1. #1
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    Default Zero Dean - works-in-progress

    Don't be shy. Please leave constructive criticism. These are works-in-progress, so I know they can be improved. Nitpick if you want.

    I appreciate attention to detail and also respect any potential differences of opinion.

    I need good feedback to help improve my work as well as to see things in a different light.


    THANK YOU.

    --

    In 2004 I left the games industry to pursue my own photography business. Then last spring I toyed with the idea of jumping back into the industry, and in doing so, started learning ZBrush, but ultimately dropped it and stuck with photography...

    ...until this April when I decided I missed it too much to let it go. So I spent some time getting back to speed with Max and then picked up where I left off in ZBrush.

    And to date, I'm currently working on building up an all-new portfolio (the last time I was job searching the CG biz, was back in 2000, so my old portfolio looks somewhat dated). :/

    I figured it might be a good idea for me to share some of my works-in-progress (they're all "works in progress" at this point) as it'll help provide me with some good feedback and also help motivate me (I hope!) to continue to make progress.

    Although none of my works have really been "detailed" just yet, and they're all pretty low poly, ZBrush has actually become a vital part of my creative process in helping me very easily work on proportions and sometimes sculpting in higher subdivisions and then reverting to and exporting the base mesh to continue to work in Max.

    I find that once I have a good, semi-well proportioned, low poly base mesh, adding subdivisions and sculpting in details is easy (but obviously that comes towards the end of the process)...as is transposing precisely because of the low poly nature of the base mesh (not a lot of verts to get in the way).

    I do a considerable amount of work back and forth between Max and ZBrush. I do a lot of mesh construction in Max, but most proportioning in ZBrush...especially now with the incredible transpose and rotate/move/scale options. ZBrush 3 has some amazing "soft selection" abilities.

    I absolutely love ZBrush 3, lazy mouse, and subtools. My only main complaint at this point is the lack of 32-bit displacement export... so for the time being, I'm doing a lot of modeling, but not a lot of detailing (or texturing) in hope that a displacement option becomes available for ZB3 kind of soonish.

    The one piece in the bunch that I textured ("Brutus" the orc), I used ZB2 to help paint out the seams and to also paint "location points" so I knew where a particular detail on the model was supposed to go. I'm looking forward to getting into polypainting in ZB3.

    Anyway, heres some work in progress. None of it's "perfect", and all of it actively in-progress (yes, concurrently, as I bounce around so I don't get bored or too used to seeing the same thing).

    I'm afraid none of them are terribly original just yet...I seem to have hit nearly every major beast that's been done to death... orcs, minotaurs, dragons... lately I've been trying to do a new model every 1 or 2 days.

    I'll continue to add progress updates as I go as well as answer any questions. I have a feeling most of these in-progress "low poly" looking models won't necessarily float with most ZBrushers, since most folks are used to looking at bazillion poly models.... well, that comes later. I'll detail all of these, down to the pores.

    Comments, ideas, suggestions welcome. Thanks!

    --

    This one below was just a fun "lazy mouse" and subtools test when I got ZB3.

    brutus_11.jpg
    Last edited by zerodean; 06-07-07 at 02:13 PM.

  2. #2
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    Default

    This is mainly a UV map test as the final texture will change due once I'm able to export 32-bit displacements from ZB3. There's just a bumpmap on there now.

    Also, there's supposed to be a nice long scar over the eye on the bad side of the face, and I need to dirty him up a bit...that'll add another dimension, once it's added... right now, he seems quite friendly and good looking. All the ladies orcs sure like him.

    And the painted hair is just a silly placeholder. He'll actually be wearing a helmet, so you won't see the top of his head in the final version.

    brutus_05sm.jpg
    Last edited by zerodean; 06-07-07 at 02:14 PM.

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    I call this one a "Centomin"... you know, cross between a Centaur and Minotaur. I have no idea if there's a real technical name for this.

