Thursday 22 May 2014

Triceratops 3D model: finished!


Click to see the critter bigger.

I've finally finished (abandoned - as the man says artists never 'finish' a work) the Triceratops sculpt that has been part of a glacially-paced occasional series that has seen the model evolve from a simple cube to the finished thing. I've now added a texture to the mesh and have decided to leave it there.

This has been a valuable learning experience and help from Scott Hartman and comments from both Scott and Jaime Headden have been most welcome. I'm looking forward to working on many more of these.

From a technical point of view, I've been able to learn zBrush, and can't sing it's praises highly enough. A truly incredible programme that will have a permanent place in my PhD workflow. There's much I would do differently; my UV's are so messed up and I need to address that from the start of the sculpt and the whole model needs re-topologising. I'm not concerned about completing these for this model, the next project is already up and running.

That project is of course my PhD and the Triceratops project has provided a solid foundation for the soft tissue reconstruction of Polacanthus. I'm processing the 3D data for the bones at present, and this process will take a while. What's really important is that as a proof of concept exercise modelling Triceratops means I know I can move ahead with the science and get a better understanding of how that and the modelling process can work together.

Lots to think about!