ZBrushCentral

Don't Tease The Freaks!!

ZBrush Artworks
#14

Alright, here is the process that led me to making the Frenzied Freak, and where it is going from here:

Once upon a time (earlier this week) I decided to make a normal human head instead of the usual creatures/monsters I usually do. I worked on him for a day. He looked kinda tough, so i decided to make him into a Warhammer Space Marine. This is the result:

[<!--[attach=8575]SpaceMarine_03.jpg[/attach]-->]

Not too shabby, even though he does have my usual overdone brow ridge. Well, I wanted to see what he looked like inflated a little, but I accidently clicked on taper. That resulted in the beginning of the Freak. I liked the look of a pointed crainium, so I just went with it. Here he is in an untextured clay look. I really like the lines and flow in this image:

[<!--[attach=8577]Hey_06A.jpg[/attach]-->] I played with him and decided to convert him back into a Space Marine. This is my latest image: [<!--[attach=8578]Hey_Bkgnd_01b.jpg[/attach]-->] Pretty good, but still a work in progress. Gonna build The Chaos Space Marine armor next... Now for technique:

I render an image in z-brush. It is usually a little flat, so I import it into Photoshop and do the following technique. This is useful for a lot of Z-Brush render post processes:

[<!--[attach=8579]FreakTechnique_01.jpg[/attach]-->] And here are my Skin and Lights for the Frenzied Freak: [FreakyFrenzyLightsAndMats.ZIP](http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/attachment.php?attachmentid=&stc=1)

Now I hope that these tips and materials help those of you still learning Z-brush. I get nice results from them and so can you. If anyone has any questions please ask, I’ll be willing to help…:smiley:

Dickie![SpaceMarine_03.jpg|566x600](upload://uPeHWXpxkn6x85R4fFVwdzwQMj7.jpeg)![Hey_06A.jpg|549x600](upload://tNesKz8yMiUqGj1ICbKbw8WAboI.jpeg)![Hey_Bkgnd_01b.jpg|470x600](upload://6fQL19kjOYRAmQHspXmzJ8vvXvI.jpeg)![FreakTechnique_01.jpg|860x768](upload://4r0sM8OFs8J5nBnwJMr7NES6HQT.jpeg)<a class='attachment' href='/uploads/default/original/3X/d/4/d4c306bc52484ce88dcf9df45bd14341e767cdd7.ZIP'>FreakyFrenzyLightsAndMats.ZIP</a> (21.4 KB)
#15

Dickie -

Love the new versions. Some parts of the skin blow me away. Some are more cartoony, and that is cool too.

On another note, I just got off a gig with Rob Nitsch and he keeps saying you and I have to get together to talk shop. I want to organise an informal L.A. Z-Brush dinner, but that’s a topic I’ll be bringing up shortly…

Wow, small world, Robb is a great and talented guy. Unfortunately, or fortunatly, whatever way you want to look at it, I am leaving for Copenhagen for two months tomorrow morning. I would love to get together when I get back. Are there dinner places that would like to seat 50+ people? (some of my good friends that are into Zbrush) :wink:
Would like to meat(he he) you in person. Sean says you are a nice guy.
But he also says you are a strange son of a… just kidding…

#16

Meats, yeah, my work is cartoony as I:

A. Don’t have the technical skill or training to get the level of detail truly talented sculptors have…:lol: With luck, hard work and perseverance, I’ll get there eventually, I hope.

and

B. I enjoy doing more cartoony work as my major influences are Robert Williams, Coop, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and other various comic artists . Plus I do photoreal as a living and this is how I slum it…:lol:

I hope you have a blast in Copenhagen, Bro. We’ll talk when you get back. Stay safe.

Oh and as for Sean, he’s dead on about the strange son of a …part…:lol:

Dickie

#17

Hey Dickie thanks for the skin and the lights I’m looking forward to playing with them. This guy is cool I like the one with the scar
monstermaker

#18

Dickie…stop watching that " conehead" movie…:smiley:

jantim

#19

MM: I hope you get some milage out of the skin and lights. They are a product of constant experimentation. In your hands, something wonderful could emerge…:smiley:

Jantim:I just saw about 45 minutes of that last week and I definately think I have it on the brain. Actually I tried to make it NOT conehead-like but as with any pointy craniumed creatures, comparisons will be drawn…:lol:

Dickie

#20

Hey thanks for the mats and lights…I am gonna have to start a dickie folder in my materials folder now!!!:smiley:

I am trying to get back to actually producing something other than some help scripts or challenges very few or no one enters ahhahaa…oh well…soon as the OT slows…look out!!

