ZBrushCentral

Z4 Beta Testing By: Geert Melis

ZBrush Artworks
#61

Derek Frezno: thanks Derek -> guess you’re right -> helmets with round lenses like these have been done to death in all sorts and sizes -> let’s see how the design will blend with more of the character’s world though. :slight_smile: thanks for stopping by man :+1: .

Julian_K: Julian: “I’ve got news for you … that gum you like is going to come back in style…” :wink: . Axl is one of the main TTVOR characters when he returns to ZBC, he’ll be posed, textured and ready to kick some b*tt!

I HAVE to credit you for the alphas: you took the time to make them, you where generous enough to share them :sunglasses: :+1: and since these sketchbook pages are presented as a report of my Z-experiments, I try to make them as complete as possible.

dustbin1_UK: thanks for the great comment Mark! On Greg Mandel -> googled him up, looks interesting, maybe I should pick up one of his books :slight_smile: .

#62

I missed your updates… again… :o
Very nice new sheets!
I had no time to check out the Mannequins so far but from what I can see on your sheet it looks like a lot of fun.
The hands Marcus made are looking indeed awesome.
Hmmm… it would be no Z-urprise when hes a fantastic sculptor (show us some work, Marcus!! ;)). Im waiting for the return of Axl now. :wink:

PS: Don`t let us wait too long!!!

#63

yeah, we want Axl.
If he stalls Axl too long we just find his house, hire a few folks for a demonstration walking up and down in front of his place with huge signs saying “AXL NOW!” “GIVE US AXL!” FREEDOM FOR AXL!" and so on :wink:

#64

@ Julian_K: Hahaha… YEAH! Belgium is not that far away from me. :smiley:

Geert, look, youre a Z-elebrity ... and it wont be long until the Papara-ZZ-i
will find your house and make some pics of all the Zbrush stuff you`re hiding from us.
You better start posting now! :smiley:

#65

Moni-Poroni: I ain’t hiding nothing!!! Axl awaits finishing and his friends/enemies are in the pipeline :slight_smile: ! Z-things are going a bit slow now cause it’s busy times at work (still sculpting every day though) :rolleyes:. Still sculpting every day though :slight_smile: … we got worlds to create Moni :wink: !

Julian_K: dang man, thanks for upping the presure, makes me wanna’ go for my Wacom and continue work on him :slight_smile: ! Was thinking though… might purposely hold back on posting Axl, and see you guys in front of my house waving signs :smiley:

#66

you gotta read more carefully Geert. Nobody said WE will wave signs. we’ll just hire others to do that. I don’t do sign waving anymore in my age :wink:

#67

Julian_K: quote"you gotta read more carefully Geert. Nobody said WE will wave signs. we’ll just hire others to do that."
Oh yes… others…, but you will be one of them… only to see the look on my face… :lol: anyways, I got tha message, I’m finishing the sculpt asap!

#68

Hey Geert, When will this all be published in a book!!! Your a great help for community all over, keep it up.

#69

mutte696: thanks bud, I am definitely taking a look at getting the whole thing published, but I want to flesh out/sculpt more TTVOR characters 'n scenes first -> that’ll probably take me a year or two… :rolleyes: need more hours in a day… :slight_smile: .

#70

…recall art ! :+1:
Your tuts about The ShadowBox are little true gems! :sunglasses:

#71

Frenchy Pilou: thank you so much Frenchy: I did put some time in compiling those tuts -> I tried to balance out between “beginner kickstart” and showing some more advanced possibilities… maybe I succeeded :slight_smile: .

#72

I thought i was getting good at Zbrush before i seen this post.
I do Thank You for all the hard work you put into all this.
But geez man, you made me realize that, no matter how many years
i put into this, i will never be that good.

This should be motivating but is very frustrating to me.
I do have like 2 questions if you would please answer to try and
make me feel better.

  1. I hope you spent like a year on each sculpt you have shown?
    “**** Z4 hasn’t been out that long.”

  2. Was you born an artist or did you have to work hard at it to get where
    you are today?

  3. This question is for anyone who is reading…
    Did seeing all this amazing stuff frustrate anyone else?

Thanks, dude you are awesome…

#73

Hey man, thanks for the awesome comment! I appreciate you taking the time to drop me a line – it does keep me going :sunglasses: :+1: .

