High poly character update 01

It's about time I started some serious sculpting. I'm no stranger to digi sculpts thanks to Mudbox,  but I have never considered doing any serious sculpting with it since it's a poly subdivision sculpting program. The more I subdivide to get more details, the more chance the program could slow down or even crash due to the massive number of polygons it creates.

With 3DC and ZB I can freely(to some degree) subdivide or resample the models without having to worry with crashes and long loading times. Having used 3DC before(mainly for UV unwrapping), It was obviously going to be my first choice. Moving around its viewport is no different to other 3D programs I've used, and most of the controls are easily accessed, allowing for a fast workflow. For example, adjusting brush properties like size and strength is done just by holding ctrl+right click and dragging the mouse horizontally(resize) and vertically(strength). Things couldn't get simpler than that.

Everything was going well sculpting in 3DC, until I learned that it doesn't have a mask painting tool. I've been scratching my head over this feature in 3DC called vox layer, and why the developers didn't implement it to create masks. Vox layer is basically a new mesh that is extracted from an underlying mesh that was painted with "freeze".

ah.

To simplify what I'm trying to say, why can't the "freeze" painting method be used for masking too....

Like they do in ZB. You can paint masks in ZB and the masks can also be used for extractions. That feature alone is enough reason for me to give ZB a try, despite its fucked up interface - someting I'd rather not talk about.

Year One Character redesign

   Redoing the design of my character from last year, this time going someting that requires extensive use of a sculpting program(3DC or ZB). I did my best to avoid incorporating the human muscle structure on this design otherwise I'll might end up with something that resembles the Crysis Nanosuit or the Ninja from MGS.

Back in the Red

Mudbox screenshot

 Missed out on the Comiket 83 fanzine and somehow it feels pointless to resume work on RedEye. But I'm trying to look ahead in the future. I may end up using him for a project later on after having learned so much in 3D animation this year. Summer vacation is near so I'm planning to start storyboarding and work on a couple of new ACs once I'm done with RedEye.

  Right now it's all about retexturing.  I'm not going to repeat what I did last time when I tried to fit all of the object's UVs in a single 4K map. This time I'm using 2K maps but with fewer objects sharing it. Textures turn out cleaner and less blurred/ pixlellated when redered up close. The head itself has a 2K map of its own.

Postcards from Hell

Before:

After:

    It's mission accomplished for my animation project, at the cost of my fanzine artworks not meeting the deadline. Nothing special with the animation tbh, it's simply a 5-10 second in-game cutscene for the game students. There's really not enough in terms of the animation and I wish I could have done more if I had the time. I'm just glad that it's over.

Things are looking bleak

I only have a mere ten days to produce 2 artworks for the fanzine and to complete my group's final animation project for this year. It's unfortunate that I wasn't able to start early on the artworks because of the animation, and the fact that I have decided to re-unwrap and re-texture redeye has taken most of my free time. RedEye's existing textures have very low-res textures that's why they have to be redone. Luckily I've gotten familiar with 3D-Coat's UV unwrapping tool and Mudbox's painting tools, and they definitely making things easier(but never faster).

For the animation project, me and two other students have been assigned to produce in-game cutscenes that runs for a bout 5 to 10 seconds. Being the perfectionist that I am, I've been putting way too much work instead of just doing what is practical with the time we've been given.

Prepare to DieD

                

(Dark Soul's inspired amor. Blender, Mudbox & Maya, done in AIE)

     And so I'm back studying and doing an internshit, barely enough time to do some personal work. Aside from 3D printing, I'll be also working on my entry for Bakuc 2012(australia). What I have in mind is a Kawamori/ Anime conversion of the Master Grade GP01, and anyone familiar with the GP01 knows how different the MG model looks compared to the anime and Kawamori's sketches. Forgive my ignorance, but as much as I would like to say it is "Highly Inaccurate" there could be is a valid reason why the MG model looks nothing like itself(e.g. it's the fucking 90's/ redesigned). But what really motivates me is the near-zero attempts by other modelers to convert this kit into the anime version. In fact, I have yet to see someone attempt this.

A mod like this is not going to be just a mere V-fin-conversion-type-of-mod. Basically this model needs to be modified from head to foot and there's a huge chance I won't even meet the deadline.

My efforts so far only reduced the FUD price by $2.61. I still might be able to chip off a few dollars, but I highly doubt this piece can go $10 or lower without ending up with a weaker structure.

Reality Hits

From day 1 I've been dying to find out how much this model would cost once it gets printed. I had to resize the scale and convert the pieces in .stl format before uploading them to get some pricing estimates. And here's what I got.....

This part measures 4cm wide and costs $12-$16 with the FD/FUD material. The price will go down once I hollow out the area circled in red. I will also reduce the wall thickness down to 1mm because at the moment they average from 1.5mm to 2mm.

A couple more parts and it's nearly reaching the $40 mark. I'm considering using other materials like the WSF-polished for less detailed parts to lower the cost.

LT01-BOAR Upper hull

The tank will be divided in two sections(upper and lower hull) with the upper hull getting printed first. I'm trying to avoid printing large pieces to avoid any warping or breaking that might occur.

Here's the upper hull with the pieces in different colors It is broken down to 12 pieces:

This piece which looks like a heat sink/ air intake/ exhahaust will act as a brace to hold the upper and lower hull.

And here's a further breakdown of the other parts. They all need to be interlocking, hollowed out, and be suitable for casting. Things will get messy.

LT01-BOAR Recap

Here's what the model looks like in assembled form and as separate parts. I just finished working on the all important waist a.k.a. the polycap holder. By taking measurements form the actual polycap and then creating a 3D ruler in Blender(can't be bothered using blender units) I was able to recreate the same measurements in the 3D model. The waist ended up a bit narrower, around 1.5cm wide when it should be around 2cm, but I don't really see it becoming an issue. I'll be using Netfabb to get the final measurements for printing . Overall this should be around 19cm from the front skirt to the back hatch.

What concerns me right now is the amount of polygons required for the smooth areas. I need to find out if those areas really need more polygons or if I can simply get away with a low poly version and still get a "passable" smooth surface.