Jan/Feb - Normal - jramaui
 

Well... I didn't have a chance to compete on last challenge, but I hope I have a better luck now. I'm not so sure about what I'll try to do, to be honest, I don't know if I have enough skill to this challenge. But let's try to see what happens.
The first organic creature I thought for this challenge was my favorite singer Bjork. As I have tons of pictures of her, and many clips, and shows... I think it is a good start. The hard thing is get her face correctly...

Coool dude and congrats for the choice ;)

She's got such an aura that's amazing.
I'm wondering which one of her 2500 gimmics you will choose for the final still :)

Hehe.. Thanks Pyrus. I love this woman.

Not much progress today, I just made a block in Maya and started to work the main shapes on ZBrush.

A poor block in Maya

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_01.jpg

A woman is borning!

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_03.jpg

nice progress :)

looks like you'll have loads of time to work on the realism aspect!

Sincerely I hope I have this time. Last challenge was in a bad period - near Christmas, and the amount of work grows in this time. But january use to be a calm month. Sometimes more calm than it should... so I expect make a good model this time.

aaaaaah! z-brush what a powerful prog.

Your facial anatomy looks right on target. Cant wait to see the finished version.:beer:

Thanks, THX1138. Let's see how she will look!

Some slight updates. I work a little more to get correct proportions and shapes of face.

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_04.jpg

With this done, it wasn't needed to worry about "the artistic stuff", so I could focus on get a decent edge flow. In ZBrush I started to draw the flow I imagine to polygons to follow...

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_05.jpg

Until get a good one. I know it could be better, but the main purpose of this challenge is the final look, so this flow is good enough for a while.

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_06.jpg

Within Maya, I started a new mesh, using the Zbrush mesh as reference. A VERY tedious task.

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_07.jpg

New mesh done.

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_09.jpg

With some adjustments, I have finally an organized mesh, with less polygons than the first one and the same appearence. From now on, I will work with that mesh.

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_10.jpg

Fantastic progress! I would like to see you pull off a win with this one.:beer:

very cool. Do you have any recommendations for ZBrush tutorials? I just got it but am having trouble getting the hang of things. The practical Guide is helping but I really just want to know how to import a model, add/paint deformations, texture, and export.

Is your site down jramaui? I cant see any of your updates :(

Hey t1ck boy, people have warned me that the server would be in maintenance on this sunday morning (morning here in Brazil). In some hours they will be back.

THX1138: Thanks for your cheers, man! I'm getting enthusiastic thanks with your posts! But to be honest, there's not so much progress here. I just refined the shapes and reconstructed the mesh with correct loops. I think real progress will come on next days. Man, you should join this challenge too. I followed your entry on last challenge, and it was great. You can finish it later. Give this challenge a try, it would be better with you running too!

thatdudeyoulove: http://www.zbrushcentral.com is the best place to get all you need. But if you have Practical manual, I suggest you follow it. It was what I did. But you have to be patient, too. Zbrush is thousands of times easier to learn than Maya, but is still a complex software. You must not expect to learn everything in a couple of days!
In PM, there's a section about workflow between ZBrush and other 3D packages. Take a look on ZBrush to Maya workflow. It'll make many things clearer to you.

looks just like her :)

:beer:

looking very good :)

the only thing that jumps out at me is the septum (area between the nostrils) looks a little wide and maybe a very little bit low.
Good work with the conversion back into a maya mesh - that must have taken patience

I would like to enter the competition, but I'm trying to find some tut's on Maya fur; and I'm not having much luck. I believe it's better for me to sit this one out reguardless, because someone has allready picked ( of all things ) the subject I was going to model ). Anyway, I'm satisfied in just watching this challenge as it progresses. Many fantastic entries in this challenge to watch.

jramauri I send you a message yesterday, did you read it?

about the girl, she's great, I whould like to she what are you going to do with her hair

Mayafreak: Thanks man!

t1ck135: You really have a good eye! You always capture the minimal fails in proportion. It's an extraordinary thing! Thanks, I'll fix this.

THX1138: It's a pitty. Well, you can find a good tutorial about fur in Maya docs server. Some time ago you said your MDS doesn't work. If you're Windows user, try to go in Control Panel> Administrative Tools>Services. Maya Docs Server should be listed there, but not enabled. Once enabled it should work properly. I hope.

Legolas_hv: I read it now. It was a lack of comunication between us, but in a near future, we can make that project, don't worry.
About the hair I'm not sure. I could use Paint effects, like I did on the set/oct challenge, or try Maya Hair. I will decide yet.

jramaui, I tried the administrative tools> services some time ago. But the whole problem with it is actually my fault. I have a "Hijack this" remover program that I use every now and then to keep my system clean, and I accidently deleted a maya wrapper file one day that I think was used for the Doc server. All that I know is that my Doc server worked before I accidently deleted this file.

If it's possible, could you copy and paste, and send me the tut from your Doc server?

the new tut by kurt is a fur tutorial might wanna take a look.

I have seen the site add for kurt's fur tut. Sadly, I have no points to download it, and I don't do online transactions.

THX1138: Of course, dude. Just click here.

