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GDC 2015 Next Gen Pipelines (starring ZBrush!)

ZBrush Artworks
#41

Very cool presentation. My favorite part was the explanation of the “Rocket Powered S*** Shovel”. That was just, great on many levels. Augmented reality… Well maybe now is the time, people have the the cheap hardware and Mores law is not slowing down. Still I argue (and this is the simulation programmer in me) procedures and automation make the office a happier place and generates usable content faster; we need it and want it. The fundamentals and tedium can still never be neglected or they will be forgotten or dulled over the generations.

I am super down for the augmented reality; I want the “Ghost in the Shell” chatroom forums, lol.

3D artist will be more and more demanded as people realize the future of entertainment you described.
Fantastic and entertaining presentation!

#42

Some gorgeous work here. :+1: Congrats on top row!

#43

Great presentation. Thanks for sharing it and all the fantastic images!!

#44

Fantastic talk, all the things that have been coming together in my head all laid out in a great way! I’ll have to share the youtube vid to get people thinking about these things where I work.
Excellent stuff again, I can’t say that enough!

#45

Thanks everybody! (and Hey Nick Z, hopefully I’ll be in Florida again sometime and we can catch up some more, and I can steal your wacom sketchbook when you’re not looking, super jealous!)

I’ve got another video I can post of the FPSFemale GDC character (turns out I actually recorded some of her “making of”); I was going to record some narration but it was noisy outside this morning. Maybe tonight!

Glad you’re all getting some use out of my rambling, if you have any specific questions let me know and I can do my best to answer them!

#46

Fantastic presentation Michael (I laughed out loud a few times actually!) - I think I have everyone of your DVD’s lol. I always learn so much from you so thank you for that! :+1:

I was wondering if you could clarify a couple of points:

  • When you say you make your "Game Res" model are you retopo-ing by hand or just using decimation master?
  • Are you making UV's by hand or using UV master for this process?

You mentioned automation of these processes and I heard you talking about decimation master and UV master but I’m not 100% sure if that is what you meant?

Thank you in advance!!

Claudio

#47

Hey, thanks for the kind words!

When you say you make your “Game Res” model are you retopo-ing by hand or just using decimation master?

Depends! If I’m doing stuff manually and just want a quick preview (or if it’s for stuff like rocks), I’ll decimate for a game res. If it’s organic (and/or I’ve kept good polygroups or can create them quickly) I’ll give ZRemesher a whirl. I haven’t gotten results as good as some of the ZRemesher masters here on the forums, but I still give it a shot every time. But, when I get right down to it, if I want a final game res, I usually get out my trusty ol’ ZSpheres and start retopologizing. If you’re a topology brush wizard you can give that a shot as well, I myself am not.

For the automated process, it’s similar to decimation master as well, although we’re iterating on how that works, fine tuning as we go to get better and better auto-game meshes.

Are you making UV’s by hand or using UV master for this process

This depends too-- if I just need some quick UVs, UV master is killer. But, just like the final game res, I (being the control freak I am), usually end up in Headus for my final UV layout stuff. For the automated process, it’s actually more of an auto UV solution right now, but just like the auto game res stuff, it’s a work in progress; I’ll quote myself from another forum here:

A smart auto UV solution is definitely a huge part of that holy grail (of this year anyway)…there may be some interesting solutions involving non destructive subd boolean topology and making good UV decisions based on that kind of topology, mixed with UVs based on angle thresholds…and maybe integrating the UVMaster algorithm and or attraction based on AO…

Somebody or some group way super smarter than me will figure it out. Right now we’re inching forward on the iteration part of better UV decisions made by the robots, but it’s not there yet, right now UVs are automated, but they’re not ship quality–we can iterate on the models and materials, but eventually during production someone will have to go in there and make the “real” UVs. Have to start somewhere I guess!!

hope that helps!

#48

This was the video I was talking about yesterday (quick timelapse of refining the chest armor):

ChestImage.jpg

Break it down!

–Mask an area, hit ctl+w to give it a polygroup, ctl+shift tap that area to isolate it, then do a tool > split hidden. Sound like a lot of steps and scrolling in the ever expanding tool menu? That’s because it is!! Custom menu’s (and hotkeys FOR those custom menus) are your friends. Use them, unless you enjoy being slow!
–At this point, you’ve got an open surface on your mesh-- do Tool > Geometry > modify topology > close holes to close it up (and, most importantly, create a new polygroup surface). From here you can use any number of tricks to give that surface thickness and begin refining it, the key being do it fast. My preferred method is to mask that polygroup (a million and one different ways to do this to…transpose > ctl click, isolate polygroup and ctl-tap in the document, brush > automasking > turn polygroup up to 100 (but don’t forget you did that, it’s global!), masking options, etc…etc… then pull out the mesh (guess what, tons of ways to do this too–morph target difference mesh, move brush with a big brush size, transpose move, zmodeler extrude, etc…etc…)
–Dynamesh (you may want to tool > deformation > inflate a tiny bit). If you get webbing, chop it off (trim curve, clip curve, lasso select and delete hidden), or inflate it to give it mass and redynamesh
–polish, smooth, trim, whatever. Make it a better looking shape!
–Subtools getting unwieldy? There’s a couple of tricks I use here…a bit difficult to describe in text. Maybe I’ll make a subtool organization movie (fingers crossed for subtool folders some day!)

Edit: I do cover some of this more specifically in these vids, but nothing really “pulled together” fully:

#49

Thank for the reply Michael!

Its more clear for me now!

Thanks a bunch :slight_smile:

Cheers!
Claudio

#50

As usual great stuff, tuts, info… I think I learned more from you than everyone else !!! Keep on making vids :slight_smile:

Thanks a lot for everything !!!

#51

Fantastic talk. Concise and humorous. As an enviro artist I lol’d at your texel density on a rock reaction.

Funny because it’s oh so true…

Thanks for sharing.

#52

I very much appreciated your talk, as I do all the things you do Michael. Keep up the great work - I’ve got to talk with you soon about this tool that is going from high poly to engine look dev iteration with a few clicks… thanks again for chatting the other day via E-mail (this is Cliff)!

Take care until next time and keep up the great work!

#53

ths stuff is really very helpful, thank you.

I for one would love the benifti of your wisdome with regards sub tool organisation.

#54

Thanks guys! I think I have another stash of unprocessed video where I can talk about subtools, or I may just sit down and do a quick example. It’s not a game changer or anything, but might help you once you start amassing a number of subtools after breaking things apart.

Here’s another concept-y one I processed this morning, the step in between your napkin sketch and breaking it apart and refining it…the refine sketch phase!

helmetimage.jpg

#55

Michael,

Good to hear your voice again… Your Eat3D 3.5/4.0 DVDs kind of got me past the “fear and loathing” stage with ZB when getting started.

Loved your take on production and the importance of being and staying in a 3D frame of mind from start to end. I think game production inherited its notion of how to segment the work, what the roles should be, etc. to some extent from film, and from a production philosophy designed by folks who came out of the old 2D way of looking at things. People who’ve gotten into production much more recently hopefully won’t be as bound to the same old mindset.

If you were of a mind to go into these ideas more expansively, I’d be a willing listener. I’m currently building up a production framework around Unreal 4, so gratefully snarf up ideas on how to make production workflow more automated and change resilient.

Also, I’ve been experimenting via Indie licenses to both dDO/nDO and Substance Designer/Painter. It sounded like you admire dDO, but see SD as a more flexible approach due to its more procedural nature. Is that about it?

-Tom
tiburbage at gmail dot com

#56

As Tom said above, I too would love to know more about this and am also working with UE4. Whatever tools your tech artists worked out for you to be able to go so quickly from high poly to a proxy in game model is something I am very very interested in.

#57

Useful video tutorial. Thank you!:smiley:

#58

Huge fan of the Halo series so when I saw this I had to pay respect.
Also it’s remarkable how ZBrush allows artists to create such hard edges and manufacturable surfaces.
Roll on Pixologic.

#59

Thanks for the kind words guys! I’m hoping to get back to “just the 9-5” this week, which will make more time for the extended talk.

Also, I’ve been experimenting via Indie licenses to both dDO/nDO and Substance Designer/Painter. It sounded like you admire dDO, but see SD as a more flexible approach due to its more procedural nature. Is that about it?

For sure, dDo is a great program! If I had an object I just wanted to kill with badassness, I would hop right into dDo and do that. In a production setting, it’s really tough to beat how powerful the Substance Designer / Player / Painter / B2M combo is. If you have the time and ability to frontload your best on the materials and texture automation side of things, I have yet to see the program that can compete with them at the texture and maps game. And those guys are Johnny on the spot with tutorials and updates, every month I feel like I have to learn a whole new programs worth of stuff just to stay relevant. And I say that as a super good thing, those guys rock!

I too would love to know more about this and am also working with UE4. Whatever tools your tech artists worked out for you to be able to go so quickly from high poly to a proxy in game model is something I am very very interested in

I’ll see what I can do in my extended talk; unfortunately, the real brains behind the operation are the tech artists (Luiz specifically in the case you’re talking about). I’ll do my best to explain what’s going on, and hopefully have him follow up in the comments if possible (for what it’s worth, there’s a fair bit of more technical info in this thread):

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=150007

#60

I haven’t gone through my external drive, but I think I’m nearing the end of my “things I find when cleaning off my harddrive” videos. Here’s a quicksketch zbrush…thing. Just hit quicksketch in the upper left I believe, or if you kept accidentally hitting it during production and you got rid of it, you can find it again under ZPlugin > Quicksketch.

Remember that you’re really drawing on a 3D plane, so all the tricks you can do in ZBrush are applicable in Quicksketch mode. Food for thought! (hint: insert mesh brushes!!)

Symmetry.jpg