Trim Dynamic brush in ZBrush

While working on my torso build up for Production Modeling, I was having some issues getting the more hardened edges that were presented in the reference image. No matter all the pushing and pulling I did with the move brush or smoothing it out, I couldn't get the edges defined enough.

So I was told by a colleague about the Trim Dynamic brush. The Trim brushes are based on the Planar brushes but provide a different behavior based on the normal of the surface or the screen working plane. Compared to the Planar brush which are restricted to a clicked point on the surface, or a defined path, the Trim brushes do not have these restrictions. The Trim Dynamic brush will allow you to sculpt hard surfaces in a freehand way.

  I started using this brush, along with damien standard, to flatten edges out and give it a smoother look, with more defined edges, like so.

Keep in mind that while you are sculpting you will need to up the resolution of your dynamesh in order to achieve the crisp edges that we are looking for in this type of model. You will want to drag it along where you want the edges to form to achieve the hard edges you want. Unfortunately I had to move on from the torso model before I could complete it but my final outcome was a much cleaner edged model, but here is one more example of the edges I put onto my model.

You'll notice that I made the edges of the pectoral muscles more defined and less rounded. You can achieve that by using the Trim Dynamic brush and LIGHTLY smoothing it, but not too much smoothing because it'll erase those hard edges. Continue playing around with this brush and you will achieve the look you want.

Arm and Sleeve Build

To start my build for the arm and sleeve assets for my Character Design and Creation class, I set up primary, secondary and tertiary form images in order to help me visualize where those forms would be on an arm. I used Photoshop to drop the base images in and the pen tool to set up the primary forms image. Once that was done I used the brush tool and some special settings to achieve a x-ray look with the colors used.

Once the planning images were complete I made a "plan of attack" for my arm and sleeve meshes. In this document I simply went over all the steps I would need to achieve my end goal. At this point I needed to collect some reference photos to use for building my meshes. I used a website called 3D.sk to collect the images I would need. Then with these reference images I split them into images with t-shirts on and ones without, pooling the two separates into "comp sheets". Unfortunately I was unable to add these images into my blog.

I then jumped into Maya and began building my base mesh for the arm. I started by importing a reference image into a free image plane, and lined it up on the axis. I created a six-sided cylinder and put the opposite ends at the write and shoulder. I added one edge loop at the elbow to allow the bend. From here I added a couple edge loops between the elbow and wrist, and then the elbow and shoulder. To create the hand I used a tutorial video that was provided to me in the Google Hangout. I made the main palm from a cube with one edge lowered, and the fingers I made from separate cubes. I actually made up one finger, and then duplicated it after getting the bends at the knuckles and extruding a fingernail. Once I had duplicated it three times, I then adjusted size and vertices to match the different sizes of the fingers. I had an issue connecting vertices for the wrist area (because the hand and arm were separate meshes at this point) but with help at the Hangout I realized I was in 3 mode! Once back in 1 mode everything went smoothly.

Once this was all finished I deleted history and froze transforms, saved my file and exported as an .obj file. Importing this file into Z-Brush as a tool and importing a reference image in the texture drop down, I began my sculpt. This was the real tricky part of the entire operation, as I was still learning how to use Z-Brush. But once again, with help in the Hangout, I made a beautiful arm sculpt with full secondary forms. I loved utilizing the dam_standard brush making the veins on the arm and knuckle wrinkles. Once all the secondary and tertiary forms were complete for my arm, I then masked the upper area of the arm. Using this masked area I extracted at .008 with a thin border for the sleeve. I followed the instructor's lecture video closely in order the get the sleeve done correctly. I put in an upper wrinkle for the t-shirt. Using the dam_standard brush again I lifted the wrinkle up and the area next to it down. Adding in a couple more wrinkles to the shirt, I then moved on the stitching. This was pretty easy, because again I followed the lecture. Using the basic stitch brush I simply dragged the brush tool along the edge of the shirt for one edge, and twice next to each other on the inner side. Once that was done I used to dam_standard tool to bring up the shit between the two stitches I made on the inner shirt. That made it look as though two pieces of cloth were genuinely stitched together.

