Sketchbook: Dthclaw

Dthclaw

Howdy all! I'm in the midst of working on a character project for my ZBrush class at school and I'd like to look at getting some feedback and process/technique suggestions.

Thus far I've gotten a basic body shape done with some proportion and musculature work done, which I was thinking would be enough to define at least the basic flow of the character's uniform. I'm also working on trying to get a well-defined set of facial features done (hence the Edward James Olmos as Adm. Adama spotlight images). I'm still learning the basics of using ZBrush, so any technique or "next step" advice would be welcome, and thank you in advance!

Dthclaw

I've gotten some more work done the officer, but I'm running into an issue where I'm not entirely sure how to get nice crisp creases in the jacket sub-tool to show where the collar is flipped over and along where the buttoning is going to go. Any advice?

OXGears

sup! i'm no pro, but the only thing i can say is start low and work up to the details. check this out. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fLAVk9jJuc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fLAVk9jJuc[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ife_fAg_ifw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ife_fAg_ifw[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o76Ep3F0-WA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o76Ep3F0-WA[/ame]

Dthclaw

Okay! Thanks OXGears, I'll see about applying some of the techniques in these videos to the project I'm working on.

jamesharlan

I think it's worth trying. Someone please share your experience when you try this one...

OXGears

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9KXurSTAsM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9KXurSTAsM[/ame]

Dthclaw

Wow, been busy the last couple of weeks. My ZBrush teacher had us retop and UV map our characters, so I've spent a lot of time getting the topology cleaned up in Maya and mapped out. Couple things I've learned in the process for sculpting out for games:

• Do the ZSphere armature and skin first, but after getting the rough shapes built, retop then and export to Maya
• Clean up the exports so you've got single-sided geometry (no polys inside the coat that won't be seen, for example) and relax the geometry with the Brush Sculpt tool in Maya.
• THEN start detail sculpting so that you've got clean control loops and roughly even spacing of quads.

Doing this let me kick sub-divisions up a loooootttttttttt without running into the same kind of performance/use issues I was having before.


So, at this point I'm going through for:

• Fine facial/skin detailing
• Fine hard surface detailing (insignia, ribbon rack, etc)
• Polypainting

I'm also going to see if there's anyway to work in the cloth folds into the process. Most of the reference images I got a hold of with military formal uniforms seem very specifically designed not to crumple and fold like that when standing, I'll have to experiment a bit.