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Shouaku Shouaku (The Lizard [actually translates as Small Evil from Japanese]) is a work that takes advantage of zBrush 2.0 and 3ds Max 8, and is the first in a series of creatures I have imagined. Realized almost entirely in zBrush, it was first conceived as a series of sketches (on the back of a handout in one of my University classes.) The rough body of this model starts as a series of zSpheres, and is further subdivided as detail is added. The entire project took about 10 hours to complete. Please see the stills below for the amount of faces per LOD (Level of Detail) level. |
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The original designs. A bit gruesome in retrospect. |
The original zSphere rig in zBrush. Not a bad way to make organic models. | Resultant mesh from aforementioned zSpheres. |
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| Subdivided from the previous mesh, the tail has also been flattened out. Detail to the head starts to emerge. | Further subdivided, final detail is added to the back, neck, tail, and head ridge. | Mouth formed, eyes refined more, suckers added to "hands." |
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| LOD 1 at 392 faces. | LOD 2 at 1568 faces. | LOD 3 at 12544 faces. |
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| On the highest LOD 4, a render from above. 100,352 faces. | And a wireframe at LOD 4. | On to the rigging. Three history-independent inverse kinematic chains (HI IK) were created, one for each arm and one for the tail. The head/neck assembly remained forward kinematic. Note that important bones were color coded, such as the yellow center of mass. |
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| With the Skin modifier applied, I was free to pose Shouaku as I pleased. But first, I created a new material that would make it appear as though it were made of a glass, or perhaps a gel. | Here is a final render of Shouaku through a 15mm lense for a more intimidating effect. | Here is one from the top - note the bumps on his abdomen. |
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Click above for a final video with a few animations. (Requires DivX) |
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