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Sketchbook: dGreenberg

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dGreenberg polycounter
Hey everybody, my name is Dave! I'm an aspiring character artist, and am currently attending Gnomon School of Visual Effects. I wanted to start up a sketchbook on Polycount, to keep myself from posting each individual projects on the 3D Art Showcase Forum (and so I can hopefully follow my own growth and progress a little easier). 

As I post my work, I'm always more than happy to hear any suggestions or critiques, so if you see anything that looks off and have something to say, I'd really appreciate it.

To get things rolling, I'm currently working on a mech / robot type of character, based off of a concept by Ariel Perez. This is my first hard-surface character, and I had no idea how much more difficult it would be (for me) to make this, compared to a more organic character.

HIGH POLY SCULPT:



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  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    UNREAL WITH TEXTURE ATTEMPT:





    The shell might be a little too shiny. Might try to dial that back and see how it reacts. I also want to work more on the Unreal lighting and setup. Should probably get something better than a flat cylinder in there.
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    NEW TEXTURES UPDATED:





    I ended up adding a new base as well, but I think I'll change it to something else. It doesn't flow as well with the rest of the character. 
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    MORE TEXTURE FIXES:





    I think I've been able to get the textures to a comfortable place, but I want to push this guy the last 10 % to make it a possible portfolio piece. I'm going to try my hand at UE4 particles, and try and make the shadows pop a little more on the base platform. Maybe I should dial back the platform gloss as well. Probably only one or two more posts regarding this character.

  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    PLAYBLAST ANIMATION:



    Okay, so this isn't the last post after all. Just trying to see how GIF quality looks. I'll probably include a vimeo file for the final post. 
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Pausing on the scorcher (it's not done yet!), I wanted to work on a more human type of character, so I found a fun medieval mercenary by the artist, Youngmin suh

    Starting with the high poly first, I wanted to sculpting out as much of the character as possible in ZBrush (with more of the hard surface stuff modeled out in Maya).

    HIGH POLY SCULPT: 





    There are a few straps, buckles, and misc items that I want to finish sculpting, but to switch things up, I started the retopo process in Maya. I'll also be doing some of the sharper or smaller details with Quixel, once my maps are baked and everything is unwrapped. 

    RETOPOLOGY:





    With any luck, I'll be done with the retopo over the next 2 days. Then I can unwrap it, and make all of the little details shine through.
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    So I've been a little shitty about posting updates, but only because I've really been trying to get the textures to work in my favor. First full-blown attempt at getting a subsurface skin shader, and trying not to overdo it in texture map size. 

    TEXTURED & IN ENGINE:


    At this point I have the character in Unreal, and I think I'm just about ready to move forward from the texturing stage. Up next will be setting up the rig and posing him with a simple animation. I really want to get this all done by the 29th, so I'll post stuff here once I get some more progress out of the way.

    I liked the presentation lighting for the characters in the Paragon Tech & Techniques video, so I wanted to try for that style when presenting my own work (for the time being).
  • Kamul
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    Kamul polycounter lvl 4
    I'm really enjoying seeing your work, with your mech the progress you've had with texture really got him better, I'm just not sure if I like the pedestal, would love to see the final images.

    Keep it up the good work ^^
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Thanks for the kind words, Kamul! I completely agree with you on the sand platform, and I'm planning on changing it up to better fit the character. I'll be posting more on the mech within the week (as soon as I can finish up the mercenary). I'd love to hear some feedback when I get it posted!
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    SCORCHER AND MERCENARY UPDATE:



    I'm thinking that the scorcher is pretty much where I plan on keeping it. I have an emissive map for some hot embers on the end of the branches, but I'm still getting those to work in Unreal. Matinee is a huge pain, but I plan on getting a recording of the animation out of the UE4 engine at some point, so that will probably be the final updates for this dude (unless something else comes up).

    For the mercenary, the only thing left for me (at least what I'm planning) is to get Matinee to record his idle animation.





