Well it's mostly about the sculpting I guess, make 2/3 rock pieces, take those pieces into the same subtool duplicate and randomly place around pieces, get a good and random modular mesh. turn it into a dynamesh, make some seams between the meshes more normal looking fix things up and make it more random looking.
then I have just randomly placed the same modular rock piece out in marmoset, i guess the main cliff has around 6 pieces, would be a lot more random looking if I found a way to scale meshes inside marmoset, but I was a bit lazy.
Jonas, was wondering what process you use to create such rocks? Do you start with zSphere and combine sculpting with using transpose tool to duplicate it and have it protrude through the mesh? or do you try to keep to one mesh and just push pull and sculpt?
I guess a common mistake myself and many others do with this workflow, is that we put in too much middle sized detail in zbrush, so when using many pieces like above to create a mountain etc it usually gets too noisy, this time I tried to keep it down.
Great looking asset Jonas. I was a bit worried with the first pick you showed as the rock compilation had no actual rock flow too it. It clearly looked like 1 style of horizontal rock rotated at angles and jammed together. They forms/cracks no longer flowed the way this type of rock would actually break making it look very artificial and fake.
But in your latest shot things look fantastic. All the rocks are flowing in the same direction with subtle angle turns that don't give it that disjointed look of the first massing of rocks. Really dig it and looking forward to seeing more.
Rawks I am working on for a Sonoran Desert placed scene. Trying some new techniques. I feel like there could be some smaller deposited rocks in the cracks, but this is how it is for now.
Jonas:
I've started to notice this also. I've also noticed that when I started out and was duplicating the mesh around to make it larger I was also scaling up my brush which would give me larger details but lose that feeling that it is a big piece and I'd basically end up with a rock looking the same size but more dense in polies.
Which brushes do you use? I tend to use the Trim smoothborder brush with a rough alpha to give me a less clean cut, however this brush isn't great at getting straight edges. What do you tend to use for that? one of the clay brushes? or maybe the trim smoothborder with a square alpha?
Edit: you say you are using the same mesh 6 times. I presume you created a fully finished rock and then added them together in something like Max or Maya?
narticus: I think I can take a shot of that when I get back to work on monday.
Autocon: Yeah I know exactly what you mean, that mesh was a bit harder to use as it was all most a perfect cube, and I was probably a bit too into it so didn't think it looked that weird until later on, which is kinda why I made a new one haha, happy you like the later one.
Makkon: Nice you could probably make something that look all most the same with that, Is it 3 assets? also something I noticed that I do often myself is the L shapes that are clearly from the same piece, you might want to make the whole asset into a dynamesh and make them look a bit more disconnected.
Steppan: Yeah Scale is important and hard, I thought rocks were fun because you didn't have to think that much, but I have noticed there is a lot to think about when you use multiple meshes.
in this case I didn' use so many brushes because I was trying to stay clean,
but my normal brushes are, TrimDynamic, TrimAdaptive, TrimSmoothBoarder, PolishHard, Morph, and actually I use square alpha for all of these brushes, as well as -90 Focal Shift, So all my brushes are very sharp, i might smooth out some parts with the TrimDynamic brush later on though.
"edit" forgot the last question
I think my english might have confused some :P, I use multiple rock meshes in zbrush which i use as subtools in zbrush to create one rock mesh in zbrush which can be used in every angle. I made a game ready mesh of that, and took it into marmoset where i "probably" copied it around 6 times to get that look.
Jonas: Thanks man! actually, these are the base pieces that I made, before dynameshing them together (which means I'm probably doing it wrong, doh!). I wanted to go for a much larger scale rock, but also use these individual ones for smaller outcroppings.
Makkon: No that would work better actually, was thinking it looked too perfectly boxy. other then that, using a couple of these to create a bigger piece will give you a rock with quite small sized detail, but it all depends on what scale you are thinking about using it at.
Jonas: Thank you so much, that was very informative. I'm just starting out in the 'rock' world, and so far I am really enjoying it but I only really know of a couple of different methods and haven't developed my skills to creating a different type of rock (such as the one you have done). I'm really interested to learn how though, so I'll be working away at that when I get home tonight.
Actually you was quite clear, when I read back, I just got confused because I haven't got Marmoset 2, which I presume it must be the version you are using as you cannot duplicate meshes in the first one.
