The Journey Begins Challenge (3D) Entry: Eric Maslowski

[safe05]

Here's a quick concept for my entry into the challenge. The idea behind this is a little alien crashed his ship here on Earth. He is now begging for money to fix his ship so he can get home.

[rasamaya]

I like the sketch, very much so!

...but ...I want to feel Journey a little more clearly. but thats just my C&C, lets see more!

[safe05]

Thanks! I agree completely with you about the strength of the concept. Once some things blow over on this end, I hope to either refine this concept or create one that's stronger. Thanks again. :)

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146420715_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146420715_large.jpg)

Here's my revised concept for the challenge. Not sure if I'll be able to finish on time, but should be fun.

Every day is a journey, some good, some bad. When dawn breaks, the journey begins. Here we see a man who hasn't seen many good days and is questioning the start of yet another journey.

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146420923_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146420923_large.jpg)

Modeling the head of our guy. (Will be posting a full video tutorial on his creation once finished.)

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146421010_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146421010_large.jpg)

Added back of head and beginnings of neck.

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146421068_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146421068_large.jpg)

Wire of final head modeling.

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146421174_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146421174_large.jpg)

First stab at texturing him. Did the texturing in ZBrush, but will need to redo parts since I forgot to record this stage for the tutorial. :/

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146421352_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146421352_large.jpg)

Redid a majority of the texture with better UV layout. Still a lot of fixing to do, but hope to get that done soon. The lighting is just a simple HDRI skylight.

[fgdf]

HI. Great modeling and texturing he looks almost like a clone of my country's prime minister
http://www.bankier.pl/static/att/14000/1349047_marcinkiewicz.jpg
If he's your reference make sure this journey lead him far far away
;)

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146435713_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146435713_large.jpg)

Fixed a few of the problems in the color map, did initial bump map for pores, and added some thickness to the eye's lens. Next up, finish the bump map and create the spec map... :)

[safe05]

Hehe. Nope, I try avoid politics whenever possible. :) Thanks for the feedback. Glad you like it. :)

[safe05]

Links to the first few tutorials for the model are up if interested.

Organic Modeling Video Tutorial Series (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=353388)

Cheers

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146697430_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146697430_large.jpg)

Worked on the shader a bit and the bump map. Using a blend material to allow for different shaders/highlights on the hair as opposed to the skin. Will be moving on to the environment for a little bit and then revisit this guy. However, crits certainly welcomed. :)

[alvin-cgi]

the skin texture just wow!! really good job!!:)

The Journey Begins (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=322760&highlight=alvin)
Spectacular 3D (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=275950&highlight=alvin)

[Joblh]

Your model and skin texture look extremely nice!

Maybe give the eye some rendness in the back, and use reflections instead of specularity on the eye :)

[oceanbluesky]

Exceptional Eric! Really subtle, interesting, different but realistic head with personality...especially like the thinning hair. Very well done. Will he eventually have eyelashes or are they necessary?

Fantastsic work! Good luck!

[safe05]

Thanks for the feedback and compliments! :)

Joblh: good call on the eye redness. I'll try adding some more redness and veins. As for the reflection, I'm currently using some fresnel reflection but it's hard to see due to the boring environment. Hopefully, it'll look better once I get the rest of the scene in there. If not, time to paint an environment map.

oceanbluesky: I'll be adding some eyelashes and such pretty soon. I'm still undecided on how I'm going to do them...(rendered splines, quads w/ texture, or photoshop) I'll probably play with this a little over the weekend since he looks a little "naked" without them.

Thanks again!

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146885944_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146885944_large.jpg)

A little concept comp. The render times are killing me on this, so only a small image for now.

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146889764_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1146889764_large.jpg)

Higher res concept sketch.

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1147145692_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1147145692_large.jpg)

roughing out some textures and geometry for the environment.

[Womball]

Really cool style! My only crit is that I'm not sure what type of journey it is.

[safe05]

Thanks, Womball!

