Digital Sculptor
Hello! I have created a new tutorial that I have uploaded to YouTube the shows me creating facial anatomy using a base skull from Freedom of Teach and ZSpheres. I used the Clay Tubes Brush and masks for sculpting.
The movie is sped up and there is no audio at this time. This movie builds on the process that I developed in the Sculpting Facial Anatomy post at Sculpt.Paint.Create and in Scott Spencer’s book ZBrush Character Creation
Recently I had the oppurtunity to tech edit Scott Spencer’s new book, ZBrush: Character Creation. During the process Scott featured two workflows I developed in ZBrush while working as Product Manager for ZBrush 3: Constructive Anatomy and the Rake Brush.
The Rake brush is one of the things I am most proud of contributing to ZBrush 3. It is a fantastic brush for building on the power of the clay brush but it is important to bear in mind that it IS a modification of the Clay brush.
The amazing development team at Pixologic did the artistic community a world of good when they developed Clay brush and many of the custom brushes that ship with ZBrush are simple modification of it. The Rake is only one example.
Having studied traditional sculpting I was always looking for ways to incorporate traditional clay-based workflows into my digital art workflows and once they handed me this beautiful gem of a brush I was able go in, make several modifications and come out with some really cool brushes.
Recently I upped the anty on the Rake brush by increasing its alpha repeat and lowering its Brush Mod slider to give it a sandpaper like behavior. Check out the new Rasp or Sandpaper brush.
For more info on the Constructive Anatomy workflow visit Sculpt.Paint.Create.
Scott Spencer’s Constructive Anatomy (link)
Congrats to Scott and Sybex on the new book!
I have created a tutorial on sculpting a beautiful female head using ZBrush 3.
There are 4 chapters to this tutorial as well as the final ZBrush model.
Chapter One: Blocking in Your Model
Starting with a simple ZSphere base, chapter one focuses on blocking in the main forms of the shoulder, neck and head. Using SubTools, the hair is also added and blocked in. The following tools are demonstrated: Clay Brush, Standard Brush w/ Pinch, Reconstruct Higher SubDiv, EdgeLoop, SubTool, Transpose
Chapter Two: Massing Internal Forms and Sculpting Features
In chapter two, we focus on massing the internal forms, sculpting the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and the basic anatomy of the shoulder girdle. We also spend some time discussing the difficulties of sculpting beautiful women. Then explore one way to help us the softness of the feminine form without losing structure. The following tools are demonstrated: Clay Brush, Masks, Standard Brush w/ Pinch
Chapter Three: Sculpting Flowing Hair
In chapter three, we focus on massing and detailing the hair. We utilize the Move brush to establish the overall shape and then refine that shape by modifing the Slash 2 brush and utilizing the Clay, ClayTubes and SnakeHook brush. We spend time The following tools are demonstrated: Clay Brush, ClayTubes Brush, A Modified Slash 2 Brush, Standard Brush w/ Pinch, SnakeHook
Chapter Four: Details, Details, Details
In chapter four, we finalize the details of our sculpt. We further refine the features and spend some time texturing the hair. In this chapter, we look at how you can use the morph brush to bring back form that you have previously erased. Our goal, at this stage, is to make sure that our sculpt has a combination of hard and soft edges that guide our audiences eyes around the model. The following tools are demonstrated: Clay Brush, ClayTubes Brush, Rake Brush, Slash 2 Brush, Standard Brush w/ Pinch, Morph Brush
Recently while working on the sculpture to the right I ran into the one obstacle that we, in the visual effects and games industries, waste millions and millions of dollars in lost productivity, frayed nerves, sick days, dwindling eye-sight and murdered inspiration: TOPOLOGY.
Those people who have taken a class with me know that I loathe Topology right up there with Peanut Butter. I mean Peanut Butter isn’t butter and its no longer a peanut! How can you trust something so openly dishonest about its true nature?!
Well topology is right up there with it. First, topology is something that has been foisted upon us by the limitations of those who make our computers and the software running on it NOT necessarily the hardware or software itself!
If ZBrush 2, proved anything then it was that the book is not closed on innovation and new ways to think outside of the box and by box, I mean box modeling!!!!
Let’s imagine that we were given this amazing, shiny plastic box by an alien society. In this box, we could paint and sculpt anything we can imagine. In fact, all we had to do was think about it and it would appear on the box.
If we had this kind of power then I ask you, “Would you spend your time thinking about topology?” Would you sit there and visualize arbitrary lines all over the thing you just imagined and try to find ways to connect the dots like some 3rd grade picture book?
I wouldn’t!
Well, ZBrush 2 was from an alien society. Everyone knows that the main visionary behind Pixologic is actually from the future. How do we know? Meats Meier told us, of course, and if you have seen Meat’s work then you know that he alone is able to see the future!
Is Pixologic the only company capable of thinking outside of the box? Well, first, I admit that it is not an easy problem to solve. I have researched the problem myself and poured over many thesis filled with mathematical symbols that looked more like Mayan writing than the math I remember from College!
A quick google search reveals Afra Zomorodian’s Computing and Comprehending Topology: Persistence and Hierarchical Morse Complexes and Robert Glenn Scharein’s Interactive Topological Drawing thesis for a sense of the complexity behind it all.
