Posing/Gesture in Zbrush, reposing after retop
polycounter lvl 12
Hi guys,
Just wanted to get an opinion about a workflow process I'm considering.
I'm somewhat new to Zbrush and I'm modeling a character.
The animator requested that I pose this character in a very straight, stiff pose.
My concerns are that if I sculpt in Zbrush with this pose, it will be very difficult to tell if I am getting the gesture and silhouette of the character correctly. This particular animal isn't normally positioned the way the animator wants me to position him; the position he wants it in is purely to make rigging and skinning easier., which is definitely a burden I do not want the animator to have.
This is the workflow I am considering to compromise for our differences:
- Sculpt character in natural pose.
- Topogun
- Bake all maps
- Move model in Maya with placeholder bones and skinning into stiffer, easier to rig position.
I wanted to know what everyone's thoughts and considerations are for this situation.
I recently saw a great video by a guy at Riot who commented that it was important for the sculptor to get the gesture correctly, and that reposing a character for technical artists after sculpting is OK.
Thanks all for your time!
Just wanted to get an opinion about a workflow process I'm considering.
I'm somewhat new to Zbrush and I'm modeling a character.
The animator requested that I pose this character in a very straight, stiff pose.
My concerns are that if I sculpt in Zbrush with this pose, it will be very difficult to tell if I am getting the gesture and silhouette of the character correctly. This particular animal isn't normally positioned the way the animator wants me to position him; the position he wants it in is purely to make rigging and skinning easier., which is definitely a burden I do not want the animator to have.
This is the workflow I am considering to compromise for our differences:
- Sculpt character in natural pose.
- Topogun
- Bake all maps
- Move model in Maya with placeholder bones and skinning into stiffer, easier to rig position.
I wanted to know what everyone's thoughts and considerations are for this situation.
I recently saw a great video by a guy at Riot who commented that it was important for the sculptor to get the gesture correctly, and that reposing a character for technical artists after sculpting is OK.
Thanks all for your time!
Replies
First of all: I hear ya! I have a traditional and clay background. I spent hundreds of hours in doing gesture drawing from the Nicolaides Natural way to draw book.
To me gesture isn't only fundamental but it's the overall purpose of a piece.
It's the skeleton, the pillar and what gives meaning and direction.
Now, everything had to be re-evaluated two years ago when I transitioned to 3d modeling for production. And here's the suggestion I'd like to share.
As 3d modelers/artists at our place we become more artesans/craftsmen than artist.
It's a noble compromise we gotta be willing to take. But this doesn't mean we become mindless operators. This simply meant, for me at least, that the artistic drive (at work) had to be redirected into a different structure.
And structure, for artists, is mostly good.
So how did I overcome this? I learnt to see the gesture in the neutral pose. The dynamics of stillness if you like.
It's extremely subtle, it's really challenging and maybe not so exciting at first but it's something worth chasing. The gesture in that "stiff pose".
Think about it.
So you may ask yourself: "what happened to this animal? what was his life? was it mostly sad? was it mostly joyful? did the sadness influence the shape of the shoulders, of the neck? what about the wrinkles on the forehead?". And you sculpt that wonderful story in a seemingly static pose. Which isn't static at all because it contains the whole story of the character till that point. Posture, tilt of the head, tension of certain muscles... these are all variables which you can play with by remaining in the neutrality of a t-pose.
Let me give you a concrete example. This started with a dynamesh gesture. No symmetry, etc...it was pure personal art.
But this one I had to create a t-pose. So you'll notice maybe it isn't so powerful at once....but... it still tells you something...
In this way you become production efficient but at the same time you're not loosing the gesture....you're discovering it in a very subtle way. And trust me this will give life to the piece even if it's a t-pose!!
Hope this helps!!
Rudy