Wild Boar!

[Horganovski]

I work as an animator/rigger but for the last 6 months or so I also love to model in ZBrush. I’m keen to learn more about animal anatomy too so this is a study in creating a creature from scratch that I intend to texture, rig and animate ultimately.

For the moment though I’m just concerned in getting a decent concept model with the proportions figured out that I can use as a base to build a low poly mesh from suitable for rigging and then I’ll go back to ZBrush and do some detail sculpting and texturing that will be applied to the final as maps.

Clearly I have a lot to learn as this is a new area for me, I’m pretty comfortable with cartoony stuff, not so much with realistic animals. I thought I’d post my Wip pieces here in the hope that I get some critique before progressing too far. Right now everything here is made up of a few dynameshes that I’ll join up when I’m happy with the proportions, then do the retopo low poly version, and then get to the good stuff Not sure why the fibermesh fur is rendering so blocky right now but it’s not a major issue as I’ll be replacing it anyway.

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Crits and/or comments gratefully received!

Cheers,
Brian

Attachments

[Horganovski]

Small update, working on proportions and trying to make the anatomy a little more realistic. Also trying to make him less cute and more mean-looking

Cheers,
Brian

[system]

The boar is looking really good, but I think the upper part of the skull is a little too wide. I hope you don’t mind, but I did a quick edit to show what I mean.

The width of the upper part of the skull could just be a regional thing as most I’ve seen around here have the tapered skull, but yours is still looking good, regardless.

Maniacal Jester

[Horganovski]

Hi, many thanks. Really appreciate that note, that’s exactly why I posted here. It’s tricky because a lot of the refs I’ve found online aren’t that clear so it’s difficult to establish proportions. There does seem to be a lot of variety between different subspecies too. That does look better to me though so I’ll try it on the model.

Tomorrow I’m going to a museum where I know they have some stuffed boars and I’ll take some photos to get some better references. Hopefully that will help too.

Cheers,
Brian

[Horganovski]

Didn’t want to go too far with the boar today until I get those new references tomorrow, but wanted to keep practicing so did a 20 minute Horse study starting from a dynamesh sphere. Pretty loose and rough but it was fun to do.

Cheers,
Brian

[system]

Looking good so far Brian. I think the front legs could be a little thicker, though. What brush are you using to create the planes? I’ve tried trim dynamic and Hpolish, but trim dynamic doesn’t cut enough and Hpolish seems to cut WAY too much.

Maniacal Jester

PS - Before I made my edit I googled some wild boar, and I agree about there not being enough good reference on this particular beast. It is definately a good idea to gather your own when you’re capable of doing so.

[Horganovski]

Thanks, yeah his front legs are a bit on the spaghetti side I think I make the mistake of working too much in one view and not turning the model often enough, I’m adjusting that now.

Regarding the planes, I use Hpolish generally, my z intensity is usually quite low and I use a Wacom tablet with a light touch to prevent it being too strong. I often do a stroke or two with shift held down after using it to prevent the edges getting too sharp.

I’m looking forward to going to photo the boars tomorrow, my fiancee works in the museum so I’ll have the royal treatment too

Cheers,
Brian

Edit - some minor tweaks to the horse sketch. Hooves are proving really tough!

[Horganovski]

Got some good photos at the museum today which clarified things a little for me. I think this is my finished concept sculpt now, next I’m going to retopologize it and then start on the details. Finally the fun stuff

[system]

This is looking great! Keep it up!

Are you going to retopo in Zbrush or in another app?

• MJ -

[Horganovski]

Many thanks! I’m using Topogun for the retopo, I really like the way it works and it’s got great integration with ZBrush, it even loads the polypaint. Made a rough start on the head tonight but it’s late now so the rest will have to wait until tomorrow.

Cheers,
Brian

[Horganovski]

For the last couple of days I’ve been tweaking the topology of the low poly version and testing out a rig I’m working on for it. Starting to get there but I want to finalize that stuff before getting into sculpting/painting the details.

It’s working though, here’s a really rough animation test with it.
http://www.graphite9.com/WIP/WildBoar_RigTest_260612.mov

Cheers,
Brian

[system]

This is looking great!!! No crits from me!!! Now throw some fur and tusks on it already!!!

I hope you know I’m gonna start pestering you for tips when I start animating my models.

• MJ

[Horganovski]

Thanks! I’m still playing around with the topology in a couple of areas while trying to get the deformations right. Should have some updates soon.

Cheers,
Brian

[Horganovski]

Well after a good bit of back-and-forth between Maya and Topogun while testing the mesh I think this might be my final low poly version. I tweaked the topology a good bit from the first iteration and it’s deforming pretty nicely now. Next I’m going to make some tweaks to the spine rig and then get to the fun stuff of modeling teeth, tusks, tongue and starting on the high poly sculpt and textures in ZBrush.

Cheers,
Brian

[Horganovski]

Basic body rig is done now, just cleaning up the weighting to do next. I’ll also model some blend shapes for the eyelids and snout in ZBrush to add to it at some stage.

Cheers,
Brian

[Horganovski]

Modeled the teeth and tongue in ZBrush today and exported for rigging. Also UV mapped the body. Tusks next!

Cheers,
Brian

Attachments