Weeks 3&4: UV Mapping and Intro to ZBrush


Week 3 

What is UV mapping?

UV mapping is the 3D modeling process of projecting a 2D image onto the surface of a 3D model to create texture mapping. The 3D object is unwrapped and the 2D texture is applied to it. UVs are vital because they provide the link between a surface mesh and how an image texture gets applied onto that surface.


This week we got to know about the importance of UV mapping and were asked to practice UV mapping a wooden pallet. In Maya, using the UV editor, edges can be selected and used to place seems using the cut UV seems tool. The checkboard projection is used to see if there's any stretching of the UVs on the model or not. The aim is to achieve even looking squares throughout the model's surface.



I also watched some external tutorials to understand the concept better. Given below is a tutorial by 'InspirationTuts' which I found helpful.


 

Week 4

In this week, we were focusing on character creation in ZBrush. Our lecturer started off with explaining about the shape and form of a character, that is, how triangular, square or round a character's form appears. The shape can represent a character's personality or traits.

To understand this better, our lecturer gave us a list of character traits and asked us to work in small groups of 3 to create a character by gathering suitable reference images. The list of features our group chose were as follows:

  • Female
  • Age - 35
  • Height - 5'9
  • Slim
  • Long hair
  • Type - bird
  • Brown eyes
  • Battle-ready
Given below is the character with the references we collected in a PureRef file.


Here is a 2D silhouette sketch I did in Photoshop before we moved on to the ZBrush interface.


In ZBrush, we were introduced to the navigation controls, the hotkeys Q,W,E,R which were for sculpt, move, rotate, and scale respectively. The Subdivision tool can be accessed by pressing Ctrl+D. For sculpting, the main brushes are 'ClayBuildup', 'Move' and 'Smooth' brushes which can aid in almost all types of sculpting.

Given below is a screenshot of me experimenting the tools shown to us and trying to create "Mickey Mouse".


Self-critique

I personally found sculpting in ZBrush to be very intriguing and challenging at the same time as I was struggling with getting the exact shape and form by using the right brush and was trying to get comfortable with the pen tablet.

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