Odd_Enough's Hard Surface Thread of Doom

odd_enough · Jun 2013

Right. I've been doing the whole "3D generalist" thing for awhile now and rather recently figured I needed to specialize in at least one of the things I loved to do. So really pushing my high poly hard surface modeling skills, both in 3ds Max and ZBrush.

Note: I realized I have to plan my workflow per project, as sometimes I need to make changes the client gives me and ZBrush Dynamesh is not exactly non-linear change-friendly. Some objects, like the tactical radio, are almost completely ZBrush, and some like the brake pads are almost completely 3ds Max. So most are a careful combination of the two.

Feedback welcome

vemadesign · Jun 2013

They look awesome! I'm curious how you did the radio in zbrush. nice and clean.

DietCoke · Jun 2013

Wowzer, these are amazing! So are the radio pieces super high res dynameshes?

odd_enough · Jun 2013

Thanks, guys!

The radio pieces aren't super high res. I think the max I used was 512 res. Boolean ops played a large part as well as masking and the clip curve. My main process was to make a shape that I needed to create a particular silhouette, and just slice into the primary dynameshed object. I have yet to use ShadowBox in my workflow. I did try to learn how to use it, but ended up getting far too frustrated with it. Will have to try again later.

All in all, the radio took me about 7 hours to make, and some of that was learning how to use some ZBrush features, since I am still very new to the program. This was the reference image, btw: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-scJyKRBT_0E/UMhtWHF71xI/AAAAAAAADfQ/gKFyfPoLDeo/s1600/SDTR_side+view_46632_02.jpg Not entirely exact, but close enough

vemadesign · Jun 2013

Yea, I tried using zbrush for hard surface but with no luck. Haha. Thanks for the explanation.

Chase · Jun 2013

I see you mightve used the pixalogic tutorial about booleans. So much easier then modeling something like that but if you need to make a low poly looks like its retopoing time? Looks good though

odd_enough · Jun 2013

I ultimately decided against baking it down to low poly. Felt it serves it's purpose as an example of my high poly work and wasn't sure how much of the detail would be preserved. And no, I didn't follow any tutorials yet, aside from reading through the documentation.

I can't wait to dig into the 4R6 updates. Seems to have some fantastic new features for hard surface models. Also ready to get back to sci fi models after I finish this damn brake assembly. Making real machinery is fine, but not really that interesting.

VeeJayZee · Jun 2013

The valve cylinder and that readio.....so sweet!

odd_enough · Jul 2013

This has taken a great deal longer to make due to the back and forth with the client about specific details, materials, lighting and whatnot, but I'm about 75% done with the assembly:

odd_enough · Jul 2013

And this:

Couldn't get the brass material right, but it's close enough.

Edit: I lied. That nasty yellow color was annoying the crap out of me. Fixed.

Odd_Enough's Hard Surface Thread of Doom

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