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SketchBook - Rob@t

ZBrush Artworks
#10

Thanks :slight_smile:

And sure, no problem. A good technique for achieving nice thick folds, is by way of the snakehook brush in conjunction with some masking. Just mask off wherever you want a major fold to go, invert that mask, and then using a large drawsize, fold that material on down on top of itself.

After blocking everything out, I try to sell the layered feel by masking off more areas and lowering them so that they were physically overlapping the underlying fold, just like would happen in real life. Another trick is the ‘Gravity Strength’ button, located in the ‘Depth’ dropdown in the ‘Brush’ Tab. This feature allows you to have gravity automatically factored into every stroke. I usually avoid technique for my mid-level sculpting and only use it for blocking in major forms, however.

For this sculpt in particular I used the standard brush and slash 3 brush almost exclusively. For the slash 3 brush i lowered the z intensity to about 30 and used large single strokes to define the directionality of the folds.

Anyway, thats about it. Just experiment on a sphere until you establish a procedure for making the folds which you can consistently replicate, and then apply that to your model.

Oh, and I whipped up a quick stitch alpha for anyone who wants to try it out. It’s certainly nothing special, but if anyone can get some good use out of it, be my guest :slight_smile:

Just click the thumbnail below to download the .psd

[attach=267423]stitchAlphaThumbnail.jpg[/attach]

Attachments

stitchAlphaThumbnail.jpg

#11

Wrinkle master!

#12

thanks alot for the help but i used [sewys] clothing brushs to make clothing and i was looking for an alpha like that thanks il be sure to mention your name when i use it

one last thing do you use 3dsmax to block out the charector shapes or a zshepre?

#13

haha great characters :smiley: :+1:

#14

Awesome dude! I’m working on rubber folds at the moment and this has some great reference and tips for me. You’ve got a bold style, love it! :+1:

#15

Thanks everyone! I’m glad you guys get a kick out of it :smiley: This stuff has been really fun to work on.

@ 3d-User - Yes, I use 3ds max as a base in most cases. I hop in between both apps very frequently in the early stages of the model, however. If something makes more sense to generate in Zbrush, then I do that. for instance, all of the clothing elements on the Hazmat character except for the boots, were a result of mask extrusions within zbrush. Alot of the stuff on the Dhalsim sculpt was the result of Zspheres. But generally, I do like to start with a basemesh of some sort, just to establish a topology I’m comfortable with.

And for that alpha, after some playing around with it, I typically use it in conjunction with the default ‘Tracks1′ brush and a Z-intensity of around 10-15. I hope it does some good. I’m rather inexperienced mocking up alphas in Photoshop like that, normally I just ‘grab doc’ from a sculpt, but regardless, I hope it works out for ya, lol. :slight_smile:

And just a quick sidenote. I noticed that the link to my site in my signature was broken. But now its back up if anyone had tried before.

I’ll be back soon with more updates!

#16

Awesome job! Specially the last one!

How do you do folds? I can`t do such beautiful detail to my pieces :~

#17

Man, this is really beautiful portfolio! I am jealous :wink:

I am just starting up with ZBrush myself, I have been a 3dsmax guy for the most of my 3D past. I am curious about couple things


  1. When I look at your Hazmat model, the mask looks very well defined with all the tiny creases, topoloy is perfect. Will I be right by saying that you have poly-modeled this part in 3DS Max and then “polished” in ZBrush?
    2. At the moment I find it much easier for me if I start of making a nice base mesh in max with proper topology flow and then go to ZBrush to make all the details. But I am sure this is what all the beginners say :wink:
  2. I am working on a model at the moment and I would like to make something similar to your stiches but with a bit different alpha I made. How do you make it follow the cursor, When I try to draw with it it just turns in wrong directions.
Cheers

#18

@ V-rag: Thanks man, and really there’s nothing too hard about the process I use. I’m sure you can do it :slight_smile: I’ll just quote myself from earlier in the thread, since it goes over my process…

@ vertexfusion: Yea, I was in the same boat. I’ve been using 3ds max for a few years and seriously got into zbrush about a year and a half ago. It’s a fun ride :smiley:

For the mask, It was pretty much done all in Max lol.

[attach=267498]HazmatMask.jpg[/attach]

As far starting with a base mesh made in another app, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that mindset. :wink: It’s all about results, and whatever you can do to get the best results will ultimately be the approach your going to want to go with. So play to your strengths. If you have a solid base in 3ds Max, that’s great! it makes you a more versatile modeler.

