ZBrush Character Creation
3DTotal.com eBook series
chapter 01 Page 3 | Bird-Man 02 chapter Page 14 | Mammal-Man 03 chapter Page 22 | Aquatic-Man
chapter 04 Page 36 | Amphibian Man 05 chapter Page 46 | Insect-Man
chapter 06 Page 58 | Reptilian-Man
- Free MatCap - Free Movies - Free Base Mesh
You can nd all the relevant resource les in the resources folder that accompanies this pdf.
chapter 1
Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 01: Bird-Man Bird-Man Created In: ZBrush, 3ds Max & Photoshop
Introduction I’m going to kick this brand new “Manimal” series off this chapter by sculpting and texturing a “bird-man”. I will need to sculpt a creature with some aspects of both a bird and a man, and then texture it to complete the tutorial. I’ll walk you through my creative process and my workow, discuss those things that are most important, and explain some tips and tricks that I use when creating characters in ZBrush. So let’s get started!
Concept One of the most common mistakes that I see people make is starting to work without rst thinking about what it is they’re doing – they just open ZBrush and start to sculpt. When I start a new project, I like to do some research for references, information, inspiration, or simply look for something that will help me to nd an interesting idea based on my theme or brief. This way, I can start my sculpting work with more objectivity.
So with this I mind, I begin this project by searching for some photographic references of different types of birds – some even in action (ying, eating, etc.) – just to work out bird features and gestures to help me with my initial ideas. I choose certain bird features, such as a beak, thin skin, the gesture of an infant bird, and the humpback feature found in some birds,
to mix with human anatomy. With some of this
After starting to block in the model, I get an idea
information I can start the next step. If you want
for the nal pose, and so I decide to sculpt with
to, it can be pretty interesting to sketch some
the arm bent to help with the pose later on. To
ideas down at this stage of the process, but as
make these changes I simply use the Transpose
I have an idea in mind about what I’m looking
tool, with masks on areas that I don’t want to
for I’m going to go ahead without any reference
make changes to (using Rotate (hotkey R) and
drawings.
Move (hotkey W)). I also use this simple base mesh to block the beak onto, just to help me in
Blocking In
this initial stage (Fig.02).
The rst thing that I do with the base mesh
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provided for this project (Fig.01 – the base
I will now export my base mesh to 3ds Max to
mesh is free for download with this tutorial)
add some edges and x any possible errors/
is remove one of the ngers – I think that a
make any necessary adjustments in order to
chicken’s foot will best describe what I have in
prevent potential problems further down the line
mind.
(Fig.03). For this character, adding edges
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Chapter 01: Bird-Man Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook will not be very important, so I simply put some edges in to increase the amount of polygons in these areas when subdividing the model in ZBrush, therefore avoiding any problems with low resolution in areas that need more denition.
It’s very important to verify whether the model will have perfect symmetry, whether the pivot is in the centre of the object, and if the model is in the centre of the “absolute world” (just right-click, select and move to access Move Transform Type-In, as seen in Fig-04). These adjustments are very important in order to make good symmetry in ZBrush, and to make safe use of some of the features I’ll be discussing later.
levels), and with the Move, Standard and Clay brushes I start to block in some of the main
Sculpting
muscles (with Clay and Standard), and adjust
Now that I have made adjustments to the mesh,
some of the basic proportions (Move tool).
I increase the level of subdivision (two more
At this stage I don’t worry about details; the
objective is simply to nd some good shapes with desirable features (Fig.05). I sculpt in some “fake” eyes too, just for a rapid guide – it’s easier to make adjustments to the entire sculpt without many SubTools. Later on, I will use some spheres as eyes.
I like to isolate some parts and work with pieces of my model (such as the head) when necessary. I sketch in some details to give the head a better overall look, whilst still keeping the details rough (Fig.06). This block-in step is one of the most important; I spend a lot of time experimenting and testing some things out at this stage. I also often change the materials as
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Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 01: Bird-Man
I work in order to see my model better at the different stages.
I’m happier with the overall proportions now, and so I subdivide a few more times and start to apply the medium level details, like muscle denition, cartilage, and skin creases and folds, using the Standard brush with some alphas, like Alpha 35, 36, 37, 38, and 39. This, combined with a bit of the Inat tool, can make a eshier and more believable model, but I still need to check some of the proportions and make some much needed changes before I’m fully happy (Fig.07).
For the hands, I always sculpt one isolated hand and then project all details onto the other hand. To do this, I create a mask over the newly sculpted hand, go to Tools > Deformation, and press Smart ReSym (Fig.08).
This tool will recreate a mix of projection on both hands, but my intention is to preserve the sculpted hand, so with the mask any details will not be lost, and the other hand will be given the same details (Fig.09).
I make use of a mask for the nails, too. I draw a mask in the desired form for the nails and then invert it. I use the Move and Standard brush to pull off all the nails, and with the Smooth brush I soften the shape before inverting the mask again. With the Inat brush I can then work on achieving some great volume (Fig.10).
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I’m using Smart ReSym again now, but this
before you perform this kind of task on your
with alphas (Alpha 01, for example). To make
time I’m working with more details. I always
model (Fig.11).
the nal details I start to use more skin alphas
start using Smart ReSym at the lowest levels of
(human skin, reptile, pores, etc.) over the entire
subdivision and will use it again for each level
For the nal details, I use the Standard brush
sculpt – but not as a sculpting tool; I use masks
of subdivision ahead, but it’s important to be
with a thin alpha (like Alpha 39), sometimes with
over some parts (Fig.12) and I can then sculpt
careful because it’s very common for crashes
Lazy Mouse turned on, for laying down some
over with different intensities and brushes
and errors to happen. So always save your work
wrinkles, as well as the Inat and Clay brushes
(Standard for all details, and then a little bit of
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Chapter 01
Chapter 01: Bird-Man Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Inat in some areas to get a more natural look).
This workow is a very nice way of controlling skin details, and for nding what I’m looking for (Fig.13).
Texturing I usually use MatCap White to begin my texture work, starting my texturing job with Polypainting. I make a rough base colour over the entire sculpt (Menu > Colour > Fill Object) and dene some warm tones (like the ears, and thin skin, and so on) (Fig.14).
I then paint some tonal variation onto the model using the Spray brush with Alpha 07 (always using a low intensity), mixing the colours (Fig.15).
For the nails, I paint a mask in order to texture the nails only (Fig.16). For the nal details I use DragRect stroke with some alphas, like Alpha 22 for veins and Alpha 08 for small skin details. On the beak I use a photo edited in Photoshop,
and apply it using DragRect. In this case I use a single texture from the Total Textures DVD collection (www.3dtotal.com/textures) (Fig.17).
Posing & Final Adjustments I decide to keep the post for this character very simple; I use the Transpose Master for the main deformations, and then use the Move brush for some adjustments with Transpose, too. I try to keep the pose simple because my intention is only to break up the symmetry a little in order to get something more dynamic (Fig.18).
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Rendering & Compositing I use GW_Skincore as the main nal shader (which can be downloaded at www.pixologic. com, thanks to Grant Warwick), two Toy Plastic shaders (with some adjustments made in Material > Modiers to show only specular, and in SpecularCurve), one for a more “open” specular, and another for a thin specular, as shown in the example (Fig.19a), a Reected Mat Material for fake reections, and a custom shader for SSS (Sub Surface Scattering) (Fig.19b).
For the lighting settings I make some shadow adjustments to get a harder shadow (keep the
With Photoshop I blend all layers using some
intensity of each layer; for example, to control
Aperture around 50-70 and Length about 250),
blending modes like Multiply, Overlay, Soft
the specular intensity in regions that don’t need
and I change the position of the light (go to
Light, and Lighten. To be honest, this part is
too much specular (Fig.21).
Light menu > Shadow) (Fig.20a). For the render
very intuitive; I don’t use the same blending
settings I simply adjust the Super Sample to
mode for every work as a general rule, as I
And here is the nal result after some correction
2 (Render menu), as shown in the example
prefer to make many tests to get what I want for
work done in Photoshop (Fig.22).
(Fig.20b).
each layer. I also use some masks to control the
Conclusion Well, I have tried to show my workow, especially in the ZBrush sculpting stage. It has been lots of fun working on this bird-man creature; I hope you’ve found the tutorial useful and you’re pleased with the nal image after seeing the work in progress. Please feel free to contact me by email should you have any questions. Thanks for reading!
Bruno Melo For more from this artist please his website: http://bmelo.cgsociety.org/gallery/ or contact him at:
[email protected]
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Note from the Editor: Grant Warwick has kindly provided us with the GW_Skincore MatCap that Bruno Melo has used, which you can nd along with the base mesh in the Free Resources folder.
chapter 2
Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 02: Mammal-Man Mammal-Man Created In: ZBrush
Introduction When I was asked to create something for this Manimal series of tutorials, I snatched up the Mammal-Man option and thought I had a really nice opportunity to design and create something really cool. But when I started thinking about which kind of mammal to base it from, I was really torn. I mean all I have to do is create a human body and stick on some random mammal’s head and call it a day, right? Wrong! I have to think about the expression, the pose, the character itself … There has to be a reason why I choose with a certain kind. So I decided the best bet would be to create something that isn’t anything specic at all, and so I’m going with the idea of doing a hybrid. Deer and cows came to mind as my foundation because I know that they get spooked, or get “caught in the headlights” which may lend to a fun pose of being spooked and recoiling!
Sculpting Starting off, I do my usual setup of Polygroups. To do this, press Shift + Ctrl, and click and drag to isolate the polys you want included in a group (i.e. the head and neck). To hide any polys directly, you can Shift + Ctrl-click and drag, and then let go of Shift. It sounds complicated but once your ngers remember the pattern, it’s really simple. You’re basically toggling that Shift key after you click and drag. Once you have the intended polys isolated, you can group
them by going down to the Tools > Polygroups
brushes. The Move brush is good for literally
rollout and click on Group Visible. Auto Groups
transforming polys around based on the brush
will group your model by separate elements so
size and Focal Shift. I like to turn up my Focal
that’s handy too. So after this I continue on by
Shift to get a higher falloff. It’s great for getting
blocking out major forms of muscle groups. I
your low-poly base mesh in the right forms
need to establish the design of the head of the
early on. The Clay brush is a good brush for
character early on. I pull out the ears, enlarge
slowly building up forms, which is what I do in
the eyes, and draw the snout out in order to
the rst 2-3 levels of subdivision before moving
make it look a bit more like a deer type animal
to fancier details or wrinkles/folds. It’s nice
(Fig.01).
because it has a nice built in falloff that’s real soft on the edges, but at in the centre. Clay
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I thought it’d be fun to give him some hooves
Tubes brush is similar to Clay, but it’s a bit more
on his hands, but only to replace a couple of his
rough and excellent for setting up muscle ow.
ngers. I don’t want to get too literal or realistic
I like to change the alpha to a circular one with
with it, though. At this stage I’m just using
a tight falloff and turn up the Focal Shift a bit so
Move, Clay, Clay Tubes, and occasionally Inat
it’s not so harsh. For both Clay and Clay Tubes
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brushes, I change the BrushMod. This basically increases the effect of the brush so you can lay in forms quicker. I usually only raise up to 30-40, but I’ve gone a little higher in the example so you can see the difference ( Fig.02). I dock the main button to my interface so that I don’t have to dig for it – it’s in the Brush menu next to Mesh Insert. And to drag the button somewhere, just go to the Preferences menu, click on Customize UI, and then click Enable Customize. Then you can Ctrl-click and drag buttons anywhere on the interface from menus or wherever else. Also, keep in mind that when you work in ZBrush, it’s commonly known to work your way up the subdivisions and nail your forms down rst. Foundation is important (Fig.03).
