I just wanted to say a few things about Anh, not just as an artist–but as a teacher and a human being. I am a 15 year vet of feature animation…and have been struggling to find “my” 3D program. I took Meats’ class last term (he is great!) at Gnomon but, truthfully, hadn’t much of a chance to play around with it. For me, it was a bit daunting–the navigation of a new interface and the complexity of displacement maps…
Anh suggested I attempt to build a particular model in ZBrush and encouraged me to watch Zack Petroc’s DVD. He shared his very limited tool palette, showed me how to use photo references with ACDSee and broke ZBrush down into the most simplistic way for sculpting the human form. I didn’t need to worry about superfluous program details that were overwhelming me…I just needed to know how to sculpt. I built a simple poly head in Maya and imported it, and began to play. I quickly mastered the camera (which had been such a nightmare…) and I am finding–instead of asking for help–I am finally doing the trouble shooting myself.
Anh and Meats have introduced me to a whole new world…
I feel so fortunate to have found my ticket back into the industry.
Although I am the one with the work history in entertainment–Anh has become my mentor. He has raw talent…in sculpting, drawing and painting. He is kind and generous…he has shown me such patience and guidance.
He is a hard worker and a pleasure to be around.
I will happily introduce him to everyone I know in the industry–I have already started to brag about him to anyone and everyone who will listen.
If you are interested…you’d better snatch him up soon.
Success couldn’t happen to a more decent guy.
I thank you for all your help, Anh…I will be forever grateful.
Jamie Bolio
Very nice 3D-sculpting, you are very talented person.
I love the shader in the woman’s eyes, would you mind sharing the properties of the material you used?
i never knew posting your work would be so exciting, thank you everyone so much for everyones crit and comments
well id like to answer some of the questions everyone had…so ive included the topology for my models…for the guy, i actually started that off as a patch model, i spent literally spent months on it trying to get the details, it was always hard for me to keep working on it cuz i kept thinking it was a waste of my time, well after zbrush came around, i converted my mesh to a low rez poly mesh, LOSING all of my details that i did in nurbs…but i kept a positive mindset, so i spent another week learning topology and redrawing it on my mesh…i know i kind of overdid the topology for a base mesh, but it was a great learning experience…then i brought it into zbrush and thats pretty much how i got started to learn to sculpt.
after that model, i started on the torso, this was initially started off in zspheres, but as i continually modeled, i encountered a lot of pinching and some of the surfaces didnt have enough resolution, so i decided to import that in as a low res mesh in maya and redo the topology, this time i didnt go too crazy…although, meats showed us a script in class that someone wrote in this forum that allows you to control the res with zspheres…ive yet to experiment with this…but anyhow when i was redoing my topology, i decided to import my reference images to compare…and boy was off…so i adjusted the proportions and realized it was just quicker to use maya to start my base mesh instead of continually eyeing in the major proportions in zbrush…but when i want to do a model that is not entirely realistic, using zspheres is the way to go…much quicker and more freedom
ok so after that i watched zacks dvd and decided to start my midget model his way…it really freed up me from all the technicalities and let me worry about them later…however when i was beginning to sculpt the head, i had trouble with the ears and part of the eyes becuase there were no edge loops…the picture of the ears if included shows one without edge loops and with edge loops, i dont know if you can see the difference much but by just simply adding in edge loops you can get a little bit more detail, and in the ear, youll need as many quads as you can get! so yah i do use edge loops in my heads now
ryan and miguel - thanks for your posts, great to hear from you guys again, i was always trying to catch up to you guys…thanks! congrats on your new jobs at pixologic and luma!
meats thanks for your kind words as well, you gave me confidence in posting my work…to an aspiring artist, it means a lot from a veteran
and jamie, boy did you write a lot! haha but many thanks…your words are very sincere…i just wanted you to know you have a world of talent as well, i can see that in your drawings and sculptures, its proven through your work experience…i was excited to meet someone at gnomon that was going through what i was doing through, i had the same problem with learning software just as you so i can relate and understand…dont worry we’ll get through this, its only time when your skills will adapt to zbrush.
