Post by Anthony on May 3, 2015 11:37:20 GMT
Create a harrowing image of a werewolf that has leapt straight out of a horror film in ZBrush, 3ds Max and Mudbox
In this tutorial I will describe my workflow and techniques for creating high-poly cinematic characters. We’ll also take a look at how to sketch and use ZRemesher to speed up your retopology work.
Step 01 – Search for references
Before starting you character, grab a load of references that will assist you all the way through the process and put them in a single PSD file, as it’s easier to have them all together. Grab references, such as body types, similar 3D works that already exist, related sculptures, pictures of people and nature. You can also look for body features, such as veins and wrinkles. It’s worth finding images of objects for shading references, particularly for metals, leathers and wood. For example, in this project I grabbed pictures of furless dogs, skulls, axes and yellow leathers. You can grab these as you carry on along each step. From start to finish of a project, I’m constantly searching for pictures to help me.
Step 02 – Block and sculpt the body
When a character is human or a human-like creature, I like to start from a base mesh that comes with ZBrush: Nickz_humanMale.ZTL, which you can find on the Lightbox. However, for more complex structures, such as the werewolf’s body, start from ZSpheres. At this stage we can sculpt everything that matters for a nice retopology, including the anatomy, muscle definition, hands, face, eyelids, nose and ears.
Step 03 – Use ZRemesher for retopology
Now that every feature on the body is sculpted, use ZRemesher to create the main base mesh. First, duplicate the body to keep the original safe. On the copy, decimate it to reduce the polycount so that ZRemesher can calculate it faster. Also, make use of the ZRemesher Guides brush to create more precise edge loops on the face. I often use the Use Polypaint function in ZRemesher to increase the amount of polys for the face and sometimes for hands and feet. Generally I add three-times more polys for the head.
Step 04 – Fix issues manually
Once you are happy with ZRemesher’s result, you can export it to your favourite 3D software to fix some of the minor issues that may have occurred, such as undesired loops or weird topology on specific areas. I use 3ds Max’s Graphite Modeling tools for retopology and I usually find that I have to fix areas like under the nose, or define more edge loops on the eyelids or lips.
Step 05 – Props modelling – hard surfaces
Start modelling props in 3ds Max, including the bases for clothes, leather props, leather belts or other relatively simple props that can be easily created from Primitives. Now, there are both simple and complex hard-surface props. For the simple ones, start from scratch in 3ds Max using old-school box modelling. For the more complex hard-surface props, such as fancy breastplates, metal masks or shoulder pads, make a sketch in ZBrush using DynaMesh and then when it’s done, export it into 3ds Max so that you can retopologise it using the Graphite Modeling tools. The example shown in the screenshot is a breastplate for another personal work.
Step 06 – Props modelling – organic props
Organic props are all those that you can model entirely inside ZBrush, meaning you can sketch and use ZRemesher to create their base meshes. These include animal skulls, horns, teeth, tongues, nails, or the rustic leather trousers that our werewolf is wearing. All you have to do is to create the shapes using DynaMesh and then set up ZRemesher to create its base mesh with your desired amount of polys.
Step 07 – UVs
After modelling everything, it’s UV time. Before making UVs, ensure you delete the hidden parts of props, such as under belts, inside clothes and so on. This way making UVs will be much easier and you won’t waste UV space. For simple props, export them to ZBrush and use UV Master (Zplugin>UV Master) to make its UVs. For more complex ones that you need to precisely cut the UV seams, cut them in 3ds Max, export to ZBrush and in UV Master setup, make sure to activate Use Existing UV Seams. ZBrush will respect your custom seams. Once you have all props with UVs, attach them into eight to ten UV spaces and separate them by materials. Depending on the character, it may have too many metal or leather parts, so you will need to create two or three UV spaces just for these parts, such as upper metals, middle metals and so on. For this werewolf you can separate them by asset, but I recommend that you separate by material, as it makes things easier at the texturing stage
Step 08 – High-poly details
Now it’s time to export everything to ZBrush. Before that, detach the props and split them into sections that will become SubTools, making sure you don’t have too many objects in the same SubTool. This means that you won’t have to subdivide too much in ZBrush. Select everything and export them as OBJs and import them into ZBrush. They will appear as one single object, but with all PolyGroups separated as you detach them in Max. You just need to hit Groups Split (SubTool>Split>Groups Split). Start detailing one by one, subdividing it enough to get your desired detail. Feel free to use plenty of reference images to inspire you. Before you start detailing, hit Morph Target>StoreMT to keep the original shape safe and to create the details in layers.