Once I get to the point where I’m happy with the model, and before detailing it with textural alphas and wrinkles, I go ahead and pose the character. To do this click on Move, Rotate, or Scale and mask off areas you don’t want effected on your model. If you click and drag up on an area like an arm, the masking will
move from that position. So it is actually good
realistically rotate. I like to get the pose at about
follow your stroke. You can also Ctrl-click on
for tweaking the position of the arm after doing
90% and I leave myself the freedom to change it
a Polygroup and it will mask everything else.
the rotation. I then rotate the spine, head, and
later on if it isn’t “perfect” ( Fig.04).
Very handy! So for the actual posing, I start off
upper arms in the same way. At this point I’m
by rotating the lower arms by using Rotate and
nailing down the general action line to try and
I ddle with the expression on the face a bit
click-and-dragging the gizmo from the elbow
get a nice silhouette as well as strengthen the
here. I do most of this work on the face with
joint to the wrist. This way you’re simulating an
expression on the character’s face. Then it’s
the Move brush to keep the forms intact, and
accurate rotation. I don’t use Move too much
about tweaking the arm rotation and span (by
go through a lot of different emotions in the
because it stretches the geometry if you click on
span I mean how close they are to the sides
eyebrows until I nd a nice “spooked” look.
the end circles of the gizmo. If you click on the
of the torso). Then it’s a matter of rotating the
On one side I’m going for a wide eye showing
middle circle, it’ll keep the polys intact but will
wrists, but only to the point where they can
the whites with the iris being close to being
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Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 02: Mammal-Man
completely exposed; the other eye squinting
and SW_Wrinkles_02.psd from the Pixologic
To start with, I go to the Tool menu and open
and wincing in anticipation. The eyebrows are
alpha library (www.pixologic.com/zbrush/
the Texture rollout. I turn on Colorize. Now I can
pulled up with a worried feel; the mouth corners
downloadcenter/alpha) (Fig.06).
paint on my colours using any of the sculpting
turned down; the nostrils slightly ared out from
brushes. When you’re doing this, just be sure
breathing in sharply. Later on, the detail I add
To do the hair, I use the SnakeHook brush with
to turn off ZAdd; it’s also usually a good idea
will be to support the pose of the face: wrinkles
a pores alpha, a large brush size, and at full
to work at a low RGB level, but that’ll depend
above the eyebrow, bulging around the corner
RGB intensity I methodically lay the hair effects
on what you’re doing. I like to tear off the Color
of the mouth, folds for ear connections, and so
in (Fig.07 – 08).
menu and dock it to the right so I can pick
on (Fig.05).
colours easily as I go. You can either select
Texturing
colour by dragging into the colour picker area,
After getting the basic look for the face sorted, I
For texturing, I do it entirely by Polypainting,
clicking on the modiers tab and having a lot
go back to sculpting the rest of the body. Since
with no texture maps. To set up for Polypainting,
of different kinds of swatches, or by clicking
I’ve posed out the character, I can no longer run
your model needs to be at the highest
on the main colour square and dragging
regular symmetry, so I have to turn on Poseable
subdivision because it will be assigning an RGB
anywhere on the screen to pick a
Symmetry. I’ll turn it off every now and then to
value for every poly – the more polys, the better
colour. Also remember that you can
do some asymmetrical work in areas that need
the resolution of your painting. For this tutorial,
use the Shift key to
independent attention because of the pose. So I
I could subdivide my model one more time,
blend and blur your
continue to dene out the forms and cut in areas
but this would put me at 5 million polys and
Polypainting
to express the nature of the muscles, bones,
my laptop gets a little shaky at this kind of poly
(Fig.09).
tendons and skin, now that I have a set pose. I
count. So for the sake of my sanity doing this
also add some skin texture effects by using the
tutorial, I’m working with the 1.25 million poly
The rst thing
Standard brush, DragRect, ZIntensity 10-20,
model and painting that.
I want to paint
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is the eyes. I know I want a big iris, but I need to keep enough white area to get across the expression of fear. So I paint the iris in a really dark brown, almost black, and paint the white areas a pale yellow, since they aren’t really white in real life. I add some reddish tones in the corners of the eyeballs and apply some veins with a very small brush size. If I mess up an area and want to erase it, I just click on the main colour square and drag onto a nearby colour, and then repaint the colour back over the error in a few strokes to blend it away ( Fig.10).
For the body, I’m taking an approach that I’ve learned from the great Scott Spencer, more specically from one of his mini-tutorials on traditional airbrush painting. I’ll admit that I’ve never airbrushed anything in real life, but the
really loose and liberally covering lots of area as
these colours a bit and make some variations on
principles seem to be easy to understand
quickly as possible. It doesn’t have to be perfect,
the primary colours to make some purples and
once you get going. Basically, you rst start by
and you want to be sure not to completely
oranges.
spraying colours to simulate what’s going on
saturate any areas besides the real “hot” zones.
underneath the epidermis layer.
I like to take a yellow and spray across areas
The next step is to take a white, or a slightly
where bone is really close to the surface, such
off-white, and start the “noodling” phase. This
Application wise, I grab a nice red colour and
as collarbones, the sternum, forehead, cranium,
brings a really nice effect to the subdermal work
use Colorized Spray with the Color Mod turned
elbows, tendons, the bridge of the nose, etc. I
we’re doing here. So either using DragRect
down to 0 (in the Stroke menu), an alpha mask
also think it’s handy for some fatty areas like the
and Alpha 22, or by doing it freehand, noodle
like Alpha 07, and RGB intensity set to 100
belly to be a bit more orange in colour. I take
in with a small brush size some white squiggles
(Fig.11). I continue by just spraying across all
some purples and blues and hit the recessed
everywhere. I like the effect of doing it freehand
areas of where there are muscles or heavy
areas, such as around the eyes and the jaw line/
but it’s a lot of area to cover so feel free to use
blood ow, like the ears, nose, etc. I’m keeping it
beard area. I also nd it nice to blend some of
both methods. Also be sure to keep this really loose, because it’s only going to be slightly visible later on (Fig.12).
Once the noodling is done, I throw on a skin shader – I like to use MatCap_Skin01. Then, using a Spray application with a very low RGB level between 4 and 10, and a neutral skin colour, I start to lay in colour over the subdermal work. Don’t completely cover it up though. Just use the colour to blend it altogether and you’ll start to see the effect it’s meant to create ( Fig.13).
I’ll admit that this technique results in a lot of work to do all this subdermal painting only to go and cover it all up afterwards. But once you’re done, try
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Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 02: Mammal-Man as a comparison lling the whole character with a neutral skin colour and you’ll clearly see the difference! Plus, although the noodling effect is pretty subtle, it’s also very powerful. It’s okay to go back over some areas and enhance the intended colour by using a low RGB level again. So that’s what I do in the recessed areas and around the eyes, etc. By keeping the colour level low, you’re able to keep the intended effect but change the hue of certain areas. Of course, if you keep going over areas many times, you’ll eventually atten it out with that colour, so watch out for that.
Lastly, I colour in the ngernails, hooves, nipples, veins, and dot in some freckles here and there. And for the hairy areas, I use a Standard brush, Colorized Spray, Color Mod at 0.7, and ow at 1.0 (Stroke menu) and Alpha 67. Then, with a medium brown and RGB at 100, I start to spray on the hair by stroking top to bottom (Fig.14).
The hair follows the ow of the stripes in the alpha. After applying the hair effect to all areas (don’t forget the ngers), I use a light tan grey and spray some striped effects on the bridge of the nose, the
arms and down the back, just to break up all that brown and black (Fig.15).
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I’ve also thrown together a ZBrush render composite in Photoshop to show you the nal results after rendering in ZBrush ( Fig.16a – 16c). It’s pretty fun but not quite as powerful as a Max/Mental Ray render (Fig.17).
So there you have it: modelling and texturing a Mammal-Man in a nutshell! I hope the breakdown of this character creation has helped you. If you have any questions about what I’ve done, feel free to contact me via email.
Note from the Editor: Jesse Sandifer has kindly provided us with 8 movies to accompany this tutorial, which you can nd in the Free Resources folder. Jesse is also currently considering doing some private one-on-one ZBrush tutoring to the beginner or amateur artist, so if you are interested please feel free to contact him via email for further details and information.
Jesse Sandifer For more from this artist visit http://www.jessesandifer.com or contact
[email protected]
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chapter 3
Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 03: Aquatic-Man Aquatic-Man Software Used: ZBrush
Introduction I was asked to create a character for this tutorial article under the heading of “ Aquatic-Man”, to show how ZBrush can be utilized to sculpt and texture such an extraordinary creature, thought up from the depths of my imagination by crossing human elements with those of aquatic beings. Here’s how we’ll go about creating such an amalgamation in this second part of the Manimal tutorial series.
Base Mesh I decide to work straight from the offset by sculpting directly in ZBrush from the base mesh provided (Fig.01 – 02 – you can download the same base mesh with this tutorial – look out for the Free Resources logo), without creating a concept before starting. I nd ZBrush is a pretty cool tool that enables you to gure out good designs directly in 3D, without the need for preliminary drawings on every occasion.
Sculpting in ZBrush So to start, I choose a material for the base mesh that I think most suitable and that will help in this initial sculpting stage. You can try different materials by clicking on the sphere on the left-hand side of the screen. Using Transpose I manipulate the character into a pose closer to what I imagine the nal character will be in – something like that of a creature moving through the current of water ( Fig.03 – 05). To use Transpose, you’ll see at the top of
the screen the Move, Scale and Rotate buttons – in this case I’m using the Rotate function. To make a mask in order to move individual elements of the model, you simply hold down Ctrl and drag your cursor over the model. You then simply need to draw a line from the rotation point to the point that you need in order to successfully move your model.
