Character Modeling Demo Reel- Chad Hamlet

[Grgeon]

Hey Chad,
Truly beautiful work. It's cool to see that you were self taught, as that's how I've done myself in animation.

I'm getting into modeling now myself and I was curious about your modeling process. I'm mainly interested in how you incorporate Silo into your pipeline cause I'm currently using Maya for modeling, but recently started looking into Silo. Do you jump back and forth between silo and maya, then to zbrush and then back to maya? How do you go about it?

I saw your reel through your site and I was gonna email you about it, but then i found this thread, so i just posted here :)

Again, great job. Can't wait to see your texturing reel. You got skills!

God Bless,
George

[cgclay]

wow, great work chad! I really love the Rhomhrn warrior, his armor and anatomy are just fantastic. I can't wait to see your texturing reel, if its anywhere near the quality of your modelling than you will have quite a portfolio :)

[chadtheartist]

@Grgeon

I don't really have a definitive process. Mainly because the way I work is completely open to changes at any time. So I can start from Silo, Zbrush, or Maya and work pretty well. However, what I would prefer is to start in Zbrush, with Zsphere's, then sketch the anatomical mesh, which is what I did with the Rhomhrn Warror, and then redo that mesh in Silo using the topology brush etc... Then in Silo I'd create the armor and pull that into Zbrush for further detailing. In Maya I would use the xyShrinkWrap.mel, and UV map the base cage. But it's really open to however you feel more comfortable working. You don't need Silo, I just think it's a much better poly modeler than Maya right now.

@clay`

Thanks for the compliments. Your work, and anatomy, looks awesome too! Hopefully I can kick some butt on the texturing side. I think I can, as I've done a lot of painting traditionally in the past, it's just me trying to figure out this technical mumbo-jumbo thats held me back from really getting into it. However I feel it's going to be a necessity to really sell myself as a 3D artist. So I'm going to go for it and hopefully make something cool. Any pointers will definitely be appreciated. :D

[allenatl]

Some great modeling, Chad. That's an impressive reel. Like your attention to detail,
especially the anatomy.
I know what you mean about the texturing. There are times that you just want to get past all the mapping and start painting.

[Grgeon]

Cool, thanks for the response Chad.


I was wondering, what kind of background do you have? You mentioned on your site that you're self taught? Any tips on going about doing that for modeling?

Keep up the great work.

George

[suzana_kilic]

Wonderful work Chad.
Like I sad before, top notch modelling, mapping and character design. Cannot be better.
I hope you will have time rigging and animating a bit this characters. Even the character presentation is very good. This reel is more than enough to recognise your diverse talents and your highest skills.
Good luck.

[jmBoekestein]

Excellent work CHad! :D Hahaha, I was wondering why I wasn't seeing you so much on the forum. :thumbsup: I really like it, anatomy and curvature is excellent on your models, I just love watching them.

I especially like the density on the djinn, adds a lot to the atmosphere! I'm unsure whether it's necessary, but have you considered getting someone to help you with the shading? With all the advanced shaders around now for free, it would give that exra zhang to see them in what they should eventually become, besides the technical views. Anyway, great work, glad to see you finished it.:thumbsup:

[rickycox]

Excellent work, I'm glad you kept it clean, not textures, just focused on the modeling.

[tilite]

This is great..
Very nicely done.

I would prep yourself for a bit of attention!:thumbsup:

[KolbyJukes]

Great reel Chad, I esp like the Japanese woman, great job with the flowers. Have you tried animating any of these meshes? Are these renders the displaced low-rez geo or are these the highrez z-brush models.

The beastman's naked body could use a bit of work, his lower legs look incredibly thin, like they might snap under the weight of his upper body. Also his abdomen feels a bit overdefined, as well, maybe it's just me, but 8-packs always look unnatural to me. His face seems a bit long to me, but that's more of a design issue.

Anyway, you've come a long way since last year, very impressive work, I'm looking forward to seeing your next reel (though I think you could easily get a job with this reel).

good luck man,
-K.

[chadtheartist]

These are displaced renders. It's the first time I've really done this so I came across some problems like the contours not following the base cage, etc... Like if you look at the armor, it doesn't displace correctly along the sharp edges of the base cage. I should have made the cage in Zbrush before I created the map, but I didn't know until I did it. One thing I also had a problem with was trying to place the clothes/armor appropriately so when it rendered displaced it would look right. I actually had to cut out some of the detailed rivets I had on the armor because I couldn't get the armor displacement to mirror what I had in Zbrush exactly.

Thanks for the crits! I'm trying to break the uber muscle mode. I really need to start getting better reference for more "natural" looking people.