Step 09 – Pose with Transpose Master
Once we’ve finished all the detailing work, it’s time to pose the werewolf using Transpose Master. Hit Transpose Master>TPoseMesh to enter the Posing mode. If your character has a lot of armour, you will have to hide pieces that you don’t want to deform before you start posing. One very important thing is to save your posing progress. You can do this by holding Opt/Alt+TPoseMesh in order to save a GOT. In case of any crash problems you may have, you can easily open your original file (without pose) and load it using Opt/Alt+TPose>SubT and select your previously saved GOT.
Step 10 – Export to 3ds Max
When you’re done with the pose, hit TPose>SubT to bring back your SubTools. Now you can export your character back to 3ds Max. However, right now your SubTools will be all separated. I like to export them back as the UV groups that I made. For example, I merge all SubTools that share the same metals UV. To do this, simply hide everything but the metals and hit Merge>Merge Visible. Don’t forget to activate the UV option so you don’t lose your UVs. ZBrush will create a clone of all the metals together on the Tools palette. Now you can export it as an OBJ file.
Step 11 – Export to Mudbox
If needed, we can export some of the props to Mudbox. Export them as decimated models so you keep the detailing work intact. For example, suppose you want to texture your character’s metals in Mudbox. First, decimate all of the metal SubTools (usually I decimate up to three to five per cent of the polygon count) and when you decimate them all, merge them using the same technique above (Merge>Merge Visible) with your UV option activated. Be careful to never merge SubTools with different UVs.
Step 12 – Set up lighting and materials
The next step is to set up your scene, to set up Gamma 2.2 and to create your lights. I’ve been using VRayLights for this. I recommend that you check out pictures of iconic statues in galleries and museums, as you’ll find that these are lit so beautifully, making them ideal to use as references. Basically your character must look good with a basic grey material on your lighting setup. Once your lights are working, you’ll need to set up your shaders and make them work for your lights. Use VRayMtl for them and adjust your metals, leathers, clothes and so on, always checking your reference images to match their colour, reflections
and glossiness.
Step 13 – Texture your character
When it comes to texturing, this is one of the most important steps, so it’s vital that the textures work on the render. You can add dirt details and a more worn look, but ensure that you pay attention to the references you collected, as they show everything you need to make a plausible texture. In Mudbox, import your decimated OBJ, create a new paint layer and start painting specific texturing details, such as worn edges for leathers, gloss variations for metals or scratches. Mudbox is really intuitive and its painting layers work just like Photoshop. You can export these painting layers as a PNG file and compose them in your PSD file of your textures. Also, don’t forget to export your Normal and Displacement maps from ZBrush.
Step 14 – Hair with Ornatrix
There are three techniques that I like to use for hair: ZBrush FiberMesh, hair planes or Ornatrix. For this werewolf I used Ornatrix, as it’s an easy and stable tool. Just like 3ds Max, it’s based on modifiers, meaning you can basically control anything. For the werewolf, create four parts in Ornatrix: the head, back, arms and legs. Each one needs its own independent setup, but all should share the same VrayHair material.
Step 15 – Render
For me, shading, texturing, lighting and rendering all go together, and at this final stage, everything must be working perfectly. Let’s create two renders for it: a complete night scene and a simple 360-degree presentation scene. These can be inspired by references. For the night scene, create tree trunks, a ground with leaves and grass, then add one VRayLight to light it as if it’s a camera flash. For the 360-degree scene, it’s the traditional three-point lighting setup, and for the Fill light, add a VRayHDRI at
GI Environment.
Step 16 – Final compositing
Don’t bother rendering any separate passes, such as Specular or Rim lights. Try to render it all together so that the compositing stage is just for levels or colour adjustments and to fix minor issues. If your character demands some effects, I recommend doing them at this stage. These include fire, sparks, power energy, fog, camera dirt, a vignette and so on. For this werewolf, I simply added some fog and camera dirt in Photoshop
In this tutorial I will describe my workflow and techniques for creating high-poly cinematic characters. We’ll also take a look at how to sketch and use ZRemesher to speed up your retopology work.