#21

Aminuts: The skin shader is almost identical to my Finster skin shader except
the blending value in S1 is set higher to enhance the skin surface, not the image map underneath. The lights are new. I’ve been playing with rimlighting a bit and this one has 1 blue rim light to the right, a key to the left, and a center fill. I was playing with a rim light on either side and used a center fill, that’s why it’s still there in the setup. It looks nice so I kept it in.

I’ve been busy lately too so that’s why I haven’t posted in a bit. I had this week off, so I had time to play.

Dickie

#22

Here’s a little update of where this is going. The only trouble is in the gold material I’m getting crazy overblown colors here and there in the form of speckles. Anyone have any idea what it could be?

Dickie

[]SM_Armor_01.jpg

#23

Reminder me your orc

i like it, but too symetrical

#24

Wonderful character! Thank you for sharing the Mat and Lights.

#25

Oh yeah, he is looking good. Is he going to be a W40K style marine?

I believe the speckles you are getting are caused by the Ambient Occlusion material modifier. When set to negative values it can cause speckles when set too low.

You can also try disabling MultiRender in the preferences. It helped me once.

#26

IllusionDigital: Yes, he’s from the same game universe as the orc. The image is a test render so it is symetrical. I still need to make the other shoulder pad (different insignia) and come up with a good breastplate. I’m having a hell of a time getting one that works well designwise…Glad you like him…:smiley:

Moochie: Thanks and I hope you find the mats and lights useful…:smiley:

TVeyes: Thanks for the props, Bro. Indeed he is a Warhammer 40K Chaos Space Marine. The speckle problem WAS the ambient occlusion setting. You
saved my sanity, my friend…:laughing: For that, I’ll be posting the materials I made for him. They came out nice so far. I modified Vicart2001’s Flaked bronze to make the gold material and I believe JotaJota’s Precloumbian 2 Reflect modified a bit to make the iron. It took all bloody day to make 2 materials. But I learned a lot…:+1:

Dickie

#27

great work dickie! really really love the one with the missing eye/scar. can’t wait to see the finished full body armor. he’s gonna get that treatment, right? :smiley:

#28

Are you a games workshop designer??? :smiley: ,

I hope to see the final version.

PS: Thanks for sharing your materials and lights friend :+1:

#29

Saw this yesterday when I returned from a weekend camping trip. Had time now ot comment…just wanted to say that I love this render of the character. He is very well crafted and rendered. I love all facets of the character. Reminds me of Hand Over Fists from the original Heavy Metal cartoon/movie from the early 80s…82 I believe…He needs some spit flying out of the mouth to add to the realism I think, but other than that…very way kewl.
thnx for sharing.

creatively yours,
ron
[email protected]

ps. the question I love to ask…what canvas size do you work at? thnx

#30

Dado: I happy you like him…:smiley: And yes, he is getting armor, but I’m having a hell of a time with the breastplate…some days are more succesful than others…:confused:

IllusionDigital: No, I don’t work for Gamesworkshop, I’m just a HUGE fan of their work for some reason. I can model all the zombies and monsters I want, but I ALWAYS come back to the Warhammer/Warcraft Universe. I’m guessing it’s because they have such a plethora of fine work to be inspired by. I don’t
even play the games, I just like the artwork associated with them. As for the mats and lights, anytime, Bro. It’s a real pleasure seeing what other folks can do with the toys I helped create…:smiley:

Ron:Welcome back from the trip. Did ya catch a bunch of fish? When I was a kid, back in the early '70’s, my dad and I would go fishing for Bluegill in the
lakes that we lived near in New Jersey. I loved those fish. Pan fried with a lil flour, salt and pepper, they were heaven on earth. But I digress, as usual…:lol:

Hanover Fist! I remember him. VERY good character design. I still have the original Heavy Metal magazine he appeared in. He is always an unconscious inspiration when I do tough guys. As you know my main influence is comic art, so being compared to Hanover Fist is one of the ultimate compliments you can give me, Bro…:smiley: Just looked him up. No wonder I was such a fan. It was illustrated by Bernie Wrightson! I also have a copy of Wrightson’s Frankenstein around somewhere. Bernie really made that monster come alive…Ahhh…memories…:smiley:

And as for resolution, I always work at 1600 x 1200 and then set it to
AA-Half. Hope this helps…

Dickie

#31

I have had that too with some materials, …TVeyes has so much knowledge of Zbrush that he must be right in his theory…i’ve alway’s thought it had something to do with the Zdepht of pixols in combination with high cavity settings :confused:

jantim

#32

praise here only.
cool style. i really enjoy watching ur work.:+1:

#33

Well done, love the armour. Remindes me of a quakish style!:smiley: