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My final project represents the continuation of my previous work into the higher detail stages of modeling. Having been satisfied with the low polygon models I created for Stanley Frost, I wanted to explore and flesh out the character further, with the end goal of realizing a believable character inhabiting the liminal space between cartooning and realism.
As he is a figure covered almost head to toe in gear such as a protective coat, gloves, hat, and a mask, I wanted to focus primarily on the sort of details that would make his clothing dynamic and interesting. To that end, I found myself particularly compelled by the work of the Baroque sculptor Bernini, and Baroque art's general attention to dynamic clothing wrinkles and folds. Part of the crossover between Baroque sculpture's attention to clothing and contemporary game modeling comes from the process involved in getting a high polygon look to in-game characters--normal mapping. As normal mapping allows for a texture file to represent three dimensional normal information which will render shadows and highlights in real-time on a low polygon character, exaggerating wrinkles and stitches on a character's clothing is one way to add interesting surface detail that is not dependent on the polygon mesh itself.
Primarily using Google Image Searches for "leather jackets", as well as looking at a few jackets in my closet, I added a lot of wrinkles and folds to Stanley's clothing. Additionally, using previous reference imagery of gas masks and firefighter equipment, I added a variety of detail to Stanley's head and boots.
Zbrush's various brush tools and the ability to carve in both low and high subdivision levels allowed me to comfortably brush in wrinkles and folds to the level I wanted. Using the "layer" functionality Zbrush provides, I was able to store detail information such as wrinkles and stitches on separate 3D layers in order to be able to rework underlying forms as necessary.
With all of this said and done, I played around once again with Zbrush's Transpose tool to pose Stanley--this time in a more straightforward pose that would allow inspection of his wrinkles and clothing. To add a bit of dynamism to the scene, however, I quickly made a demon model--barely a 3D sketch without any image reference--just a placeholder to give something for Stanley to aim at.
Ultimately, I enjoy detail work as well as overall form when it comes to 3D modeling. Therefore, this final project fully allowed me to develop an already existing form that I had completed previously into more fully realized detail and texture. I am fairly happy with the product, and hope to continue the project with texturing, basic rigging, and a few companions for Stanley himself.
Arm Closeup Aiming At Demon Aiming at Demon 3 Aiming at Demon 2 Aiming at Demon 4 Aiming at Demon 5 Front Closeup Hand Closeup Head Closeup 1 Head Closeup 2 Leg Closeup No Backpack 01 No Backpack 02 No Backpack 03 Wireframe Front Wireframe Perspective Wireframe Perspective Closeup Wireframe Side Wireframe Top
Old Stanley A Old Stanley B Old Stanley C Old Stanley D Old Stanley E Old Stanley F Old Stanley G Old Stanley Large Old Stanley Wireframe Kannon 3-4 Kannon 3-4 Robed Man Woman
