Sketchbook: RMO

rmo

Hi, my real name is Guillermo, but my designer brand name is RMO, im a graphic designer with a interest in 3d modeling, and animating, at first i was trying to incorporate 3d modeling to my work never realizing how much work is needed. so after lurking for a while i think i need real critiques, so feel free to drop some knowledge and advice if you have the chance. 

rmo

so, this is a personal project ive been working on this week, i still need some progress modeling some skin folds and texturing with some alphas before i try to retopo everything in maya. 
any CC is welcome.

rmo

wendigo head/skull closeup

Lower back and claws closeup 

the only things in the sculpt that are treated with alphas are the skull, teeth and antlers/horns, i still need to do detailing passes on flesh, guts, bones and skin.

im still unsure how im going to do the shaggy hair in the back and neck, what i really mean is im still unsure where im going to render the final images, the usual renders in marmoset or learn how to use vray in maya and wait a billion hours for a nice render with passes.

rmo

A little update on skin, bone and flesh detailing, i think im done with the last stage of the sculpt before starting the retopology in maya, i guess if im putting the effort to finish this organic practice until i have a real portfolio piece, this means im going to need to make hd materials in substance designer and painter, then its off to vray.

rmo

i hate retopology, so i took my time with this one, i wanted to learn about topology for animation, and loop placement and stuff... uvs next


 

Eric Chadwick

Hey neat piece. This makes me think of the bear in the movie Annihilation, worth a watch if you haven't already.

Movie spoilers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-HMI0K2bfo&t=896

rmo

Hey, thanks, i haven't seen that video, so ima get a up of coffee and get to watching, thanks for the link.
that bear is awesomely sculpted, i have several pics in my pureref file.

rmo

so, i was thinking about my workflow when i was baking because i wanted to do something so insert some detailing before the painting process, sometimes i go to youtube and chromecast some tutorials or substance videos, in one of the videos in the playlist the designer mentioned something about baking in substance designer because you could modify the normals and bake maps from that map with out high poly, so i had to jump on in, i baked my normals and got them to substance designer to tweek the details and the jazz, turned out my maps look nice on my model, cant wait to start painting in substance painter.

rmo

so, did a first run at painting the model in substance painter, got the model to maya and set up a lighting scheme to render out a first image. heres a look at the diffuse map first pass and a render i got form vray.

rmo

so after learning about vray and how to render out of maya i can say ive learned alot on this practice sculpt, i made a huge mistake of scaling my model while on the process of retopology hence messing up my displacement maps latter in the workflow, but i guess iim this closer to getting a nice render to call profesional.

Eric Chadwick

Looking good. I'd like to see a bit more love on the lighting.

You have a nice rim in there. Try to avoid pure blacks anywhere in your image. There should at least be some color in the deep shadows, gives more fullness to the forms.

You're using V-Ray so you could try adding a white bounce card behind the camera, opposite the key light direction.

rmo

Eric Chadwick said:

Looking good. I'd like to see a bit more love on the lighting.

You have a nice rim in there. Try to avoid pure blacks anywhere in your image. There should at least be some color in the deep shadows, gives more fullness to the forms.

You're using V-Ray so you could try adding a white bounce card behind the camera, opposite the key light direction.

Thanks for the advice, i got really caried away in post, ill remember not to let the blacks seep in.

rmo

on a organic practice break i continued to search for the best hard surface workflow. 
right now im practicing using the cad-modo workflow that i just found out about, didnt know anything about the rounded edges shader and was flabbergasted when read about it that i got myself an extra present this christmas, modo seems really fun, and fast.
heres a practice i did inspired by mr. Jake Parker with his bocks03 cargo robot, 

check it out here.




on this one i experimented with making a really nice roughness map in substance, i dont know if the lighting angle is the right one for metal renders, i feel like the highlights are to bright. well next one ill try not to overpower them.

Oliver Hopley

This is really cool! I think If you're trying to have that top heavy feel to this model you could put the legs a little closer together. Also the grunge level might be a bit intense at the moment, namely along the edges the grunge is quite uniform. It might be worth painting a bit more of that out. Really like it though, its a cool model!

rmo

Thank you @Oliver Hopley, youre right the legs could be a little bit closer, maybe i should shrink the rubber joints between legs and pelvis and tone down the grunge somewhat, feels like it came out of a garbage disposal now that i think about it.

rexo12

It's looking nice!

