I want to know if there is interest in an in depth creature modeling tutorial?
It would be more detailed than my other tutorials and cover the whole process from start to finish with a mix of real time explanations and timelapse.
The cost to create this would be $3000 USD.
Course Goals
To teach the foundation of Character creation in 3D starting with a realistic human figure.
Software required:
Blender
Gimp
Once the money is raised the whole process will be documented in a thread on blender artists, and I will answer any questions people have along with critiques and paint overs. The thread will be where we will support each other and help each other.
Anatomy
[LIST=2]
Proportions of the body
The Head, Proportions and Anatomy
The Chest, Proportions and Anatomy
The Back, Proportions and Anatomy
The Arms, Proportions and Anatomy
The Legs, Proportions and Anatomy
i The Hands, Proportions and Anatomy
The Feet, Proportions and Anatomy
Modeling a realistic human figure
[LIST=2]
Collection of reference material
Blocking in the form
Retopology of the bocking mesh
Explanation of edge flow for sculpting
Methods of retopology
[/LIST]
Sculpting the human figure
The importance of using reference
Explanation of the various Sculpting tools and how to use them
Management and purpose of each multiresolution level
Final mesh retopology for animation
Explanation of edge flow for animation
Texturing the realistic human figure
Unwrapping the figure
Texuting using photographs and painting
Painting the diffuse map
Painting the specular map
Baking a normal map
Baking the displacement map
Rendering
Lighting
Material Settings
[/LIST]
Once the video is complete it will be released for free on my website and youtube.
there was recently a thread where they raised money for a dev to port the ocean simulator tool over from 2.4x to 2.5x and it raised that much money pretty quick
seems like a lot of people would be interested in something like this
so this would use a combination of sculptris and blender?
First of all - I’ve seen your work - mainly on the Sculptris forum at zbrushcentral - you got some great stuff there.
I love the idea of something like a detailed creature modeling/sculpting tutorial but I’m unsure as to exactly what you are proposing. Do people pay towards a DVD? And once you get enough orders you will create it or?
The topics you have proposed sound great. I had never actually thought to retopo with the shrink wrap modifier before I saw you talking about it - great idea.
And the first thing that popped into my mind (I’ll admit I’m inspired by the success of savetheoceansim) is what about trying to bring in say 6000 instead of 3000 - and then working with someone like Nicholas Bishop (and also Farsthary) to improve the sculpting system currently in blender (or helping to cover the costs of getting his branch ready to be merge into the trunk at some post 2.6 point.)
I guess the reason I propose that is that people would have the same feeling of helping out the development of Blender - specifically the sculpting system - by donating towards the project…
Even though you do good work, I would have to say no because there are so many other modelling tutorials out there. Not to put your idea down, it’s that I feel you would be going over the same material that has already been done before.
Actually, I would pay to get my hands on some of the models you have done. If they would be reasonably priced, then I feel that would be a good direction in which to head.
I don’t know, the anatomy part would have to be pretty easy to follow and extensive, covering names and functions of muscles etc…
I strongly disagree with dleri.
There are plenty of free models floating around, a lot of them on zbrush forums.
I’m not so much interested in creating a creature right now, I want to start by understanding how to do an anatomically correct human. I can always branch of to creatures after that. If you search on youtube you can find some nice timelapses/tutorials on creature sculpting, but they don’t really cover how or why these muscles are here etc. They are more step-by-step and only really work well if you follow their particular example.
Understanding of anatomy is key, and that’s harder than it looks. Bring concepts first and then examples(small step-by-step examples).
This is one of the latest sculptures I’ve done, it’s VERY flawed (didn’t even finish wrist/hand), but most of these “tutorials” you see floating around don’t really help me improve beyond this point. I used books and images for this:
I’d pay if the material offered is good. There’s a difference between showing how you make cool stuff and delivering the message of how to make cool stuff…
In English teaching there is a term called PPP:
Presentation: present the structure/concept to the students
(controlled) Practice: do a small assignment with the students to familiarize them with the concept.
Production : Let them produce something on your own.
I think this might be a good idea for other fields of education as well.
What you plan to cover sounds good, I hope you can cover it well.
Why don’t you hold a poll, or post about it on blendernation?
I didn’t always model or sculpt well–I remember how I felt and the mistakes I made. And there wasn’t a single tutorial out then that covered what I needed to learn, I knew that my models didn’t look as good as some guys and the reason was two fold, I didn’t know my subjects well enough. I taught myself anatomy and different work habits and everything changed. Now my models look great because the foundation is there.
I want to share what turned my light on. A lot of tutorials out there aren’t a full experience. They don’t build the foundation of knowledge. How many modeling tutorials cover anatomy in detail and apply it to 3d? Not many.
There are a lot of models on Turbo squid. I even have a free model for download on my website.
Did you check out the tutorials I already have posted for free? They can give you an idea of how I would proceed for the full body.
I’m not so much interested in creating a creature right now, I want to start by understanding how to do an anatomically correct human. I can always branch of to creatures after that. If you search on youtube you can find some nice timelapses/tutorials on creature sculpting, but they don’t really cover how or why these muscles are here etc. They are more step-by-step and only really work well if you follow their particular example.
