Hi Alonso, thanks for the encouragement. Yes, there are some similarities but I think there’s plenty of difference too!!
This is just an eye, but I thought I’d upload it all the same.
Jason
I was starting to wonder if you’d given up, but I’m glad to see you are still going strong! Best of luck to you.
Dondemaker,
Been watching this one among the rest for a bit now. I am glad to see more come out of this, been holding comments until now figured I’d wait til more got further along. Some times the simple concepts can be done to compete with really complicated ones and after seeing what your doing this is definitely one of those that can compete!! The exaggeration is nicely done and adds nice emphasis to your pose. Will be watching this one closely, keep it up want to see it finished by Nov. 2 
Looking good! Seems to be coming together well.
Slosh - Thanks, yes “strong” may not be the right word, but I’m still going!!
AngelJ - Thanks for the encouragement. Hopefully I will get it done in time.
And Marsyas, thanks to you too.
I’ve been thinking about the background which I wanted industrial, gloomy and polluted looking. I made a model in Silo and did a test paint in ZBrush just to get a feeling for what I’m doing. In the final version I’ll need to separate the painted plane from the industrial model (on separate levels) and bake them in order to avoid unwanted shadows on the background.
Jason
Dondemaker,
I see what your trying to accomplish with the industrial background and how it ties into the theme, though with the witch seeming to be classical/stereotypical type… I am finding it hard pressed to see them having connectivity. Now if you where to say put a hard hat on the witch would definitely tie them together nicely. Otherwise if you keeping her hat the same maybe doing something small like putting “Inspector #12” on the hat would help sell it better as well. At any rate still looking forward to more!!
AngelJ, thanks for a very valid comment and some food for thought. I had considered (see my post about 2 weeks ago) putting a “Health & Safety” label on her hat, but wasn’t sure. I think it’s rather an English thing and might be a bit obscure to many. A hard hat?? Could be an idea … I’ll chew over it for a while and work on the frame.
Thanks
Jason
Dondemaker,
Ahh then yah the “Health and Safety” type of FDA label would do well. At this stage something quick would do the trick and help you get this one finished up by Nov. 2
industrial background is very new in the contest
best luck finshing in time
AngelJ- thanks again!! At the moment I’m leaning towards putting a “Public Relations” label on her hat. Maybe that would serve the purpose better than “Health & Safety”? In the meantime, here is the frame.
Jason
Thanks UncleZ, and I’ll try my best to meet the deadline.
I am thinking that my title will be “Tricked or Treated?” - seems in keeping.
Jason
All well and good, and you’re doing a great job with that. But, ZB2 does have a perspective view. It wasn’t widely used on the PC side because you had to exit Edit mode to see it, and this jumping back and forth was too technical for a lot of users. But, free upgrades make ZB2 on the PC sort of a non-issue, so I take it you’re running a PowerPC based Mac? If so, you’re doubly in luck. Not only is there a perspective mode, you can switch in and out of it with hotkey ‘u’, and model with this on. Amount of distortion is, I think, controlled in the “draw” palette.
I prefer the forced perspective you’ve created here. It shows a lot more control, frankly. But in the future, you’ll be pleased to note that you’ve got options.
Ctrl-Z - Thanks for that very interesting information on perspective: I’ve been playing around a little. I must have mislearned early on. Also, it seems you can’t change the perspective on a whole scene, just on a model while it is still editable. Does this change in ZB3? You are right, I’m on my trusty old G4 (450 MHZ/512 MB RAM) and am struggling a little!! However, this is her last project - my new Mac Pro arrives next week so then I shall be onto ZB3 like (most of) the rest of you.
I’m working on the head texture/material/lightling. I used projection master rather a lot in deformation mode for many of these wrinkles and have pushed the mesh rather far. I’m already at 300,000 polys and another division level is too much for my system. I shall divide at the last minute when I’m ready to drop to canvas and then retouch in 2.5D.
Jason
From a technical standpoint, no. Geometry dropped to the canvas will always be reduced to Pixols.
But perceptually? Yeah. Subtools let you pretend you don’t have this limitation.
Mac Pro:
I’m jealous. Couldn’t afford to upgrade my G5, so there’s a refurbished Dell sitting right next to it.
very nice … would like to see the final image … good luck Dondemaker
Nice and simple, direct concept!
Though tie won’t allow this now, you might think about starting your characters off in ZB, using Z-Spheres. Models made with them have the great advantage over those made with primitives in that they generally have passable poly flows and usefully low poly counts. If then you feel the need to adjust some topology in Silo, do so, but you’ll already be off ot a flying start with the Z-Sphere generated adaptive skin mesh.
If you want the witch to have something more of a wicked grin, try lowering her lower lip to reveal teeth.
Cheers,
R
Thanks for taking a look and for your replies.
Ctrl-Z: Thanks again. If I had a G5 I probably wouldn’t be upgrading either, but from a G4… By the way, if you are thinking of upgrading it’s probably worth waiting a while. Word is that a new generation of Mac Pros will come out probably early in 2008. That means that you would either be able to get the new generation model or mayne get a good deal on the present model. I’m buying at the wrong time, but couldn’t wait any longer (not just for ZBrush)!
Nightwoodwolf: Thanks, I’m starting to put everything together now.
Rory_L: Thanks to you too. I will be putting teeth and I will think about the lips.
Re ZSpheres: I’m about to upgrade to ZB3 and will then rethink my workflow. A new entry to the process will of course be the new retopology feature, which I think changes a lot. I started with ZB doing everything with ZSpheres/adaptive skins. Then I tried some mechanical modelling which needed a lot of box modelling in ZB. Although it worked, it was a lot of effort and I realized that for non-organic modelling it made sense to buy and learn Silo, which I did. Since then I’ve rather “fallen into” doing all by bases in Silo. As I say, a rethink is called for.
Cheers
Jason
Well everyone, we’re into the final sprint!! I’m working hard on my final composition and, short of disasters, will be back with the final piece before evening. In the meantime, here is my final background. Painted entirely in ZB on a 2D plane with the industrial model (shown earlier in this thread) put on a separate layer in front of it. I rendered and baked and then used the glow and blur brushes to soften it a little. Much of this is covered by other things of course.
I see lots of people have already posted wonderful final images. I’ll look at them better and make some comments once I have mine out of the way.
Jason
Really nice modeling there…& The deadline is very close. Waiting to c finished soon…
Thanks Soulreaver - well, I’ve finished and will upload in a minute.
First I just wanted to say a huge thankyou to everyone who has looked at my work and made comments and suggestions, and a thankyou to Pixologic and Wacom for making this possible. I think many of us have found it’s been a huge amount of work - it’s certainly been the biggest ZB project I have undertaken till now. It’s been like an intensive ZB workshop - hard work, but very enjoyable and hugely instructive.
Good luck to everyone!!
Jason