/3/ - 3DCG

>>420427
draw designs on paper, then model them

>>420428
you mean in photoshop, paper requires a scanner which I don't have, but yeah, I should do that more often... I get lost in 3D when there is value in 2D. Still, how do I bring those together? should I just rebuild everything and don't bother with the model I already have? boolean? drill to the forehead?

>>420427
Lrn2ZBrush nigga.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGOt-cNMKuE

>>420427
Concept with dynamesh in ZBrush first, then when you have everything looking close to how you like, you can do a retopo with the topology tool, or export to Max and do it there. Or if you don't care too much about lowest possible base polycount, just do the polygroups method shown in >>420446

oh look its unlocked. fucking typed this shit hours ago.

hard to tell without seeing more or even a wireframe. no clue what you mean by

>shoving around vertexes and it ending up looking like shit
and
>It never has the right curvature

if i'm guessing right, sliding vertices rather than moving them will maintain the shape much better. fuck knows how to do it in max, google "sliding vertices max".

and for the curvature, i guess import a copy of the mesh you want to weld it to so you have a reference for later or be clever and weld where nobody is gonna see it. under the armor rather than on the neck for example.

now, to answer your questions-
can't think of any helpful tools, i just use extrude, slide, inset and welding. the smart way would be creating the base with a topology that already reflects the details. like if you want to add a camera lens to it, your base should have a circle in place so all you have to do is extrude or inset it. if you don't have that yet thats fine too, just add more "unnecessary" loops to give you a good base for extrusion. you can always weld unnecessary vertices later to reduce polycount. the previous anon is right, drawing even a shitty sketch on paper or blocking it out would help you plan it. but again, if you dont, play around with it. you have like 100 recorded "undo" steps for a reason.

if you have problems with doing all of that, chances are you are not in control of your topology and cant redirect it when you need to. if so, look up manipulating topology and redirecting edgeloops, or ask, i'll give you a few nice basic links.

.....

>>420448

as for zbrush, i know how ass backwards zbrush can be for a beginner, so i think it'll just slow you down. you don't need it. that being said, zbrush could be helpful. you draw some details on it, auto retopo it, bring it back to max, clean up. easy sailing. or maybe you want like bake a normal map with drawn scratches and shit. zbrush is helpful here too. so yeah you dont need it, you can do all that with just max and photoshop, but its helpful to have. if you have some time and motivation to learn it, might as well.

as for compounds, depends on your goal. for a game you will want to keep them separate and not even weld them so you can switch out armor and shit ingame without changing the entire character. for movies, weld em or not, nobody gives a fuck. if you do, as you noticed yourself, you need to take care of it fitting, the polycount on the edges being the same so you maintain good topology after welding etc pp.

also the plural of "vertex" is "vertices".

Take a few minutes to customize your ZBrush UI, and it will become immensely more easy to use. Place the things you use often, in your bottom area, remove all the unused shit at the top and left (since that can be found in your right click anyways). Keep things like polygrouping, dynamesh, subdivision, mirroring, inflate, your most used brushes and a few materials down there at the bottom. Then you rarely need to go in the side menu.

actually pretty neat mask once you put eyes where they belong and add random shit. kind of a high tech skull thing going on.

actually pretty neat mask once you put eyes where they belong and add random shit. kind of a high tech skull thing going on.

why yes anon, thats ballpen on graph paper shot with a phone under shit lighting. its all you need to know where to place those edges.

>>420427
>I need to add some serious detail to it but I don't know how to do it the smart way. I'm tired of shoving around vertexes and it ending up looking like shit


What you NEED to do is have as much of a clear idea of wtf you're going to be modeling in the first place.
Most pros would tell you to do your own sketches (paper or photoshop), no matter how crappy the are so YOU have an idea of what details you want, and how to model them.

If you're satisfied wit your base mesh, just sketch some details over it in photoshop. If you don't like the result, just make new layer and try more variations until you get results you like.

Only if you have no originality and your convinced doing your own sketching is worthless (which is not true) just get a bunch of reference images and go through them until you have an idea of what you want.

-And I know from experience, "shoving around vertexes" in hopes of making something look cool wastes hours.

>>420461
not a good idea to make your ref at an angle

>>420495
Paintover type stuff I was talking about.

Also, if you want some seriously strong shapes and silhouettes to build on in th concept stage (BEFORE 3D, and like I said, it's YOUR concept so it only needs to be good enough for you to understand) check out al.chemy. It's free.

>>420499
that's pretty cool mane, I'll use some of that if you don't mind and post results later

>>420544
have fun, but you'll appreciate it more, and grow as an artist more if you try experimenting yourself and model something you like.

-unless your completely content just being a modeling monkey and modeling other people's designs.
No problem with that. Most modelers are.

>>420548
I like both honestly, the self expression and the creation of random stuff, dunno, being a modeling monkey isn't the worst

>>420549
No it isn't Start out that way until you're comfortable enough to create your own designs.

-But being just a modeling monkey, good at copying designs/concepts accurately can land you a job.

>>420550
Implying someone here in good ol' germany will give a self thought crazy person like me a job. I'm a professional (2D) designer by trade and getting a job even with a degree is tough as nails. enough self pity, moar vertices (Yes I pay attention)

>>420448
oh and any links are appreciated, due to how I learned 3D I probably missed a lot of basics