{"id":142059971550,"date":"2016-07-04T11:55:34","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T09:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sketchfab.com\/?p=142059971550"},"modified":"2016-07-04T11:55:34","modified_gmt":"2016-07-04T09:55:34","slug":"art-spotlight-fruit-collector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sketchfab.com\/blogs\/community\/art-spotlight-fruit-collector\/","title":{"rendered":"Art Spotlight: The Fruit Collector"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Art Spotlight<\/a>, we invite Sketchfab artists to talk about one of their designs.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hey\u00a0there ! My name is Alexandre Collonge and I\u2019m working as a 3D teacher in Aries Lyon<\/a>, a school specialising in 3D design, animation and motion design in France.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m mostly interested in character design, digital sculpting, modeling, shading, lighting and rigging, aiming to bring life to personal projects or to create my own version of an already existing universe.<\/p>\n

All of my models and artworks are made for my own pleasure, to improve my skills and share it with anyone who would like it, but I also use these for my 3D courses, to explain my workflow and techniques to my students.<\/p>\n

Cartoon is the way to go<\/h2>\n

Okay, enough about me\u00a0! Recently, I wanted to go back to what I was doing in my earlier days: Cartoon characters. That\u2019s why I started working on the “Fruit Collector”, a clear reminder of a famous Nintendo game.<\/p>\n

First things first, the base art inspiration comes from an amazing lady dear to my heart, Annick Dammekens (you can find more of her work here<\/a>).\u00a0This is the artwork she created and I used as my main source of inspiration:<\/p>\n

\"Concept

I thought the character was really original and the overall feeling was “fun” so i said “Hey, I\u2019ll try to make it in 3D, it could be fun<\/em>!”. Really, I\u2019m pretty sure I said that.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m late\u00a0! I\u2019m late\u00a0!<\/h2>\n

One of the most important things here is to use the best software for the best situation: To be honest, since I\u2019m a teacher, I don\u2019t have that much time to work on personal stuff, so I have to be fast and efficient.<\/p>\n

Like most 3D artists, I start directly in Zbrush, which allows me to get nice shapes quickly, and I don\u2019t have to bother about topology or anything.<\/p>\n

Most of the time, I\u2019ll be using Zbrush for organic and more detail-demanding objects. On the other hand, I\u2019ll be using Maya for assets, objects, cloth simulations, etc \u2026 Keep in mind that I\u2019m using the software I\u2019m comfortable with, which is the most important part about any workflow. It will allow you to work faster.<\/p>\n

When working with Maya and Zbrush, I\u2019m trying to anticipate what I\u2019ll need to do later (retopology or not, Uv\u2019s, projections, baking, etc …) so I try to work a lot with “Polygroups”.<\/p>\n

As an example, below you can see the fruits separated in different polygroups (the base mesh is from Maya so no retopology will be done later on):<\/p>\n

\"10000000000004B00000033377516FAFE7A59175\"

I kept only one fruit of each and added informations and painting until I was satisfied, Then I unwrapped the UV\u2019s of those fruits before duplicating them on my final posing file. This way each fruit shares the same UV map, but I can place as many as I want on my character with no textures degradation.<\/p>\n

Dynamesh and Extraction<\/h2>\n

About the main character: I\u2019ll usually start with a simple polysphere or Zsphere, and turn it into Dynamesh, so I don\u2019t have to bother about topology.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll pull out the neck and keep going like this until I get most of the body, arms and legs.<\/p>\n

After that I usually use the “extract” function on my base shape to create clothing by using masks. I will also split the body into parts to work more efficiently and prepare the retopology phase.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll keep going through this kind of workflow until I get good shapes and adjusted proportions for every object.<\/p>\n

\"Basic

Details, painting and topology<\/h2>\n

At this stage, I\u2019ll switch to the “advanced sculpting phase<\/em>” where I\u2019ll work on details, folds, hair, etc ..\u00a0.<\/p>\n

Most of the time, I use the “Dam standard brush<\/em>” with various sizes and Z intensities to obtain nice cavities and peaks. I really like this brush because it can be used at every stage of sculpting to define shapes or to get details.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll also use various Polish brushes, some special brushes I created or downloaded, and also trim brushes depending of the situations, as well as custom alphas.<\/p>\n

