Douen Mudbox Sculpt Test

Process and Analysis

I carried out another Mudbox test, so that I could sculpt a rough version of the Douen's head digitally in 3D. At first, I made the straw hat base separately in Maya and then imported it into Mudbox. I used a sphere, halved it and then moved the edges outwards to form the shape of the hat.

I then imported the hat into Mudbox and enlarged it to place over the basic head mesh. The underneath of the hat was invisible due to the thinness of the faces. I changed the visibility setting in the Display menu.  I then did an initial face sculpt for the Douen, but I was not content with how the face formed the 'void' shape. Therefore I attempted to recreate the face, this time using more of a swirling formation instead of a circular formation, which had a stronger effect as it seemed to move deeper into the face.

 I then finely sculpted a detailed ear and short stippled hair, as well as adjusting the collar bones and the size of the neck and head. I examined the model and tried out different base materials to see the effect. I went with a material that seemed the closest texture to skin, and then prepared the hat and bust for painting.

 I started by applying a block skin colour and hair colour onto the bust, and then I created an extra layer for toning and to paint the void. Listening to my peer feedback, I decided to try making the face without using the eye in the centre. The effect was a more mysterious and scarier depth to the Douen's appearance. I added a straw texture to the hat, but I had the initial problem where I could not separate the objects, but by adding a new material to the hat the paint layers were separated.

Evaluation

I was mostly pleased with the final outcome of the test Douen sculpt, although I feel that the colours are too flat and unlike skin textures. My peer feedback acted as a useful design guide- removing the eye in the centre of the face and trying out new textures on the hat and the hair. Although I encountered small problems during the process, I was able to fix most of them. The one problem which I was unsure how to fix was the rendering error on the back of the hat. Next time I will test the rendering immediately after importing the hat. If the error re-occurs I will try another method of importing, or create two separate Mudbox files. Another element that I will change for the final model is the shape of the hat- The semi-circle shape that I used did not have enough subdivisions. Therefore when I make the next hat in Maya I will need to increase the subdivision levels for a sharper shape.

The test sculpt of the Douen was very useful as I now have a planned method for creating part of the final digital sculpt that I will create for the final outcome. Although it is challenging to fix technical issues I think that this sculpt has taught me how to overcome them for the future.