Understanding of anatomy is key, and that’s harder than it looks. Bring concepts first and then examples(small step-by-step examples).
Anatomy is hard, and it’s very lacking in a lot of peoples work. Mostly, there aren’t a lot of great resources for it. I had to look through over 3 sources to create my painting of the face anatomy for my head tutorial.
There will be notes you can download, high quality paintings that I will do which will provide rich reference material for modeling.
Even going through a creature, we’ll cover human anatomy. What I could do is have two steps for the tutorial, we’ll begin by modeling a realistic human and then move to a creature based on human anatomy. Maybe a hulk like figure or an orc, something very recognizable.
[QUOTE=FreakyDude;1757335]
This is one of the latest sculptures I’ve done, it’s VERY flawed (didn’t even finish wrist/hand), but most of these “tutorials” you see floating around don’t really help me improve beyond this point. I used books and images for this:
I’d pay if the material offered is good. There’s a difference between showing how you make cool stuff and delivering the message of how to make cool stuff…
Absolutely, not only do you need to learn about the muscles, you need to learn about volume and proportion. Also creating from life is important.
If you want, you can watch some of my older tutorials to get an idea. What I plan on creating next, will be better in presentation and cover the whole body.
I like a dialog, this way we can see what kind of material I should cover / change. As we are talking now things are already changing.
Part of the problem though is that Jason Wilkin’s branch has different stuff in it than Nicholas Bishop branch. Most of the Wilkin’s branch has been merged - so would you used the Bishop branch?
Could you clarify what you mean? Do you mean that there would be an option to donate or that part of the total proceeds would go to it. I don’t want to seem pedantic I’m just curious to hear the way you best feel this done.
I would also mention that if you were serious about going in that direction it would probably be best to mimic how savetheoceansim sets fairly precise targets. I don’t want to suggest exactly what should be done - but I do feel goals should be as specific as possible.
I look forward to hearing more from this thread, and more information about what you are planning…
And yes I must say I find the idea (or the possibility) of getting this incorporated with the unlimited clay branch an extremely interesting idea. I just love the way sculptris works, for some kind of reason the sculpting within Blender (it is slow, clunky,… ) doesn’t do it for me at the current state, so any positive impact it would have for the unlimited clay branch is a plus for me.
Couldn’t you collaborate wit farsthary on this by using the unlimited clay branch ? I think that project could really benefit if it was used in a real project. Seems a win win situation if you ask me.
Lets just focus on the main branch. Since it’s the one everyone can get and have access to. And just focus on the sculpting and modeling part for now. Keeping things simple and clear.
We should cement things and work on the lesson plan together now. That way everything is clear.
What I will do is release all the videos for free. All the models for free. All the source files for free.
You can do what you want with them.
We will focus on the main branch for now. The main purpose is the to become a better sculptor and modeler, and for now Blender’s tools are good for that.
I think we’ll skip Sculptris, there is another way to do this very quickly using primitives. And when UC is out, we could use it for pt 2
Anyone know a Joomla extension I can get to count donations? Or another way for me to keep track of it, that way the money that is going in is totally transparent.
I believe the addition of Sculptris in a tutorial is a good idea for multiple reasons :
-it’s much easier and feel more natural to sculpt a base mesh in Sculptris for someone that is not used to Blender new sculpting tools, so you don’t lose people that are beginner in Blender by offering them a good alternative.
-Sculptris and Blender sculpt mode play very well together, this allow the teacher to talk about the Blender importing and exporting scripts too.
-Sculptris “face on demand” method of sculpting will allow the teacher to give lessons about the Blender retopology tools, because if the sculptor intent is to not stop at making a sculpture, but wish to pose/animate/make it game engine friendly, Blender retopo is coming in handy at that point.
I my opinion there will be great if the tutorial provide both blender and sculptris creation base mesh. In that scenario teacher will be able to talk about differences between this two styles of work flow.
And definitely I will donate in depth sculpting tutorial character in blender like this one.
We can achieve a very similar result using a bunch of different primitives and applying multirez on them.
I feel that the people are right about using blender. There is another issue regarding Sculptris, it’s non open nature. And it’s future as a free tool is unknown.
The applications necessary are Blender and Gimp.
Does anyone feel there is something missing from the Syllabus that they would like to see added?
Also, I made a concept last night that could be used–we could have the realistic human modeling and add a sci-fi element to the character to make it more interesting:
I for one like the syllabus. I think you could expand on the texturing part, the different kinds of textures, why and how to apply them, epidermal, subdermal skin blahblah…
I wouldn’t go for sci-fi elements in the basic design. keep it all human, and instead of sci fi do a section about clothing and (sculpted) hair. Part sci-fi doesn’t always mix well/is plain boring imo.
You could try to do a series after this one, for a full sci-fi robot, or sci fi in general. Think along the lines of general grievous, or a full body suit like masterchief from the halo series wears.
Why don’t you contact the blenderfoundation to turn this into another open training dvd? i bought most of their dvd’s, I’d definitly buy this one, or these two if it turns into 2 series (regular and sci fi).
