Texture-->to-->3D object experiment.

[Extra Dimensional]

Howdy partnerZ!
I do alot of Photoshop work (play :D ) and I'd like to share with you all a way I'm developing to bring vague, flat 2D images to full 3D life using Zbrush. I create an image in Z, then export it and do some fun filter things in Photoshop ending up with an image like this... http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200309/user_image-1064182225pmz.jpg
...I then find something of interest within an image like this, and crop it out...like so...
http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200309/user_image-1064182306joe.jpg

...I edit this little portion of the image to give it a greater degree of contrast, so that it will have more "strength" when I make a mask out of it in Z.
Once in Z I make a nice, high poly item, i prefer Cube3D sphereized and divided, (thanks Pigma! You are a genius.) Then I load the texture in, and make a mask from it using the INT value under Deformation, Selection. After that is done, I deflate and inflate a little and begin modeling. The modeling usually goes by smooth like butter because the Texture acts as a guideline for you to follow. Here is the final 3D model...from two views....
http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200309/user_image-1064182643ppn.jpg
Ha Ha! Pretty Eerie eh? Thanks for your interest and I hope this can be inspirational to some.

[Frenchy Pilou]

The punk with green hairs is so cute :D
Pilou

[BertRus]

just a question.
How is it that some people can have their work showed so big, whe others can only go to 200k?

[Stonecutter]

Pretty cute technique, E/D! :tu: :cool: :tu:
(And Bert, I don't think anybody gets more than 200 kb...It just depends how you compress your image, what size you end up with... )

[BertRus]

ok now I need a lesson in compression? Will it ever stop... help? I use winrar. How do I?

[Stonecutter]

Well Bert, my procedure is to work in double-size or more, then to export a BMP file... Then I use Irfanview, which is a free graphics program to resize my double-sized BMP, following which I export it from Irfanview as a JPG...Usually, the JPG is small enough to post...
Worx for me... :cool:

[Extra Dimensional]

Bertrus, I always take my final render and open it in Photoshop before saving it as a JPEG. I start my documents at generally 900 by 1200 in Zbrush, then export it as PSD. In photoshop, I can usually save that size (with a little cropping sometimes) at around the highest quality JPEG and have it come in at just under 200K. Unless it's just a small example, then, whatever's clever. I'm not sure what you'd do without Photoshop though, and even though I use WinRar, I don't compress images with it, so I'm sorry I don't have advice there. As our good friend Frenchy Pilou would say, "the Zbrush masters will soon give the grand advice" or something to that effect... :) Just poke around the forums some, I'm sure someone can help. Good luck to you sir. It's always nice to have the highest quality image of your final render up, so much of the work and attention to detail can be lost by a low quality compression. :(

EDIT: SC's post came up while I was typing this, so I hope that helps...a veritable treasure house of Zknowledge that guy is.
:D

[Extra Dimensional]

Here is another example of this technique in action. This is a member of an alien tribe of spacetravelers known as the Chrylyss. They hail from the "Extra Dimension" to observe our ways. They eat the nectar of the DragonLily flower here on Earth. They have developed mouth's specifically suited for this task. This one is smiling BTW. ;)
http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200309/user_image-1064203144abq.jpg

Here is the source image that I used as a texture and modeled from.
http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200309/user_image-1064203235kxd.jpg