All of the above said, however, it must have been a touch more difficult to get someone to the moon, no? I know I risk sounding like a naive 3D artist to all the software programmers out there but I have been in the development community. I know it is possible to automate topology. It is simply a matter of will power meeting resources.
To date, resources have not been meeting with will power. So I propose that all 3D artists join me in creating a charter, based on the UN, for all digital artists!
WE DIGITAL ARTISTS HAVE DETERMINED
to save succeeding generations from the scourge of inhumane technology, which many times in our lifetime has brought untold workarounds to artists, and
to reaffirm faith in humane technology, in the dignity and worth of digital art, in the equal rights of all software applications and of artists large and small, and
to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the perspectives and humane workflows of all artists can be maintained, and
to promote humane technological progress and better software standards for the larger artistic freedom,
AND FOR THESE ENDS
to practice tolerance in all forums and live together in peace with all 3D and 2D application as good neighbours, and
to unite our strength to maintain inter-application peace and security, and
to ensure, by the acceptance of univeral hotkeys and the institution of humane technology, that work-arounds and insanely complicated technicalities shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
to employ inter-application machinery for the promotion of the artistic and personal advancement of all digital artists,
HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS.
Till then, I have created another free tutorial on how to adjust the topology from a sculpting perspective. This tutorial shows you how to use ZBrush 3’s topology controls to adjust edge-flow for your model and recapture difficult areas.
Sculpting Topology (link)
The view to the right is from the Vysehrad cemetary where the Czech Republic’s notables are buried and where many fantastic memorials grace the graves of these luminaries.
This sculpture set includes 9 reliefs from Vysehrad and many more from the Charles Bridge and the Prague Castle in the Czech Republic where I spent a week photographing the different public sculptures and memorials.
This is the first set to be released and was done to support the very popular tutorial by Nick Zuccarello on converting a photograph to 3D sculpting in ZBrush.
It was such a beautiful experience to head out early every day to photograph the Charles Bridge and then head out to Vysehrad for the cemetery. The summer light was beautiful and as I started photographing I began to realize the magnitude of Prague’s public sculpture. The quantity and quality of them was simply amazing.
This set represents just the beginning of the over 2,500 images captured in Prague. It consists of over 170 high-quality JPEG images of reliefs and decorative elements from Prague and Copenhagen with the bulk of them coming from Prague. Each image is 3504 x 2336 pixels.
Sculpture Reference Set: Relief and Decorative Sculpture (Link)
Contact Sheets below:
Over 1,500 photographs of over 100 sculptures in Prague from as many viewpoints as possible. Some photographs have been tone mapped to make it easier to see details in shadows against a beautiful blue summer sky.
Stay tuned for more info on a release date.
Its sunny outside. A thin wash of clouds across a light blue sky. A light breeze.
Five story buildings of muted and pale oranges and yellows line the boulevard. They are built with classical lines: tall, thin windows; crisp, defined angles broken up by evenly spaced incised lines; a ledge for accent here, an overhang there.
Lots of bicycles. Nearly every inhabitant of the city glides by me, their blond hair waving in the wind behind them. Women in short khaki pants, jeans or black tights under jean miniskirts. Men in jeans and white t-shirts.
Where do I find coffee & breakfast? I have managed to sleep most of Friday away so today, Saturday, I am hungry.
After some walking I find Cafe Moccador. Being of the visual, artistic type I see the letters “Mocc”, translate that into Morrocco and somehow think that I have found something familiar.
Morrocco in Denmark on a Saturday morning surrounded by Europeans whose skin tone is that of a deep pink lemonade! How I came to this conclusion is beyond me but I go in content with some connection no matter how far flung.
Once inside I find one familiar word, Omelete. Actually, I find 4: sandwich, dessert, omelete, and hamburger but only Omelete is talking to me this morning.
Everyone speaks English here so there is no real difficulty but I have forgotten about the resistance we can feel towards unfamiliar things. I have calcified into my English, my Starbucks, my cafe across the street.
I have forgotten that understanding is not necessarily a natural state, but no matter. After breakfast, I will walk out into a sky lit by the same sun as you, if not now, 9 hours from now, more or less.
Turntable:
Thoughts:
In Blindness, Jose Saramago spends some time exploring what kind of social order would emerge if we were to loose our sight and how we would organize ourselves.
One of the interesting items to me was how the men became emasculated and how the women and one woman, in particular, became the heroes. It is as though Saramago was tying men’s strength and political power to their ability to see.
This could be seen as akin to linking strict rational / logical thought to sight. Women, on the contrary, may not be as tied to sight as men are (broad generalizations here so please be understanding) and their more intuitive and emotional based perspective is what appears to win out in Saramago’s book.
An interesting side note here is that when I did a Buddhist silence and meditation retreat we were asked not to look at anyone in the eyes so that everyone could be comfortable in their own space. Undesired eye contact was an act of assertiveness that could be construed as aggression.
So, as I read the sculpture now, it is neither female or male but is a human that is blind to its humanity and in being blind is more completely human than before.
Sculpted with ZBrush. Photographed in Maya.