    I'm always happy to hear critiques and thoughts, and I can't wait to get these finished up and able to start on a new character. 
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    COMPILED VIDEOS:




    So I've uploaded the characters into Vimeo, and I think it's just about time to move forward to a new project. I might go back to the cat adventurer that I started, and just do a few tweaks before then, but I'm really pumped to start on a new character. I'll make sure to upload all the stuff onto my Artstation ASAP. 
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Went back and worked on my old cat adventurer guy (some textures and a rig needed major work). A huge thanks to Taylor Whitsett for working on the rig for me. The original thread can be found here. I think I can finally move forward from that, and just focus on some new things! Marmoset Viewer for the character can be found on my Artstation, here.

    CAT:



    A bunch of updates to follow soon! I'm done with the mercenary, but I want to finish up a few last touches on the scorcher before I post both of them.
  • RitualSynergY
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    RitualSynergY greentooth
    Haha he has a lot of personality, good stuff :awesome: Keep it up!
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Thanks, @RitualSynergY, I'll do my best! Just another last update for my Scorcher character before calling it done, and moving forward. Fixed and updated the vimeo file above as well. Mercenary will soon follow will a final update. Gaaaah, I really wanna make a new character already!

    SCORCHER SCREENSHOTS:



  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Another one done and done. Going for a sci-fi girl next!

    MERCENARY SCREENSHOTS:



  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    I haven't been posting much, but hopefully that will change. Here's my first completed Character Artist Test for ArenaNet. I learned a good deal through playing with this, and I realize now that I've been taking texture space for granted for a while now.



    I'll try to jump back in on the sci-fi girl that I started as soon as possible!

  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Here's the base mesh and current progress of the sci-fi girl. I'll start keeping this Sketchbook up to date alongside the other post in the forums while I work on the character. I'd love to hear some thoughts or critiques if anyone notices something off on the character!

    BASE MESH BUILDING:


    BASE MESH REFINING:


    FACE AND PROPORTION REFINING:



    BRINGING FACE CLOSER TO CONCEPT:


    I was getting tired of the brown material at the end, so I changed it up to give my eyes a different color to look at. More to come!
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    OUTFIT PLANNING:

  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Needed to fix some stuff with the arm angle (so it can match up with the other arm at the elbow joint).



    Working on the right arm things went much faster than the left. I hit my stride a little more with working on hard surface stuff, so that's always a bonus. That being said I think the shoulder piece needs a lot of work (in terms of design or positioning).

     



    Moving on from here, I think I'll pause on this character so I can participate in the Artstation Challenge.  
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    I've finished up with the ArtStation Challenge, but I really wish I was able to put more time into things. I was a little rushed to finish on time with the texturing stage, but I think it's important to move on to the next best thing instead of continuing to mess with it. 

    I'll go ahead and upload the WIP images here as well as the final results for future viewing. 

    WIP IMAGES:








    HIGH POLY W/ MATERIAL IDS:




    FINAL IMAGES:







    I'm not sure if I'm abandoning the previous sci-fi girl or just pausing on it. I'll be posting here though whenever I figure that out! Maybe I'll work on some stylized head busts instead... Stay tuned!
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    New project(s) beginning! Here's my start on a style bust, trying to capture the look of Frank Frazetta's Tarzan.
    I haven't started in on the eyes yet, and everything is still symmetrical, but I'll be sure to update it as I continue to work my way through. I'll also be making hair geometry, and probably some cards (a first for me) for the fly away hairs.


  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Update on the face:


  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    More updates. I think I'm ready to move on past the face. Might reassess things when the hair volumes are put in.

  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Update with added hair and adjusted face stuff. Everything still in ZBrush, so I'm debating if I should just polypaint it and comp it in Photoshop, or if I should bring it into Marmoset with some substance textures. Either way I'll still be going for the same look by the end.  
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Finally got things unwrapped and placed into Toolbag / Painter. I might save myself a lot of trouble on these steps in the future if I just opt to polypaint everything, but I wanted to try this workflow and see how it was.