Makkon: Well depending on in witch engine you plan to take it into you could always use a tiling normal or diffuse map to make up for the loss of resolution.
Steppan: Well there is a lot of methods, and I'm pretty sure there is a lot better one's then the one i'm using, so never stop searching for other ways.
and yes its marmoset 2, if you plan to create something more serious I would suggest you use a more complete engine like unreal 4, I was just creating something quick to try marmoset 2 out.
I don't know if I ever posted this, but here's one rock I did for a scene that would consist of a lot of sharp, granite-like rocks. It's been put on hold, so this is the only one for now. Utilizes an inverted Unified Detail Normal Map from the ZBrush sculpt, a tiling Normal from ZBrush, and uses PBR maps.
Made a tiling rock texture to help my actual rock meshes to better blend with my Landscape
Sadly even though it's better than before the result is still way too flat, I wonder if it's possible to use the texture's Heightmap to actually displace the terrain (not by using tessellation but by modifing the Landscape heightmap when I paint this layer) ...
Maybe in UE4 but in UE3 it seems rather difficult if not impossible ...
how do you brighten the edges on rocks? (is it an inverted AO?)
You can use a cavity map for that, which can be quickly generated from your normal map via crazybump or ndo.
Another technique (3DMotive FTW!) is to take the blue channel of the normal map, copy it into a new layer, invert it and select filter > find edges. Then you can simply set it to a screen layer style, play around with the opacity, and voila!
Now this is my kind of thread. So much awesome inspiration already. Just a load of great techniques.
Below is an experiment and a bit of a hobby I've gotten into. Using the iPhone app 123d Catch, I've been capturing real world organic shapes and surfaces for zbrush alpha use. Instead of using that old technique of zbrush displaced data from crazybump created hight info, I'm able to capture almost ANY surface with perfect 3d information.
The results so far have been good.
Below is a video (no sound) of a small rock formation I found off route 74 Ortega highway in SolCal.
This asset required very minimal zbrush cleanup of excess geometry.
Now this is my kind of thread. So much awesome inspiration already. Just a load of great techniques.
Below is an experiment and a bit of a hobby I've gotten into. Using the iPhone app 123d Catch, I've been capturing real world organic shapes and surfaces for zbrush alpha use. Instead of using that old technique of zbrush displaced data from crazybump created hight info, I'm able to capture almost ANY surface with perfect 3d information.
The results so far have been good.
Below is a video (no sound) of a small rock formation I found off route 74 Ortega highway in SolCal.
This asset required very minimal zbrush cleanup of excess geometry.
Np man. It's really no different than cb. They both filter from photographs. This one just takes about 40, ha, but still worth it. I can't wait for my next Yosemite visit.
Now this is my kind of thread. So much awesome inspiration already. Just a load of great techniques.
Below is an experiment and a bit of a hobby I've gotten into. Using the iPhone app 123d Catch, I've been capturing real world organic shapes and surfaces for zbrush alpha use. Instead of using that old technique of zbrush displaced data from crazybump created hight info, I'm able to capture almost ANY surface with perfect 3d information.
The results so far have been good.
Below is a video (no sound) of a small rock formation I found off route 74 Ortega highway in SolCal.
This asset required very minimal zbrush cleanup of excess geometry.
Jonas, could you made a tutorial, how to sculpt those rocks? I mean, even without commentary. Next time, when you will be sculpting rocks, start ZBrush, and start recording. Then put 1-2 h long video on YT.
it's about 5k tris for each mesh, and it's about 9 instances, so well boarder line high poly hehe.
It's gorgeous, any chance we could get a breakdown on your approach, maybe even just a write up about your materials (very sexy) or some words about how you get such nice, i'll call it, "layering" when you sculpt.
Replies
then I have just randomly placed the same modular rock piece out in marmoset, i guess the main cliff has around 6 pieces, would be a lot more random looking if I found a way to scale meshes inside marmoset, but I was a bit lazy.
sorry for the undetailed explanation.
Edit: your portfolio is sweet as. Really inspiring stuff
btw thanks
But in your latest shot things look fantastic. All the rocks are flowing in the same direction with subtle angle turns that don't give it that disjointed look of the first massing of rocks. Really dig it and looking forward to seeing more.
