Dumbbell

For my triple A asset project I have made a low poly version of my dumbbell and unwrapped the UVs so hopefully soon I can bung on all the different maps and details and have the project done.

Low-poly Dumbbell; actually quite similar to the high poly bar a few deleted edge loops.

Edge -loops.

Different parts of the dumbbell mapped out. 

It'd be nice to get as much done during the early part of the crunch as opposed to the final two days of nervous agony. A bit like last year but worse. 

Derek the Installation Monitor

I Robin's class today we were working with Insert Multi Mesh tools. These tools allow us to essentially virtually kit-bash models together from pre-existing parts either on ZBrush, made in Maya, or found on the internet. The model I decided to make became Derek the Installation Monitor.
An old oil rig monitor, Derek patrols the are looking for things that can be seen as dangerous to the now halted drilling operations and promptly ignoring them as he wishes not to waste too much ammo lest it be needed later on.

Derek to the left. 

Derek to the right.

Derek's face. 

I enjoy this way or modelling in ZBrush exclusively for hard surface work. One thing I need to work on is getting better with the rotation and moving tools and finding the best mirroring axis for symmetry. 

AAA Dumbbell Progress

With my Triple-A asset project I bought all of my different Maya parts into ZBrush and really just added detail and put them all together, making the plates subtools of the bar.

Front view of dumbbell. There are a few scratches and knicks in the plates but most of the detail on them will come from textures. 

3/4 view of the dumbbell showing the spinlock and the plates. 

One thing I realised was that I had to do each of the plates separately as there is no way to duplicate and move about individual tools in ZBrush. It really seems like something that could be added. I'm happy with the progress of it so far and now I just need to get on with other things like the low-poly unwrapping and what-not. 

ZBrush Alien

In todays Zbrush lesson we were working with DynaMesh and Insert Mesh. These tools make it a lot easier to model things, especially non-humanoid things.

What I created using these tools was the head of an alien.

Profile picture of a specimen of the Blorthog species.

Snaggle-not-actually-teeth-tooth

Rear view showing the back of the head and eye globes.

The design was to have antennae coming from the back of his head but I struggle to make them look right and eventually gave up. 

Dumbbell asset progress

I've managed to make a fair amount of progress on my triple-A asset for submission in September. The modelling in Maya has been completed and now has to be worked up in ZBrush to get things like the knurling and small details in the metal of the dumbbell bars.

Original joined dumbbell before being smoothed and re-mirrored in order to fix the mistakes in the mirroring.

Corrected, smooth, high-poly dumbbell.

High-poly as in takes 4 minutes to load into Maya 2016 high poly.

Edgeloops.

UV which at one point became the sticking point of an other-wise smooth project.

This is all the Maya work which has been done for the dumbbell, all the work left is now ZBrush. 

Bar in ZBrush.

Knurling to be applied to the handle. 

I'm finding I'm having problems with the UV and applying the knurling onto the bar in ZBrush. Other than that the project seems to be going quite well. 

Rigging

In Ewan's class today we worked on rigging a character.

Rigged cyclopes. 

Rigging was actually a lot simpler than I thought it would be which is quite nice to know, especially if I want to start making my own characters and seeing if I can get them to run around in Unity.