[KolbyJukes]

congrats on the front page dude, well deserved.

[twidup]

awesome work. my only crit is that I wish you would have shown a bit more on the wireframes and shown the bat creature at the end.

Amazing work.

-todd

[bobtronic]

congrats for the frontpage Chad, well deserved.

Bob

[BlackNull]

excellent models, clean and effective geo, nice vegetation on the character, I love the anatomy of the woman.....your models have weight and characteristic to them. Congrats on front page! :thumbsup: looking forward to your texturing reel.

[Rumr]

Great works! Keep rockin and good luck breaking in the industry!

[shivmoo]

i saw this over with the link at the zbrush forums... the forest djinn (i hope i remembered right) is just awesome... it really inspired my to keep going on my little project...
thanks.. and awesome :)

[malcolmTG]

nice work man, good to see somebody out of KY showing some quality work. i really enjoyed the reel, cause you kept to the point and showed some nicely designed and implemented characters. the warrior's legs looks too small to support his weight, and there were a couple issues i had with some anatomy, but very good models none the less. good luck with whatever you end up working on next.

peace.

[tame2000]

That is some very impresive modelling you done. I would have to agree with KWAK on this issue of the beastman's lower legs. Not only do they not look anatomically correct for the creatures upper body, but on a technical/art side of things, to me it looks as if you didn't put any time into them when compared with the rest of the body and how much detail you've done.

On another note, and maybe it's just me or the angle of the render, but the woman's arms don't seem to fit her body. Especially the lower forearm and hands. The hands almost seem as if they ar swollen, and the forearms feel to me as if they're to thick for her frame.

Once again, awesome job... the tree character rocks! How did you go about acheiving the leaves? Did you end up using PaintFX and con vert them over to polys?

[MrPositive]

Wow some of the best character models I've seen on here in a long while [except when Zack Petroc stopped in :)]. The variety is immensely impressive as well. I dont think you'll have any trouble accruing a position somewhere. Just depends on what you want..... Wow Kentucky...that just doesnt make any sense! hahahaha j/k

[elfufu]

chad you know what i think, congrats on it being showcased.. like i said you need not wait on you rtexturing reel.... youre more than ready

[vravro]

I like them, specially the Minotaur. I like his arms/face and armor. The body needs more work. Right now it looks like you're studying the anatomy/muscles. It looks very "Default". Add some oddity. This is 3d, you can do whatever the hell you want. make it creative. That's what'll eventually make your reel stand out. Remember the big mutant guy from 3dchopshop?(the site is dead... wonder what happened)

The half-man, half-tree character is really nice! It looks almost done. I think the fingers are a bit odd. Odd is not the right word. they look too "arranged." It would've been nice if they where a little more bizarre and less humanlike in length and order. Take a look at this:

http://www.csdm.qc.ca/SJdelaLande/lesclasses/5web/Primates/aye-aye2.gif
http://www.life.umd.edu/classroom/bsci338m/Image_Archives/Primates/Ayeaye.jpg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/images_small/ayeaye03_sm.jpg

The woman's dress looks really good. You really know how to make the outfits. The body has good parts and bad parts. imo, the parts that need more work are the groin/thigh, and the feet(specially the feet). I like the large/round fingertips, but the effect may be a little too much.

Overall, they're definitely good models. It'll be interesting to see them with textures.

[dcmoutinho]

very nice work, congratulation:thumbsup:

[meats]

Chad -

Your work keeps getting better and better.
It's been great to watch the progression.
You will be a big score for whoever picks you up to work with them.
Good luck on the job hunt - I will keep my ear to the ground for you...

[rstratton]

Great models...I was also curious to if you used Maya's Paint FX to do the leaves for the characters....and I am proud of you instead of going with the usual D cups that most 3D modelers feel they have to you made a real looking female model...not saying there is anything wrong with D cups but that female model looks more natural and real.....good luck job hunting..

[ChaosBlackMagician]

helluva job with the woman man, i think thats your best model. She has A strong and mean sexy look. She could sure use a little kotachi blade or baby katana somewhere around her waste cuz she looks like a female warrior to me, the type that can genuinly kick some ass. Unlike most of the woman we see in films today that can barley lift 10 pounds hurling people across rooms...what a joke. I could see her man handling people whilst maintaining her sexy look. Don't change a thing about her bruthah. As for that beast. He definetly needs some work on his proportions, they really don't make sense, but the detail is what amuses us. This last comment is just an opinion on your design of the dude with the shrubbery. I think you covered too much of him with it. Kinda' like he's a marine sniper with a guille(<- spelling?) suit, if thats your intention than its cool, it really sheds light to his character. If your gonna animate the shrubbery i suggest tying ik splines with Dynamic curves hair modifyer attached.
/
GL and keep the tunes rollin'
~D

[DimitrisLiatsos]

A well deserved front page if i may say.... :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[THECLYKE]

very inspiring style i love it

i like the fact that you make the models look like you went overbourd on the meshes...but every thing is very clean and handled well. you just made my day man.
if you could and your not too busy please stop by my wip thread and tell me what you think of my models so far.

awsome job.....everybody can learn from a pro like you.

