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Blasphemy! The Blender boys are assembling pitchforks and torches as we speak... :)
Nah - they're more like, "Whaaat we must have this - hang five while I write a plugin!" :)
Lol, I'm sure the plugin is already going through another version change!
As far as ultra high polygons go, I just recently started focusing on the UV and Paint Tools, displacement, pinch, inflate, and smooth. I have always used these tools before creating my own landscapes, cave systems, etc. But lately, especially after being a huge fan of the Sci-Fi show, 'Face Off', I have been trying my hand at sculpting figures using these tools. When I begin to subdivide my sculpt into the higher levels is when I start getting longer delays before I am able to regain control of my computer and sometimes resulting in a crash.
I know that polygon counts shouldn't reach extreme levels, and I am not sure what my polygon counts are at when this happens but I have since then tried to be more reserved when it comes to subdividing. I would just like to be able to sculpt freely and subdivide at will. I have had a recent chance to mess with sculpting in ZBrush and the flow felt really great. Sculptris is another program that the sculpting seems pretty good but it doesn't allow any control over vertices, segments, or polygons. When you are in an application that you are familiar with, your confidence level is higher, and your mind is more free to concentrate on your design than having to think about, "how do I do this?" or what tool do I grab to do that?
Thanks!
OK - see what you mean:) Hex is certainly no Z-Brush or Sculptris - it's sculpting tools were made before adaptive geometry was invented and I wouldn't really recommend it for fine detail sculpting.
Having said that, I have seen a very good and pretty detailed head sculpt made by a famous cartoonist in Hex. I can't find the video - he seems to have taken it down.
This is a quick and nasty one I did for illustration - even with these two models in the the viewport, each of 91K polys, there is no lag. It is not so much the high poly count that chokes Hex, but pushing too quickly - after all, it is only 32 bit. Whose fault is that?
If you are on a 64 bit machine, Hex will benefit by being made LAA.
The secret is not to subdivide more than two levels at once - do a level 2 subdivision, collapse DG and increase 1 level at a time, collapsing DG between subdivisions.
To get nice clean mesh, use the smooth tool between applications of the displacement. You can see the topology looks nice and clean
What I did with this one is to start with a cube, 2 tessellations, make the basic shape using the normal modelling tools, subdivide level 2, collapse DG, do some sculpting, increase subdivision by 1 level, collapse DG and do some more sculpting and so on. This is at 6 levels of subdivision. Never in the whole process was there any lag - excepting waiting a few seconds for the tool brush to appear.
Finally, here is a link to a video by Daniel Ripley, one of the best modelers of the human form I've come across, comparing Hex with Z-Brush - well worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC7kKWR6Nws
Thanks for the info RoyGee. Even though Hexagon is no ZBrush or Scultris, I think the development for Hexagon WAS heading in the right direction. Those few tools are really all you need! Anything extra would have been icing on the cake.
I like your model and understand that it is an example, but I don't think 91k is a ultra high polygon count for a character. In sculpting you can reach into the millions easy. This AD for ZBrush shows a model with 21.979 million polygons, then when it gets retopologized? It is reduced down to around 18k.
Is that roughly the same as decimate without the 'evening out' of segment lines?
http://pixologic.com/zbrush/features/ZBrush4R6/
This one has a simple creature modeled, as simple as yours, but has 2.2 million polys!
http://www.neli.co/character-creation-part1/
I know Hexagon can't handle this nor was it meant to. But in sculpting, you need the excess to get to the form you want.
That video by Daniel Ripley I linked to it back on reply #45. Awesome modeler!
Does Carrara have a similar sculpting procedure? I have looked around for videos but cant find any.
Blender does but I have to find out how to get rid of all the tool bars and windows and start with just the basics. Properties, 1 or 2 tool bars, and a window.
My methodology is roughly the same as yours as I model parts of the body separate and then combine them individually. You are correct; there is no lag, except waiting a few seconds for the brush to appear. But when you move the brush, wait a few seconds, move the brush, wait a few seconds, repeatedly, it becomes a 'lag' in the process.
Thanks for the info again, as everyone's comments on this thread has helped me. I spent a good 2 hours the other day modeling picture frames in Carrara and Hexagon, learning new techniques!
Yes, Hex was moving in the right direction - a few years ago Daz got into some serious development and we were all very exited. Even the guys doing the development were very much into daily communication and getting it on. Then they got the bridge to Studio working on the Mac and suddenly pulled the plug.
