So I started to think about how I could quickly add some hair. I also wanted to create some hair using a process that would develop my knowledge. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to practice some of the ZBrush knowledge that I had picked up over this project and practice sculpting. So I exported the model from Maya and imported it into ZBrush. The image below shows how my Game Character Model looked in ZBrush.
I then added some sub divisions so that I could sculpt a higher lever of detail onto the model. You add subdivisions by holding 'ctrl' or 'cmd' on the keyboard and then pressing 'D' on the keyboard. Every time you press 'D' on the keyboard whilst holding the 'ctrl' or 'cmd' key you add a new sub division to your model. So I added a few subdivision levels to my model, the image below shows what my model now looks like with more sub divisions.
I then began sculpting some hair onto my model. I found that for shaping the hair I worked on the lowest sub division level of my model. For sculpting the detail of the hair I worked on the models highest sub division level. So I found working with the sub division levels that I had created allowed to me quickly sculpt some hair. You change what level of sub divisions of your model you are working with by using the 'SDiv' slider in the 'Geometry' sub palette. If you are drastically changing the base shape of your model then it is best to do this in the lowest sub division level, if you are sculpting a specifically high level of detail onto your model then you need to do this in the highest subdivision levels. The images below show where you can find the 'SDiv' slider in the 'Geometry' sub palette and what the 'SDiv' slider looks like. Once you have a completed model you can delete all of the lower sub divisions by pressing the delete lower sub division level button. This button is called 'Del Lower' and is located below the 'SDiv Slider'. You can also delete the higher sub division levels by pressing the button called 'Del Higher' which is located next to the 'Del Lower' button.
Another technique that I used was when sculpting the hair onto my model was sculpting using layers. This allowed me to experiment with trying to sculpt some different hairstyles onto my model with out effecting the mesh of my model. I was no longer using the reference image for the hair so using layers allowed me to sculpt some hairstyles and use trial and error to finally come up with a hair style that worked well with the model and looked decent. You create layers in the 'Layers' sub palette in the 'Tool' palette. The 'Layers' sub palette is where you create new layers, delete unwanted layers, and bake your layers so that what you have sculpted is added to your model permanently. You can also turn the visibility of layers information on and off. The image below shows you where you can locate the 'Layers' sub palette and what the 'Layers' sub palette looks like.
I used a mixture of brushes and kept changing the brush size and Z intensity when sculpting the hair. Two of the brushes that I found most effective were brushed called 'ClayTubes' and 'Rake'. I found that 'Rake' was a really good brush for adding the effect of the different dirrections of hair. After a while I finally got a result that I was happy with. I then started to experiment a bit more and added a beard to my Game Character. Once I had done this I decided that I liked my Game Character model with a beard. I felt that the hair and the beard added more life to the model. The images below show what my model now looks like.
I then though that it would be a good idea to look at my Game Character model with hair and a beard next to my Game Character Model without hair and a beard to see if the hair did make a difference. At first I looked at the models alongside each other in ZBrush, then I thought it would be a good idea to see how my Game Character model with hair and a beard now looked in Maya. So then I imported my Game Character model with hair and a beard into Maya and compared whether the hair and beard did make a difference to my character. The images below show my first Game Character model next to my Game Character model with the beard and hair sculpted on both in ZBrush and Maya.
By importing my Game Character model with hair and beard I got a real insight into how different Maya and ZBrush are from one another. This helped me to understand how ZBrush' Pixol system works, as in ZBrush if I rotated the model with beard and hair it would rotate as fast as I wanted but in Maya if I rotated that same model Maya would lag and it took a lot longer to just imply move the model. Of course I understand that if I were trying this on a really powerful computer Maya would have coped just the same as ZBrush. But this process helped me to gain a greater understanding and start to notice some of the key deifference between the two softwares and which one is best for certain tasks.
Overall I really happy that I skipped the adding hair tutorial and decided to use my own creativity to create some hair in ZBrush. This allowed me to practice sculpting and the more you practice the better you get, so this was very valuable. This also allowed me to learn about some brushes and greatened my understanding of working with different sub division levels and sculpting using layers. I personally think that my Game character looks a lot better with hair and beard and that those feature bring the character to life. Whilst sculpting some hair thought it might be a good idea to searched for some hair sculpting tutorials on the internet to see what was the best way of going about it.I found a couple of tutorials on this but I did not use any of them because I felt that my ZBrush knowledge was more than capable of sculpting some hair onto my model. I also wanted the freedom to experiment and not have to follow a tutorial step by step. However I did find a tutorial that I definitely want to go back to as it could be useful in the future. The tutorial showed how to sculpt hair onto a model and then use Zspheres to make strands of hair that lie on top of the sculpted hair to make the hairstyle look more realistic. I am very glad that I found my own way of sculpting hair onto my model instead of following a tutorial because I think that I learnt more this way, I also think that it allowed me to add my own creative touch to the model, it allowed me to put what I have learnt about ZBrush to use and allowed me to practice my sculpting skills. I personally found that sculpting hair in ZBrush was a much quicker and easier way than modeling hair in Maya. However I think that I am starting to discover a new preferred way of working. I prefer to firstly start by modeling in Maya and get the model to a fairly detailed stage and then switching over to ZBrush to add any high detail to that model.
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