Mudbox sculpt complete

Stopped work on the Mudbox sculpt and topology layer now. Although there's always room for improvement, considering this is the first time I've used Mudbox, I am happy with the results and will continue to use Mudbox in the future. I have enjoyed this project the most, and this is probably reflected through the sheer amount of blog posts I have made on this topic! All-in-all, I believe that I have spent well over ten hours on this sculpt, and I am definitely looking forward to improving my anatomical knowledge and sculpting skill using this application. :-D

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Topology layer

After spending two hours trying out different toplogies today, I have finally settled with a topology layer that I feel work okay because the edge loops follow around the eyes, mouth and cheek muscles. Unfortunately there is one tri, how ever during the research stages of topology, I found out that tris are normally acceptable if placed in a spot that does not get animated a lot, so thankfully the tri shouldn't be a hindrance because it is placed behind the ear.
However, we have a critique tomorrow so I'm going to take the sculpt in and maybe Mark/Leigh will be able to offer some further feedback on how to improve the work.

A picture of our project: to draw on a topology layer. Note: This picture was taken whilst working, and wasn't complete at that stage.

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WIP

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The Rock WIP

Recently did more work on the Mudbox sculpt - fixed the temple, cheek bones and jaw structure. I have now started to work on the ears, the printscreen below shows work on the ear, so far the ear has taken approximately one hour.

Edit:
Thinking of posting it onto various social media websites for feedback, possibly CG forums to get professional feedback and critique too. I feel this would definitely help improve my work.

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Attempts at creating good topology

Today I tried to create a wireframe over the sculpt, that would show how the topology would look if this mesh was made in a program such as Maya.
How ever, I found this incredibly hard in areas such as the mouth and the nose, where I found myself getting tris in certain places. Obviously, this would create problems in the animation processes, so I have deleted the topology layer and aim to to keep experimenting with different topologies over this week, to try and find one that will aim to use quad polys only.

Above: My first (and incorrect) topology layer, which unfortunately got tris in the nose and mouth area. I have highlighted these in a purple colour above.

After a break, I came back to Mudbox and started on a new wireframe to show good edge flow... I'm much happier with this one because I have not found any tri polys so far. How ever, there are more 5 sided faces in this, which arguably, could be just as problematic as a tri.
Also, the quads are fairly cluttered, I am aware that more polys = more detail, but a good topology has clean, even polys, and I do not believe this has this yet... Anyway, here is a picture of the face complete:

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Research into topology.

Recently Mark introduced us to topology and keeping good edge flow and asked us to research topology, it's importance and how to achieve it.

Since I have been interested in 3D modelling, I've collected many images of wireframes that will prove particularly helpful with various designs. A few weeks ago, I made a page on this blog with a few of these images on, which can be seen here: http://capleass.blogspot.com/p/modelling.html

Important notes:

Quads:

Face meshes deform in animation, so to avoid problem during this stage, it's important to keep even strips of quads in the mesh. This will help keep the mesh look even and ensure the lighting works well.

Poor topology can cause problems during the animation, rigging and unwrapping processes.

Tris in meshes can cause these problems because they break edge loops and behave weirdly in animation.
Be cautious when using poles as they break/redirect edge loops and can create smoothing artefacts too.

How ever, sometimes it will be hard to avoid these in complicated meshes, so it's important to place these in areas that will not deform much during animation (e.g. cheekbones, side of the forehead), or places where they will help route the topology to where I want it to go.

Loops around the mouth, eyes, jaw and eyebrows:

These are often areas that are animated the most, and therefore need the cleanest geometry, so that when they deform they will still look nice and work well. It is important to keep quad loops around these features, preferably a couple of rings deep because the face is constructed of strips of polys that flow between these loops.


Subdivision Topology: Artifacts from The Guerrilla CG Project on Vimeo.


Helpful forum thread links:

http://www.artnatomia.net/uk/artnatomiaIng.html - Interactive face, muscles, skull research
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=25&t=38469&page=1&pp=15 - Topology research
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108412 - Body topology
http://www.theminters.com/misc/articles/derived-surfaces/derived-surfaces.pdf - Bay Raitt's advice

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Mudbox WIP: The Rock

More work on The Rock sculpt, made the eyes and eyebrows a little more pronounced, worked more on the nose and added a slight paint layer where I stamped on a light texture to mark out the hair line, eyebrows and beard (which you cannot see in this printscreen because I have hidden the layers whilst I carry on working.)

I also tested out Mudbox's painting tools and managed to create a pore effect, how ever, I don't believe the brief asks us to create a texture for the sculpture, so my use of paint brushes is merely for learning experience purposes only.

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Mudbox brief: The Rock

Lots more work to be done, but I thought I'd share this to show who I have chosen for my new brief: to create a digital sculpt of a head.
I believe 'The Rock' (Dwayne Johnson) would be an interesting person to sculpt because he is incredibly bulky and muscular, thus act as a great way in spurring me on to learn about the human anatomy e.g. muscular and bone structure.

Here are some reference pictures I've used for sculpting so far:

Below is my sculpt so far:

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Digital painting: The Rock (1hr30min study)

Here is a digital painting I made of The Rock, in order to understand the structure of his face more. I set myself a time limit of one and a half hour for this painting.

It's far from perfect and could be tweaked lots around the eyes and lips area, but I haven't ever drawn a face digitally in Photoshop before, so I'm hoping to keep improving.

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Mudbox brief: The Rock line drawings

We have been set our latest brief, to sculpt a face digitally and I have decided to go for WWE superstar Dwayne Johnson, better known as 'The Rock'. I chose to sculpt him because he has a strong, bulky figure which will be a great opportunity to allow me to research into the human anatomy.

After researching into human facial anatomy, I collected pictures of The Rock (which will be seen in the post after this) and started to draw out the frame of his face and important pieces of detailing that would add realistic elements to my sculpt.

The red lines show the important features on that face and the blue lines represent the detailing that will help make the sculpt look more similiar to The Rock.

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Mudbox attempt #2

After looking hard at my first attempt, I decided to scrap that sculpture and start alll over again.
How ever this time, I added more structure to the face through adding cheek bones and other muscles to add an element of realism to the sculpt.

After this I decided to play around with the stamp tool to create effects such as the hair and moustache.

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Research: Human anatomy

I have decided to look into the human anatomy, in particular the face, in order to create as realistic of a sculpture as I can. A knowledge into the human anatomy will help provide a strong element of realism into the sculpture because I will be able to sculpt in muscle tissue and bone structure.

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An introduction to Mudbox

Recently we had our first Mudbox induction with Mark, this came about as our new brief is to sculpt a head in Mudbox.

Having tried Mudbox out once before, I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to this brief because I am a rubbish sculpter and lack skill in controlling tablets (haha.)
How ever, I am looking forward to the prospects of learning about anatomy and developing skill in sculpting and drawing.

Today I decided to open up Mudbox again, and with some new tips Mark told us about yesterday in mind I tested out different short keys and the toolbox.
The sculpt below is my first ever attempt at sculpting a face on Mudbox, and although I am not happy with it all, I feel there is much time to improve between now and the coursework deadline date.

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Research: Examples of sculpts made in Mudbox

Before we had the Mudbox induction, I decided to have a look at some Mudbox sculpts in order to understand what sort of quality sculpts this program can produce.
After 30 minutes of looking at showcases across Autodesk, CGTalk and other 3-D websites, I discovered that the only barrier that holds you back in Mudbox is your own imagination. The sculpts could be extremely detailed and realistic, but some were made 'Pixar-style' and were quite cartoony.

Here are some examples I found that used Mudbox as part of their process:

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