Zbrush/Silo workflow experiment

[MrGrey]

Hi everyone, been lurking for a while and thought I would share with you a little project I am working on.

I love the ease with which you can mould 3d figures in Zbrush, but the resulting topology leaves a fair bit to be desired (hopefully remedied in the next update). Therefore I was looking for a way to quickly sketch out a 3d object and then tidy it up with Silo 1.4, using the quirky, but very useful Topology brush.

Here is where I started, by moulding an alien head in Zbrush from a 3d sphere:

Once I have the low poly head complete I intend to bring him into Zbrush to begin all the detail work.

Comments and critiques welcome, but please dont be too harsh as this is my first proper modelling project and definately my first head

Attachments

[MrGrey]

A bit of work done on the mouth.

Comments/critiques?

[aminuts]

i love silo and zb combo but your posts here really made me desire the next zb version all the more hahaha. I don’t mean that in a bad way…but your posts remind me of how much work it is…you don’t seem to notice it while you are involved in it.

Keep going…looks like he could be an interesting fella.

oops forgot to mention…you might want to make use of silo’s show 4+sided polys button…and another I forget the name of at the moment. They are fantastic at helping you quickly find some future troubles that need fixing.

[MrGrey]

Thanks for the comments. A quick/dumb question for you…where in Silo do I find the show quads/tris button?

I Remember using it ages ago, but have forgotten where…lol…it would make things a bit easier as I think I am becoming obsessed with weeding out tris and 5 sides polys

[aminuts]

under selection>special geometry

[MrGrey]

I knew it was somewhere…lol…thankyou

[aminuts]

yeah remember the rule of thumb…look in the last place first!:rolleyes:

[MrGrey]

Lol, ain`t that right Aminuts…

Anyway…here`s an update. I have been struggling with the eyes of my character (never having modelled eyelids before), but thanks to the wonderful modelling tools of Silo I think I am getting there.

I can`t wait to get this badboy into Zbrush

Oh, and the only non-quad polygon is in the nostril

Attachments

[MrGrey]

and here is a quicky Poser 6 render:

[Moochie]

Cool!

[Phil_Connors]

Coming along very nicely MrGrey - well done on figuring out how to do the eyelids! Keep it up, Phil

[MrGrey]

Thanks for the replies. Here`s another update, this time completed a bit more of the back of the head, resculpted the mouth a little, made a start on the inner mouth and began sculpting ears (and I thought eyelids were bad!!! :mad: )

As ever, comments/critiques welcome.

Attachments

[aminuts]

they aren’t bad…they just don’t seem to be blending into the head well…unless that’s the lighting. Don’t worry you’ll get it!!

you might find it easier to retop the area around the eye and add the lids into the topology as you are drawing it, then replace that part of the mesh with your knew one. Keep your eyball in there while drawing it.

am pretty sure I saw a tutorial on that somewhere…perhaps at nevercenter but not sure.

[MrGrey]

Thanks for the comments/advice.

I have begun remodelling the eyelids (still just 1 piece at the moment, not split into 2 lids) by trying out your suggestion Aminuts…redrawing the topology using the Topology brush. I dunno why I never thought of doing it this way to start with…lol

Anyhoot, heres the update:

I realize the lid still needs a bit of tidying up and splitting etc, and need to get rid of those pesky tri`s…but before I do, am I on the right track?

Thanks for your time

[aminuts]

yeah looks ok to me. when ya do the split…you could probably lose a few lines since you don’t really need that many polys for an eye…better to have them where you’re really gonna need em for good detailing in zb.

[Moochie]

The inner corners of the eyes are good places for losing a row of polys on the eyeball itself. Rather than carry a line over the eyeball from vertex to vertex on each side, find where 3 lines arrive at the eye edge from the head, then connect the end two vertices. Do that at both corners, then you’ll have one row of polys to draw over the eye, rather than two. Hope that makes sense.

The other thing you might want to consider, before taking your model into ZB, is giving your ears more thickness. You can always make them thinner in ZB after you’ve sub-divided. But making them thicker could be difficult, given that they are so close to the head and so thin.

[MrGrey]

Hi everyone…been away for a while learning how to create and apply displacement maps inside 3d Studio Max 7. Excuse the poor texture, but this was just a test…quite happy with the results.

I suppose I had better get on and finish this model…hehe :lol: