Digital sculpting technology is a comparatively recent method of creating Computer generated 3D models, which involves using software to manipulate a digital object as if it were made of a real-life substance such as clay by providing tools such as push, pull, smooth, grab and pinch.
One the first occasions of when digital scultping software became avaliable was in 1999 at SIGGRAPH (short for Special Interest Group on GRAPHics and Interactive Techniques) where Ofer Alon, the founder of Pixologic Inc, presented their newest software, ZBrush, which remains one the most prominent 3D sculpting software today. It gave 3D artists the ability to create highly detailed 3D models in much more natural and intuitive way, and revolutionized many different types of production pipelines.
Video games, for example, has been influenced by such a degree by digital sculpting that in many production pipelines the process of creating a 3D model has been reversed. Instead of beginning with a low poly mesh and only using a sculpting program for detailing, now high resolution sculpting is now the starting point, meaning an artist has the freedom to experiment with making the most suitable character first before creating the best topology for animation for that figure. (ANM220.LO04 Describe how the history of a chosen specialisation has influenced current industry best practices) (ANM220.LO07 Evaluate the literature on contemporary animation practice and use this information to shape and develop your own practice)
Since digital sculpture produces work very similar to traditional sculpture, you can apply the elements art to it as you would with a physical work of art. The elements of art are form, line, color, space and texture, though clearly some are more applicable to digital sculpting than others, namely form, colour, space and texture.
Form refers to an image’s shape, volume and believability that it exists in 3D space, and is probably the most important element for sculpting. There are two types of forms, geometric forms- which have a specific name associated with them, contain simple 2D shapes, and are usually man made- and organic forms- which do not typically have names asscociated with them and are comparatively complex when compared to geometric form. These two types of form could be associated with whether hard surface modelling or sculpting would be better suited to a particular shape. A sculpture’s form must be recognizable and accurate from every viewing point in 3D space for it to look aesthetically sound. For example, I had to study the shapes that occur in plaits to help make my characters hair convincing in 3D space. I found that if I pictured the plait as three separate and very malleable pieces of rope it was easier to get the placement of the hair to look right.
Texture is another very important element in sculpting and is integral to communicating what a surface is actually composed of, and can help add interest and contrast to an image. Texture, unlike the other elements, is strongly associated with the sense of touch, and how vividly something is able to depict how it’s surface feels usually depends on how realistic it looks or is. Texture in art can be split into two categories: Actual or Implied texture. Actual texture is what an artwork feels like when you actually touch it, like a physical sculpture or the surface of a painting. Even though digital sculpture is in three dimensions it is also impossible to actually touch unless 3D printed, so digital sculpting will more often fall under the implied texture category and the same can be said for physical marble statues that depict textures like fabric and skin. Implied texture is when something contains an illusion of texture. To create a more believable implied texture for a 3d model you can include a range of different maps, like albedo, normal, specular and gloss, along with actually adding texture to the topology of your model by sculpting. For example, in the image below the stitches were sculpted in while the texture on the fabric was added through applying a normal and albedo map in Quixel. (ANM220.LO05 Research and describe the role of visual fundamentals in producing aesthetic images in a chosen specialisation)
References: http://pixologic.com/zbrush/industry/video-games/ http://cymae.deviantart.com/journal/A-Visual-History-of-3D-Art-284617122 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_sculpting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elements_of_art http://thevirtualinstructor.com/form.html https://www.sophia.org/tutorials/elements-of-art-texture
CAYEL 