Modelling Wings

SpeCter

I wanted to try to model a dragon but somehow i´m stuck with the wings.

How would you guys approach the wings if you intend to send it to zBrush/Mudbox later?

Any suggestions or ideas would be much appreciated.

SpeCter

No luck with this question, i guess i will just try some things then

Stromberg90

SpeCter wrote: »

No luck with this question, i guess i will just try some things then

Good idea
Just wondering what part are you stuck with, I can't see what makes it more difficult than the other parts?

Mark Dygert

I kind of don't understand the question but I'll try to swing an answer to spark some conversation.

You probably need to reinforce any damage holes and edges that need to hold shape like finger bone ridges, then make sure everything is fairly evenly quaded so it subdivides well?

How much and what kind of sculpting do you plan to do?

Tchernobill

The wings of a dragon...

First, i would work the concept.

What style of dragon, cartoony, "wild animal", monster... A cartoon dragon would have small to ridiculously small wing, the kind that wouldn't permit it ti fly, but fit well in a screen and is easy to draw. A monster one will have giant wings, so big it can use them to envelope his own body (sleep, protection...)

Then, the bones.

Bones are the solid structure that hold everything, and thanks to evolution, most animals seem to share the same design. Take the wings of a bat, it's bones are very close to other birds winds or even the human hand. So, to adopt a "realistic" style, i would go with 4 fingers and a thumb (talon), like the bat, but you can play with proportions and shape at will.

When modeling, i tend to create things out of cubes. Get a cube, extrude a face, drag it to the elbow position, another small extrude to create the articulation, extrude some more to the wrist, then split polys to get to extrude the fingers... I suggest using as a guideline.

Then, the skin.

The envelope of polygons that will cover the bones previously made. Think about bumps for muscle in the arm, and arcs of stretched skin between the fingers, as the membrane there need to be tensed it order for the thing to fly (if it can fly).

And finally, UV mapping, that part should be fairly easy as a wing, when deployed, is fairly flat.

Ready to export and paint details :-)

I hope that helpe a bit.

SpeCter

The main problem is how to model it so that it smoothes correctly inside zBrush. At first i wanted to model the insides of the wings as planes and stick them in, but then could not sculpt it on both sides and neither texture it independently(or i use 2 in the opposite direction.

And if i make it one piece it smoothes quite wonky at boarders:/.

Or i´m just overcomplicating things xD

I´m just stuck with :

Modelling it in one piece or
Seperate bones and "flesh" inbetween as one or two sculpted planes.

sebas

I would work using three separate SubTools: one for the bones and two for every side of the skin. Make sure to deactivate SMT when subdividing in ZBrush or import a quite dense base mesh, to maintain edges/sharps.

Feel free to post some progress so we could understand exactly where you get stuck in your workflow...