Fish Preview

Heey =)  Well here is a preview of the fish.. atm I'm not really happy with it, I don't know why.. I hate that feeling when you can't figure out what's wrong, don't you?  So if you have any ideas I'd be interested to hear.. =)

Here's some steps of how I painted the diffuse map, the fins are phototextured and the body is hand painted.

(ctrl + click to view)

Nights =)

UDK Crypt! =)

Heeeey! =) Jus a quick update =) Done my dissertation, took me three weeks to write one paragraph, and then one late nighter to write the whole thing, including rewriting that one paragraph =) Unlol =)

Okay, decided not to do the fantasy room now.. Yip, did alot of concept work for it, but kinda lost motivation for it, so after a few hours of scribbling around in my sketchy, this is UDK Crypt! =)

It's going to be waaaaaaaaaay more fun and I feel more passionate about doing some temple ruins sculpting using Zbrush and projection master. Found this reaaally inspiring Pixologic interview of Epic Games artists on how they used Zbrush. Enjoy =) Will show my full process on this soon. =) Here's jus some development stuff atm, basically going to concept as I go on this, which is my preferred style anyway. =)

So excited about this! =) Listening to a load of Neverwinter Nights music too, gets me in the mood =) Used Mp3ToBmu to rip it from the NWN2 music folder =) NWN is so awesome =) Tomorrow I'm going to work on the sculpting and texturing and keep you guys updated on how things go =) It's off to the races! =) Cheers and see you soon! =)

Final Major Project - Low Poly & Texturing

Hey Guys =)

Sorry it's been SOOOO long since my last update =( Had a few teething issues with the pig sculpt. Spent a lot of time trying to get it right, the low poly had to artriculate properly for animation, and I had HUGE problems with texture seams, which I ended up painting them out on the Normal map and hiding them with fur, lull =) I don't think this was a particularly good sculpt but showing process if interested..

(Ctrl + click to view)

Wasn't looking forward to making the low poly, but I recently found 3D-Coat which saved my ass =) It has a feature called Auto-retopology! =) Spent a weekend figuring out how to draw autopology which was definitely worth it imho. =) 3DCoat creates nice smooth topology that follows your high poly. You basically import your decimated high poly mesh from Zbrush, and draw on your desired edge flow, and 3DCoat makes a nice low poly model for you. =)

 (Ctrl + click to view)

My workflow for this project was -
o Blockout the basic shape in 3DS Max (See here for detail on the Zbrush sculpt)
o Sculpt high poly in Zbrush
o Decimate high poly
o Auto-retopo decimated high poly in 3DCoat (low poly)
o Import low poly into 3DS Max
o Render to texture high poly onto low poly in 3DS Max (Normal Map)

From there I create lighting and do diffuse texturing in 3DS Max and Photoshop =)

Here's a quick overview of the proj... =)

High Poly sculpt in Zbrush, fun part =)

Decimate the High Poly using Decimation Master in Zbrush

(used to make the Low Poly mesh)

Auto-retopo in 3DCoat =)

(makes the Low Poly mesh)

Unwrapping the Low Poly in 3DS Max

(ready for texturing, and rendering on the High Poly Normal map)

Render to Texture the High Poly onto the Low Poly model

(creates a Normal Map)

Normal Map projects the High Poly onto the Low Poly model

This is ready for Diffuse (colour) texturing now. As you can see there are artifacts (bits that didn't bake properly from the high poly). In this case I painted them out of the Normal map with Photoshop. I had to bake this map many times before getting it right, so don't worry if yours doesn't turn out perfect the first time. Patience and making sure you have a good low poly mesh that fits the high poly well. =)

Okay at this point, before I begin texturing, I like to setup a good lighting for my scene. I want a nice even light to fall across the model, so lights were placed all around the model. I try to alternate the colours of the lights and not make them too bright either. Cameras are also placed into the scene so I can have specific views. A stage is made and I place in a nice fading neutral background image to start off the texturing.

I basically texture by overlaying the Normal map onto the Diffuse map (exported from the Unwrap). I'll then paint colours and Multiply phototextures (CG Textures) in Photoshop onto the Diffuse map. The separate elements - eyes, tusks, and the tail, were textured in the same way. Fur was then added with the Hair and Fur modifier, placed onto the low poly mesh. I then selected the polys to grow hair out of and then shaped it with the hair brush tools all in the modifier. One little bug I came across was that I had to set the Hair Rendering Method to "Geometry" mode before it would render properly. =)

I'm including this to show that you really have to push through some stages, even if they look like utter crap and you're really frustrated =( This was particularly true when making the low poly, fixing the UV unwrap seams, texturing which sometimes doesn't work out, and the fur not rendering properly or looking nice. Don't be afraid to jus redo stuff over again. Hope this helps =)

So now I'm going to move onto the next project which is a UDK enviro! =) Gonna be fun! =) See you Guys! =)

Final Major Project - Pig

Heey guys & girlz =) Sorry I haven't been showing much artyness recently, been working on 3d atm. =) Here's the 'wild boar' creature for Jeremy's project. =) There may be afew more changes, hopefully that's it =) Process included as well =) Will show more process on making the low poly from the high poly as well as the diffuse texturing soon =) Must say that I reallllly enjoyed making this, learnt LOTS, as I'm not very good at 3d =)

- High poly =)

Ctrl + click to view

- Low poly =)

Ctrl + click to view

- Process.. =)

Ctrl + click to view

Byeee! =)

Rachel - Aerofoil

Rachel - Torso Armour

Hey Guys and Girlz =)

Ookey, so it's start of holidays, got a tonne of work to do on Major Project, so I guess I can't afford to be lazy this Easter. Mmm.. in other news, I'm contemplating bunny life drawing, cuz we have to hand in our portfolios early next month. Have a guud-1 =)

Rachel - Leg Armour

Rachel High Poly Detail2

Hey Guys and Girlz =)

Okay, spent another day on this.. mmm.. not really much to say, just adding detail using the Inset poly tool, adding harder (or firmer) edges with more loops where necessary (Amidoingitright?!), and using Turbosmooth modifier, hope this high poly detail comes out nicely in a normal map, otherwise... lulll... =)  Gonna Zbrush some high poly shapes and textures onto this next.. Have fun guys =)

Rachel High Poly Detail1

Hey Guys and Girlz =)

Made a start on Rachel's high poly detail.. Here's just some detail on her leg armour, her boots and belt... =) Hope you like =)

Major Project - Rachel Wip2

Progress on Rachel.. roughing out her wings, tidying up geo on the figure, working on the hair texturing (atm I'm not really happy with annything).. Not going the way I want atm..

Major Project - Rachel Wip1

Abomination - Rig (final)

Rogue - Final Pose

Rogue - Salon Job.. =)

Rogue - 'Final' Textured

Rogue - Face Painting

Starting to paint Rogue's face with a mixture of Megan Fox photos (ahah hot!) and painting.. =)

Rogue - Gimbal Lock

Here's an example of gimbal lock, I think.. don't really see myself as a techy guy, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I played around with this while rigging my character.. =) Have fun! =)

Rogue - UV Unwrap and Zbrush Normal Mapping

Hey guys.. =) Unwrapped this baby.. took most of the day.. really surprised at that.. thought it would only be a few hours.. oh well.. live and learn.. =)  Also messed around in Zbrush to create a normal map.. Have fun! =)