I'm a big fan of subtle themes and interpretation of the viewer. I won't be winning any challenges with this approach but I like to make the viewer extract what the journey may be. I personally see a journey as so much more than just traveling somewhere for some reason. I see every struggle, every process, every day as a journey. If I do my job right, I'll get people wondering what journey is my character starting, and they'll be able to come to their own conclusion/interpretation? :)

[soapy]

Looks good so far. I love the look on the guys face. Hurry up and get finishing.

[safe05]

Argh! Too much pressure! Soon, soapy, soon...I still have 18 days. ;) I'm going to see what ZBrush can do for me in the "wall modeling" department next and then start bringing the final pieces together. Thanks for the feedback. :)

[rasamaya]

Hi, great head. The scar looks funny, and the smoke thats not... ha ha just kidding. I like your work so far. Breathe, you have lots of time. Are you going to keep things grayscale? Looks good. All of your concepts are great ideas, are you going to work on any after the challenge? Is that going to be his home on the left. This will be a great practice for imperfections. More stubble and bags under his eyes, yellow smoke stained fingers... GoodLuck.

[safe05]

Thanks David! I plan on keeping this image greyscale. for some reason, the color versions just seem to distract from the theme. It also makes this a little more doable for the challenge. (plus, I'm going to make a stereoscopic 3d version when done so greyscale will make this process even easier)

You're right, this scene is really testing my grime and imperfection skills. Unfortunately, imperfections take a ton of time. Nothing is tileable, and everything turns out being custom. Well, at the end of this, I'll probably have a pretty nice "grime" library. :)

I don't know if I'll be working on any more after the challenge. I would love to make a series of works with this theme, but my plate is looking a little full right now. If I do, I'll definitely post them in the WIP sections here. :)

Cheers

[Gunilla]

Hi Eric! I like your concept and the idea of every day is a journey (some are really long). The modeling and texturing is so nice! I tried to watch your tutorial but could only get the sound, not the video - maybe my player is to old.
Looking forward to see this completed, I enjoyed your M&S entry a lot, good luck :thumbsup:

[ilusiondigital]

Hey hey, this image looks great

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1147404893_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1147404893_large.jpg)

Really wasn't happy with the details of the building so I remodeled/textured a large portion of it paying special attention to the details. Still need to do the roof and other building, but should go quicker now that I have my path down. :)

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1147405293_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1147405293_large.jpg)

Since I'm going black & white, here's the above building in greyscale (didn't adjust levels or anything yet). Also, to the right, is the building minus any diffuse maps.

illusiondigital: thanks! :)

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148012168_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148012168_large.jpg)

Cut-n-Paste of various rendered elements. This is more of a concept than a final comp, but shows many of the little props added, and the general direction I'm going. Still have a lot of little things to do including the lighting, shadows, post, etc. Render times just snuck up and killed me (20+hrs just for rooftop). Crits welcomed. :)

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148012252_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148012252_large.jpg)

Just a few props that were created for the scene.

[Selina42]

Dont know how on earth i missed this thread but this is quite, quite lovely! Really superb work!

[K/K]

First of all i have to say that your work is amazing specially your skin render and secondly i cant thank you enough for your video tutorials thier excellent, they helped me alot in learning how to model the human head, I hope you extend the tutorials in texturimg the head.:)
cheers :thumbsup:

[safe05]

Selina: Thanks for that. I really appreciate it. :)

K/K: Thanks for the kind words. :) Glad you like the tuts. Once this challenge blows over, I need to make some lessons for a class and will continue with videos for: painting textures (color,bump,spec) and creating the eyes. Then it's up to whatever anyone else wants to see.

[sathe]

Hi there safe05, your model has very good topology and the texturing is really good although the skin looks very flat. (Not sure if there is bump in the latest renders). Also try distorting the head so it is not symetrical, it becomes even more noticeable in greyscale ;) and was the model made for the journey begins challenge or just modified to fit in with the challenge?

