I watched the whole video: Excellent! There is truly a LOT of flexibility with your real-time boolean sculpting. I was very impressed with the possibilities.
I AM interested in what you may do in the future with extrusions and lathing, though. The quality of your mesh generation is awesome: better than ZB’s own primitives and certainly more so than ShadowBox. But again, there’s plenty in GroBoto right now to engage the imagination, with a non-technical slant on production that’s really in keeping with (most of) the ZBrush work-flow.
These booleans don’t seem to work as they should, why I can’t substract a cube from another cube?
Easy to do it in blender though.
I’m trying to build an airship, well I need some doors-windows like. How?
Is it possible to construct this box in groboto?
Update: I checked it, cube and some other primitives aren’t working for boolean operations. (inside only)
Meanwhile, here a 1/2 hour sculpting, groboto topology seems to work fine, these loops give an esoteric structure to organic forms. A matter for discussion I suppose so. Masks are still useful for this kind of caricature.
Well, you have inspired me. I have some very good answers for your Box/Square Hole questions. GroBoto’s Boolean system requires a different approach than you might be used to – but it also offers many new options and opportunities. I’ll post some stuff later today.
Meanwhile, your ‘Meanwhile’ character (wonderfully fun stuff), inspired me to revisit the idea of GroBoto Heads – this is something I’ve played wit h a lot over the last year or so. That was before we had booleans & smoothing. I used to intentionally set up complex seam networks (edge loops) and key on them for some pretty interesting effects (as this old sample shows).
[attach=233890]willGoat-s.jpg[/attach]
But your quick sketch got me thinking (and joyfully doodling in GroBoto) – results below. You might find this ‘heavy smoothing’ approach interesting.
We don’t emphasize GroBoto creation of standard human head mesh topology. It is a special area that has been throughly explored, and artists have many sources of ideal quad meshes. However, when going for 'toons, and odd/alien/anthropomorphized, and other unique ‘humanoid’ forms, there is some real value in what GroBoto does.
These are obviously just preliminary sculpt base meshes (spent just a few minutes on each), but they look inviting to me… In fact, I’ll probably upload them here soon so that others might play (unfortunately, I have no time).
Again thanks for the push and the inspiration – info on that ‘square hole’ stuff to follow in a post here later.
Here are some ‘Square Hole’ examples. Yes, Our Boolean system has some limitations (accounting for the ‘Inside All’ options you mentioned). However it’s strengths and depth mean there is almost always another path… and often one that is elegant and/or opens new creative doors. I won’t go into details here (not the right place), but will offer these examples.
I will cover step-by-step techniques for various Boolean constructs soon – in new Videos most likely. Please note that I could have had a perfectly smooth hull on that fuselage, just an aesthetic choice to add those shelves and ridges.
Nice meshes, very artistic. Ideal to do sculpt anything on them, not just caricatures.
What picasso is teaching us anyway, what we learned from modern art? This came out after the invention of photography. A strong abstract construction that gives this esoteric quality. It forced us to have a better look to old civilizations art anyway.
To have ideal quads ready for animation is a -after concept- concern. We can always perform retopo using apps like topogun or 3dcoat. (the second is my favorite and its an interesting boolean editor as well).
Groboto provides us with an "armature’ of modern 3d sculpting. IMO of course.
Thanks so much.
I agree with you fully. I have always done art the same way – by interacting with the medium. It always starts by just pushing the medium around (be it graphite, oil, clay, pixels, or geometric primitives).
For a long time, that sort of play was not really available in Digital 3D tools. ZBrush changed that in a huge way. I like to think we have changed it a bit to – and will change it in a big way as we progress with GroBoto.
I appreciate your interest and enthusiasm for GroBoto.
This model is a good playground for hard-surface modeling and a nice ‘blank’ for experimenting with GroBoto’s Mesh Structure and Seam Masking.
I’ve recreated & refined the mesh, and plan on exploring a bit myself – capturing a Video. I’m also providing the ZTLs (raw OBJ import stage), if anyone wants to play along.
I will post a quick Video later today with some examples of sculpting with those Masks, Seams, Patches, etc.
In the meantime, a couple of other posts that show a few moves:
I have bought Groboto and am looking forward to some fun! It is nice, exciting, to see what you are doing with Groboto and Zbrush. Hope to get some small percentage of you ability by following your thread.
Thanks. Great to see you here… don’t know how much 3D modeling/imaging you have pursued, but have no doubt your skills will transfer to ZB very nicely.
…and yes, I hope/believe GroBoto will make gearing up for ZB sculpts fun & easy.
Have been experimenting with more masked seam sculpting… feel like I’m gathering a nice bag of tricks. Improvements and additions to GroBoto’s mesh output are making new techniques possible in ZB – and eliciting better results all around.
I’ve posted a New Video. When you go to the page, look for this thumbnail (refresh the page if you do not see it):
Have been playing with more Groboto ‘BoolToon’ meshes (see earlier posts in this thread… apage or two back). Experimenting with a bit more structure (ex. ears, nostrils).
Yes, I’m trying to capture whenever I can – but it’s a big push to get the Mac 3.0 release out – hard to find time in my 16-hour work days for video editing… barely time for a hasty sculpt or two.
…but yes, there will be more video tutorials in the coming weeks.
Some improvements in our mesh output sent me back to play with this model again.
This time starting with a Bevel setting in GroBoto’s SeamStyles. As usual, just a quick session in ZBrush – really wish I had time… still, it revealed loads of opportunity for sculpting and detailing – some wonderfully graceful and subtle stuff hiding in the mesh structure. All based on the Seam Masking & Polygroups described earlier in this thread.
Also made the silly ‘Padded’ & ‘Overstuffed’ versions – wrong model, but potentially a useful technique.
