Zbrush Cyborg Character

Giannhs_Kappa

 Hello guys,first time here.I posted this on r/Zbrush reddit too but expect better feedback from this forum.I'm in third semester on a BA Animation and Game art college and on the current module I have to deliver one game ready low poly character with high mesh baked on it and one highpoly posed version.

 The character I came up it's named Kira Ma and it's a cyborg version of Hindu goddes Kali Ma.It's only two and a half months since i started on Zbrush so I don't have a lot of experience and I would be grateful for some anatomy feedback.

  The character sheet that I created it's not much of a help but I couldn't find some 'solid' 4-6 handed anatomy.I decided to have the second pair placed diagonally so I can maintain the femine silhouette without adding volume to the ribcage with a second blade shoulder or elbow place on top of each other(for mechanical reasons I left half of the shoulder on top of the arms to allow rotation).

 I'm trying to figure out the right placement before I merge the second pair and start to subdivide for extra details.Last thing I would like to add is that after merging the back hands and create the mechanical neck muscles I will keep it as an idle pose for game ready character for first part of my module(I will have to rig it next semester) and make another high poly posed version just for showcase.

  Thank you in advance and sorry for the long post.

Ghogiel

Only since you have a certain level of realism going on, you'll be served well by sketching/design out how the skeleton works, how and where the clavical and the scapula sits on the ribcage is going to determine and guide how the rest of the arm works. Sticking a delt on top of a scapula form is going to look a bit wierd unless the forms attach and slide into the following forms of the arm. Ideally the bones should make sense and the muscular forms will take care of themselves to a certain extent. And it won't hurt when having that worked out for when you pose it.

Giannhs_Kappa

 I found some images online to show you how I came up with this diagonally placement.

(top images links: https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/152301/would-this-winged-human-angel-be-able-to-fly/152303
https://bakedpieceofchicken.tumblr.com/post/185660157621/something-ive-always-wondered-about-hawkss-wings)
 
 I was thinking of bulking up the trapezoid and add some volume on top of the arms as well in between,I have already map it on the skin.What are your thoughts,is it anatomical or logical correct?

Giannhs_Kappa

  So this is what I end up with,i think its okay.

kanga

Maybe a good idea to nail the base form. You can use Daz3D as a reference.

BagelHero

I'd also suggest perhaps taking a look on something like 3D Scan Store

Since those are scans of real people, accuracy is a bit better imho. Probably better to copy as directly from the source as possible, rather than maybe unwittingly copying mistakes other 3D artists made. More body types too, and there are previews in grey from enough angles to get a decent idea (though you can of course buy a few if you want to be able to see them in complete 3D ala Daz). Exploring "anatomy reference models", "shaded models" and "color models" got some good variety in muscle definition (for reference) and body shape (for the form and final definition you want).

Ghogiel

Not knocking it, because the angel anatomy probably looks like it works fine to normal people, so it probably sells the concept well enough, but bird anatomy is such that they have huge pec muscles, think about the size of a chicken breast in relation to the rest of the body. Wings just don't work in any believeable reality without stronk pecs. Luckily you aren't doing wings. If I am having to scrutinize the anatomy, it's a bit dubious. Only thing that I would suggest is find how to weave the lat into armpit of those extra arms more. Forms there still look like an arm more or less sticking out of a muscle, and the boney forms which should exist are lost somewhere.

Blaizer

If you need anatomy references, i recommend you this twitter account: https://twitter.com/kato_anatomy

Giannhs_Kappa

BagelHero said:

I'd also suggest perhaps taking a look on something like 3D Scan Store

Since those are scans of real people, accuracy is a bit better imho. Probably better to copy as directly from the source as possible, rather than maybe unwittingly copying mistakes other 3D artists made. More body types too, and there are previews in grey from enough angles to get a decent idea (though you can of course buy a few if you want to be able to see them in complete 3D ala Daz). Exploring "anatomy reference models", "shaded models" and "color models" got some good variety in muscle definition (for reference) and body shape (for the form and final definition you want).