But have a go at touching the symetry up, i think that will give it a finishing touch.
Finally, i like the colour renders much more than the greyscale so still consider it:P
Good Luck.

[K/K]

cheers Eric :thumbsup: i'll be looking forward to the tuts

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148160676_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148160676_large.jpg)

Starting to bring the bits and pieces together. Guy still needs eyelashes, some mods to the cigarette, some more highlights on the shirt, and color correcting some spots. Crits definitely welcomed. :)

[safe05]

Hey there Sathe. Thanks for the feedback! What you were seeing with the flat skin was probably due to the lack of specular. I used simple HDR lighting for the previous shots which has a tendency to wash out the smaller details. The latest pic has spec/bump/etc in place. The asymmetry is hidden a little due to angle, although it's very subtle to begin with. I'm hoping the dirt and grime on his face will help rough up the symmetry a little more. I'm starting to like the color versions too, we'll see. :shrug:

This guy was created for a few different reasons. My original idea for the challenge was a "homeless" alien beggin for change to get home. I started modeling him, and then decided to make a series of organic modeling video tutorials. Since I wanted the video to go from reference photos to final model, I decided to go human instead. (no alien ref photos since those government fellas stopped by) As I started modeling the head, I visited a friend of mine who lives in the ghetto of Detroit and it got me thinking about everyday life. How each day's a journey (sometimes a real difficult one), yet some still find happiness and optimism when a new one begins...

Thanks again for the crit. :)

[sathe]

No wories although i tink the skin is lacking a stronger bump map. a homeless persons skin would have large pores and indents but your dirt map might fix this.
Some strong shadowing could be very cool on this character also.
Just as long as the modeling was originally planned for the challenge their shoudltn be any probs.
Your character is coming along very nicely though and the Dirty version should suite your theme much better but get some key lighting in there.

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148223628_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148223628_large.jpg)

What you're probably seeing is that the bumps get averaged when the image is resized. Here's a comparison of full-res with one at the res previously posted. As you can see there's plenty of bump there. Maybe I'll accentuate the bumps when creating lower res versions, but since this will be viewed at the high res, I think I'll keep it as is. Thanks for the suggestion, though. :)

As for the pore size, dirt, etc. many people often see the homeless as a guy with the deep pores/wrinkles, scruffy unkept beard, tons of dirt on face, etc. Sure, there are those about, but they're actually more of an exception. Often it's hard to distinguish between a father supporting a wife and several kids on minimum wage and a homeless person. After all, homelessness is often just a result of circumstance. Those we often see on the streets begging for change are often veteran homeless who have lost their pride and will to do better. For every one of them, there are dozens hiding away from the public eye.

I really wanted to avoid any cliches and stereotypes with this one so people might look a little longer/deeper and think about what kind of problems he may be experiencing/getting over, what is keeping him on the roof, etc.

I hope this helps describe the direction I'm going with this and explains some of the subtlety of the characters appearance. :)

Cheers!

[ilusiondigital]

Eric, very good skin texture, overall the lips, this will be great =)

[fgdf]

You're doing impressive work down here!! I think you can still improve eyeballs . I'd say they don't mach to overall quality. I hope it helps!!
cheers

[Gunilla]

Beautiful texturing - the closeup is really impressive :thumbsup:

[Womball]

I second that. Its a very expressive image too!

[safe05]

Thanks for the compliments all! :)

Bartosz: I kind of see what you mean about the eyeballs. Do you have any suggestions on what exactly is lacking? The only thing I see is that they may be too smooth or reflective...not sure. will take a look. :thumbsup:

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148258318_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148258318_large.jpg)

Did a little color correcting for the comp so far.

Two little tricks used for this. First, I rendered the scene using a falloff map assigned to all objects. The map was set to "towards/away" and this gave me a nice "surface aware" gradient for everything facing a particular point. I then used this to create a selection mask in Photoshop so I could alter the exposure & color of the two opposing sides. Making one side brighter/warmer while the other being cold/darker.

