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Atoramos posted:I'm not going to be sculpting it, I'll be loading it into Unity for a game. I always hear advice about avoiding n-gons in general, but I'm not sure if they actually effect performance. Every time I try to work up a complex model, I invariably end up creating n-gons or don't have the experience to recognize ways to add detail in specific areas of a mesh without creating n-gons at some point.
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Oct 24, 2014 00:31
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if it's going to collapse non planar faces to triangles going into game engine it's my experience that it's generally preferable to do it yourself, can look nicer. not that you wouldn't work that out immediately anyway I just wanted to post to let you guys know that I've done it myself 
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Oct 24, 2014 01:09
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Hazed_blue posted:Ah, if this is going straight into an engine, then you shouldn't have to worry about n-gons at all. When it comes to performance, it doesn't matter how many sides a polygon may have when you're modeling it; the entire mesh will turn into triangles on export anyway. N-gons are messy in any instance, but they are absolutely bad if the model is going to be deformed for animation. Tris and n-gons are a roulette wheel when it comes to deformation.
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Oct 24, 2014 01:09
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Also, are there any Zbrush tutorials that come highly recommended?
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Oct 24, 2014 01:33
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mutata posted:N-gons are messy in any instance, but they are absolutely bad if the model is going to be deformed for animation. Tris and n-gons are a roulette wheel when it comes to deformation.
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Oct 24, 2014 03:08
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Also it's not hard to fix ngons. Best to just not have them 99.9% of the time.
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Oct 24, 2014 04:07
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Elderbean posted:Also, are there any Zbrush tutorials that come highly recommended? You're going to have to specify what you want. Zbrush is a massive swiss army knife that can do a whole lot of things. There's always the official tutorials to get you started: http://pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom/
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Oct 24, 2014 04:13
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SynthOrange posted:You're going to have to specify what you want. Zbrush is a massive swiss army knife that can do a whole lot of things. Mostly just sculpting monsters and such, not really intending on doing any rigging/animation.
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Oct 24, 2014 04:24
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Elderbean posted:Mostly just sculpting monsters and such, not really intending on doing any rigging/animation. If you don't mind paying, Gnomon Workshop has a number of tutorials including some that are project oriented (like "sculpt this monster" or "sculpt this cyborg"). You should probably start though with the official tutorials and documents. I think you'd want to focus on how to build forms using dynamesh and the clay buildup brush, it's closest to real life clay sculpting (or so I've heard).
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Oct 24, 2014 04:27
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Official tutorials are free and all you need really.
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Oct 24, 2014 06:04
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I know i asked for advice on this previously, but there seems to be a lot of underlying things to do when it comes to normal mapping. I'm using the retopo'd mesh from 3dsmax and unwrapping it in zbrush. Then i'm using it and the original high poly in Xnormal to get my maps. But when i apply the maps with bump map, with flip green and tangent selected, i get this...  instead of what i was hoping for...  
Vilgefartz fucked around with this message at 07:29 on Oct 24, 2014 |
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Oct 24, 2014 07:24
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You also need to flip v when going from ZB to Max.
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Oct 24, 2014 07:29
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Where does that take place exactly? Also do i need a texture applied to flip vertically?SynthOrange posted:You also need to flip v when going from ZB to Max. Vilgefartz fucked around with this message at 08:09 on Oct 24, 2014 |
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Oct 24, 2014 07:44
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Atoramos posted:dem shapes Check out How u model dem shapes? on Polycount forums. It's up to almost 200 pages, and is basically a help thread for topology. Lots of great examples to experiment with.
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Oct 24, 2014 21:23
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I haven't done any personal work for ages since work got stressful so I decided to try a speed sculpt this morning I didn't look at any references because sometimes I just like to see what comes out. Took about an hour and a half I think 
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Oct 25, 2014 02:14
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welcome back you bastard
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Oct 25, 2014 03:11
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Happy with this render. Might make some prints later. Going to move on to something else. detail    
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Oct 27, 2014 21:26
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EoinCannon posted:I haven't done any personal work for ages since work got stressful so I decided to try a speed sculpt this morning I haven't visited the 3DCG Thread in ages but I just came back at the right time  Awesome style
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Oct 27, 2014 23:25
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cYn posted:Happy with this render. Might make some prints later. Going to move on to something else. Why does your robot have a weird alien vagina looking thing on the crotch.
