Nerw hard surface model Wip

I'm getting faster with the tools.
the dynamesh option truly does change how you work
this would take weeks and a huge amount of planning in 3ds max. Here?...it's been spare time hours...4 at the most.

I need to start Cylons and begin the Z-brush Monster manual for my buddy project ...BUT i have to get this model in.... it wont go away.
hands, legs and feet next....if i add the mecha head i feel I'll loose the punch.

Hard surface W.I.P. Assain droid ?

W.I.P. CURRENT
All in Z-BRUSH ..DEATH TO BOX MODELING!! ...well kinda...it's good to know your basics folks :)








START
....i was going for that goofy Star wars "roger roger" style of robot. ..... a quickie if you will.
Well...it was supposed to bit more low key of a model..
But the wings killed that idea.
Still at this point im even consideriung making a shell for the torso and well as the head...for a few weeks i've been trying to get away from this idea that it's based off of Geigers Alien design....the droid used to have a tail.....


then legs hit me and i hated everything ....first chiken version made in z spheres and then dynmesh
almost gave up on this leg design but i pushed instead sometime you just have to know when to oush and when to start over this was a one to keep pushing as i realized ..."I never really did this kinda design in this medium before...it has to be pushed!"



Annnd here i am now...
the feet sheilds were giving me hell ...tons of holes would appear in the dynamesh on a regular basis...even AFTER i made it twice as thick.
Eventaully i just got rid of the top altegether with the hide non visible command in the geometry tab. ...BTW i F***ing hate the head now... ole boxy head @ yur service!

going to 3d print :)

My first 3d print export is being sent off.
cant wait to see the results...i will share when the print comes in....but I'll be honest...I want a action figure sized version of this babe...but for that I'll need to add some more detail.
this is for 28MM miniature.....we're hoping to go to the D&D route with a set of miniatures for RPG. :)

New heads from z brush

The XNA game is coming along slow but at a good steady pace.
Not sure if the comicon challenge will get done this year.


Before
Getting used to creating fatty tissue detail that hangs off the muscle.
I'm realizing that geometry must inherit some of the surface detail created by fatty tissue. It's not enough to have a decent topological model to pull off a decent likeness ..the topology has to match the likeness in areas like the brow nose and lips.



I'll post more of these in a few days with wireframe include...or at least the polysculpt

MY Top Ten Oldies But Goodies

Got to work on this thanks to Lee Moyer a fantastic artist whom I've learned a lot from over the years.
The ships appeared in the last two issues of STARSTRUCK originally illustrated by the great Mike Kaluta.

The Ship was done all in Z Brush save for the fuselage that started in max with splines then quickly turned to editable polys and whisked to Z Brush
for Real Detail.
It was a great exercise in detail restraint at detail thresholds.








The Harpy was Cake compared to the set up for the Tiger fighter ship. However; It still it had it's challenges in that the details would fall out when being moved from Max to Z brush. In the end it was best to bring it in individual parts and the Z brush was happy.



















Optimus: After the Optimus side job I gave up my fan boy membership of 20 sum years. He WAS A MESS this particular Optimus was from ILM.
Our job was to reduce redunadnt polygons and make sure each part was completely solid and air tight for solid surface modeling...most of it was not.
The detail was so great The Upper arm was over 5 thousand parts alone.
It took over two months @ 4 to 6 hours 3 days a week to get the arm to a solid surface point.






Thark.
This character is based off of John Carter of Mars series from the early 1920's a fan of Frazetta which means it's a fan of mine.
He was started in 3d max and then moved over to Z brush for details.
His Uvess were also done in 3d max Via the Pelt tool.
I've gotten better with accessories ...I need to revisit him at some point.








Wolverine:
I Always figured him to short surly and deadly. i started this version in 3d max as a whole base had i to do another I'd sculpt the head fully and get the scowl mask from an extruded mask. the Fingers need work too...in 3d max i should have made a library of hands BEFORE ...hand. no pun intended.





Black Manta:
This was a Comicon contest entry I did a year or so back. When i look back on it i should have stuck with my inclination and stayed closer to the design concept I made.









Soul Walker:
This was a Z sphere test at the time are detail was a hard refine to come by
Cant wait to be able to afford a full cintiq. not that my 550 Pl cant handle a Job but i fell the more space and dbl level of sensitivity would help.










