Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Anna's Derringer

Since my last post, I've been modeling pieces here and there for my thesis. These include the base meshes for Bodacious Creed's gun belt and holsters, Anna's dress train, and Anna's garters. I also did the base mesh for her derringer, which I'm pretty happy with.

Here it is. Hope ya like it.

Monday, March 21, 2011

150th Post!

Dang, this is the longest and most regular blog I've ever kept. That makes me happy.

So, I recently created the base mesh for Bodacious Creed's mask.

Why does he have a mask in the first place?  When Anna decided to bring him back from the dead, she wanted to do what she could to make him strong and restore him to the heroic lawman he was before he died.  She also wanted to give him an imposing visage.  Fortunately, after just a few weeks buried, his body was in good shape for the ether energy she would use to refresh its functionality.  Unfortunately, he still looked, well, dead.  His machinery would keep him going, and his clothing would cover up most of his body, but a mask, imposing as she made it, would give the right first impression.

As the mask is just a base mesh here, it's rather simple, but it has the right creases and curves.  But you can see more in the video.

I also talk about layers in zBrush.  These are extremely useful for sculpting.  I was mistaken about an aspect of how they work, and since I cleared that up for myself, I figured I'd demonstrate what I learned.



Oh, this is also my spring break! I'll be using this time to get ahead on my thesis work, as well as on my rigging.

150th Post!

Dang, this is the longest and most regular blog I've ever kept. That makes me happy.

So, I recently created the base mesh for Bodacious Creed's mask.

Why does he have a mask in the first place?  When Anna decided to bring him back from the dead, she wanted to do what she could to make him strong and restore him to the heroic lawman he was before he died.  She also wanted to give him an imposing visage.  Fortunately, after just a few weeks buried, his body was in good shape for the ether energy she would use to refresh its functionality.  Unfortunately, he still looked, well, dead.  His machinery would keep him going, and his clothing would cover up most of his body, but a mask, imposing as she made it, would give the right first impression.

As the mask is just a base mesh here, it's rather simple, but it has the right creases and curves.  But you can see more in the video.

I also talk about layers in zBrush.  These are extremely useful for sculpting.  I was mistaken about an aspect of how they work, and since I cleared that up for myself, I figured I'd demonstrate what I learned.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Back Rigging, Hand Sculpting, and Creed's First Gun

New stuff!  I feel like I'm jumping around, doing this part of my thesis, then that part... sculpting, then rigging, then making new clothes and props.  The thing is, all these need to be done, and this is how I'm managing my time.

This video shows recent rigging, sculpting, and the base mesh for Creed's right hand gun.  I'm not sure if I'm going to have both guns the same or not.  It worked in The Dark Tower.



In other news, my new female resin model should come today. Can't wait! The more I work on my 3D models, the more I realize the many difference between male and female anatomy. This will be helpful in detailing Anna Lynn further, and in my future work.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Creed's Gun

I just started working on Creed's guns.

In this image, you can see the Old West revolver I'm basing this first gun on, and the first couple parts of the gun.  The hand in the scene came off the Creed model.  I repositioned it where it is so that, when the gun is complete (with bounces between zBrush and Maya), I can resize it and parent it to the hand.  Then, I can reposition the hand to where it was initially, moving the gun with it.  When I then bounce the gun from Maya to zBrush, it will be in Creed's hand there as well.  Cool, huh?

Detail will, of course, be done in zBrush.  And I'm thinking that instead of a barrel, it will load clips.  Steampunk style clips, of course!  I'll be drawing inspiration for details from Josh's concept art as well as this cool book I recently got.  Link below.


Creed's Gun

I just started working on Creed's guns.

In this image, you can see the Old West revolver I'm basing this first gun on, and the first couple parts of the gun.  The hand in the scene came off the Creed model.  I repositioned it where it is so that, when the gun is complete, I can resize it and parent it to the hand.  Then, I can reposition the hand to where it was initially, moving the gun with it.  When I then bounce the gun from Maya to zBrush, it will be in Creed's hand there as well.  Cool, huh?

Of course, maybe I should put it in holster position.  Oh well, a consideration for later.


Saturday, March 12, 2011

Bodacious Creed related Treasures

As you all have probably heard, Borders has had to file for bankruptcy. So, sadly, our local Borders is going out of business. The upshot is that the prices have been low and I've been able to get some good deals.

And, I've found some great books with a genre connection to Bodacious Creed. If you've been following this journal, you may well be a fan of steampunk of zombie fiction.

All three of these are books I got there recently.


Wednesday, March 9, 2011

On Sculpting in zBrush

Here's the new video! I've done more sculpting on Creed since I put it up, and will show that soon.

Meanwhile, the video speaks for itself.

Green Screen

What, Green Screen?

Clearly I don't need one of those for my thesis, as everything is digital anyway. I do want to use one for my vlog, though, for those parts where I'm in the scene. I'd like to put something besides my kitchen in those shots. Besides, learning to do a green screen would be a good experience.

I experimented with that today, to not ideal results. But it did work fairly well, considering that I used a sheet with big creases as a green screen, with less than ideal light.

So, I'm going to try something different, creating a small movable green screen. I will probably need to recored the in-person parts in a different spot than my desk, but I think I can get it looking good.

No promises here, but I do hope to get this going. If I do, you'll get to see the effect at work in my vlog soon.

And, speaking of the vlog, I have a new one to post later today, concerning the nature of sculpting digital humans.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Two New Vlogs

Usually I post here when I have a vlog done, but this time, I waited until I had two.  So, you get to see what I've been doing for the last few weeks.

Creed is now more emaciated, what you would expect from someone buried in the ground for a few weeks, and his clothes are also fit to that frame.  I've started detailing his face, though I'll have to show that in a future video. I've also been working on more of Anna's clothes, including her Steampunk goggles.

Oh, and I got a Wacom Cintiq!  That's an awesome tablet/monitor combination that allows me to, basically, work DIRECTLY on my models without the disconnect of a separate tablet and screen.

Plus, you can watch a video showing my work on shaping the clothing in the first video, and it includes the entire awesome song, "Better," by Jonathan Coulton.  Listen to the lyrics and not only will you laugh, but you'll understand why I chose it as theme music for Bodacious Creed.