[NemPhas]

Absolutly Stunning, I love the clean real.
It needs no textures realy.
I wish I could achive such brillinat level of modeling.
Your so gonna get work with this.:buttrock::applause:

[remcv8]

Very cool reel. Love how you break down each piece and provide 2 different views.

[Tom W.]

I love your minotaur model, nice reel :)

[cgclay]

Oh, congrats on the front page Chad. Very well deserved, but I knew it would make it up there. I hope you get whatever job you want :)

[oxyg3n]

Nice modeling, I am downloading the movie now!

[Darktwin]

I realy enjoy your reel, very inspiring work, I can see you put your work in. Me being an aspiring model/texture artist really enjoy your real. Good luck to you.

[BillSpradlin]

Great work Chad, it's always a pleasure seeing an artist progress and blossom.

As far as the models go, I thinkt he warrior model could use more mass and weight in it's body. It's a little too taught in the muscles, a bit too defined in areas. I would like to see some slight love handles around the waste, a slight belly that curves out from the torso and a bit more mass in the shoulders and thighs. I can't stress enough the importance of mass and weight to a character and how it will bring it to life.

Keep up the awesome work.

[Heber]

awesome reel, fantastic work on the female form,
my only crit is your warrior creature, his backside (mainly ass) looks strange to me and the legs seem far too weak in musculature to support his mass (+ armor)
other than that i love everything, how did you do all the foliage? pfx? geometry grids?? do tell. :)

[chadtheartist]

Ahhh man! Where to begin!? I'm kind of shocked this went Front Page, but I'm happy it did! Thanks again Meats for hosting my reel! You rock!

Thank you for all the compliments and especially the critiques! I am greatful that you guys took the time to look at my work, and even more so grateful at the critiques! You work on something and it's hard to see ones mistakes, even though it's blaringly obvious to others.

@Grgeon

I went to art school at the Joe Kubert School of Art. I never finished it though, as I had a lot of problems when I was going there. So I've been doing odds and end jobs for the past 8 years since then, working at Taco Bell, washing dishes, and the occassionaly Mural or two at a few local Wal-Mart stores. I'm now working doing small illustrations and the like for a company that produces educational products. I also do video editing and some DVD authoring.

As far as tips on how to start learning to model. I learned a lot from Wiro's (http://www.secondreality.ch/) tutorial on his site about head edgeloops and such. Other than that I just practiced and practiced. Zack Petroc's DVD helped me see form a lot better in 3D, although I think I have a lot of room for improvement.

@allenatl

I think texturing is going to be a fun challenge. There are a lot more resources online than there use to be, so hopefully I can do something cool soon.

@suzana_kilic

Thank you very much! A few people have offered to rig my characters for my next reel, so I'm hoping that there might be some animation next time too. It really depends on how generous people will be, and if they want to work on my stuff. I would love to start animation too, but for now I'm going to stick to picking up one thing at a time. So texturing will be next for me.

@jmBoekestein

Hopefully I'll be able to add that zang to some characters on my own in the future. So give me some time, and it will start happening. Good luck with your childrens book idea!

@riki

Thanks! I was hoping I did the right thing with this. :D

@tilite

Thanks. I think everyone likes attention sometimes. LOL!

@KWAK

Thanks again for the critiques. I've come a long way, I know. And I have a long way still to go, which is something I'm very excited about. To me this is only the beginning. So anything that you can say to help me out is very much appreciated!

@twidup

Thanks for the compliments. I plan to have more wireframe work up on these soon. I really didn't know what to show on my reel via wireframes, because it's really so open as to what can be accomplished. I've learned some things making this reel, so I will definitely have some new things to show as far as wireframes go.

As far as the Batt model, there are some problems I was having with the wings, so he will remain a WIP until I can figure out a good way to do them. I'm glad you like what I have so far!

@bobtronic

Thanks dude! I appreciate it!

@=BlackNull=

Thanks! Hopefully you'll like my texture work too!

@Rumr

Thanks, and I hope I can break in too!

@shivmoo

I'm glad I could inspire you! To be quite honest the main reason I'm even here is because of the inspiration work I've seen from the awesome users here! It's amazing the amount of talent in this forum. It's almost mind-boggling!

