Lee Greatorex Photo/3D blog

Think I saw Cesar Decal Jr utilise this in his introductions to Zbrush found on his youtube pages. I think it's great to study how traditional artists use digital software as they always seem to have some really innovative techniques which may be overlooked/ completely unused by digital veterans.

This technique will automatically export shots of your model from multiple views in to Photoshop. It has other handy uses such as getting to a certain angle quickly (if you have images for reference in the background).

So here's where to find it. Under Documents (in the top panel) go down to ZApplink Properties. From there you'll see the settings below. All you need to do is set the angle you want up in Zbrush then shift-click on the button you wish to use for that view.

By default when you select a front, right or top view it will automatically go and fill out the opposite for you.

I've seen a lot of portrait editing techniques and how-to's in various magazines and websites all with varying degrees of difficulty, software required and success.

So far my favourite is probably the simplest if you are looking for a sharp, HDR esque photo. You can also paint a mask on it to blend it a little more for a 'Dragan' style portrait. The tutorial for this can be found below and requires lightroom and photoshop (ideally cs5 or 6). This particular tutorial video is by ThatNikonGuy and you can check his other stuff out here.

 These are at the extremes of the scale just to show what can be pulled out of an image. Note it will still cause some haloing but this can be either reduced with masking (or just tone down the luminosity layer, not every photo needs to look like this!).

Below I tried it with some posers from Fota Wildlife Park. The original images can probably be found in previous posts. I just wanted to see how non studio based shots would work with it.


Again these are both at extremes but they do work. They will start to show up messy backgrounds if you have them though (like in these shots). If I were to use this technique more I'd probably just highlight small parts of the subject with the technique as the full image definitely doesn't need it unless filling the frame or you have a black background.

This was the first time I've limited myself timewise for a sculpt. I set aside 1 hour of my day to just focus on sculpting. I initially didn't like the idea of doing speed sculpts or similar (after always seeing the end result from artists it's very easy to feel you mayswell not try with some of the talent out there).

But after watching a webinar by Danny Williams regarding the reasons behind doing a limited time study (He uses the term Lunch Crunch and there is now a community based around this study ethos found here http://www.facebook.com/groups/lunchcrunch/). It really does allow you to focus on the task. I could prepare my references and for that hour just get something done.

Here are my results. This was done in Sculptris (see the image below).

  I used 3 spheres, 1 for the abdomen, chest and shoulders. To add new objects in sculptris just go to Add Sphere > Add object. It will automatically mask out the other objects in the scene so you can get a basic shape. After getting the basic shape just using grab I remove all masks in the scene by ctrl+click dragging anywhere outside of the object. Originally I used to just make everything from 1 model in sculptris thinking blending wouldn't really work as you might get with a dynamesh but the results aren't terrible.

Using a clay brush you can go around the visible seams and it will give the effect of blending the object. The great news is though that your individual objects can still be hidden (h+click on the object you want to hide). Also if you want to mask individual objects again just add another sphere to the scene. It will let you seperate them again for more detail if needed.

For rendering the sidebysides and turntable I just used GoZ to take it in to Zbrush. From here I added a custom material (I like the cavities to be visible in best and regular movement). To make it one object I just used Dynamesh and set the res to about 500 (Really not needed for this low detail model but it was just for a quick render). I also used claypolish>Edge 5 then re dynameshed just to get rid of a little artifacting which will happen when moving stuff from sculptris to zbrush.

My biggest challenge is my most avoided areas when sculpting a head. Namely the ears (as you may have seen by other posts). They almost seem inaccessible so most times I'll hide that by adding hair or just doing a rough 'sketch' and hold the ears till later (if using zbrush insertears tool can be handy too!)

Just like anything else though it is only daunting due to not practising it enough. As the anatomy of the ear is uncommon most first tests go pretty wrong and can end up ruining some perfectly good front face modelling.





I'm currently trying to break this avoidance habit by learning how to do ears. Sculptris, while not ideal for this is a great place to start.

Here are some workflow tips I'm trying to follow myself now in future models/sculpting when it comes to ears:

• Use reference! I'm usually terrible at this but I'm using it more now. Ears are all unique so try and get the same ear but multiple angles. Anatomical drawings are good as well or just get a mirror and use reference.
• Start the ear as soon as possible. It doesn't have to be at full detail immediately but work with it along side the head as a whole. The heads will then feel more as 1 complete model rather than a head with stuck on ears. You also have the benefit of working in symmetry early on in a sculpt (in 3D software like sculptris) so it may save time. The top image shows the ear on 1 side of the face, as I'm not using symmetry I now have to try and replicate another ear in a similar style with no starting base.
• Practice. Avoiding doing something because it is hard is something most of us do. We won't improve if we don't try. Remember you don't need to upload every image to the net if you're not happy with progress. Perhaps make a folder called 'ear tests' and save all your images as earwip_x then see how your own sculpting is improving.
• The ear isn't drawn on the side of the head. What I mean by this is a bad technique I've done myself (and seen others do). Masking off an area on the side of a head (sometimes a C shape), pulling it out = 1 ear. This doesn't produce good results, using references as noted above can really help with this bad habit and will greatly improve your work (it will stop looking as if all your characters have clip on ears!)

