So this week I’ve been a little busy trying to keep on top of things, and unfortunately as a result I’ve missed the ship of the last weekly post. I thought instead I’d amalgamate two weeks worth of updates into a few posts about the specific subjects instead, in order to catch up a little. This first post will be about my recent work in the program ZBrush.
In my last big update i talked about using the software to create a creature from ZSpheres, an interesting and quick way of creating a 3D mesh from scratch without the need of an external program. I actually did a bit more work on the mesh I made in that session this week, which I’ll come back to later.
In the next session, we began to learn about something called Sub Tools, which allows the user to, among other things, work on parts of a whole model separately but within the context of the same space. We used this to try out modelling clothing and armour onto a simple base mesh of a man, intended to be a soldier. Using masking functions in the software, we selected parts of the existing mesh and extracted them to form new objects that could be altered. So, from the torso we could create a shirt, for example.
For one reason or another I started going away from armour and ended up with a sort of gangster character. I kindof like parts of the model at this stage, but really everything below the torso is pretty bad. I couldn’t work out how to model trousers properly using the mas and extract method, as they seem far too skin tight, and also my attempt at shoes yielded some bizzare results that had to be rescued into the form of slightly misshapen socks.
In the next lesson, I revisited this model and decided to keep working on the clothing direction, adding some more items to the model and trying to refine the model a bit more.
I wanted to give the character a hat and waistcoat, and can imagine adding some kind of Tommy gun or pistol eventually. As I said before, the lower half is a bit of a disaster, but I’m actually quite pleased with my initial results on the shirt, tie and waistcoat. They still look a little cumbersome and rigid, and don’t have the level of detail which would make them look a little more realistic, but as a starting point they do hold some of the broader characteristics of these items and do read properly as them on screen. This was my first time trying something like this, and so I’m not too worried about the mixed results. I enjoyed the process and can see myself using it again to create detailed models in the future.
As a final part to this process I tried doing some quick colouring of the model using in-software tools. This was mainly just block colour to roughly denote the materials involved. but i did try painting using my tablet a little on the face to see how that worked.
The painting process was quite useful, and I think I may try using it properly in future to create more detail. For now, however, I think this character has run its course, and although I enjoyed making it and learning about the process, the final result isn’t particularly strong. I think next time I’ll try doing hard edged armour to avoid some of the problems I’ve found with clothing and making that look at least partially realistic.
During this session I also went back to look at my Goblin mesh, which I created several weeks ago from ZSpheres. After converting this frame into an actual mesh and then sculpting over it, I had left it in a rough state with a few issues. I felt that I would like to try working into it further from this point, possibly putting Sub Tools to use on it. You can see below where I left it, and then where I got to taking it further.
While it’s still very rough, I’m starting to like the details that are coming through and the character of the model. If I get more time to work on this I’ll try out some more tools and see how far I can take it, which should be fun. So far ZBrush seems like a really intuitive and useful program for people like myself who aren’t massively keen on the Maya style 3D modelling.
Matt Glen 