Your Occhio-mat works well Piz!
)
It has a more cartoony feel. I’m going to have a hard time deciding which one to use. Thanks again! 
I encounter the Italian word for ‘eyes’ a lot in my job, so here’s as small poem in an older Italian dialect I believe:
O occhi, manza mia, cigli dorati!
O faccia d’una luna stralucente!
Tienimi a mente, gioia mia bella,
Guardam’un poc’a me, fa mi contento.
Hi Plakkie! I’m happy that the material is useful for your project … and also thanks for the Poem that you declaimed. I think is wrote in Neapolitan dialect. 
Looking good man, the putting in of the eyes really gives it that character’s life. And the peacock feather is awesome.
Thanks Forlocks, glad you like it! 
As this thread has also become sort of like a diary of my experiences while making Cutter I thought I’d post some horror stories as well. (Scared silly indeed…)
It strikes me that some bad choices made at the beginning of modeling come back to haunt you in later stages. For instance: I wish right now that I’d had paid more attention to the inside of the mouth when I started on the head. A tip for travellers on the same journey: if you want to make a fully posed character, expression and all: make sure you can open the mouth if you need to!! The inside of the mouth on my model is a mess: polygons crossing each other, giving strange artefacts if not handled carefully. Also I can’t open the mouth, the lips are totally destroyed if I do, drastically limiting my expression options.
Here’s another lesson learned the hard way: things that need to be in one piece should be modeled in one piece!!
How many times now have I moaned and complained about the technical difficulties of attaching the loose head and body into one total geometry? Today I finally thought I’d got it right. A nearly perfect mesh with a nech area I could sculpt. As I used topology to link the two loose objects my mesh was an adaptive skin. I was looking at posable symmetry to see if it still worked on my object, but couldn’t find the button anywhere. I finally discovered that was because my object wasn’t a polymesh. I slapped my head. I’d better press Make Polymesh3D because I was going to continue sculpting with this model.
-click-
:eek: …
These technical problems we encounter are a real drain on the artistic moral. 
I can only applaude Pixologic’s wish to develop a software that reduces all technical problems to let the artist get to the creative part. We are not there yet; there are still novices like me struggling with these technical hurdles. On a filosofical note: when you think of it every art has technical difficulties to overcome. An actor has to overcome emotional blocks, a singer has to learn proper breathing, a painter has to learn how his paint reacts to mixing, find the right brush… A sculptor has to think about armatures so that his sculpt doesn’t break or collapse.
While we humans still need a tool or apparatus to expres our inner visions and feelings there will always be technical problems to overcome. Maybe the true master artist is one that has removed all technical barriers so we can look directly at his vision.
In that case the technical computer problems we encounter are also part of the creative process, and just as important as learning anatomy, form and color.
So, this time it’s not the anatomy books, but the manual, wiki and troubleshooting forum I have to turn to. I will have grown as a digital amateur artist when I can show you an image with the skin pointing the right way! 
Wow Buddy! This time you let it all out! 
I know how you feel, believe me, I’ve been there 
This forum is the biggest “patch” tha ZB has
I’m not sure, but I think your inverted problem could be solved by clicking Display properties / double + flip. Edit: I’d go with the “flip” first to see if everythings working properly and then the double.
Really hope it helps buddy
PS.
Tips taken, thanks! Us newbies have to stick together
MY GOD!! IS IT THAT SIMPLE?!! Fidel, buddy! You just turned my misery into total bliss. I didn’t know Zbrush had a flip normal button! Now I can continue. Man, I’m so happy right now.
your totally right: this forum is the biggest patch, and the greatest help and teacher one could wish.
Many thanks!!
Finally! I helped someone!! :lol:
In reality I didn’t discover it on my own… actually I think it was Jason (cannedmushrooms) who told me so when I was in that same spot… so all kudos to people like them that really help us old/newbies to overcome our long long long loooooong journeys 
I’ll be in the tabern if ya need me 
So, thanks to my drinking buddy Elarcano, and CannedM, and all the people ready to pass on their knowledge I believe I have a Polymesh that I can use in the final object.
[
](javascript:zb_insimg(‘72446’,‘Neck_ok.jpg’,1,0))
Lost all my subdivisions while making Polymesh, but I used reconstruct subdiv and that’s ok with me. I’ll be working on the neck when I can manage some more sculpting hours.
Feeling very happy,
Plakkie
hi plakkie
excellent and very informative thread you have here…has been very useful to me already
i like that very last model of schnitter very much especially the ears
gives him a more realistic touch
greetz
the creep
Schnitter, is that the german word for Cutter? Nice to know.