@malcolmTG

Thank you! I tried not to make the reel too long and boring. It's nothing super fancy, but I was hoping it would show what I wanted to show.

@tame2000

Thank you for the critique's. I see now that the legs don't really fit the body. I'll see if I can fix it since I'm wanting to texture him too. And yes the leaves on the Forest Djinn and the flowers on Bloom are Paint FX. I just used Maya's standard render to render them.

@Mr. Positive

Thanks! Zack is one of my favorite artists, and is definitely a huge inspiration for my work. Yeah I know, Kentucky ain't exactly a hot-spot for 3D jobs. I'll be moving to where ever I go, so I'm already prepared for that. Hopefully I can find a job before I decide to move, but I'm planning on heading out to LA. I'm hoping it's better than New Jersey, as I wasn't too fond of the winter's there! LOL

@elfufu

Yup, thanks again for the help. Maybe I'll be out to LA soon!

@vravro

Thank you for the critiques. Nothing really to add to them as you're right! LOL I like those fingers too! And I know I need to start breaking the "natural" mold. I've got some ideas for characters that are going to be a lot more unreal than what I've usually modeled. Hopefully I'll have time to get to them soon!

@meats

What more can I say? Thanks, and thanks again man! Your generosity is very humbling!

@idigm

Yup it was Paint Effects. I kept the strokes in the wireframe because I wanted to show what they were. I didn't want people thinking I was trying to hide something. As far as the breasts go, I agree. I'd like to see that more often too, but I guess boys will be boys right! LOL

@Durty

HAHA! Sounds like a nice idea for a short! Ninja Blossom, with katana's! Thank you also for the crit's.

@DimitrisLiatsos

Thank you, and thank you!

@THE CLYKE

Thank you! I am glad that you like my work, and I will check out your work as soon as I am done with this list.

@NemPhas

Thanks bud. I think textures will make this stuff look a lot better personally, but I tried my best to make them look as good as possible without them.

@remcv8

I originally wasn't going to do the closeup view. But after rendering everything out and editing the reel, I knew I had to have it. Personally I don't like putting wireframes on such a small image, as it's almost impossible to make out at times. It looks better on the DVD though, so that's a bonus.

@Tom W.

Thank you, I'm glad you like it.

@clay`

Thanks! I hope I can fit in a pipeline somewhere. I feel I have a lot of potential, so I'm going to remain optimistic! :D

@oxyg3n

Thanks and I hope you like the reel.

@Darktwin

Thanks, and good luck to you too! You're definitely in the right place to learn, IMO.

@BillSpradlin

I agree, and with others comments about the legs I think the Rhomhrn character needs work! I like to add weight and form to a model, but I do agree that he does look pretty ripped. Another thing I need to start focusing on is asymetry too.

@Heber

Yup, the legs can do some redo and his booty is looking rather misproportioned. Looking at it now I don't know what I was thinking when I did it! LOL

When I originally did the Forest Djinn awhile back I modeled the leaves individually. This murdered the render times and I decided to axe them and go with Paint FX. I kept the Paint FX strokes to show that's what they were, but I guess that didn't come across very well.

Alrighty. I think that's everyone, and if I missed someone I apologize! Just yell at me and I'll try and answer whatever question you have.

Thank you!

Chad

[frilansspion]

superexcellent!! wow!! I have to disagree with everyone on the beasts leg being too thin, it didnt bother me. horses have pretty thin legs too so it felt kind of natural. they might be a little long though?? also thought the girls arms were a little large/fat. maybe small people look like that (most japanese girls have super thin arms tho)
looking forward to the texturing and animation!

have you done traditional modelling in clay or something also? if so it would be great to see that too.

[ashutoshnaik]

Great work Chadhttp://cgtalk.com/images/smilies/clap.gifhttp://cgtalk.com/images/smilies/clap.gifhttp://cgtalk.com/images/smilies/clap.gif and congrats for getting on the front page!!http://cgtalk.com/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif
Would like to c the WIP images.

[dominicqwek]

Hey Chad, good to see your reel got plugged. As I've said in the past, great models, a pity you could not squeeze in your other models, they look as good too.

All the best in your job hunt.

[damien_kee]

very nice & excellent work!
but, will u get any problem with texture mapping?

[krazeyhorse]

Awesome mate! You deserve to be on the cover!

[fissioneffect]

Just downloaded the reel, cant wait to watch it. The models look great! Good luck with the texturing reel.

[pogonip]

Nice stuff man !