I’m trying out this pose to illustrate a swimming creature. Unfortunately the base mesh has not been provided with any legs so I can’t use the bottom part of his body to work into the concept, so instead I’m using his
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arms pulled backwards to give a sense of this creature gliding through water. I’m using fresh water sh as my references, rather than salt water sh, because I want to work with aquatic references with fewer colors going on – I think sea creatures could be too colored for this character.
Before I start the sculpting work, I like to subdivide my base mesh as much as possible, but I’ll reduce all those subdivisions again before starting the modeling. I do this because sometimes you’ll subdivide the mesh with some hidden parts, and only unhidden parts will be subdivided. When using Transpose I like to work in the second or third level of subdivision. I do this because the mask function doesn’t work very well on the rst level of subdivision, and it’s much harder to get smooth results on higher levels. So from experience I recommend using levels two or three at this stage.
I don’t have too much of an idea about how my character’s head will look at this stage, so I’m simply playing around with form and shape to nd a good design for his face and head ( Fig.06 – 07). I’m using the Standard brush and working in the third level of subdivision here.
As I work I keep checking the silhouette as often as I can, as it helps in nding a good design. To create a silhouette of your model, simply nd the Flat Color material on the Material palette, again by clicking on the sphere on the left-hand side of the screen. With the head design established rst, it will be much easier to create the body afterwards.
I decide to add some skin plates and scales to the character to give him a shy look, also pulling the jaw out quite a lot – as you can see in some deep sea sh creatures – all the while checking the silhouette is working and the design is strong ( Fig.08 – 11). I’m still working in the third level of
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Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 03: Aquatic-Man subdivision here, using the Standard and Move brushes. I’ll sometimes also load in Alpha 39 into my Alpha palette in order to achieve some stronger lines.
Because I’m still unsure about how the body will be, in terms of its design, I decide to block in some simply human anatomy rst to give me a starting ground from which to build upon, isolating parts individually and working on them separately (Fig.12 – 16). I’m now working in the fourth level of subdivision, still using the Standard Brush to nd the shapes. To hide parts of your model you simply need to press and hold Ctrl and Shift on your keyboard, and draw a green mask over the model. If you need a
different type of mask you can always hit Lasso on the right-hand side of the screen, or you can use the shortcut, Ctrl + Shift + M.
The beauty at this stage is that I can work on just one side of the body, and then, using the SmartResym tool, simply copy the work done to the other side of the model ( Fig.17). To do this, you simply create a mask – again by pressing and holding Ctrl and clicking and dragging your left mouse button – where you’ve being working, leaving the untouched part of the model outside of the masked zone. Go to Tool > Deformation > SmartResym, and you will see work copied across to the unmasked area.
Moving on from the torso and arms now, I start work on the hands, working with each nger separately (remember: to hide parts of your model you simply need to press and hold Ctrl and Shift on your keyboard, and draw a green
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mask over the model). It’s difcult to work on the inner parts of the hand when you have all ngers in the viewport, which is why I prefer to work with them individually, using the Clay brush to give some volume to the skin at the joints where the skin creases and folds, and using the Standard brush to add lines and wrinkles to the skin (Fig.18 – 24). The entire block-in stage of the work has been done in subdivision levels four to six. The ner details are then added in the seventh level. Finishing work on the hand, when happy with the detailing gone into it, I can then make the gesture of the hand much more interesting and realistic looking using Transpose (Fig.25). As before, I’m using Transpose to manipulate the model to get the desired pose, in the same way as we did earlier.
Here I add a n-like element to his arm in order to give more detail to the silhouette, just using the Move tool at this stage to achieve the needed results (Fig.26). Using SmartResym again, I add the deformation to the other arm, too, balancing out the design to both sides of the body, as before (Fig.27).
At this point, I‘m starting to add some more skin plates, scales, and ns to the body by drawing
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freely with the Standard brush, not worrying too much about the small details, simply trying to respect the natural ow of muscles in human anatomy (Fig.28 – 31). I also nd the Clay brush useful to use here – it gives a more organic effect and it’s a great brush to work on the skin’s surface with.
Remember to regularly check your designs in silhouette by using the Flat Shader, as explained earlier (Fig.32).
Continuing work now, I add even more skin plates and detail to the spine ( Fig.33 – 37), still working with the Standard brush and Alpha 39. I’m not using any direct references to sculpt; I’m simply trying to follow the ow of the anatomy and adding features that we’d generally recognize from sh.
To carry on the detailing work I add similar details as just given to the body, onto his arms,
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in the same way as before – but this time sectioning off just the one arm to work on it separately (Fig.38 – 41).
With the design nearly complete at this stage, it’s a good time to check on the silhouette again to see if the concept is still strong before nalizing it (Fig.42). For me, design is a very complex thing. There are some techniques you can follow, but to me it is more about a feeling. You have to practice lots and you’ll learn to know when to keep going and when you need to stop – it’s all about building up experience and experimenting. I like to keep my silhouette very detailed, but it’s also interesting to allow the eye to rest in some areas, too, as too much detail can be as big a problem as too little! I think the best training you can do is to observe and copy the work of great artists, as well as use real life as a reference. Try to take notice of when the greats exaggerate details, and when they don’t. A good understanding of anatomy is a musthave, as well as drawing skills – drawing is a very powerful tool! I haven’t drawn anything in this case, but it is a skill worth developing, even in 3D.
I feel the design is missing something here to be honest, so what I’m going to do is to add some more detail to the neck area to improve the concept (Fig.43). I’m creating the new detail using the Standard and Clay brushes. This detail might seem useless, but it helps the eye to stop reading at this point. It’s very important that the eye takes some moments to pause when reading artwork, and so I always aim to
add some “accents” throughout my models’
now at some points and add some nal detail to
designs in order to achieve this.
nish up work on the head ( Fig.44 – 48). You can activate or deactivate Symmetry using the
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Because organic creatures are not perfectly
X shortcut key. Again, I’m using the Clay brush
symmetrical, I’m going to break up the symmetry
to give the skin’s surface a nice organic feel,
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at this stage working in the seventh level of subdivision.
I do the same for the arms and the body, breaking up the symmetry further still to make the creature all in all more believable ( Fig.49 – 51).
To start giving some relief and impression to the skin and get more realistic results, when working on a creature such as this it’s often useful to use the alpha from animal photographs. I can use it by simply dragging and applying it, following the object’s surface and the ow of anatomy ( Fig.52 – 55). To make an alpha you’ll need to do this in Photoshop by opening up a photo that you like. Convert it to grayscale and make a soft round
border turning to black. Save this as a PSD and you’re done. You can then import this new alpha into your Alpha palette in ZBrush and to use it, simply change the stroke to DragRect and you’ll be able to drag the alpha over the surface of your model.
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As for the pores, I use the Spray stroke and Alpha 07 to give the skin its ability to breathe and lose it plasticity, making it more believable to the viewer (Fig.56 – 57).
Texturing in ZBrush Right then, it’s time to start texturing in ZBrush now. I always use a fast shader for textures and avoid using colored shaders for this part of the process. So simply change the color to one that you prefer and ll the object ( Fig.58 – 59). Simply choose the material from the Material palette (remember it’s the sphere on the lefthand side of the screen), and then go to Color > Fill Object.
Photographic references are extremely helpful at this stage of texturing. For my own character I’m going to use a photo of a cold water sh, painting some areas with a lighter color – as you can see on some sh – and using an alpha from an animal skin with my brush (Fig.60 – 63). Again, to create a new custom alpha you
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can simply take your photo into Photoshop and
I can also use the DragRect stroke to apply
follow the afore-mentioned procedure. After
some color, remembering to turn off ZAdd for
you’ve imported it into your Alpha palette you
this part of the texturing process ( Fig.64 – 66).
can then paint using the Alpha as a brush.
If you change the stroke to DragRect, you’ll be
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Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 03: Aquatic-Man able to drag the alpha over the surface. If you leave ZAdd turned on, it will apply deformation on the mesh, and at this point we just want the colors, so make sure that RGB is turned on. This technique is good to help you get a better blend from one color to another. Remember to check with the at shader all the time, though, and sometimes the shadows on the model can start to confuse you when apply texture!
Here I am starting to introduce a third color to the model by painting some of his body with a bluish gray, using the FreeHand stroke and an imported alpha from Photoshop of animal skin (Fig.67 – 68).
Working with the Cavity Mask can be used as a great trick to better and more realistic results. Try to use at color when you’re doing this; you can edit the curve and the value of the cavity from 100 to -100 ( Fig.69 – 72). Cavity Mask allows us to paint only into or around the depressions of our mesh. The values 100 and -100 are the setting to paint just inside and outside the cavity, but you can also edit the curve to get different results. Try playing around with the settings of this powerful tool to better understand how it works.
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With the head and torso pretty much sorted color wise now, I continue by painting the interior of the mouth (Fig.73), and then move across the body simulating shadows through a new range of blue tones ( Fig.74 – 75). These shadows are sort of an “occlusion”. Try to simulate some soft shadows on the contact areas – not actually a dark shadow from a point of light, but something soft.
Moving onto the arms now, I want to give them some more interesting colors – particularly to the forearm. I go in with a mix of hot and cold colors (Fig.76).
The teeth need some attention now, and I paint them using a yellow tone with a hint of brown to give them a dirtier, aged look ( Fig.77).
Nearly nished now! I’m just applying some veins using DragRect and Alpha 22, trying out a variation of green, blue and red veins on the skin (Fig.78 – 79).
Finally, to nish up the texturing of my model, as I’m pretty happy with what I’ve achieved until now, I’m simply taking an overall look at the character and then going into areas to add more
detail with the Cavity Mask, to really nish things off (Fig.80 – 81). At this stage you have to make sure that there aren’t any details missing – we have to try not to let our earlier hard work not go to waste in this last stage!
And here is the nal model, complete with textures (Final.01 – 04).
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Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 03: Aquatic-Man Rendering When you’re happy with the coloring of your ZBrush creation you can then go on and render it. You can nd lots of great MatCaps at the ZBrush Download Center: www.pixologic.com/ zbrush/downloadcenter. There’s plenty of good stuff there, including some nice plugins and videos which are always very helpful.
Pretty much any default material in ZBrush is affected by light, as well as lots of other MatCaps, too. But if you play around with lighting and some different MatCaps, you’ll soon realize that not all of them are affected by the lighting scenario, so do be careful and pay attention when using new MatCaps.
Before you render you’ll need to set up your lights rst of all. So go to Menu > Light – there you’ll be able to play with your light settings; you can change the direction of the lights by using your cursor and rotating the sphere. You can any increase the number of lights if you need more by simply clicking on the small light icons. Below the lights you can change the light color and intensity of them. And if you open up the Shadow option on the bottom of the Light menu, you can change the shadow intensity by playing with the Aperture and Length settings. It’s very important to make some quick tests, just playing
around with all the different light settings, in
fog using the sliders. As usual, play around with
order to better understand what each is used for
the settings to increase your understanding of
and what it can achieve.
what they do. When ready, click on the ‘Best button to render.