Thanks Creep (sound a bit abusive), good to hear this thread has helped you; it has certainly helped me!
Yeah, those ears are quite realistic… I’m wondering if they could be turned to sound… like wolves. I don’t know many fantasy humanoids with turnable ears come to think of it…
yes schnitter is the word…in german ‘schnitter’ aswell is a medieval expression for death himself
thnx creep sound a bit abusive? LOL haha
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I’m nowhere finished yet, but the first effects are noticable. Much more life and character to it to my eyes (to yours too?). I’ve decided to go for a more stylized look, as the whole model isn’t aiming for realism.
From the side it looks like a lump of clay thrown at his head, but from front it works. The hair tool is about a million polygons big, with no subdivs. (don’t ask how that came to be: I forgot… :rolleyes: :lol: ) I mainly use the Nudge Brush to create the curls and strands. It has become a big friend over the weeks and I prefer it above the Snakehook. The last gives weird geometry when you try a more curled shape; nudge gives a more natural result, though you have to carefully nudge the curl into place. Would be great if Pixologic could invent a brush that could make curles…
The polygon flow on the current hairtool is everything that Stumpf’s models ain’t: a mess. All the stretching and curling and pushing the older model doesn’t do well for geometry. This means I’ll have to retopologize the hair, which seems like a hard job indeed. But: it will be for the best I think, gives me back some subdiv levels, and will let me put micro strands on the final object for extra detail.
So, stay tuned for the next update. I would have posted this one earlier but my cheap Trust pad stopped working. I had to buy a new one. I nearly bought a Wacom one, but I finally thought: I only use it for Zbrush, and my handstrokes are not more subtle then what this cheap pad can pick up, so I bought the same one and hope it will last a bit longer.
Cheers!
Plakkie
looks good waaaaay better than his previous hairdo.
hope you figure out how to get finer strains for the hair…cus we all need to know hehehe.
now he’s ready for a shampoo commercial…it’s so wavey and has great volume:p
Thanks Strict! Well, those ‘finer strains’ will be probably nothing more then Inflate brush with a dotted alpha and lazy mouse on. That will be enough if I can manage to give the general contour enough detail.
Here’s a tiny update:
I also started retopo, but that will take some time to finish. Very hard with those overlapping strands and poiny curls and a million poly’s to turn…
Very Good Plakkie! I really like the new hair solution…
the way he’s standing now with the hair flowing…i had a flash back of him standing on the bridge…can’t remember the name, but he had to cross it to touch a sun carving or something(must be at least 10 years ago since i been reading them, although, here he doesn’t look like he’s afraid of hights.
but he’s balancing out with the arms…why was i replying again???oh yeah
he’s looking puuuurrddy good
Ooo… it triggered a flashback? I take that as a good sign.
It was album no. 4: “The song of the wolf”. Cutter stands on the bridge of fate and must overcome his fear of hights. I have most of the first 20 albums now, and I must say I enjoy reading them once again. If I only could find album nr. 15… 
as long as were reminiscing, my brother has been a fan of Elfquest for years, I believe he must has colleted everything there is to find about it. He has a nice silk screen print of that dark haired elf woman (I really need to re-read them, I can’t seem to remember any names) I’ll mail him the link of your wip, I think he will like it.
It’s really amazing how far you have com Plak, good decision to change the hair, it looks way better now.
Bimm
Thanks Bimm, means a lot to me!
The darkhaired woman would be Leetah, Cutter’s ‘wife’ I presume? It’s fun to hear that there are so many fans around. Do send him the link, I’m interested to hear what he thinks about it. (and maybe he knows where I could find album no. 15? )
I’ve found a forum on Elfquest that is set up by Wendy and Richard Pini themselves. I’m thinking about posting some results there, to see what they think. Wouldn’t it be cool if one of the Pini’s commented on it?
Some time ago the main Elfquest website announced the production of a few Elfquest busts. Ofcourse I was very interested when I read this, to see how another person would interpret a 3D Cutter. When I saw the busts I must confess I was dissapointed. To my eyes the likelyness wasn’t that great. Maybe this is different for every reader, but I’m glad I’m making my own version. See for yourself.
Maybe… maybe when I finish this I’ll try to have it printed… My own 3D statue of Cutter. By the time I finish it, it will probably be much cheaper. :lol:
No, it was not Leetha…(google de google)… it was Winnowill
I’m sure Wendy would love your version. I would post it if I were you.
I had a look at the bust you refered to, I can’t remeber Cutter having sideburns, or does he get them when he’s older?
Man I can’t wait for 3d printers to get really cheap, that would be something