    I learned something new! I usually don't need to try and match the character to a picture exactly, so I never really messed with the focal length of the camera. Working off of a perspective setting of 28 (not sure the unit of measurement here), I had to bump it up to a FL of 60 mm in Maya, and 90 mm in Marmoset. Interesting stuff, but I'll see what I can learn about proper camera setup to save me a little bit of the struggle for next time. Just the texturing and presentation (going to try and get everything as real-time) is left, so here we goooooo~

    Regular camera settings (Focal Length is at 28.97 mm) . Face isn't broad enough for Frazetta!


    Updated face with a focal length of 90 mm:


    Hopefully I can pull the textures off. It's one area I'm still really lacking, so I gotta give it my all.
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Finished up with my first pass on the textures. Still feels like I have some work ahead of me to try and mimic Frazetta's style, but I feel like this project will at least improve my hand painted texturing abilities (and improve on my patience with textures in general). Currently sitting in Toolbag 3 while I test these things out. 





    Painting work is done in Painter with a follow-up in Photoshop. Really think learning 3Dcoat will help me with future pieces similar to this. 
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Think I'll be winding down with this piece now. Did another pass and feel like I should move forward to the next project. 



  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    For my current sculpt (eventually going to make it a real-time game rez model), I'm working off of a character doodle from the fantastic Serge Birault

    Here's the concept:


    Starting with the base mesh, trying to nail down the proportions:



    Reworking the face to nail down the likeness as close as I can get it:




    More attention and refining the face. Working on the shirt and jacket as well:





    Getting closer with the main body:


    Fixing the proportions. Working on the sheath and sword, and started putting everything together: 




    I still gotta get that hair to look more polished (maybe with Dylan Ekren's hair brush) and add the hair ties before I move into the low poly. I'll also be updating things here since I'm hoping for any suggestions or advice I can get to make things better.
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    New updates including the new hair and material ID setup. I put in some placeholder tattoos until I can give them a little more love and attention in Photoshop.








    Retopo is up next!
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Retopo is underway! Currently sitting at 17K tris, I'm hoping to keep it under or around 30k with everything included. Might be a stretch, but we'll see how it goes. Thoughts or suggestions are always welcome!



  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Retopo update. Finally finished with the NEXT girl's main stuff. Just gotta take care of the sword and sheath before moving on to the unwrap.




  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    I've just finished with the first pass on baking things down and put everything together in Toolbag. Really liking TB3 for baking purposes! Will jump into the texturing stage, next.


  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    First color pass update. Took a while to get here, and still got a long way to go!




  • pmiller001
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    pmiller001 greentooth
    That character is coming along great! to me it really, reads like the concept. Those textures are cool too. I'm trying to figureout how to do something like that for my next model. 
    Question about the hair, its just a solid mesh yea?
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    @pmiller001 Thanks, man! Yeah the low poly for the hair mesh is just a single piece but I created the topology in chunks before lining the border verts up and merging them together. When creating the high poly I had the hair in 4 different pieces (front bangs, the two twin tails, and the middle part). I feel like I really lucked out with the bake since I wasn't expecting the final result to look so clean. 

    Best of luck when you decide start in on your next model! I think it's always fun but challenging to get a new character started.
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Updates on the textures!




  • pmiller001
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    pmiller001 greentooth
    Cool!,
    sidebar- sorry for responding so late. Thats really useful info, Ive always ran into trouble retopoing/baking hair  like that. I've also never tried just creating the topology in chunks so that'll pr probably help. I gotta say I really like option c. The blue looks better imo. Which is your favorite? 
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Thanks @pmiller001! Option C really feels like its the most fun version right now, but I still have that bias towards Option A since I've been staring at it the longest. I might need to let it sit in my head a bit before I know for sure, but I'm thinking I'll definitely incorporate a few things from each version.

    No worries with the response timing either. I'm glad the info can be helpful in any way! This was kind of my first attempt baking the hair like that and I expected that I'd have to clean up a huge mess in Photoshop afterwards. I'm not sure if it was luck, but I'm glad it turned out the way it did. Once you've retopoed everything in chunks, you could even try to stitch the UVs back together again if that's the look you're going for. I wasn't really able to do that because of the pigtails though. Too much going on.
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Lots of images to update here!

    Since last time I've finalized the textures and have been working on the lighting, but I'll show my image process from where we left off.
    Textures without the weapon:



    Wondered how she'd look without glasses after all this time. 