[FunkyCowie]

really nice reel, I really wish I could get to animate something that looks so great as those models. Can`t wait to see your texturing reel and congrats on the front page :)

[pencil-head]

Very cool. Nice work getting on the front page too.
I noticed that your entire reel is momochrome. It would have been cool to see some colour in the graphics or lighting. But since its a modelling reel i guess it doesn't matter.

[fried]

This is top notch modelling. Great.

[ffourier]

amazing work man, very impressive. Your a boss modeler, your my master :)

[StephD]

great reel chad!

it's amazing how fast you progressed, keep going

[Atwooki]

Very well put together reel, Chad; and congratulations too on achieving front page status :thumbsup:
I well remember your 'Forest Djinn' character, and notice that your hard work has resulted in a sharp rise in the modeling skills you've presented here.
I'd agree with Bill's comments on 'weight aand mass', though believe that the centaurs legs(being of an equine nature) are entirely suitable for the character in question.
I thought at first you'd 'ZifClicked' the foliage on monsieur 'Forest Djinn', but see you've smartly utilised PFX to great effect - excellent!
May I also wish you all the best in getting the job you deserve (I know how hard it is, being long-term unemployed myself!)

Chris

[Colbey]

Brilliant work dude, you really get the anatomy right. Absolutely love the way you've incorporated all leaves and branches with the last dude. Amazing stuff.

[Hordak]

great work... can we see the wireframe?

[fr3drik]

I have a question about modeling the dress. :)

When you made the dress, did you make it on top of the naked body mesh, using the body as a reference? ...and in the finished model, is the naked body mesh underneath the clothing ...or did you attach the hands, neck etc to the clothing to make the whole thing one mesh?

Very inspiring and impressive work! I've been very keen on trying out Silo or Modo, as I am still "stuck" with Maya when it comes to modeling. Havn't had time to do it yet though ...and I find it hard to decide which of them to go for. Do you have any tips or pros/cons (if you tried them both I mean) ...

Kind regards,

[chadtheartist]

@frilansspion

Thanks for the critiques! I haven't done much traditional sculpting, although I do a lot of drawing, or at least I use to as it's been awhile since I've done that since I started learning 3D. I'm definitely going to get into doing real clay sculpting someday. As it looks like a nice way to relax and not have to deal with a keyboard! LOL

@ashutoshnaik

Thanks! I'll try and post some WIP on my site when I get a chance to do it. I did a little bit of everything, zsphere's to the topology brush! So I have a lot of WIP stuff to show.

@dom

Thanks man! I didn't really know the limit I should put on my reel. I think as it is three characters was enough to show my abilities. It was a hard decision to make though.

@damien_kee

Thanks! I don't think I will have problems with texturing. It's just going to be a matter of time.

@krazeyhorse

Thank you very much!

@fissioneffect

Thank you, and hopefully I won't have to rely on luck to get the texturing done! :D

@pogonip

Thanks!

@FunkyCowie

Thanks bud, I wouldn't even know where to begin with animating this stuff! LOL

@pencil_head

Thanks. I kept it monochrome mainly to keep the Paint FX from standing out so much. I originally rendered it in color, but desaturated everything in Photoshop. I'll be texturing soon though, so I won't be doing anything like I did for this reel anymore.

@fried

Thank you!

@destroyfred

HAHA! I'm no ones master... yet! LOL Thanks for the compliments.

@Dezz

Thanks! I attribute that speed in learning to people on the net, and on DVD's, teaching there knowledge without constraints. I only wish I knew of this stuff back when I was 18 and wanting to go to college. But that's the way things go, so I am doing all I can to pick it up now.

@Atwooki

Thanks man! What is zifclicked? I've never heard that before.

@Colbey

Thanks! The leaves and branches where pretty easy to setup. That's actually one of the reasons why I bought Maya, as it's Paint FX stuff wasn't available in other packages. They have a lot of potential, from hair to trees! I'm definitely going to get Ethan's DVD's on Paint FX as soon as I can afford it.

@Hordak

I'm going to try sometime this week, or maybe this weekend and put up a WIP gallery of these models. I didn't expect this to all happen so quickly, so I was caught a little unprepared with the plug! I'm not complaining though! LOL

Here is one shot of a higher-res version of the Rhomhrn character:

http://homepage.mac.com/chadtheartist/.Pictures/rhomtest.jpg

@Fredrik Averpil

The way I do clothing is pretty much as you described it. I find it easier to make the anatomical character 100% first, and then go in and make the clothes. I use the topology brush to make the clothes, basically by drawing on top of the body and then generating the mesh. Then it's just the normal extrude, connect, split etc... functions to get a good indication of what I want. Then I subdivide it it match the level of detail of the body, then pull that into Zbrush to reconstruct the mesh and start sculpting the clothes.

