Hi everyone
After browsing the forums for a couple of days, I decided to try this challenge. It’s the first challenge I attend, so I hope I can keep up 
I want to model the concept character of the queen made by Robert Ortiz:
I’m looking forward to this challenge and to see what everyone is coming up with. Good luck to all 
The base mesh for the queen character is now ready for zbrush:
I will add detail (like goggles) after zbrush, so it will fit the base mesh better.
Alright, I removed the texture from the boots - it didn’t really fit what I intended. But I modelled the boots a little more, and think they are done for now:
Hey pal,
I guess you are not following the concept? The boots are quite different. Plus looking like a very, very old boots.
Have fun!
Cheers.
Hi menthol. Thanks for the feedback
No, with the boots i deviate from the concept sketch - but I think it’ll be the only place where I’ll do something else. As a look at the boots again, I can see what you mean by that they look very old. Don’t quite know what to do about it, though. I think I’ll leave it for a little while and come back to them.
I’m not trying to be rude, just trying to help, but I find your zbrush work to be a little sloppy. high freq bump detail seems way too strong, and your edges are bleeding into eachother…possibly due to anti-aliasing on the disp map at render time. Based on the zbrush model, though, it seems like you just went lazy with the brush. Try using a mask for the straps, instead of using a brush…this way you can isolate a perfectly rectangular area, then you can pull them out with clay brush for a more even reslult. Once you have a good shape, then you can add variation to the straps with the move brush and it will look more natural.
Hope that helps. Keep it up.
-Rage
Hi Rage
Thanks for your comments. I’m still fairly new to zbrush, so I need practice on some good techniques. Your workflow sounds very promising, so I will try it out - perhaps with a different boot design. Perhaps also the antialiasing at rendertime needs to be worked at.
By the way, I don’t think you’re rude. You state your opinion, and suggest a solution. I’m very greatfull for that, so I can get better :-). I would think you’d be rude if you just said it was bad, without any improvement suggestions - but luckly you didn’t
Hey Wagga, if you are new to ZBrush then maybe this will help you.
A good option to counter this is by using the Lazy Brush. (Appropriate name) Hit the “L” key and it will smooth out your stroke by averaging your movements.
Another option for this after you mask is to use the Layer Brush. The Layer Brush will pull out everything to the same exact height provided its in the same stroke. You have to vary the strength though or it will pull it waaayyyyy out. 
Good luck.
Hi WyattHarris
Thanks a lot - I didn’t know about the lazy brush. It seems it will come in handy, and I won’t have to redo so many strokes :-)… - and I will definitely also work some more with the layer brush.
I tried to redo the boots - this time some longer boots, which resembles the concept art:
I would really like your opinion on this - is it better than the first pair of boots?
Also, I seem to have a problem when loading the displacement- and normal-map into Maya. The details are not as crisp as in Zbrush:
What is causing this? Anti-aliasing of the maps? (I’m using tiff-files with no-compression). How is this fixed?
Thanks for all your comment
It got a little better when increasing the subdivisions on the subdivision approximation node (but the render also took 5 times longer):
But still not quite as good as I had hoped. Is it possible to make it better? Thanks.
If you need ortho images of the character I can sketch them.
Looking forward to more
-R
No problem, glad to help.
Much better! Your transitions are much cleaner now. Typically when you can’t get a smooth sculpt because of the poly flow, either you need to retopologize or you need more polygons. I don’t know if you are starting with a base mesh but that’s the point when you need to think about your flow. The cleaner it is, the easier your time will be in ZB.
As for Maya, I don’t know enough about it but here is the link to Pixologic’s guide. ZB to Maya
Much better! Your transitions are much cleaner now. Typically when you can’t get a smooth sculpt because of the poly flow, either you need to retopologize or you need more polygons. I don’t know if you are starting with a base mesh but that’s the point when you need to think about your flow. The cleaner it is, the easier your time will be in ZB.
Thanks. Yes - I did it from a base mesh made i Maya. In hindsight I can see that my topology doesn’t really flow as it should. But it works ok, and now I know more about for next time.
As for Maya, I don’t know enough about it but here is the link to Pixologic’s guide. ZB to Maya
Thanks for the link - I found a solution to the problem there. Changing my subdivision approximation method from parametric to spatial did the trick
@RobertoOrtiz:That would be extremely cool if you could do that. But only do it if you have the time and the interest, - right now I'm modeling mostly from your two concepts (mostly the left one, which I also intend to be the final composition):
[img]http://www.wagga.dk/QOTR/concepts.jpg[/img]Alright, the gun is pretty much done:
It’s basically a Colt modified a bit to fit the concept drawing.
New boots look much better. Huge improvement.
Maya is a really long time for me, but some where on your image map node for the displacement If I remember correctly there’s a filter value. You can turn it to 0 or really really low like 0.01. Basically that is what antialiases the images (If I remember correctly-I may be wrong).
Good luck.
Ps. It is good practice to always either turn off the filter or turn it very low for all images, unless they are textures that are very low resolution. In my opinion it should be off by default. Essentially, it increases render time and serves only to blend the pixels into eachother a little. On a displacement map it is kind of pointless, as you don’t want to lose any of the detail in your image.
-Rage
Check out these free tuts over at the gnomon workshop. They are a HUGE help and give a ton of information. Ryan Kingslein is a brilliant artist and can give a lot of insight into the functionality of zbrush.
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/category/171/Free-Tutorials-All
-Rage
It’s been a while since I’ve posted (it’s been a while since I’ve done anything on the model), so here’s a little update.
Thanks for the feedback and the link, rage. I’ve watched most of the tuts, and also bought the gnomonology video on sculpting clothing in zbrush. So I tried to apply the teqhniques to the pants:
Here is a view from the intended final pose direction:
c&c are most welcome
OK - did the jacket, and will just post it here before I’ll get some sleep:
C&C’s are most welcome