Jan Ors head (Hi-Def)

[Archangel35757]

Update:

 

So I spent most of the day reworking aspects of the face.  Focusing mainly on the bridge and lateral sidewalls of the nose.  Most likely only @@Cerez will scrutinize it close enough to see the changes from the previous WIP.  

 

[Cerez]

I don't even need to look close. Just glancing at the face, now, it feels more alive, and I can tell that the changes really worked. The wider bridge and more defined cheeks make a huge difference. I think you're good to go. This is truly close to reference, and -- more importantly -- really feels true-to-life just looking at it. You instinctively expect her to move and spring to life any instance. Superb work!

[Archangel35757]

So I went back and re-worked the ear and started to smooth out some areas on the mesh. Here is a split-view comparison:

 

 

 

...I still need to smooth out some areas along the jaw-line, cheek, and chin. After that I plan to take it into 3D-Coat and retopologize... (so that will be a new learning experience-- I watched a couple of 3D-Coat tutorials tonight).

[Cerez]

When you're done with this model, you'll have to send a nicely posed high def. render to Mandy. It's like having a 3D portrait painted of you. It's beautiful.

[Archangel35757]

I think I will give this free retopology app a try as well:

 

https://github.com/wjakob/instant-meshes

 

...it seems impressive:

 

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=U6wtw6W4x3I

 

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=m6YKmSql1-o

[Archangel35757]

Hmm... looks like I'm going to have to burn some brain cells learning how to retopologize using either 3D-Coat or Mudbox... that free tool was a bit too unwieldy for me...

[Archangel35757]

Ok... so I just did a quick 5 minute automatic retopology in Mudbox 2014 and the minimal setting auto results look really nice for a 900 polygon result... so I think I will pursue Mudbox for the moment.  This gives me hope that I won't have a large learning curve to retopo, and possibly UV and texture in Mudbox.

[minilogoguy18]

3DS Max doesn't have a snap-to-surface option? I can do that in Softimage and it pretty much works as a retopology tool without the popular name, but that of course is building the low poly mesh yourself. I've never liked auto tools though, they never work as good as doing it yourself, you always find weird triangles, noticed that mainly with polygon reduction tools.

[Archangel35757]

3DS Max doesn't have a snap-to-surface option? I can do that in Softimage and it pretty much works as a retopology tool without the popular name, but that of course is building the low poly mesh yourself. I've never liked auto tools though, they never work as good as doing it yourself, you always find weird triangles, noticed that mainly with polygon reduction tools.

 

Yes, 3ds Max Polyboost plugin (now integrated as Graphite Tools...) lets you draw curves and create polys on a reference surface... there are also tools to conform one surface mesh onto another; but after playing with Mudbox for 10 minutes I think it does a wonderful job at retopology... my plan is to give Mudbox a go first.

[LucyTheAlien]

Can't wait for this. 

[Archangel35757]

I've been busy with life and work (traveling)... I've also been trying to get everything sorted out and in order to try out my two new Perception Neuron motion capture suits (IMU based, 32-ALUM version).  I had to buy a dedicated router for the mocap suits to talk to my laptop and their mocap software... as well as shop for and buy USB battery packs to power the two suits when collecting data via WiFi (finally settled on Anker devices).  I had to also schedule and take anthropomorphic body measurements of two of my Israeli Krav Maga instructors (one being a female)... so hopefully soon we'll see Jan Ors putting some "Jason Bourne" moves on Stormtroopers and/or Imperial Officers.

https://www.neuronmocap.com

...my goal is to have all Jan ors meshes (head/hair only-- including LODs) and texturing done by the end of March-- and be well under on the facial rig and GUI.

[Archangel35757]

Reworking the ear... progress slow due to playing with mocap suit. Hope to start working in MudBox to retopo the head/hair this weekend.