As far as the difference between Silo and Modo, I don't really know. I'm on a limited budget, so all I can really afford right now is Silo. But Modo has some really great tools that I think are very beneficial to modeling too. My advice is just try out the demo's and see for yourself. But as far as I'm concerned Silo is a lot better at polygon modeling than Maya. I haven't tried any poly plugins for Maya though, so maybe Byron's Poly Tools are OK?

-------------------

Thanks for all the help and compliments everyone! I appreciate them very much.

Chad

[Eddie_rossi]

That djinn is just mind blowing OMG! :)

[Andy1010]

Chad I've seen your work for about a year now, and man it just keeps getting better and better. Your traditional art background serves you well as a modeler. I know that you will go far in the industry :) Your characters are so orginal, and well thought out. Congrats on the front page, you deserve it.

[oxyg3n]

Nice characters, I enjoyed the one with the branches the most.

[joshin42]

WOW! :scream: The topology of your models is absolutely stunning! Very clean and detailed. Work like yours is really an inspiration to keep practicing. I'm also self taught and your skills are a thing to aspire to! Thanks for a great reel (including the superb lil music production :buttrock: ) and keep up the great work!

[Atwooki]

Hi Chad -

What is zifclicked?
Zif Click will let you Point and click new zsphere nodes, or draw them with a brush. It will also enable you to copy part of your model and then replicate it anywhere else, even onto another separate model. Zif Click will allow you to work with Branches of the Zsphere Tree, which means the node that you have selected and any associated Children of that node. You can Copy, Move, Rotate, Delete, Transverse or Scale that Branch independently of the rest of the model. Zif Click will also let you change the Root Node of your object. Control the Membrane, Twist and XYZ Resolution of nodes or Branches of nodes with a click of a buton or menu.

You will be able to precisely Scale, Space, Rotate and Move individual Nodes or Branches of nodes. This is very difficult to achieve with precision when creating Zsphere models by hand.

Zif Click 2.0 Beta
courtesy of the great Digits, available from here:
http://206.145.80.239/zbc/showthread.php?t=22899&highlight=zifClick

BTW - on reading back in the thread; you're too humble ;) it's great to see the new heights your works have reached :thumbsup:

[leigh]

Masterful work! You shouldn't have any problems finding work (I noticed you're looking in your user title above your avatar).

:thumbsup:

I know we're looking for a some new modelers here, preferably using Maya :) ;)

[Nummos]

Outstanding and gorgeous work!

I have a few questions regarding your UV'ing and texture process. (If you do.)

I myself UV using SoftImage then transferr over to BodyPaint 2, the process takes me some time but its well worth it and the end results are amazing for me.

1. Do you use ZBrush(2) to unwrap and normal map?
2. What do you use to paint?
3. Do you include texture, specular, and a bump layer while painting?
4. Whats the poly count of those models?

Overall whats your process for UV'ing and texture creation?

[the_WrongChoice]

Chad, ! ! well!
Yesterday before falling asleep i thought that i havent seen your stuff lately, would be necessary to check your site, you could already have finished the reel!
And here I wake up, I look on cgtalk.com and you are on the first page!
WOW !
Well, this is very cool ! :)
I am very happy and glad for you! I wish you all best! You are a great inspiration for me! you made my day !

[fr3drik]

The way I do clothing is pretty much as you described it. I find it easier to make the anatomical character 100% first, and then go in and make the clothes. I use the topology brush to make the clothes, basically by drawing on top of the body and then generating the mesh. Then it's just the normal extrude, connect, split etc... functions to get a good indication of what I want. Then I subdivide it it match the level of detail of the body, then pull that into Zbrush to reconstruct the mesh and start sculpting the clothes.

As far as the difference between Silo and Modo, I don't really know. I'm on a limited budget, so all I can really afford right now is Silo. But Modo has some really great tools that I think are very beneficial to modeling too. My advice is just try out the demo's and see for yourself. But as far as I'm concerned Silo is a lot better at polygon modeling than Maya. I haven't tried any poly plugins for Maya though, so maybe Byron's Poly Tools are OK?


I gotta check out Silo and that topology brush. Thanks for the info! :)

[Ecleposs]

great work ..really awesome

keep it up dude:thumbsup:

[loocas]

Very nice reel indeed! Very good models! :thumbsup:

[DorisDay]

Awesome detail, modelling perfection, well deserved top row...:thumbsup:

[southern]

You have some serious talent in those fingers Chad, and inspiration in every post. Awesome modeling and I have no doubt when you turn your hand to it the texturing will be of equal quality. Well done all round.

