I've got a lot of plans for today that include finishing up the high poly model completely and moving on to retopo but also hair card experiments. I'll get into my reasoning for using hair cards and other key decision after this week's work recap.
Main inspiration for my helmet was an air force fighter helmet model HGU-55. I did not stick to the concept completely by making the strap go fully around the helmet, making my own buckles, different straps, cables and the oxygen mask. HGU-55 is a lightweight designed for the high-g combat environment. What I wanted to achieve with changes I made was make it a bit more modern looking but not to the point where it's sci fi as concept I'm referring to is fairly realistic.
Helmet ref:
I decided not to use the helmet from the initial concept as to me personally it doesn't make much sense and looks too sci/fi, almost storm troopery. It also clashed with the soft looking female character and even though I'll be making some changes to the facial features too, I wanted to keep the same feel of the character. That's why I chose HGU-55 as my helmet as it's very lightweight and sleek, fitting a feminine character more, without looking abstract or unpractical.
From the feedback I've gathered it was a good decision but a lot will still depend on how I texture this.
Overall I'm very happy with the helmet, I was very intimidated by hard surface modelling, especially that I wanted to do it in zbrush to preserve the same semi-realistic sculpted look throughout the whole character.
One thing I would do better next time is instead of masking in some of the elements and extruding them from the mesh, I'd build them around the helmet in 3ds max. I only realised that this was more comfortable and efficient when making clasps around helmet and the oxygen tube, also taught me a new use of spline tool which I'll document later in this blog post.
Making hard surface elements
One of the techniques I used for the small elements of the helmet was box-modelling in 3ds max.
I used 3ds max and not zbrush to achieve the artificial, man made look faster and to avoid the "putty" shapeless mesh stage. Not only it would be so difficult to polish such piece of geometry until it looks symmetric and metal-like, it would take much more time so I started with this blockout instead.
Step 2: In symmetry mode, scale the proportions to achieve the right proportions and move vertices around to get the right shapes
Step 3: Exaggerate shapes, check progress on each side of the model, clean up topology
Step 4: Import into Zbrush, position right
Step 5: Subdivide the model, make sure it doesn't overlap any other mesh, in this case the helmet rim. I also added some touches of the high polish brush, so that it'll look worn out but not too much because it's such a small asset it won't be very visible in the end. Lastly, due to using subdivide, some of the hard edges and crevices were softened so I used a geometric brush that makes very sharp "cracks" in the mesh on a low opacity to deepen them again and I really like the final result.
I repeated the process for each of the small elements. Some needed more work in Zbrush, some less, but overall I'm very happy with the look of my helmet now. It took me less than a day to block in all the new elements, in comparison, when I made the initial strap that goes around the helmet I struggled a lot to get it right.
To learn more about proper hard surface modelling, I also did my cylindrical tube assets, like the oxygen tube, microphone or the cables tied together outside of zbrush. I also used 3ds max and made these components using splines as you can see below:
Step 1: Make a smooth spline ,I estimated shape & size which was a mistake, process would be easier and faster if I did it on top of imported torso.
Step 2: I made a side profile of my oxygen mask pipe. I referred to the original HGU-55 design . I believe if I did it with a smooth tube and only painted the detail on it'd be too flat. Especially for an asset that's crucial in this project.
Step 3: I've extruded my side profile and added vertical loops to make a smooth spiral. Before next step I've skewed my object by a few degrees horizontally to prevent strange deformations.
Step 4: With bend modifier I was able to create a tight spiral out of my object.
Step 5: As you can tell it was not great so I've adjusted the skew modifier just enough for the edges to barely touch.
Step 6: I was able to easily weld all my edges and to make it a bit cleaner I did make sure that the vertical edges are lined up.
Step 7: Just for the sake of testing I applied a simple checker diffuse map and adjusted tiling until it looked as desired.
Step 9: I always had the issue of scaling in 3ds max when applying more complex modifiers but learnt how to overcome thi by reseting the local scale.
Step 10: I checked the length of my spline and made an object corresponding to it. Then I have cloned my spiral multiple times so it's just as long.
Step 11: To use the path deform modifier I had to attach all the pieces together.
All that was left was use the modifier, choose the correct axis and make sure there's no deformations :)
Final outcome. I'm pretty happy with this, I bent some of the areas to visually add more weight and tension to the oxygen tube. This made it look as if it actually touches the character as opposed to floating without being affected by the rest of the assets.
I used the same workflow for my other tube shaped elements and I'm glad I learnt this as it's a very quick and easy way to add some shape diversity and small detail.
Below you can see my combat books workflow, I also tried to make them using the box modelling technique as that's what I usually use, but it was not turning out the way I liked it. I had no control over individual pieces and it was difficult to get the shape definition right.
And here's the reference I mainly based off my boot design off:
To match the design of the helmet and the overall feel of the character I did break up the shapes of the toe cap to make it look a little bit more futuristic. However, I didn't go too much into detail & textures as texture will define it the most.
I have also made my character's belt this week, I stuck to the original concept as I thought it didn't need any adjustments and fit together with other hard surface objects.
I ended this week with a blockout of the character's vest. I pretty much left it as is but I'm still playing around with the proportions so it might change a little bit. However, I don't have much time remaining for this project (started out 1 week behind) so I'll probably ask for final feedback & advice on my high poly in class and move on with this piece.
What would my summary be without a one final shot? I'm very happy with the direction my piece is taking, decisions I took and things I changed along the way were worth it. Speaking of changes, I need to re-think the way I'll be doing my characters hair, while attempting using hair cards I realised it'll be very difficult to do considering there's a helmet and thick padded clothing. My plan for now is to make a sculpted blockout and blend in some hair cards on top of that.
See you in week 6! Formative deadline date for this is 15th of November so I'll do my best to clean this model up and bake it. Ideally I'll be done with my textures by Sunday, but that's unlikely. I would like to have at least 5 days for rigging and a simple marmoset presentation set up. Also, we need a plinth for this babe!
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