206 réponses à ce sujet

[Calister68]

looks very good! now also skin it to the human skeleton so that it can transform into an animated statue

 

That's something I still have to learn

[rjshae]

It's probably possible to build a near facsimile using an armored human with an invisible head setting and an SEF skin. (Would the skin override the invisible head? Not sure.) Or perhaps a reskin of one of the DMCB models?

[Calister68]

I spent the last two weeks learning a new tool I always wanted to use : zbrush. I've seen all the amazing models created by some builders, and I felt somewhat limited by the possibilities of gmax.

 

So I started to watch some tutorials, and I slowly learned how to use this new tool. It's not so complicate, but if you come from the gmax/3dsmax universe like me, the first contact with zbrush is a little bit disturbing, as it's a totally different philosophy.

 

I finally managed to sculpt my first model, which is a gargoyle statue, inspired by a very nice one I saw on turbosquid. Sculpting the model is not difficult : zbrush is an amazing tool to build organic shapes, and once you understand how it works, creating what you want is a breeze.

 

As I expected, the following steps were less easy, and I had to go through some funny work, like making uvs, baking a normal map...  I had absolutely no idea how to do this some days ago . But again, I found useful tutorials on internet.

 

So here is my statue :

 

Screen 1 - in game.

Screen 2 - close view of the face.

Screen 3 - the back. (I love this tail )

Screen 4 - the high poly model I sculpted in zbrush.

Oh, and... don't forget the dwarf !

 

This is a 6k polygons model. It still need some polishing, but I'm happy with this first try. I think I'll separate the statues I made from the tileset, and create a different pack.

 

[Tchos]

Wow!

[Kanis-Greataxe]

Very nice looking!!!

[PJ156]

That's disturbingly ugly

 

Good job well done I would say. I had always thought that z brush was another tool like paint or gimp. It's a modeling tool in its own right?

 

PJ 

[Calister68]

Yes, it's a professional modeling tool, particulary efficient to build organic models, like humans, animals, creatures... Iamdeathcomeforthee made his cyclop with this tool, if I'm not mistaken.

 

The only issue for me is that zbrush is designed to work with millions of polygons, so it's a little bit frustrating having to cut down these huge amounts, and thus loosing a great deal of details, to make it fit for the nwn2 engine.

[4760]

Wow! Really nice!

[-Semper-]

The only issue for me is that zbrush is designed to work with millions of polygons, so it's a little bit frustrating having to cut down these huge amounts, and thus loosing a great deal of details, to make it fit for the nwn2 engine.

 

the job of the normal map is to create the impression that this amount of detail is still there

[Calister68]

the job of the normal map is to create the impression that this amount of detail is still there

 

yep, that's what I discovered

However, applying a normal map is not enough to render certain details, depending on the lighting of your model. That's why I prefer to paint the texture in order to enhance the volumes, the shaded parts or the glowing areas.

 

I just finished a new model, which is a... dragon statue ! I'm not sure, but this one could be the first dragon statue appearing in the nwn2 universe -which is quite strange for a d&d game...

 

Ok, so here is the beast :

 

Screen 1

Screen 2, side

Screen 3, back

Screen 4, in game

 

I took inspiration from Peryite, one of the daedric princes of the Elder scrolls. There's a shrine dedicated to this dragon-shaped daedra lord in Oblivion (but not in Skyrim, I think). I like the original shape of this dragon, which is quite different from the usual dragons depicted as a pile of claws, horns and fangs.

 

For those interested, you can see here the different stages of creation of this model in zbrush. Hope you like it !

[4760]

Nice work! Too bad I don't have ZBrush, it seems most of the new model are started in ZBrush and finalized in Blender or Max.

I like to see a different dragon shape too.

[-Semper-]

for the record: you don't need zbrush. free alternatives are sculptris and blender sculpting. there's also 3dcoat (prof 380$/edu 99$) as an alternative. while zbrush's brush engine feels slightly better, 3dcoat is way more powerful in other ways (real texture painting in uv space, paint layers with real time blending like photoshop, voxels, "cage" baking, world class retopo, real uv editor, normal map/spec map painting, lattice deformer, way more powerful primitive tools, and tons of other useful stuff).

[Happycrow]

Tangent:

 

How hard is the 3d-coat-->nwn2 workflow, Semper? I've looked at that software repeatedly b/c it looked like it would be useful for retexturing game assets, but I've been leery of plunking down loots without knowing whether it would really be compatible.

[Tchos]

I know well the statue of Peryite.  This will be a good placeable to use to transport someone to a pocket dimension. 

[-Semper-]

3dcoat plays nice with photoshop (perhaps even gimp as long as it can edit psd files) and there's a live connection between both programs. 3dcoat handles dds files and can im- and export them without issues. within 3dcoat you can paint in layers and blend them in real time in the viewport. there's even ptex. that should be everything a texturing pipeline demands

 

if you want to create models you can export them as obj (dunno if fbx is supported) and import them to blender/gmax to use the specific nwn2 exporters.

[Happycrow]

Thanks.

 

Cosecant!

[Calister68]

Interesting dicussion... I've decided to learn to work with zbrush because, as far as I know, a lot of developpers are using this tool, in association with Maya (which I don't know). For me, zbrush proved to be perfect to create models for nwn2, dispite the fact that it's supposed to make millions of polygons models.

 

The only problem I have is the painting of the textures. I paint directly on the models in 3ds max, but it's not really precise. Maybe I'll try the polypaint in zbrush, although I've no idea if it's efficient enough...