With your lighting setup ready to go, you need to render. So go to Menu > Render – there you’ll
To create a nal image of my character I render
nd the render options. You can turn on the Fog
out the following render passes in ZBrush:
and Depth Cue functions, and you’ll also nd a slider to change the intensity and range of the
• Lighting – a fast shader with no textures
depth of eld. If you open up the Fog menu (you
• Mask – using Flat Color will allow us to
can nd it right below in the Depth Cue menu) you can change the color of the rst and forth
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separate the character from the background • Constant Diffuse – using Flat Color with
quads to a darker color (I usually use a very
textures you can get back some of the
dark gray and a dark bluish gray). Once again,
texture detail lost after rendering, as well as
you can change the intensity and range of the
getting better contrast over the nal image
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• Depth – this is really helpful to get the correct camera depth of eld. I create this pass using Flat Color with no textures, playing with the Fog settings (to nd Fog go to Render > Fog) • Occlusion – using a MatCap called MatCap White01, with no textures, I pull the color towards blue • SSS – I use a MatCap called RS_SkinBase with textures • Specular 1 – I use the MatCap called Bonus 02, which is a regular specular for skin • Specular 2 – I use the ToyPlastic MatCap with the black color to get a wet-look appearance and to break up the specular, bringing the look closer to something we’d recognize on real sh
With all my render passes done, I take them into Photoshop, relax, and then have some fun playing around with the layer blending modes, Brightness/Contrast values, Hue/Saturation settings, and the Blur lter. Here is the nal result after some post-production in Photoshop (Final.05).
Conclusion I found the workow that I employed for this piece quite successful, although I do recommend that you come up with a more exact idea of what you want to model before you start a new character design, as I’m sure I could have come up with a much better design for this creature, in hindsight, if I had done some preliminary sketches at the beginning. Another nice process that can improve character creation is to retopologize your model, make a UVW map and export the maps (displacement, normal and diffuse) in order to then render your image in other 3D software for better results. This is particularly a good, quick workow for animation production.
I hope you’ve found this tutorial helpful, I’d like to thank the 3DTotal team for the opportunity to create this tutorial for you all, it has been really fun to work on – thank you for reading!
Diego Maia For more from this artist visit http://maia3d.blogspot.com/ or contact
[email protected]
chapter 4
Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Part 4 - Amphibian Man Amphibian Man Software Used: ZBrush & Photoshop
Introduction This chapter I’m going to be sculpting and texturing an “amphibian-man”, so I will need to sculpt a mutant with aspects of both amphibians and humans, and then proceed to texture it in the nal stages of this tutorial. I’ll be taking you through my creative process when creating characters in ZBrush, guiding you through the stages, enabling you to create your very own amphibian-man. You’ll hopefully pick up some tips and tricks along the way as well, so let’s begin without further ado!
creatures, allowing me to work out in my mind
With the overall form established, I’ve decided
the kind of features my guy is going to adopt.
to go for an open-mouthed character, as this
Concept
gives him much better expression. To do this,
Whenever I start a new project I begin by
I’ve chosen to combine the characteristics of a
I subdivide again, to level 3 this time, and I
doing research on the brief that I have been
toad with that of the human, but I want to keep
rework the mouth area using the Standard,
given, looking for references, information, and
a lot of the male anatomy in my creature this
Move and Clay brushes (Standard is used for
inspiration – anything that will help me to come
time and concentrate on adding the primary
the overall sculpting, the Move brush helps to
up with an interesting concept.
amphibious design to his head, focusing on the
move the geometry, and the Clay brush can
mouth, as well detailing the skin texture of the
achieve a better shape, for example on the lips).
whole design to give it that toad-like feel.
In this case, it’s better to rework the mouth area,
With this I mind, I begin my amphibian-man
because if I try to open up the mouth, using
project by searching for photographic references of different types of amphibians – mostly toads
Blocking-In
something like Transpose or the Move brush,
and frogs – to familiarize myself with some
I’m looking for a more stylized creature with this
I’ll end up with a low mesh resolution inside
classic characteristics of these amphibious
design: strong in build, perhaps with a “crazy”
the mouth, which can of course be a problem
expression going on to dene a personality and
because with a low resolution mesh (to check
give him some character.
if you have a low number of polygons in areas, turn on the Wireframe for a better view) I won’t
So with the concept forming in my mind, the
have a good enough amount of polygons for
rst thing I want to do is to start the model
the detail work in the last level of subdivision
off by taking the base mesh (free with this
(Fig.02).
tutorial – click on the Free Resources icon to download), turning the symmetry on (Transform
Sculpting
> Activate Symmetry), and blocking in the main
Satised with the basic form of my character
shapes and forms (subdivision levels 1-2) whilst
after the block-in, I continue work at subdivision
remembering that I want to build a tough guy
level 3 with the Standard, Clay and Inat
with muscles and a strong body. I use the Clay
brushes. This time, I start by using the Inat
and Standard brushes for this work – these
brush to get nice muscle denition, and then
are great for building up the volumes, and then
continue to dene the main muscles and
the Move brush is particularly useful when it
adjust the overall volumes (Fig.03). I’m still not
comes to working out the correct proportions.
worrying about the details yet, as we should
I’m working in the rst level of subdivision here
remember that our goal is to work out good
(Fig.01).
shapes and volumes before detailing – the detailing comes later!
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To give the character some eyes, I rst of all select Sphere3D from the Tool palette and make a Polymesh copy (hit the Make Polymesh3D button). I append the sphere to my model and using the Transpose function (Move and Scale) I simply adjust the size and position of the sphere as appropriate. And then the SubTool Master Plugin comes in handy (www.pixologic. com/zbrush/downloadcenter/zplugins) – I just click on Mirror to copy the eye across to the other side (Fig.04).
I subdivide the model a few more times now (to level 4 or 5), and start applying more details, working on the muscle denition, cartilage, and deformations, using the Standard (with alphas like Alpha 01 and Alpha 35) and Inat brushes. The Inat brush is awesome to use when sculpting muscles because its brush properties help to make the character more believable and solid.
Happy with how things are looking I now want to change and try out some different materials to see how things are looking when other shaders are applied (Fig.05).
When sculpting, I like to isolate some areas and work with just sections of my model, such as the head and the hands, when necessary. This just makes it easier to work on the details and gives me the chance to get a better look at certain parts – in this case the head ( Fig.06). Remember that we’re constantly searching for good overall shape and volume in our models.
I also use the Standard brush (with Alpha 35 and 37) to start the skin detailing on the eyebrows here – later on I’ll use the Spray Stroke to get better skin detail, but only in the nal sculpting stage.
When working on hands in ZBrush, I always sculpt just one isolated hand only, and then simply project all the details onto the opposite hand. To do this, I create a mask over the hand to isolate it (Masking > HidePt) so that
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Chapter 04
Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Part 4 - Amphibian Man I can sculpt with more control ( Fig.07). I’m not worrying about adding nal details to the hands yet, I just want to dene them to get better volume and some of the main details established.
With the one hand done, I reveal the rest of the model that was hidden previously (Shift + Ctrl and click off the model to show all), create a mask over the sculpted hand, and go to Tools > Deformation. I hit Smart ReSym which then projects the details of the dened hand onto the other (Fig.08).
Time for the teeth now, which are actually much simpler than they look! I start off by creating a mask over the lip area (just hold down Ctrl to paint the mask), so I can sculpt without affecting other parts of the model. I use the Standard brush to sculpt, always with a low intensity, the Move brush to help me to adjust the size of them, and I also add the Pinch brush to my tool belt this time to achieve a better connection between each tooth and the esh that it “sits” in. Finally, I use the Inat brush with a very low value between each tooth to give more volume to the gums (Fig.09).
I’ve decided to go a little off-topic here and create some accessories for my guy to beef
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up this character design. I thought this would make an interesting addition when it comes to compositing the character. Aiming for a body-builder look to my nal design, I build a dumbbell – which is actually very easy to make. I use Cylinder3D, and with the Transpose function I can manipulate the cylinder into all the different cylinder shapes that build up a classic dumbbell design. I can then append each cylinder to form a single tool by going to SubTool > Append (select each cylinder) (Fig.10).
To get a good pose I of course use the Transpose function, but rst of all I need to create a new layer to work on (Tool > Layers > New) for the pose, and I’ll explain why I
(just hold down Ctrl and click-and-hold on the
mask will follow the cursor). I can use Rotate for
do this later. It’s also very important to step
model; the mask will be created following the
the deformations and then use the Move brush
back a number of subdivision levels to make
cursor direction. If you want to mask the entire
to make the nal adjustments ( Fig.11).
better deformation without too many wrong
model minus one nger, hold Ctrl and click-and-
deformations. With the Transpose Mask feature
hold on the hand, and then go to the nger – the
Moving back to the head now, I need to add a tongue, so I want to append a ZSphere (Fig.12a). I turn off the perspective view and start to create the new mesh. To make a ZSphere turn into a mesh, go to Adaptive Skin > Make Adaptive Skin. I can now subdivide and start the sculpting work on the tongue, using the Standard brush to dene the model and the Move brush for better adjustments and placement in the mouth (Fig.12b).
For the nal details I use the Standard brush with a thin alpha, like Alpha 35-39, and the Inat brush. I also start to incorporate more skin alphas of human skin, pores, and so on using different strokes: Spray Stroke with low values to get nice pores and a slight “noise” effect over
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Chapter 04
Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Part 4 - Amphibian Man the sculpt (especially on the tongue). A “pore alpha” can help with this, or you can simple use Alpha 07 instead. DragRect and DragDot strokes with a more dened alpha, like alpha 22 or 59 for example, can give some nice details with more control, without the randomized effect of the Spray Stroke (Fig.13).
You can get many alpha packs on www. pixologic.com, which will help you to build up the character’s credibility as a half human-half animal.
And here is the nal sculpt (Fig.14).
Texturing Moving onto the texturing work now, I make a rough base color over the entire sculpt (Menu > Color > Fill Object), and then dene some of the warmer tones, such as on the chest. To illustrate the thin skin, for example, just change your desired color and give it a lower RGB Intensity. Using the Standard brush with FreeHand stroke I can complete this initial stage without any problems (Fig.15a).
I turn off the layer that I created for the pose at this point, which I do because this way I can turn the symmetry back on and save some time texturing. I hide the other SubTools now (SubTool > click on the eye to hide it, for example) to concentrate on the main model only. I apply some tonal variation onto the model using the Spray Stroke (with Scale and Color Intensity values kept low) with Alpha 07 (always using a low intensity), mixing the colors as I go (Fig.15b).
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Getting onto the detailed texturing stage now, I use Spray Stroke, DragRect and the Freehand Stroke to apply the details (using some different alphas like using Spray Stroke with Alpha 07 for a nice “noise” effect, DragRect with Alpha 59, and Alpha 22 to give detail with better size and placement control (Fig.16).
