Practicing Mudbox

Introduction

When it comes to my project, there are two possibilities that I can use in order to create my final piece/s - 3DS Max and Mudbox. Although there is the option to use both which I will probably do anyway. 

With already having decent knowledge at using 3D Max, I needed to increase my skills in Mudbox. At the time of writing this page, I have used it a few times already however I will need to get better for my final piece. Therefore I plan to practice with it extensively to produce the best outcome at the end. 

To continue my practice, I decided to create a corn cob model to follow the time of year I am writing this (harvest/Halloween). The reference image that I will be using is to the right. Instead of doing the whole cob, I will be doing a section and running through my process of producing it.

Doing a corn cob will be significantly harder than what I have already done so far due to the individual corn. With the added detail of each corn, I may have to simplify it a little and make it more cartoon-like.

My process

To start, I used a sphere base and began building off of it. I instantly got to work to increase it's length to produce a rounded cylinder. I did this by continuously manipulating it with the sculpt, bulge and flatten tools. Also when looking at the reference, The ends are quite indented so I continued to push the ends in further using the bulge and flatten tools.

After getting the correct shape and size, I moved onto the detailing

Using a small but strong bulge brush, I began creating the individual corn. To make this easier, I increased the amount of polygons beforehand. 

Working on the detailing was a task. It took me a long time to do even one row and to work on which brush created the best result. Eventually I used a mixture of bulge, flatten, pinch, wax, sculpt and smooth to try to get the cervices whilst also maintaining the corn shape.

From looking at references and other people's models, I have seen a lot that have a more smooth, rounded shape. Therefore I also decided to make it's shape a little simpler and easier for a beginner like myself to do and followed the same aesthetic.

I then went on to moulding the end of the cob. To do this, I used wax, smooth and pinch to get the correct shaping. When looking at the reference, I noticed that each corn is slightly indented therefore I used the wax tool to create small dents. I also went back again on the side with the wax tool again to refine the shape a bit more.

To finish the practice, I added the colour and texture to the corn cob. The outer corn was easy enough with having a mixture of shades of yellow, lighter on the very outside, darker in the crevices in order to emphasis them more.

The ends however were harder to paint as they required multiple unique colours. From looking at the reference, I could pick out whites, greys, oranges and yellows. With this, I tried my best to put the correct colours in the correct places as best as I could whilst keeping the general aesthetic of the model.