Character Progress

This week it has been my job to move the character into Zbrush and create a high poly sculpt along with paint the textures. This allowed me to test normal maps, displacement maps and skin shaders. The images below so the character after I had finished sculpting. It took a lot of time to add very fine details but I hope that these subtleties make the character look far more profession and believable. 

From here I generated normal and displacement maps from Zbrush and took them into Maya to apply to the character. So far, this has only been tested on the head, but normal maps seems to be the best option. Displacement maps didn't help as much as I'd hoped and they increased render time a lot.

No maps Applied.

Normal Maps

Displacement Maps

The effects are subtle but add an extra level of detail that is normally missing from student films. These sculpts need some refinement, especially in the hair geometry. I've also started polypainting in Zbrush which allows to paint directly onto the 3d model. This works really well and although it will need refinement it is a great way of creating a base texture for your model. The images below are directly from Zbrush showing the first stage of the texturing using polypaint.

This texture requires more work but I have used it in the first test for the fake sub surface scattering shader. The images below show how this shader is refined.

There is a lot of work to be done in refining this process but it is starting to come together nicely. In the meantime I've also started work on sculpting and texturing props. The image below shows the writer's chair in it's first sculpting stage.

Keep posted for a lot more work soon.

Environment Update

This week we've all been working on different aspects and things are to push forward quickly. This week I've been trying to finish the interior and exterior environments, and skin the character. I've modelled quite a few props and the environments and although there still needs a few extra details, most of the props are ready to be set and textured. Below are a few of the images from this process.

I've also started modelling the exterior environment ready to texture and light. The quick renders below are only temporary lighting and shaders, they will be fully textured and lit in the coming weeks. Also more details will be added this weekend.

And the interior set is starting to come together. These images below show the scene in a mock up, including Ethan's great typewriter model and his lamp, filing cabinet and bottle.

Meanwhile, I've also been testing out some normal maps to add detail to our props without adding a great deal of render time. The images below first show the wall panels created using a high poly model that is then projected to a low poly version using normal maps. Below this is the first Zbrush test showing sculpted details on the back rest.

Also, today I finished the skinning which will soon be combined with Ethan's rig ready for a fully moving character. The playblast below shows the character movement of each joint.

This weekend I'll be taking the character into Zbrush and more updates are to come from the team.