My First Head Sculpt, input/help

Urbonov

Okay, I have started on my first, from scratch head sculpt today. Thought i had a good low poly mesh done and ready for z-brush sculpting, and then I found this


It just gets worse as I divide and won't stay pushed in.

Any tips or suggestions on how to fix this problem would be greatly appreciated. This is my first head sculpt and I want to do it right and get into good habits.

jarrede

this is most likely a problem with your base mesh, triangles, or funky geo/unmerged points in that area. Inspect it closely.

Urbonov

Close inspection now under way.

@jarrede
Thanks for the suggestion

MoreDread

yea you get errors like that if you either have two unmerged vertices in that area... or a bit of extruded geometry that you didn't notice because it sits right on top the underlying geometry.

try to move your points around to see whats really going on and fix it

Urbonov

Okay, my proto person has had their pointy chin fixed and I've started fiddling with it again in z-brush, and I have a couple more questions.

1) Any tips for making lips? Make sticking out lips in Maya first or puff them out in Z-brush?

2) Any specific suggestions for how to make my face more feminine (as the head is meant to be a lady...eventually).

Fingus

I recommend that you try to do as much as possible in Maya (or Max or whatever you use) before you take it into zBrush. It's a great program for doing very fine detail, but getting the main shapes down can be really tricky unless you really know what you are doing. You're much better off doing 80% of the modeling in a root program and then doing the last 20% in zbrush, not the other way around. If you get the lips, the eyes, the ear, etc. done and good looking in your root program I guarantee you that you will understand the construction and form much better than if you were to sculpt it all out. And look at reference. This is extremely important. Don't try to get all fancy and creative on your first sculpt and do a demon head or something like that. Find a model from 3d.sk, a friend, yourself, or a celebrity. Someone you can get multiple pictures of from multiple views and try to get it as close as possible. And when you sculpt, slow down. A common mistake is to look at timelapses on youtube or at professional speedmodeling and focus on speed before learning the basics. Go slow and steady at the start and be precise. Speed will come through familiarity, so don't just do this one and call it a day. Do several, and keep doing them. If you can focus yourself and put away an hour every day to do some quick studies and sketches then you'll improve much more and way faster than doing a big fancy thing over several months.
And one last thing. Your topology looks kinda weak. I don't see much in the way of edgeloops around the eyes and mouth. You should adress that as it will give you issues when you get into deeper detail. Here is some reference on topology: http://imgur.com/a/rRmHQ#5wwXS
Also while the general proportions of the head look all right the shape is looking rather off, especially in profile.

LRoy

I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. I am much faster in Zbrush than I am in Maya. As long as you don't subdivide until absolutely necessary you should be fine. Seems strange you have the edge loops for the major features but not the mouth though.

Urbonov

Hmm, alot to think about. Thanks guys.

dogzer

I agree with LRoy, I mean, everyone has their own workflow. Personally it takes me a lot less to get the basic shape in zbrush than any other 3d software. It's just a matter of what you're used to.

@Urbonov: Do you use the dam_standard brush? I rely on it a lot for the lips (I guess you could use your own brush anyway)
Even for a basic lips, personally I'd add a few subdivision before getting into it!
You could start with the obvious, do simple line.

it should be a bit deeper on the ends than on the center (that's how I do it at least), so go over the line a few times until you feel it's right (don't overdo it).

Then, do another line to do the top of the lip, except use zAdd instead of zSub, that way you'll bring the top of the lips forward.

Then do a thick deep line for the bottom lip, but don't make it start/end at the same place the top lip, like in cartoons, just do a short line below, and blur it quite a bit.

Then use inflate to give the lips some volume.

Now maybe you can use pinch to bring the lips together a bit, and refine the shape!

You can bring each end of the lips backwards with the move brush, becasue that's how lips are shaped, they're not planar! You might want to view your face from below for this!

And you may add some random vertical lines, to give it a little detail, if you want.


Hope you liked the tut, haha! cya l8r!

Skillmister

Thanks for that ^ Been struggling with lips myself

Urbonov

dogzer

That was an awesome step by step! Thanks so much.

Urbonov

Minor question dogzer, what level of division are you doing your lips at in your demonstration?

dogzer

Hmmm, I don't remember, but don't worry about what level it is! Just press Ctrl-D as you feel you need more detail, or should I say polygon density... you know what I mean X]

Remember that if you're working with higher poly mesh, you already have more detail in level 0, so level 2 would already have plenty of detail, but if your mesh at level 0 is very very low poly, you'd need like level 5 to get enough detail, know what I mean?

Basically press Ctrl+D whenever you feel like you need more polygon density. Personally I don't stay at low levels for too long! I rather go to the higher subdivision levels fast, but that's just me, and I'm learning as well.

Oh, if you happen to add one too many subdivision levels, you can always go back to a lower subdivision levels and click on 'Del Higher' in the Geometry tab!