Creating Dragon Ball's Goku in Z Brush and Maya: Part 4

Creating Dragon Ball's Goku in Z Brush and Maya: Part 4

What You'll Be Creating

1. Sculpting Normal Map in ZBrush

Step 1

Start Maya and open the file which was saved in the last part of the tutorial series. Select all of the geometry, go to File > Export Selection and export them as obj.

Step 2

Open ZBrush, simply choose a project to start a new project.

Step 3

Import the Goku model that we exported just now.

Step 4

Expand Subtool tab > expand Split tab > click on Split To Parts to separate the meshes.

Step 5

For easier operation, we combine all the hair strands into one subtool, belts and all symmetry object into one subtool each by clicking MergeDown under Merge tab.

Step 6

Start sculpting the body. Subdivide the mesh multiple times by pressing Ctrl-D. To sculpt details of the mesh, you'll need at least one million points, you can view the points from the top of ZBrush.

Step 7

Use DamStandard brush (B-D-S) to make the eyes, nose and eyebrows more obvious and clear.

Step 8

Use Standard brush (B-S-T) to sculpt the chest and neck’s muscle.

Step 9

Repeat steps for the arms.

Step 10

Use Standard brush (B-S-T)  to sculpt some veins.

Step 11

Then sculpt out the nails by using DamStandard brush (B-D-S).

Step 12

Next, select the top clothes and subdivide multiple times.

Step 13

Use B-D-S brush to sculpt the clothes wrinkles. Try not to use mirror otherwise it will look fake and unnatural.

Step 14

Pull out the clothes near to belt with using B-M-V to show it is loose clothes and tied with a belt.

Step 15

Repeat steps for the bottom of top clothes. You can hide the belt for easier sculpting.

Step 16

Using B-S-T brush to sculpt the light wrinkles.

Step 17

Repeat steps for the pants by using B-D-S brush to sculpt the wrinkles. 

Step 18

Next sculpt the tail, using B-D-S and B-C-B brushes to sculpt some bumpy for the tail.

Step 19

Export the sculpted geometry (body, clothes, pants, tails) one by one as obj.

You can either choose to do texturing first or posing first, here I chose to do texturing first so that when we paint the texture can mirror to the opposite side.

Step 20

Import back the ZBrush mesh into the previous Maya file.

Step 21

Rename all the meshes’ name to XXX_geo, then group the original low poly mesh by pressing Ctrl-G. 

Duplicate the group and delete the body, clothes, pants and tails. Rename the duplicated group to goku_high.

Step 22

Move the ZBrush mesh into the group. Select all the mesh with name XXX_geo in goku_high group, go to Modify > Search and Replace Names.

Step 23

Change the search for to _geo, replace with to _high, and select Selected.

Step 24

Subdivide for the selected meshes by clicking Mesh > Smooth. Change the Divisions to 1.

Step 25

Duplicate again the mesh_grp, and rename the geometry to _low like step 22.

Step 26

Select the _low group, export selection as Obj. Select the _high group, export selection as Obj.

2. Texturing in Substance Painter

Step 1

Open Substance Painter. Create a new project by pressing Ctrl-N. Select the low poly obj, and tick Create a texture set per UDIM tile, change the normal map format to OpenGL.

Step 2

Change to orthographic view by clicking the icon or press F6 for shortcut.

Step 3

Go to Texture Set Settings tab and select Bake Mesh Maps. 

Click on the icon and select the high poly obj, then change the Match to By Mesh Name, then click on Bake all texture sets.

Step 4

Then wait for the maps to be baked.

Step 5

After done baking, your mesh should look like this now. You can check the baked map by pressing B.

Step 6

Go to Smart Material tab, drag and drop Skin Human Simple material into the layers.

Step 7

You can change the skin color by changing the base color of Base layer.

Step 8

Duplicate the Base layer by pressing Ctrl-D. Drag it to the top of the layer and change to a darker skin color. Click on the icon and select Add black mask.

Step 9

Select the black mask, change the size and flow of the brush to pen pressure.

Step 10

Turn on symmetry by clicking the icon.

Step 11

Paint on the geometry to make the muscles more obvious and paint some shadow for it. You can press C to show the basic color, press M to back to Material.

Step 12

Continue to paint some stroke on the same layer for 2D comic effect.

Step 13

Create a white mask for the group.

Step 14

Press 4, select the last icon and change to black color, drag the faces on the UV map to mask out the region other than skin.

Step 15

Create a new fill layer, change the base color to white, then add a black mask.

Step 16

Press 4 and change to white color, drag select on the eyes’ sclera.

Step 17

Repeat Step 15-16 for the eye’s pupil and eyebrows.

Step 18

Create a new fill layer, change the layer from normal to multiply, then add a black mask.

Step 19

Select the black mask, use brush (shortcut key: 1) and paint some shadow for the eyes.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we've completed the body textures. In the next part of the tutorial series, I'll be showing creating the textures for hair and clothes.