In this class, we were tasked with blocking out multiple characters then choosing two of them to finalize throughout the month. In this project, I found that using ZSpheres worked best for blocking out characters and establishing their silhouette. Dynamesh did not work for me in the block out phase because it was a lot more difficult to establish solid and smooth forms.
Asset 1 Reference and Block Out
Asset 2 Reference and Block Out
Once the basic silhouette was established, we had to separate objects, create clothing and push secondary forms. This was a lot harder for me than it should have been because I already had major clothing edges in my block out which caused me to get odd-shaped extractions. What I will do differently next time I model a character is make sure that my block outs don't have excess detail so I won't have to backtrack and smooth the shape when trying to extract clothing.
Asset 1 - Secondary Forms
Asset 2 - Secondary Forms
Finally, the last two weeks of class were spent working on secondary details, props, and hair. The only major issue I encountered was towards the end when importing Asset 1 into Maya. After decimating the pieces and importing, some pieces of the hair had black spots due to back-faces overlapping with front-faces. I attempted to fix this by building up and moving the back-faces, but unfortunately this would ruin the entire object since there was not much thickness to it. Fortunately, I avoided this problem with the Asset 2 hair by extracting thicker pieces.
Asset 1 - Final
Asset 2 - Final
Besides the black spots in the Asset 1 hair (which is only a problem in Maya, not Zbrush), I am surprised and extremely proud of what I was able to accomplish in this class. I see small issues like rugged edges and facial features that could have been shaped better, and the hair detail is also a bit blocky. Overall though, I think this was a successful project and I hope to avoid these issues in my future projects.
