Anatomy & Character Sculpture // Final Project

Anatomy & Character Sculpture // Final Project

Ibrahim Fazal Ahmad / 0337423

Information Design / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylors University 

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INSTRUCTIONS 

Week 15: 

Here is my final hero pose from Character Design with effects and all. I will be taking Nyx and trying to pose his model just like this. I will also have to create his weapon for this. 

Figure 1: Final Render of Nyx (Character Design)

Figure 1: Final 3D Model

After finishing off the 3D model, I moved onto rigging using the transpose tool. I followed this tutorial below on how to rig the models. But I was running into a massive problem.

Figure 1.2: Posing Characters in Zbrush

After rigging, we have to actually move the limbs of our character using the ZSphere skeleton that we make. But I think I a very high polygon count and because of that it was extremely laggy when I was rigging the character. I attempted to rig the character with his waist cape originally but it kept lagging and attaching to his boots no matter what so I just opted out and turned the layers off. 

Figure 1.3: Zsphere Rigging

Figure 1.4: ZSphere Rigging

Here is the pose using the ZSphere roughly posed out in the manner I wanted without it being bound to the mesh yet. Due to the lag, I just wanted to try and see if it was even possible to make my pose. 

After which I tried doing the pose after binding it to my characters mesh. The results are... interesting for sure. A lot of things about the model got very distorted and didn't look like I wanted it to. But I decided I just did not have time to perfect this pose, nor did my laptop want to deal with this heavy of a load. So I accepted this pose as it is. 

After accepting the pose I will transfer it to your model. Luckily, the objects in the 3D model do not get completely wiped off their history. For his shoes and a few more items, I just went back in the history before they were destroyed and moved them into the position I wanted instead. 

His legs and arms were completely mangled so I had to just cut my losses, literally. I just cut off his lower legs. Firstly, to lower the polycount. Secondly, it was pointless as you couldn't see them anyway, he was wearing boots. His arm was just completely recoverable. I also posed his waist cape. I masked certain areas and lifted them into the position I wanted, used the move tool to refine and then remeshed when everything was done. 

To fix his mangled arm, which I could not fix by going back in the history as it'd ruin the actual pose. I went into his T-posed model and masked off the arm I needed. Turned the arm into its own brush and inserted it into the posed model and modified it from there. 

This was the creation of my weapon. I began with a cylinder and posed it out the way I wanted. After which I made a new cylinder and modelled my weapon based off the reference sheet that I made for Prop Design.

Here is the 3D modelled version of his weapon. The name is given by a friend of mine! It was previously a stop sign so we thought something a bit punny would work well after all, Nyx is very mischievous and would enjoy killing someone with such a mocking weapon. 

After which I had to fix his hands, as they were not rigged so I did what Mr Kannan taught us quite a while ago which is to mask the joint I want to move and move them separately. 

Nyx has a very tattered waist cape to emphasise his character of being an assassin. Along with showing his status as he's someone who's not well off. I masked off the sections I wanted to have removed and then inverted the mask. After which I hid the masked parts and deleted it creating the tattered cloth. 

Here is the final product for my 3D model: 

Character Details:

• Shadow Amulet - A magic amulet that Nyx uses to control his magic given to him by his father. Without this amulet, it does not affect his magic in a negative way, but rather it makes it unstable and too strong which his body may not be able to handle.
• Earring - Given to him by his mother before she passed away.
• Blind Eye - The scar and blind eye is an indication of the attack he faced in the past.
• Xiphos - The Greek sword he carries on his thigh, typically on the back of the waist but he hides it on his thighs instead. 

Low Poly Render

Final Render

Final Render with Effects

Final PDF:

FEEDBACK

Week 15: -

REFLECTION

Experience: This was the most frustrating part of the experience. I feel like I was careless with my modelling, working with extremely high poly counts which in turn made it near impossible to move the rigs I had made. If I were to do this again, I would have a more sure workflow and understand how to use Zbrush. Overall this module along with Character Design has been my absolute favourite module I've taken so far. Along with IVN and Advanced Typography. I really enjoyed all these classes because they challenged me to do better, to go out of the box and push myself as best I can. However, this semester I was definitely feeling unwell. But I've managed to persevere and finish. Thank you to Mr Kannan for being honest with his feedback to me and always pushing me to do better. I am looking forward to seeing him again next semester. 

Observation: I noticed the importance of both the bigger picture and details when working in 3D. You have to know how to work an object from its simplest form before we add the details that we need. I've also learned the importance of understanding what you draw before actually drawing it. It helps us immensely. As an artist, drawing is not just picking up a pencil and doodling away. It is understanding what we are doing and trying to convey an idea as best we can while staying creative and innovative.

Findings: This class has helped my anatomical knowledge immensely. When drawing I now have a much greater understanding of the anatomy of my characters. I still make plenty of mistakes as a young artist. But with this class I have noticed the mistakes I make disappearing with the gain in the knowledge I've had. I realise reading books and studying anatomy is such a great way of understanding. Along with just, looking at yourself! We are the anatomy, seeing if the movements our characters make are possible help with the realism if you are trying to achieve that. Overall this module has been extremely fun and I will continue with 3D modelling in my spare time.