THE Sculpting Challenge 012: Santa!

[Lynette-3dt]

Sculpt your own Santa!

Welcome to THE Twelfth Speed Sculpting Challenge. Whether you're new to sculpting, to the Threedy forums, or you're a seasoned veteran, come and join in on the Sculpting madness – there's plenty of fun and learning to be had by all!

The Rules:
1. The competition will run until midnight on Christmas EVE (GMT); the time between now and then will be allocated to creating and submitting the entries, followed by several days of judging and voting for the entries – at which point the next competition will start.

2. The moderators will be supplying a base mesh for each competition, from which everyone will start sculpting. This is so we all get an equal start and it keeps us on topic. This week's base mesh has been provided by Richard Tilbury (in-house at 3DTotal) and is a torso which includes two additional objects for you to use – one of which is a hat object, and the other a simple cube for you to use as you wish. You must work only with the base mesh provided and you must not add any additional base meshes or objects of your own. We simply want you to use your imagination and see what you can come up with what has been provided!

3. There will be a time limit for the sculpting. Spend no longer than the allocated time limit, then post a screen-grab of your model. No cheating – we are relying on your honesty here!

4. Do not add any meshes other than those sanctioned in this competition brief.

5. As the base meshes show, the sculpt this time starts from a simple torso and you have been provided with two additional objects to use. Do not add any additional objects, SubTools or base meshes yourselves!

6. No rendering, texturing, lighting or rigging – let's keep it all about the high-res sculpt! What we are looking for is the quality of the sculpt you can produce "under pressure". If your entry is not complete, you can still post as long as it's recognisable and on topic.

7. For your final entry, post a screen-grab from your software with your finished work in it. It's fine to present this stuff nicely, with nice labelling etc., but do not add any post-production to the images themselves. These images must be uploaded to our servers by using the "Manage Attachments" button on the forum reply page. Do not link to external image files. Larger than the maximum size or posts containing links to external images (other than for reference materials) will be removed and the poster disqualified.

8. You can create multiple sculpts, but you can have only one final entry for each competition.

9. Do not create your own WIP thread. Simply post all WIP screen-grabs in here and your FINAL entry in the Submissions thread, once it has been set up later on in the Challenge.

These rules apply to everybody taking part – there will be NO exceptions!

We've attached the supplied base mesh at the bottom of this post. Take it and go subdivide!


Prize:
This month's prizes:

1st Place Any 3 items from the 3DTotal Shop. We sell lots of items these days, such as our book, Design Studio Press books, Texture DVDs, Shorts DVDs, lots of training DVDs, and 12 month subscriptions to 2DArtist Magazine and 3DCreative Magazine.
2nd Place
Any 2 items from the 3DTotal Shop (see above)
3rd Place
Any 1 item from the 3DTotal Shop (see above)

Note: We do unfortunately have to limit prizes to 1 book per winner per challenge, due to high postage costs for heavier items. Please note that we cannot offer the 3D Printed models as prizes!

Plus! don't forget the status that comes along with a 1st place Speed Sculpting Winner is always pretty cool!

The Brief:
Time limit: 5 hours
Start Date: 18th December, 01:00 PM GMT+0
Deadline: 24th December, 11:59 PM GMT+0 (For information about GMT click here)
Subject: Santa!

Ho ho ho,

With Christmas fast approaching we thought it was about time we got our sculpting tools stuck into something a little festive for this time of year, and what’s more festive than sculpting Santa Claus / Kris Kringle / Father Christmas / St. Nicholas himself?

It’s going to be a short challenge this time – all in the name of Christmas. So no time to waste; let’s see what you can do in just the week remaining till Christmas Day!

But before we get carried away, let’s have a think about where we should take our sculpts … With a challenge such as this, you can imagine that we’re going to be looking for something a little special, something a bit unique and that pushes the limits of sculpting a traditional Santa. We want to see something a bit more exciting than just your average Santa! Think about his personality and what key ingredients make up this character! So we’re thinking beards, fur-trimmed hats, perhaps spectacles? Chubby cheeks are usually a must, right? And let’s think: this guy is old now! And he’s always laughing so he’s going to have some fantastic wrinkles and expression lines for you to master! So go wild: have a think about what the image of Santa conjures up for you, and then sculpt your very own interpretation of the big guy!

Let’s see what good ol’ Wiki has to say about Mr. Santa Claus:

Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, or simply "Santa", is the legendary and mythical figure who, in many Western cultures, brings gifts to good children on Christmas Eve, December 24[1] or on his Feast Day, December 6 (Saint Nicholas Day).[2] The legend may have part of its basis in hagiographical tales concerning the historical figure of Saint Nicholas.

In modern times, Santa Claus is depicted as a plump, jolly, white-bearded man wearing a red coat with white collar and cuffs, white-cuffed red trousers, and black leather belt and boots. This image became popular in the United States in the 19th century due to the significant influence of caricaturist and political cartoonist Thomas Nast.[3] This image has been maintained and reinforced through song, radio, television, and films. In the United Kingdom and Europe, his depiction is often identical to the American Santa, but he is commonly called Father Christmas.