Once both my arm and sleeve assets were sculpted, I used decimator master to bring down the poly count of both meshes. Once they were both down in the 1k-4k count area I exported both as an .obj file separately. I then imported these two files back into Maya. Doing first the sleeve and then the arm  I made the mesh "live" with the magnet icon near the top of Maya. Once the mesh was live I used Quad Draw to make a low poly version of each asset/mesh. During this I made sure to just get primary and secondary forms fitted out, the tertiary forms would be made in the normal map.

Now at this point I needed to map out my UV's. Do to this I focused on the arm first, cutting edges around the wrist, underneath the arm and the top of the arm. I made the UV's for the hand separate from the arm itself by cutting and edge loop between the fingers and extending to the wrist on both sides. For the sleeve I simply cut and edge in the middle of the top of the shirt, and middle of the bottom of the shirt. I then used the layout, unfold, and smoothing tools in the UV editor window. With the UV's laid out, I followed the instructor lecture on how to use the "transfer maps" tool.  

Once normal maps are created, I'll check for any artifacts. If there are artifacts, I will bring the image into photoshop and use eyedropper tool to sample color from background in order to remove these artifacts from map. I will then reload these into my hyper shade and check in 6-mode to make sure everything is looking good. 

Here are final images of what my resurfaced, low poly meshes look like in 6-mode using the normal maps.

I feel very strongly about this work, I think I did a wonderful job for my first crack at building an arm and sleeve mesh. I could use more practice laying out UV's, due to having to manually move UV's around so that there wasn't any overlapping. All in all I think this is a pretty decent arm and sleeve.

Compare and Contrast

The original piece titled "Dance" by Henri Matisse

Here you see Matisse used oil on canvas, depicting nude individuals dancing on what I presume to be a hill or mountain top of some sort. His use of lines showing you that the figures are moving and not still. 

Here is my rendition of the piece.

As I stated in my previous post the green and blue merging together signify they are stronger at the mergence. What I have come to call "organs" are the new stand in for the nude figures. I wanted to keep them somewhat pale, and have the red darker in the "tentacles". For me that just show where the activity beneath is occurring the most.

Where they are both different, I still used the same primary colors, and five unique but intertwined appendages. In my piece there is a more fluid movement, while in the original piece the movement is raw, and flawed.

Completion

Here I present my final completed piece for my interpretation of "Dance" by Henri Matisse.

I used colored pencil, keeping the same primary color's that Matisse used in his piece. Instead of people dancing, I re-imagined it as 5 inanimate objects flowing together in the blue and green. As the two colors meet they become darker, signifying that this is where they are strongest.

Prepro and Work In Progress

I have begun working on the change up of this piece titled "Dance" to kind of give it more movement and less rigidity.

The top prepro shows the flowing movement I wanted from this piece, as labeled I keep the coloring the same. The second prepro is still showing movement but with less freedom. I really enjoyed using flowy sketches on this assignment. The third prepro is opposite of what I wanted to accomplish but I just had to try out a minimalist piece.

These two pictures are my attempt at using my Wacom for a digital rendition of my first prepro, which I decided to go with for my assignment.

I ultimately decided to stay traditional for my final, as you'll see in this rough draft for my Final piece.

Objective Critique

The piece titled "Dance" by Henri Matisse is a wonderful painting in the grand scheme of things, and uses primitive concepts to convey a ritualistic scene. I don't mean ritualistic as in satanic, just in that the individuals are going about an act carried down through their lineage. 

This painting was a sister painting to "Music" also by Matisse, and hung together in the estate of Sergei Shchukin, who was a Russian businessmen and art collector, until the October Revolution of 1917. 

It shows 5 red figures dancing, against the simple green landscape under a deep blue sky. It is supposed to symbolize feelings of emotional liberation and hedonism.

Subjective Critique

My initial reaction upon seeing "Dance" for the first time was that it was lacking in something. I couldn't quite figure it out yet but I knew it was missing something that would inspire me. 

The main reasons why this piece doesn't inspire me is that it attempts to convey movement but not well enough for my liking. The colors are dark and forboding, and scream a negative energy. The last reason is that the bodies look too much like a cartoon imitating life, instead of being realistic.

I want to change this by using the base colors to convey wild movement across the page. I will attempt this by breaking down the barriers/lines and letting the colors move freely instead of being constricted to certain areas.

Original Image

"Dance"
Henri Matisse
Oil on Canvas
1909