[WiP] Modern/Sci-Fi Musketeer
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Hi :]
I am normally way to shy to post in a public forum like this, but to overcome this I made it a part of my next university project to document my production-diary here. Currently I am studying Game Art and 3D Animation and the last two month I did my first Game Character and for the next project I want to build upon the stuff I've learned so far.
We just finished this Game Project, so I didn't have the time for a pretty render. My PC is a bit crappy at the moment and rendering is a problem, but hopefully the new one arrives next week...Things I want to work on for this project:
- > Better and more realistic hair; I did not understand how to do haircards and I was a bit overwhelmed with the workload, so I just sculpted the hair
- > Better and more realistic hair; I did not understand how to do haircards and I was a bit overwhelmed with the workload, so I just sculpted the hair
-> Clothes with more personality; I want to do a few different layers of clothing and give them more details in Marvelous Designer
-> Clothes Textures in Substance Designer; the last ones were done in painter but I had fun doing the wallpaper in the background, so I want to do more elaborate patterns in Substance Designer
-> Overall a more realistic feel
-> Develop a better workflow; I still struggle with a lot of stuff and don't know the 'right' way to do things, so I have to backtrack a lot and clean up mistakes
The result should be a Highpoly and a Lowpoly Mesh with animation-ready Topology, but I also want to do a print version, cause I have the opportunity to print it in the uni
My idea for a design was to get inspired by a time period and I choose baroque to experiment with patterns ans I also really like the BBC take on the musketeers and the resulting costumes. To get a bit more creative i will do a modern/sci-fi version with these inspirations, but I still want to retain the feel of a uniform and a higher up soldier. But these are all just starting off points and I will use them loosely. This is my first uni project without restrictions, so I want to do something I will enjoy.
This is my current moodboard and I attached a file with all the sources:
My pitch is on Thursday, so until then I will have the concept for the character, but right now I just did a sort of 'coat of arms'. I wanted an animal as a 'leitmotif' and as an inspiration for colors and stuff and I decided to go with a Pampusana Dove and I designed this for now
Task-List + Timeline:
-> 22.06 - 24.06 Concept Art for Character
-> 22.06 - 24.06 Concept Art for Character
-> 24.06 - 08.07 Character Creation in Zbrush
-> 08.07 - 22.07 Clothes Creation in Marvelous Designer
-> 22.07 - 26.07 Clothes rework in ZBrush
-> 26.07 - 06.08 Retopology in 3Ds Max
-> 26.07 - 06.08 Retopology in 3Ds Max
-> 06.08 - 10.08 Unwrap in 3Ds Max
-> 10.08 - 24.08 Textures in Substance Painter and Substance Designer
-> 24.08 - 25.08 Rendering in Unreal or Marmoset
-> 25.08 - 27.08 Extra Time
-> 27.08 Deadline
Yeah, so maybe someone wants to accompany me and I can always use more tips and help to achieve a better workflow
NEXT UP: Concept Art for the Character Design
(ok, before I stare another hour at this, I just post it and then crawl in a dark corner |D)
Replies
As for the things to work on. I think you should focus more on sculpting the face. Make sure you have a lot of references for the nose and eyes. Maybe choose an actor or a model that will have hundreds of photos from different angles, so you can easily check if the shapes and proportions are ok.
I finally finished the other character, so now I can fully concentrate on this project. And I did a few things:
I deformed the base mesh to fit my proportions and sculpted the face..I really like it so far and I think I will do further skindetails in substance painter
I still have to do the hand and fingers and I will work a bit on the hair. In the end the hair sculpt will just be a reference for my haircards. Maybe I retopo the base, so I don't have to do everything with cards, but I still haven't decided yet.
With Marvelous designer I did the upper part of the clothes...I had to do it in two parts, cause the collarpart under the shirt was just destroying everything
I like the cape, because its made from a baroque pattern, but it looks weird, so I will change it up a bit.
The sleeves became huge; I have a version that is closer to the sketch with transparent, smaller ones, but these big ones look 'richer' with more weight. I will decide when I see it all together if I keep them or change them a bit
And the last things are a few feather in Substance Designer for the front part of the shirt
These will be baked on planes and then placed like the haircards.
