1. #1
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    Default R&D_WIP_ the tattoo project

    King Size Picture: http://www.e338.com/downloads/def_front_3k.jpg
    and also
    http://www.e338.com/downloads/def_top_1600.jpg

    Hi folks.
    Long time no post...
    Soooooooooooooo, what is it that you're looking at?
    The answer is, a mish mash of R&D, Previz, and personnal experimentations on a subject that doesn't really is, well - you might say - my cup of tea. Realism !

    Another picture...


    I've been thinking of having a tattoo for years and years now. Obviously I wanted to draw it by myself and I recently felt like I was ready for that.
    As soon as i found a crazy guy capable (technicaly) of doing something really precise, I started the design process. We also discused the way we'd work together. I asked the man about placement, tricky areas, streches, etc...

    Very early in this process, I decided I'd use what I know in CG for placement, simulation, and later on, unfold and generation of the final layout in 2D. I explained him my vision of the process, and although he was confused about what I was talking, we both agreed it was a freakin' cool idea! Eh !

    Since I wanted to do something really precise regarding the anatomy, I felt I could use a little help in order to be as close as possible to the reality.
    My work at the moment consists in doing characters for a videoGame company, Quantic Dream, and to do so, after the casting is done, we use 3D scanners of the faces as a guideline for the modelling process.
    I asked my fella Thierry, character supervisor there, if we could manage a scan session of my body and he said yeah ( I told you he's cool right?).



    Using these patches of scan, i rebuilt the entire mesh and then i created a neat geometry on top.








    After a month, I came back to Arnaud, the tattoo artist, with the design, and a rough preview in 3D to see what the placement was. He started to cry, considering the amount of work he'd have to go through. then he said to me how long it might take, and it was my turn to cry.


    He drew a simplier version of it (the main lines), and he printed patches of carbon paper to do the placement before starting the butcher work.






    The first session was a tough call, since he had to do the lines in one shot. I spent around 4.5h on the chair.


    I go there regularly to fill the stuff with black ink. When this first pass will be achieved, we'll do the same with the grey ink.

    I could have stopped here, but i felt it was about freaking time to do a proper render to see how this would really look in the end. Realism isn't a motivation and/or a goal for me. I always use 3D as a starting point for illustration, and this whole texturing/shading stuff is a pain in the ass to me, although, I confess, it can be exciting (what if i was a masochist in the end??? Neh! I can't be ! ).
    I used zbrush 3 to create the highres geometry.




    I felt it could be good for me to have something to show in this particular field, so I did my best to push the render as far as I could.
    The textures are not really highres, far from that. Except the bump and displacement, which are 4k, the rest was done in 2K only (for the face AND the body).
    Rendering was done in Maya, with SSS, MentalRay, blahblah.. the basic stuff. I did a bit of FUR (gosh I hate that) as well.
    I think this is all very close to the reality, I didn't try to improve the real me though CG. This is my head, my shrimp body... Damn !

    Hope you'll enjoy... the process, the design, whatever.

    Next stage is not in my hands at the moment. A friend of mine, very talented character rigger at Framestore, is currently working on a skeletton, rig, and muscle simulation, so I can finally manage an animation and a reel.

    Eyes are closed, yup ! Felt like it was OK at this stage to let them stay this way. I'll work on it for the animation but for now i'm done.
    Back to illustration. Back to silkscreen. No more 3D nitpicking appart from the job. hahaha.
    Cheers to you all.
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    Last edited by e338; 10-16-07 at 03:00 PM.

  2. #2
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    I thought I knew how to 3D until I saw this... astonishing.

  3. #3
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    thats cool, i actually did something like this a while back, minus the scan. Its such a great way to previs that kinda stuff. Made me ponder if it would be an application that tattoo artists could use to show their clients and convince them of placement and concept? all you'd need is a ready to go base mesh, with clean uvs, and you could just apply the tattoo in cg first! But i think from the few casual conversations i've had with one or two tattoo artists, they seemed to be very strong traditionalists and rejected it out of principle. I also really like the flow, motion and layering of that tattoo, very nice.