Zbrush is truly the greatest sculpting software!
to end, heres what ive been working on as of late, im a big fan of anatomy so im trying to memorize all the muscles and stuff…just so i can sculpt faster…i dont know why i started detailing the face first, i think i just wanted to make sure i can make it look like muscles and not an ordinary face with deformations…well i dont know how long this will take me, im still a student taking classes at gnomon, lotsa projects…so ill only get a few hours a week to spare on this study…but ill be sure to start a new thread when im finished! enjoy!
anh
oh i forgot
the eyes for the head were just sculpted, like rodin’s style…no shaders
just make a whole and pull out a little point from under the top lid to represent the highlight of the eye…simple as that!
It is a wise decision to throw in edgle loops where anatomy seems to be extruded. Any looping before the actual sculpting takes place is key for anything efficient. You are a good modeler.
P.S. Your starting point for that last face is deeply similar to what I have tried. Is it because we share a last name?:lol:
I have all of the Z-Brush DVD’s from Gnomon but i dont understand the whole " xyzshrinkwrap script " way of doing things ,would anyone know how to do this in Lightwave ?
Here is a sample of what i have been working on using Lightwave & ZBrush
XY_Shrinkwrap isn’t the most common function in the world. I think XSI might have something equivilant, but that Max and Lightwave do not. The next version of ZBrush apparently removes the need for it, so my advice is to be patient.
But if patience fails, I’d ask around on Lightwave-specific forums. Or start a new thread here with Lightwave in the title – you’ll have better luck fishing for Lightwave experts if you target them directly.
Thanks Anguyen for your information…there’s indeed a world of difference between the topology of your models, the guy-model seems as good as complete before the Zbrush treatment, the torso seems to have its definite form also,…but the midget,…thats something else,there seems to be only basic
mesh" information" to work with, i had expected a nose and/or extruded ears !
Am i to understand that you pump as much polygons in the model and then start pushing and pulling with the move-brush and to a “lesser” degree working with the draw-brush ?
I ask this because in your latest anatomy-model the level of subdivisions made
the fingers look like tiny sticks…if there was more mesh in the first place it would take lesser time to model them, or am i missing something ? ( and i don’t mean your obvious talent 
)
jantim
jantim
well i usually try to work the overall shape before concentrating on one particular area…but in this case i just got interested with the head before i should have…but you can always work back and forth between subd levels and thats what i usually do…i try not to worry about having to sculpt things by saving time through adding more geometry in the area before i subdivide it…with low geometry, subdividing willl definitely smooth out the model…but its okay…its good practice to sculpt things back in…i usually use the standarad brush tool to sculpt…i only use the move tool to move things i already sculpted, lets say i sculpted the ear and it needs to be moved out or inward…thats when i use it…other then that i try not to use it to sculpt because itll remind me so much of moving cvs around in maya! for tight areas like the fingers and toes, i use the inflat tool…so thats pretty much about it, i never use the pinch tool to make wrinkles cuz it seems like it just pinches the geomtry and makes things overlap…thats bad…so i just mask an area and move the unmasked area over it and smooth it out…then you get your wrinkle…hope this helps…
by the way anthony, the xyshrinkwrap script in maya is similar to what zbrush has when you import a changed mesh into zbrush with your current mesh on screen…itll just conform to the imported mesh…i would know what to do in ligtwave…cntrl-z is right, you might wanna try a more specific forum with lightwave users
anh
im really impressed for what u learn in such amount of time u must have some really good teachers
my question is where and how i could take the same classes
j0sev81
i took meats zbrush class at gnomonschool of visual effects, located in hollywood…he teaches a few zbrush classes there so check the schedule, great class, he covers so much in so little time…
also, what i deem more important than learning the software is focusing on your traditional skills…ive taken 2 of john browns sculpting classes (also at gnomon) and im glad i did…he really stressed anatomy and the importance of taking time to look…thats exactly what i do, spend most of my time looking and examining when i sculpt/model…
before that i did a lot of traditional painting and drawing in college…i got into digital painting about a year ago when i got my first tablet, 4x5 wacom graphire3…i stll use it to this day…i wish i could get my hands on an intuos3 though…
i find that everything i did structurally paved the path to zbrush for me…i find that zbrush incorporates all 3 skills, drawing skills enable you to learn to look, painting skills allow you to work with strokes and laying them down confidently…and sculpting in clay teaches you how to apply those 2d skills in 3d…when you add all these 3 skills together, youll definitely do well in zbrush…i promise if you just spend the time, itll reveal itself to you…
but if you want to get hacking away with zbrush and start sculpting, check out meats’ and john’s, and zack’s dvds at www.thegnomonworkshop.com
i had the opportunity to view them and they are pretty much exactly what was covered in class…they are great to have as sources…they teach you so much about workflow…and workflow is really important in the entertainment industry
anh
Ooh. Good tip – I’ll have to try that tonight!
