How To Make A 3d Zebra Animal
How to model a fantastical 3D animal
Creating creatures in 3D requires a lot of inquiry – referencing real animals is absolutely vital if you lot're going to pull off a believable character. It'due south all about planning and paying attention to everything step past footstep, from large-scale shapes to the finest details.
January Vidra (opens in new tab) recently won a contest hosted past Helpful Bear Productions to conceptualise a unique animal. Referencing real world fauna forms – including horses and tapirs – Jan'south winning entry, the Imperator, forms the reference for my 3D model.
As I modelled January's Imperator at Helpful Bear, I was supervised past leading creature designer Terryl Whitlatch, who is known for her piece of work with Lucasfilm and the book Katurran Odyssey.
Jan looked at African wild asses for proportion. The legs were borrowed from tapirs, and the tail is more of a dinosaur chemical element. And although it'southward not very axiomatic, Jan was inspired by marine animals, too, with Parrot Fish serving every bit inspiration for the shape of the lips, and influencing the colour patterns on the head.
In this tutorial y'all'll follow my procedure for modelling a fantastical creature, using concept fine art as a guide. I have institute ZBrush to be the most effective tool for sculpting creatures and other biological forms.
- Download the source files for this tutorial here (opens in new tab)
01. Reference concept art
I receive a .pdf from Jan, which includes photo references, orthographic plans, sketches, and notes. He also includes essential facts such as where this brute lives, climate and environment. I also get together additional photo images and research living animals.
For reference I strongly recommend these books: Terryl Whitlatch: Animals Real and Imagined; Ken Hultgren: The Art of Animal Drawing; DK: Natural History; Seven Stories Press: Development.
02. Building the base of operations mesh
My aim is to capture the perfect silhouette of Jan Vidra'south Imperator. I first by creating my base of operations mesh in Maya; I like to see a solid mesh with low polygons before I start sculpting in ZBrush.
I first in Maya building the base mesh and go dorsum and forrad between Maya and ZBrush for the initial steps. 1 affair that'south slap-up most ZBrush is that it interfaces well with a wide diversity of 3D packages.
03. Create the topology
Gear up up the orthographic images and block out the basic shape, then build a solid base mesh that matches the forepart and side views. Take the mesh into ZBrush and further develop it past using the Motility Topology brush and Move brush.
The basic shape is so of import at this phase: fifty-fifty though this is merely a static sculpt, I pay attending to edge loop flows and maintain a high poly count around places that need more detailed work, such as the head and tail.
04. Check the silhouette
Now that the bones shape is consummate in ZBrush, start subdividing the mesh ane stage at a fourth dimension, saving working on the details for afterward. Check the silhouette throughout the entire process to make sure you're not straying far from the concept.
The silhouette is very important; whenever I think something is incorrect with the character I always expect at the silhouette. It's so easy to get lost in details, and doing this will keep you on track.
05. ZBrush brushes
So far we've used but the Movement and Move Topological brushes. Now we're going to delve a little deeper: I tend to use the Clay Buildup brush to add clay mass if it's needed. ZBrush has an amazing castor library, merely ordinarily you really merely need a few brushes to produce practiced work.
Just every bit in traditional sculpting, you should stick to three to five brushes at most. The Motion, Standard, Clay Buildup, ClayTubes, Flatten and Pinch brushes are what I typically apply.
06. Creating the fur
Next, apply the Clay Buildup and Standard brush with a Lazy Mouse radius of thirty to depict the major fur forms. Refine the forms using the Standard, Flatten and Pinch brushes. To complete the transition between fur and skin, apply ClayTubes (intensity 5-7), Brush>depth>imbed 1-4.
This takes a while, only the consequence is very nice. For the head details, I use ClayTubes and Standard brushes, and so I use a couple of alphas to get really rich, wrinkly looking eyelids.
07. Sculpting particular
The Imperator has fur, wrinkles, peel and muscles. We'll devote time and planning to each of these. First, sculpt the creature without the fur, as if it had been shaved. Then add together the fur. Use Standard and ClayTubes brushes to create wrinkles.
Creating the fur takes the virtually fourth dimension. In this instance the fur needs to look lush and the tail in particular should exist quite extravagant. Using sparse brush strokes and Due south shaped curves in different layers to achieve this.
08. Start posing
Posing brings the sculpture to life. T-poses and A-poses are essential, but posing your characters is just as important for presentation. I research horses and related animals in diverse poses, and Jan besides provides additional sketches and drawings.
Knowing the animate being'due south background is important, besides: where does it live, how does it comport, what does it eat, and so on. Using Jan'southward Imperator data, I start to remember most the pose and do some quick tests.
09. Rigging the animate being
Employ Transpose Master with a ZSphere rig in ZBrush; information technology'southward a dandy rigging tool for posing. While referring to the anatomical data, place ZSphere rigs within the mesh. Make sure to place ZSpheres in areas that will articulate, such as joints and digits.
Filling the geo with ZSpheres gives you lot more control over the grade. Bind the spheres to the mesh and showtime posing, making sure you maintain the Due south-curved line of activeness seen from the top and side views.
10. The final sculpt
Having solid concept fine art, beefcake information, reference pics and a brute'southward habitat information helped me to brand the Imperator a disarming character. Sculpting creatures that practice not be is e'er a challenge; the more information and story you have, the more believable the creature will be.
The biggest challenge in this project was sculpting the fluffy fur. I was able to create the look I wanted by planning the steps earlier I got lost in the details.
Words: Aybars Turan (opens in new tab)
Aybars Turan is an experienced 3D modeller based in San Francisco. He uses his fine art background to imbue his sculpts with life and realism. This article originally appeared in 3D World (opens in new tab) issue 182.
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Source: https://www.creativebloq.com/3d/how-model-fantastical-3d-creature-101413096
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