportions looking atm?

Something looks off to me but I can't put my finger on it.

1.jpg

[DAnconia]

Make sure to not neglect those hands. Put the same amount of time you did into them as you do the rest of the body. It will pay off.

The adams apple needs to stick out more and the back of the neck needs to be pulled out more. The ankles and feet need to be widened. The shin needs to melt into the knee better. The back of the legs should be flat and the front of the thigh needs to be brought out more. You could also give him some more height to his shoulder muscles.
Everything else looks fine.

[Audiodoc]

Playing with some pose ideas, going for that classic flying superhero look. He's going to be firing some kind of energy from his right hand.

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[Audiodoc]

Here's an update, did the first pass on the hands. It's my first time attempting hands in 3D, I think I did decent, it's only @ 2 SubD atm so just basic form.

1.jpg

[Audiodoc]

Updated render, getting there!, problems with hands and some poly stretching, prolly gonna have to retopo soon.

1.jpg

[Audiodoc]

I'm having all kinds of issues with my mesh, my symmetry isn't working properly, when I model the face without the pose layer on and then apply the pose layer, it's completely deformed. Anyone got any ideas?

[Ismail W]

So far so good.;) The only thing I'd recommend if you're having trouble with symmetry is to go to an earlier saved version of your mesh and work off of that one.:) Keep them updates coming.:)