S

[abgrafx3d]

beautiful - definitely top notch! congrats on front page :buttrock:

[Arcon]

overall nice work, but i agree completely with tame2000; on the japanese woman i think the arms (forearms especially) are way out of proportion with the chest/neck, which is given the impression of looking impossibly skinny. the hands/fingers look a little chubby also. toes/feet ends might need a bit of work but its hard to tell at that rez.

heh it sounds like i'm being really picky but don't take it personally, u could go all the way as a modeller, but to make it as a realistic modeller matching realism is the key thing, and the female could benefit from studying reference material a bit more.

[freewishman]

Yeah!!! Awesome!! Your mod' skills are great!!! Can't wait to download the vid'!!! Keep it that way!!

[mehdianim]

Yeah on your rell the way the close up model turns is a little annoying as it jerks right at the end then goes backward so we never get a good look at the face. You should have sections of your reel focus on areas of interest : face, hands, other detail you think is worth a closer look.

Awesome models though ! no crits on the work itself, just keep at it.

[Micro26]

Fanstastic work and so inspiring modeling.Keep it up and cant wait to see more from u
:thumbsup:

[chadtheartist]

@Eddie_rossi

Thanks!

@Andy1010

Yeah, I think I've finally gotten the hang of this 3D modeling stuff. I'm sure my traditional background has helped with my learning. I'm eager to start branching out into other 3D related things now.

@oxyg3n

Thanks, and I too like the design of him!

@joshin42

Thanks! If it wasn't for other people posting their work online I wouldn't be as far as I am now. So I'm glad I can contribute something, being that I learned from so many others. And don't thank me for the music, I didn't do it. It's a Prince song that I thought fit well with the models.

@Atwooki

Ahhhh! I've used that before, but not on this model. I thought you were talking about something inside of Maya! LOL Thanks for posting that link though, as I'm sure other people might like to see it too! It's a really awesome utility that adds to the already awesome zsphere's.

I can't help being humble. It's much better than being boastful IMO. I've found that this way keeps my head from swelling too much! LOL

@Leigh

Thanks, and hopefully the "looking for work" thing will be remedied soon. ;)

@Nummos

1. Do you use ZBrush(2) to unwrap and normal map?
2. What do you use to paint?
3. Do you include texture, specular, and a bump layer while painting?
4. Whats the poly count of those models?

Overall whats your process for UV'ing and texture creation?

1. I use Maya for UV layouts. For these models I just used one 0,1 UV set. If I was to do a lot more detail for these models I would have broken the UV's into multiple UV sets to maximise the displacement maps.

2. I haven't really gotten into painting yet. But I will be using a combination of Zbrush, Maya and Photoshop to paint. I'd love to use Bodypaint but right now I'm at the limit of what I can afford as far as 3D apps.

3. I bought Paul Campion's texturing DVD, so I'm probably going to start out using a workflow like he has. I can't remember exactly how it went, as I just skimmed through it so far, but he does some interesting things with texturing that I never thought of before. So I don't really know now the best route to take with painting textures.

4. I can get back to you on this, but just off the top of my head I think the average base model is around 10,000 polygons, counting all the small elements that are around the model. The Forest Djinn is a lot higher than that though. The fully sculpted models all were about 200,000 to 400,000 polygons fully sculpted. I didn't get into a lot of smaller detail sculpting yet, as I plan to do that at the same time I texture.

What I would like to do is incorporate Blender into my UV'ing workflow. It's new mapping system is pretty good, I just haven't had the time to really work with it yet. And I haven't really figured out a process for texture creation. I will be doing that soon enough though.

@the_WrongChoice

Thanks, and I'm glad that you enjoyed the reel. :D

@Fredrik Averpil

Yup, I like the topology brush a lot. It's not a "fix" for topology like some people think of it. It's more of a new way of adding to your normal modeling tools. Silo looks like it's getting some cool new things soon as well.

@Ecleposs

Thanks, and I plan to keep on trucking with this stuff! I'm glad I got this first reel out of the way. Now I can start working on another one, but better! LOL

@loocas

Thank you very much!

@Buckie

HAHA, thanks!

@southern

Thanks Glen! I remember a few years ago buying a book that had some of your tutorials in it. I had no idea what Zbrush was, but I knew your work kicked butt! You were one of the main reasons why I picked up Zbrush, so thanks for the inspiration too. I'm hoping to start on some texturing stuff soon, so we'll see how that goes soon enough!

@abgrafx3d

Thanks! What part of Alabama are you from? I use to live in Huntsville for awhile. Very strange winters there!

@Arcon

No worries at all! I appreciate all critiques and I am definitely going to watch out for that in the future. Now that you pointed it out I see it too! Thanks for the help.

@freewishman

Thanks! I hope you liked it.