[Archangel35757]

Ok... so I took a break from the head mesh to throw together a quick bodysuit model.  Before anyone starts throwing out compliments-- this bodysuit and leg armor are medium-poly models from my Poser software... I simply had to pose them to match our skeleton's root A-pose (they still need a little tweaking).  I will use these as ref for my low-poly mesh.  Why re-invent the wheel?  Plus it saves me time... so I hope the purists can forgive me.  Hopefully this gives you an idea for the direction I plan to take the Jan Ors model set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Archangel35757]

So finally after almost 2 years the head mesh is finished (how sad... I must be the slowest modeller on earth-- granted I did have other projects to work on during this time).  I reworked the ear, and did my best to smooth out the mesh in 3ds Max, before I take it it into Mudbox.  I still need to remake the eyelashes properly...

 

 

 

 

...moving on to finishing the hairstyles and retopologize for LODs.

[Archangel35757]

So, it's been awhile... my apologies.  I've gotten sidetracked with Arduino micro-controllers.  I've also been researching human eyes-- what an awesome creation they are!  Anyways... I've modelled what will be cinematic eyes (they will be exported as MD3 models and bolted onto the Ghoul2 skeleton eye bones-- with @@redsaurus' coding help (he's probably already forgotten he agreed to do this once I had something exported).

 

I've modeled the cinematic eye in 4 parts:

1. Sclera (the white ball)
2. Cornea
3. Iris
4. Pupil

 

The Iris/Pupil contraction/dilation will be animatable using an FFD (Free Form Deformation) Space Warp and controller set-up.  The dilation value will be written out per frame to the .VCD file that will be used for all of the facial expressions/lip-syncing.

 

 

You may or may not see a difference from the standard 3dsMax Shader Eye model... but I do.  Now I just need to polish my Photoshop skills for texturing the eye.  I've scoured the internet for great tutorials.  I apologize for my slow progress.

[SomaZ]

Something I noticed and that bugs me.

Nevertheless a great model. Can wait for a finished version.

 

Edit: Never mind, I should read the full thread before posting..... GJ Archangel, great model.

[Archangel35757]

As I study about texturing eyes in 3ds Max and Photoshop...  I find these images to be insightful and amazing!

 

https://www.behance.net/gallery/428809/Your-beautiful-eyes

[Bek]

It's like looking into the void. Have you ever seen this eye wobble gif?

 

 

[Archangel35757]

@@Bek -- yes, I've seen that and others... the eye rig will not capture that sloshing effect; but it will have controls for pupil contraction/dilation, single/pair eye rotations, gazing, and saccades motion.

 

I also plan to have a few skins with increasing eye blood vessel redness.

[Archangel35757]

This is one of the top five tutorials I've found for painting irises in Photoshop-- she makes all her brushes and patterns freely available.  This tutorial is in 1080p:

 

[Archangel35757]

So here's a quick render of the cinematic eye model (her right eye) versus the 3ds Max eyeball shader (her left eye)... I need to re-work my Iris texture-- I'm a beginner at Photoshop but that tutorial above is what I followed using her brush sets:

 

[Bek]

Her right or my right? lol.

[Archangel35757]

Her right or my right? lol.

I revised the post... from her perspective.

[Archangel35757]

Ok... so my idea for a Cinematic MD3 eyeball won't work like I wanted to pull off all the aspects of a realistic eye.  So I will use @@eezstreet's suggestion of animated textures to replicate pupil dilation.  The past two months I've been busy adding features to the MD3 exporters (which are now released... so I can get back to this project). 

 

So after much trial and error in learning Photoshop... I've finally come up with a brown Iris texture that I'm happy with...

 

And here's how it looks on the model:

 

 

I just need to modify some of the layers so I get a unique Left and Right eye texture... and I still have to add the blood vessels, etc.

[Archangel35757]

So I spent today trying to come up with some goggles... I'm not too crazy about them, they could be embellished more-- but I'm thinking of deleting them and starting over.   What do you think?