So, for this weekend I can hopefully start the retopo on the body and do the pants.
Then I have to do the shoes and a sculpt of the bird
I am so looking forward for the patternmaking in substance designer xD
I put a skull mesh under the head and basically redid a lot of areas...I still have my problems with the eyes and mouth, but I still lack a lot of experience xD
Looks very different now, but I tried to stay close to the skull base and keep the features of my reference.
I also changed the cloak/cape in Marvelius and build a base for the shoes there, too
And I used the feathers to make a pendant out of the pidgeon crest in substance designer
Which was probably inevitable...I reduced my workload, cause I lost way too much time on trying to make haircards, so now the rest of the clothes are made quick and dirty, which shows.
I said to myself I can still do a better version of this after the deadline just for my portfolio, but I feel like I never want to see this tragedy again and move on...
So....tragedy no 1: hair
Like I said I wasted too much time with this, which I am fine with, cause its my first attempt and I already found a tutorial with a far better workflow then the things I was trying to do. So, I just accept this and move on. I probably could salvage it a bit still, but I don't have the time.
Tragedy 2: clothes..
They are done and I like them, but I don't have the time to put them into Zbrush...probably not.
I just saved a Highpoly and a Lowpoly Version with UVs and thats it...If I have time in the end I probably will put them into Zbrush
The only thing I really enjoy in this project are the textures and materials...I made a fabric version out of the pigeon for the cape, even thought it looks sooo nice on this collar xD
And the other one I already finished is a fractal inspired one and omg, this is currently my favorite thing I made
I made this as a base in substace designer and put it into a tile sampler....I tried different variations and all looked sooo nice but I decided to go with the one you see above
Its not working so nicley as a fabric, especially not in combination with other fabrics, but I guess thats just because I made it metallic and shiny and that just looks weird...and I have to play around a bit with the fabric itself...it doesn't look like fabric...probably because its too sharp looking or something
I still have to do 2 or 3 fabrics, shoes and accessories in Zbrush and the deadline is in 9 days, plus I just got informed that I have an exam somewhere in between and I don't have the time to learn for that, so that sounds like fun
I struggled super long with making haircards and it still doesn't look very good, but the time I lost on that, I am missing for a lot for a lot of other stuff, so now I have to cut corners.
The plan was to just get it done now for the deadline and fix it afterwards, but I can't stnad it anymore and I want to move on.
The first tragedy: Hair
I don't know why it was so hard for me to doe the haircards..I struggled with fibre mesh in Zbrush and even though it looked really nice, baking the meshes on planes took like 3 days or so...I even did some in Substance Designer, which was much easier for me, but it didn't look as nice.
I already found another workflow, which I want to try out on another project in the future, but for now I have to move on
If there is time left in the end I will come back to this
Next I started with fabric, the silver lining in the sky....I really like these material....I made an embroidery out of the pigeon one:
Its just for the cape, but damn it looks so pretty on the collar xD
I also did one inspired by fractals..I made a basepattern and put it in a tile sampler to get a few variations:
I really like the putcome...its not as pretty as a pattern, but I suspect its the metalness and roughness I have to tweak a bit more
I still have to do 2 or 3 favrics, shoes, accessories in zbrush and the rest of the textures and the deadline is in 9 days, plus I just got informed that I have an exam somewhere in between and I don't have the time to practice for that, so that sounds like fun
The details on fabric and accessories is the place where you definitely shine the most. The embroidery and the pigeon crest are so lovely.
Good luck on your exam.
Besides to your time estimation, do you have some kind of texture size or polygon count limitation?
But yeah keep it up!
Thank you xD Its so funny, I always saw myself as a character artist and I hated the first times I had to do texturing in painter, but Designer changed my whole perspective xD
@Crazy_pixel: Thank you...nope, not for this project...a lot of the workflows I am using for the first time, so its a lot of trial and error and I did not want to limit myself in any way
The to-do liste for the next days, from most important to least (I just have 4 days left):
- Still have to sculpt, retopo and unwrap a pair of shoes, but because of the shoecovers, they can be really simple
- Textures for skin, eyes and shoes
- Go over the clothes textures again, cause right now its just the base....and they looks weirdly shiny in marmoset, I wonder where this comes from...Looked fine in Substance painter
- Accessories like tassles and a chain for the coat
- Go over hair again to hopefully fix a few places
I think I might be able to helpyour hair workfow issue.