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Oct 28, 2014 00:10
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Eastdrom posted:Where does that take place exactly? Also do i need a texture applied to flip vertically? Sorry, I meant you need to flip the textures vertically when going from Zbrush to Max. It's one of those eternal problems when transferring between packages that some UVs are Y-inverted when compared to others. You can do it in either zbrush before exporting, max when using the texture (setting the scaling for y to -1), or flopping the texture in image editing software. You can always check this by comparing your texture with your uv layout. Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Oct 28, 2014 |
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Oct 28, 2014 00:28
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ceebee posted:Why does your robot have a weird alien vagina looking thing on the crotch. it's a solid fact that half the people who enter CG is to draw models of things they want to gently caress
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Oct 28, 2014 01:34
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it will be a wonderful day when you can buy silicone printer filament.
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Oct 28, 2014 03:16
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sick
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Oct 28, 2014 03:52
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ceebee posted:Why does your robot have a weird alien vagina looking thing on the crotch. wait are we not supposed to model vaginas on our robots poo poo
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Oct 28, 2014 04:05
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cYn posted:Happy with this render. Might make some prints later. Going to move on to something else. I know you are happy with it but you should read up on beveling and light it a bit better. Also you can use more than 7 polygons for the base and top unless you are modeling this for a ngage game.
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Oct 28, 2014 04:46
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Is anyone familiar with Modo? I've got some columns I've shattered and collapsed with a gravity simulation, and now I'm trying to export it to Zbrush. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to fix all the pieces in their position at the end of the simulation - every time I export they are saved in their original positions and rotations, prior to the start of the simulation. I've tried doing Dynamics > Bake Dynamics Transforms but I've got to be doing something wrong because nothing happens.
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Oct 28, 2014 17:38
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Soooo I have this weird/awesome opportunity that fell into my lap to do a few shots for a feature film. This will give me the opportunity to upgrade my software a bit. I'm on Maya 2014 and composite in AE. Looking to do various water elements (large object displacing water, rain hitting water from beneath, etc)... what do you guys use for water stuff? Just built-in fluid dynamics? External plugins (is Phoenix the best?)? Some of this may be practical in the end, but I'm starting the R&D now.
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Oct 28, 2014 20:56
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You could do all that with phoenix very easily, for what that's worth. I love it. it has given some unpredictable results from clicking around too much but a couple posts on the forum and developer responses later i'm all good.
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Oct 28, 2014 21:27
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BonoMan posted:Soooo I have this weird/awesome opportunity that fell into my lap to do a few shots for a feature film. This will give me the opportunity to upgrade my software a bit. I'm on Maya 2014 and composite in AE. Looking to do various water elements (large object displacing water, rain hitting water from beneath, etc)... what do you guys use for water stuff? Just built-in fluid dynamics? External plugins (is Phoenix the best?)? Some of this may be practical in the end, but I'm starting the R&D now. If you can upgrade to Maya 2015 then the new Bifrost solver would certainly be an option. I would avoid Maya's legacy fluid tools if possible, but for relatively simple setups you can probably get acceptable results. I've heard good things about Phoenix but haven't used it myself, and you should also note that you need a V-Ray license as well to use it. My personal choices as far as external packages go would be RealFlow or Houdini, which are both extremely robust for fluid sims but may be more than you need and / or require more time to learn than you have.
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Oct 28, 2014 21:35
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I might use this as an example to move up to Maya 2015 anyway, but I'll probably go with Phoenix (and VRay). I've been watching some videos and it seems nice and intuitive. I typically hate how most of Maya's internal stuff is labeled and structured - so it might take me a bit to get used to Bifrost (although it does look pretty sweet).
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Oct 28, 2014 21:41
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bifrost doesn't have splash or foam solutions yet either, that's planned for next year apparently. they're the best part of phoenix by far. you can send some 1k particle sim to the splash/foam renderers and get it to do some krakatoa like magic to push it up to millions of particles that flow properly.
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Oct 29, 2014 00:01
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Bifrost is nowhere near production ready and won't be for a couple more releases. For feature film fx Houdini is the best game in town but going with vray/phoenix will probably be cheaper since you can't use houdini indie to render feature film res.
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Oct 29, 2014 02:48
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I wish retopologizing hard surfaces could be as fast as soft-body/organic shapes. Good. God. 
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Oct 29, 2014 17:10
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keyframe posted:Bifrost is nowhere near production ready and won't be for a couple more releases. For feature film fx Houdini is the best game in town but going with vray/phoenix will probably be cheaper since you can't use houdini indie to render feature film res. I'd love to get proficient in Houdini one day. I don't think I'll have the time to jump into it this time given the time crunch, but I'd love to get to know it one day. I remember back in 2000/2001 - when I was in a grad school - I had a colleague out at Side FX that put my name in for one of their internships. It was less internship and more "they train you to be advanced in Houdini then send you out to VFX houses and you train their artists." The interview went great until they realized I had 3 more semesters of school left  . Can't imagine what that would have been like and how different my life would be today.
