Here is an image of my niece. It’s close enough for me to consider done. Of course, there is always more to do.
I photographed her (360 degrees) and used 123d Catch to create the model and texture. I did a lot of model and texture clean-up and modification in Blender, as well as added a very little bit of hair. I rendered using Cycles. Most of the effect comes from the texture map, which is very flat and takes different light set-ups pretty well. There is some post work in Photoshop. I could have done most of the post in Blender, but it’s faster in PS for stills.
UPDATE
I got some time to update the model and make an animation test. All the compositing was done in Blender, which has a pretty sweet compositing system. I even painting the spec texture in Blender.
Looks very nice, thought it’s hard to really say more without more angles/breakdowns.
As a finished portrait image, I’m not sure about the background colour and just barely cropping the top of the head.
Are the loose hair strands around the silouette added in Photoshop, or did you manage to achieve it with hair particles? Very nice touch, in any case.
123d catch (and other cheap scanning methods) seems like a great way to get raw shapes into blender without necessarily learning how to sculpt or model from scratch.
If you have any comments about the process I’m sure it’d be appreciated… it’s not a very common or well documented approach. If it becomes more popular, it probably increases the chances of seeing Catch-like features in Blender in the future:)
Its only one mesh? No offence but I think it was easier to make all in ps. Its almost no reason to make it in 3d (maybe just for modeling practice) Even the eyes are projected textures right?
In regards to the animation question-the funny thing is, I’ve built this to be the first step in a proof of concept for a completely animatable model. At this point I can animate the camera about 140 degrees and light her many different ways. I don’t think I’ll do it for this model, but the next step would be to retopo the mesh.
Modron: I appreciate it!
Ristesekuloski: Thanks. And I’m not new to the forum, it’s just my first post. :eyebrowlift: I have always liked your characters.
Encn: It’s nice of you to take the time and provide such thorough feedback. If time allows, and I think it should, I will render out some different angles. The top of the model is wack because of the scan, and I did not clean it up. So, I chose a comp that would hide it. As for the hair strands, they’re rendered out of Blender.
I strongly feel that software like 123d Catch is the way of the future for realist modeling. It can get very good results much more quickly than traditional modeling and texturing. Of course, it’s not for everything. The number one thing I have found for Catch, is nice, flat lighting. I have been doing a lot of shooting outside an hour before the sun sets in a shaded area.
Kemmler: Good point. I didn’t notice the lips. And, yes Catch gets some credit, but it takes time to make it work right.
Also, what do people think of the level of realism? I’m going for as photo-real as possible.
I love the skin shader too. Interesting problem doing a freckled redhead. The shirt is superb too. I wonder if a change in lighting may help show off her face as the chin looks harsh compared to the softness of the rest of her face. Wonderful work.
If you want to go a bit further - perhaps you could add a blood vessel layer to the subdermal for SSS - this really shows in most redheads and you could get cool effects showing the veins pattern. Perhaps peachfuzz too?
Wonderful portrait.
And can be prepared for animation easily (@ristesekuloski ). Retopo on portraits is the easiest to do.
Such procedures are the easy part and they’re just time consuming.
The concept is what matters, this is the difficult part. You have to spend a life in drawings etc, being talented or not.
You did it very well.
Cycles is the future or blender. But at this moment I could go for BI to have hair, sss etc.
The video begun on a melancholic mood but towards the end it turned out more cheerful. I mean that there was cold shadows in the beginning but in the end there was warm light like there was a beautiful sunny summer day.
Michalis, do you have a good workflow to retopo in Blender? I have been trying different styles, but I’m not happy with the process yet.
Are you asking on the methods in blender or on how to subdivide-construct a cage?
On both questions, there’re friends in this forum that they know better than me. I’m not very good on this but I’m very fast.
(maybe just for modeling practice) Even the eyes are projected textures right?
As for the hair strands, they’re rendered out of Blender.