Bazooka the Monkey and Friends

miamigator09

Even though I've got some final-looking presentation pics, I'm open to critiques and general feedback for this character.

I'm going to complete a character every week or two for the next two or three months (pretty ambitious for me) in my free time, and Bazooka is the first one.

Brief explanation of my process:
-ZBrush: dynamesh character from adaptive skin (from ZShperes) til proportions are blocked out, then convert and sculpt normally, getting into the 6-8 million poly range
-ZBrush > 3DCoat: decimate the high poly, bring into 3DCoat, auto-retop by guiding it with masks (areas to keep density), and strokes (to template the edgeflow)
-Maya: bring retop into Maya to clean up n-gons, fix any issues that come with auto-retop. Then UV the new base mesh
-Maya > ZBrush: bring base mesh into ZBrush with original subtools, project detail using the morph brush (for better control) begin polypainting
-ZBrush, Maya, XNormal: bake out maps using ZBrush and/or XNormal, test the look in Maya, make adjujstments (probably could have skipped the use of Maya and gone straight into Marmoset, but I was still tweaking the base mesh with last minute sculpting decisions)
-Marmoset Toolbag: throw in assets, add Materials, play with IBL, render out game-engine pics
-Photoshop: also used previously for texture work (exported maps from XNormal/ZBrush into Photoshop, compositing work etc). Used Photoshop for final beauty and presentation shots.

If there is anything you see outdated or wrong with this process, I'm always open to improvement!

Thanks for checking it out!
Mike-

The Imgur album shows my progress shots throughout the process-

http://imgur.com/a/eKWRg

miamigator09

I also posted a simple tutorial on how to create the alpha brush I used for his fur. Surprisingly there was very little out there when I looked for stylized fur alpha brushes. Though it is really easy to make your own brush-

http://imgur.com/a/iVnLT

Not sure if imgur is the right setting for a tutorial, if there is a more acceptable method, let me know and I'll move it there-

Mike

miamigator09

Alright, based on some feedback from critiques outside this thread, it's apparently not a great idea to mirror UVs on the head, so I redid the UVs and gave him a full head and torso. I like the map a little more as it has less seams, but I think the head unwrap could have been improved.

I also took him back into ZBrush and with Transpose Master gave him a new pose, though at about 85% of the way in, it broke (gave the error "No Matching Data, Subtool Skipped").. so I did the pose twice!

I'll be wrapping him up and moving on to the next character by the weekend-

miamigator09

Alright, I've started blocking out and basic detailing of my next character.. it's a commission based on the graphic novel 'Saga' (though I've never actually heard of it), it's got a pretty cool silhouette, so this should be fun to complete.

I've attached some reference, as well as my current progress.. enjoy :poly123:

miamigator09

Made some more progress today- I've got the armor and props made, posed it, and added some default Z Materials just to see what it would look like blocked in..

The objective is to get this piece 3D printed as a solid color, so the textures won't matter for that.. I just have to find some tutorial on how to turn this multi-subtool into a print-ready .stl

The texture work is for portfolio presentation.. Even though I don't have to bring this mesh down to game-rez, I may do it just to go through the process and have another animation-ready piece.. could be cool!

miamigator09

Alright, I'm calling this one done.. I see a bunch of mushy parts that could use some more love, but I'm on a mission, so this will have to do. For the purposes of this model (3D print) I think the detail is sufficient, but I'll go for much more realism on the next piece.

I really like the sketchfab plugin on this forum, so I included a 3d turntable of the finished model here :poly136:





[SKETCHFAB]79ea1a182a074aae823800ed3fa26615[/SKETCHFAB]

miamigator09

last post for the Lying Cat- I adjusted some proportions, especially along the neck and shoulders, to fit the reference image better. I already have my friend printing it, and it looks pretty good- I'll update this post with a pic of the 3D print once it's complete.

As for my next piece, I'm going to try to do something a little different. I've been getting a lot of consistent feedback that my texture work is pretty so-so. In order to work on that, I'm going to do a photo-realistic head. Several years ago I started a Robert DeNiro sculpt, so I'm brushing it off and completing it.

miamigator09

Made a little bit of progress.. learned about storing details (and iterations) in layers following Frank Tzeng's tutorial, which I used to create a 'pore/wrinkle' layer on top of my facial topology layer..

Any crits and comments are welcome, thanks!





REFERENCE:

miamigator09

I'm definitely going to need feedback on this one.. spent a good amount of time tweaking the textures and high poly sculpt, and am getting a little frustrated when it ends up looking.. not really like De Niro at all.

I did a really quick (bad) auto-retop in 3DCoat, so the underlying topology is pretty bad to start with, but I think there are major forms I'm getting wrong and just can't identify them.

Anyways, here are some screenshots out of Marmoset.

Let me know if you think I should just make a separate 'De Niro' post if it's getting confusing with this thread..

OUTKKAST

Hey Man I love the monkey and the cat. Great pose and style on the monkey. I think the cat though when growling and showing teeth he needs to have his lower eyelid raised a bit, but other then that it looks done.

As far as De Niro it looks like him but it is off though. Looks like its the silhouette. In pics it looks like his head is suppose to be more square until it hits the top of the jaw line. It also seems like the face should be slightly longer but that could be because you haven't made the hair yet.

The side profile seems off too, but I am not sure. I would say easiest way to fix these issues will be to use a flatshader and get a few more reference photos and try to line up the silhouette. It already looks like him it just looks like the silhouette needs adjusting.

Bedrock

May I just point out the unfortunate finger placement in the very first image..

I like the stylized fur tutorial, much appreciated!

miamigator09

@OUTKKAST, I am definitely struggling to get his likeness, but matching silhouettes never occurred to me (I'm trying to get the lines inside the face to match), so I'll try using different references and hopefully that will do the trick. Thanks!

@Bedrock, you are not the first person to point that out, it was totally unintentional glad you like the tutorial-