Character Modeling Update

Just a quick update.  Week 8 and we are finishing up our characters with some costume modeling.  I really like this process, rather than modeling in the wrinkles in with Zbrush the workflow we are using is to create a slightly lower resolution control mesh which has NCloth (Maya tool) dynamics applied to it allowing you to simulate real cloth folds.  What this means is that once you have modeled the fabric geometry you can make your cloth fold realistically.  The character I am working on is wearing tights but I wanted to try out this workflow on the trousers first since its one of the easier pieces of clothing.  The far left image is the trousers with the denim preset (and a little tweaking) the far right image is a simulation of what would happen if your pants suddenly turned to honey... :p Maya is awesome I've always wondered what that would look like!

Gnomon_Update

So its been a while since I last posted and I thought it would be a good time to do a general update on how my Environment and Character modeling courses are going.

So above we have a very cool (imho) looking gun for my pirate character.  I have been finding myself with a little free time after completing my Zbrush sculpting homework for this course so I thought I would get on top of modeling some of the hard surface props she is going to have by the end.  :)  I approached this model in a slightly different way, by building each of the components piece by piece I was able to keep the very refined detail without running excess loops all around the model.  I think if this was going to go into a game engine I would have to retopoligise the mesh but I am planning to do that anyway after I have sculpted in the ornamental detail you can just about see from the concept art behind (not mine from Pintrest)

This is the first stage of my block out for my environment modeling final.  I found a great piece of concept art from Feng Zhu's website check it out there is so much amazing work on display there!  The camera angle was soooo hard, Jen gave me some help but in the end the shot cam has a FOV of like 12 (normal camera is 35) that's very fish eye lens.  I finally got the camera to look right and the rest was pretty easy :) Looking forward to starting the next stage tomorrow

Lastly this is the most recent version of my female sculpt.  Sculpting in the muscle definition was very easy when the underling topology is already there but Jen and I took a trip to the V&A in London just to check out some nice sculpture to help out.  I was previously having a little trouble with the forearm muscles (those things are twisty!!) but after the trip and getting to see some beautiful Greek mythological sculpture I think I got a better grasp of how it all works. Next stage is to sculpt in some skin pore and wrinkle detail and then apply that to the base mesh in Maya with displacement mapping.  Kevin also taught us how to set up a very cool shader that allows for variation in displacement or bump detail.  The example he gave resulted in his human male sculpt being able to animate between smooth skin and bulging veins!! it might sound a little complex if you have never done this before but seeing it in action was so cool!! cant wait to try it out for myself!

Gnomon_EnvironmentModeling Week 04

So my pillar came out pretty well using the Zbrush decimating and uv mapping tools.  It was really fun to try out proxy rendering which worked out well but I was using it for hero props for my last image where I think it would have been better to either use a different technique or more complex proxy shapes that better reflected the silhouette of the model.  It was still a very cool technique to learn though and I will definitely be using it in the future.  I decided to try out the same techniques we learned in class on a more complex model too.  I wasn't able to get Zbrush to retolopogise the high poly mesh without leaving big holes destroying the wings and fingers.  So I used TopoGun to build the low poly mesh instead.  The normal maps worked well and I am getting used to Maya 2016's new hypershade... :p another fun week, looking forward to next class since we will be starting on our finals :D

Gnomon_Environment Modeling Week 2

This week we start our intro to using Zbrush as a prop modeling program.  I found it a little tricky to get Zbrush to do what I wanted since it takes a few tricks to get a hard surface look rather than a traditional sculpted look.  Trying to emulate carved stone was particularly tricky but using some of the techniques we were taught in class did work quite well.  The first column's ivy wrapping round the shaft was done with alphas but the scrolling volutes of the capital was mostly done in Maya.  Figuring out what parts were best to do in Maya vs Zbrush is pretty much what the next few weeks of this course is about.  I got a little frustrated with the first column not coming out the way I wanted so the second Santo de Muerte column was a lot easier to emulate with a traditional sculpting workflow.

Gnomon_CharacterModeling_Week 02

So week 2 and we are starting on our characters for the next 8 weeks!! This week we are sculpting the head.  It was a pretty frustrating slog to be honest building the topology wasn't too tricky but pushing the verts to get the forms to work did get challenging at times especially since I had gotten so used to the zbrush workflow that I could have built a bust in an hour or so instead of the considerably longer time it took to get this one looking right.  But I have to say getting the topology to flow right makes the sculpting process go so smoothly!!! I am so happy I put the effort in to get it all just right (well as right as I could).  I am really happy with the outcome and I cant wait to try out some facial animation on this model at the end of the course!!
On a side note, the ear.... if any of you reading are poly modelers you may share my appreciation but Kevin's technique for building the ear was (to me) nothing short of some kind of magic trick!!  Somehow step by step he was able to create a looping piece of geometry that seamlessly grows out of the head and loops around the ear and back into the head and well its hard to explain but needless to say I really enjoyed learning the process!
So this week we are working on the rest of the body, focusing on the arms and legs for now till we move onto the torso.

Gnomon Environment Modeling _Week 01

So for my first homework I had to kitbash together a lamp from various references and then build it in 3D.  I went for a steampunk style lamp made of thrown together pieces one might find in a mysterious workshop.  I was imagining the character walking through this strange room and looking at all these moving objects and starting to become a little unnerved.  This meant I needed something that was human enough for the audience to get what it was but strange enough to be intriguing.
Now that I have it on screen and having had feedback on the design during the class I do see that it could be improved by changing the proportions of certain parts to change the overall silhouette to a slightly more dynamic look.  This will be something I keep in mind in the future when I kitbash my next reference.

Gnomon Character Modeling _ Week 01

My first weeks homework for character modeling.  I had a lot of fun with this model the only thing I really struggled with was the hair! It took me around 5 attempts using different methods to get the look I finished with and I still want to work on it more but I also have my Environment Modeling homework 2 do :)

Kevin did give me some good pointers though!  Modeling the ODM gear was just as fun as I was expecting and while I was looking for reference I found there is a very cool looking fan game being built for Attack on Titan! If I had more time I might have looked into it more :p

The last piece of the homework was to work on picking a concept for your final piece and I have settled on the pirate character on the below image.  She has some really cool props and costume but also just looks like a fun character to work on for the next 9 weeks.  Our homework for this week is to build a head for our final character.

Here is a link to the 3d model on Sketchfab:

 Mikasa on Sketchfab

All the images in the above photo are from Pintrest and not my own work