A Shark and many questions

[jonnybravo]

This is my latest project. It's fully done in Zbrush and it's gonna be part of a 3d still along with a "victim" seal. Now the model is almoust done but i came to standstil cause i need to find out some things.

1.The full proces of normal mapping from creating it in zbrush and importing it in max( i've gone through the tutorial in zbrush about creating normal maps but i understand that there are many other ways of doing that and i dont know which is better).
2. Does the normal map bring a lot of improvement to the moving/rendering in max and is there any loss of quality in the process.
3.How do i create a bump map.
I know these are a lot of questions but what can i do..... i'm not understanding the process......
Can anyone help me......pleaaaaaaaaaaaase?

[MadNaja]

Hi! Great work.

1.- Use Zmapper to generate the normal maps...there is a video somewhere here in the forums, that teaches how to use it... or you have the PDF.
2.- Normal maps are fantastic, sometimes I only use normal maps and no displacement map... saves alot of time without having to smoth the model many times...
3.- First choose the bump material...its on the materials directory in your zbrush directory, then, go to the projection master and choose the bump tool.

Hope it helps...

[jonnybravo]

thanks for your help it certanly helps . Unfortunately after posting this question i found out that normal maps don't actualy modify the geometry. So i think i need to go towards displacement mapping . The thing is i don't want to lose from the quality of the model and i want to use 3dsmax to render. But at the moment if i import the mesh which is at 350.000 polis my comp crashes and i intend to make it somewere aroung 1.5 mil polis. How do you guys render? I'm sure that many of you faced the same problem at one time or another. Does the displace map prevent my comp from crashing, or do you you another method of importing into max?

[jonnybravo]

a texture update




Are the colors right? I also made some modifications to the geometry to make it closer to a real shark. I probably watched a couple of hundred pictures with white sharks since i started this project.

[aurick]

You don't send the high resolution mesh to Max. You send a low resolution mesh, along with a displacement map. While animating in Max, you'll only see the low resolution model. When you render, you'll see the full detail.

There are tutorials built into ZBrush and in the ZBrush 2 Practical Guide for how to create your displacement maps.

[jonnybravo]

Yup i'm gonna do that aurick since i dont have much of a choice, thanks. Um... another small question: do you know what can i do about that white line near the fin. I've painted countles times over it and when i project it it still apears. Is that only fixable in PS?
And no C&C people? I don't think it's that good

[--E--]

A suggestion for your white line on your fin.

Sometimes when not in best render mode and with Quick edit mode turned on zbrush doesn’t display your textures to their fullest. Try viewing it in best render mode and see if its still there

[jonnybravo]

Its still there E. I'm not sure what happens. Sometimes when i project some details ither lines star to apear on the body(all the time in the same places) but at least those are fixable



Minor update: i finished the color map of the body and started the inside of the mouth. Not much of an update but i mostly posted this to wish a happy new year to everybody and may the 2006 bring your wishes to reality... oh and may lots of cool madels rain from your imagination to zbrush's canvas . hmm... i better get going the party is about to start

[Ron Harris]

C and C...
first...kewl model

needs a wetter material

too dry looking

you have put alot of work into it..it shows...

teeth and inner mouth cavity work look good

its either a young shark or a male shark...

if it were mine I would make him a bit on the fatter side....never seen a shark in the real world only on tv, but they always seem to have those bellies full of goodies etc...makes them even more ominous, onerous and ferocious (sp?) looking....you are well on your way to a awesome model though. Alot better than any I have attempted for sure.

and the 3dmax questions I don't know to answer...Aurick is the brain of brains around here I guess...so his words will be a safe bet for sure.

ron
catfishmn@aol.com

[jonnybravo]

Thanks Ron

i'm not that good at materials as a matter of fact the rendering isn't a strongpoint of mine too. The next image i'm posting is just a plain screen capture

yup i had worked a bit on it. The hardest thing to do was the fact that i copied a real animal not a fictional creature and everybody knows how a white shark looks like so it's kinda hard to make him photoreal

I must confes that you're right on the fact that he is a bit slim. I'm gonna finish up the texturing and try to fatten him since its an easy modification

a bit of an texture update(i'm updating so rarely cause i have a big exam at the end of this year and in most of my time i'm studying)

[jonnybravo]

it's been a long time since i updated. The shark is almoust copleted

here's an update wich i should have posted a week ago



and here's the final update with some bump mapping going on



the model is almoust ready. I need to make some specular maps for him and import it to max for the rendering. I'm not sure if i can render in zbrush. I want to simulate a photorealistic underwater enviroment. If it is posible please tell me cause it will be much better than going through normal maps displacemant maps and all that kind of noncence to import it in max

[abone114]

awesome!! chief brodey needs to watch his back! great texturing!

[Ron Harris]

looking good...this might help a little...

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/sho...ater+challenge

looking forward to more

ron
catfishmn@aol.com

[jonnybravo]

thanks abone114 . I'm triyng my best. This is actualy my first complete texturing in zbrush

Ron Harris Thanks again for all your great help . I saw that link. The final image is not quite what i want but its getting there and it's showing me that zbrush may be an alternative for the final render. I just hope i learn how that is done cause at the moment i cant even creat half of that underwater enviroment. An important feature wich i want to reacreate is that reflection in the water above the shark like here



aniways i get it that a photorealistic underwater enviroment is possible in zbrush and thats all that matters. I'm getting to work on studiyng tutorials. Thanks again for all your help.

edit :hmmm i browsed the net and this forum but i didnt find much on this topic

[graffb]

That's great!
I like the shark and this modell very impressiv and detailed.

B