 Thank you BagelHero nice site,with a lot of variety on body shapes as you said,I'm going to use it a lot from now on.One of my classmates commented she look more like an alien than cyborg with the arms but my teacher said it's gonna look weird anyday doing humans with four arms

  After I'm done with anatomy and merge all parts I'm going to make some lines with mask tool and intrude them,to make some borders that will detach the different patches of synthetic skin as I show in the concept art,to give it a sci fi look and make it stand out more as a cyborg.I believe then the mind of the viewer will accept the second pair of arms,I don't try to to be cheap on anatomy but I can't figure out a better placement of the arms without destroying the female silhouette,however it seems that they must be placed further away the center of the chest because they current work more like wings and they couldn't function as supposed to in a combat scenario reaching the front of the torso blocking and dealing blows.
 Thank you all for replying and giving tips and ref related sites,I'm going to update the post through my progress for whoever want to take a look.

Giannhs_Kappa

 I changed the placement of the arms,made the shoulder blades and then enlarged the trapezius in between them.Also i revisited the neck muscles and the face(I'm gonna detach the neck and make it a clear plastic material that will allow you to see the mechanical muscles as in 'Ex Machina'),the only thing that remains is to merge the toes on the feet but i must increase dynamesh so they do not become a mess,so before I do that,does it seem better now anatomical?

Giannhs_Kappa

 Hello everyone,I spent a week on the model not 100 percent focused because I have another team environment project running but I done enough work to update the post(I also renamed it).
 I changed a lot of small details mostly from anatomy features I had misunderstood when I first placed the basic forms,did some rescaling for better balanced proportions to neck and forearms and revisited the face and gave it more femine characteristics.

 The mind is just a model i had already in my personal library,so I thought i could make one part of the head transparent and one part of the brain visible. 

  I just finished the hairs prototype which I wanted to do some kind of rasta-cable mohawk,first I had in my mind a loose mohawk falling on one side of the head but it was to much polygons,retopology and rigging involved so I went for a female viking style mohawk.How should I approach retopology for this kind of model and how can i make it 'waterproof' as dynamesh does,deleting unseen polygons(from the cables going inwards) without adding or destroying the outer topology?

Vertrucio

The back arms aren't convincingly joined with the rest of the model. As others have said, you need to step down to lower subdivisions and really nail the forms of the figure, including that of the face. This is best done at low polycounts because once you nail it there, the smoothing that occurs as you step up in subdivisions naturally helps the forms flow.

Giannhs_Kappa

Vertrucio said:

The back arms aren't convincingly joined with the rest of the model. As others have said, you need to step down to lower subdivisions and really nail the forms of the figure, including that of the face. This is best done at low polycounts because once you nail it there, the smoothing that occurs as you step up in subdivisions naturally helps the forms flow.

 I raised the polys to be able to merge fingers and toes without destroying them with dynamesh,as you and other members commented i didn't planned in advance to fix the second pairs anatomy and ideally placement first,I took the second pair of arms from the first one with masks and symmetry on and I delayed it as much as possible to avoid resculpting all the fingers and palm from the start.
 As I mention above it's my first character sculpting/making and did all the newbies mistakes i could  .I just started noticing and studying anatomy that's the reason i made her muscles toned up so i can understand better the muscle flowing underneath the skin,thank you for commenting as I just realized the importance of feedback without bias from more experienced artists,I will be more careful and methodical in my next project.

Ghogiel

You could benefit by zremeshing the sculpt and reprojecting in a few subdivs if it's dynameshed. Especially recomended for faces. That's one of beaties of ZB, even at this stage of things you can often fairly painlessly step back and forth and make changes broad or subtle. So if you wanted to work on the face at various subD levels you can.

Giannhs_Kappa

Ghogiel said:

You could benefit by zremeshing the sculpt and reprojecting in a few subdivs if it's dynameshed. Especially recomended for faces. That's one of beaties of ZB, even at this stage of things you can often fairly painlessly step back and forth and make changes broad or subtle. So if you wanted to work on the face at various subD levels you can.

 Okay I will try it with zremeshing and projecting or create lower subdivision levels to fix the head characteristics more,Also I will make some sort of metal ring connecting the second arms pair making it a bit more realistic and cyborg looking,I don't have much time left for sculpting as i have to retopology the model,pose it with projecting details as you said after unwrapping,texturing and make one render circle or turntable,add to that make some clothes on marvelous and weapon props,So I have to be done with Zbrush this week.