Rawks I am working on for a Sonoran Desert placed scene. Trying some new techniques. I feel like there could be some smaller deposited rocks in the cracks, but this is how it is for now.
I've started to notice this also. I've also noticed that when I started out and was duplicating the mesh around to make it larger I was also scaling up my brush which would give me larger details but lose that feeling that it is a big piece and I'd basically end up with a rock looking the same size but more dense in polies.
Which brushes do you use? I tend to use the Trim smoothborder brush with a rough alpha to give me a less clean cut, however this brush isn't great at getting straight edges. What do you tend to use for that? one of the clay brushes? or maybe the trim smoothborder with a square alpha?
Edit: you say you are using the same mesh 6 times. I presume you created a fully finished rock and then added them together in something like Max or Maya?
Edit: thanks Makkon, I didn't realise I hadn't.
Autocon: Yeah I know exactly what you mean, that mesh was a bit harder to use as it was all most a perfect cube, and I was probably a bit too into it so didn't think it looked that weird until later on, which is kinda why I made a new one haha, happy you like the later one.
Makkon: Nice
Steppan: Yeah Scale is important and hard, I thought rocks were fun because you didn't have to think that much, but I have noticed there is a lot to think about when you use multiple meshes.
in this case I didn' use so many brushes because I was trying to stay clean,
but my normal brushes are, TrimDynamic, TrimAdaptive, TrimSmoothBoarder, PolishHard, Morph, and actually I use square alpha for all of these brushes, as well as -90 Focal Shift, So all my brushes are very sharp, i might smooth out some parts with the TrimDynamic brush later on though.
"edit" forgot the last question
I think my english might have confused some :P, I use multiple rock meshes in zbrush which i use as subtools in zbrush to create one rock mesh in zbrush which can be used in every angle. I made a game ready mesh of that, and took it into marmoset where i "probably" copied it around 6 times to get that look.
Going to try that tonight, wish me luck!
I'm going to have to try this again...
Actually you was quite clear, when I read back, I just got confused because I haven't got Marmoset 2, which I presume it must be the version you are using as you cannot duplicate meshes in the first one.
Steppan: Well there is a lot of methods, and I'm pretty sure there is a lot better one's then the one i'm using, so never stop searching for other ways.
and yes its marmoset 2, if you plan to create something more serious I would suggest you use a more complete engine like unreal 4, I was just creating something quick to try marmoset 2 out.
Sadly even though it's better than before the result is still way too flat, I wonder if it's possible to use the texture's Heightmap to actually displace the terrain (not by using tessellation but by modifing the Landscape heightmap when I paint this layer) ...
Maybe in UE4 but in UE3 it seems rather difficult if not impossible ...
You can use a cavity map for that, which can be quickly generated from your normal map via crazybump or ndo.
Another technique (3DMotive FTW!) is to take the blue channel of the normal map, copy it into a new layer, invert it and select filter > find edges. Then you can simply set it to a screen layer style, play around with the opacity, and voila!
A rock I had to do for school.
Below is an experiment and a bit of a hobby I've gotten into. Using the iPhone app 123d Catch, I've been capturing real world organic shapes and surfaces for zbrush alpha use. Instead of using that old technique of zbrush displaced data from crazybump created hight info, I'm able to capture almost ANY surface with perfect 3d information.
The results so far have been good.
Below is a video (no sound) of a small rock formation I found off route 74 Ortega highway in SolCal.
This asset required very minimal zbrush cleanup of excess geometry.
Here's the app used - http://www.123dapp.com/catch
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pLBQ6i3QBzY&feature=youtu.be
I need to try this !!! So clever. I definitely think it can lead to the same results than a sculpt but it seems much quicker. Thanks for the tip !
Very curious about the process...Tried using 123d for a diecast car..How many images did you snap?? Thx.
-Matt
Must at least be above 8. The more clear shots, the better the result.
I'm sure you already know but.. I'll reiterate - Sick rocks Jonas! And presentation!
it's about 5k tris for each mesh, and it's about 9 instances, so well boarder line high poly hehe.
I'd love to see this ^^ Magnificent job.
It's gorgeous, any chance we could get a breakdown on your approach, maybe even just a write up about your materials (very sexy) or some words about how you get such nice, i'll call it, "layering" when you sculpt.
They are some very nice rocks