Back to the Basics-Zbrush stage 2

[Tartan]

I am kind of curious. How many other folks out there besides me are Hobbyists with no planned ambitions at a professional career? I see a lot of students wishing to turn their hobby into career and I see a lot of professional graphics folks learning Zbrush for the obvious benefits but how many besides me are hobbyists? Mind you I have been playing with graphics for quite sometime. I am not an entirely ignorant person. I started with 4 programs, Photoshop, Poser 3, Bryce 3 and Raydream Studio (how many folks remember that old workhorse)which was recommended as a means of producing morph targets on Poser models. I continued in that vein for many years until recently.

Zbrush of course has spurred me on in different directions but (speaking for myself only) I found that in order for me to understand Zbrush better I had to return to the basics and relearn things I had forgotten and learn things I never knew. So I started learning box modeling using Silo. I know a bit more than I did when I started but dont think I will ever know all I want lol.

Anyway, I wanted a new character that I could have waiting in the wings til Zbrush updates and I can consistently pose him. Anyone that has set up skeletons in Poser will know why I am choosing to go this route lol.I very roughly followed Tony Jeungs silo head tutorial and extruded his torso out from the head. Once I got into it tho I decided that I would like to be able to
put a regular human head on him later because the body was taking shape. So I cut off his head and inserted back into scene as an object. I am planning on doing the legs next, then feet and hands. Once done I will save that model and then go back and add a tail. After that I think I can bring it to it Zbrush and really kick it into detailed shape. Any criticism or advice would be appreciated. Now if you made it through all that verbage here is the picture lol
Tartan

[Tartan]

o well, guess its time to extrude hands and feet. o joy. after that muscle definition, been bouncing back and forth between zbrush n silo beating it into shape

[Ron Harris]

Heyas Big T....looking good so far.

For me...hmmmm hobbyist with aspirations of becoming more than I am I guess. I only have a few years under my belt...started with Micrografx Simply 3d 3 then poser and stumbled across z in the process...about 5 years of the digital stuff under my belt now....definitely better than I was then but maybe by the time I am 90 I will be able to model a 3d sphere and have it recognized as being that but having fun learning. I may go to college when I get my kids grown and out of the house in a couple of years...they get all the money now.....but up to this point I am a self taught person for the most part. Sometimes I envy all these youngins going to school for this type work. The cool thing about z I first discovered was 2 and 2.5d tools....paint brush and the toy plastic and red color and I had instant guts and gore....then the love began Now days, it is a bit intimidating at times watching all the young talent flood the forum. I used to be a zbrush purists....(start from scratch in zbrush and finish 99 percent of all the aspects of an image via z)....now thoughthe community has changed, the works changed, the workflows changed....it is all good though...in the old days if you posted a pic or model that used an outside program you would have been crucified and then burned at the stake...now most anything goes..but that's ok too...I wish we would see more of the Grand Poobah, Pixolator's work here again...really miss Ofer's work for sure.

wow...rambled again....well keep up the work, Tartan...it's lookin really good so far.

yer bud,
Ron
catfishmn@aol.com

[Blaine91555]

I'm not experienced enough to give any helpfull advice. I am as long winded as you though and I'm also a hobbiest. I started with Bryce and played with that for a while. Then since I'm into photography got into the Corel Draw Suite and then PhotoShop CS. Bryce got boring so I tried Vue and Poser and found I wanted to do my own models. I did some looking around and decided on LightWave, Vue Infinite and ZBrush thinking it would give all the capabilities I needed. Now I'm so hooked on ZBrush I have barely touched the others. I should have mentioned that I am an artist to begin with, but all my experience was with traditional media. Pen, pencil, pastels, ink, oils and acrylics. I think thats why ZBrush hooked me as its the only thing I've found that even comes close to the freedom of a pencil or brush. Lightwave is giving me fits because everthing I make will not import into ZBrush right and I can't figure out why.
There - paid ya back for making me read yours
As to your model - looks like the final product could be very interesting.

[Zoetrope]

I guess I am a hobbyist as well. While I used to be goldsmith and sculptor, and became a multimedia developer, I never did computer graphics professionally. But I imagine that I will eventually be a professional 3D artist. Lotsto learn till then.
For now I work in interactive educational media (Web Based Training). I find that I seem to start all my projects with how I am going to get to include some Zbrush...