A good quick trick to get more detail in ZBrush is to use the cavity mask function (Mask > Mask by Cavity) and paint with a darker color in a very low intensity, or just go to Color > Fill Object and use a dark color (such as a dark grey, for example) with a very low RGB Intensity. Observe that the pose layer is turned on again here as we are now at the nal detailing stage and it’s very important to make give these details without using symmetry, in order to bring more life to the model ( Fig.17).
And here is the nal textured model (Fig.18).
Rendering & Compositing I use this stage of the design process to make my work “pop”, using passes, blending modes,
The second step is to congure the main
I want to make some adjustments now by going
and masks. I shall try now to talk you through
shader which will be used as the base shader.
to Materials > Modiers – these adjustments
my rendering and compositing workow using
I use GW_Skincore by Grant Warwick as the
are different for each shader, and are made
ZBrush and Photoshop.
main nal shader (which can be downloaded
according to the light (Fig.19b).
by clicking on the Free Resources icon, or by The rst step is to congure the light, which is
going to www.pixologic.com), but other shaders
The third step is to congure the shadows. For
basically just a case of positioning it however
can be used as well, such as MatCap Skin 04,
this character design I just make some simple
you require by clicking and moving the little
for example.
shadows adjustments to achieve a “harder”
orange highlighted box (Fig.19a).
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shadow (see Fig.19a).
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In the Render menu now, I change the Antialiasing to 2 to get a better render quality when rendering my passes. The other shaders used as passes for the nal render composite in Photoshop are as follows:
• Specular passes – I use a simple shader – the Toy Plastic shader, for example – and modier to show only the specular. The other specular passes use the same shader but I change the Light direction and the Specular Curve. ZBrush produces too much specular over the entire model, so I use masks to remove some specular in some areas, and a low opacity (around 10-20%). Layer blend mode: Lighten (Fig.20a)
• Refection pass – This is just the ReectedMap material used to fake a reection pass. I use this pass with different values for the body, the tongue and the
dumbbells. Layer blend mode: Lighten/Color
For this example I use Hue/Saturation to
(Fig.20b)
make it more reddish, and use it to achieve a nice skin tone on the chest. Layer blend
• Color pass – Flat Color Material – With this
mode: Color/Lighten (Fig.20c)
pass I have more color control in Photoshop.
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• Occlusion pass – MatCap White pass without any texture. Layer blend mode: Multiply (around 40-60% Opacity) (Fig.20d)
• Mask pass – Flat Color Material again – but this time with a different color for each SubTool (using Color > Fill Color) – can be used to pick masks in Photoshop (using Select > Color Range in Photoshop). With these masks I can control the passes by element; for example, I duplicate the Reection pass and use one for the body with a low opacity, and one with higher opacity for the gym accessories (Fig.20e)
• Main pass (Fig.20f )
I use other Photoshop adjustments, too, such as Color Balance, Sharpen, Levels, Contrast … It may look like it took a lot of time to achieve the nal composite, but the entire compositing step was done in around 30-50 minutes only. And here the nal result (Fig.21).
Conclusion Hopefully I have succeeded in walking you through my workow, and have explained the process in enough detail for you to now create your very own half man-half creature mutant. I hope you’ve found the tutorial useful. Please feel free to contact me by email should you have any questions.
Note from the Editor: Grant Warwick has provided us with the GW_Skincore MatCap that Bruno Melo has used in this tutorial, which you can nd in the Free Resources folder. Remember that you can also nd the base mesh that Bruno used with this tutorial in the same folder, too!
Bruno Melo For more from this artist visit http://bmelo.cgsociety.org/gallery/ or contact
[email protected]
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chapter 5
Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 05 - Insect Man Insect-Man Software Used: ZBrush and 3ds Max
Introduction The idea of a hybrid mutation from human to insect was really exciting to me right from the beginning of this project. The possibilities, design-wise, are immense, and because the world of insects is so complex and varied it forced me to do lots of research before starting, since it’s not a subject I have had experience with in the past.
Concept I began with some research, and obviously the rst real problem to solve was how to mutate an endoskeletal being into an exoskeletal one. This was something that really worried me, and at rst I was stuck at this phase for quite some time. I tried to get inspiration from sculptures by great artists, and slowly started to understand what I liked and didn’t like, and what was plausible and not so. There is a ne line between what is plausible and what is “cool”, and you have to be very careful where this is concerned and aim to get a good balance between the two; nding the right balance is completely up to you though, depending on your
something like this, but at the same time
too much of the skull structure; I want to retain
own style and artistic intentions.
wanting to take some inspiration from it,
the idea that this creature was once actually a
what I imagined was an evolution where the
human. I’m going to focus most on the mouth,
First of all, I had to see if something that blends
outer surface of the body is morphed into
since this area is crucial in my design concept,
an exoskeleton with an endoskeleton could
a net of uid-lled cavities that hardens the
and will be really eye-catching. The top gums
actually really exist…
outer structure. Not as rigid as a chitin based
and top lip will be fused into the insect’s labrum;
exoskeleton, but something that somehow can
the mandible will be cut at the front to become
Turtles have both endoskeleton and exoskeleton
adapt to movement with an internal pressure
the new “mandible”, and I will add an extra
characteristics, but I was looking for something
system. This concept was enough to give me an
structure, the maxilla, which is a newly formed
different: a mix of both, not coexistence. The
idea of the look of this mutation.
part from the mutation. The tongue and bottom
closest thing I have found is a hydrostatic
lip will also become the labium.
skeleton, which Wikipedia says is “a structure
So with the concept in mind, I needed to think
found in many cold-blooded organisms and soft-
about which human features could best mutate
At this point I took advantage of the newly
bodied animals consisting of a uid-lled cavity,
into insect characteristics. And so, keeping in
released plugin from Pixologic, PaintStop (www.
the coelom, surrounded by muscles”.
mind the balance I mentioned before, I chose
pixologic.com/zbrush/features/PaintStop/), to
to work with human limbs, because I felt these
rough out a concept to help me visualize the
would work best.
gure (Fig.01). PaintStop is really handy and
Hmm, interesting!
easy to use, and has a lot of potential. You don’t Without being too rigid and technical, since I
The facial structure is a particularly fun part
need to be a painter to use it, just draw and have
don’t have the knowledge to fully understand
to work with, because I don’t want to change
fun!
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Concept Refinement I’d like to just mention now something that happened during the sculpting process. Sometimes viewing things in 3D really shows what’s working and what’s not working in your design. Right in the middle of the sculpting session I realized that what I was creating was too similar to a suit, rather than a hybrid creature. This really bothered me, I didn’t like it and I felt I had to nd a solution to x it. This was perhaps the hardest part of the creation process for me, because for the rst time I had to face the mutation phenomena in a very different way: I started to think about what “mutation” would mean for a human being; how the character would feel about it. I had to think about him, and not just about the design.
So whilst sculpting, I changed my initial concept
him that reveals his humanity, his feelings, and
or not I had to go on and focus on doing it right.
to something more repugnant, something which
allows you to get a little closer to the design.
I’ll now take you through my ZBrush sculpting process.
would make you think about what is actually going on in the image, rather than just looking
For this part of the concept I looked mainly for
at it and moving on. I introduced the human side
references concerning the molting (obviously
At level 0 it is really hard to nd the right shapes;
of the creature to the concept, the portion of
I had to keep in mind that I was using a base
I push and pull vertices around to nd the best
mesh, so I couldn’t expect to be able to do
positions, mainly working on proportions using
something like actually perform molting on
the Move brush and the Transpose function
the model; it would need to be sculpted to
(Fig.02).
appear that way) and started to think about the transition between the two stages
Stepping up a subdivision level, I work with Transpose again to mask and adapt better the
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ZBrush
silhouette to my concept, and use the Standard
The given base mesh was unfortunately not the
and Inat brushes to sculpt the main volumes
easiest thing to adapt to my concept, but tricky
(Fig.03 – 04).
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Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 05 - Insect Man It’s really important to focus on the main forms right now, zooming out a lot to see if everything ts together, and not being afraid to make drastic changes if unsatised. At this stage we’re working on the foundation of our sculpture; everything we will do later will be affected by the choices we make right now (i.e. in the lower subdivision levels). Later sculpting details will rely heavily on the previously sculpted surface, so basically you have to visualize in your mind the details that are not yet there, and sculpt the average version of them – a bit like a blurred image. As an example, think about painting a tree you see at 1km distance: it’s nothing more than a green irregular spot. The nearer you get to the tree, the more detailed information you get to paint (describe) it.
What I also do, is use the whole range of the brushes’ Draw Size, not just the big and medium ones; try to use a very small brush in the beginning as well, to emphasize some smaller details – but remember: only from the distance!
Sometimes you can focus on close-up details in your sculpting, perhaps because you need to better see just one part of the model in order to adjust everything else accordingly.
Another thing I like to do is to quickly pose some parts, like the hands or arms, in a gesture that helps me to better understand the volumes and forms.
Once I get to subdivision level 3 or 4, I started
working with them; they help you to get rid of
For the eyes I temporarily place some ZBrush
using mostly the Clay Tubes and Clay brushes,
the bulginess from the lower levels, averaging
Sphere primitives to hold the shape (I will come
since I nd myself being very comfortable
out forms and consolidating the major volumes
back to these later on).
(Fig.05 – 06). Once I’ve imported the newly created .obj, I’ve
Additional Objects
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got everything I need and I can start working on
At this stage I use 3ds Max to create some very
the object as a whole, trying to sculpt everything
simple geometry to use as base meshes for the
at the same level without leaving parts too
mandibles and maxillae. As you can see, they
roughly sculpted (Fig.08). This is important
are just standard cubes scaled and subdivided a
because you want to have a good general
few times, and just for the mandibles I’ve made
understanding of what is going on in the model
an extrusion to better conform the shape I have
to be able to judge what is working the way you
in mind (Fig.07).
want it, and what needs adjustments.
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Moving on, I isolate the shell, and with the Clay brush I sculpt some variations into the surface (Fig.09 – 10).
As mentioned earlier, try to use your Draw Size range, as this will help you to to create believable variations and patterns in your sculpting work (Fig.11).
With the shell’s main volumes roughed out, I work on the junctions in the limbs next, trying to recreate a net of underlying bers and nerves, tendons and cartilaginous structures, and everything else that could t to mimic what once was human and still there, but is now morphed into this new form (Fig.12).
Something very clear on insects is that their shells tend to have borders; in most cases they are jagged and have little spikes. To sculpt these details into my model, I use a cloud-like alpha with a Standard brush, with the Stroke set to DragDot – this is because I can get realtime feedback of both the position and the altitude of the brush, so I can very precisely place those little spikes where I want them ( Fig.13).