\"Final

About Topology<\/h2>\n

As I said, I don\u2019t have that much time to work on my free time, so Retopology is mostly a “no-go” for me, being too time consuming. Since I don\u2019t want this model to be animated, I used the Zremesh function of zbrush, with the help of color paint and Zremesher guides, I got what I wanted and was able to unwrap UV\u2019s to get “OK” maps.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that Zremesh\u2019s most common default is it\u2019s inability to create clean loops where you really need them. It will often give you spiral shapes, which doesn\u2019t help with UV unwrapping.<\/em><\/p>\n

Texture map combination<\/h2>\n

When painting cartoon characters on Zbrush, I try to keep it simple and get something subtle. Also, I\u2019m using a technique based on world space normal maps and displacement maps combined with the base color in Photoshop to obtain pre-lighted textures that will give me a lot better base for the advanced painting phase.<\/p>\n

\"10000000000005230000056DCD6E518FE6DFE446\"

The substance of painting<\/h2>\n

Now is the time to send everything into Substance painter to work on advanced shaders and textures effects.<\/p>\n

What I really like about Substance painter is all possibilities based on procedurals maps and masks: it gives you a lot of freedom and creativity to obtain the aspect you\u2019re looking for. The other good point is the similarity with Photoshop, making it a really simple software to learn.<\/p>\n

I also love painting roughness and metalness information on a mesh, it gives me the opportunity to create very realistic materials.<\/p>\n

In Substance I\u2019ll start by using the color map created earlier as a base layer, and I\u2019ll start adding details, lighting information, faking SSS, etc \u2026<\/p>\n

\"Import

At first, it doesn\u2019t look like much and the aspect is really “muddy<\/em>“, so using mostly “fill layers<\/em>” and masking, I\u2019ll create details, opacity and material information on my character.<\/p>\n

I prefer working with fill layers for a very simple reason: it doesn\u2019t “lock” the information: a fill layer can be changed whenever you want, so if you\u2019re not satisfied by the roughness or height of the layer, you just have to change de value on the fill.<\/p>\n

So how do I get details and accurate painting with a fill layer? Well, I just create a mask and draw on it.
\nThis workflow gives you a lot of room to change almost everything whenever you want and allows you to work efficiently with the Mask generators, curvatures or Thickness to create fake SSS, darkening, etc \u2026<\/p>\n

\"Finalization

Rendering and real-time<\/h2>\n

Now that everything is completed, I have two options: Rendering and Realtime. To be honest, I usually use both :)<\/p>\n

For rendering, I\u2019m using two engine: The first is IRay inside of Substance painter 2<\/strong>, really simple to understand and it will give you really good results. I really like the “in built” post process options, which allows you to skip some post compositing.<\/p>\n

The second one is Pixar\u2019s Renderman<\/strong>, for all the possibilities, and the powerful lighting and rendering options as well as a fast set-up, even if taking the maps from Substance to Renderman needs some tweaking.<\/p>\n

And as for realtime visualisation, I haven\u2019t found anything better than Sketchfab: It\u2019s simple, lightweight, works on smartphones and gives you a lot of possibilities in lighting and post process options. You can check my model on Sketchfab below:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/skfb.ly\/Ouo6<\/p>\n

I was really impressed by Sketchfab the first time I used it: as a teacher, it\u2019s one of the tools I recommend to my students, as it is the perfect way to create an interactive portfolio.<\/p>\n

Also, the Staff is always on the lookout for new models and is clearly involved in the promotion of new artists and I thank them for this! I would also thank everyone who supported or showed interest in this artwork!<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in more of my work, you can check my Sketchfab portfolio<\/a>,\u00a0my personal website<\/a>, Artstation portfolio<\/a>\u00a0and you can also follow me on my Facebook page<\/a>. You can also check the website of the Art school where I work, Aries graphic and motion design<\/a>, we have openings for foreign students and\/or exchange\u00a0!<\/p>\n

Phew, I think I covered everything!\u00a0?<\/p>\n

Cheers\u00a0!<\/p>\n

\"1000000000000640000003D294156F5757B56492\"

Thanks Alexandre!<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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