[rogfa]

I could never get my head around box modeling or modeling of any kind. I couldn't even model a cube (just kidding). When I started hearing Zbrush was like digital clay -- I got interested. I'm just a hobbyist myself but I'm also an aspiring concept artist and playing with Zbrush has really helped my 2D skills. Sculpture of any kind would really help 2D skills but it's so fun to just take a sphere3D and try and make something out of it. I wish I could take things further and render and animate my creations but I don't have the knowledge for that.

Good luck with your model.

--Roger

[Tartan]

Man you guys are brave souls wading thru all that verbage Thanks for the comments and it's nice to know I am not the only hobbyist out there. Thanks Ron, Blaine Zoe and Ro. Its a nice hobby to have and a hard habit to break

[Dark_Fire]

About 8-10 years ago was when I first wanted to do 3D for a career, by the time I finished school I went to uni (done the closest thing to 3D I could, I wanted to go to tafe but mum forced me to uni), which led to a different path.

Anywhos Im a hobbyist for 3D now and dont know where I am headed in life as I dont have a job (and finished uni 1 year ago), I been doing 3D for quite some time, though I havent yet learnt Zbrush but want to (too lazy).

Good to always find hobbiests out there

But I havent dove into the realm of characters yet, I mainly do mechanical type things like guns and knifes and things of that liking, thus the reason for me wanting to learn zbrush.

Anyways keep the learning up

[Tartan]

Hmmm, my last reply didnt show up and I didnt want to long wind this post
Its nice to see some other hobbyists around Ron when I look at your recent pieces as compared to earlier I see a vast improvement. You really are getting better. I am thinking that you are being more patient with it. Blaine its nice that there is someone out there as long winded as I am LOL But I guess stuck up in Alaska helps that a lot hehe. Me I am always running away from Hurricanes. Thats very cool Zoe I imagine goldsmithing and sculpting eased you into Zbrush no problem. Old hobbies work that way Rog just keep plugging away at it. Eventually you will get into position to animate it and I know what you mean about Zbrush helping 2d skills. Dark Fire, Zbrush is the best single purchase I have ever made. Picking it to do organic and character modeling was a good choice.

ok, I went ahead and extruded hands and feet on the model and a tail. I am not going to use the hands and feet tho on the character. I am just saving a crude low poly version to use with a human later. The feet are also to give me an idea of how big the boots I am going to put on him. The hands will be cut down to 3 fingers stead of 4 and will be claw tipped. I am almost at the stage where it will be all Z brush, I just have to make him a coat and a hat oh yah and boots

[Blaine91555]

Looking good Tartan. The head reminds me of a turtle for some reason. Your body proportions look great.

The secret to Alaska is taking a trip to Florida or Hawaii every winter. Its absolutely necessary to survival here.

[aminuts]

ok blaine...since winter lasts like....ummm 360 days a year in Alaska.....when do you decide to go?

ps been to both and would say....don't waste your time with fla.....hawaii all the way!!

[Tartan]

Hah, the secret to surviving in Fl is to make a trip to Alaska about the time Hurricane season starts! And yes Aminuts Hawaii is Good ! Thx Blaine, This started as a freeestyle with no reference pages. But I do have an image in mind.After I knock the first image out of the way he goes into the character bank for a trilogy I have been working on. He will be one of the good guys. Hmm and he does have a turtlish look to him. Kind of a cross between a Turtle and a toothless t rex lol

[Zoetrope]

Tartan,
Have you played with Z-spheres much?

[Tartan]

Hey Zoe, Yes I have played with them. I used Zspheres to build the first set of armor and also the head in this thread http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/sho...ghlight=Tartan I then managed to lose a ton of files in a hard drive crash. That plus the medication I was taking was making me sicker and I just fell out of the learning mode. But I am back on track now. My next attempt will be Zspheres with tweaking in Silo. And while I have built castles etc for use in Bryce this is the first character I have ever done entirely from scratch.

ok, here I have taken it into Zbrush and worked up a bit more detail on the legs etc. being self critical, the head is to small, the feet look like boat shoes and the tail isnt working for me, Still have a lot a base work to do before I can get into real detail. Any thoughts?

[Bas Mazur]

Hi Tartan, I think you have enough polygons to start detailing it in ZB. I'm curious where it ends. Maybe his backbone can run more smoothly into his tail. The body will look less human that way.