Turn drawings into incredible 3D

Find out how Victor Hugo turned Thiago Almeida's concept drawing into incredible 3D, following the pipelines he learned whilst studying with Rafael Grassetti.

Concept and references

When I saw this concept from my friend Thiago Almeida, I immediately asked him if I could recreate it in 3D. As I had enrolled on a workshop with Rafael Grassetti, I had the perfect opportunity to do so. My first step was to gather references that I liked most and that gave me an idea of the feeling I was looking for.

Amazing Concept from Thiago Almeida

Amazing Concept from Thiago Almeida

Modeling body

I reused one of my base meshes to start this project. I had a bit of a challenge with this one though as I had to find a solution for his feet, because Thiago didn't draw it, so I tried some things before getting this result.

You can see the brushes I used most for blocking in, at the bottom of the image

Demon's body from a base mesh and brushes used in ZBrush

Demon's body from a base mesh and brushes used in ZBrush

Modeling accessories

After most of my shapes and volumes were done, I sent my demon to 3ds Max to model the accessories. All of them were modeled using poly modeling techniques or retopology tools (from 3ds Max and Topogun).

The base meshes done in 3ds Max

The base meshes done in 3ds Max

Modeling the axe blade

For his axe blade I wanted to try something quickly, so I did the following. I drew its shape using a spline and then applied a bevel. The result was then sent to ZBrush, where I used DynaMesh and ZRemesher to get a quick and nice result using the default settings (you can tweak and test these to get a lower mesh).

The blade of the axe was done using tools from ZBrush, with default settings

The blade of the axe was done using tools from ZBrush, with default settings

Detailing the accessories

For the metal I used the NoiseMaker from ZBrush (an amazing tool, by the way) with the settings that you can see in the picture here. I also created some scratches in the metal using the SLASH3 brush.

Metal texture done using NoiseMaker from ZBrush

Metal texture done using NoiseMaker from ZBrush

Refining the body

To make the body's fine detail, I used ZRemesher to get a nice and clean topology. I used the ZRemesher Guides Brush as you can see in the image here and you can see the result in the other image.

Guides drawn to direct ZRemesher

Guides drawn to direct ZRemesher

Texture

I did all my textures using MARI, from The Foundry. I made a tileable texture in Photoshop too, to use as base then I made masks to make the transitions between these different layers.

Preview from final texture inside MARI

Preview from final texture inside MARI

Lightning

For the lighting I placed three V-Ray lights using the realistic viewport in 3ds Max and a HDR image for the reflections. I also rendered the Diffuse Filter, Specular and Reflections from Render Elements and an Occlusion Pass.

Finally I placed 2 little lights to create the eye's reflections.

Render done in V-Ray with the following settings

Render done in V-Ray with the following settings

Render Passes

I posed the character using the Transpose Master and rendered out six passes: Beauty Pass, Occlusion Pass (using V-Ray dirt), Specular/Reflection Pass from Render Elements and the Hair. I rendered them in TIF 16 bits 300 dpi with a matte background and with no alpha contribution, so I can use it to make my masks.

Render Passes for the final composition

Render Passes for the final composition

Final Result

Using Photoshop I blended all the passes and did some color corrections. I also rendered a turntable using the
same settings.

The final image…

The final image…

The demon turntable…

The demon turntable…

Related Links:

Visit Victor Hugo Sousa's portfolio for more magnificent models
Check out Victor Hugo Sousa's tutorials on the 3dtotal site
Try our ZBrush book titles for more advice on modeling characters and creatures

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