Week summary - BA3a Week 5

3D Model Project

I spent the first part of this week finishing the low-poly base, making some refinements to it. I had some issues with the hands and figuring out how to use dynamesh properly, things like not realising I had to delete lower subdivisions before dynameshing.

To make the figure a little more true to the design, I figured out how to put reference images into zbrush. I now have a mid-poly base to work on, and I refined the hands and face a little more.

Here I added the trousers and gloves, planning to make the hood, cape and coat/skirt sections separate models. The hair may be separate or may be included on the base model, depending on what I think will work best.

I'm a little behind schedule but am getting faster and allowed buffer weeks for this reason. I would have liked to continue working on the model outside of university hours but my home version of Zbrush won't open newer files. 

I'm reasonably happy with the model so far, I've scaled back some of the more outlandish parts of the anatomy to make it a little more realistic - in particular I think the back and shoulders have turned out very well so far, so it's a shame they'll be covered by the cape. I've been having trouble with the circular section on the abdomen and some other areas, however. It definitely needs more polish across much of the model, which I'll start on next week.

Wax Model

This week we were working on building the pelvis and femurs of the model. I found the pelvis a difficult shape to get my head around, but the below diagram was very helpful in helping me figure it out. 

Below is the model with the base shape.

And then with the sections filled in and rounded off.

Looking at it now some sections of the model are a little wonky, and I think could do with some tweaking, which I'll look at next week.

Tasks

This week's task was to paint a material cube made of slate. 

My initial blockout was very dark, and a tutor advised me that changing the light source might make the piece more effective, so I used some masked level adjustments to change the light source before continuing on the painting.

I used almost exclusively the basic hard round brush with transfer toggled on and off as I needed it, and a basic airbrush. I think it might be as a result of this that the piece is maybe a little stylised and blocky even though I was aiming for realism; it could probably do with some more texture and the surface around the striations is maybe a little too solid, needing more grain to it. I also had some trouble at the beginning with it looking like wood rather than stone, which I'm not sure I entirely moved past. I think this is mainly a texture issue, and something I need to work on in the future.