And to your question about the alpha. I usually use my alpha along with the ‘Tracks1’ brush, and as long as your alpha tiles vertically, it should work out for ya.

Attachments

HazmatMask.jpg

#19

But do you use any special brush or technique?
I usually try to make folds using the Slash2, but I can`t achieve this level! D:

#20

nope, there’s nothing specific that I do that’s different from anyone else :slight_smile:

The brushes I used for the Hazmat character where ‘slash 3’ and the ‘standard brush’ which are both included by default with zbrush 4. Really, the key is just to use nice fluid brush strokes.

One thing I will say is that a tablet of some sort is almost essential to this, so I would say that if you don’t have one, that be an excellent purchase.

Good reference is also important. Thinking about the thickness and composition of the material will clue you into how the material will react. For instance, the rubber suit of the Hazmat character won’t pinch sharply, just because of the nature of rubber, where as if I were sculpting a tailored suit, I would probably make more use of the planar brushes to establish a more crisp and stiff feel.

I hope that helps. But there really isn’t much of a trick to it, other than just studying your subject and executing the technical approach which you establish.

#21

I’m gonna try this! Thanks!

I have a tablet already and I LOVE it hahaha I wouldn’t survive without it!

Where do you search your references? I mean… I look for a bunch of pictures and cant find good references for some stuff, and folds are ones of those I cant find…
Im sculpting a character with the pants inside the boots, like your guy, and then I extracted the pants using the mask tool and tried to do the folds looking like the pants were inside the boots, but I couldnt achieve it in a nice way :~

#22

Just through Google mostly. I’ll do some general searches for whatever it is that I’m attempting to model, and then I’ll decide upon a more specific model and execute a search for that. For instance, I’ve gathered a folder of 200 or so images of random gas masks, but then have another folder of just the Avon FM53 model which I based my model on.

Generally, manufacturer sites have nice hi-res photos of there product, so that may be a great place to find some ref. For the suit I found several different safety equipment manufacturing companies where I was able to look at the different suits on live models, which helped a lot with getting a feel for the material.

#23

Thanks Rob@t, tracks1 works nice with my alpha :slight_smile: I suppose you are right with this tool combining (different software). At the end it is all about the final result anyway. Nice job with the mask I really like it!

Thanks again!

#24

how did you start your base mesh i’ve bean useing 3Dsmax for years and just never new where to start it what methhood did you use to make your base mesh for the mask and did you use Rev pics in max or just look at them then model? because i cant model without useing revs when i do it looks so off

for examble im trying to make army pants but the paportions are very off

the proplam is i have to revs lol

and i like the topology of your mask real pro stuff

#25

Well, for some people, it can be helpful to paint the topology over one (or more) of your ref pics in some form of painting app. This gives you a chance to game-plan, and make mistakes and correct them before you ever actually begin the model.

For the mask, I just broken everything down into simple shapes first. I blocked it out, then just went about the process of detailing. The main challenge for the mask was just figuring out how they were put together, and then you just mimic that process.

I personally don’t like to use reference planes, just because earlier, when I did use them, I often would forget about design and just try to copy the shape. So, i like the freedom to take little liberties with the design if it benefits the piece as a whole.

And with your issue involving the army pant proportions, a good way to keep yourself in check is to keep an unclothed basemesh subtool underneath. This can keep you in check, and help figure out how the fabric will interact with the underlying figure.

#26

thanks for the reply i herd about the painting revs but never tryed it i think i might now and i never tryed useing a base mesh to make pants boots .etc
so thanks;)

#27

Here’s a quick update with where I wound up taking the Hazmat sculpt. This was always intended to be a game-rez project, so here is the low-poly in Marmoset with the Normal and AO Maps applied.

[attach=269371]Tabor_HazmatBake001.jpg[/attach]

[attach=269372]Tabor_HazmatBake002.jpg[/attach]

Not to clutter up a zbrush forum with non-zbrush stuff, so here is the result some doodling i did yesterday - A mermaid, if you will. :stuck_out_tongue:

Tabor-Mermaid_Zbrush.jpg

I think I overdid it with the alphas lol, but it was fun and refreshing to take a step back from pushing verts around on the Hazmat model all week. :smiley:

Attachments

Tabor_HazmatBake001.jpg

Tabor_HazmatBake002.jpg

#28

Some nice work here, but that is one butt ugly mermaid.

#29

haha, thanks dude! :lol: