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Female Head for Portfolio

polycounter lvl 4
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TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
Since I lack a woman and a face dedicated piece in my portfolio this seemed like the obvious choice ^^

This is being done at school and I've spent a week of half time so far on the project, with two more weeks to go. I've basically finished the sculpt and polypaint and I'm almost done retopping to lowpoly. The hair is strictly placeholder to help myself place the planes in the lowpoly ;)
ed157d4360.jpg
a089faa6d5.jpg

Critique is of course very welcome!

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  • nickcomeau
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    nickcomeau polycounter lvl 4
    As far as the polypaint goes, I think it's a good start. I like the freckles you have. It's starting to get a bit flat though because you're missing some of the color zones of the face/body. I see you did it a bit in the chest but it'll help add a bit of life back into your painting if you apply it everywhere. By that I mean, where the bone meets the skin it is going to be a bit more yellow, the fleshy areas like the cheeks chin and nose are going to be a bit more red and the shaded areas are going to be a bit more blue.

    As far as the sculpt goes, you've got some good tertiary detail in there and the anatomy is pretty solid, but it's looking a bit off because the bone structure is still symmetrical basically. Try adding a bit more asymmetry and it won't look as stiff. Like I said, I like the overall tertiary but why not put any on the nose?? :P It's making it look too smooth without it.

    How did you attack the eye lashes by the way? And how are you planning to do the hair?

    Also I can see your zBrush cursor in the bottom right of your images ;)
  • TheodorUrhed
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    TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
    Thanks for the feedback!
    You make very good points about the color variations but since Zbrush really sucks at just tweaking hues and values without having to repaint everything, I'll adjust it in the textures when I'm working with the lowpoly instead ;)

    You're also right about the assymmetry, and I've been thinking about how to tackle it without adding too much of time to the process(especially retopping). It might be foolish of me to think that pulling some verts around in the lowpoly will yield a good result but I'll try it out for this piece and see if it works out.

    Haha, I don't really know why I have avoided details on the nose, I'll make sure to fix that.

    I made the eyelashes the same way Rafael Grassetti did in his latest piece, placing each hair by hand. My plan is to make all the hair with alpha planes, but I might reconsider the eyebrows and just make them flat in the face texture instead.

    I just used puush to get the images up quickly, hence the cursor in the lower right ^^
  • Felixenfeu
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    Felixenfeu polycounter lvl 10
    Great start. The position of her eyes is a bit off. Would be better that way :
    IM0HGW0.jpg

    I used this, i makes wonders :
    FaceResearchMaskIn3D-SideFrontview.png
  • TheodorUrhed
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    TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
    Thanks, very valuable feedback, I wouldn't have seen it myself. I disagree with slanting the eyes outward though, as that is often considered a less attractive feature than eyes that slant inward.

    I'll make sure to make adjustments tomorrow ;)
  • AndyClark
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    AndyClark polycounter lvl 5
    Looking good, I agree that some asymmetry would go a long way.

    I think the eyes are a little far apart, I usually place them another eyes width apart (making the head around 5 eye widths wide). If your wanting to create an attractive character I would use the golden ruler and start placing features based off of this.

    Hope this helps!
  • TheodorUrhed
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    TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
    d313406dd6.jpg
    104ff58941.jpg
    I reworked the placement of the eyes and added some assymmetry. I also worked further on the low poly, the only thing left now is basically the hair.
  • Felixenfeu
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    Felixenfeu polycounter lvl 10
    I think the new eyes position really makes a difference. Good stuff !
  • TheodorUrhed
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    TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
    Baked and did some basic texture-work today, also started modeling the hair.
    3e12df63b4.jpg
    I'm going to have to adjust her eyes as she's staring too much atm.
  • TheodorUrhed
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    TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
    Worked a lot on the eyes today and continued with the hair behind the scenes ;)
    uVB2CM.png
  • CharacterCarl
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    CharacterCarl greentooth
    Last one is looking really good.
    Don't know if you were planning to do so but I suggest adding a layer of baked ambient occlusion over her eyes. Helps them blend in better, especially with the upper lid. Also, as you're using Toolbag, refraction is also something you might consider, as it's quite easy to do: https://youtu.be/DAyx-C3O1Hc?t=54m29s
    The freckles are cool, but as a result of them being there, the tip of her nose appears to be lacking some detail.
    Also, are the eyebrows painted?
  • Poseidon8734
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    Poseidon8734 polycounter lvl 6
    It is really getting better :D
  • Goeddy
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    Goeddy greentooth
    hey, nice progress, the last step realy makes a huge difference.

    one thing though, i think the back of her head might be too small. or general the brain containing part.

    i don't know what focal lenght you are using, but it already looks way too small in zbrush.

    here is a reference picture of natalie portman and keep in mind that this is taken by a real camera, so in orthographic view the back of her head should be way bigger.

    Natalie-Portman-Bald.jpg
  • TheodorUrhed
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    TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
    @DerRazputin Thanks! Yup, I'm totally doing that refraction :D The eyebrows are indeedhandpainted, both on planes to give them volume as well as in the face texture, I haven't really fiddled with the spec or normals so that might be why they're looking artificial. By the ao over her eyes, do you mean painting it on the eyeball just around the edge of the eyelids?

    @Poseidon8734 Thank you! :)

    @Goeddy Thanks, I'll look at the proportions of the skull tomorrow to see if there's a problem, I've probably been using a pretty bad FOV in Zbrush, so don't look too too much at that now.
  • Goeddy
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    Goeddy greentooth
    @Goeddy Thanks, I'll look at the proportions of the skull tomorrow to see if there's a problem, I've probably been using a pretty bad FOV in Zbrush, so don't look too too much at that now.

    ye zbrush perspective is always shady business

    here thats a head of mine in zbrush perspective and ortho.
    what im trying to show with this is that in ortho your head has to look way too big. unrealisticly big. because no normal person has ever seen a real head in an orthogonal view.

    my head is probably not perfect either, but noone ever said that it was too big ;)

    tumblr_nfnp2miBWA1sljkhxo3_r1_1280.jpg

    left is perspective, right is ortho
  • TheodorUrhed
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    TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
    @Goeddy I can't really find an issue with the head, you might be reading too much into the early shots, it's also going to be covered in hair, so it will get bigger none the less.

    I fiddled some more with the eyes and changed them to blue which looks more interesting imo.
    9lReIU.png
    This is where I'm at with the hair:
    CPbfvh.png
  • achillesian
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    doesn't seem pale enough for freckly ginger
  • Sammy101
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    Sammy101 polycounter lvl 6
    doesn't seem pale enough for freckly ginger
    Maybe she's got lots of bad acne.
  • ChaosWWW
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    ChaosWWW polycounter lvl 6
    Do you have a reference for the freckles? It seems a little over-done right now.
  • pongstah
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    pongstah polycounter lvl 12
    beautiful work
  • TheodorUrhed
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    TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
    @achillesian True, she should probably be paler, just don't want to lose the liveliness of her skin.

    @ChaosWWW http://wallpaper.pickywallpapers.com/1366x768/ultimate-freckles.jpg

    @pongstah Thanks
  • CharacterCarl
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    CharacterCarl greentooth
    By the ao over her eyes, do you mean painting it on the eyeball just around the edge of the eyelids?

    You'd essentially use three different models/materials: One for the eye (for SSS, iris refraction), one for the cornea (reflection) and one for the shading, each successive part scaled up a little bit to avoid z-fighting.

    But you're on a good way already. How'd you solve the shadow if I may ask? :)

    Also, for the hair, did you use ZBrush, some curve magic inside Maya or hand-place all the faces?

    Topology is looking good, BTW.
  • slosh
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    slosh hero character
    Looking damn good sir! I wouldn't mind seeing the skin a tad paler. Your skin material looks pretty good so I don't think you would lose the warmth that much since ur sss will still be there. Eyes look real nice! Can't wait to see the hair!
  • TheodorUrhed
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    TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
    @DerRazputin Ah! You meant literally adding an extra layer, I just painted it on the eyeball albedo, which would totally break if I want her to look in a different direction. The hair is placed by hand in Maya.

    @slosh Thanks man!
  • TheodorUrhed
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    TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
    Got the hair UV-mapped today and managed to do some quick ugly texture work and tweaked the shader:vEwclx.png
    I will haveto add some extra layers as there are currently gaps here and there, and I will also add small strips of stray hairs.
  • dand
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    dand polycounter lvl 7
    Looks amazing so far, can't wait to see the finished product. Got a question, could you please explain how you did the hair and are the uvs on the hair planes asymmetric or equal ? Thanks.
  • Tits
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    Tits mod
    looking great so far! will be following the progress!
    I suggest you to add more volume and polys to the ponytail part of her hair.
    It currently look very thin and really need more depth and layers to really sell the look you are going for.
  • nickcomeau
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    nickcomeau polycounter lvl 4
    Great work so far! Hair definitely needs work like you said but it's a good base. You should post what your maps look like :)
  • TheodorUrhed
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    TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
    @dand Thank you! Some hairs are placed at the same place in the uv and some have their unique space, this is what the alpha map looks like:Alpha Map (You can probably see which are still very WIP :P)

    @Tits Thank you very much! I will definitely add more hair in the ponytail, I didn't realise how sparsely they were placed until they got their textures.

    @nickcomeau Thanks! I will absolutely do a construction shot once I'm done that shows all the maps, there are quite a few though so putting together a sheet would take some time. I might just put one together for the face textures tomorrow as I feel that would be much more suitable for critique than the hair at this point. In the meantime, if there is any specific map you'd like to see I'd be happy to share it.
  • nickcomeau
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    nickcomeau polycounter lvl 4
    No the alpha map was fine to see a bit of what you're doing. Right now, from the angle you took your shot in, the ponytail has a lot of hard edges. Are you able to spare any more poly's to make the flow look a bit better? It could go a long way.
  • TheodorUrhed
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    TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
    ioRrMZ.png
    This is where I'm currently at. I think I need to add moar polygons.
  • TheodorUrhed
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    TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
    I decided to cut the hair, making the curly tail look good would take too much time.
    beXvOK.png
    1nXHBv.png
    If you got any feedback, this is the time, I need anything I can get to push this to polish for the last two days of the project.
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    Man, those eyes are gorgeous... i'd love to see how you did them.

    The hair is coming along really nicely! My only real criticism lie in the skin. i think you may have the subdermis cranked a little too high and/or slightly too saturated, which is giving the skin a really weird almost jaundiced tone. I'd also lower the intensity of the freckles a bit, the number is fine it's just they're creating a really sunburned look in some areas of the skin.
  • AgelosAp
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    AgelosAp polycounter
    Yes the eyes are exceptionally beautiful!
    I agree with Gir for the redness of the skin.
    I 'd add some glossiness to her forehead and maybe her collar bone too.
    Actually this is weird but the part that 's lit by the blue light looks glossy enough and the yellow looks matte, so my comment applies to the yellow part. :P
  • nickcomeau
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    nickcomeau polycounter lvl 4
    As far as the hair goes I think it was a good idea to cut it. For what you have now though, I see what you're doing with the stray strands of hair, but it seems like they're almost black so it's looking a bit weird compared to the rest of her hair IMO.

    Also, because of the lack of spec in the hair it is looking super dry right now. I personally would add a bit more of a spec on parts of the hair to make it pop a bit more and look slightly healthier.
  • TheodorUrhed
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    TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
    @almighty_gir Thanks, I learned how to make realtime eyes from this tutorial. You basically have two layers with a protruding cornea, the outer layer is transparent and only shows sharp reflections. The inner layer has a normal map going inwards to catch the light correctly and also a parallax map to cause refraction when looked at from the side(DerRasputin linked to a video on this on the first page). Some normal map detail is also added on the outer layer to break up the spec around the cornea. You were totally right about the redness, it became obvious as soon as you said it.

    @Firith Thank you! I've encountered the same problem several times where something appears more glossy from one light source than another, I don't really understand what is causing it.

    @nickcomeau You're right on about it looking dry.

    U3EQfo.png
    Lesson learned(for the third time): Hair's a bitch. It really does soak up a huge amount of time to go from really bad to bad and rarely crossing over to ok. I think I'll just not make the hair the focal point of my presentation at all and I'll focus on making it look ok from the front, adding more loops to the bangs and tweaking the stray hairs.
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    Yeah i've been doing eyes that way for ages, i think there's just something about the colour of this chicks eyes that are really striking though.

    as a personal preference thing, freckles + green eyes + slightly red/auburn hair... mmm yeah :D
  • TheodorUrhed
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    TheodorUrhed polycounter lvl 4
    I looked back at the post I made a week ago and really felt like I had lost a lot of character, the freckles were almost gone and all the skin had become very matte. So I brought it back! :D

    This was the last day so now I'll try to pose her, make a presentation and throw her up on the portfolio, thanks guys!
    v4emdG.png
  • j.pears
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    j.pears polycounter lvl 4
    looks amazing dude. but i do thing the freckles need toning down in some areas. really impressed though
  • FlorenceThibault
    Very nice work! The eyes are beautiful :)
  • Goeddy
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    Goeddy greentooth
    good job overall, especially the area around here eyes is very striking.

    i'd turn off local reflections though, there are some artifacts, especially visible on the lower side of her nose.
    also there is a certain disconnect between the lip diffuse and the other maps, i'd try to put some of that detail atleast in the glossmap.

    also forehead is still too narrow...
  • radiancef0rge
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    radiancef0rge ngon master
  • jamiemurphy
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    jamiemurphy polycounter lvl 8
    turned out great, nice work!
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