Second little tip had to do with the closeup shots. getting a specular map that holds onto all those subtle features of the skin takes forever to render (and hard to create). So, I rendered out just the specular highlights for the guy, gave them their own layer in PS, and tweaked the layer settings. To break up the specular and get those really fine details for closeups, I applied a "texturizer" filter to the specular channel and set the pattern to "sandstone" with the scale set very small. I did the same for the pipe, but used a custom pattern.

[Womball]

He's got a pole coming out of his head! As for eyes, you could add a tube that contours to the lower eyelid. The material of this would be clear, refractive and very specular. This would simulate the collection of water at the bottom of the eye. Also the eye is turning blackish. The redder part of the white of eye should be subtler.

[hhssuu]

Nice modelling and texturing in the character, really nice detail and expression in the face. Nice work! and nice tips on the compositing

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148342881_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148342881_large.jpg)

Fixed up the eyes a bit (veins, eye rim, more spec, etc.), color corrected, tweaked a few spots here and there. Starting to put together background elements, but still have a while to go with it.

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148355249_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148355249_large.jpg)

Dropped in parts of the background and props. Still need to do background buildings, final colors for rooftop, etc. Crits welcomed. :)

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148355336_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148355336_large.jpg)

Here's a closeup of the new eyes. skin around them looks a little dodgy...maybe if there's time at the end...

[Womball]

I still think the red is a tad too strong. But with the other elements in place the bar coming out of his head makes sense.

[safe05]

I tried toning the eyes back even more, but it just seemed to make his eyes too white (especially since he's looking away from the camera). If I have time I'll try repainting the color/bump map for the eye so the "redness" comes from density of veins on the surface of the eye instead of a gradient ramp, but I'm desperately running out of time here. Kind of sucks when real life intrudes. ;)

Thanks for the feedback, though. I'm glad the pole is making more sense since I'm not sure how to respond if it didn't... :)

[Womball]

What you would do for that would change the lighting so that he casts a shadow on the pole. I don't think you need to do that though.

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148445883_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148445883_large.jpg)

Removed the last lighting and color correction changes (wasn't happy with them), and added the wall closest to the character.

[Womball]

You could lighten the eyes a tad in post. It does look improved a lot though. Its your call though!

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148446306_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148446306_large.jpg)

Hello all,
I would love to hear your feedback on three slightly different compositions for this piece. (1)is the same as previous postings, (2) removes the city backdrop to bring him down to ground level by the water, (3) removes the background buildings to open it up towards the sea. Still lots to do in the final 3 days, but would love to hear some opinions on this. Thanks. :)

[PELENG]

Hi safe05, I like your idea and how you are rendering it...
As for me the 2 composition seems to be perfect.
1-is too dark and Im not sure about the composition...
3-is too empty bacground(and also I like how the buildings repeat the form of man)
Anyway, good luck to you!
Im sure everything will be done to the deadline date.:thumbsup:

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148520564_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148520564_large.jpg)

Every day is a journey. Some we're glad they're over, others we never want to end. Whatever our situation, we should just be happy when a new one begins.

[safe05]

Thanks for the feedback Peleng!

Not 100% sure if the above is "the" final or not. I've been fighting a rather annoying illness this past week and it's really taking its toll (judgement, sight, etc.). If I can muster some more "awake time" I'll finish this off. Otherwise, thanks all for visiting and giving your feedback. I've always dug the community here and the ability to get crits from some great artists. I wish they brough back the challenge books so I could have a copy of your, but anyway...Thanks again and good luck!

:beer:

[barbapapa]

looking great man. Good luck. Is one of my favorites

[astroboii]

Hey Eric!

Awesome work buddy and good luck! Final image looks great! :thumbsup:

[safe05]

Thanks! I really appreciate it. :)

[Womball]

This came out really nice! And its so different too! Good luck with the judging. I like the final composition you chose too.