Adjusting the Sculpt for the New Concept
because your progress is very slow, but it’s very
As I mentioned earlier, during the sculpting
important to always remember the meaning of
process I changed my mind, deciding to break
what you’re doing: you have very good reasons
up the insect mutation to reveal human portions
to go through this process and the result will be
to the character. Here is how:
much better than what you had previously. So, put your favorite music on the playlist and relax!
I step back to the lowest subdivision level and smooth and reconstruct from there the human
I focus on the anatomy being in the process
features I want to see (F ig.14).
of mutation, which is reected in the sculpt on the other side of the face/body, so everything
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I’m not afraid at all about erasing all of what I’ve
we know from human anatomy will be more
previously done, because I am very condent
recognizable on this side of the character, giving
about the new concept. At rst the work seems
the appearance that the process is already
massive, and it’s easy to get a bit stressed
taking place (Fig.15).
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Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 05 - Insect Man Inner organs and structures would be stressed by this mutation, so I start sculpting some hybrid anatomy where parts are more human like; others are blended, whilst some are a complete mess – all this is to show that something weird is going on right now, making it difcult to fully understand what this creature once was.
The sculpting process here is the same as done for the earlier concept, using the Clay and Clay Tubes brushes, sometimes also taking advantage of the Standard brush to apply some sharp details (veins, depressions) (Fig.16 – 17).
For the ne tendons you can see in the examples, I used the Clay Tubes brush to rough out the inner part of the elbow, or the “human” side of the torso, crossing strokes until I got a pattern that mimicked what I needed. Taking the Standard brush, with a really low ZIntensity and a small Draw Size, I started to slowly sculpt patterns, crossing them together and nding merging points. Looking at sculptures from Masters such as Jordu Schell, or Steve Wang, you can really understand how these patterns
In my case, I can’t really get close to the shell’s
and the Stroke set to DragRect. Try to vary
work and be inspired by them!
appearance just with the sculpting alone, but
the scale and rotation of your projection to get
with some ne details I can describe the surface
a more organic and believable distribution of
Final Sculpting Details
much more and add an extra level of realism.
details. You can also use customized and more
When most of the work is done you need to
One way to do this is to use the projection
focused alphas, and place them where you
spend time working on the smaller details.
of alphas of random organic noise patterns,
need them. I used this method to simulate little
Don’t be in a hurry, all the steps need time and
created freehand in Photoshop or using a
cracks of plastered effects; you might want to
hard work, and it’s really important to continue
section of a texture (I use the 3DTotal Texture
use this method also for veins or pores ( Fig.18
working until you feel satised. Every step
DVDs, they have a huge amount of different
– 19). The other way is to sculpt what you need
needs the same level of attention.
surfaces to sample from), with a Standard brush
with custom alphas and use the Color Spray or
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Spray Stroke. You can use a very small jagged circle to simulate little spikes, for example.
The insect eye was tricky to get it how I wanted it. As I mentioned previously, I used ZBrush’s Sphere Primitive in the rst instance as a placeholder, but I realized that the poles of the sphere tend to get jagged once subdivided and sculpted, so I needed clean geometry to work with.
Using 3ds Max I create a simple primitive sphere with spherical UV mapping; I export the mesh as an .obj, import it into ZBrush, and position it using Transpose (Fig.20).
I then use Photoshop to create a beehive-like pattern that can mimic the insect’s divided eye – basically a black and white image with white
the imported sphere, and use it to mask the
So to x the antennae problem, I create a
hexagonal cells separated by black ( Fig.21).
geometry of the eye based on the texture’s
cylinder in Max with evenly spaced subdivisions,
intensity (Fig.22).
and then, using an FFD box modier, I
Once I have the height map for the cells done, I import it into ZBrush as a texture, apply it to
proportionally scale down the top. To create the With the sphere masked, I the use the Inat
repeated bulging effect I just use the scale tool
Deformation to pull out the cells and get the nal
with an edge every once in a while to get the
divided eye (Fig.23).
recesses I need (Fig.25).
I had a few problems with antennae. I rst
In order to make the antennae curved the way I
used ZSpheres to create a rough base mesh
want them to, I create a Spline with the desired
for them, appended them as a SubTool, and
curvature and then deform the cylinder using a
sculpted. I wasn’t satised with this version
Path Deform (WSM) modier, with the spline as
though; the antennae were too distracting for
the path (Fig.26).
me and I didn’t like the shape too much ( Fig.24).
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Once the sculpting is nished I want to pose the character using Transpose Master. Something to be aware of here is that sometimes this amazing tool doesn’t work properly; I don’t understand if it’s something I’m doing wrong or something related to this particular model, but what happens is that when I use the tool to pose the character how I want him, and once I transfer the pose back to the subdivided mesh, I lose all my subdivision levels. My solution for this problem is to disable the UV for all my SubTools. This works just ne, and nally I have my happy ending with the results I want (Fig.27).
Polypainting and Texturing I collect all the references I can about insects for this part of the process, as this is perhaps the most important part of texturing – it’s not just about colors, but also being able to understand and recreate how nature works as closely as you can.
I’ve found some really very interesting color schemes in the insect world, but I also realized
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that it’s very difcult to adapt bright colors to
Colorize from the Texture sub palette in the Tool
my concept, even though they are the most
menu, and have the RGB value set to 100) with
interesting ones. I think the main problem with
a bright green color – this will be my base color
this is that they look too fake when painted.
for the insect half of the character ( Fig.28).
The rst thing I do to begin the Polypainting
To keep things looking interesting, I use mostly
process is to ll the object (remember to turn on
the Color Spray stroke to get some variations
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in luminosity, with different values for the Draw Size and lots of different tones of green, red and yellow. I then use the same process for the human side of the model, just using skin tones instead (Fig.29 – 30).
With the main variations painted, I decide to create a texture just for the body (leaving other SubTools, such as the antennae and eyes, for the Polypainting technique) for two reasons: rst of all, I don’t have enough polys to describe the textures; and second, I need some other tools that you can only access using the Projection Master. So rst I create an 8K white texture (this might be a bit large, but if you can handle these large les it’s better to resize them down later
rather of realizing in the middle of the texturing
not only using the Standard brush, but also
process you don’t have high enough resolution).
the ability to use all the Pixol tools, such as the
Then, with the body SubTool selected, I turn
Sharpen, Blur, Intensity and Contrast brushes,
off Colorize from the texture sub palette, go
and so on.
down to level zero in my geometry subdivisions, set 100 for the RGB value, apply an AUV tiles
The rst step is to enforce the depth of my
mapping, and nally hit the Col > Txr button to
texture by dimming the cavity areas and
transfer all my polypainted data onto the texture
lightening the elevated ones. To do this I mostly
(Fig.31).
use the Standard brush with falloff alphas like Alpha 01 or Alpha 37, to get a nice gradient
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So far so good!
between the two tonal values, also with the help
Now I have a lot more possibilities painting wise;
of the Intensity brush (Fig.32).
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Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 05 - Insect Man Sometimes when you use the Intensity brush too much, you can get noisy results, but don’t worry because it’s easy to x with the Blur brush in no time at all!
It’s OK to use custom alphas to break down the color, using either the Spray or the DragRect stroke. And it’s important not to cover your sculpted data with a generic texture, but make sure you always enforce or highlight what you had previously described in your sculpt. For example, if you have tiny spots all around the sculpted surface, make sure to paint over them with a different color to accentuate them, or if you have a crack in the surface, just enforce it by dimming the recess.
On the eshy side I use the Standard brush with a very small Draw Size to paint in some veins, trying to change the Draw Size to get some variations in the scale, using different colors, from green to purple (Fig.33 – 34).
I use some cropped textures from the 3DTotal Textures DVDs (www.3dtotal.com/textures) as alphas to DragRect onto the surface to get some sharper variations; you could use dirt, concrete,
Also experiment with the already mentioned
photo reference image you need as the texture,
organic-looking textures, or just patterns that t
Pixol brushes (Intensity, Contrast etc.) with
and a basic circle with falloff as the alpha to
with your model and concept ( Fig.35 – 36).
custom alphas. You can get some very nice
smooth out the corners. Make sure you have
effects with the right settings; just remember
ZAdd set to 0, and simply draw your plane on
that, while in Projection Master, you’re basically
the canvas. You can then use the standard
painting as with a traditional 2D package, so
sculpting tools to deform it to make it better t
take full advantage of it!
your model. This is a handy way to use photos to texture your model – thanks to Krishnamurti
Something to be aware of is that the RGB value
Costa for sharing his technique with the
tends to color a lot from the very lower settings:
community!
working with a value like 2 or 4 was enough for
I got it was something like 18 on a range from 0
Rendering and Compositing
to 100.
We’re now at the nal stage of production of this
me for most of the painting session; the higher
Manimal. You can project paint some photo references
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if you need them, too. There is a great video
I rst of all create a pass of the texture alone,
tutorial by Krishnamurti Costa (www.antropus.
with a at material (Fig.37). I then ll all the
com/tutorials.htm) that explains this process
SubTools with a white color and use MatCaps
very well. Basically, once in Projection Master,
to render out different passes, with and without
you select a ZBrush Plane as a tool with the
shadows (I can then choose what I will or won’t
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use). I use some human skin and insect photos
will be handy for a depth of eld effect later on in
Material, and I adjust the specular curve as I
to create some custom MatCaps – this process
Photoshop. To do this, go to the Alpha palette,
need to in order to get wet-looking highlights, or
is well explained in the ZBrush Documentation
press (at the very bottom) the GrabDoc button,
glossy specular (Fig.38a – b).
you can already nd online.
and export it. In Photoshop you’re free to experiment,
For the shadows and Ambient Occlusion, I use
Other custom materials are used for the
adjusting the Brightness/Contrast and/or the
a custom-made MatCap that mimics the effect.
specular: I ll all the SubTools with black
Color Balance, using masks to differentiate the
I’m also sure to render out a ZDepth pass that
and use the Basic Material or the Toy Plastic
shading or even doing some paintover work if you need to. For example, I have added a bit of smoke to the bottom to better blend the character with the background (Fig.39).
Conclusion This was an extraordinary project, not only because I was free to develop my own interpretation of the subject but also because I have learned so much about the insect world, as well as about sculpting and texturing. Every project needs you to nd solutions to achieve the desired results, and every time it’s a great challenge. What I can suggest is for you to work hard to get to where you want to be, and if you can’t get there, well you’ll have to work harder, defeat the problems and nd solutions; think in a different way and enjoy what you’re doing. This is the fundamental point to all this!
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I hope you have found this tutorial interesting and the techniques offered will be useful to you with your own projects. Good luck to you all, please feel free to contact me with any questions!
