Monday, January 28, 2013

VFX Modelling My Alien In Mudbox (Bust)

Rather than creating a full model in Maya I saved myself some time and used my concept art as a reference to modelling in Mudbox instead. The modelling process itself was relatively simple, I used the bust of the human head template given by Mudbox on startup in order to get the more humanoid proportions in the shoulder width ect.
After getting the template up I began to use the various sculpt, bubble and foam tools to make the original base distorted and bumpy. However using these tools sometimes made the polygons of the model spike excessively so for each bump I made I had to smooth it down a considerable amount in order to get the more rounded cyst effect. 
Once I was happy with the shape I began painting the model directly from Mudbox. I much prefer painting this way rather than creating UV maps in Maya as it is quite relaxing and rewarding to visibly see results by painting directly onto mesh. For this model I was using my 'Molten Plague' as reference and used the same volcanic colours: Ash blue, white, red, orange, green and yellow.
By painting the colours correctly onto the model I was able to recreate the same look at the original concept art piece, reflecting that the Molten Plagues body is covered in magma filled red hot cysts  that glow through its skin in various spots. The inside of the Plagues mouth is a steady painted gradient of orange to white, giving the impression that the inside of the aliens body is white hot with fluid.
Above you can see an image of the camera looking up into the inside of the mesh, the large white mass in the center of the inside is the white hot walls of the aliens mouth as described above.

Modelling and painting this alien has been my favorite part of the modeling process so far, I enjoyed being able to freely use a different medium that I enjoy doing and have found new ways of painting onto a model successfully. I will definitely be using this process on other models in the future. 

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