[Gunilla]

Congrats Eric! You made a stunning image here - and with a very unique concept. Good luck with the juding and now time to relax some and celebrate too :thumbsup:

[K/K]

The final image looks awesome:buttrock:
Good luck

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148594879_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148594879_large.jpg)

Looking at the image on some other computers, the dirt on his face came out way too dark. Here's a toned down version.

Description: Every day is a journey. Some we're glad they're over, others we never want to end. Whatever our situation, we should just be happy when a new one begins.

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148595067_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148595067_large.jpg)

Here's the same image just as an Anaglyph stereoscopic image. So, grab those red/blue(cyan) glasses! Red goes over the left eye.

[safe05]

Thanks, guys! Yes, definitely time to relax. :) I really appreciate your comments here. Good luck with the your pics! :buttrock:

[JurajMolcak]

Haha, I just reflexively grab my stereo glasses when I saw this one :thumbsup: Very relaxing image! Love it! Good you toned that dirt - looks "sweet" now. Good luck :cool:

[safe05]

Hehe...wasn't sure if anyone was going to have a pair of those stereo glasses. I feel we're a dying breed. :)

[safe05]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148747093_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10414/10414_1148747093_large.jpg)

Every day is a journey. Some we're glad they're over, others we never want to end. Whatever our situation, we should just be happy when a new one begins.

[Joblh]

Final image looks really neat! i took my 3D glasses and it looks very wicket! How did you render the stereoscopic image out?

or did you just grab the green channel in photoshop and moved it a bit?

Good luck with the voting btw! :)

[safe05]

Thanks Joblh! You can do the stereo effect pretty easily in Photoshop if you have a depth image for your scene.

1) save your depth image to a PSD file
2) open your color image and apply a displace filter to it.
3) set the vertical to 0, and the horizontal to 3-8. The horizontal offset will take some testing. too much and you get nasty artifacts on the seams.
4) click ok and choose your depth image for the offset
5) copy the result to a new image
6) undo your original color image to before the displace filter and apply a new one.
7) use the same settings just negate the horizontal value you used before.
8) you now have images for the left/right eyes.
9) just copy the color information for the left eye and paste it into the "red channel" of the other image.

This allows you to keep some color information in there and works well with the red/cyan glasses which are replacing the traditional red/blue. Have fun! :)

[soapy]

Great finish Eric, your image has its own unique surface and mood to it. Great work on the textures. The 3d stereo image idea is kool, I wish I had a set of the glasses to view it. Good luck. :-)

[mdavid]

Wow! When you do 3D you really do 3D. Cool idea to do the stereo. I don't have any of those glasses either but I'm thinking I should change that. Really nice final - beautifully handled - and I like your story/message that goes with it too

[Joblh]

thanks alot safeo5, great technique! :applause:

step 6 and 7 seemed to mix it up for me, so i tried to just copy the normal image into the red channel of the distored image and that did work :)

[Silgrin]

Heheheh... The expression of this guy is excellent:thumbsup: Pity I didn`t pay enough attention to your thread earlier...

[safe05]

Soapy: Thanks! When I made my first Anaglyph image and saw how easy it was for images, I was hooked.

mdavid: Wow, man. Thanks for the compliments! I really appreciate it. In many ways I wanted to submit the Anaglyph version for the final judging, but you never now what the judges have on their desks. :)

Joblh: Cool! got anything you want to show. ;) You might want to give 6&7 another try since you're really only offsetting one eye. For scenes with a large difference in depth this can make the image look a little "off". Also, if you're getting some messy artifacts on the edges of objects in your image, you can fix this by slightly bluring the depth map.

Silgrin: Thanks for stopping by! :)

[Joblh]

Thanks, it's got even more depth now! I didn't understood the negative thingy till now. Thanks for the tips :)

here's the pic.. i don't wanna mess up your thread though :P
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/5041/stereoscopic8aa.jpg

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