Federico Scarbini For more from this artist visit http://www.federicoscarbini.com or contact
[email protected]
chapter 6
Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 06 - Reptilian-Man Reptilian-Man Software Used: ZBrush and Photoshop
Introduction In this tutorial I’ll try to teach you my workow while creating a “reptilian-man” from simple base mesh in ZBrush. I’ll aim to show you through the whole process – from the basic development of proportions, through retopologizing in ZBrush, to rendering, and nally post-production in Photoshop.
I won’t start out with any concept drawings before starting this model in ZBrush – when you download the free movies with this tutorial you’ll see that my reptilian concept is created during the sculpting stage. This way of working is not always a good idea – it’s always better to know what you want to do before you start, and if you can’t draw then you can at least look for some good reference images on the internet to give you an idea.
Sculpting I start this new character in the same way as all the other artists of this series have done before me, with a simple human base mesh (which is available for download with this tutorial).
Before I start sculpting, for easier selection I go ahead and divide the mesh, whilst at the lowest subdivision level, into Polygroups. I hide any unnecessary parts of the model (press Ctrl + Shift, and then release Shift) and use Group Visible in the Tool > Polygroups menu.
the Ctrl key is still being held. To completely
model. You can then create a mask following
With the Polygroups created, I can then start
erase a mask drag on the empty canvas holding
your mesh topology.
to transform the base mesh by masking, using
Ctrl; Ctrl-clicking on the canvas will invert the
the Move brush, and the Move/Rotate/Scale
mask. You can also blur a mask (Ctrl-click on
Whilst still at the lowest level of subdivision (or
Transform tools (W/E/R) to change the overall
the masked part of your model) and sharpen it
in the second level at most), I begin to block
shapes and proportions to something less
(Ctrl + Alt-click). I like to hide my mask during
in the basic body shapes, generally using the
human-like in shape (Fig.01).
work to make the changes I create more visible
Standard and Clay Tubes brushes. It’s a good
(Ctrl + H). There is also a very useful feature
idea also to lower the Smooth brush’s ZIntensity
To create a mask, you simply press and hold
called Topological Masking which works with
here; standard settings make the smoothing
the Ctrl key when painting on the surface of your
the Move, Rotate or Scale Transform active –
too destructive when working in low levels of
model. You can also erase unnecessary parts of
simply press and hold the Ctrl key whilst in one
subdivision (Fig.02).
mask by pressing and holding the Alt key, whilst
of these modes and click-and-drag over your
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When working on the overall shapes of a character design, I try to not concentrate on just one part of model. I jump from head to hands, using masking and the Move tool to change proportions. From time to time I also like to change the material to a at black color to check how the silhouette is working ( Fig.03). You can create your own black silhouette viewing material – and save it in material menu – out of any of basic ZBrush basic materials (Fig.04).
When I have something looking more or less satisfactory, I subdivide once or twice more
To create the eye sockets I choose to append
Next, skip to the Deformations palette and use
and then start working on the smaller forms of
an eyeball SubTool. This helps me to make
the Mirror button to mirror your cloned eyeball
the body, such as the eye sockets, ngers and
the eyelids correctly and helps me to avoid
tool to right side of the model.
muscles. Using mostly the Clay Tubes brush
problems later on when matching them to the
with a strong ZIntensity, I try to create natural
eyeballs (Fig.05).
Whilst working on my reptilian head I’m using some iguana reference photos that I’ve found
looking shapes for the muscles. It’s important to always keep in mind at this stage of work the
To create an eyeball I use the Sphere3D tool
on Google Images. I’m not trying to make a
bone structure, too. Muscles don’t exist without
from the Tool menu. Draw it on the canvas and
perfect copy of a reptilian head, I just like to
an underlying bone structure, so it can be really
use the Make PolyMesh3D button in the Tool
use photos to follow and use them as a guide
helpful at this point to mark some of the bones
palette to enable sculpting. Next, switch to your
for the overall shapes. I’ve chosen to make the
and joints in.
main tool, use the Append button in the SubTool
back of his head much bigger than what you’d
palette and choose your Polymesh sphere.
expect of a reptile, as he should in theory have
From time to time I nd it useful to look at
Switch to your eyeball SubTool in the SubTool
a bigger brain. I’ve also decided to make his
anatomy reference images – not completely
palette and use Move (W), Scale (E) and Rotate
mouth shorter.
trying to copy human muscles, just using them
(R) to place the eye in the right position. With
as a guide for my modeling work. I then use the
the eye SubTool selected, use the Clone button
With the overall forms dened, I’m now going
Inat brush to add some volume to the larger
in the Tool menu to create a copy of the eyeball.
to start to add the smaller details. Using the
muscles of the body.
Append the copied eyeball in SubTool palette.
Standard brush with Gravity set to around 30 in the brush options, I sculpt in some skin folds, and then use the Standard brush with Brush Mod at 15-20 and a small alpha to sharpen some of the edges, like the eyelids, nostrils and smaller skin creases (Fig.06).
Retopologizing After playing with details and sharpening up edges, I’ve decided to retopologize my model. It isn’t absolutely necessary, but I’ve noticed some geometry stretching in the lower parts of the body which could lead to problems in later stages of sculpting – especially as I’ll be working with scales.
To start the retopologizing process, I create a ZSphere on my canvas. I go to the Tool >
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Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 06 - Reptilian-Man Rigging menu and use the Select Mesh button to choose my model (Fig.07). With the mesh selected I then go to Tool > Topology and choose Edit Topology.
Before I start to create new topology, I like to turn off the viewport shadows in the Render > Preview Shadows menu – this just makes the visibility of the model better, especially in areas like the bottom of the chin or armpits. I then click on the canvas outside of the model to avoid attaching the rst topology point to a point already existing inside the model.
Creating new topology in ZBrush is rather easy, much like building a cage of quads on a model’s surface. In this part of the work I switch from graphics tablet to mouse to have better control and avoid any random clicks. Keeping the brush size small, I start creating new topology simply by clicking on the model. When you create a new topology point, it’s selected (a red circle around the point), and the next click on the model’s surface will create the point connected
without creating a new edge, press Ctrl and click
parts of model if necessary, just like when in
to it. If you want to create a new point without
on it. You can also delete unnecessary points
sculpting mode.
connecting it to the last one, click on the canvas
(Alt-click) or move them (W and Q – back to
to deselect your last point. To select a new point
paint mode). You can also use Ctrl-Shift to hide
When creating new topology in ZBrush I try to use the same rules as when sculpting or painting. First I create big shapes (edge loops around the muscles, eyes or mouth), and take care of the details later (lling big edge loops with smaller quads). I prefer to turn off the symmetry when creating geometric points in the center of the model, just to avoid errors with doubled centered points. It’s important to keep all topology in quads if possible (ZBrush doesn’t like triangles!). Create denser topology in places which need more detail, like the mouth, eyes or ears. Use fewer, larger quads in less important places (Fig.08).
When the new topology is ready, I use the Preview button in the Adaptive Skin menu to make it visible. I set the Density slider to 1, turn on Polyframe view (Shift + F) and carefully check for errors in the mesh (look out for any unnecessary holes or doubled edges).
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If everything looks ne I then use the Make Adaptive Skin button to create my 3D tool from the topology (Fig.09).
Reprojecting Details onto New Topology First I select my original model from the Tool menu. I draw it onto the canvas and hit T to get into Edit mode. Next I use the Append button in the SubTool menu to append my new topology object as a new SubTool. I set my old model to the third or fourth subdivision level and switch to the new topology SubTool. For safety, I create a new Morph Target
tools and using this step-by-step technique, but I
(StoreMT in the Morph Target menu). With the
prefer this method – it takes more time but helps
Morph Target stored I can use the Morph brush
to avoid errors.
to remove any projection errors, like exploding vertices. I then hit the Project All button in
With the details projected onto my new model I
the SubTool menu. If everything looks good I
use a mask and rotate (R) to open my reptilian-
can switch to the rst SubTool, go to a higher
man’s mouth (Fig.11).
subdivision level, then go back to the new topology tool, subdivide it and use Project All
I can now go back to Edit Topology, this time
again (Fig.10).
using the lowest subdivision level. Using the same method as before I go into Edit Topology
Do the same for every subdivision level. In
mode and, holding Shift, I simply paint the
the case of problems use the Morph brush to
existing topology onto my model. All I have to do
erase projection errors. Of course, you can
is to patch the hole inside his mouth with new
use projection immediately on the highest
geometry (Fig.12 – 13).
subdivision level rather than skipping between
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Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 06 - Reptilian-Man I repeat the same steps as before to project the details onto the model with the patched mouth.
Finishing Details and Adding SubTools With my new retopologized mesh I can now work some more details over it, sharpening some edges with the Pinch brush, and using the Standard brush with Gravity and the Inat brush to give a more natural look to the skin folds and muscles. For some of the smaller wrinkles I use the Standard brush with a blurred Alpha 59 (Fig.14).
To make teeth for my model, give him spikes on his back and tongue, as well as some claws, I append a ZSphere SubTool. I model some simple ZSphere teeth (Fig.15) and use Adaptive Skin > Make Adaptive Skin to turn it into geometry. I then use Tool > Clone, along with Mirror in the Deformation menu, to make the upper teeth.
I model just one ZSphere spike and use copies of it for all the other spikes, and with a few small changes I can use it for the claws as well (use Clone just once and then append as many copies as needed in the SubTool menu). I use Transpose, Move, Scale and Rotate to place the
With all the spikes and claws in place I’ve
which I’ve found on the internet. You can nd
spikes and claws into the right positions. And
decided I’m going to make some scales now,
lots of free alphas at the Pixologic Download
nally, I use the SubTool Master plugin (http://
rather than just have a at skin – I want to
Center (http://www.pixologic.com/zbrush/
www.pixologic.com/zbrush/downloadcenter/
make my reptilian-man look less human and
downloadcenter/alpha/). You can also create
zplugins/) to merge all claws and spikes into one
more interesting! For small scales I’m using the
your own alphas in Photoshop from photos –
SubTool – this makes the navigation between
Standard brush with low ZIntensity, DragRect
simply convert a photo to 8- or 16-bit grayscale.
SubTools much easier (Fig.16).
stroke, and a couple of reptile skin alphas
I actually prefer to paint my alphas by hand though, as it gives me more control than using a photo (Fig.17).
To avoid ugly intersections between individual brushstrokes I make use of Radial Fade in the Alpha menu, which makes the outer edges of the alpha more transparent. I always try to follow the natural ow of muscles and skin, placing my brushstrokes carefully and trying to rotate the alpha in the right direction (move your graphics tablet or mouse holding the left button to rotate or scale the alpha with the DragRect stroke) (Fig.18).
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The large scales on his head and ngers I have made by hand. I start by painting the shape of the scales using a mask (holding Ctrl). I then invert the mask (Ctrl + I) and hide it for better visibility (Ctrl + H). When sculpting scales, I use the same technique as before, mostly using the Clay Tubes brush along with the Standard and Pinch brushes, and nally the Inat brush comes in handy to give volume. A couple of strokes of a low intensity Flatten brush helps make the scales look more angular (Fig.19).