    From there, a good animator friend (Taylor Whitsett) was willing to work on the rig which ended up being a huge help. 



    I still had some cleaning to take care of on the mesh and texture, so I went in and moved some verts and repainted some details here and there. Once that was taken care of, I worked on the blood splatter and started playing with some different lighting setups. I figured it'd be good to have one light setup for showing off the model, and 1 or 2 mood passes to play around a little bit. 







    I tried another setup with the head position, and I'm currently trying to figure out which works better for the character:


    I'm nearing the finish line with this character, so the next few updates will probably conclude NEXT girl. Really excited to get the character all fancy and presentable before moving onto something new.

  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Working on the layout before posting the final version. Have since made some edits on the eyes, but I'll just include that when I'm posting the finished product. 





  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Fixed some stuff with the glasses and added an eye shadow mesh before calling things done! You can see more shots of the finished piece on my ArtStation here:




  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Starting on a new character with the concept by Mikhail Rakhmatullin. Really liked the guy's design and silhouette, and I really want to level up with this project.


    Through working on this guy, I want to: 
    - practice and improve my anatomy (stylized but not over-the-top exaggerated);
    - finally attempt to make some low poly hair cards;
    - create a flow map for some anisotropic hair shaders;
    - create some blend shapes (ZBrush > Maya) for a few facial expressions;
    - make a full body rig (maybe minus the face) so I don't have to stick with one or two poses;
    - create the main part of the jacket in Marvelous Designer;
    - get that fancy-shouldered jacket to deform with some type of cloth simulation physics in Maya;

    I also have a WIP thread over here to see if I can get some other suggestions and input to help me along. 

    Starting out I sketched up an orthographic for the guy (minus the jacket and clothing). 


    From there I've been working on the blockin.



    Then I tried to fix up some of that anatomy and attempted to match his concept proportions a little further.



    In the most recent update, I dialed back some of the more distracting anatomy details and blocked out his face shapes a little further. 



    I've also started in on his chihuahua, which is actually a great change of scenery from the human figure. I feel if I start getting burnt out from working on one, I can refresh myself with the other character. 


    He looks way too much like a cat right now, but I'll change that moving forward.
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Here we got some clothing updates and more detailing with the face and hands! 




    I'll have to take a step back to rework the head topology for the blend shapes, but I think I'll tackle that after the rest of the high poly is done.
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Friday is a doggo update day. Still have to work on his proportions a little more, but I'm getting closer.

  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Finished with the clothing block-in! Folds need desperate attention, but the main parts are all in place. 


  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    New update time!


    Tried 2 variations on his butt-flap thing too.



    Also added a "relaxed" expression for helping with the blendshape stuff later on. Right now he looks like a cross between a zombie and some shocked Guybrush Threepwood-type character, but I'm hoping I'm on the right track with that. Added a high poly version for the mouth, eyes, and tongue. 


    Continued to fix doggo's anatomy and silhouette before putting him in a suit. 


  • pmiller001
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    pmiller001 greentooth
    First...I liked it.
    Then I saw you had a chihuahua as his pet...Now I love it. 
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Hahaha thanks man! Glad you can appreciate a simple man and his doggo. 
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Chihuahua had to be made to look more like a dog. At first I was annoyed how difficult sculpting a dog was, but I've gotta say I'm enjoying myself much more now. Still gotta give this guy teeth, eyelashes, and whiskers (and remake his suit). High poly is kinda moving forward?

  • pmiller001
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    pmiller001 greentooth
    I think you're moving in the right direction, Although I think I like the first one a bit more. IF you want I can take some pictures of my chihuahuas for reference lol
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Oh man, that'd be amazing @pmiller001! I've been having some tough luck finding decent chihuahua references and anatomy, so it'd be super helpful as long as it's no trouble for you.

    I like the cute simplicity of the first one but I'm trying to straddle that line of something realistic / identifiable but still stylized to match the guy character. Hopefully the final result will cover both areas. I'll be working on the guy some more for the next update, but please let me know if you're able to send some of them chihuahua pics my way!
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