Iron Maiden:
This is a Dominance War Character I came up with last year but sadly Real work got in the way so I didn't get to Fully realize her in the time Game artisans allows.
Base mesh was started in 3d max and then bought to z brush.
I still work on her and in fact began on the pet in the right corner. getting him AND her within the 10K poly limit would have been a hassle anyhow..now i can make him how it deserves to be made.




Star Fleet Marine:
His base began in 3d max with and edit poly build Uvees were also done in Max. the body is broken into several sub-levels to allow high detail and smooth transition to the areas that it's need and allowing hard edge areas to stay firm. The Dam-standard brush in Z Brush also helps with this.






The Cartoon Miner Guard:
This model was based off of concepts of Mike Phillips work for Relic hunters. A never released game.
The whole model was poly-built in 3D Max Z brush was used for diffuse textures not shown here..they were literally color blobs on Uvees.

Z sketch body

.... the Z sketching never stops FINALLY GOT SOMETHING OF A BODY that worked for me.
In my spare time i went through countless versions that didn't work for me even tried a praying mantis style..... nothing worked i almost gave up on it.
Glad i didn't.
The office is busy as hell and i have a hand in almost every project in the house!
That don't leave much time for stuff like this.

Mid dragon head side

another sculptris head for the mid dragon the process is almost frietenly fast to get a decent shape working...but for the first part the head looked more like a cute mini Boxer without the drooping tounge...so cute. well i least think so the wife?...not so much.

MY 1ST TIME WITH SCULPTRIS

THIS IS A PRETTY NEAT TOOL.
i was planning on doing this in zbrush but the resukts were so fast....i stayed here.
i will do the z brush concepting technique...i think this here is a little too free form and it makes me fear going to far from my intended design all due to it's ease of use...thats not to say the experience cant Push it further considering theres redo undo so you cant go but so far without saying hey wait a second! I've gone too far."
....maybe i should just shut up and work it out it it pushes it for the better....so be it.
just want to stay away from time sinks.

Sculptris work-flow

putting this down for memory sake.

OK

KEEP THE HIGH RES HEADS ON INDIVIDUAL SUBTOOLS sculpt to 60 to 75% NO MORE!!

position heads as needed in Z brush.

Create body in Z spheres and Z sketch combo.

Try to match placement of neck to heads and retopologize body in topogun

bring body BACK into Z brush

Bring new body and heads into 3d max and bridge heads necks to bodies

Bring back into Z brush

PROJECT HIGH-RES HEADS ONTO new BASE HEADS & BODY SUBTOOL.

BE SURE TO DO EACH HEAD PROJECTION ONE BY ONE.

Bullet head and all three together

thanks for the kind replies
Here's Bullet head the not so bright one of the group.

i shall continue to post my updates and other musings....thinking of doing the brawl contest...that is if i can think of something new for a traditional Nintendo character that likes to flip a lot and likes the color yellow...... hint?

the dragon heads are getting to a point of just start...I think I'll take the Zspheres set up for the body and do the heads with a combination of Z sketch and some of the concept sketching tools they suggest. the complexity of the model screams for Topo gun so it should be a great 37 days ...so please egg me on...i tend to finish stuff that way.

Thanks

WC

!st heads

Started the head sketches...i need to do a lot more but this is a good start the intial captures what i wanted as the llead the second more sleek the third yet to be drawn but it's going in the helmet style direction for now.

a little more solid

more fleshing out of the next idea

the first tho i love it seems more of a warrior to follow a god so im going with something a lil different....and no feet or legs on this one. so the heads and accessories MUST be on the money.

this will go through several iterations before a final...the heads alone will take more than just a days thought.

can you see it forming?

I cant use the prior one i thought of...not godly enough but I'm getting closer....i have to let the character be the artifact....i think that's the key...some folks jumped right in with a preconceived idea that they "fit" into a particular god or scheme....I'm glad i went back to the drawing board. I'll start fine versions and testing of heads VERY soon...looks like I'll get to use z sketch on this one. :)
but more to do this ios not the last one tho i AM running out of time.

D War 5 has begun

My 1st ideas...this will change in teh coming days...i wonder how much will stay.

new hair attempts

So while we wait for Dominance War 5 to start...i might as well do something.
went into z brush and append a z-sphere to the body and began with a Z=sketch of what i wanted as hair..i tried a few times but relaxed and finally hit something.
ll try it a few more times but here is a decent start..the hair will need to be retopolgized in any event a pretty simple shape to retopo here but i might as well do it in topogun.