Mecha-Lisk WIP

[Dragon]

Um, that's alot of work... damn!

[Gary Komar]

super HS stuff here !!

[KC-Production]

amazing hard surface sculpting - just stunning and I totally love it!
Looking forward to the end result, keep it going and have fun sculpting!
Cheers,
- Kenny

[Clintus Maximus]

Mech Ultralist!?!? Awesome

[Mr.Spooky]

Thanks for all the positive comments guys.

Here's a few shots of the carapace and some simplified workflow.




Most of my workflow is nothing new. I'm sure many people are familiar with Mike Jensen's Eat3d hard surface tutorials, and if you're not, check those out for a more in depth look at his techniques.

However, one thing that held me back and took me a while to control was poly count. My machine is nothing special and I run a 32bit system, so keeping my polys down took a while to figure out. The technique I used most is at the bottom of the pic. I could work on my sub-tool at a poly count as high as I wanted (844k in the ex) re-dynamesh to smooth it out a bit and get it looking the way I wanted and in most cases lowering the polys down by at least half before decimating.



Another way to lower the polys that I used a couple times was to mask the back of the duplicated sub-tool and dividing/re-projecting the unmasked areas to project the detail. Basically, just duplicate the sub-tool, re-dynamesh at a low res, project it onto the high res, mask the back and other areas you don't need detail. Then project as you divide up. I found the other way to be a bit quicker though, although this method has the potential to get an even lower res mesh.


And a BPR render, not a whole lot more to add to the model, I was gonna add a couple arm cannons just below the claws, since the SC2 ultras have 2 sets of claws, but the model's getting a bit dense and I'm getting tired of working on it. I might try and pose it and do a better render (although pressing the BPR button is about the extent of my rendering experience)

[Gary Komar]

great workflow and detail !!

[FatherO]

Wow man. Awesome! Especially awesome considering the low spec hardware you're working with.

I watched Eat3d hard surface 2, but havent taken a stab at any hard surface in ZB yet. Seeing stuff like this really makes me want to though!

[KPtoons]

Really awesome workflow! Thank you for sharing

[nitrox721]

this encourages me to start with hard surface modelling in zbursh
really nice work and maintaining of polycount

[Mr.Spooky]

@ Gary Komar - Thanks man, I'm a fan of your work. Think I started messing with the insert mesh brush more after seeing one of your posts.

@ FatherO - Thanks, glad you found it inspiring. Get to stabbin that hard surface! Love seeing other hs work on these forums.

@ nitrox721 @ KPtoons - Glad you guys found the workflow useful.

[Dragon]

Mr.Spooky (your name here fits you well, considering how 'spooky' you work i.e. such clean models-). You know, read through your tips and it seems there is no way around it, retopo is the way to go (seen other artists work almost in a similar fashion-as you point out). Can't wait for QRemesher. Many, many, many thanks for taking the time out to do the tute. Looking forward to the final render. Best, Dragon.

[EZRA52]

Love your hard surface work here Mr. Spooky. I'm thinking of getting one of the Mike Jensen Hard Surface CD's. Would you recommend one of them over the other if someone were just planning to get one of the two?

Ezra

[Mr.Spooky]

Hey guys, it's been a while. Haven't opened zbrush in several months and I didn't want to forget what I've learned, so I started a new project with a similar theme to my last. A little zergling mech-head with a little poly-paint.

[haz3y]

Wow, stunning work. Great use of HS on biological subjects.
Can't wait to see what you'll post next

-haz3y

[SammehSAMURAI]

quite an epic robo machine! nice hard surface technique! thanks for sharing!