Judge feedback

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• I understand this is an unfinished project so I will focus on giving feedback on what you’ve got so far. Pros: + Very nicely presented process in the documentation (despite not being finished). Not afraid to document the mistakes either which is an essential part of every documentation. Good job Shaun! + Good attempt at learning ZModeller and using ZBrush for hard surface. As a rule of thumb, have only the meshes involved in the boolean operation visible when you press “make boolean mesh”. To manage the large number of subtools, work with separate tools under the same project, conduct the boolean operations in those tools, then copy the “baked” boolean mesh to the main tool. This way you can delete a tool after you’re done with the booleans while keeping your main tool tidy. (Also, use folders, which you might be aware of) + Managed to capture the style of the character quite well, with good research on stylised 3D characters. Cons: - Since the project is not finished I cannot comment on the presentation too much, but I will say that it has potential. I think what mainly set you back is overscoping and lack of planning. It’s good that you’ve chosen a complex concept and weren’t afraid to go big, at the same time you should be mindful of time. During pre production, be honest with yourself about the time requirements of each aspect of production in relation to your current skillset. From your documentation I get the feeling that you mainly focused on the sculpting, while realising a bit late that there might not be enough time for the other steps. - Topology is unnecessarily dense in some areas like the neck, while others are kept relatively low (satchel, hair strands). Faces should have more topology indeed, but for stylised characters due to the simpler shapes you can get away with less. -I’m aware this may be due to time, but UV’s need to be oriented correctly and packed based on the use of shaders or removable parts (coat,hat). You are using too many UDIMs and the texel density varies a lot as you mentioned. -Textures, especially skin, could have a bit more hue variation. As can be seen in your style references, the rules of the color zones of the face still apply, they are just softer (redness around the nose/cheeks) Tip: Anatomy and proportions look ok given the style, but don’t forget to practise anatomy in a realistic style as well, then move on to stylised. Practising outside of big projects helps you avoid situations like you had with the face where you had to redo it on the go. One book I highly recommend is Anatomy for Sculptors (https://anatomy4sculptors.com/understanding-the-human-figure/). Also, don’t forget to practise anatomy through drawing since a lot of the observations you make in 2D can easily be transferred to 3D. For this I highly recommend drawing quick poses (1-2 min) which force you to find the main lines of action and learn how dynamic the human body is. Overall, this is a good attempt at representing a complex stylised character concept in 3D. I would highly recommend revising the project and giving it the time it deserves as it would make a great portfolio piece. Feel free to reach me at: verisof08 on Discord or via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mihaiandrusandu/
• Student: Shaun Walker Challenge Tier: Search For A Star Assessor: Jessie Chan Hi Shaun! Great work on this project, I enjoyed seeing how much you learnt throughout the character and that you weren’t afraid to iterate on ideas when things weren’t working. I think your modelling skills are good and show through the broom's quality. It’s great that you decided to push yourself to use only ZBrush for this project, but in production settings, don’t be afraid to jump into other software if you can access it, Marvellous Designer can be great for getting quick clothing folds easily, and even hard-surface modeller tools may have helped with elements on the Broom. I respect that you committed to the retop of the end of the broom, but in a game setting it would be faked (similar to how you’ve done the ends of the braids). Likely a mostly flat surface with 3D “petals” around to add to the silhouette. I think you’d really enjoy learning about the dynamic subdivision workflow in Zbrush, this is how I learnt to make clean forms which are especially present in PBR stylised characters (think Overwatch). Michael Pavlovich has some great tutorials on using this and some other ZModeller tips as well - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeFclVta4No . This can be used for clothing too and I think it would help you avoid lumpiness when aiming for those smooth shapes. Overall, you’ve matched the concept well and got all of the major assets in! I love the corgi bag and I think you’ve nailed that part (it’s so cute). I would have liked to see more research into individual research of each of the elements (even real-life ref or how other stylised character artists have done them). I think you could have pushed the basemesh of the character proportionally to match the stylised body of the concept, particularly by lengthening the legs and making the ribcage and waist smaller. For future projects, gathering ref into how stylised games/artists achieve these proportions may help to build a visual library. Technically, there are a couple of areas where Abigail could also improve. Usually, you want to ensure that topology is evenly distributed across the character and as “square” as possible (this may differ in areas of focus where you’d want higher topology, like the face or hands). For example, on her hands, the fingers don’t have any loops between the knuckle joints which isn’t great practice because of stretching or deformation. The face is very dense in topology as well (almost 30k!), which should be retopologised down to around 10k (I think you may have subdivided this so just aim to go one subdiv lower). For games, we aim to be as optimised as we can for materials too as this would mean fewer draw calls for the engine. I would have liked to see the UVs combined into two or three materials (possibly: Abigail, Corgi, and Broom) because each element does not need its own texture set. The placement of which you place your UV seams could be more closely considered too. For clothing, we tend to put seams in areas where natural seams would occur and out of the eye of the player - under the arm, down the side of the body, at sharp plane changes (like at the collar). This will help you to create more square UV islands that you can pack more efficiently with less wasted space on a texture sheet. Best of luck for the future Shaun, you have great problem-solving skills and it’s fantastic to see how dedicated you are to getting awesome results. I look forward to what you create next! Please reach out if you have any questions.
• First of all, I want to thank you for the work you've done; you've done well with the task. I found it very interesting to evaluate your character. Thank you for your effort and diligence. I want to wish you good luck in the challenge and creative success! Denis Beletskii. 3D Concept Character Artist. Wargaming. Also, I would like to add some useful materials on working with characters and more. I hope they will be helpful to you when working on new excellent characters. Good breakdowns in my opinion: • Sin Nombre—Valerious by Kristina Perinska https://www.artstation.com/artwork/YBQrOX • Frostpunk Explorer: Character Design for Cinematics by Claudiu Tanasie https://80.lv/articles/001agt-frostpunk-explorer-character-design-for-cinematics/ • Game Res character by William Paré-Jobin https://www.artstation.com/artwork/oAonE4 • Yokai Breakdown by Anastasia Fomina https://www.artstation.com/artwork/OGOn06 • Creating a Strong Male Character by Annina Weber https://80.lv/articles/creating-a-strong-male-character-in-maya-zbrush-substance/ • Marilyn Monroe by Alexander Lyan https://gamesartist.co.uk/marilyn-monroe/ Useful literature: • Excellent anatomy books for sculptors. https://anatomy4sculptors.com/ • A book explaining the use of lighting for artists. https://www.laurenceking.com/products/light-for-visual-artists-second-edition • Anatomy for 3D artists. https://www.brownsbfs.co.uk/Product/Legaspi-Chris/Anatomy-for-3D-artists---the-essential-guide-for-CG-professionals/9781909414242 • Character design. https://store.3dtotal.com/products/fundamentals-of-character-design • Another book on lighting, but this time for portraits. https://www.ammonitepress.com/mastering-lighting-flash-photography/