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Oct 29, 2014 18:46
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BonoMan posted:I'd love to get proficient in Houdini one day. I don't think I'll have the time to jump into it this time given the time crunch, but I'd love to get to know it one day. I've met quite a few software 'trainers' over the years, who have absolutely zero clue of how to do a shot. There's a huge difference between teaching how to use a piece of software in a controlled environment to actually using it.
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Oct 29, 2014 22:23
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ImplicitAssembler posted:I've met quite a few software 'trainers' over the years, who have absolutely zero clue of how to do a shot. There's a huge difference between teaching how to use a piece of software in a controlled environment to actually using it. Well it was less about the actual job and just me wondering what a different path my life might have taken. Oh well!
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Oct 29, 2014 22:34
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cYn posted:Happy with this render. Might make some prints later. Going to move on to something else. Well done I really enjoy mechs so this is right up my alley. I have a few questions regarding what you used to render this. Did you use Maya or 3DSMax? Are you working on this just for fun or potential portfolio? One of the nice things about mechs in general is you can get away with a lot more roundness to them without having to use as many curves as you would with a person. I know from the earliest stages of animation that came out you would always get a better feel for the mechs than the people. This was of course a combination of textures, materials, and machine performance at the time. We've really come a long way from where we were. I'm guessing by the smoothness of this you used NURBs and not polygons. Although the head makes me think otherwise... If you could clarify this for me I'd appreciate it. One of the things bugging me about your piece is the head of the unit. It looks a little too blocky and I think it could be smoothed out to be more of a dome. I think this would give it a slick and crisp feel that a machine would have. Fake Edit: After reading Keyframe's post it looks like you're using polygons. With the fingers I think they're a little too curvy and smooth. You could really get away less curves here making them blockier as they won't be the main focus of a machine. You could even make them more claw like if this is supposed to be an enemy in a game. Probably save a few polygons there as well. As Keyframe mentioned those could go towards your top. Your machine honestly reminds me a lot of an Experimental Z'Gok from gundam. I'm not sure if you're familiar with gundam models or not, but it definitely has a cool vibe to it that I really dig. Here is a picture of it:  How do you envision your machine moving? Is it going to have some form of anti gravity system that lets it propel through the air? Is it supposed to be more aquatic? The feet are lacking a little bit for me to understand how this machine would move. Or at least there isn't enough of a closeup to tell. I don't know if you thought about how it would move, but you really should because it could give you some insights on things to add or improve to the machine to make have more personality. It may sound silly but really put yourself as the pilot of what you're making or as the creature you're making yourself. What do you do? Why do you do it? These little things can really help flush out things you might not have thought of at all. Like if you're a mech that is to hunt down enemies in a war. Maybe you want some scars or dents. Perhaps tally marks of enemies you've killed on your side. Something that makes you more intimidating. (While this is more a texture you would put on the unit it could work out.) If your droid is more medical oriented you could definitely for the pristine or clean feeling. Which is more what I get from your machine currently. Either way give it another run and take some of the advice that has been said to heart. I think you've got something special going here I just want to see a little more personality to it and a smoother head. That block nature just doesn't fit with the rest of it.
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Oct 30, 2014 06:48
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BonoMan posted:Well it was less about the actual job and just me wondering what a different path my life might have taken. Oh well! Most of the side fx interns i knew wound up at all the big vfx houses all over the place as senior artists. Can't really go wrong with learning houdini at some point. You are practically guaranteed a job provided you don't mind following the work.
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Oct 30, 2014 06:50
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Has anyone had any problems with Max 2015 crashing when skinning biped? I've added all the bones to the skin and it just randomly crashes when moving bones around. I have no idea what's causing it! I have an FBX imported from Maya and when trying to skin it moving a bone crashes max after 2 or 3 seconds. I've reset the xform, exported as an obj and reimported, attached to a box and detached etc. No joy Edit: It appeared to be something wrong with that FBX. I have got a re-export with correct settings and it is now ok. Edit 2: Nope its still super bugged. I've even tried an OBJ. It just crashes when you move bones about. concerned mom fucked around with this message at 15:06 on Oct 30, 2014 |
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Oct 30, 2014 12:05
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Big K of Justice posted:Most of the side fx interns i knew wound up at all the big vfx houses all over the place as senior artists. Can't really go wrong with learning houdini at some point. You are practically guaranteed a job provided you don't mind following the work. This.
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Oct 30, 2014 15:35
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