If you're not using a plug in that lets you manipulate and generate curves, and/or creative polystrips from curves, you should look into that for the hait workflow.
Xgen (maya), Geo to Curve (modo) plugin, etc.
tysiu mentioned xgen before, but I haven't looked it up, cause I was busy...but it seems like I have to look up a version for 3dsmax
But I bet thats the workflow I saw in this tutorial, where they placed the haircards first and then placed the textures inside of substance designer on top; I really want to try that next time
I love doing characters, but I think i will have more luck getting work with textures and stuff, so I probably will put characters on hold for a while :'D
To save time I used a few of the IMM Brushes, especially for the chain fro the pigeon.
I am almost done with retopo and unwrapping all the new pieces...
2 days to do, but I will definitly finish everything...all the stuff that gives me problems will be cut.
Tomorrow I have to finish retopologize the shoes, unwrap the chains and texture everything
And on the last day I first have an exam and after that I will give myself 2-3 hours to try posing it a bit, so that he is at least not in a T-Pose and the rest of the day is for rendering and touch up in Photoshop.
i don't know if that is just normal for marmoset, or if its perhaps just the way I did the lighting, but my textures are looking way shinier there then they are in Substance
Oh yeah..I did the skin...and I will have to go over that again tomorrow as well..It looks ok in Substance, but horrible in Marmoset.
There are weird dark streaks/shadows, which look very dirty...I guess thats from the normal map/highpoly...so hopefully I cann smooth them out and bake the normal again...
The shoes are a little mess, but I still have huge problems with doing a retopo in 3Ds max...its easier for organic things, but I don't know..it doesn't look good for these...maybe its the highpoly as well? Its not as clean as I would like it to be....
That is the one thing I wish I had the time for before to really get a feel for it: doing cleaner sculpts in Zbrush, with less polys
The next project is a creature with a very flexible deadline, so I hope I can do this one step by step with a tutorial or something. I know everyine develops his/her own style in doing things, but I really want to do one workflow from start to finish with help, to get a feel for 'a' right one, cause I am still lost on so many stages
I can hide a little bit how bad the shoes are and I will just accept for now, that I did not have the time to fix it, but the straps and stuff are just too bad.
last day tomorrow: Finish the shoes, go over the highpoly face again and bake it again, so that hopefully my dark streaks disappear, render everything and done.
I don't think I will have the time for posing, cause I have an exam as well
I am so used to exporting them packed for unreal...everything looks so much better now. Even the weird dark streaks on the face are gone
So, whats the result for me...I lost a lot of time doing the hair, whish is fine, cause I tried it for the first time and had to figure a lot of stuff out and I already found better ways to do it the next time.
I still don't have that much practice sculpting the face and I am glad I will have a bit time now do do that.
My workflow in Zbrush is still noz good...I work with too many polys even though it is the Highpoly, but I have seen better workflows...Michale Pavlovich has a bunch of videos I think? maybe I can learn a bit from him.
I really enjoy doing stuff in marvelous designer, but I just know the basics and I am not so sure about the workflow from marvelous to zBrush, but I am already doing a tutorial, which seems to explain that step really well.
I had so much fun with substance designer, the background in this one is actually based on a substance designer tutorial I did alongside this project and the next thing I do will probably be in Substancer Designer
I got super lazy in the end with the shoes and stuff and I am not sure if that was just because I don't like stuff like this, I knew I didn't have the time to do it right or because I am not good at it; so there is a bit of exploring for me to do....
I will try posing it a bit tomorrow, not for the project, cause the Deadline is today, but for me
I fyou have things to point out or me, stuff i have to put on my list, tutorials that my help me then I would be happy if you share that with me.
Otherwise this is the end and thank yuo for everybody who left a comment and helped me with this project :]