On the grunge, along with the uniformity along the edges, the scratches on the planar surfaces don't seem to make much sense, which is a pretty solid tell for the viewer that it's fake. There's a lot of random direction and they're very small, thin scratches - but so many of them, that you have to wonder what this thing is possibly knocking up against in order to do that to a flat surface. So I'd recommend making the direction of the scratches more uniform - maybe it's scraping along a narrow corridor? And/or lower the density of the scratches - perhaps someone is scraping their keys along it in deliberate abuse? Essentially I think some more thought needs to go into why the particular grunginess is there, as these are the details that are supposed to tell the backstory of your model.

Also one of my favourite ways to add detail to a model without scratching it up or covering it in dirt is to use the dusty wipe/smeared fingerprint textures included in Painter as an additive roughness layer, giving it a very low intensity in order to add subtle and believable variation in the roughness, for a sort of "clean grunge". It might not apply to the direction of your model in particular, but I just thought i'd put it out there.

rmo

Thanks @rexo12, thats really great advice, ive been thinking a lot about that advice, the mind the story advice, like you commented, that the scratches have to come from some action, like moving through a corridor, so it will scratch in a particular way and a particular direction, thank you very much, this is the next step i think i need to get closer to any good texturing workflow. im already working on the next model i want to practice with specifically this advice in mind.

rmo

Thinking about the advice i got from the last model i uploaded i coudnt wait to get to practice it, so i set out to find another little robot i found interesting, something from another great artist, i found Alberto Boscolo with this little guy https://www.instagram.com/p/BGkeLs6LgC0/ 

already spent a coupple of days in fusion 360 making the little guy, next is seting up this guys mesh and uvs.

rmo

So i got tasked with recreating a metal security box with a manufacturer that does sheet metal work specificly because i know fusion 360, i guess this program is design for real world standards, the tool is fantastic. ill post the update because im stuck working and haven't been able to finish the bouncerbot model and get it to render, im stuck in the uv fase.
updates.
i took some pictures of the real thing before hand.

did some upgrades to the original design the client wanted, like the little cap thing on the side vents.


heres a couple marmoset render of the modeled and textured box

rmo

so i went back to finish the little robot guy named b31, i call him bouncer bot in a way to imagine a way this guy would be used for or maybe its job, anyway i wanted to imagine something about it for the texturing process in substance.


i imagined this guy quite rough, maybe i went overboard again on this one, maybe ill try texturing a brand new robot or mech or something to get the need for grunge out of my system. anway took this guy and made some renders in vray and post in photoshop, would love some CC.

Ged

he looks great! the only thing that feels a little off to me is his centre of gravity, he seems like he might fall over backward with his feet so far forwards under his bodys weight.

rmo

Ged said:

he looks great! the only thing that feels a little off to me is his centre of gravity, he seems like he might fall over backward with his feet so far forwards under his bodys weight.

Yes, you're right, the proportions and stance don't give it a stable center point, could have worked more on that issue but i guess i wanted a little bit more likeness to the original sketch. thanks btw.

rmo

I didn't know that much about displacement maps and how to use them before so i guessed i could do a practice sculpt, something organic, nothing specific, so i started sculpting some kind insect or larva or kaiju or something, any way, had fun making this little shrimp thing.


Then i guessed i had to try and set up a render with the displacement maps and see whats that all about, so i made these two images to test things out, so far im pretty happy with the results but i guess i still have to do more test, and then there's the painting stage. Any CC and tricks on displacement maps and how to use them are welcomed.

rmo

update on the little organic guy i was practicing with, i painted the sculpt in substance painter, along with all the maps needed, i wanted to practice composition and post processing in photoshop as well. i guess my background in graphic design makes me think a bit in the bases of projects and what is needed for a particular end result, in this case i wanted to make a composition for a print poster, sort of like the artwork used to create a movie poster. well it was a nice practice but i feel into old habits of fixing mistakes in post. anyway, CC is welcome for anyone who's reading this.

rmo

I got aproached by some indie dev team because they liked the coinchenn larva model, and where looking for something similar for some creature models they needed so i thought i give it a chance and see what comes out of it. at least im getting most needed practice.

rmo

trying to keep practicing something like creature design i made this whale creature sketch, i dont know yet if i want to take it all the way to render stage.

