■ Advanced Techniques: Sculpting the Demon Beast 103sculpted levels of form. I did this using the GoZ plug-in. This is a valuable workflow in a
production pipeline as it allows you to work free and unencumbered by concerns with the
base mesh. If you ever need to adjust the topology or add new geometry to support new
appendages, that’s possible. Let’s take a look at the process used to create the Demon Beast.
Please see the DVD for a video of the process of creating this character.
- Polygroup the lower jaw as shown earlier. You’ll
use this technique as well as Topological Masking
to work the mouth and lip area. Using the Move
brush, begin to pull at the mesh. Make sure that
X Symmetry is turned on. At this point you are
most concerned with the overall silhouette and the
form of the creature. Pull at the forms of the back
of the head, elongating the mesh to give the charac-
ter a long spiked back to his head (Figure 3.51). - Using Transpose, lengthen the neck. You can use
Transpose with masking to rotate and scale parts
of a mesh rather than the mesh as a whole. Mask
out the head, leaving the neck unmasked. Step
up to level 3 and press the W key to enter Move
mode. To soften the edges of the mask, Ctrl-
click the mask a few times. This will feather the
edge. Draw a Transpose line from the base of the
skull to the shoulders. Select the lower ring cen-
ter and pull to stretch the neck out (Figure 3.52).
For more information on using Transpose for
posing, see Chapter 7. - Begin to rough in the basic forms of the neck and
shoulders using a custom brush I call flatInflate.
This brush is available to you on the accompa-
nying DVD. It is a variation of the Inflate brush
that adds form in a flattened gradual buildup. I
find it most useful when trying to subtly build
up forms over the progress of a sculpture. In
Figure 3.53 I am using this brush to rough in the
shapes of the collarbones (clavicles) and the neck
muscles (sternomastoids).
I created and saved this brush using the
same steps detailed in Chapter 2. By altering
the brush’s Edit curve, I was able to change the
manner in which the Inflate brush affects the
surface. See Figure 3.54 for a look at the Edit
curve composition for the flatInflate brush.
You can also experiment with the Claytubes
brush with no alpha for a similar effect. On the
DVD is a custom Claytubes brush for you to
experiment with. The brush will build up in a
flattened manner, but it treats the surface slightly
differently as it tends to fill in recessed areas.
Experiment with both brushes to determine
which you prefer. Figure 3.51 Use the Move brush to pull new shapes from
the generic head mesh.