@mehdianim

Yeah, being that this was the first time I did a reel I found that I should have planned out the renders much better. I agree with the jerkiness, and I almost decided to redo how that worked, but it would have taken a lot longer for me to render it out, and I decided to just leave it as is. I have to fix a few things with the reel too, so I may go back in and redo that part of the reel. It may be awhile before I get to it though as it's gotten pretty crazy for me right now.

@Mr Micro26

Thanks, and I'm hoping to have my next idea for a model (for my texturing reel) up tomorrow. I'm doing concepts for it first though, so it may be a week before I actually get into modeling.

---------------------------------

Thanks again everyone for all of the responses. I'm grateful for the critiques, and for all the encouragement.

Chad

[MattH]

First thing... amazing work. My hat is off to you. I can not wait to see a texture reel from you.

Second thing... In my humble opinion your otherwise well presented reel suffers from a misspelling that stays on screen for 90% of the video.

Your reel says “3d Digital Sculpter”, when it should be spelled “Sculptor”.

Just something that I thought I would point out.

If you want, I’ll trade you my spelling for your modeling. :thumbsup:


Cheers!

[kmest]

wow..nice and powerfull models you've made....i hope you find a good job soon cause you deserve it:thumbsup:

[chadtheartist]

@Moonlit Matt

Yup! I kind fellow pointed this out to me a few days ago. It's all over my site too, so my stupidity abounds! LOL

I'm going to try and get this rerendered this week sometime, but I'm not certain I'll be able too. But I will definitely have it fixed when I start sending out hard copies of this.

Trading spelling for modeling... I'll have to think about that one! LOL

@kmest

Thanks, and I hope so too!

[cg_sprite]

Stunning, well done on a great reel :) ***** from me :)

[Timex]

cool models :D, i can't hope to see the others.

[the_podman]

I know what you mean about the texturing. There are times that you just want to get past all the mapping and start painting.

Have you fellows considered using DeepUV or Unfold3d (http://www.polygonal-design.fr/e_unfold/Doc/tutoriel.htm)? They are pretty good at cutting down on the tedious time of UVing.


Great reel! Models are really detailed? The topology brush in Silo is convincing me to make the jump from Maya to Silo for modeling. It's an easy jump seeing Silo feels exactly like Maya but with some extra tools and a better poly split tool.

[chikos]

Great reel Chad, bright future awaits you;). Can't wait for the texturing reel.

[losttogether]

Very nice details man. its verty creative too. wish can see those work with texture. Good job:thumbsup:

[StephanD]

Wow Chad,good stuff.

This is definitely breakthrough-class work.

I'd wish you luck,but with that talent,you don't need any!

Later

[allenatl]

Have you fellows considered using DeepUV or Unfold3d? They are pretty good at cutting down on the tedious time of UVing.

Would love to get my hands on something like that, but at the same time, for starting out with UV texturing, I think it's pretty important to learn how to use the tools that are within the program first, for better or worst. Then decide if it's worth the extra expense for the add-ons.

Don't think it's going to be a problem for Chad, though, because he'll probably have that full-time job before he gets to that texturing reel.

[Room335]

chadtheartist

Love your work and demo!!! It'll be nice to continue to watch your progress. :thumbsup:

chadtheartist said "What I would like to do is incorporate Blender into my UV'ing workflow. It's new mapping system is pretty good, I just haven't had the time to really work with it yet. And I haven't really figured out a process for texture creation. I will be doing that soon enough though"

Here's a link to a tutorial video by Greybeard explaining the Blender UV LSCM, pining etc...

http://www.ibiblio.org/bvidtute/ A great start and quick learning curve.

Here's some other links at http://www.elysiun.com (http://www.elysiun.com/) a Blender specific forum, you'll find a lot more information on Blender there than at Cgtalk. Also here at Blender's site http://www.blender3d.org/cms/UV_Unwrapping.363.0.html

A more recent thread http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=44334

I'm very interested in seeing what you come up with on the unwrapping. Hope this helps.

I'm not even close to your level of modeling so keep that in mind with my following comment. I've tried my hand at modelling a human head. In Blender, it seems to me that it's important not to have any triangles or poles. They seem to play havac with UV unwrapping in Blender. Another problem I incurred is the nose. In order to get the nose to not stretch you have to lay it out flat but this distorts the rest of the unwrap picture. Like I said, this is coming from a novice maybe there's a better way of doing it that I havent seen yet.

One other link http://www.silentthunder.de/files/blenderintel.zip This is Blender 2.37 Intel optimized = rendering speed increase 30-40% over Blender 2.37 regular version.

[robinhood]

great work dude..its so nice

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