Digital Sculpting with Mudbox

Digital Sculpting with MudboxEssential Tools and Techniques for Artists

Mike de la Flor Bridgette Mongeon

AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON

NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO

SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO

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v

Contents Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Chapter 1: Sculpting Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Comparing Traditional and Digital Sculpting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Armatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Sculpting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Anatomy for Sculptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Skeleton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Muscles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Skin and Fat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Proportions and Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Proportions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Measurements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Form, Negative Space, and Gesture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Negative Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Gesture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Expression and Emotion in Sculpture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Chapter 2: Introduction to Mudbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Interface Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

What You Will Need to Work In Mudbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

A 3D Primer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Understanding 3D Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Polygon Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Resolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

UV Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Digital Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Mudbox Hotkeys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

vi

Contents

Quickstart Tutorial: Sculpting a Bell Pepper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Setting Up the Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Selecting and Scaling a Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Creating a Layer and Subdividing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Roughing In the Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Sculpting Details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Adding Texture with a Stencil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Chapter 3: Sculpting a Portrait Bust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Sculpting a Likeness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Collecting Reference Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Facial Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Measurements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Sculpting In the Neutral Position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Loading the Basic Head Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Setting Up Reference Sketches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Adding a Camera Bookmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Changing Proportions from Adult to Child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Creating a Sculpt Layer and Subdividing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Adjusting the Proportions of the Chest, Back, and Shoulders . . . . . 49

Changing the Proportions of the Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Refi ning the Shape of the Face. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Roughing In the Eye Sockets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Shaping the Face. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Sculpting the Nose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Widening the Bridge of the Nose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Sculpting the Alae and Tip of the Nose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Refi ning the Tip of the Nose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Adding Nostrils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Refi ning the Alae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Sculpting with Negative Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Sculpting the Philtrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Sculpting the Mouth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Hiding Part of the Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Marking the Location of the Lips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

vii

Contents

The Upper Lip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

The Lower Lip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Refi ning the Mouth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Sculpting the Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Sculpting the Eyeball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Sculpting the Lower Eyelid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Sculpting the Upper Eyelid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Refi ning the Eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Creating the “Sculpture” Look . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Sculpting the Ears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Shaping the Back of the Head and Positioning the Ears . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Sculpting the Back of the Ear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Sculpting the Ear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Adding Hair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Chapter 4: Sculpting a Figure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Anatomy Primer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Navigating Anatomical Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Quick Overview of Muscle Anatomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Superhero Proportions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Making Things the Right Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Subdividing and Adding a New Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Sculpting Muscle Masses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

The Upper Torso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

The Sternocleidomastoid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

The Upper Limb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

The Upper Arm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

The Forearm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100

The Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102

The Anterior and Lateral Torso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103

The Posterior Lower Torso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104

The Lower Limb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

The Anterior Thigh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107

The Lateral Thigh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108

The Posterior Thigh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108

viii

Contents

The Anterior Leg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109

The Posterior Leg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

The Ankle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

The Foot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

Sculpting the Head and Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113

Refi ning the Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116

Refi ning the Torso and Upper Limbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117

Refi ning the Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118

Refi ning the Feet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120

Refi ning the Face and Ear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121

Final Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122

Nipples and Umbilicus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122

Sculpting Veins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122

Asymmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125

Chapter 5: Painting Sculptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127

UV Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127

The Paint Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129

Paint Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131

Painting the Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133

Creating Basic Skin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133

Adding Depth and Color to Skin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136

Adding Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138

Viewport Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144

Chapter 6: Creating Displacement Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145

Normal Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146

Displacement Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146

Extracting Displacement Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148

Exporting a Low-Resolution Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151

Applying Mudbox Displacement Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152

3ds Max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152

Maya and Mental Ray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155

Modo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161

Cinema 4D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .166

ix

Contents

Carrara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171

Chapter 7: Scanning, Printing, and Milling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173

Digital Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174

Copyrights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174

Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176

Multiple Scans and Undercuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176

Size and Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176

File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176

Demonstration – Scanning the Mother and Baby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177

Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177

Retopologizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178

Using the Retopologized Model In Mudbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179

