It’s a great feature, and I appreciate you sharing the link with me. I didn’t mean to sound like I was saying your information wasn’t important. Sometimes the internet doesn’t carry over well, and looking back my statement seemed rather rude. Sorry for that.
Thanks,
Chad
No prob, looking forward to your next update!
Chad,
Your gifted! When it comes to cloths I just don’t have it yet. Bodys, landscapes, etc., I almost know what I’m doing, but you have a great sense of style. I’m very excited to participate on your creative process
Keep pushing those pixols
Thanks for that. I found that the key to doing good 3D models is inspiration, and a ton of reference. I’m using the character from Van Helsing, Anna, for my model. That is basically what I’m modeling, with a few changes from me.
That’s funny. I can totally see it now, but until you posted that I thought you were making a pop singer in sort of retro-future costume.
I finally got some time to work on her today, and I must say I didn’t expect to spend all day on her hair! I really wanted to make it curly, like in the picture a few posts back, but I would have had to really, really increase the poly counts to do that. As it is it’s almost 20,000 polys all by itself. Nearly as much as the whole body’s base cage!
Anyway, about 8 hours of work. I redid the hair a few times until I got something I liked. I started out with a basic “shell” that was modeled to conform to the head. I then imported the head, hair shell, and jacket into Zbrush to sculpt the hair and how I wanted it to flow. After that I redid the hair using the topology brush in Silo, and created three different layers for the hair. I may add another layer on top to add more stray strands. I don’t know yet.
Definitely one of the hardest parts of this model so far!
i just plain ol’ love the clothes and the new hair. very very very cool! can’t wait to see this finished with textures. i think the amount of time you put into the hair paid off. it looks really awesome.
Thanks for the compliments _dado. I am not really concerned about the time it took me to do the hair. I wanted it to look good, so I kept at it. Although now that I look at it it looks like she has a mop on her head! LOL But she looks good with a mop on her head! HAHAHA
I did a quick rundown of how I did the hair for a fellow over in the Silo forum. If anyone else is interested, you can see the tutorial here:
Thanks,
Chad
nice nice nice, chad! I always follow your work. this has to be one of the most inspiring up to date! This will make a great portfolio addition.
so, to sum it up, you built the base mesh in silo, imported in zb, sculpted, used the mel script for better topology, then used the topology brush in silo to create clothes which you sculpted in zbrush?
i’m just asking because your results are amazing and i’d like to take a stab at this method. …although you’re right; seems like the zbrush updates would completely eliminate having to use other programs, you could do this all in zbrush. (can’t wait for those updates!)
anyway, once again, amazing work mate, you’re a constant inspiration to me. and I sincerely mean that.
Chad, that is an amazing update. I’ve been following this one since you posted it on the Silo forum…amazed with each update. 
That tutorial was sweet! I never thought about using the topology brush to make hair like that! I really should start using that tool more then I do now (which isn’t very often) 
What I’m impressed with is that you still have a relatively low-poly base mesh to animate after that. Her hair is very thick, though. It does look good, but slightly alien – you might texture it with the same flesh as her head.
Since your goal is a convincing human, perhaps dreadlocks are the answer. If you can hide and isolate individual strands, Projection Master can help apply an elaborate braid to each of 'em…
abxy:
That’s pretty much it. Although it has its drawbacks, switching between different applications is not fun to do all the time. I think it’s a good way to work though, if it frees you up from a lot of limitations.
I’m glad I can be an inspiration for you. That inspires me in turn! So thank you too!
pnoland:
The topology brush isn’t what I had originally thought it was going to be. IMO, it’s much more. It adds another element to the normal polygon tool sets.
Personally I’m really looking forward to see how Pixologic’s “topo-spheres” work. I imagine that you will be able to do most of what I did here with them. We’ll have to see though.
Ctrl-Z:
Yeah, I agree about the hair looking too thick. I saw a thread on cgtalk that Dani Garcia started, and I noticed how he did the hair for his model. So I’m definitely going to add one more layer to the hair, this time with thinner strands and loosely cover the hair I have now. I think that’s what is really missing.
You can see his thread here, really good work IMO:
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?p=1965409#post1965409
It inspires me to get my model posed to. I think she’ll look great!
I’ve really enjoyed seeing the progress of this model. Hair!? Its always been a complicated subject. I’ve seen photo-realistic hair from both “Shave and a Haircut” for XSI, and Maya, and Sasquatch for Lightwave. I’ve seen some wonderful jobs done with just 2d textures from Anime to Poser. Even some respectable “fur” done with our fiber brush. I’m real anxious to see your solution. If, in your opinion, it turns out well for your model, post a tutorial on what you discover.
Keep pushing those pixols!
Personally I hate doing hair. I’ve never really tackled it other than using Paint FX in Maya, but I think this looks OK, being just geometry. Obviously it’s not going to look all that great in an extreme closeup, but I don’t plan on doing that for my reel, LOL.
Anyway, here is an update on the hair. I think the missing element was the fine stray hair that pops out from various places. That’s just my observation, you guys/gals may have other opinions.
All I did was add another layer of fine hair, so that makes four layers total. I did go back in and thin out the other layers too. So now it doesn’t look quite as mop-ish! HAHA
Damn Chad she is looking good. Great job!!
hahaha almost too good as she kinda looks like one of my nieces right now and I am gonna have to keep an eye on you!!
Another nice addition for your portfolio for sure!!
Nice portfolio! You should finish your Morg since Darkness has been posted here on ZBrushCentral. I like what you’ve done with the hair on Kathlyn. Some texture maps and she’s good to go.
your work has improved 10 folds in the past year… its really great to witness the evolution of an artist… really nice stuff bro.
awesome thread,so nice to see other than monsters,she’s beautiful!
Thanks for the compliments everyone. I really appreciate it! One thing I love about the internet is the ability to share my work with people all over the world. It’s amazing what a community like this really is, people of all cultures, sex, etc… all being able to share their work right from their own home.
Thanks! I hope I can fill my demo reel up with stuff that is just as good as this. Being that this is taking me so long to do, I’ll probably finish my reel by next year! LOL
Actually I don’t really care how long it takes me. I just want it to look good.
I thought about finishing the Morg character, but I think I’m going to hold of on her. I’m going to use the Forest Djinn in my demo reel, but I’m going to tweak the anatomy with my new found knowledge… or something. heh
As far as textures go, I don’t really know. I’d like to texture this, but I don’t want it to look sub-par to the model. So if I was texturing it I would have to spend at least as much time doing that as I did modeling. Plus I don’t really know how to texture properly anyway. So I’m probably going to hold of on textures for now. I’ll make the final decision after I finish my modeling demo reel though, because I still have to lay out the UV’s for this.
Thanks for the complement. I’ve found in the past year I’ve been getting better and better everyday. That’s one of the reasons why I haven’t started shopping my demo reel around yet. I haven’t reached a point to where my work is consistent. Although I don’t think I’m getting worse, I don’t want to take on a job that I may not be able to handle.
If I can get at least three or so models that look good, not just okay, I will start looking for work. Although I may have to move out to California somewhere before I do.
Thanks! Although I like monsters too, sometimes we need a change of pace. Don’t worry though, I’m doing a monster next! LOL