The next sculptris post I make I think I'll just show Ear sculpting progress and see if I've learnt a standard approach to it in sculptris. If you have any tips or suggestions (or questions!) Let me know in the comments or on twitter! (@lgreatorex)

Here's a quick idea for those wanting a bit more control over the final look of your sculpt if rendering in sculptris. Paint your object as normal, texturing and adding bump where you want. Once this is done clik options > save image and it will render out what you have there at the time. Then simply change the material type and save the image again (perhaps describing what kind of pass it would emulate ie image_ambient).

After you have multiple images saved open them in photo editing software (gimp is completely free if you want the free route, in this case I used photoshop but most photoediting software comes with the ability to add layers). Using layer types you can then start combining your rendered images in to one. Ideally start with a flat texture /ambient pass on the base layer adding different ones on top. Some materials emulate rim lighting and such which can be to your advantage, others may offer some nice specular properties. You can also mask parts of these to get the ideal look you want.

Below you'll see a simple sketch on a sphere with some texture and bump added, along with the passes used to create the overall image.


Above - the final composited image. I used the rim light render last and duplicated it to get a nice crisp edge where I wanted it. Rather than a completely flat ambient pass I used a 50/50 pass which just adds a tiny bit of depth to increase the texture.

Below - The 4 passes used Left to right, rim and specular, Kicker, key and ambient (50/50 pass in this case).



Give it a go anyway! All of this can be done with completely free software such as Sculptris and Gimp. Enjoy!

If you're looking to get a good detailed picture of the moon take your picture an hour or so before dusk. It will allow you to shoot at a higher F number which will give less blur at that distance.

I use a 70-300mm tamron lens for these shots. You also have the ability to drop the saturation/blues to make it nighttime if you want.

Shooting later may require longer shutter speeds which with telephoto lens' will cause motion blurs even if you're using a tripod due to the movement of the moon.

There is a great page here with maximum shutter speeds before you get light movement when shooting planets/stars;

http://www.photokaboom.com/photography/learn/tips/121_stars_star_trails.htm

That guide is to deliberately make star trails but just stay within those boundaries with your particular lens to make static images! :)

The above shot was taken by hand at about 6pm from my balcony. Adjustments made were; Sharpening, Saturation, Brightness/contrast tweaks and white balance.

Give it a go during daytime anyway! Enjoy!

There is a great option in sculptris when painting which allows you to pain with bump. By default this is turned on but can be found in the options menu (when in paint mode go to options > combine color and bump).

This tool is great for perhaps adding small parts of detail such as nuts/bolts combined with a texture or to add emphasis to areas. A darkened seam would work well with this style or if you want to closely follow the bark of a tree texture you have you could paint the colour with it.

I've been using it mostly to create some simple planets using the default sphere. All of the highlights are just gained from the bump map (no sphere deformation done)




Finally a little more base geometry sculpting. This time from a horn created in maya (originally I was going to make a bone horn for a demon model I am working on but the mind wandered).




Hope you continue to enjoy using Sculptris, remember it's completely free so give it a go!

Still working on this but I've started to work on the head and test some face shapes.

I started out with an extremely simple (it ended up being a little too simple) basemesh composed out of a cube with 2 extractions.

I was hoping the cube structure would make it simple to convert to Colossus' head from this but I didn't even add proper proportions and after smoothing it went a bit wrong so pretty much ended up smoothing it in to a flat faced sphere and built the face then rounded it after.


I tried to use the flatten took particularly on hairline, eyebrow 'mounds', cheekbones and nose just to get his cubic feel. He looks a bit like a 40 year old version of Colossus but this is the first test so I'm pretty happy with it.

After doing this I thought I'd test a pose using the 3 sculpts created. The idea I had was maybe him leaning in to bust down a wall/door or having 1 arm up in defense while holding off others to protect them. sculptris is good as you can add other scene files as shown before to test different poses and such. The image below works out at about 215k polys and there were no crashing problems so far which is great!

Carrying on with the previous tutorial theme I made a simple cube in Maya then moved the vertexes in to the shape below. I DELETED HISTORY then this time as my model was already Quadrangulated I thought I'd see what it was like to import straight in to sculptris as an OBJ, it worked!