Digital Printing and Milling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180

Additive Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181

Fused Deposition Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181

Inkjet or MultiJet Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182

Selective Laser Sintering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183

Stereolithography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183

Subtractive Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .184

CNC Milling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .184

Many Processes Expand the Creative Possibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185

Preparing Your Mudbox Model for Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .188

Save Your Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .188

Appropriate Detail for Output and Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189

Remember How Your Final Creation Will Be Viewed . . . . . . . . . . . . .189

Stability In the Real World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189

Modifi cations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189

Thickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190

A Way to Remove Powder or Support Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190

Expansion, Contraction, Warping, and Breaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190

Watertight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190

Avoid Files with Transparent Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191

Extrude Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191

Remove Unnecessary Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191

No Reversed Normals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191

Polygon Count Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192

x

Contents

Nonmanifold Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192

Merge Overlapping Meshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192

Physical Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192

Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193

Stair Stepping and Fluting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193

Faceting and File Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193

Uploading File and File Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193

Pricing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194

Mother and Baby Printed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195

Appendix A: Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197

Appendix B: 3D Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221

Appendix C: Online Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227

Appendix D: Traditional Sculpting Tools and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .229

Appendix E: Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .231

Appendix F: Figure List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .261

xi

Acknowledgments We would like to thank the people whose talent and hard work made the production of this book possible. At Focal Press, we would like to acknowledge the superb editorial and production staff . We are especially grateful to Laura Lewin, Chris Simpson, and Anaïs Wheeler for their valuable direction, editorial expertise, and patient, but fi rm, reminders to get things done.

At Autodesk, we would like to thank Brittany Bonhomme who worked patiently with us on everything that we needed from Autodesk for this book and Ash Aiad for answering our technical questions about Mudbox. With much appreciation, we thank the Mudbox development team for producing an innovative digital sculpting and three-dimensional (3D) painting program that is intuitive, fun to use, and gets the job done.

A sincere thank you to Josiah Hultgren and Andy Runyon at Maxon Computer for answering our questions about Cinema 4D, and thanks to Steve Kondris and Bruce Hoins for their help with Carrara. We are also thankful to Dan Gustafson at Next Engine for providing a desktop 3D scanner that made writing Chapter 7 possible. At Synappsys, we would like to thank Allen Ray and John Pontari for their insightful input and technical review of Chapter 7 . Many thanks to Bob Wood, at ExOne, who fi elded numerous questions and found others to answer those questions he could not.

Special thanks to medical illustrator Scott Weldon for his valuable feedback and technical review of Chapter 4 . We are grateful to Hollywood veteran Johannes Huber for his expertise and generous allotment of his time in writing the Mudbox to Maya and Mudbox to modo workfl ows and his technical review of Chapter 6 . Warmest thanks to Amy, our model in Chapter 3 , and her parents.

On a more personal level, I would like to thank my coauthor and wife, Bridgette, for sitting through long meetings, listening to my ideas, keeping things on track when it seemed like we would never fi nish, and writing and sculpting late into the night for months to get this book done. Her experience as a master sculptor in traditional fi gurative sculpture and her enthusiasm for digital sculpting were indispensable in making this book fi rst and foremost about the joy and art of sculpting.

I would like to add a heartfelt thank you to my husband Mike who endured my many questions about 3D and prompted and supported me to make my work and research for this book into a graduate study. And thanks to those many people who encouraged me to document the process, labyrinth of informa-tion, and resources so that our readers could more easily take the journey.

No book is written without taking valuable time away from family and friends, even our pets. So, it is with our most heartfelt appreciation that we thank our families for their steadfast support during the production of this book.

xiii

About the Authors Mike de la Flor is a freelance medical illustrator/animator, instructor, and writer. He is the author of several computer graphics titles including the popular The Digital Biomedical Illustration Handbook . Mike has written more than 75 articles, reviews, and tutorials for 3DWorld, Studio Monthly, Computer Arts, Computer Graphics World, MacFormat , and MacWorld magazines. He has also been an adjunct instructor of computer graphics at Kingwood College, Kingwood, Texas.