One legend associated with Santa says that he lives in the far north, in a land of perpetual snow. The American version of Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, while Father Christmas is said to reside in Lapland. Other details include: that he is married and lives with Mrs. Claus; that he makes a list of children throughout the world, categorizing them according to their behavior; that he delivers presents, including toys, candy, and other presents to all of the good boys and girls in the world, and sometimes coal or sticks to the naughty children, in one night; and that he accomplishes this feat with the aid of magical elves who make the toys, and eight or nine flying reindeer who pull his sleigh.[4][5]

There has long been opposition to teaching children to believe in Santa Claus. Some Christians say the Santa tradition detracts from the religious origins and purpose of Christmas. Other critics feel that Santa Claus is an elaborate lie, and that it is unethical for parents to teach their children to believe in his existence.[6] Still others oppose Santa Claus as a symbol of the commercialization of the Christmas holiday, or as an intrusion upon their own national traditions.[7]

Thanks Wiki! So grab some references, do some thinking, and use your imagination! As always, time is of the essence – speed is the nature of this game, after all! You’ve got just 1 week (but that’s plenty of time) to sculpt your Santa! The time limit for this speed sculpting challenge is 5 hours. You can of course spend some time beforehand on your research – we’re just limiting your sculpting time, not your research. We don’t limit the number of sculpts you create for any challenge either, but we do say you can only submit one for the final submissions.

Great, so we’ve got our subject – tick! We’ve got our sculpting software – tick! You can download the base mesh at the end of this post – tick! So get sculpting! And don’t be shy, go for 1st place – why not? Have a look through previous challenges to see the quality of the past winners and take some inspiration from there for your own sculpt. The base mesh is simple and so is the idea, but don’t take that to mean your interpretation has to be simple – your imagination is the limit!

Merry Christmas everyone!

The Mesh:
Your base mesh is attached to this post - simply click on the attachment at the end of this post, save the file and you're on your way!

The base mesh was created by Richard Tilbury (in-house at 3DTotal) and is a torso base mesh with two additional objects for you to use to sculpt something extra - one of the objects is a hat, and the other is a simple cube which you can use as you wish. You just need to take the .obj file into your ZBrush or Mudbox scene, and get started! Here is a screen grab of what has been provided for this challenge:

Please note that you mustn't add any more objects – use only what has been provided and nothing more! This is the challenge after all!

Any problems, give me a shout - lynette@3dtotal.com

Here's your .obj file - download it and get going! >>>>

[Adroit.jrk]

wooooo everywhere Santa is present. Really nice topic. thanks 3dt.

[koyima]

maybe i will have time to do something for this one

good luck everyone

[julienN]

Very cool challenge!
I'm going to visit my familly for the next week, i will can't participate to this challenge, to bad.

Merry Christmas to everybody. And good luck.

[ChaosDragonDZ]

hm. i have a lot of free vacation time, i think i'll have a crack at this.

[Lynette-3dt]

cool, glad everyone's enthusiastic about this one - i can almost feel the Xmas spirits (hmm, vodka anyone? i could do with one after my day! hehehe)

[ChaosDragonDZ]

okay i decided to start. this is about an hours work, in blenders' sculpt mode

it looks like Abraham Lincoln so far...meh.

[birdman]

ChaosDragonDZ: i cant believe u use blender good on ya ur a champion
i love blender though i havent used it much lately gotta learn zbrush
ur santa looks good so far looks like one of those fake santas in the street :P


if i get the time around work i shall do this challenge

[darkmonk]

Hi guys,

I have a couple of questions about the base mesh's:
1:- are we allowed to add edgeloops in Zbrush to help our polyflow ?

2:- Can i delete any polygons for the low poly mesh that will not be seen so that when i subdived i am not wasting polys?
For example - the underside of my roof has loads of unseen polys and if i deleted them i could maybe subdivide an extra time as my PC cant handle many polys

Here is a quick update of my sculpt, ive used the extra Cube model to create a chimney and rooftop that our chubby father Xmas is going to try and get into
this is 1hour sculpt so far so ive go to get started on santa now.

[Lynette-3dt]

1:- are we allowed to add edgeloops in Zbrush to help our polyflow ?

2:- Can i delete any polygons for the low poly mesh that will not be seen so that when i subdived i am not wasting polys?
For example - the underside of my roof has loads of unseen polys and if i deleted them i could maybe subdivide an extra time as my PC cant handle many polys

Good questions - no idea! I don't use ZBrush myself so I'm really not sure if these two things will be classed as deviating from the rules ... any advice anyone?

[darkmonk]

hi,

here is a quick update, just over 3hours work.
still need to add proper detail to the folds in the clothes and fatten up his forearm a little

would love to hear any coments on anything you think i should change on it so far.
thanks,

[3dhorus]

ChaosDragonDZ - Beautiful Beginning of Challenge , and using Blender ...

DarkMonk - Excellent job with only his Santa Claus .... adding the chimney and roof, you made great use of your creativity with its extra Mesh (CUBE) ... Very Nice !!!

Hugs !!!

[Lordabortion]

My 1st challenge, I've never even tried hair in Zbrush, this oughta be fun. One hour into sculpt, playing around with a zombie santa since I've been so infatuated with zombies as of late. Any tips on hair in zbrush?

[grapix]

It is not going to be easy to sculpt Santas glasses from this bases.
Good luck to all, i am in this one.

[darkmonk]

hi all,

3dhorus:- thanks, i really wanted to create an object that would hide the fact that the base mesh did not have any legs, the chimney was the perfect way to do this Are you going to enter this competition? would love to see what you think up for it.

Lordabortion:- Hello and welcome to this challenge.
Hair is a difficult thing to sculp, i am still learning myself but i can share how i have done the beard on my santa, hope this helps.

HAIR:-
1. First you need to make a slight modification to one of the standard Brush's,
You need to adjust the alpha of the Slash2 brush, i have attached an image showing the change you need to make.

2. Use a large brush size and create a number of interlocking comma (,) and s (S) shapes, These will be the basis for the flow of the hair.

3. Once you have done this over the whole area use the smooth brush to soften out any rought detail that has been created be the brush.

4. Finally make your brush size smaller and repeat task2 but this time try to keep your brush stroke between the flow of hair you already created.

Hope this helps,
Would love to hear how other people sculpt hair as its something i find difficult.