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    Amazing work, and a great idea. The tatoo by the way is amazing and I can see it's going to come out with the same attention to detail this project has had from the start.

    Well done, and thank you for sharing with us all.

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    wow! tattoos and zbrush.... now we are talking.... new uses!!!

  6. #6
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    Damn nice man! really nice work and a smart idea too.

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    Ha! Nice man. I was watching some TV show in the other day about this tattoo shop where people go to get their tattoos. Some very crappy stuff people put on their bodies! Some are nice but people come up with some horrible designs.

    I'm glad you are doing a meticulous study before you go for such huge tattoo. It looks really amazing man, both the tattoo design and the effort you're putting on the 3D study.
    I can't wait to see it finished!

    Cheers,
    -Kris

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    This is really nice man. What a great project!

    Did you project some of the scan patches details into the final model in ZBrush? Or it was completely hand sculpted?

    Either way it's a very nice project

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    Thanks for the fast feedback folks.



    Machado. Thanks.

    Gene_C : Cool man. Well, the scan was a cool extra bonus. Since I had to be fast on this process, it was a really good reference.

    It’s true that Tattoo Artist seems to be very traditional. I’m lucky with this one, who, after 25 years of practice, was still curious about testing something “new”.



    Dustbin1_uk. Thanks. I didn’t expect to go this far when I started. It was “just” a previz project. Then, I felt it could be good to combine researches a bit. So I decided to have fun with ZB3 on a skinny character, paying attention to minor details. Then, it was a cool way to use Maya in a more regular way.



    Skullbeast. I think we can find out millions of good reasons to use Zb. What if… what if pleasure was still number 1. hahaha.



    Kramskoi. Thx. I’ve not talk much about the tattoo itself. It was a long process to draw it and combining my passion for Yakuza style, and modern design.



    Antropus. Soul brother! Thanks a lot. I know you’ve seen some early wip of this and that you were waiting for the final stuff to come out. Well. Although the CG process was a tough call, it’s almost the perfect reflection of the tedious process it is in the real life. Ha!

    Take care man. Looking forward to seeing your next kick ass characters.



    Pedro Toledo: thanks. Nope, no projection of the scan, it was only used within Maya to match the cage, and then as a reference on my second screen. No cheating

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    awesome man! and having a few tats myself.. i gotto say.. that is an AWESOME design! hope the inking goes well!

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    Ah but I'm sure everyone who comes here will think "I'd love to have a detailed and rigged 3D model of myself to use in my work!" I know I did! I'd love to have one of those scanners to hand though I'd no doubt get depressed at the state of my body.

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    THATS FANTASTIC!

    I am a tattoo artist by trade, and that has to be the most well thought out concept to skin process i have ever seen! Its good to see people actually putting more thought into what artwork they are getting, but i think you take the proverbial cake as far as planning man!!!!!!!

    Very nice, well thought out design as well.

    If only all tattoo artists could have that level of tech at thier disposal, we would put the Dermatologists for laser removal out of business! LOL

    KUDOS!

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    Baker17. thanks man. Well, the inking goes well. Tedious, a bit painfull, but so cool in the end. Well. I’m sure you know how it feels.

    Dustbin1_uk: hahaha. Well, after the scan was done, I felt a bit depressed and I must confess I did some exercises since.

    Sugartooth: I’ve seen a bunch of people coming to the guy (tattoo artist) with a ****ty drawing in their hand. “I want that”. Bzzzz. Done. Damn… So weird to me. It had to be neat. It had to be insane. It required work… thanks dude.



    Cheers to you all.
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    Top class work and a fantasic idea, talk about suffering for your art! If this isn't top row within 24 hours I'll eat my hat. Did you paint the spec mapwith a differnt tone to achive the tatoo effect so belivable? Something really different, and I have a feeling lots of people will start adding amazing tatoos to thier sculpts from now on. The tatt looks like something straight out of 'miami ink' (I mean that in a good way)
    5 stars.

    Wayne...

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