Bridgette Mongeon is a master sculptor and sought-after instructor with more than 20 years of experience in commissioned fi gurative sculpture. Bridgette also enjoys speaking on a variety of topics including art and technology and marketing in the arts. She is a contributing writer for Sculptural Pursuits and Sculptural Review magazines and has written numerous articles on the arts. Bridgette enjoys bridging the gap between the traditional studio and new technologies through her lectures, this book, the podcasts that will be featured at www.digitalsculpture.net , and her ongoing graduate studies at Goddard College, Plainfi eld, Vermont. To learn more about Bridgette’s work, visit www.creativesculpture.com .

“Jenna” Life-Size Bronze. Private Collection.

xiv

About the Authors

“Newsboy” Life-Size Bronze. First Edition Owned by the Texas Press Association.

“B.B. King” Clay Portrait Bust. Owned by the Artist.

xv

Life-Size Bronze Memorial of Ellie with the Artist.

About the Authors

xvii

Introduction If you are browsing through this book, you are probably interested in computer graphics, art, design, or traditional and digital sculpting, or some combination thereof. You may be either a veteran three-dimensional (3D) modeler who has been chasing edges, vertices, and polygons and is ready for a transition to digi-tal sculpting, or a traditional sculptor who has been elbow deep in clay, rubber, plaster, and wax for years and is curious about digital sculpting. We encourage you to keep looking through this book because we believe that you will fi nd the information and encouragement that you are seeking within these pages.

The two main goals of this book are to teach you digital sculpting with Autodesk Mudbox and to review the fundamentals of the art of sculpture as applied to digital sculpting. These two goals are distinct, but complementary. We believe that simply achieving profi ciency in using a computer graphics program is not enough to become an eff ective artist. No matter how much expertise one develops in the technical use of any program, without an under-standing of basic design concepts, the results are lackluster. For this reason, throughout this book, we combine technical “know-how” with a fundamental understanding of art and design. By the time you are fi nished with the tutorials in this book, you will be profi cient in Mudbox and have a core understanding of sculpting concepts and know how to apply them in digital sculpting.

The primary focus of this book is, of course, sculpting with Mudbox. In addition to sculpting, two workfl ows are covered. The fi rst workfl ow goes something like this: Maya Æ Mudbox Æ Maya (Maya may be replaced with almost any other 3D program). In this scenario, a low-resolution model is imported into Mudbox, sculpted, and then the sculpted detail is exported back into Maya where the sculpting details are maintained with a combina-tion of bump, normal, and displacement maps along with painted textures. The second workfl ow, reviewed in Chapter 7 , involves Mudbox and technolo-gies such as 3D scanning and printing. These workfl ows may look something like this: 3ds Max Æ Mudbox Æ 3D metal printing or Mudbox Æ digital milling or even 3D scanner Æ Mudbox Æ data direct to mold. No matter which way you look at it, once you are fi nished with this book, you will know how to use Mudbox and integrate it into diff erent workfl ows.

Quick Preview of Chapters To get an idea of what you can expect from this book, the following are the brief synopses of the contents in each chapter. For beginners, this book is organized in a bottom-up fashion. In other words, Chapters 1 and 2 begin with the basics and subsequent chapters build on. However, if you are a seasoned

xviii

sculptor or computer graphics artist, you can skip forward to any chapter as each chapter is a self-contained unit.

Chapter 1 introduces the concepts of composition, form, proportion, gesture, and anatomy, as well as an overview of expression and emotion in sculpture. Various traditional sculpture techniques are compared with the digital sculpting tools in Mudbox. This chapter lays the foundation for the following chapters.

Chapter 2 is a brief overview of the Mudbox tools and interface; but, more importantly, in Chapter 2 , you will work through a brief Mudbox tutorial meant to familiarize you with its interface and workfl ow.

Chapter 3 features the fi rst full-length sculpting tutorial. This chapter immerses you in Mudbox providing in-depth instruction on the Mudbox workfl ow. Also covered are the fundamental concepts in sculpting a human head. As a matter of interest, comparisons between the digital sculpture of Amy and traditional clay sculpture of Amy are made throughout the chapter.

