The Spork's WIPS

[SporkFuMaster]

Been a bit busy lately, but I did get a chance to upload the new Blender the other day. I tried asking this question over on the Blender forums, but for some reason everything I try to post has to wait for mod approval (which hasn't happened for over a day yet).

My current question is how to either use or create that SSS node for use with Cycles? I still don't know much with Blender, so I feel like I'm fumbling blindly with trying to find what I'm looking for.

Also, is Dyntopo automatically in this new build, or do I have to download something more? Thought that might be interesting to try out.

[SporkFuMaster]

Went ahead and opened up Sculptris again. Trying to keep with the Halloween theme for the month. I'll see if I can finish him up tomorrow sometime.

[SporkFuMaster]

I'll get to that last one later, but I thought I'd try to test out that SSS in Cycles. It really didn't come out all that great yet. That's the fun of testing it out though. I think I need a lot more practice, but it seemed that every value that I changed just didn't make it much better. It did add a bit of color however with a translucent node slightly added in there.

The left is the one from before, and the right is after my first attempts.

[SporkFuMaster]

That previous guy needed more horns.

[SporkFuMaster]

One more for today.

[SporkFuMaster]

New sketch for tonight.

[maciej]

Scary but nice organic flow nonetheless. Well done.

[SporkFuMaster]

Thanks maciej.

And another new one for tonight. Didn't come out all that well, so I thought that maybe a cheesy short background story might make it a little better...lol. Wrote a bit more than I think I should have.

For the past 30,000 years, the Dhene-Tle (meaning Creators Hand in their language) have travelled the galactic cluster in search of planets full of non-sentient life forms. A splinter group of the Flafklent (which doesn't translate too well into English, but roughly refers to the sound that is made when their Smoootlebies flap in the wind), their belief is that the purpose of existence is the creation of new thoughts and ideas. Though the belief system is quite in depth, they decided that the fastest way to fill the universe with new ideas would be to genetically accelerate evolution within non-sentient beings to give them the ability to truly think, multiply, and create even more ideas to fill the universe with.

Though highly advanced, they really didn't seem to think through this particular idea as their current success rate has been averaged at 2.3%.

The selection process to determine which native plant or animal that will become sentient is quite extensive once a planet has been found, and their technical expertise in exogenetics is unrivaled within any of the known neighboring galaxies. Their first mistake, however, lies in their belief that they are far too advanced to make mistakes.

This leads to their second mistake. Once their genetically evolved and newly sentient beings have come out of the oven, they are transported back to the planet. After a brief, but alcohol enhanced, birthday party, they say their goodbyes and move on to the next triumphant victory for Dhene-Tle. Unfortunately, without the genetic instincts that would have naturally evolved with their new intellect, they are not equipped to deal with the harsh realities of their new home. Spending most of their time contemplating either the nature of existence, or why they were left behind, they are easy prey for even the slowest of predators on the planet.

Their latest creation was evolved from a small mouse like rodent that was chosen for its exceptional breeding abilities combined with the fact that Jrythyl the Smarty Pants won the coin toss.

[maciej]

Thanks maciej.

And another new one for tonight. Didn't come out all that well, so I thought that maybe a cheesy short background story might make it a little better...lol. Wrote a bit more than I think I should have.

For the past 30,000 years, the Dhene-Tle (meaning Creators Hand in their language) have travelled the galactic cluster in search of planets full of non-sentient life forms. A splinter group of the Flafklent (which doesn't translate too well into English, but roughly refers to the sound that is made when their Smoootlebies flap in the wind), their belief is that the purpose of existence is the creation of new thoughts and ideas. Though the belief system is quite in depth, they decided that the fastest way to fill the universe with new ideas would be to genetically accelerate evolution within non-sentient beings to give them the ability to truly think, multiply, and create even more ideas to fill the universe with.

Though highly advanced, they really didn't seem to think through this particular idea as their current success rate has been averaged at 2.3%.

The selection process to determine which native plant or animal that will become sentient is quite extensive once a planet has been found, and their technical expertise in exogenetics is unrivaled within any of the known neighboring galaxies. Their first mistake, however, lies in their belief that they are far too advanced to make mistakes.

This leads to their second mistake. Once their genetically evolved and newly sentient beings have come out of the oven, they are transported back to the planet. After a brief, but alcohol enhanced, birthday party, they say their goodbyes and move on to the next triumphant victory for Dhene-Tle. Unfortunately, without the genetic instincts that would have naturally evolved with their new intellect, they are not equipped to deal with the harsh realities of their new home. Spending most of their time contemplating either the nature of existence, or why they were left behind, they are easy prey for even the slowest of predators on the planet.

