ZBrushCentral

Modelling with Kircho - Learning to model a human body in 7 days

PARENT-MAIN CHILD-ZBrush Tutorials Forum
#1

Modelling with Kircho - Learning to model a human body in 7 days
Purpose
Dear ZBC this thread is intended as a live-journal for my first serious attempt at learning to model the human body. It will span just under 7 days as of Monday. The objective will be to complete a satisfactory reproduction of the said subject and also to create a philosophical and practical framework giving rise to consistant and accurate results - with considerations given to mdoelling efficiency and creative autonomy.

Motivation

At first this demonstration stands as test of certain philosophical principles I have developed for the generation of 3d models with zbrush. Second, if all goes well, I wish for it to be a show of gratitude for all the help and support I have recieved during my time at ZBC. Unfortunantly, due to a career move I will no longer be able to participate in this community, thus also arising the idea.

Rules & Disclaimers
I will be happy to recieve input from other artists in the form of correction - addition - question at the given ideas, during the seven days. Please leave any other comments,perhaps even your own progress as you follow along,until the seven days are past - or if the project is completed before that peroid.

My proffesion is outside the visual arts industry and I have not taken any proffesional courses in any field of art – Not as an excuse but a warning to the validity and perspective of these ideas - caution should be exercised at all times.

Thanks Pixologic and ZBC

#2

looking really forward to it!

#3

Quite the undertaking, I look forward to watching and reading your progress and am sure we will all learn something along the way.

#4

Great idea!!!
Generous also.
Look forward to progress.
Luck

#5

I’ll be in spain for vacation this week but I want to read about all this when I’m back! :slight_smile:
Good luck

#6

Looking foward to it too

#7

ill also be watching this topic closely since you have already been of great help for my own posts
cznt wait to see the results:D

#8

Day 1 - Tuesday
Practice does not make perfect
What I will present here is my methodology for the understanding of the human form and later its accurate and efficient reproduction in Zbrush. Thus all proceeding information may be placed into either of these catagories. I do not claim birth of these idea, they are the product of my personal experence and readings of Andrew Loomis - including numerous philosophers on the science of Epistemology.

Figure 01
Fig1.jpg

Conclusion 03
What we have established here is an approach to the perception and understanding of the human form. There is considerable importance heald in this methodology because we have compartmentalised the visual data making it easier to understand, remember and in the long run, execute - The basis: that these seperate characteristics are ,in the human perception, dependant on each other.

As you continue on this road you will begin to form, naturally, observations of relations - proportions - and the need to establish sound knowledge of anatomy. I suggest that, for the serious artist, writing your observations in words is very helpfull.But I must warn against the recourse to anatomy studies at this early stage, it is simply not nessesary.

Lastly, as a matter thoroughness, details - such as pours, defacts and variations of the skin etc - form another compartment of perception, but since it is dependant on all previously mentioned characteristics it should follow last in your study of the human form, not before you have the aforementioned charactersitics mastered.

Kircho

Perhaps the time around Wrapped Presents Day was not the best choice for this exercise, the cause of my delay in posting, my apologies. There will be 7 entries made dureing this demonstration, but not inside the space of this week.

Attachments

Fig02.jpg

#9

I’m so snoopy about the images that are missing :wink:

#10

what do you mean froyd?

#11

There are no pictures in the post; Day 1 - Tuesday.

#12

yep Kircho, they are not showing up here. Are you able to see them in your post? Your description is interesting, but without your illustraion it is only half of worth.

#13

are they fixed now?
I could see them - then at one point I lost them :slight_smile:

#14

Your achievements are understandable and one can follow your thoughts. I´m looking forward to the second part! :slight_smile: I presume that the completed tutorial will be an informative reading, not for newcomers only.
keep it up!

greets
froyd

PS: Images are there now, thx!

#15

I’m definately going to be paying attention.
The human form is something I have troubles with and also happens to be a very (if not the most) important part of art and how we tell stories.

From the way it looks so far, this tutorial could be applied to so many different things, it’s not just a “how to” guide, it’s so much more.

Reminds me of the saying: “catch a man a fish and he can eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he can eat for a lifetime”.

  • Manixolated
#16

Minor Update

Figure 03

Figu3.jpg

This is minor update, and shows the development of my understanding of the human form using the preceeding theoratical basis - Figure 03. I wish I had more time for this - 45 mins work in total.

Note 01 - During my first attempt I used references all the way thought to the end - Observe - > Interpret - > Model. This time I have used no references at all. This is because only through experimentation can we discovery how much we think we know - State Hypothasis -> Experiment/Model -> Check Hypothasis validity/accuracy -> Change to fit reality. At each step/compartment I followed this line of thought. This is the part that I enjoy most about modelling, it is no different to the process a scientist takes to uncover the mysteries of the propogation of light, say, or better still gravity - in both cases a process of discovery is involved - the product is knowledge.

Note 02 - When following the aformentioned methodology of form translation remember to always concentrate on one compartment at a time, during this attempt I found that every time my mind began to wonder at the other details the process became slower and increasingly pragmatic.

Note 03 - While I was modelling the respective ‘compartments’ I realised that I could grasp the various details better if I seperated them into minor and major catagories - The large structures of - volume - lines - planes(shadowing) - are modelled first with disregard to smaller details. The smaller details then arise almost naturally and very accurately during the sculpt, as a function of the underlying volume. This secondary catagorization within each compartment is very valuable, aspacially so in the stage of defining the internal planes of the human body. It is valuable, as we have seen before, because the mind is focused in a way as to to simplify the task while reproducing the subject more accuratly.

Final Note
Whilst this may seem tedious at first it is only a false impression. In my experiance this process feels natural since it follows the minds natural paterns of perception. It is also a better alternative to the weeks and months spent - potentially wasted - trying to understand and reproduce the human form by moving through each attempt unconscienciously(philosophically and methodologically) - hoping that if one practices long and hard enough the results will arise by themselves. Oh, and unlike me, try to take more time and enjoy the experiance it really is a wonderfull feeling - the process of gaining power :slight_smile:

Kircho

Ps- If there are any questions or corrections I cordially welcome them.

Edit - I’ve added the base polymesh - the skinned zspheres.

#17

Starting to look nice… I am also in the proces of trying to model the human body, only one question you did not made fingers and toes in the base model. I think it will be hard trying to get them in the right shape, is there any reason you made them in 1 form?

#18

Hi Kircho :slight_smile: long time no see,

Interesting content. I too, as you probably know, admire Loomis.

I don’t wish to rain on your parade here Kircho so I can edit this post if you wish…

I thought I would place a ztool here for those that might be interested in following along side your quest. The model should suffice for those in need. The model is in Zsphere mode with a preview mode alongside in the pic below. The Ires can be anything from 10 to 100.

bod2a.jpg

#19

pixelsoul - The head and the hands, aspeciailly, are seperate projects alltogether and require attention seperate from the body. Also in the learning stage, which we are at atm, its usefull to limit the amount of information we need to understand and remember. The feet less so, but I have’nt bothered with them for the same reasons.

With the release of zbrush 2.5 we will have the ability to mix and mach parts and then cover them with custom-topology, so its no big deal if they are modelled seperate. Substitute model for zsphere - > use the new topology tool to draw mesh ontop. Or multimark -> create one polymesh -> draw topology over the top. If you can’t wait, then use Ed’s model from the beginning - but it just means more work.

Kircho

#20

To those people who have voted :

I like only 5 stars :slight_smile: - I would really appriciate if instead of merely voting you could address what issues you have with my writings. I am in the process of learning also and your input would help me and the readers of this thread.

Thanks,
Kircho