Hachiman Renderman Artist Tools Breakdown
>>  Hachiman
ZBrush workflow to preserve UV information across software allows additional texturing methods.

In addition to photoshop image sources, workflows with ZBrush extract 3D painted textures, projections, and baked material images.

Maya render layers, light linking, and a renderman atmosphere shader create additional AOV outputs that allow adjustment to lighting in the compositing process.

Imagery inspired by Koshun's Shinto deity Hachiman - depicted as a buddhist monk.

Direct download here for 720 resolution video.
 
Tools Used: Pixologic Z Brush | Autodesk Maya | Pixar Renderman Studios | Adobe Photoshop | Apple Shake


Master Layer Beauty Pass Render

Maya Scene Environment: SubD and Polygon Meshes

Passes Rendered for Compositing

Silk Screen Texture Source Image: Endo Morito's Penance, Yoshitoshi - 1860

ZBrush 'Image Plane' Plugin and MatCap Texture Modification

>>  ZMaterial to Texture

A workflow established to convert ZBrush Materials into image files used as textures.

MatCap materials are not shaders in the traditional sense. They are realtime openGL presets with color and illumination. This makes a conversion to an alternate 3D software difficult.

Using Image Plane plugin allows the ability to drop an unwrapped texture to the ZBrush canvas with appropriate dimensions. The plane is converted to a polymesh surface and the original sculpt's displacement is placed atop. The same displacement map is also plugged in as the alpha for the texture.

This setup allows for the addition of a matcap material. Displacement intensity increases texture contrast and detail, matcap modifiers adjust material color and light tolerance.

GrabDoc command grabs the image plane and stores it as a texture - with the displacement as an alpha - the matcap aesthetic is applied. From there it is exported to disk. More on this method here.

Limitations discovered in this process: Constrast may occur at the gaps of UV tiles (note the artifacting on the arm, and inconsistency of light tolerance on the opposite shoulder).


ZBrush MatCap to Maya: Texture * Occlusion * Incandescence

RMS Render with ZBrush MatCap Red Wax as Texture

WiP Sculpt & Shader Renders

>>  Renderman Atmosphere

A workflow implementing a renderman atmosphere component.

Smoke.sl is implemented into the project's 3D environment. Look here for atmosphere shader documentation and the volume RSL.sl file.

An alternative Maya render layer replaces traditional light setup for a high contrast keylight with diffused fill lights. Only the key light projects the atmosphere. Distance is measured from camera to illuminated objects to determine appropriate values for shader parameters.

This setup allows for a variation in render settings in comparison to the beauty pass. Higher shading rates on surface shaders, but a lower shading rate for volumes. An explicit shadow pass for the key light allows for a high resolution shadow map exclusive to that light.

Parameters for the smoke.sl are adjusted to create a smoke aesthetic and are combined with a float pattern light color to further increase variation and adjustability.

Expensive render calculations are a limitation of this atmosphere. Smoke.sl's raymarching component requires a taxing raytrace calculation.


Renderman Smoke Atmosphere Shader Render

WiP Atmosphere Shader with Noise - Beauty Pass Render

Maya Environment: Distance Measurements from Camera