[-Semper-]

yup, nothing wrong with zbrush - it's not for nothing the industry standard

while i love the way the whole scultping/brushing engine works, texture painting is ignored way too much by pixologic. there's only vertex painting and that's totally a dead end if you're working with low poly models. you have to subdivide them up to millions (without smooth to keep the model's boundaries) to get a picture's resolution. painting in layers is also very wonky and there's no blending of layers.

zbrush is very weak and needlessly annoying while retopoing. dunno if there's something new on that front coming for r7 - but until then it's better to use topogun or any other 3d modeler.

 

btw don't hesitate to ask questions about zbrush if there are any. been using it on an off since vers 2.

[Calister68]

Oh yes, I have a lot of questions, Semper, I use zbrush like a total newbie, and I still discover new things every time I start it.

 

For example, what is the best method to make a clean uv map ? I'm using the uv master tool, and it does a very decent job, even if the resulting map looks like a dead animal crushed by a truck Painting this kind of map in photoshop, with all these polygons scattered everywhere, proved to be very difficult, if not impossible...

 

An other questions : how do you cut down the poly count of your models ? I use decimation master, and it seems to be efficient enough, but is there a best way to do this ? I know nothing about retopologizing, is it worth using it ?

[-Semper-]

first rule: don't use uv master if you're planning to do manual touch up or assets for games. it's good to visualize concept models or flat renders, but not so great for the majority of uv magic necessary to get the most out of your texture resolution. if you don't change any settings in the uv master rollout it takes your polygroups as uv islands. you could also protect parts of your model to not be split by seams, or you can manually paint seams. youtube and zbrush's classroom is full of videos to get you started on that topic.

 

what zbrush doesn't support, but what's very crucial in game art, is mirrored uv islands. if your models is symmetrical, either in parts or in whole, you can mirror those uv islands so that there's more space for the rest. so if one half of your model is identical to the other one, it's enough to texture only one half which is then mirrored accross to the other side. it's best practice to push the mirrored uv islands exactly one unit in either the u or the v axis to avoid overlapping. else you will encounter baking issues if you later create your texture maps (normal, ambient occlusion, cavity, etc).

 

to answer your question i would unwrap your model in 3dsmax. dunno which version you have access to, but since vers. 9+ pelt mapping and relaxing was integrated. you could install textools which is a great collection of unwrap scripts to help you in the process. if you need a on-click solution you could either learn blender (which has a marvelous uv editor - downside is that you have to learn and to integrate another tool in your pipeline) or buy a plugin for 3dsmax called xray unwrap. it's very cheap and emulates blender's tools within max.

 

retopologizing means that you alter the topology (the order of the polygons) of your model. decimation master was zbrush's own autoretopo feature before qremesher/zremesher was introduced. there's also the option to manually retopologize your model with the help of tiny zspheres. actually decimation master was used to introduce a one-click solution to get your millions poly sculpt into other packages (like for retopo or rendering). it produces a heavy triangulated mesh which could be used as a game ready model as long as it's a static object. it's still a very bad mesh regarding smoothing groups. imo i would ignore decimation master but for transfering your model from one application to another.

to get the hang of retopo play around with zremesher (always clone your model before!) which you can find under the geometry tab. it still produces rather dense meshes (not the best solution for an old engine like nwn2) but at least those are in most cases production ready.

 

the perfect solution is manual retopo. take the decimated model into 3dsmax and use the polyboost feature (3dsmax 2010+). the process can be seen here.

there's also a nice cheap plugin called wrapit for 3dsmax 2009-2012 to greatly improve the workflow. there's also the option to use blender which is neat too. you could also mix and match different approaches, like initially using zremesher and later manually touching up the messed up parts in 3dsmax. this way you don't have to retopo the whole model.

[Dann-J]

yep, that's what I discovered

However, applying a normal map is not enough to render certain details, depending on the lighting of your model. That's why I prefer to paint the texture in order to enhance the volumes, the shaded parts or the glowing areas.

 

I just finished a new model, which is a... dragon statue ! I'm not sure, but this one could be the first dragon statue appearing in the nwn2 universe -which is quite strange for a d&d game...

 

Ok, so here is the beast :

 

Screen 1

Screen 2, side

Screen 3, back

Screen 4, in game

 

I took inspiration from Peryite, one of the daedric princes of the Elder scrolls. There's a shrine dedicated to this dragon-shaped daedra lord in Oblivion (but not in Skyrim, I think). I like the original shape of this dragon, which is quite different from the usual dragons depicted as a pile of claws, horns and fangs.

 

For those interested, you can see here the different stages of creation of this model in zbrush. Hope you like it !

 

That could pass as a ssvalkor, which was a sort of snake/dragon hybrid created by the yuan-ti (Monster Manual III).

[PJ156]

That could pass as a ssvalkor, which was a sort of snake/dragon hybrid created by the yuan-ti (Monster Manual III).

 

All we need is some rigging, a half dozen or so animations and a sound set ans we are good to go.

 

PJ

[Calister68]

I just finished a new statue : a monk ! I know, there's already a lot of monks statues in the stock placeables, but this one is very special... this monk is a killing machine, trained by the finest warriors in the arts of war, ready to destroy every enemy standing on his path :

 

Screen 1

Screen 2

Screen 3

In game

 

I hesitated to make a barrel for the pedestal... when I look at him now, I think he looks like a dwarf

The lower part of the body, and the back, are not painted yet. I'll make it soon.

 

Joking apart, I wanted to create a human model in order to see the difficulty and the work required. Now, I know : it's difficult, and it required a lot of work (that's the mesh I started with )...

[Kanis-Greataxe]

Looks good

[Tchos]

Very nice!  I would put this statue of a jolly monk in a monastery known for its brewery or vineyards.