On your questions:

I’m working on these sculpts during my free time – it’s hard to say how many hours go into them, but I’m afraid it’s much less than a year… some weeks on and off probably. I do feel that I’m getting faster though; you have to keep in mind that all the stuff I’m posting on ZBC is “first time” (I have no meaningfull prior sculpting experience) -> first time classical bust study, first time anatomy study, first time character sculpt, first time model weapon, etc… . Which brings me to your second question; I consider myself to be only fairly talented and fairly skilled, so, daily hard, hard work and study help me to get to the level where I am today.

I do try to keep some things separated:

a.Study human and animal anatomy / shape analysis through drawing and sculpting: gathering knowledge that helps me to better express my ideas.

b. Study ZBrush: learning a tool that permits the expression of ideas.

Of course, there is interaction between a and b, but when you get frustrated about your works/results, take a moment to step back and see where the problem lies -> sometimes it’s due to the fact that you do not master an aspect of ZBrush, sometimes it’s due to the fact that you lack some knowledge on anatomy-> analyse and act accordingly; sometimes I spend hours studying ZBrush where necessary, but when I’m working on characters, I keep the anatomy books and the FOT human male anatomy model close.

A big thing that helps me along is this: you do not have to be satisfied with the end result of a piece you made, but you can be satisfied with some kind of progress you made (even if it lies in a tiny corner). You can strive towards a skill level/end result, but don’t forget to enjoy the ride!

Check out the links below -> contains some works I keep in my library for ref,
study and motivation:

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showpost.php?p=636755&postcount=120

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showpost.php?p=646832&postcount=602

Anyways, thanks and happy ZBrushing :slight_smile: !

#74

Hi Etcher,

               great work and damn cool hard surface sculpting! :+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:
               Thanks for sharing those videos, it's really interesting to take a look at your workflow. Regarding the sculpting process, everything appears plausible to me. What I'm puzzzling about, is how you did that red glass effect? In the video it looks as if it is transparent during your sculpting process.
               
               I was able to obtain this glass effect with BPR rendering,
               ![glass_exmpl.jpg|598x396](upload://9AOs2ShblLqHDki2hzYosiQxzLm.jpeg)
              but it only works for stills. I would like to have some glass material that shows transparency while I'm sculpting. Is there a way to do this?
       
              
              Thanks & Cheers
    
    
    
    
    __________________
#75

Great work and tutorials… THX

#76

Ecthelion: hey man, thanks for the great comment and the kudos :cool: On the red lens effect… :slight_smile: … guess I fooled you there; I used the GelShaderA that comes standard with ZBrush and tweaked it a bit -> stumbled upon it when I was working on another helmet for one of my characters; http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showpost.php?p=636803&postcount=168
was just fooling around, looking for something that “looked” okay as opposed to being scientifically accurate :slight_smile: - don’t tell anyone, okay :wink: .

Sigmund Hentze: thanks a bunch Sigmund and you’re welcome :slight_smile: … ZBrush and ZBC rock!

[attach=218258]Etcher_On_4_0_Backtrackero.jpg[/attach]

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Etcher_On_4_0_Backtrackero.jpg

#77

Okay, thanks anyhow. Yeah I also took the GelShader A for the glass material and tweaked it a bit… .

I checked your link to the other helmet as well (I hadn’t seen it before). Looks really cool with those lenses. Somehow retro, but sci-fi as well. Fits well for the upcoming Steam Punk wave (only that you did it before ;)).
Great work man!

See ya!

#78

That its a real great work, thanks for the tutorial, i really need and enyoy it.

#79

Ectelion: thanks man :sunglasses: :+1: !

vientovivo: thanks - and you’re welcome- more to come but need more time…

[attach=224767]Etcher_On_4_0_Backtrackero.jpg[/attach]

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Etcher_On_4_0_Backtrackero.jpg

#80

awesome