Their latest creation was evolved from a small mouse like rodent that was chosen for its exceptional breeding abilities combined with the fact that Jrythyl the Smarty Pants won the coin toss.

Nice storytelling and concept sketch. I don't like the tail though - sometimes mainstream (little green man) is good.

[SporkFuMaster]

Thanks maciej. I agree with the tail thing. I wasn't all that happy with a lot of areas on that sketch all the way around. To me it's fun practice though. What I probably should do is spend the time to come up with an actual concept for a creature/character before I start rather than just starting from a sphere with no direction. I think I'm slowly getting down some of the technical parts but the sculpts themselves may be suffering from a lack of specific focus. While it's a lot of fun to just play around with Sculptris, it would be just as much fun to take it a step further and use it as more than a sketching tool.

But, for now it's another sketch from this morning. No story to go with this one, but that might be an interesting thing to do anyway. I don't think too many people come here, so it couldn't hurt...lol.

[SporkFuMaster]

Just a regular head in Sculptris again(used a photo ref this time), but it was because I finally got a chance to use fibermesh. They made it extremely easy to use. There's a few things that I'm not sure how to do, but I'll have to wait to figure all that out for when I finally get my own copy of ZBrush.



And a quick paint and render in Cycles.

[SporkFuMaster]

Been a little busy lately, but I got a chance to mess around with Fibermesh again. I have to quit telling myself that I need to pick up Zbrush and just buy it. Just too many cool things to play around with in there.

Just a quick test with a Sculptris sculpt. I have a lot to learn with putting fur in, but it was fun to try.

[Knacki]

Been a little busy lately, but I got a chance to mess around with Fibermesh again. I have to quit telling myself that I need to pick up Zbrush and just buy it. Just too many cool things to play around with in there.

The way you work, creating so many different characters in such a short time, you will absolutely love it.
It will be a plus for your creativity and will give you the chance to bring your work to the next level with really minimum afford......after the endless weeks of learning.
Your character will look much different from each other due to the possibilities.
I am still missing the easiness of sculptris in zbrush even though it's getting closer and closer.
But it's easier to combine now.

If there is a chance -> Go for it.

[SporkFuMaster]

@Knacki Sorry about that. I thought I had replied already. I've more than enjoyed the couple of times I've gotten a chance to play around with Zbrush though. It just lets you go that extra step further. I don't know that any other program will be able to fully replace Sculptris for me, but they just come up with some of the best upgrades to Zbrush and it plays quite nicely with it. I kind of wish that Sculptris would do the same as how it used to be with all of those initial alphas and come out with smaller updates to it. 2 years has been a bit of a wait now. They say he's still working on it, so I certainly hope that he's made good use of that time.

Haven't had a chance to update my little WIP section. I've done a few things since the last time I've been on, but I thought I'd update it with my start on a Marine bust for Veterans day. Got to start on an EGA next before I take it out of symmetry.



Update with some additions.

[Knacki]

I guess you have two good chances.

1 - The free app way.

Use blender & sculptris, as you have done already.
If so, I would just focus a bit more on the finishing with bumps etc.
Your sculpts are just tiny little steps away from the "zBrush quality" sculpts due to the leck of detail.

Sculptris is often stopping you going this step, because you have to go into paint mode.
Which is one way and takes time.

2 - zBrush

If you once get used to it is amazingly fast.
You don't have to start from a sphere anymore, because basemesh creation is much more flexible in zBrush than in any other app.
You could start in zBrush for your basemesh and go to sculptris for the work you love to do in sculptris and go back.
I am still missing the artistic flow of sculptris inside zBrush - but this is not the point anymore.
With Qremesher the remeshing is fast, precise and fun:
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthr...l=1#post984487
Would be just lovely to have this remeshing process done automaticly by GoZ - with that precision

As I had the luck to follow your work, I guess the most result in shortest time is one of your approach.
Imagine what a huge amount of IMM brush parts you already created

Look for the "Organic build up brush" which is a nice compromise and gives you a bit of sculptris feeling inside zbrush.
Anyway in-between all this "zBrush Anthem" I must agree that I am still not able to create this easy artistic feeling inside zBrush what I have in sculptris.
For free doodling, for just let it happen, sculptris is the best.