Senior Project- Roxanne Goodcell

RoxyPox

Howdy!
Would love your guys' crits on this project. I especially need help with Z-brush, since it is new to me this semester. (See post below this one)
This is a rigging and animation project I am working on for my senior year. This semester, I will be creating two characters and rigging them. Next semester, I will be putting them into Source Engine and Source Filmmaker to create a short cinematic.
Just so I don't spam this first post with a ton of images, here is a blog I created where I have posted my progress on the project so far: http://ascensionprojectpitch.blogspot.com/
I was originally going to try to learn cloth simulation, but after talking to some people in the industry and learning about cloth simulation's limitations, I will not be doing it for this project.
Thanks and hope you guys can help!

RoxyPox

So here is my progress for my first character, The Guide, in Z-brush. Just working on the bust right now. I am still fairly new to this program so any advice on how to define materials, such as cloth, better would be extremely appreciated.





Also, I definitely need help in terms of where to start with this character:



She is heavily based off a sculpture by Raffaello Monti, so I do have good reference. My guess is the best way to start is with just the face without the folds of cloth. Am I right, or do you guys have a better suggestion?

dirigible

Your first sculpt lacks - as you said - material definition. Objects that should be smooth either need to be polished or smoothed after you sculpt on them. Good polish brushes are Trim Dynamic (btd) and hPolish (bh).

The wrinkles on your cloth are not deep enough. Look at your clothes right now. Chances are - unless you're wearing spandex - there are areas where the cloth folds over itself an inch or more deep, areas where one fold is covering another fold, etc.

For your new character - yes, start with the head and body. Then add a new ztool and sculpt the clothing in.

That's another thing it doesn't look like you're taking advantage of - multiple ztools. It makes your sculpts look a LOT cleaner, and a lot better. There is no reason the Guide's mask should be the same mesh as his head.

RoxyPox

dirigible wrote: »

Your first sculpt lacks - as you said - material definition. Objects that should be smooth either need to be polished or smoothed after you sculpt on them. Good polish brushes are Trim Dynamic (btd) and hPolish (bh).

The wrinkles on your cloth are not deep enough. Look at your clothes right now. Chances are - unless you're wearing spandex - there are areas where the cloth folds over itself an inch or more deep, areas where one fold is covering another fold, etc.

For your new character - yes, start with the head and body. Then add a new ztool and sculpt the clothing in.

That's another thing it doesn't look like you're taking advantage of - multiple ztools. It makes your sculpts look a LOT cleaner, and a lot better. There is no reason the Guide's mask should be the same mesh as his head.

Hey dirigible,
Thanks for the crit! I am trying to look at various cloth tutorials right now to help me out. Defining materials has always been kind of a difficult area for me in both 2D and 3D. I just need to stop putting it off and practice more. XD
The mask is actually a separate subtool. Just for whatever reason Z-brush decided to assign nearly the same color as the head tool. :T

RoxyPox

Okay, so made some progress today on the Guide bust model. Tried to fix some of the gooey-ness going on with the rope necklace thing along with trying to define some of the cloth folds better. If you guys have any more crits, I'd appreciate it!
Also had to start polypainting this guy for a class. So let me know if you have any crits on that as well.

Jessica Dinh

The lines of the folds are kindof quavery so I would probably use hpolish or trim dynamic to straighten those out. Also I can't tell what material that is the beads are hanging from. The antlers are also pinching in weird parts which makes them look kinda weak - I would give them a more apparent taper and a bit of a thicker base.

I really like the colors you've chosen:]

RoxyPox

Jessica Dinh wrote: »

The lines of the folds are kindof quavery so I would probably use hpolish or trim dynamic to straighten those out. Also I can't tell what material that is the beads are hanging from. The antlers are also pinching in weird parts which makes them look kinda weak - I would give them a more apparent taper and a bit of a thicker base.

I really like the colors you've chosen:]

Thanks for the crit Jessica! So far what I like about Z-brush is that it makes it fairly easy to edit. So I will definitely try to give this guy a little more love. I am trying to block out the Lost character in 3dsMax right now.

RoxyPox

So I've been bad about updating this thread. But I have been emailing people and getting good crits from my peers/teachers. Still no excuse for not taking advantage of this site more.
Anyway, just wanted to update to show where I am at. I started working on the other character, "The Lost," and now I'm working on her rig. I got the highpoly sculpt done and baked it down onto a low poly. However, I am having some texture problems, mostly concerning normal maps and seams. From certain angles, the seams make the normal map look a bit funky.


I have also started her rig. She will be moving somewhat like a mermaid (with her legs bound together), so I only have one "leg" chain. I am also working on a way to copy cloth simulation animation onto a series of bones. The reason for that is because I will be working with Source Filmmaker to create a short animation with these characters. Cloth simulation is not exactly compatible with Source, so I am figuring out a way to copy it onto bones. That way I don't have to animate all that!
Also, I am modeling a mask to go with this character as well. Not trying to be lazy, but rigging her face would require me to learn FacePoser in Source. Since I got set back on this project because of a bad flu bug, I am trying to cutback on the amount of work I have to do. So covering her face with a mask would solve having to use FacePoser. However, I do hope to learn FacePoser eventually.
Let me know what you guys think!