Time for an update. In fact, just a slight update. I'm avoiding to enter the "fine details stage" before I'm really sure proportions are OK. So, I'd like very much if you help me to get weird things here. Specially "Mr. Magic Eye", t1ck135!

Here are some references of my goddess:

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_Ref.jpg

Front view

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_11.jpg

Perspective and side views.

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_12.jpg

hehe, you've got some good reference images jramauri which help to spot little things :)

The only things that I can pick up from the reference pics are:
The area between the eye and nose could do with a very slight movement (see attached picture). The nose is ever so slightly bulbous at the end (only a very small amount).
The top of the back of the neck in the side view looks like it should go up into the head a little more.

I can only see those very small things now though. You are very nearly there with the head shape, great work and very inspiring! keep it up :)

nice job, looks real already

Yeah, great work jramauri. It really is beginning to look like Bjork. And thanks for posting links to info on ZBrush.

By the way, have you seen that great clip of Bjork attacking a reporter in Thailand? I think you can get it through salon.com. Definately worth checking out.

Thanks for Fur help jramaui. I'm doing a few fur tests to see how it works.

Thanks for your replies buddies. I'll work a little more on my model tomorrow. Today I can't... :angery:

Hey Arran, I haven't seen the clip, but I heard about it. It seems Bjork has a strange temperament, but this is one of things take make me a huge fan of her.

Hope to see more progress from your entry! I felt the same way over the holidays when I could not work on my projector model.

You're doing a beautiful job! I would like to make one small suggestion. Model her with an expression (unless you're going to rig her). Might I recommend using the upper right picture on your last picture reference post. Sort of a sly puckered smile with one slightly raised eyebrow.

Very cool, dude!

Dave

Finally a sort of update. Last days were busy days... I hope I have more time next week.
Well, I made a UV Layout during last week, but when I imported my model in ZBrush... Boom! It exploded in a unexplanable way. A disaster.
Then today I did it again. This time the layout was a little uglier - it looks like a cabbage - but it's working on ZBrush, what is a great thing. So I must keep with it.

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_13.jpg

Yeah, THX1138, it's frustrating when we can not spend some time with our projects, but we have to earn some money, dont' we? ;)

Dave: I'll problably rig her with some clusters. I haven't decided yet what will be the final image. But I have to admit this one you suggested is one of my favorites.

I didn't want to waste my sunday, so there go an update. I started to work on details, like wrinckles and pores. I made eyebrows, and I felt so amazed with the results, that I tried a provisory skin texture. I loved the results. More to come this week!

Hey, this is very funny!

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_14.jpg

Now in Technicolor

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_15.jpg

wowsers, that is coming to life :)
great work on the pores and wrinkles!

I got to get me zbrush at some point...

NICE! :bow: :bow:

Thanks, buddies. I spent some hours today making adjustments on overall shapes, and tweaking the sking, adding pores, fixing bad wrinckles and making some paint on skin texture.

Right cheek

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_16.jpg

Left cheek. I must spend some time on the neck next time.

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_17.jpg

With skin

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_18.jpg

More skin

http://www.amauriilustra.com.br/CGTalk/Bjork_19.jpg

Isn't Zbrush fun to texture with! I love using Projection Master. Once you get used to it you begin to feel as if you can do anything. This will look awesome rendered in Maya! The only crit I have is the stretching on the forehead ... but I'm not sure this will matter once you create the hair and the model is fully lit and rendered.

Nice work!

Dave

Best part of texturing with Zbrush is the Zapplink plugin :)

Very nice model, tho more a Zbrush model than a Maya, but still very nice - and in my world, all that matters is the end result, not the tools.

I think the eyebrows could do with a little more work as they look a little flat in the middle (unless you are going to add hair over them)

can't wait to see a render! :)

excellent work jramauri. This is really beginning to look like bjork. The only thing that I am not sure about is the colour of the lips, which seems a little strong, but I guess that is a matter of taste. Your project is really coming together.

model looks sweet how did you make those pores?
o n sry but who is bjork, ive never heard of her.

swankymonkey - Yeah Dave, PM is a really powerful tool, and very cool to use it. It's like if you're doing a painting with your 3d model, very very cool. About the stretch, I didn't care about it when I made the UV layout, because I already knew I would paint in ZBrush and Photoshop at same time, so it wouldn't be a problem. And hair would cover it,even if I couldnt fix it. But I fixed it today.

t1ck135 - I noticed the problem with eyebrows when I woke up this morning, and looked at me in the bathroom mirror. ;) Its fixed too.

caligraphics - I think the same way. Doesn't matter the tools,what really matters is the final look. And even if somebody here doesn't like the use o ZBrush... Sorry, but ZBrush it's a so powerful tool that nobody can avoid it anymore. It came to stay.

arran - Thanks, dude. I'm not sure about the colours, because I have a million of pictures of Bjork, and she looks different in every one. When I choose a final still, I'll give her the correct hues.

jhubbard - Bjork is my favorite singer. She's from Iceland, and isn't the most known person in the world. But if you search in Google, will find tons of things about her. About the pores, they were made on ZBrush, using Simple brush, spray, dots and freehand strokes, and some customized alphas. The wrinckles were made using Deco brush.