Winter Break +

3D Model Project

Starting this off with the realisation that I miscounted how many weeks long this project was at the start of this; I had planned on having an extra two weeks somewhere along the way. This contributed to the decision to change the outcome of my project and I decided not to retopologise the rest of the model to save on time.

I opted to use polypaint to texture the model as it meant I didn't have to UV unwrap it, and from what I researched of the process it seemed to be a quick and easy way of applying colour to the sculpt. I had wanted to use some PBR materials on the model but this was again something sacrificed for time.

I initially painted a version using the sections I had retopologised and projected my high-poly detail onto, the result of which can be seen below. I kept as many sections as I could separated to make the painting process easier, but a lot of this model was already merged for retopology so much of the time I just had to be careful. This was something I took note of and I kept all my elements separate during the second version I made later.

The model mostly uses Zbrush's basic material, but in some sections I used a flat colour to approximate a glow effect, given that I couldn't apply an emissive. The difference between material painting and RGB painting was something I found very useful once I understood it, although the material painting did leave some jagged edges that weren't incredibly pleasing to look at.

For posing, I tried to rig according to a tutorial, using the T-pose function in the Transpose Master plugin but even though I completed the rig, I couldn't move it to pose the model, probably because it was too high-resolution in places. Instead, I approximated the process using masking and the transform tools to pose the model.

At this point, I had a posed and textured character to use for my final outcome, however I was unhappy with some of the imperfections that I noticed had come about as a result of the projection process and some mistakes when posing, and so decided to repeat the process with the knowledge I had gained from my first attempt with a higher-resolution model, to give the best result possible as a 2D export and turntable. I wanted the final product to be as polished as possible even if it can't be used in a game engine.

My second attempt went much more smoothly and took much less time than the first, I even figured out how to apply a proper glow material and change its colour to give the effect I had wanted for the model initially, though it took some digging to find information on the process and once again some trial and error to get it to work as intended. The edges of the material blend are still a little ragged, but with the higher resolution and the glow effect in addition it's not particularly noticeable.

At the end of this process, I came out with a model that I was much happier with in all aspects, from the paint to the model quality and the pose, although I couldn't quite get the lighting for the final render to feature as hard a shadow quality as I had wanted. I'm very proud of the final result, even if it wasn't what I initially intended; I feel I've learned a huge amount from this project and I look forward to applying the skills I've gained in the future, having learned from my mistakes here and being much faster in my process.

Wax model

Further progress on the wax model, I'm now almost entirely caught up and am only missing some surface-level muscles on the hips and thighs.

The model is really starting to take shape at this point, and I look forward to having it completed as a useful reference. My knowledge of anatomy has definitely improved immensely through this process, and it has indeed helped me throughout my Zbrush work as I had hoped.