I dont know if u want to keep investing time in this kind of creature design or organic design, while i was looking for work in the industry i hit the wall with a cold water bucket realizing that there are no industry jobs in my country that go for this kind of modeling or have past productions with this kind of organics, but almost all of them have whimsical and styled works or are working producing something with that kind of style. so i guess ill start practicing stylized modeling, maybe that will help me along the way, i guess.

rmo

Project i got recently to sculpt a werewolf with some mech parts in it, so i got my block in some what ready with an approved pose, if anybody reads this would love some cc on the main groups i mapped on the anatomy and well any help for the next step is greatly appreciated, im thinking ill have to look for body building videos or something to find some good anatomy references, anybody want to point me to the right direction?








CC is greatly appreciated. 

Eric Chadwick

What are you currently using for anatomy reference? Look up "human ecorche" for easy sculptural ref

rmo

Hey @Eric Chadwick i used a whole lot of references of sculpts, bot not a human ecorche like the one you posted, thanks for that, helps me with some mistakes before i collapse and for muscle fiber direction, any tip for relaxed/contracted muscles on posed figures? Thanks.

Eric Chadwick

Sculpt for the pose, that's my opinion. Don't equivocate. Commit.

rmo

Eric Chadwick said:

Sculpt for the pose, that's my opinion. Don't equivocate. Commit.

Thanks @Eric Chadwick you've convinced me, i was thinking on going back to the A pose but no, my reasoning is that if the result of the project its going to be a 3d print, maybe i should  sculpt for the pose. thanks.

allmighty_thunder

The way i think of it(sculpting in the pose) is that is how people sculpted before digital and the results were great and i want to not be afraid of doing the same thing and get better at it.

I like the stuff you have going on here keep up the cool stuff

rmo

allmighty_thunder said:

The way i think of it(sculpting in the pose) is that is how people sculpted before digital and the results were great and i want to not be afraid of doing the same thing and get better at it.

I like the stuff you have going on here keep up the cool stuff

Thanks @allmighty_thunder for the encouragement and sorry for the late reply.

rmo

An update on the last project i uploaded; This commission project required to translate a 2d concept into a 3d sculpt for printing, so i guess what i learned with this project is that i took the longest pipeline i could ever take, blocking>posing>volume>dynamesh>sculpt form>details, repeat. Ii guess it was an eye opening project for me, i found myself searching everywhere for good reference  of the human body, even searched for anatomy ecorches to buy but i guess im way to late for some patreon prints. Anyway, im thinking im going to practice anatomy from now on, focus on large groups first, starting with the arms, then legs then torso.











any cc, links to awesome ecorches to buy would be amazing, thanks in advance.

rmo

Gotta keep practicing, even if concepts are cute and simple.

https://www.deviantart.com/minjixmuu-chan/art/Mr-Chu-266635960, pipeline practice.

allmighty_thunder

adorable, i love it

truemkar

True Detective ))))

rmo

Ok, i have to say even tho i hate retopology sometimes its fun doing characters like this guy. 
This is my next pipeline practice from the take some else's project series, tsep, maybe it should say drawing instead of project since im taking 2d drawings/concepts and translating them as best i can to 3d. Anyway, id gladly take any CC on any improvements you guys might offer. thanks.


Plantman (Torchlight II concept art) by Mike Franchina #134

rmo

More pipeline practice... i feel like im doing the wrong pipeline.





Original art; Lixard Guard sketch by Derek Laufman https://www.instagram.com/p/BEXjt4BIjmm/
more pipeline images and marmoset viewer https://www.artstation.com/artwork/VdQJa8

rmo

My god, ive been away for so long, i feel like i was on stasis, working on a game under contract is rough.

So, i guess a little update is in order;
Im strill trying to learning good anatomy, this time im trying to figure out how to sculpt a female face, here are a few pictures of the bust... for now im going to keep working on the hair while i scan for major issues before i continue to the next practice.