Stylised hair

This is fractionally closer to what I'm aiming for but only when the model's not smoothed - time for another test.

Hair Test

A first tryout of the snake hook tool in zbrush to sculpt stylised hair. Not really what I'm aiming for! Time to try a different approach.

Duplicate Special!

Just figured out a really useful option in maya :)

I'd got used to using the sculpting symetry function in zbrush whereby any changes I make get applied to both sides of the model.

So in maya I found the "duplicate special" option in the edit menu and hey presto my changes get applied symmetrically. Hooray!

Reference: Skoda Ad

I'm still developing ideas for both the story and the final look: I had thought of using realistic paper textures and an animation style based on origami, however, I'm now thinking that this has been used too much recently. There are some amazing examples out there (see below and the Asics ad earlier on the blog). Rather than creating a pale imitation of these I think I'll try to develop my look down a different stylised route.

Modelling: Jacket

For some reason I had a total nightmare with the topography for the writer's jacket . . . . you can see some of my early attempts below.

It was confusing trying to get the right shape for the object whilst at the same time trying to get the polys to flow in a way that would enable me to add the creases at a later date.

I've now got a version that I'm more or less happy with (see previous post for an image of this) so fingers crossed that it holds up as I progress along the pipeline.

Here are the attempts that didn't make it!

Modelling: Writer

Having made a start on the head in ZBrush I then decided to get working on the body. I was lucky to be able to adapt existing assets for the shirt and tie, but approached the trousers and jacket from scratch (more on the jacket later!)

Below are a couple of images showing where the modelling is up to.

There's still quite a lot to do in maya (create hair as separate object, add thickness to edge of jacket, mirror jacket and trousers, add pencil detail to hands etc etc.)

Once that is done I intend to UV the assets and then take them into ZBrush to sculpt some of the creases and other details, and also to generate further detail with displacement & normal maps.

Modelling: Writer

I've been using my placement at Axis Animation to learn some new software for modelling. The pipeline I intend to use is ZBrush and Maya for modelling (going between the two applications as appropriate) and then using the higher subdivision levels in ZBrush to create normal and displacement maps.

As a first step I took a universal "head basemesh" available at the studio and sculpted it in ZBrush to get a better likeness of my characters - see screengrabs below for my progress:

Character Design: Writer

Weerawat helped me finish my character design for the writer so that I could begin modelling. Front and side views below.

Origami Stop Motion

One of the themes in my proposed narrative is the power of stories and the written word. One way to illustrate this through animation is to show pages of text literally coming to life. I was inspired by the Asics ad posted previously () and my stop motion tests to try some origami-based animation. The animation itself wasn't overly successful (more inbetweens needed as much of the motion is getting lost) but I'm keen to explore this avenue further.

More Animation Tests

I was playing round with some stop-frame animation the other day. Again, I can't yet relate this directly to my program of study - but there is inherent value in testing out a different form of animation.