    This model came about after I was working on a 6 legged creature and for whatever reason, the rear end started looking like a horse, so I decided to push it in that direction. I ended up taking the top half of a minotaur model I'm also working on and plopped it on.

    centomin_01x.jpg
    Last edited by zerodean; 06-07-07 at 02:15 PM.

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    Default

    Here's that minotaur I was talking about.

    And for those who remember, I posted the beginning of this model here about a year ago (<---link)...

    minotaur_01x.jpg
    Last edited by zerodean; 06-07-07 at 02:15 PM.

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    Default

    And here's the dragon from that post over a year ago...

    Detailing is only preliminary. Gotta do more work on the wings... and considering scales, but that sounds like a heck of a challenge.

    If you look closely...apparently my dragon owns an "ab cruncher".

    Material is Ralf Stumpf's awesome "RS_GreyClay" material (link here).

    dragon-wip-06sm.jpg
    Last edited by zerodean; 06-07-07 at 02:17 PM.

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    Default

    Some really great work!

    cal

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    Default

    Hey Zerodean, i saaw your photos on your site. Really great stuff. So are you going to try to do both? It looks like you're really good at what you do. Your ZBrush stuff is looking good too. I can't wait to see them finish.

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    Thanks for the comments guys.

    Quote Originally Posted by denni5
    ...i saw your photos on your site...are you going to try to do both?
    I may eventually, but for the time being my priority will be to get back into the CG related biz. I may do photography part-time on the side...or maybe in a number of years start doing both. It really depends on where I "end up".

    I jumped into photography because it's something I love..but being successfully self-employed in a business start-up (particularly in the super competitive photography field) is a very draining and time consuming thing and I found after a couple years doing it that what was once a "joy" had become more of a chore and that I was no longer doing photography for the reason I got into it.

    Fortunately, CG is something else I'm pretty passionate about, but I did essentialy give it up for a few years. I was actually worried about whether I'd be able to get back into it after such time away, but it does come back...and ironically, I find I'm better at some things now than i was when I left.

    Of course, the job I was doing prior involved modeling buildings for Rise of Nations & the expansion pack for 3.5 years. Nothing living or organic. I think that kind of smothered my creativity. And for the 3 years since, I've been working with nothing but real-live "organic beings", taking photos.

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    Here's another one...

    Although ZBrush has been an integral part of all the work I've included here, this one is probably a bit more "ZBrush looking" for you guys...

    Rendered with Ralf Stumpf's awesome "RS_GreyClay" material (link here).

    phoebus_05.jpg
    Last edited by zerodean; 06-07-07 at 02:17 PM.

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    Thumbs up

    I love demon heads!

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    Those models are awesome! The demon one is my favorite, along with the first one.

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    Default

    done to death or not, these still look very clean and professional... and your demon head is some sweet eye candy

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    Default

    I almost hope you don't go into too much more detail on that orc. The forms themselves are so appealing and it almost seems as if you'd lose some of your lines if you detailed it up too much... In any case, what you've shown so far inspires a confidence that whatever direction you take this in will be the right one.
    If my goal was photorealism, I'd be a photographer.

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    Default Orc progress...

    Ok, so here's some more progress on the Orc. I'm calling this "Brutus: Portrait of an Orc".
    Still lots to do, but I finally got around to adding a helmet and some more detail. My final goal is to take this model (when it's complete) and a couple others that I'm working on and assemble a complete scene. But for now, I'm working on this in stages.

    Next up, gotta build out a body and clothing for this guy. Meanwhile, I'll still be making tweaks everywhere. As always C&C welcome.

    brutus_09b.jpg
    Last edited by zerodean; 06-07-07 at 02:18 PM.

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    Default Just a little human head work...

    Just a little human head work-in-progress...

    My first time sculpting hair, so I may not be too great at styling hair just yet...I'm working on it. I think I like the bald version of this better...but oh well!

    I've just gotta say, that lazy mouse kicks butt!

    human_head_05.jpg
    Last edited by Moderator; 06-07-07 at 02:59 PM.

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