The third week of the dichotomous character project saw the beginning of the modelling process in zBrush. Having never used this application before, it took quite a lot of getting used to. But having said that, I actually really like it. Back at college I used Autodesk Mudbox for all my 3D sculpting needs, and I was expecting zBrush to simply be a subpar imitation of it, but boy was I mistaken! After just a few days of using this software, I can say without doubt that zBrush is far superior with all its gadgets and features. The remeshing tool is gloriously efficient and makes altering the resolution of the topology a hassle-free thing of the past. I may even prefer it to the arguably more straight forward 3DS Max, but on the other hand they are used for very different types of modelling.
As you can see below, I've picked up the gist of things rather quickly as my "Hardened Brute" character is shaping up rather nicely. I hope to have it finished by early next week.
Oh dear! Only one image in the entire blog post?! I wish I had more to show you, but the week really has just been sculpting, sculpting, sculpting! I have made sure that the model aligns with the outlines of the orthographic guides I've set for it - making sure that it's as faithful as it possibly can be to the original design. The brushes I've been using the most are as follows: Move, Clay Buildup, Standard, Dam Standard, Elastic, and Smoothen.
I wasn't confident using 2D planes for locks of the hair, so I opted to make it part of the model completely. The hair has actually slightly changed in design from the original - what was once a wild, mohican-esque tuft has evolved into a more traditional, dishevelled look with a clearly receding hairline - though I don't think think this hinders the design at all. The shoulder pad will most likely have to be done in 3DS Max, as they both require a lot of shape edges, which can't really be achieved with this program. Hopefully next week I'll have imported both into the scene so that you can see the completed ensemble.