Step 01 – Search for references
Before starting you character, grab a load of references that will assist you all the way through the process and put them in a single PSD file, as it’s easier to have them all together. Grab references, such as body types, similar 3D works that already exist, related sculptures, pictures of people and nature. You can also look for body features, such as veins and wrinkles. It’s worth finding images of objects for shading references, particularly for metals, leathers and wood. For example, in this project I grabbed pictures of furless dogs, skulls, axes and yellow leathers. You can grab these as you carry on along each step. From start to finish of a project, I’m constantly searching for pictures to help me.
Step 02 – Block and sculpt the body
When a character is human or a human-like creature, I like to start from a base mesh that comes with ZBrush: Nickz_humanMale.ZTL, which you can find on the Lightbox. However, for more complex structures, such as the werewolf’s body, start from ZSpheres. At this stage we can sculpt everything that matters for a nice retopology, including the anatomy, muscle definition, hands, face, eyelids, nose and ears.
Step 03 – Use ZRemesher for retopology
Now that every feature on the body is sculpted, use ZRemesher to create the main base mesh. First, duplicate the body to keep the original safe. On the copy, decimate it to reduce the polycount so that ZRemesher can calculate it faster. Also, make use of the ZRemesher Guides brush to create more precise edge loops on the face. I often use the Use Polypaint function in ZRemesher to increase the amount of polys for the face and sometimes for hands and feet. Generally I add three-times more polys for the head.
Step 04 – Fix issues manually
Once you are happy with ZRemesher’s result, you can export it to your favourite 3D software to fix some of the minor issues that may have occurred, such as undesired loops or weird topology on specific areas. I use 3ds Max’s Graphite Modeling tools for retopology and I usually find that I have to fix areas like under the nose, or define more edge loops on the eyelids or lips.
Step 05 – Props modelling – hard surfaces
Start modelling props in 3ds Max, including the bases for clothes, leather props, leather belts or other relatively simple props that can be easily created from Primitives. Now, there are both simple and complex hard-surface props. For the simple ones, start from scratch in 3ds Max using old-school box modelling. For the more complex hard-surface props, such as fancy breastplates, metal masks or shoulder pads, make a sketch in ZBrush using DynaMesh and then when it’s done, export it into 3ds Max so that you can retopologise it using the Graphite Modeling tools. The example shown in the screenshot is a breastplate for another personal work.
Step 06 – Props modelling – organic props
Organic props are all those that you can model entirely inside ZBrush, meaning you can sketch and use ZRemesher to create their base meshes. These include animal skulls, horns, teeth, tongues, nails, or the rustic leather trousers that our werewolf is wearing. All you have to do is to create the shapes using DynaMesh and then set up ZRemesher to create its base mesh with your desired amount of polys.
Step 07 – UVs
After modelling everything, it’s UV time. Before making UVs, ensure you delete the hidden parts of props, such as under belts, inside clothes and so on. This way making UVs will be much easier and you won’t waste UV space. For simple props, export them to ZBrush and use UV Master (Zplugin>UV Master) to make its UVs. For more complex ones that you need to precisely cut the UV seams, cut them in 3ds Max, export to ZBrush and in UV Master setup, make sure to activate Use Existing UV Seams. ZBrush will respect your custom seams. Once you have all props with UVs, attach them into eight to ten UV spaces and separate them by materials. Depending on the character, it may have too many metal or leather parts, so you will need to create two or three UV spaces just for these parts, such as upper metals, middle metals and so on. For this werewolf you can separate them by asset, but I recommend that you separate by material, as it makes things easier at the texturing stage
Step 08 – High-poly details
Now it’s time to export everything to ZBrush. Before that, detach the props and split them into sections that will become SubTools, making sure you don’t have too many objects in the same SubTool. This means that you won’t have to subdivide too much in ZBrush. Select everything and export them as OBJs and import them into ZBrush. They will appear as one single object, but with all PolyGroups separated as you detach them in Max. You just need to hit Groups Split (SubTool>Split>Groups Split). Start detailing one by one, subdividing it enough to get your desired detail. Feel free to use plenty of reference images to inspire you. Before you start detailing, hit Morph Target>StoreMT to keep the original shape safe and to create the details in layers.