J0sev81:
I believe Gnomon is the only school actively teaching ZBrush at this time. It’s expensive, but the one on one interaction is will speed up your learning like nothing else.
If you take the fast track, it’s not as much of a disruption to travel for it – same content either way. The key differences being how much time you have to practice between sessions, whether there’s time to bond with the other students (and make powerful connections, apparently), and how long you have to wait before they cover exporting and displacement maps.
I live relatively close, but chose the fast track because I was impatient. I wanted to get through the material as quickly as possible. I’d like to go back sometime after the new version ships, take my time with it, and also devote some hours to helping the other students, because as I grow more active on the various ZBrush forums, I’ve found that helping people reinforces my own learning in ways not otherwise possible.
The DVDs are an excellent review for me between now and then. And while they’re no substitute for asking your questions in person with an expert, it’s as close as you’ll ever get in that pricerange. 
…that last statement’s not entirely true. I got a chance to ask Aurick lots of questions at Siggraph last year for free. But that was more hectic, and he didn’t have time to explain the basis for his answers. If you want to know why everything works, and get yourself in the proper mindset to solve any problem in ZBrush, the Gnomon class and DVDs are by far your best options.
Anh:
Do you think a ZBrusher would benefit from John’s analog sculpting DVDs without actually having clay to play with? I don’t have an environment I can sculpt in, so I’d have to follow along digitally. I’m guessing a lot of the techniques transfer, but that they’re no substitute for actually getting your hands dirty…
Thank’s for your information Anguyen !
I hope you will post us a Z-script if you have the time…must be interesting to see you work,…and before you are whisked away by a Big-studio and you are chained to a computer
jantim
Beautiful work! I like the fact that you did a dwarf! No one ever does them except in RPGS.
I also find it fascinating to see a great interest in learning anatomy these days as tools like Zbrush make their way to the market. I great deal of anatomical indication in your work. My only suggestion is to take it one step further and have an even greater understanding of anatomy (going to the extent of learning the names of the bones and the muscles). I disagree with Zac Petrocs’s statement on his DVD about not knowing the names, its important to know the names as they tell you what they do and their function.
[http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/attachment.php?attachmentid=5582](http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/attachment.php?attachmentid=5582)
Looking at your female sculpt here I can point you to some reference that might help understand the female anatomical structure as its very different from the male’s skeletal and muscle structure.
[[img]http://www.reybustos.com/images/Forum_images/Debbie_Body.jpg[/img]](http://www.reybustos.com/04er/DVD_Ecorches_/Betty_Body.htm)The other thing I noticed is that you have male and the female both raising their arms. The back and the front look decent, but the “sides” need a little bit more of a look. The Lats insert into the arm pits along with the Seratus muscles. The lats attach to rear point of the Pelvis (until you learn the names I’ won’t use them)
When the arm gets picked up even higher watch what happens. Cool huh! The as my instructorand co-author Rey Bustos says ," Isn’t that AMAZING!"
