Swing Project 18th Century Characters

Greetings everyone! In this post I will show you how I approached creating characters for this art project, a 3d revision of The Swing, the famous 1767 Rococo painting by Jean-Honore Fragonard. The painting depicts an elegant young lady on a swing. A smiling young man, hiding in the bushes on the left, watches her from a vantage point that allows him to see up into her billowing dress. A smiling older man, who propels the swing with a pair of ropes. The older man appears to be unaware of the young man. You can check the final characters here: The Swinging Lady, The Young Man, The Old Man Screenshots and The Old Man Renders.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard The Swing painting in 3d

For the male characters I used my rigged base male body mesh which has correct topology and UV with skin texture. This always saves me a lot of time in my workflow. This character was rigged in 3ds Max and also has a Skin Morph modifier for better muscle deformations. I used the painting as reference and I have set the camera to the same view and I posed the male characters as close as possible to the original artwork.

Andor Kollar 3d realistic perfect male body

Andor Kollar 3d realistic male body

3d male character poses

I collected a lot of reference images of 18th century aristocrat costumes, justaucorps coats, tricorn hats, sleeves, contemporary ornaments… I also captured many screenshots from movies like Casanova, Marie Antoinette and the Pirates of the Caribbean. I used PureRef because it is very useful to organize and fast to view the reference images. My workflow is always clean, tidy, organized and non-destructive, so I can easily find and adjust everything. For me it is also important to catch the personality of the faces to really bring the characters to life.

18th Costume references

My base male mesh has a very athletic body type but for this project I used a slimmer and average body type for my base body. If I change my base mesh then in 3ds Max I can easily transfer the rigging with the Skin Wrap modifier. I looked after some sewing patterns, for justaucorps coat, for vest and for trousers then I created the base garments in Marvelous Designer.

Marvelous Designer Justacorps Coat Vest Trousers Costume

From the A-pose I made an easy 50 frames animation for both characters to the required pose, then in Marvelous Designer I loaded this FBX animation. In animation mode I simulated the clothes to the final pose. This way was really helpful because both characters use the same costume.

Marvelous Designer coat animation

When I was happy with the simulated garments I sculpted some corrections on the body in ZBrush and I changed the body proportions to fit to the young and the old character better.

Posed base male body mesh in ZBrush

For the final simulation I replaced the young man and the old man body avatar in Marvelous Designer and also I imported collision objects to achieve the desired shape of the clothes. I imported a ground mesh for the laying Young Man and a bench for the sitting Old Man.

Marvelous Designer Justacorps Coat on Lying Man

Marvelous Designer Justacorps Coat on Sitting Man

In Marvelous Designer it is not easy to simulate layering clothes together so I simulated separately for save performance and to modify each part of the costume more easily. Also I used a lot of pin points to control the shape of the clothes better. I focused only on the visible area of the costume because the coat hides most parts of the shirt and vest. I also made the ruffles of the neck and the sleeves.

Marvelous Designer 18th-Century Costume

I always create real knots, ribbons, bows and scarfs because I think the model looks more realistic this way. This is not easy so I need to use a lot of pin points or sometimes I need to freeze some garments to maintain the shape.

Marvelous Designer Bow Ribbon

Scarf modeling in Marvelous Designer

Scarf in Marvelous Designer

From Marvelous Designer I exported the single sided garments with quad topology to ZBrush, where with Panel Loops I extruded the mesh to add thickness. I modified the proportions a bit and I sculpted the shape of the cloth to fit to the body better. This costume was used only for rendering therefore in this case I did not use ZRemesher and also I wanted keep the UV and the correct seam lines. The tidy UV came from Marvelous Designer and I tweaked slightly in Maya, then I generated the polygroups by UV elements in ZBrush.

Justaucorps coat in ZBrush from Marvelous Designer

Coat Polygroups by UV in ZBrush and Maya

After I changed the polygroups to fit to the costume seams, I masked the seams by the polygroups using the MaskByFeature tool. To make the seams faster I used the Inflate deformation.

Group Mask in ZBrush

Inflate deformation for coat seams in ZBrush

I created different cloth wrinkles for the small creases and the memory folds in layers using the NoiseMaker and also I used cloth alpha brushes. With the Morph brush I could tweak those layers. Finally I have put a silky fabric texture on to the costume with NoiseMaker. You can check, earlier I captured a NoiseMaker tutorial.

NoiseMaker cloth wrinkles in ZBrush with texture

I created an Insert Mesh Brush for the ornamental lace pattern. I used a floral ornament image as a mask for a plane mesh, then I removed the unnecessary faces and extruded and sculpted the details.

Create pattern for Insert Mesh Brush in ZBrush

I also created another IMM brush for the lace border. The base IMM brush consists of three pieces, the middle one is the repeatable part. I did the UV so later I was able to auto group by UV for the NoiseMaker, in this way I was able to apply a different fabric texture in the center of the lace. I drew the IMM lace using a curve stroke that I quickly selected with the Frame Mesh.

Insert Mesh Brush IMM In ZBrush for a Coat Lace

Lace pattern with NoiseMaker In ZBrush

Justaucorps Coat with decorated laces in ZBrush

Justaucorps Coat with decorated laces in ZBrush

For the vest I used the NoiseMaker several times, I kept each patterns on a different layer. Usually I save the settings of the NoiseMaker so I can load them again if need to. First I have put on the creases pattern then I applied the floral pattern texture. I used some blur on the floral texture to achieve an emboss feeling in 3d. Of course before I use the NoiseMaker, I always create the UV of the mesh, so I checked the black and white pattern in Maya with the desired UV layout. And finaly I applied a cotton texture for the base vest and a silk texture for the embossed floral pattern. With the MaskByNoise button I could easily separate the cotton and the silk textures using the black and white floral pattern again as mask with the saved NoiseMaker settings.