Chapter 4 covers sculpting a full fi gure. The subject of the tutorial, in this chapter, is a humanoid creature. In this chapter, you begin with a low-resolution mesh imported into Mudbox and progress to a fi nished detailed sculpture. This chapter focuses heavily on understanding human anatomy as applied to art.

Chapter 5 introduces Mudbox’s 3D painting system. This chapter features overviews of the paint tools, paint layers, and UV mapping. In this chapter’s tutorial, you will paint in various styles to simulate skin on the humanoid creature sculpted in Chapter 4 .

Chapter 6 covers the workfl ows between Mudbox and several other 3D applications. You will learn to extract displacement maps and export a model from Mudbox. This chapter features “how-to” tutorials on applying Mudbox displacement maps on models in 3ds Max, Maya, modo, and Cinema 4D.

Chapter 7 is one of the reasons this book is diff erent from other digital sculpting books. In this chapter, you will explore ways in which Mudbox can be integrated into workfl ows that include 3D scanning, 3D printing, and digital milling.

What Is Mudbox? Mudbox is a professional digital sculpting and production-level texture paint-ing program. While this may be true in practicality, Mudbox is something diff er-ent to everyone. To the character or creature designer, Mudbox could be a tool to quickly explore ghoulish variations on the human form. To the professional 3D modeler, Mudbox may be one of many tools used to build models for the fi lm, games, or broadcasting industries. To the fi ne art sculptor, Mudbox may be a starting point for a one-of-a-kind sculpture that may be eventually be printed in resin or cast in metal. The possibilities are endless. However, no matter who is using Mudbox, they will all be sculpting with the best digital sculpting technol-ogy available, and this is where Mudbox is unmatched by any other program.

Introduction

xix

Why Mudbox? Much of the work created in Mudbox could be done in standard 3D modeling programs. In fact, before the advent of programs like Mudbox, 3D modelers produced complex and fi nely detailed models using various modeling tech-niques. However, spending hours, if not days, manipulating countless vertices, edges, and polygons to create organic models is a counter-intuitive process that has no analogy to how artists create in the real world. In sharp contrast, Mudbox is a close analog to real world sculpting; it is a paradigm shift in how 3D modelers now create organic models. The days of tinkering with vertices and polygons are a thing of the past. Why Mudbox? It is because Mudbox provides an intuitive, artist-friendly environment where models are quickly sculpted, much like a traditional sculptor would do.

About This Book The main goal of this book is to teach digital sculpting, sculpting concepts, and anatomy as applied to art. You may begin this book at any point because each chapter is a self-contained unit. However, if you are new to digital sculpting or new to Mudbox, we recommend that you fi rst read through Chapter 2 and work through the brief introductory tutorial. This will provide you with a basic foundation for dealing with the more in-depth tutorials in the rest of the book.

We suggest you skim, if not read, through Chapter 2 as a sort of dry run before attempting the tutorials in Chapters 3 and 4 . This will familiarize you with the concepts and workfl ows in the tutorials before sculpting and help you get the most out of each chapter. All of the support fi les required for each chapter are provided at www.digitalsculpting.net . Make sure to download all of the required fi les before starting each tutorial.

About the Tutorials The tutorials in this book are designed to work on most Windows PCs and Apple computers confi gured for computer graphics. Although it is possible to sculpt models composed of tens of millions of polygons with Mudbox to produce extreme levels of fi ne detail, doing so requires high-end and often expensive computer hardware. To make the lessons in this book available to the widest possible audience, the models in this book have polygon counts that are within the capabilities of most computer graphics hardware.

Finally, this book was written with Mudbox 2010. However, barring a few diff erences, the sculpting and painting tutorials in this book also could be done with Mudbox 2009. The sculpting tutorials may also be done with Mudbox 2011, and though the painting tools are somewhat diff erent in 2011, the paint-ing tutorial in this books still applies.

Introduction