To sclupt or not to sculpt

[musashidan]

I would say the most important thing to study is anatomy. The reason trad sculptors make such an easy transition to digital sculpting is because they usually have excellent backgrounds in, and extensive knowledge of artistic anatomy.

Rick Baker and Cesar Dacol Jnr. being 2 immediate examples that spring to mind.

[TetraLynx]

Thanks Daniel, that makes sense for any kind of character with a musculature. What about hard surface modeling like vehicles? I'm not sure what kind of anatomy you would study for such a thing to get better at it. The only thing I've found that helps is that most machines are made up of smaller and smaller parts. What gets hard is when that machine is armored so it's one welded surface so it's hard to break down into smaller bits.

[schizofrantic]

Anatomy is about weight and balance and motion more than parts. For objects that don't move it's not hard to model them accurately so long as you have some kind of visual reference, and if it's something you make up and hasn't been specified by someone else it doesn't need to be accurate.

[Bao2]

Sclupt definitely sclupt.

[_vine_]

I think traditional sculpting is a skill that anyone who models in 3d should have some experience with. The trickiest part is making the connection between the two. For example, I use the clay and clay tube brushes almost exclusively in Zbrush, because I come from a traditional background and they feel the most like I'm building up a model by adding material to it. I use the deformation brush as if I'm removing a large mass of material without disrupting the underlying detail.

As you improve at traditional sculpting, find ways to relate the things you learn to 3d and you should definitely improve in your 3d skills. Also, the knowlege from 3d will migrate back into your traditional skills.

[TetraLynx]

Thanks _vine_, i appreciate your words. I'm really starting over here after many years plunking away at software. In hindsight I wish I'd persued traditional art first and then 3D art second but we all find things when we are ready. I wasn't very mature in school and years later at 33 I'm in it at this point to improve my skillset for myself more than going after some starry-eyed career in the field so I have time to learn.

It's good that Zbrush has offered you a more organic experience which you can translate to your clay sculpting experience. We have Mudbox at work, hoping to mess with that this year on side projects.

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