Beginning Works

[Skadalilama]

Greetings! I just picked up ZBrush last year and only recently upgraded to ZBrush 3.2 for Mac. Still got plenty of learning to do, but I’m aspiring to achieve some beautiful work like the kind I’ve seen over and over again on this site.

Being a huge fan of the movie, I figured the Cloverfield monster would make for good practice to start out. I started the head before working on the body. I will be combining them later as separate subtools. Here’s a few snapshots from ZBrush.

I need to start learning more about retopology to clean up some areas for sure. Will that take care of the seams formed between ZSpheres (such as the pronged tail)? Thanks in advance for any tips and comments!

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[thedust]

Hi,
your monster looks really similar to that on the movie: the only thing I remember good is the fingers of the hand are twisted around the wrist like the grasshopper as I read in an ‘making of’ article.
Practically, it walks on knuckles. But feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
Anyway, it’s a really good start, I like the head and the good fine sculpting of the palm.

For your question, the anser is: yes! The re-topology is used to create a lowres version of sculpted object to make things more manageable and clean when you think the sculpting is getting messy.

[Skadalilama]

Thanks for the reply! Indeed the monster does walk on it’s knuckles occasionally, but I based this mesh off of the images found in the extras of the DVD. I figured once I get the whole thing done and I’m ready to start posing him, I could transpose the fingers into that curled up “knuckle” position. I’ll be working on retopology in the near future

[thedust]

You’re welcome.
I think you’re right: even if it walks on knuckles, for modeling/sculptin purpose it’s better your pose THEN a better pose, but not necessarily on knuckles.

[Skadalilama]

Does anyone have any suggestions for inserting the head into the body? I’ve gone through the Insert Mesh process, but it’s difficult because of the large amount of polygons being used by both pieces (5 1/2 mil for the body and almost 2 mil for the head)… I’ve also tried Decimation Master, but I want to be able to clean up the neck area once the subtools have been combined…

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

[Skadalilama]

I started a new monster mesh. My goal with this one is to focus more on bone structure and muscle layout. This time, the feeding tubes under its belly will be sculpted as a separate subtool rather than the head. This way I’ll be able to pose them as well when the time comes for transposing.

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[Skadalilama]

Started learning some new techniques with the point lighting the other day. Ultimately, I want to capture the “patchiness” caused by multiple spotlights from overflying helicopters. Here’s a quick test image…

[attach=181895]Lighting Test.jpg[/attach]

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[Skadalilama]

[Skadalilama]

I’ve gone ahead and started retopology on the monster, but I’ve come to a roadblock… Can anyone give me any tips or hints on how to work around tight, pinched areas such as in between the thigh/calf and upper/forearm areas?

[Vancross]

Do it in sections and piece the two back together?

[wasa]

I haven’t done any topo work in zbrush so if i’m wrong please forgive me.
There are 2 ways I would try and tackle this problem.
The first would be to pose the character for rigging if I was planning to animate the model, as this would kill 2 birds.
If I was not planning to animate or get a better feel for the character in a pose such as this, then I would simply use the hide function on the lower leg and thigh as needed. As I have not used the topo tools in zbrush if this is not possible please forgive my ignorance. ^^

Cheers

[Skadalilama]

Wow! I hadn’t even thought of hiding the lower leg… Thanks a bunch for your input!!

[wasa]

lol np, sometimes it’s the simplest answers that elude us ^^

cheers

[Skadalilama]

It ain’t perfect, but it certainly works for now.

[EricShawn]

It’s really good! That’s your first? Amazing.

[Skadalilama]

Thanks, Eric! I’ve been practicing it for quite a few weeks while doing some reading on it in Soctt Spencer’s Character Creation book. Unfortunately I’m one of those kinds of guys who wants results a little too quickly. I’m very pleased with this new topology, but unfortunately it didn’t pick up enough detail in certain areas such as the fleshy folds in the shoulders. I’ll have to try again some other time. For now, I’ll stick with the original topology and focus on the anatomy.

[Vancross]

You don’t have to start from scratch; you can always go back and work on improving spots that you think could be better. Congratz on your first one all the same nice job!

[Skadalilama]

This is true, I probably will go back to edit this one pretty soon. Thanks, Vancross!!

[Skadalilama]

Hey again! I’ve encountered a very strange symmetry problem in the face… It actually occurred as soon as I converted the zsphere model into a mesh in the very beginning, but I figured it wouldn’t be too big an issue. There is a point in the face where the symmetrical brushes do not line up properly, but then come back together just fine in the rest of the model. Is there any practical way I can fix this?

[attach=184342]Symmetry Problem.jpg[/attach]

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[Skadalilama]

The retopology did take a while, but the results were definitely worth it. Question though… Does retopology allow for an easier “use” of a mesh with millions upon millions of polygons?.. The original monster had a little over 7 mil, while the new mesh has over 15 and a half mil, and it’s still working smoothly…

Here’s some shots of the areas that were originally very difficult to sculpt in and are now much cleaner.

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