Well, I had a ton of trouble getting the high poly data from the weapon I designed onto the low poly. Eventually after trouble shooting and well, breaking my windows install I managed to get everything working properly. Here are straight up maps out of ZBrush onto the low poly, obviously there is a ton of tweaking to do.

Today I sculpted a bunch on the character himself after I took a break from him by making his weapon. I got to a point where I wanted to test all of his low poly meshes for problems and I am actually super pleased with the results. Here is an initial projection of the normal maps onto the low poly inside of the game engine Marmoset Toolbag.

I went through some troubles during my on the fly design of this character, mainly in his lower legs. I lost a bunch of mobility because of an initial design and I’m still trying to make the greaves I have sculpted work. I might end up redoing them but this will save me some time if I can find a way to make them work.

To help them work better in the model I shortened up the bottoms, added in a plate beneath it for flexing and bending the foot and then tacked it into his leg with some straps in the back. I simplified his pants to keep materials more clear when I am texturing which is a goal for this piece.

I began adding in small spikes around him for a bit of an aggressive look. Not sure if I like it but I’m rolling with it for now.

Also today I began concepting weapons, he feels more agile with this armor than the last set so I turned his mace idea into a really heavy looking spear/halbred. It’s a ram’s skull that will be wrapped against a shaft with a blade protruding from the head which is also wrapped. This is my second weapon concept for this guy and as of now I’m still rolling with it. We’ll see what happens, stuff changes every day for this guy.

Well, I’ve completely reworked an idea I had before I began my heavy work on the elf warrior sculpture. It originally was going to be a very very heavily armored figure for my demo reel that I’m working on but when thinking about showcasing my skills I wanted to go a route that would really show them all in one piece.

How would I go about doing that? Simply create a character that has metal armor, cloth armor, leather, and exposed skin! Then I can show all different modeling and texturing techniques instead of just a ton of metal. My rework turns him into a lighter more agile looking warrior but his lower half is still going to be huge and bulky. I want to make him feel really grounded because of the size of the weapon I’ll be creating.

Here is I guess my first post of the rework. At this point I’m adding in pieces one by one and making sure their topology is correct from the get go. Any piece that is sculpted on and clean looking is already in low poly form in my maya file for him, the rest has to be created and sculpted. My eyes are fried for today so I’m calling it quits!

This is my final post for this project, I just have one little detail to add on the stand and then I’m preparing it for 3D print. It’s been quite a journey and I’ve fallen in love with a few new brushes in Zbrush. I made my style a bit more subtle and learned quite a bit about cloth. Good times! Enjoy the renders.

Today I had to rework the face to bring a bit more beauty to the character. I basically made him more elf-like. Soft features with a bit of a stern nose/brow. I’m keeping my battle-hardened version for my own demo reel because I really like the rough look with this particular character.

I was also asked to add in demon wings, apparently it’s a racial ability of this particular race to be able to swap into a demon-like form at will. Pretty interesting stuff but I suppose a D&D character this old should have some crazy stories behind him already. I didn’t make the wings super complex and I had to keep them a bit thick because this eventually will be 3D printed.

I think my next post will be my last for this guy! I’ll do some final renders and a final clean up before exporting for 3D print. Anyways, here’s the render for this update! Very proud of this sculpt so far.

This guy is really starting to take shape at this point!

I spent all today resculpting cloth detail in a more subtle manner and slowly adding more small details. After seeing how hard all the cloth was last render I smoothed most of it out and just used really minor strokes to create the pulls and pushes of the fabric. I think it came out pretty well and there are only a few areas I want to tweak on the cloth now.

I also resculpted his main scabbard in a much more subtle way as well. I’m going to do the same to his 2 smaller ones and also toss on a simplified wrapping to the handle. It’s a bit too complex for how small it is. I think it’s getting lost in itself.

I added in veins, skin stretching and things of that nature. Elbow detail, and a bit more sculpting to the mouth area helped bring his personality to life. On top of that I finished sculpting his gauntlet, added a gem in the bottom, and then created a leather glove that it’s all attached to. It was a great day of sculpting on this guy and I think I’m really close to finishing him!

Got a curve ball request today! Adding a semi complicated gauntlet to an already posed hand… but as it turns out the outfit he already has covers quite a bit so I am just focusing on the fingers. I have the initial plates down, next are some small straps.

I’m going to be reworking some aspects I think… mainly involving the swords. I’m not happy with the grips or the sheaths.

Accessories and other things are being added in between sets of revisions for another project today! Tons more to do to finish this guy!

Today I basically added belts/ropes and tweaked cracks and other small details. I resculpted some cloth and began to finalize his face, tomorrow I need to rough out hair so I know how far back to bother sculpting the next and forehead.

This is my fifth update for this sculpture, I’ve been working on it for a little over a week at this point. This will be a post on my school blog and it’s the first time it will be seen there so I just wanted to give a little reference for how long I’ve been working on this piece. This is for a client to be 3D printed, as most of the things I work in are.

The character for the most part is now posed, breaking symmetry on a complex piece is always a little scary. I’m not starting to place and block in accessories which are quite numerous. I think they will really bring this piece to life once I get them in.

Today in particular I was creating the sheaths for a short sword and dirk that eventually will be lashed to his large hard cloth belt. At this point unfortunately I only have a place holder rope going to where the 2 pieces will be anchored. The way they are attached isn’t decided yet but I’m thinking of making a few small belts using a ring and a snap to hold them together.

Also today I began resculpting cloth after the model was twisted into his pose, I resculpted the front of his shirt peeking out underneath his armor and his arm he is holding outward; unfortunately, you can’t see that sleeve at the moment and the other is still just default folds I added as place holders.

Of course I had to resculpt his arms as well, I just slightly reduced his straight arm’s bicep and resculpted the muscles of the elbow in his arm with the hand that is reaching out (to cast a spell) Anyways, here it is! Time to work on some prototype stuff I have to get done for tomorrow!