Here's what I ended up sculpting using that base mesh;


I then added the arm created in the previous scene just to see how it looked and it didn't look too bad! I've decided I'm going to work on a sculpt of Colossus from x-men so this is a good example/practise shot!


I changed my material to a metallic one then instead of using the crease tools for the lines (which would have upped the triangle count substantially) I went to paint mode with both objects and painted an inverted bump. Hopefully I'll refine/neaten this technique when I start to work on the proper model!

All in all this took about 30-40 minutes so I think it is really good for concept modelling. Give it a go! (remember you wont really be able to use these for games or animation, adding multiple items can be a bit of a bodge job like the arms but no harm if just for fun/ one particular angle!)


Update above!: Just tested out meshmixer07 another free piece of software to extrude parts of the mesh to make the clothing to test it. Just a quick painting test will work more with both packages properly soon!

I'm planning on writing a tutorial on creating a 3d statue/sculpture with multiple models to build up the overall image using only completely free software but thought I'd start with moving models from Maya to Sculptris just as a starter;

Find Sculptris for free here: http://www.pixologic.com/sculptris/

Why use multiple models?

As there isn't the ability to create layers or use zspheres it can be tricky to make a complete figure from 1 base sphere. If you can create full models from the base sphere you get from loading a new scene you'll find it can give you an extremely high poly count.

Using multiple models allows you to concentrate and practise if starting out (remember it won't be usable in games/animation really, sculptris is really just an entry level/free flow practise tool but will get you going with digital sculpture/ moving to something like Zbrush). You can take them in to your selected 3d package and put them together like a multi-part action figure to render.

Again as a note this is just for practise and for proper modelling use regular 3d techniques or build it in zbrush/ use the GoZ feature in zbrush.

I did this in Maya but this should work with all main 3d programs. I'm going to work on doing one for Blender as well for the completely free route (using only open source/free software)

Step 1:

I only use the 3d programs (I use Maya) to make a very simple base model to work on as if it were a basic trad sculpture armature. I build it out of basic geometry (in this case a Cylinder with a few simple rotations and scaling) then before exporting I Triangulate it (Not sure if this is needed any more but you used to need to when exporting as .objs for some sculpting software).


Step 2: Exporting

You should just be able to export as OBJ in whichever 3d package you use. If you are specifically using Maya you may come across an issue where OBJ isn't visible when trying to export. If you have this go to Window > Settings/Preferences > Plug in Manager and make sure OBJexport is loaded/auto loaded (see image below)


Step 3: Importing

Nice simple step - load up Sculptris and go to import - tick New Scene. It may ask you that UVs are loaded, Go to paint? Tick no. Make sure symmetry is turned off. Remember when importing tools like grab will have Global switched on as default (which will make the whole imported model move) - to turn this off untick Global (or with the tool selected press 'g' to toggle global < a good shortcut to remember!)


Step 4: Sculpt!

Sculpt away! The imported models will be a workable 200-9000 triangles generally if working with simple models which will give you loads of room to add detail without crashing the software or your pc! Just remember to use reduce selected or the reduce brush now and then to keep the triangle count low and to allow you to use those saved in more detailed parts!

Not going to teach people how to sculpt but will do a tutorial on the basic tools for people if needed. Here's what I knocked up in 10 minutes with the imported model. My main idea is to do a Warhammer Style Ork eventually. Very basic R.Leifield style arm (muscles on muscles!)

Hope this helps get you started with sculptris anyway! Using the sphere alone is great fun (see examples in posts below as they were all from spheres alone).

Recently after scanning in some of my sketches I've been using the liquify tool in Photoshop to modify and test concepts for characters. While this technique may not be art 101 or considered as 'cheating' for traditional artists it's a great way to get quick character ideas from 1 basic sketch. I see it as a similar thing to using a basemesh or a Squirkle in Zbrush for some quick character concepts (sculpting and moving the original mesh).

I don't think Liquify needs much of a tutorial, the icons are self explanatory and you will find it under the filters menu (near the top). Alternatively if you want a shortcut for it --> Shift+Ctrl+x by default.

For this example I scanned in a sketch I did a while ago;


After doing some basic colouring for this an extremely rough blurred skin highlight and lowlight and a blue shadow layer, gaussian blurred and then flattened. I bulked the character out a bit and raised his nose, mouth and shrank his ear a little to help with the proportions.


Following on from this I tried a few more things, a bit more extreme but just to show the range of characters you can create. These were both done extremely quickly so things like the collar are still distorted but are just examples;




While I wouldn't recommend this for final work it's great to just get a few ideas going or work on expressions or proportions of characters. I'd personally recommend just sticking with the move brush for bulking out characters as the bloat or pucker tools can quickly get out of hand - use the reconstruct tool rather than the global reconstruct option to bring major distortions back. Worth giving a go anyway!