Step 09 – Pose with Transpose Master
Once we’ve finished all the detailing work, it’s time to pose the werewolf using Transpose Master. Hit Transpose Master>TPoseMesh to enter the Posing mode. If your character has a lot of armour, you will have to hide pieces that you don’t want to deform before you start posing. One very important thing is to save your posing progress. You can do this by holding Opt/Alt+TPoseMesh in order to save a GOT. In case of any crash problems you may have, you can easily open your original file (without pose) and load it using Opt/Alt+TPose>SubT and select your previously saved GOT.
Step 10 – Export to 3ds Max
When you’re done with the pose, hit TPose>SubT to bring back your SubTools. Now you can export your character back to 3ds Max. However, right now your SubTools will be all separated. I like to export them back as the UV groups that I made. For example, I merge all SubTools that share the same metals UV. To do this, simply hide everything but the metals and hit Merge>Merge Visible. Don’t forget to activate the UV option so you don’t lose your UVs. ZBrush will create a clone of all the metals together on the Tools palette. Now you can export it as an OBJ file.
Step 11 – Export to Mudbox
If needed, we can export some of the props to Mudbox. Export them as decimated models so you keep the detailing work intact. For example, suppose you want to texture your character’s metals in Mudbox. First, decimate all of the metal SubTools (usually I decimate up to three to five per cent of the polygon count) and when you decimate them all, merge them using the same technique above (Merge>Merge Visible) with your UV option activated. Be careful to never merge SubTools with different UVs.
Step 12 – Set up lighting and materials
The next step is to set up your scene, to set up Gamma 2.2 and to create your lights. I’ve been using VRayLights for this. I recommend that you check out pictures of iconic statues in galleries and museums, as you’ll find that these are lit so beautifully, making them ideal to use as references. Basically your character must look good with a basic grey material on your lighting setup. Once your lights are working, you’ll need to set up your shaders and make them work for your lights. Use VRayMtl for them and adjust your metals, leathers, clothes and so on, always checking your reference images to match their colour, reflections
and glossiness.
Step 13 – Texture your character
When it comes to texturing, this is one of the most important steps, so it’s vital that the textures work on the render. You can add dirt details and a more worn look, but ensure that you pay attention to the references you collected, as they show everything you need to make a plausible texture. In Mudbox, import your decimated OBJ, create a new paint layer and start painting specific texturing details, such as worn edges for leathers, gloss variations for metals or scratches. Mudbox is really intuitive and its painting layers work just like Photoshop. You can export these painting layers as a PNG file and compose them in your PSD file of your textures. Also, don’t forget to export your Normal and Displacement maps from ZBrush.
Step 14 – Hair with Ornatrix
There are three techniques that I like to use for hair: ZBrush FiberMesh, hair planes or Ornatrix. For this werewolf I used Ornatrix, as it’s an easy and stable tool. Just like 3ds Max, it’s based on modifiers, meaning you can basically control anything. For the werewolf, create four parts in Ornatrix: the head, back, arms and legs. Each one needs its own independent setup, but all should share the same VrayHair material.
Step 15 – Render
For me, shading, texturing, lighting and rendering all go together, and at this final stage, everything must be working perfectly. Let’s create two renders for it: a complete night scene and a simple 360-degree presentation scene. These can be inspired by references. For the night scene, create tree trunks, a ground with leaves and grass, then add one VRayLight to light it as if it’s a camera flash. For the 360-degree scene, it’s the traditional three-point lighting setup, and for the Fill light, add a VRayHDRI at
GI Environment.
Step 16 – Final compositing
Don’t bother rendering any separate passes, such as Specular or Rim lights. Try to render it all together so that the compositing stage is just for levels or colour adjustments and to fix minor issues. If your character demands some effects, I recommend doing them at this stage. These include fire, sparks, power energy, fog, camera dirt, a vignette and so on. For this werewolf, I simply added some fog and camera dirt in Photoshop