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boil147's Sketchbook

Hey,

I’ve been doing so sculpting/retopo/texturing work for myself over the past few weeks and wanted to post some of the images here. The first two are of a work in progress: Space Ranger (which includes the original sketch and the zbrush work so far). The second is of an older project that I’ve decided to drop: there were a few issues with the layout of the model’s polygons and, to be honest, I only used the model to try and hone my skills a little more.

The base mesh for both models is pretty much the same, and what clothign I’ve done has been created minaly in Topogun using the Zbrush sculpt as a base mesh (with a few tweeks in Maya).

I also decided to plump for a Digital Tutors membership last month and I’ve been so impressed that I’ve kept the subscription up this month. I’m not sure how much logner I can afford it, so I’m working away feverishly to try and cover as much ground as I can; their training on Fibremesh hair is excellent in particular. Time sculpting is a huge sink, as most of you will know, so I’m having to limit my time more so I can focus on other things, mainly writing so I can try and bring in some much needed cash. It’s great to be challenged over my time use over two great creative paths; I suffer from anxiety pretty badly, which limits what I can do, so creativity is a great outlet, hobby and would-be occupation.

Any feedback is great… and thanks for looking and the thread.

Jim

Attachments

rangerSketchTrimmed.jpg

rangerTest1.jpg

manTestJimStRuth2012.jpg

So here’s an update to my Space Ranger. I’ve added some texturing to the figure, plus his basic clothing (with texturing). The clothing was created in Topogun, using the base Zbrush figure as a guide; a really easy process of drawing out polygons over the figure’s surface. I’m not sure that the denim texture of the trousers will stay; I don’t think it really says ‘Space Ranger’ TBH, so that will be re-done.

I’ve also created the shoulder strap and his rifle (which will be slung over his back), and there’s a blaster that needs to be modelled to; I’ve not added the rifle or shoulder strap yet because, if I’m honest, it looks rather fine and it’s almost a shame to have it covered up from view in the final scene. Some thought is needed there, I think.

Next up, we have the work in progress for his ship, from Zbrush concept sculpt, to topology in Topogun (with a little help from Maya for the circular shapes that I wanted to keep perfectly shaped), to the beginning of the refinement back in Maya.

I’ll probably go much further than I need to with his ship; I like to detail the insides as well as the exteriors of ships and, hey, it’s not for a production environment so I can go the whole hog if I feel the need.

As the final scene wasn’t based on an initial concept sketch (just an evolving idea), everything’s still pretty free-form right now. Once the basic ship is modelled, I’ll assemble things as a composite in Photoshop and do a sketch-over to rough out that final image, then build everything else around that concept.
I’ve included a few tips on the ship images that might be of some use to a modeller; concepting a ship in Zbrush is a lot of fun, but developing that into a full, neat model takes time and, in the past, has left me stumped, so here’s hoping that the scant tips help someone out.


shipTest1.jpg
shipTopo1a.jpg
shipConstruct1.jpg

Here’s a WIP of my current project… I’ve moved away from trying to retopo hard surface models for ships… it’s going to take a lot to get my head around, but I know refining my models more before I attempt it is a good place to start.

Anyhoo… Here’s the image. The full size version is on my blog at http://jimstruth.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/alien1awipjimstruth2012.jpg

Thanks!
Jim

alien1aWIPJimStRuth2012a.jpg

Hey,

So after I posted by character WIP last night, I stumbled upon the excellent thread from Pixolmator on Making the Dragon Flyer. As well as working on characters, I really like to use ZBrush to concept vehicles, but have always faltered when it came to smoothing those edges, retopologising, cutting doors and windows out and making things all nice, neat and low enough res for me to take it into Maya and work with. Pixolmator’s post, though, and Ryan Kinslien’s great youtube video have made me thing otherwise, though… and I’ve had some nice results so far.

Here’s an image which explains my work flow so far with this…

Thanks,

Jim.
ComptTest1JimStRuth2013.jpg