Unit 9: Adaptation - Driver Posed - Complete

Hello Everyone,

I spent most of yesterday finalizing my Driver's posing, that is why thee low poly post was so late, I wanted to capture something cool. After trying numerous exaggerated poses I found solace in one of my first... Now everyone who is curious as to how I posed my Driver without any Rigging well I'm about to tell you. Throughout the course of this post you will learn the trick for creating a pose for conceptual purposes. In this case I even managed to still get the UV maps to work even after the model was posed... This is one of the other reasons I kept the pose simple...

Now everyone knows that my project has been largely focused on using ZBrush as an all encompassing tool. I have only really been in Maya to build the Driver and to keep his poly-count low, also his UVs were done in Maya. Lots of my renders are done in ZBrush but of course you have to bring them into Maya to see if they work outside of ZBrush. So if anything Maya has been used as a testing ground to make sure my models textures have been painted and lit correctly. Now for everything else poly-painting, emotions, posing, has been completely ZBrush...

I will explain the evil genius behind transposing and of course expressions!

The Driver Pose image above is the choice I made after an elongated list of rejects. I could post up each individual test but if I'm honest this was by far the best so lets keep it about this. Basically posing a character in ZBrush requires one to use masking on the lowest divide of a model using a transpose tool to move it where required. When you have posed the model you can move back to the top divide and all the low polys associated with the high polys have moved to accommodate the geometry you have moved. You then use ZBrush's tools to fill out and deform the model so it looks correct...

Next I dived into my Driver's expression and I had a range to choose from largely due to my other expression line ups. I decided to recreate them all using the final mesh and poly-paint. From these I was able to make an informed decision about where I wanted to go with his expression for the Final Turnaround. These were created using ZBrush's move tool which is not unlike Mudbox's Grab tool, the only difference is ZBrush's is 1000 times better. It allows you to move the muscles of the face without creating deformation or requiring any kind of smoothing...


The videos above show me creating a single expression in ZBrush using its amazing Move tool. There are also 2 others that illustrate me posing the Driver using masking and eventually transpose axis's to move his arms into the folds of the Jacket. I had another video in between these but ZBrush crashed when I was recording it so sorry that you don't get to see the full picture. Rest assured the pose did actually take 2 hours to get right. I used the move tool to ball up his Jacket a little and then I ran his hands through it... This gives the illusion that his hands are in his Jacket Pockets...

Next I have decided to show my main choice for the Driver's final expression (shown across 3 stages of development). I asked my Nephew to make a decision and like Tom and Phil he liked the "Business" expression. I did think about adding a Cigarette. I may still do that if there's time... It's quite cool to put these 3 images together because you can kind of see the same motivation in each of their eyes I think that's one thing I'm glad that he hasn't lost in his development. He still has the piercing blue eyes that can see through any corner or back alley... Perfect for a professional Driver...

Last but not least here is the final pose and expression demonstrated on a render from Maya on my Low Poly model. The UV mapping is still working perfectly and the pose if I don't say so myself is a good shot of who he is... You want to check out my inspiration? I will post it below for you to get a feel for. I suppose I also am sympathetic to this pose because I have to do put my hands in my Jacket pockets all winter long. Before you get any big ideas... No driver is in no way based on me he actually looks cool I'm a weird looking dude!

I hope I am not getting ahead of myself with all of these posts but what can I say this character has been severely thought about. The other poses I tried just all felt too much, as Phil said during the Crit "he's a cool character that every man wants to be" he doesn't panic, he doesn't rattle, he Drives... that's it. In this case the pose took a while to get right, mainly because I couldn't get the right intensity for the move tool. Everything kept bunching up but I am happy with this result... You have to be careful using transpose like any tool, you can do too much if you are not careful...

I think I can appreciate that less is more... Each time I tried adapting his pose it felt like something he wouldn't do in a million years. I even had a running stance at once point. Trust me you will all be glad I deleted them a while ago. Anyway I think that concludes this post really. I will be back later tonight hopefully with some further development for the Day Car which I have been juggling while doing hour long posts like this one lol. I think the next few days will be sleepless just so I can get all of this complete... I just cant stop!!

Take it easy!!
xXStItChXx