Pose To pose my character I use the Transpose Master plugin (http://www.pixologic.com/zbrush/ downloadcenter/zplugins/) (Fig.20). It’s simple to use: just click the TPoseMesh button in the plugin menu and it creates a low version of the model with all SubTools merged together.
I use the usual masking and rotate technique to make some pose changes here, and when ready I press the TPose > SubTool button in the Transpose Master menu to transfer changes
to the original model, including all SubTools.
reptile photos in my paint program and load
Finally, I use a couple of strokes of the Inat and
them onto a ZBrush canvas using the Image
Standard brushes to make the posed muscles
Plane plugin (http://www.pixologic.com/zbrush/
look much more natural (Fig.21).
downloadcenter/zplugins/) (Fig.23). I can now select colors from my palette just by clicking
PolyPainting
on the ZBrush color selector and dragging it to
Before I start painting, I change the material to
the right color in my palette on the canvas. You
MatCap White. I also use a modied FastShader
could do the same thing with a photo rather than
(Fig.22) and Flat Color materials to check the
a palette, to sample real colors from it.
look of my texture from time to time. I’m now going to turn off ZAdd on my Standard
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I don’t like ZBrush’s color selection too much,
brush, turn RGB on, and ll the model with a
so I prepare a couple of color palettes from
base color (Color > Fill Object). I add some color
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Chapter 06
Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 06 - Reptilian-Man
variation with the Color Spray stroke with a low
the Free Resources icon). Three versions of
RGB intensity, with a couple of different alphas.
basic materials are setup to show only specular
I continue painting with a very low RGB intensity
highlights with different specular curve settings
(around 3-6) with different color variations, trying
(Fig.26); white MatCap is used as an ambient
to make recessed parts of the model darker, and
occlusion pass for compositing; and I make a
adding small details with skin alphas and the
Flat Color render just to be safe (in case I need
DragRect stroke. Finally, I use cavity masking to
to make some color corrections later).
select cracks between the scales and I ll them with a dark, almost black color (still using a low
I also use Alpha > Grab Doc to create a ZDepth
RGB intensity), just to make them more visible
pass, plus a at color render with the various
(Fig.24 – 25).
SubTools lled with different colors to use as a mask in Photoshop (Fig.27).
Rendering For the nal render I use Grant Warwick’s
I make some changes now to the standard light
GW_SkinCore material as the base shader (free
settings (Fig.28) where I set Super Sample to 2
to download with this tutorial – simply click on
in the Render > Antialiasing menu. I then make
the nal renders in double the resolution of the nal image, simply for better antialiasing.
Compositing And now it’s time for a little post-production in Photoshop. The nal renement in your 2D application of choice is one of most important parts of creating a good image. My basic render from ZBrush doesn’t look too encouraging ( Fig. 29), but then even the best Mental Ray renders sometimes need some help from Photoshop! So rst of all I create a new Photoshop
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Chapter 06
Chapter 06 - Reptilian-Man
Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook
document with all my ZBrush render passes in it (Fig.30). I use my Flat Color render as a clipping mask for all the other layers, so I apply it over the background and use the Create Clipping Mask function (Alt + Ctrl + G) for all layers over it.
Now, with the clipping mask active for higher layers, I can work on my background. I use a low opacity brush to make a smoky looking effect, a couple of low intensity color gradients, along with a little use of the Blur and Smudge tools, and it’s ready!
I can now take care of the reptilian gure. I use
Hue/Saturation and Brightness/Contrast are also
some different layer compositing options and
particularly effective to help you get your desired
opacity values for my render passes: Color Burn
results (Fig.31).
for my at color pass, Overlay for my ambient
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occlusion one, and Screen and Lighten for
To nish the post-production work, I’ve decided
different specular passes. I also use a Layer
to add a little drool effect to his mouth. I was a
Mask for some of the passes and make some
bit too lazy to paint all the tiny highlights in his
hand corrections to them. This part of the work
saliva by hand, so I simply use a new layer with
is mostly about experimentation with different
couple of blending options like Drop Shadow,
blending modes and opacity levels. I nd that
Outer/Inner Glow, and Bevel and Emboss
using a couple of adjustment layers like Levels,
(Fig.32). With these blending effects set I can
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Chapter 06
Manimal ZBrush Character Creation eBook Chapter 06 - Reptilian-Man paint drops of saliva with a simple black color, and the layer effects do the rest of work for me ( Fig.33)! I use the Screen blending mode for this layer, and after attening the image I use the Dodge Tool to emphasize the highlights in the drool.
And here is the nal composition (Fig.34).
Conclusion I’m pretty happy with how my nal image has turned out. It may not be photo realistic, but I like the results and what I’ve achieved. This was my rst work completely rendered in ZBrush (I normally use Mental Ray to
render) so I think it has come out pretty well for a debut! I also had lots of fun working on it, so I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and that it helps you to come up with something in ZBrush that you’re also proud of. Thanks for reading!
Tomasz Kwiecinski For more from this artist contact them at: ma
[email protected]
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Chapter 06
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In this series we will be working our way through the basic process of creating a creature bust, then taking it to completion by the last chapter. We will be starting with a basic Zsphere base mesh that we will create ourselves and we’ll use this as our starting point for sculpturing and nally adding texture to.The tutorial series is split into 7 chapters so that we can take it at a beginner’s pace and cover as much ground as possible for people totally new to Zbrush. (Plus you’ll end up with a nished digital sculpt that will give you the condence to approach you own projects in a similar manner.) Original Author: 3DTotal.com Ltd | Platform: ZBrush | Format: DOWNLOAD ONLY PDF | Pages: 52
Downloadable Tutorial EBook
Introduction: The original character of the Swordmaster was created by Seong-wha Jeong and we had 3DTotal’s in-house 3d artist Richard Tilbury, re-create the character in 3dsmax as well as create the textures in Photoshop, in our new precise, step-by-step tutorial for highly polished, low polygon game character with detailed texturing for real-time rendering. We have also converted the tutorials into Cinema 4D, Maya, Lightwave and Softimage platforms. Even if you are not a user of one of them, the principles should be easily followed in nearly all other 3D applications. The Swordmaster tutorials is spread over 8 Chapters which outline, in detail, the process for creating the Swordmaster below are the details.
image by Seong-wha Jeong
Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter
1: Modelling the Head 2: Modelling the Torso 3: Modelling the Arms & Legs 4: Modelling the Clothing & Hair 5: Modelling the Armour 6: Mapping & Unwrapping 7: Texturing the Skin & Body 8: Texturing the Armour & Clothing
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The series is split into 6 chapters and will endeavour to give you an insight into how a fully realised 3D scene may be arrived at from beginning to end. The tutorials will attempt to address the key issues and techniques appropriate in achieving this, from concept sketches through to building the 3D scene, mapping and unwrapping, texturing and eventually to lighting and rendering, culminating in a fnal render . The emphasis over the course of the series will be on the texturing and principally the aging and wear of materials. Original Author: 3DTotal.com Ltd | Platform: 3ds max, Cinema 4d, LightWave, Maya and Softimage XSI Format: DOWNLOAD ONLY PDF | Pages: 38+
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Zbrush Character Creation is a comprehensive look at the techniques and tools used to sculpt a variety of physical characteristics specic to several character types. The lessons on offer show how to transform a general base mesh into a denitive character class and explains the tools used to not only create the details and unique facial features, but also how to manipulate the overall proportions and head shapes. There are nine chapters in all, ve of which cover the human condition and four of which cover creatures with human characteristics including zombie, werewolf and Frankenstein’s monster. Original Author: 3DTotal.com Ltd | Platform: ZBrush | Format: DOWNLOAD ONLY PDF | Pages: 091
Introduction: Michel Roger’s famous ‘Joan of Arc’ tutorial re-written for Maya by Taylor Kingston, Cinema 4D by Giuseppe Guglielmucci & Nikki Bartucci, Lightwave by Vojislav Milanovich and Softimage by Luciano Iurino and 3DCreative Magazine.com. If there has been one single tutorial that has educated and inspired more budding 3d artists than anything else, this complete step by step project by Michel’s must be it. The community is in debt to him.
These 120 plus page, Downloadable PDF’s are designed for ease of use to help beginners and intermediate level of artist alike in the creation of a female character. The tutorial takes you through the process of modelling, texturing and mapping to fnally adding bones. Chapter 1: Modeling of the Body - Body Chapter 2: Modeling of the Head - Head, Ear & Assembly Chapter 3: Modeling of the Accessories - The Sword & Armour Legs Chapter 4: Modeling of the Accessories - Armour Bust, Hair & Glove Chapter 5: Modeling of the Accessories - Accessories & UVW Mapping Chapter 6: UVW Mapping - Sword, Clothing, Armour & Body Chapter 7: Texturing & Hair - Eyes, Skin & Hair Chapter 8: Bones & Skinning - Bases, Hierarchy & Skinning
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r e g o R l e h c i M y b e g a m I
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This e-book provides a detailed account of building, texturing and lighting the interior of a Gothic Church based upon a concept painting. The ebook is available in ve different platforms. Chapter two however is dedicated to creating a gargoyle in Zbrush – the focal point in our scene. Here the author will start by creating a rough body form using ZSpheres and move through the numerous sculpting phases and modeling the details for each part of the character, highlighting the various brushes and tools used throughout. Original Author: 3DTotal.com Ltd | Platforms: 3ds max, Cinema 4d, LightWave, Maya and Modo. Format: DOWNLOAD ONLY PDF | Pages: 47+
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The tutorial eBook will begin by creating and applying materials for the various parts of the car, such as glass, chrome and tyres, as well as texturing some simple geometry that will make up a scene. It will then move onto lighting where the focus will be on setting up a lighting rig and the various parameters connected to this. Finally the series will culminate with a section on rendering, where the aim will be to fnish with a polished image. Original Author: 3DTotal.com Ltd | Platform: 3ds max, Cinema 4d, LightWave, Maya and Softimage XSI Format: DOWNLOAD ONLY PDF | Pages: 44+
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This series of ZBrush tutorials orientates around speed and efciency and how to achieve detailed sculpts within a few hours. Each of the ten chapters focuses on a different character topic ranging from mythical creatures such as the Minotaur and Cyclops to Pirates and monsters. With over seven hours of video footage and covering ninety seven pages this e-book provides an insight into the working methods of eleven professional artists. Each individual showcases their particular approach to the subject and treats us to an exhibition of both their artistic and technical skills that form the backbone of their creative process. Original Author: 3DTotal.com Ltd | Platforms: ZBrush | Format: DOWNLOAD ONLY PDF | Pages: 97
