Hello everyone, I am Zhang Sheng from China. ‘Meet you’ is my latest work and glad that lots of friends like this. I would also like to thank the CGArena.com for their assistance, so that I can share the production process.
CONCEPTION
Before I made the various 3d artworks including the robot, variation and so on. At the time in university, I studied painting at the Art Institute. Thoughts and techniques of painting has been affecting me. This time I want to portray a cute Oriental girl, a unique beauty of the Orient. She is fashionable, confident and lively. In my imagination she meets me.
I collected some photos as a reference, but I did not want to produce in accordance with anyone. I want to create a girl in my imagination.
MODELING & SCULPTING
I used Maya to create this Girl. Create a basic model. At this time I paid attention to the proportion of the model and topology.
I export the basic model in .obj file and then sculpting the model in Zbrush. Frankly speaking, ZBrush is a very high efficient modeling tool, I can rely on it for the shape I want to model. This will also be benefited to me from my painting experience.
Later I will give her clothes to put on, so now I do not want to add too many physical details in sculpting. May be I will add later on. I modeled the hand by taking the reference of my own hand. Ha.Ha, this is a fun process, feel that they become the part of the character. Thank God for giving me a pair of slender hands.
For modeling the good sculpture, I start editing the model UVs. Editing the UV mapping now to avoid deformation later. Export the model in .obj, then open it using Unfold3d. Then selected edges are cut open, unfolding, everything is easy. Unfold3d is an excellent software.
 Now UV layout was confusing and my own needs in accordance with the re-distribution at Maya. Maya ‘s ‘Move UV shell tool’ and ‘Rotate UV’ tool is useful.
TEXTURING
‘I used the photographs as material and use the ZBrush projection master to mapping the texture. Mapping the characters from front, side, bottom, top and back. I also used the Photoshop then get the complete texture.
I used to display maps in ZBrush, then find out the problem and correct it. In my opinion this is a very effective way. I also use my ZBrush material to show skin, so I can estimate the final results. In order to get the enough details, I created a map of 6000x6000.
POSE
If there is no ZBrush, posture adjustment in model would be a troublesome thing because to create a set of skin and bone weights. In ZBrush3.1, using the Transpose tool to regulate the posture is very easy.
I used the ‘move brush’ and open ‘Activate symmetry’, to make the smiley face. In my opinion the creation of perfect facial expressions are most important part. I tried to give a charming smile like ‘Mona Lisa’ had. I hope that she can touch everyone.
SKIN SHADER
I used Maya mental ray ‘misss_fast_skin’ To create the skin shader of the character. The shader is easy, I don’t use mix20layer and other shaders. Since I am now satisfied with the skin.
 This is the color mapping, bump mapping and specular mapping.
TEST RENDERING
I use the maya textures to create the eye texture of the girl. Distinction between the use of ramp and the white of the eye iris. Use the set of noise-node combination to produce the iris texture. The use of a group of marble nodes to produce the bloodshot in the eye.
HAIR AND EYEBROWS
Hair production is a challenging job. First of all, I draw the draft hair in Photoshop to determine the Hair Style and composition.
I think ‘Shave and a haircut’ is the best tool for the production of the hair. Create a polymesh as the scalp to generate hair and use the nurbs curve as guideline to control the hair.
Analysis of my hair, and up from the original model to replicate as many block poly scalp. CV curve tool used to create more nurbs curve to guide the hair.
 Eyebrows also created in the same way. Use the shave brush tool to Combing hair. The shape of the hair also needs Combing. Adjust the shape but also necessary to adjust hair color, quantity, thickness and other characteristics in order to complete the creation of hair.
Here is the final render. I hope this tutorial has been helpful for you. Thanks for giving the time to read my tutorial and thanks to CGArena.com for this great opportunity!
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