Oliver Thornton

Congratulations Andrew! Best wishes to you and your family!

Hi all, Sorry for falling off the map for a bit, been a heck of a month. This project has been sidelined, but I will update soon. @YearoftheOx - Yes, the projection captured all of the detail in the mesh, including the shaders and an occlussion pass. The only problems I encountered were the result of the pose I created and can be easily avoided with a bit more fore-thought in design. @Geejay - The sculpt was created as separate layers and then blended using detail layers which were merged into the larger layers when I finished. There is a response to your PM on this subject with more details, but that is the basic technique used. Happy Holidays to all! -Oliver

Turns out Andrew was unable to view the last 360 due to codec issues. In case anyone else had similar issues I am reposting it as a wmv. http://www.OT3D.com/cyborg_paintedturn01.wmv @Taros - Thanks Taros. I will post it there when it is finished, it is still a little too uniform in detail for my tastes. Cheers, -Oliver

I was just thinking about how useful this would be just the other day. A brush that lays down an adjustable spline in a stroke would be very handy. The current curves are nice, as is the snake tool, but between the two there does seem to be room for a third tool that creates a stroke along which the curve is generated. The snake tool could also benefit from the 'float' option.

Thanks very much geo. Here's an updated image and a link to a new 360. This is a first pass of painting, usually something I do to rough out concepts to use in the final pass. Most of the detail in this particular pass comes from cavity tests and a few simple textures. This was done in mv paint mode, I think I'm going to use dp for the actual final color and spec layers. http://www.OT3D.com/cyborg_1stpaintedrender.mp4

Hi Andy, Once an object is converted to vox, it becomes particle (voxel) data. The conversion may be necessary for the dynamics in 3DC to work (not sure really, haven't used cloth much). Two ways to get the polys you need out of the voxels are to use the quadrangulate command (RMB in vox tree) or the tools in the retopo room. In retopo you can create a new mesh to project the details to, or even import the original mesh and snap it to the new shape. Both quadrangulate and retopo work well, but if you plan to animate you probably want to go with retopo; the quadrangulated meshes do not always have good poly flow. No idea about the reset button, sounds like it might be a bug.

+1

Great video! With a normal speed voice-over (talking about freedom, creativity, etc) it would be like a ZB video. What did you use for your capture?

No, you're right I am totally confused. It's chris_solo that's doing the Slayer. Serves me right for having multiple forum tabs open while i'm responding and posting right after my first coffee.

Thanks guys! @James Thornton: So funny, my brother's name is James as well. Looking forward to seeing more of your Slayer sculpt, great concept sketch. Rolled out of bed this morning and after a cup of coffee and some Cocoa Pebbles threw some UVs onto the model. Literally took about 5 minutes from boot-up to full UV mapping. Had to grab a screenie to show: Only problem seems to be that UVs get destroyed with subdivision. Dropping a note for a feature request to fix that in a sec. Off to run some baking tests now to see how much of the voxel details I can project.

Very cool, reminds me of some of the creatures they had on the MiB cartoon a few years back.

Hi folks, I decided to give this guy his own thread here in the WIP forum. You may recognize him from my Doodle thread. I actually managed to create a retopo mesh for him despite his chunky thighs, so I thought I would post the results. Seems there may even be a chance to animate him now that the poly flow is all looped out. I'm also attaching a link for a 360 turn rendered in 3DC. http://www.OT3D.com/cyborg_full2retopo.swf <=animated swf of full voxel and retopo mesh (basically the 3 images posted here with transitions). http://www.OT3D.com/cyborg_turn.mp4 <=voxel 360 turn Painting up next I think. Final renders will be posted in the Finished Works forum. I already have some ideas for my next model, definitely in a more rigging-friendly pose, perhaps something more monstrous.

Great idea. +1

The zombie looks great. Thanks for sharing your in-progress shots, very useful.

Latest updates have been great, thanks Andrew.

Thanks very much 3d_sculptress! It's really more fun than an artist should be allowed to use these tools. Most of the form is based on real muscle flow, the rest comes from 3DC's voxel tools. Originally I was not planning on using much retopo, but now I think I might. If I can get around the poor original planning of the leg pose, I may just be able to work something out.

Hi Mike, great to see you over here on the 3DC forums! Yes you should be able to do what you are asking. The solution though is to export your layers as image files and re-import them when you have the new model loaded. Color can be exported as a layered PSD, but spec, depth and normals must be handled individually. I asked Andrew about adding a 'replace base mesh' feature a while ago, to make it easier to sculpt layers that are morph or pose specific, so it should be on his ever-expanding to-do list. Using Per Pixel and the same import settings you used on the original model should give you a good result when you import your layers onto the 2nd model. You may run into some problems with the 'new' additions to the mesh, but the original mapped pieces should be ok. Hope this helps. Fantastic model, is it for a game? -Oliver

update, hand base constructed.

Very impressive, great work!

Awesome! Great expression captured in your sculpt!

Fantastic sculpt, great detail!

Finally an update. Hands and feet to go, then some basic shading for final renders. Cyborg concept, 3DC voxels at play. I'll replace the place-holder eyes in the final for something red and glowy.

Looks great Phil!

Thanks for documenting this Taros, it has been annoying me for a long time. In Maya the transform gizmo stays oriented regardless of camera angle, but it has an additional master circle that lets you spin an object using the view-axis. Perhaps something similar could be added to the pose gizmo so both methods could be supported without having to add a toggle of some sort (which might be a pain to keep flipping on/off if you want to use both rotation methods) or having the gizmo's axis spin uncontrollably.

The grain of the strokes all run the same direction, much like wood. It might help you if you sit down and sketch out the bear on paper, making notes of what color/material you want him to be made out of. This will give you a good idea of where you want to start in terms of raw materials for your textures. If you're going for a fuzzy or furry look you might want to look into a good texture to use as a material. There are also some brushes in the default set that simulate hairiness, which can look pretty good if you turn on FG/BG color jittering. It really depends on what kind of bear you're going for, from the title I assumed it was some kind of living stuffed animal. Try a workflow like this perhaps, building up your layers: Base Color Layer - this is just a catch-all color layer that you can make with the fill tool and basic colors or procedurals. Texture/Depth Layer - fur, etc. If you're in a rush you can fill this with a material, but generally you want the fur to follow the direction of limbs, gravity, etc, so you'll get better results painting it on with a material by hand. Detail Layer (stiching, scars, etc) On top of all of these you can add a GI pass, cavity details, etc. Taros' tip on the stitching is right on the money too. When you're painting depth and texture all together small fine details can get lost easily. If you want a detail to really stand out, make it larger than you would in real life. Pump up those stitches! (nice model Taros!)