Killzone 3 - Admiral Orlock

[rudymassar]

Hey everbody,
It's been a while since I posted something here. Now that our game Killzone 3 has released I'd like to show you one of the characters I made.
This is a portrait of Admiral Orlock, the military commander-in-chief of the Helghast empire.

I sculpted and rendered this character using ZBrush. The furry collar is actually a screengrab from the geometry of the real-time mesh (http://www.pixologic.com/interview/killzone3/3/img/high-res/img02.jpg) (sheets and texture). All is composed in Photoshop. My keywords for this work are: threatening, fear, authority.

Character concept (http://www.pixologic.com/interview/killzone3/6/img/high-res/img06.jpg) by is made by our visual designer Andrejs Skuja, directed by Jan-Bart van Beek, Art-Director.


http://www.pixologic.com/interview/killzone3/5/img/high-res/img01.jpg

[lebaje]

from this computer look nice, but Wayyyyy to dark!!

[Robbert543]

Wow, looks great man! :D


In-game looks great too, although I think the buttons on his jacket are a bit too big, but that might be opinion.

-- Also.. I didnt notice you were on Threedy.. I loved your presentation at my school, two years ago! (Grafisch Lyceum Rotterdam) --

I'll be keeping my eye on you!

[rudymassar]

Thanks for the compliments and comments. Let me try and motivate the comments.

@Lebaje: My idea was to lit the portrait in such a way the face wouldn't be exposed to much. Some of his facial features stand out while lots of the areas are covered in shadow, like his eyes. Next, I tried to find the right contrast balance between light and shadow and still remain much of the grey values between these two. I've chosen for the darker values to make the picture corresponds with the keywords I used.
The Fuji Pearl prints I have of this work, luckly, conforms what I see on monitor but I do understand this dark image don't display optimal on every monitor.

@Robbert: Thanks, I'm glad you like the presentation. Feels as if it was much longer then two years though :) You're probably referring to the buttons you see on the image of the real-time mesh (http://www.pixologic.com/interview/killzone3/3/img/high-res/img02.jpg). Some things we emphasize to make it read better in game. Not only buttons but we do it also for rivets, clips, clamps, buckles, thickness of straps, etc. In case of the Admiral you want to emphasize it even more because that would fit his posture better.
Your school is arranging a presentation with us again, I guess we'll meet each other soon :)

[lebaje]

Ya, you are right about the eyes, it was the first thing i notice!

Are you going to add texture?

[rudymassar]

Are you going to add texture?

This character is textured, since the game has been released two weeks ago ;)
I guess you missed the link in the text where you are directed to a shot of Admiral Orlock. :) (http://www.pixologic.com/interview/killzone3/3/img/high-res/img02.jpg)

[lebaje]

Ya i did mist it, thanks friend!

[rudymassar]

Here's the ZBrush sculpt, I used a template moustache... cause without it he looks completely different.
http://www.pixologic.com/interview/killzone3/5/img/images/img03.jpg

As a base texture I composed various pictures from a male model (3d.sk) and matched it closely to my model. This was then projected back onto the model using ZAppLink. The next picture shows the result of the front and side projection
http://www.pixologic.com/interview/killzone3/6/img/images/img05.jpg

The next picture shows the final texture on the ZBrush models of Stahl and Orlock. Stahl was sculpted and textured by veteran Francisco Cortina
http://www.pixologic.com/interview/killzone3/6/img/images/img04.jpg

The lowest subdivision of our ZBrush model is also the game mesh. The moustache template ZTool is replaced with sheets and a texture. Below is a shot of real-time models in-engine.
http://www.pixologic.com/interview/killzone3/3/img/images/img04.jpg