Avar warrior

Hi World. Long time no see. Yesterday I thought I should make something new with my last helmet (see previous posts). More exactly, I wanted to put it to good use by endowing it to an actual warrior. And what better warrior for a Niederstotzingen piece than an avar one. So I imported the helmet mesh in ZBrush and sculpted a head with mongoloid, but also caucasian traits. This blending was an important feature of the Avaria from its emergence at the end of 6th century, until its demise at the close of the 8th. The steady amalgamation of mediterranean, nomad-asiatic and central european traits on all levels is its primary feature. As for this little project, it remains to be fine-tuned and probably colored also. Seeya!
Time: 2-3 hours
Music: Bach (Jesus bleibet meine Freunde), mongolian throat-singing and Bolt Thrower (The IVth Crusade)

Speed sculpting 01

I didn't forget about the ork, you know! Soon I'll come out with some update on him. In the mean time I stumbled, not once, upon "speed sculpting" posts on various 3D blogs. To me it seems such an interesting idea. Firstly because this is definitely a way to improve one's sculpting skills and anatomy knowledge. Secondly because this sketch-type work can lead to new ideas and projects. So here I start myself to speedsculpt (there's a new verb in english).
Time: 1 hour
Music: Buddhist Relaxation Music and Falkenbach

Online Portfolio

Hi everybody. Today I started my online portfolio. For that I've chosen Portfoliobox. The free package for now. There is already some brand new work there and this will develop independently from this blog. Here's the link.

The Cugnot Vehicle 6 ... and final.

Finally I found the time and I textured the Cugnot steam machine. Right now the scene is almost fertig, or should I say prêt. I'm thinking like 90 %. Why? Well, firstly because the textures can and need to be enhanced. Secondly, the whole scene setup needs to be re-done. At this stage it is very simplistic and does not enhances the subject so to speak. But as regards this blog, the first steam fardier will remain as it is. Well World, enjoy ...

Dark Age helmet 4 or Pax Avarica

Hi ! I think I finished the Niederstotzingen helmet project. At least 85-90 % of it. My machine refused to render the whole scene because of the memory issue I wrote some posts ago. So it did not render the plume hair. 3D hair is known to be a serious memory eater. In a future final render I can add the horse tail hair in Photoshop ... or I can pump up some memory ... I created an environment which is meant to emphasize the central object, aka. the helmet. The idea behind this is to metaphorically render (this time in the common sense of the word) some sense of the troubled times of avar attacks into the Byzantine empire (2nd half of VIth - 1st half of VIIth centuries). Back then the late roman and greek christian cultural environment bitterly interacted with the dynamic and violent political entity created by the avar nomads.
I should also add some icons on the walls to byzantine-ize a little bit the church walls and add detail to the plundered church property. Anyway the Dark Age helmet project comes here to an end. Eils!

Dark Age helmet 3

Hmm. The texturing stage proves itself to be a hard nut to crack. And this is because of my PC which so very quickly reaches its memory limits. Anyway, until the next computer upgrade I must do with what I have. I UV-ed the whole helmet and right now I'm working on making the textures and of course applying them. This can be a very repetitive and tedious trial and error process. At this stage I must say that there's much to change in the plume part, but working with hair in 3d is known to be a great memory consumer. The same goes for the chain mail neck guard. Right now the rusty texture is far from good. This is just the actual stage. After all the texturing gets done there comes the rendering. I think I could make a turntable presentation which I could name "Avaria" and add to this a mongolian throat singing soundtrack. What do you say World?

Dark Age helmet 2

Hi there. Today I post the current stage of my Lamellenhelm project. As you can see I already UV-ed it (that's what the checker pattern is all about) and I also attached a horse tail plume. This type of helmet construction, using segmented armour plates held together with the help of leather laces, has an asiatic origin. It's diffusion gradually extended from the nomad groups to the oriental and central germanic millieu. All that happened in the extremely dinamic period of migrations; traces of this martial cultural influence are archaeologically visible in alamanic (Baden-Wurtemberg), longobardic (Pistoia-Tuscany) and gepid (Transylvania) millieus. As for my Baden-Wurtemberg helmet reproduction it remains to be textured and after that rendered.