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Mudbox Sculpting Advice

Vaztor
polycounter lvl 3
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Vaztor polycounter lvl 3
Hey guys.

I'm fairly new to sculpting and I'm looking for some advice on how to handle a couple of things. Here is a reference of the boot I'm trying to sculpt

92a2960ff0eeb6a3c6e9ba03adba6e65.jpg?1342646222

My first question is, I'm having some difficulty in the back area where the two layers of fabric overlap. I always get a messy or jagged result because of the overlap when they would be relatively clean as individual layers. This is about the cleanest I've been able to get it so far but I'm not satisfied with the result.

tTkBtsG.png

What would be the best way to go about doing this where both layers of fabric would look clean?

Secondly, I'm trying to go in and do the stitching along the fabric. I made a quick little custom stamp and it gets very coarse like this

z9D0Bd5.png

I've been amping up the subdivision count and it does make it look a bit better but I don't think it will be really crisp unless I go really high up in subdivisions. Is that what I'm supposed to do for sculpting details like this or is there a better way to handle this? Also, could the custom stamp be a factor in this as well?

Thanks in advance for the help guys :)

Replies

  • MM
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    MM polycounter lvl 17
    if you want good polished look then you will have to create a custom base mesh with separate topological elements for all the separate leather patches. google boots/shoe base mesh. http://vector3dlab.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/aa/

    screen-chaussures_7.png

    sculpting them all out of same surface will give you messy result unless you wanna spend lot more time refinig the edges. also, you can try making custom vdm stamps to create those edges.

    as for the stitches, yes you would have to increase subdivision in order to get clean stitch details for sculpting. no other way around that.

    i usually dont sculpt in stitches unless the project requires it, it is far simpler to add it later in texture phase.
  • Vaztor
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    Vaztor polycounter lvl 3
    MM wrote: »
    if you want good polished look then you will have to create a custom base mesh with separate topological elements for all the separate leather patches. google boots/shoe base mesh. http://vector3dlab.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/aa/

    screen-chaussures_7.png

    sculpting them all out of same surface will give you messy result unless you wanna spend lot more time refinig the edges. also, you can try making custom vdm stamps to create those edges.

    as for the stitches, yes you would have to increase subdivision in order to get clean stitch details for sculpting. no other way around that.

    i usually dont sculpt in stitches unless the project requires it, it is far simpler to add it later in texture phase.

    Ah that's a really good idea. Thanks for the link, I was actually looking for something topological like that.

    Now, does setting up the topology like this make the sculpting process easier to work with? It almost seems like it eliminates the need to really sculpt this detail out.

    Basically, I'm still trying to grasp where a base mesh should end and where sculpting should begin.
  • MM
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    MM polycounter lvl 17
    Vaztor wrote: »
    Basically, I'm still trying to grasp where a base mesh should end and where sculpting should begin.

    basically, anything that would not change during sculpting AND required clean mesh borders or edges - i would model it in base mesh.

    things that are uncertain such as folds, surface details and general deformation i would leave it for sculpting.

    also, if you plan your base mesh properly you can avoid subdividing too much. the more you define in base mesh, the less you have to worry about in sculpting.
  • Vaztor
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    Vaztor polycounter lvl 3
    MM wrote: »
    basically, anything that would not change during sculpting AND required clean mesh borders or edges - i would model it in base mesh.

    things that are uncertain such as folds, surface details and general deformation i would leave it for sculpting.

    also, if you plan your base mesh properly you can avoid subdividing too much. the more you define in base mesh, the less you have to worry about in sculpting.

    Okay good to know. Looks like I'll take this boot back into Maya for now.

    I've just been watching people make entire models from a few primitives in ZBRush. Still can't wrap my head around that.
  • MM
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    MM polycounter lvl 17
    Vaztor wrote: »
    I've just been watching people make entire models from a few primitives in ZBRush. Still can't wrap my head around that.

    yes indeed zbrush can create mesh from anything. so why arent you using zbrush then ?
  • Vaztor
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    Vaztor polycounter lvl 3
    MM wrote: »
    yes indeed zbrush can create mesh from anything. so why arent you using zbrush then ?

    I definitely want to try it but it's a bit expensive for me as a student who is still fairly new to sculpting in general. I got Mudbox in a Autodesk Student Suite so I've mainly been learning the basics with that.
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