by Damien Canderle


Start with a PolySphere and block out the general shape and
proportion of the character. Keep your polygon count low in the
beginning and focus on gesture and basic form.


As you sculpt try not to focus on edgeflow or stretched polygons. Design first. Rework topology later.



Our design sculpt is intended to represent around 80% of the
finished model. Its main purpose is to suggest forms that we will later
make more precise. Notice how the plates at the back of the head do not
have sharp edges and that the columns protuding from his head are
stretching the polygons. This is exactly what we are looking for in a
design sculpt. Keep it loose and gestural.



Our design sculpt is finished. Now its time to re-topologize the
model and fine-tune the form. Select a ZSphere and in the Tool: Rigging
sub-palette press Select and choose the Design sculpt from the popup.



Press Tool: Topology: Edit Topology and begin to redraw topology
around the significant forms. For the back of the head those are the
the individual plates and the columns protuding from his helmut. Take
note of the edgeflow so you can see how that impacts further stages of
the sculpt.



Around the face, we create edgeloops for the eyes, nose, mechanical jaw and other elements.



Now, let's project all of the design sculpts detail into the new
topology. Press Project in the Tool: Rigging sub-palette and then press
"A" on the key board of Tool: Adaptive Skin: Preview.



Notice how the new edge flow allows us to get much more refined form
in the mechanical details. While designing this level of form may not
be important to us. When it is, we simply re-topologize the model and
continue.



Here we are continuing to detail the model. For the back of the head
plates we have used the pinch brush with the elevation set above 0. We
have also used the Lazy Mouse to get clean, smooth lines.



Here we have added more detail to the face. We have added wrinkles
and details such as the neck scaring and how the mechanical jaw
interacts with the flesh.



Its the little details that make a character. Details like the nuts, bolts and grommets really help sell the character.



In preparation for painting, we create polygroups. This allows us easily mask off areas such as the mechanical jaw while we texture the organic parts of the face.



The face texture is roughed in. Right now we are looking at the model in Flat Render mode.



The face texture is further defined. The eyes have been painted and
more detail has been added to the nose area as well as veining all
around the face.



Now we are ready to texture the mechanical jaw. For this, we will use ZAppLink
to send the character to Photoshop and do our texturing there. Before
continuing, make sure you have masked the organic facial area. You can
do this by holding down CTRL and clicking on the face area. Make sure
it is darkened before continuing.



Inside of Photoshop we position some metal photoreference and get ready to send it back to ZBrush.



Back in ZBrush and in Flat Render mode we can see the final textures.



Here it is rendered with real-time shadows and a custom MatCap material in the viewport. This is all real-time rendering.


Below is the final sculpt:




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