Rottilo sculpt - Feedback request and ZBrush issues

LordSebbington

Hi all, I'm new to Polycount and 3D in general, the rest of my stuff is in my Sketchbook. I'm currently seeking feedback on a new sculpt.

My newest sculpt is a WIP Rottilo, taken from a piece I found on Deviant art.

I'm firstly looking for feedback about the sculpt itself; I've been getting into 3D since Spetember '12 and I'm definitely getting quicker - this took about an evening to get to this stage. The main body's proportions seem off - I've tried to make the body less rotund than the concept and I think I prefer it to the original but it does make it look like a young version of this creature. Also the lower legs have got a bit messy anatomically and generally. Not in the concept but I've also given it a bum hole and androgynous genitals (probably a penis).

This is a bit of a cheat sculpt, it's not a real creature and you can take some liberties with the anatomy (I chickened out of doing a human just yet, I wanted to thrash out a few things on this first). However, I do want it to look plausible as a functioning animal (needs a mouth/feeder thing).



ALSO, I've also come across a few issues in ZBrush that might be to do with masking: There are certain points on the model where I can't polypaint or affect the material and it can be difficult to model there. I might have Z intensity cranked up but the brushes are barely making an impact on certain areas. It's happened before but I'm shooting blind on this one.

You can see what I mean on the busts in the picture; the green parts are fine but the brown bits refused to be altered in any way. There are only 2 sub-tools, the eyes and everything else.



Original Concept



Feedback and advice is greatly appreciated.

Aga22

have you checked if you ve got the masking set to invisible? theres a button in the mask menu

LordSebbington

Well there you go, that straight up solved the problem. Cheers for that!

LordSebbington

I've resculpted it to make the model look more like an adult version of the animal and closer to the concept art.



I've also tried retopologising, however it came out at about 7k tris which seems too high and just looks inefficient. It's my first time taking a high poly to low poly but it's pretty essential that I know how so I've been reading up on topology and I'm taking another crack at it.

Here's the first attempt anyway.

BARDLER

The topology flow is a little weird where the legs connect to the body, as well as around the ankle. I am not sure that will deform properly, but its hard to see with the triangulated mesh. Do you have the quad topology to post by any chance?

LordSebbington

Aye, here's the quad topology as it stands right now.



I think I started ok but lost sight of flow and deformation as I went along. I'm going to start from scratch on the retopology. I reckon I can lose about a third of the tris, especially on the face and legs.

I've done some very basic rigging with meshes I've downloaded so, for each model I complete, do you reckon it's good practice to rig and do at least a bit of basic posing/animation with the completed mesh?

reverendK

I would definitely rig and pose - nothing terribly should be required - and it's not an incredibly complicated mesh. As far as the topology, make sure you've got good loops around the deformation points - there are a few spots where the legs meet the body with some pretty nasty poles - and the body->tail area is pretty ugly as well. I'd keep the loops going down the tail as consistently spaced as possible. I don't know that you necessarily need to start from scratch though.

Future reference - Hide the vertices in the wireframe shot - its pretty much impossible to see your topology on the face as it is now.

Minor point about the sculpt itself - and i don't know if you've any intention of working on that any more, but the musculature where the legs meet the body makes 0 sense. That should technically be the knee - the femur should go back from there to the pelvis near the tail - and the muscles you've sculpted into the leg there look more like a thigh than a shin. I'll do a paintover if you'd like it, but here's a horse. I know the concept didn't have much information there.

LordSebbington

@ReverendK, Thanks for the input, I definitely see what you mean about the legs now you say it (well, said it 7 months ago). I don't think I'm going to be doing any more sculpting on it simply because it such an old piece and I've learned a lot since then.

This project got shelved after I started working full time in 3D but I decided to pick it up this morning and see where I'd left off.

I did a pose in Modo to get a better feel for it. I previously got a response from the original concept artist who said he saw them as desert pack roamers, probably in the early levels of a game. I always saw the ears as being quite expressive, flared when angry and down otherwise.

I want to this to bed really but I'll be spending a bit more time polishing it, likely a small diorama base to give context too and another pose.

Enough rambling though, as it stands I'm after advice on the textures. It seems flat to me and has no specific specular map. I'd really appreciate any input or recommendations in that regard.

Posed with flat specular:


Posed with Cavity:



Overview:


Textures:


Again, if anyone has any C&C on the textures I'd be really grateful.

Also, I'm having difficulty getting a decent wire shot as Bardler mentioned above. I guess a screen cap in Modo.