Candy

[abvfx 91]

So when the Houdini Mixamo contest started i thought it would be a good time to create another character, however time/life can find a way of making that cumbersome so i didnt spend as much time on it as i wanted.

Either way i wont let the end of the contest deter me from finishing it. So i have decided to pick it back up get it done.

I was working on a hair method that involved dredlocks. This was just a simple proof=of-concept but i think it can work. More soon.

Edited April 4, 2013 by phrenzy84

[Netvudu 114]

hey, that´s very interesting. Could you elaborate a bit on your workflow? I´ve tried animal fur, but not any kind of grooming method for hair yet.

[tjeeds 64]

Was this your inspiration?

[abvfx 91]

Netvudu: It was 2 fur systems, one being imports of guide hair and the other i generate guides in Hou by wrapping them around tube like models (using the normal to twist along the length).

tjeeds: That is hilarious. I just named her Candy because i thought her hair looks like Candy floss. But wow that video, she is a charmer.

[abvfx 91]

So did some work on the eyes. Not 100% procedural but im gonna try to make the process way less painful. So much adjusting re-adjusting, back and forth between Zbrush and Houd.

[abvfx 91]

Some temp texture, still have to do the bump and spec, still working on hair at the moment.

[abvfx 91]

Ok, so i think i might have found a viable solution to this hair business. The way that the hair interpolates between guides and how those are actually grown from the surface. this is a very quick groom only about 20-30 minutes but from where the guides are and how the strands are generated it is a much closer 1-1 relationship which also doesn't break the rest pf the fur asset.

And from now on i think i will be using blender to groom the guide hairs not Zbrush.

[LEO-oo- 2]

Nice job! Thanks for sharing!

[abvfx 91]

Cheers LEO-oo

As a test i thought a mia farrow / pixie style would be quick and easy. Was a little bit wrong about that , short/mid length hair is problaby the most complex in terms of grooming since there is more detail and less long and flowy type locks.

So this sorta confirms my predictions, if Blender would be better than Zbrush for grooming the guide curves. Few things i noticed is i need to paint clumpTightness and possibly a radius multiplier.

Notice in the pic below i am getting nice locks for the front but i dont really need them for the sides.

Once i get this style done i will move onto the original style at the top, i just need to go through the shading workflow, i think i am going to edit the fur material so i can switch back and forth between micropoly and PBR renderer. So many settings altogether when it comes to tweaking, im constantly expanding the visible parameters in the renders so i dont forget which render has which settings.

Edited April 10, 2013 by phrenzy84

[Netvudu 114]

cool. Are you using the default fur material, or the ssh_marschner material around this forums?

[abvfx 91]

Yea the default stock one, i dove in and enabled it for PBR but not to happy with the results. Though to be fair the lighting setup was very simple and i still think i have a lot of work to do when it comes to grooming.

I have used ssh shader in the past, it is really good so i will test it out but i like to get things running on with stock Houd first then try alternative methods.

Did some work on the skin shader, still need to tweak a few maps, still havent even started the bump .( Im testing 3d-coat's capabilities on this).

[Zanozza 5]

Oh, looking forward for continue of this great stuff!

Especially - of skin rendering!

[jujoje 11]

Nice! Looking forward to seeing how it progresses, but it's already looking really awesome

[abvfx 91]

Sorry for the lack of updates this week. I have been texturing the body (still have the legs to do). And been doing more fur tests, this time for the eyebrows and eye lashes.

Got the eyebrows to work after a lot of tinkering, im glad the base geometry is quite high resolution for the skin attributes.

Eye lash tests didn't go very well after a few nights. They work when the eye lids are open but when closed they go screwy, i don't know what is happening with the normals they look fine :/. In the end i might have to just use raw geometry

Plus i think i need to tweak the rest attribute or something because as the eye lids close some strands pop (disappear/reappear).

Edited April 19, 2013 by phrenzy84

[abvfx 91]

So i think i have it working. But i have to lock the node because when the eyelids deform the normal act weird.

[abvfx 91]

Just some more skin testing now with bump (decided to be subtle with it, though maybe the nose could be toned down a bit? ), new spec, new gloss. Hand painted in 3d-coat (surprisingly efficient).

Ungraded

Added some quick color grades.

Edited May 2, 2013 by phrenzy84

[Netvudu 114]

Indeed! Too much bump for the nose. But I love the lips...great job. It´s a blast to follow this thread.

Will your skin shader see a public release?. I´m a bit wary about asking for this because I know the amount of work you´ve put into your character workflow.

But I find it a bit retarded that SESI doesn´t have a skin material for mantra PBR. It´s not just adding scattering and that´s about it. It takes much more to get realistic results.

Not everyone has a Mario Marengo in-house, you know...

Edited May 2, 2013 by Netvudu

[abvfx 91]

Thanks for the comments. Will be adjusting for the next edit.

As for the shader. Well it is just the mantra shader, granted there are options from within the Physical SSS that have been exposed and texture node adjustments for multiple maps per object but it hasnt be changed too much. I am currently writing an Artist's guide to character production with Houdini.

Houdini is setup to be a technicians dream but i feel not much adjustment is need to make it a little more artist friendly but i cant complain. I remember the days when poor Mario was trying to explain how point clouds worked in relation to SSS (it still here i think) . It all comes down to learning and sharing, which is why i am writing this guide for artist's.

Anyways, sorry for the late reply, i dont like responding in WIP if i dont have anything to show.

So.....

It is just a very crude AO test, just getting my passes setup after the main groom. Still working on the shading/lighting.

[mangi 59]

Candy will always be so interesting.

Keep up the good work for the:

guide for artist's.

Cheers

Mangi

[abvfx 91]

Thanks mangi

Here is a quick shading/grooming update, i need to redo the "pigtails" or whatever the things on the side of her head are. But i think this is the style i am going to stick with......for now . Next is clothes, havent even started them. From the mixamo contest i had some ideas but who knows.

Think it could do with more strands less frizz, lots of tweaking.