They pulled it so fast they never even gave the final version a different number from the Beta :) Huge disappointment all round, including from the developers, who, I understand, left Daz soon after.
As you can see from Daniel's video, Hex is not intended as a high detail level sculptor, like Z-Brush - those tools are more intended as an aid to smooth organic polygonal modelling.
I don't get any lag actually using the brushes - just when I change brushes, there is a small lag while Hex thinks this over :)
Carrara does have displacement painting, but, as far as I can make out, not the smooth, pinch, inflate and tweak tools, although there is a smoothing option in displacement painting mode..
In Blender you can toggle the left-side toolbar by hitting T - but you will need it visible in sculpt mode. The outliner panel on the right can simply be slid out the way to give you more viewport. Place your mouse pointer on the edge and when it turns into a double-headed arrow slide it out the way.
Retopologising is not at all like decimation. Don't know how it works in Z-Brush, I've only done it in Blender and experimentally in Hex. Decimation gives lower resolution, without regard to edge flow. With retopologising, you actually build a new lower resolution mesh, using the high resolution one as a template. The purpose is to have good edge flow for animation or posing. So, if it's not going to be posed, it is unnecessary.
You can then use something like Xnormal to project the detail of the high resolution model as a normal map onto the lower resolution one.
Thanks for the info! is Xnormal free? I will definitely give that a try Thanks!!
There is also 3d-coat while not having the Applink Stu uses that in combination with Carrara
a WIP for a challenge he won http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/31940/P90/#481485
the final http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/33072/#492123
If you check out his sigline you can see a lot of his work\
Will check out the video
Yes, Xnormal is free:)
Hey Joe!
Sorry I'am late again but I had to learn how to make the candle material in Carrara. Below there are some of the results. Perhaps you will like it?
I found that bulb light spreads better shadows than mesh of the flame here anything glows shape. SSS materials look better with very low transparency setting and careffully setting intensivity level. Low reflectivity added too. Had some problems with SSS colours with weird effects on the way. Eventually I found a balance between colour channel and SSS channel colour.
They are raw renders except the one with 3DTotal free textures in background I've found on 3DArtist disks.
Greetings, Marek
Yeah, thanks...
If you google "candles" or something, you can see what it's supposed to look like when the SSS in real world candles is in effect. It all depends on the particular wax material. Some has very little SSS and is fairly opaque, and some has some clear SSS, but typically it is fairly shallow, and causes only the top section of the candle to glow.
So if you're going for realism, then it's probably best to match a real photo. I recall having a tough time getting Carrara's SSS to respond the way I wanted. Lots of tweaking. Though I'm certainly not an expert in Carrara's SSS.
And BTW, of you're really going for realism, you might want to replace your Carrara flame with an image of a real flame. It's a lot quicker and looks a lot better. And it's not cheating, I promise :) :) :)
great looking candles.. care to share an image or two of your shader :)
Joe, thanks for a comment. It is OK to use post to enhance a picture and pasting a flame image is OK to me. But the mesh makes better reflection shapes and in close-ups it would be better to light with a mesh. On the other hand the bulb light makes a very good candle lighting.
Of course there are different wax properties and observation is absolutely necessary.
Milo, my pleasure! Find few screen shots below.
Greetings,
Marek
Thank you!
I did a candle a long while back but its been so long I forgot what I did! This gets me in the mood to go dig it up now and see how these look. I have done both the flame mesh light and the bulb with a billboard transparent candle. I got a lucky find on the billboard but I think l ike you said its all going to be situational
Thanks again
Makma, drifting slightly off topic, but I think you should post the Thea render to the unbiased rendering thread in the Commons here at Daz:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/50021/
I don't think there's been a single Thea render posted there yet, and my favorite unbiased rendering app is going unrepresented :) I would post some myself, except that:
a - I'm not that artistic, so not sure my skills really show off what Thea can do very well, and
b - I tend to do a lot of renders that show too much skin and are a little too R-rated to be allowed on the daz forums :)
I would kill for a Thea plugin for Carrara. I voiced it over at the Thea forums and saw a few others agree, but I doubt we'll get it. Oh well, with Luxus, Octane, and now soon Luxcore, I shouldn't get too greedy; there are plenty of great unbiased rendering options for Carrara now. But I really love Thea.