Woodcutter's Block
polycounter lvl 2
Hey everyone! I recently made a quick sketch to get back into drawing and it immediately gave me an idea for a small prop scene.
Sculpting and texturing wood has always been a favourite of mine but I still feel very inexperienced.
Bark, for example, is a real challenge. So I decided to make a scene all in favour of wood.
First off I thought it was a great idea to try out Zspheres in Zbrush instead of using splines and compound objects in max.
After decided on a few random but hopefully well placed roots I quickly started sculpting. The whole reason for starting this scene was to practice bark in essence.
As you can see I tried a few different approaches to the bark with nothing really satisfying me.
I ended up with this as a first pass and I think it will serve as a great base, now I just need to figure out an efficient way to get nice layering going on.
In between my bark frustrations I worked a bit on fitting props to add to the scene.
I tried to crack it open in 3ds Max before exporting it into zbrush since I have always had quite a few issues with cutting things open in zbrush and it just happens to go quite easily in 3ds Max in my opinion.
So that's the end of my first two days of work. An update will follow soon with hopefully some better bark, some sculpting on the axes and maybe a few pebbles/rocks.
Thanks for reading and I would love some constructive criticism!
Sculpting and texturing wood has always been a favourite of mine but I still feel very inexperienced.
Bark, for example, is a real challenge. So I decided to make a scene all in favour of wood.
First off I thought it was a great idea to try out Zspheres in Zbrush instead of using splines and compound objects in max.
After decided on a few random but hopefully well placed roots I quickly started sculpting. The whole reason for starting this scene was to practice bark in essence.
As you can see I tried a few different approaches to the bark with nothing really satisfying me.
I ended up with this as a first pass and I think it will serve as a great base, now I just need to figure out an efficient way to get nice layering going on.
In between my bark frustrations I worked a bit on fitting props to add to the scene.
I tried to crack it open in 3ds Max before exporting it into zbrush since I have always had quite a few issues with cutting things open in zbrush and it just happens to go quite easily in 3ds Max in my opinion.
So that's the end of my first two days of work. An update will follow soon with hopefully some better bark, some sculpting on the axes and maybe a few pebbles/rocks.
Thanks for reading and I would love some constructive criticism!
Replies
Or should I go for a more muted/blended approach?
Thanks man ^^ I have a specific type in mind but it's as hard as I expected it to be. I am however going for a stylized pbr look. So I might have to tone it down a bit. You can see the style I mean in my other works.
The challenge I am really giving myself is to try and bring bark into my stylized arsenal. Bark however, has a mind of its own it seems haha.
First of all, the result right now. Mind you, I still am going to add a broken axe, some chopped blocks, stones and more ground, a few cute details like a snail for example
The issue I am referring to is this:
INCREDIBLY jagged edges, just mindblowing, and super annoying as well.
I got a tip from a friend however, who told me to duplicate the mesh, zremesh is, and then start projecting details subdivision by subdivision. This DID get rid of some of the major jagged edges.
Trying to make the few pieces of bark that were pulled off pop out clearly from the surrounding bark.
Making cuts that hopefully depict varying levels of force and age. Some already have closed up, others clearly fresh and deep.
Added some bracket fungus (which - for once - has a nicer translation in my mother tongue, translating to "Elf bench" / "Elfish perch").
I will probably add a bunch of tinier ones around the roots, not sure yet if these are too blobby and fight too much with the overall style. At the same time I don't want everything to feel too uniform.
And last but not least, the broken axe.
Thanks for having a look, any critique or feedback is more than welcome!
https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/2v/a28gvuq1zk3d.jpg
I was really attracted by these shapes and thought I could maybe combine it with this:
Into something like this:
would be interested in hearing everybody's thoughts before I lose another full day on just the bark haha.
I have decided to get a bit more flexible, instead of a very static High poly sculpt -> low poly retopo -> unwrap -> texture; I will now continue on the low poly and unwrap, and start baking and texturing to see how the details feel right now and if necessary it should be peanuts to just go back to zbrush, adjust the detailing of the tree and simply rebake anything I dont like.
Trying to decide what kind of poly density I want. I have always been a fan of going as low poly as possible but recently I got told that if it was for a portfolio piece I might as well double everything just to make it look good. But then I get the feeling I dont show prospective employers that I know how to make something game ready.
I lost a lot of time trying to fix some baking and AO issues but here is the first texture pass. Still quite a bit to do but at the same time the end is in sight
At the moment I have not hand painted anything by hand, I managed to do everything straight out of substance painter with filters and little tricks. Long live the Curvature map.
Still unsure of how I will tackle the ground.
This is what I have right now, lots of things that couldve gone better but it was a very learning experience, if anybody has any C&C, feel free to hit me up, I could always adjust and fix some parts.