[[img]http://www.reybustos.com/images/Forum_images/Seratus_Lat.jpg[/img]](http://www.reybustos.com/04er/DVD_Ecorches_/Arm_Raised_Upper_Torso.htm)To anyone who just finished reading through Crossbones’ post, make sure you click on each of the pictures there – they lead to very nice Quicktime VR turnarounds…
Crossbones:
Zack’s statement can be easily taken the wrong way – I don’t think he was saying we shouldn’t learn anatomy thoroughly, but rather that once we know it, we can simplify a lot of that information internally. He showed a way of thinking that was useful for him, and which I think will be great to have in the back of my mind as I go about studying.
I would rather tell people to ignore the muscles you cannot see, the deep stuff in the forearm for instance. I think Zac is a great Artist and he knows his stuff, I just didn’t agree with his statement. Knowing the labels to the muscles and bones are very important they tell you what they do.
great post crossbones!!! many thanks
yes, im definitely a student of anatomy…and your crits and comments really help…so far ive taken one figure drawing and recently 2 maquette sculpting classes…and none has really gone in depth to a large extent in focusing on muscle anatomy…i find that as i sculpt or model, i rely too much on surface detail and often rely heavily on reference material
i feel drawing and painting the figure and even sculpting it can only get you so far if you only focus on the surface of the figure…i find myself thirsting for the underlying principles of human form…muscle anatomy, and how it changes with movement of the figure…for this affects surface detail…trying to depict realistic human anatomy is difficult though, you cannot just focus on the principles of muscles alone, for body fat and other tissues are involved in forming the figure…
in relation to Jantim’s question about whether watching a sculpting dvd and following along with it digitally will help? in relation to workflow, yes, but i strongly believe most sculptors and even modelers will agree sculpting traditionally is much harder and one needs to train ones hands to make it register…doing it digitally will only get you halfway there…i have a deep and profound respect for traditional sculptors…imagine if they all went digital, we’d all pretty much be in deep trouble!
anyhow to say the least, i will definitely want to take rey bustos sculpting class someday…seems like hes a knowledgeable instructor indeed…but for now ive enrolled myself in one of karl gnass’ figure drawing classes…just need to take a break from sculpting traditioanlly for awhile and sharpen my other skills
and about zack’s comment on his dvd, i think he was just trying to get the message across that understanding how muscles connect in the human body and how they interact was the more important matter at hand
thanks crossbones and cntrl-z for this discussion, ive learned a lot from this
well getting back to zbrush, jantim…in keeping the shape of my mesh i usually
use this neat little trick so i wont have to sculpt the form back to proportion all the time
thanks all
anh
With regards to rigging and animation
While its a well and good blocking out the form in Maya to get the general form ASAP before Zbrushing it up, surely you should make sure your base mesh can be used by a rigger as they specify.
Termintaing loops correctly and building a mesh sympathetic to the model’s movement and anatomy at the low res level may be less creative and take longer than simply creating a quick mesh with the correct proportions, but it will make rigging, blend shapes, UV layout and future tweaking a whole lot easier.
gunslinger
well of course, edge loops are important, but you can always redraw them later, read the thread, youll understand
anh
Thanks for the reply, I’m trying to work out a way to concentrate on building our models ASAP and then worry about edge loops later on. This post is interesting.
We use low res cages (~11000 polys) with a prman subdiv node and then disp maps to flesh out more detailed parts of the model (not just fine detail general form too), so the lo-res model goes through a refining process before zBrushing. Ideally want to be able to get model approved, and then worry about loops on the lo-res form.
So could someone theorectically build a lo res cage mesh to correct proportions, as crude as they like make sure Uvs are good, Zbrush it so it looks great and have the freedom to make it look as good as they wish.
Then, I guess you could apply the disp map difference back to a newly built lo-res cage, with new edge loops . Provided the UVs are in the same location as the previous, it should pick up the displacements correctly?