Floral pattern and silk texture for fabric with NoiseMaker in ZBrush

You can see the final silky vest pattern better with blue and gold colors.

Blue and gold floral pattern with silk texture for an ornamented vest with NoiseMaker in ZBrush

For creating the buttons I used the radial symmetry, in this way I could sculpt the fancy details very fast. The base was modelled in Maya then I textured in Substance Painter.

Decorated Buttons in ZBrush using radial symmetry

Decorative metal button with gemstone in Substance Painter

However the base of the costume is same, for the Old Man I used different decorations on the coat to make a new justaocorp. I painted the ornaments in Photoshop and I had good UV layout from Marvelous Designer so it was easy to apply the painted pattern with NoiseMaker for all areas of the coat.

Coat model inZBrush, NoiseMaker and buttons

I modelled the 18th century tricorn hat and shoe in Maya the I sculpted the details in ZBrush.

3d tricorn hat in Maya

Andor Kollar Tricorn hat in ZBrush

Tricorn hat in ZBrush

ZBrush 18th century shoe

You can see the close-up screenshots from the final costume in ZBrush.

Character sculpting with 18th century rich aristocrats costume in ZBrush, vest, ruffles, patterns

Character sculpting with 18th century rich aristocrats costume in ZBrush, sleeve ruffles

And this is the full costume of the Young Man.

Character sculpting with wig and 18th century aristocrats costume in ZBrush

Character sculpting with wig and 18th century aristocrats costume in ZBrush

Character sculpting with wig and 18th century aristocrats costume in ZBrush

This is the full costume of the Old Man. The base of the dress is same, but the decorations are different.

Character sculpting with wig and 18th century aristocrats costume in ZBrush

Character sculpting with wig and 18th century aristocrats costume in ZBrush

Character sculpting with wig and 18th century aristocrats costume in ZBrush

For the Lady I used Elle Fanning’s face as reference.

Elle Fanning pictures

The face details were sculpted in ZBrush and I painted the high resolution SSS textures in Photoshop and in Mari. I focused on the close-up details and I used Texturing.xyz skin textures. I applied nude makeup for the Lady.

Andor Kollar Lady Head textured in Maya

Female face skin pores mouth details in ZBrush

Female mouth details in ZBrush

SSS head face textures for Arnold renderer

I have a female arm model, so I rigged and I posed the hand to the position then I sculpted the additional skin wrinkles. I simulated the layered ruffles in Marvelous Designer. I also add silk pattern to the dress with NoiseMaker.

Lady Head in ZBrush Arm with Ruffles

3d female woman arm with ruffles in ZBrush

I modelled the rope in 3ds Max. My intention was to make it realistic so I used different sized cylinders for the natural look. I made 4 main pieces then I twisted them alone and together. I needed to twist the rope carefully because I wanted to make it repeatable.

Making twisting rope model in 3ds Max

Furthermore I painted an extra texture with random sized diagonal lines and added micro fibers with NoiseMaker in Zbrush.

Rope fibers in ZBrush with diagonal lines texture

This is the high poly and the low poly rope, Finally I used the optimized low poly rope to save performance. With the color ID I could randomize the color of the fibers in 2 level.

Low poly rope and color ID texture for the random fibers

This is the final piece of the seamless tileable rope with displacement map in subdivision level 2. Then I add the frayed end of the rope.

Realistic 3d rope with displacement map in 3ds Max

Frayed end of the rope in 3ds Max

I controled the rope with a line using the Path Deform Binding modifier. 

Rope in 3ds Max with Path Deform Binding

In ZBrush I sculpted some irregularity for the shape of the rope, I adjusted the knots and frays.

ZBrush rope knot and frayed end

ZBrush rope knot and frayed end

Then final rope was tied to the tree in the render scene in Maya with the texture.

Rope tied to the tree in Maya

Rope tied to the tree in Maya

This is the hand of the Old Man and the Lady holding the rope in ZBrush.

Old man hand hold a rope in ZBrush

Female hand hold a rope in ZBrush

I have set up the rope, the branches, the Old Man following the original artwork for the lively Swinging Lady. The tree and the base of the Lady’s billowing dress were made by another artist. In ZBrush I polished this fancy costume then I textured it.

Swinging Lady in Maya viewport

Swinging Lady in Maya viewport

Swinging Lady in Maya viewport

Swinging Lady in Maya viewport

Swinging Lady in Maya viewport

Swinging Lady in Maya viewport

Swinging Lady in Maya viewport

Swinging Lady in Maya viewport

Swinging Lady in Maya viewport

For the Young Man I took reference photos of a friend with my professional camera. I also asked him to pose in order to capture the right expression of the desired face.

Young Man reference photos

Young Man 3d Head in ZBrush with textures and scarf

I used Heath Ledger’s wig from the Casanova movie as a reference and I sculpted the wig model as a template for the 3d hair. I did the base of the bow in Marvelous Designer.

Young Man Wig

Man Head with Wig and Bow in ZBrush

Man Head with Wig and Bow in ZBrush

I used the powerful Maya XGen for the final hairs of this project. From the head mesh I extracted three scalp meshes from which I grew the hairs, eyebrows and the eyelashes. This wig is a very complex hair so I used many descriptions, in this way I could split the hair elements to make them more manageable. Each color of the guide lines means different description and every description has different hair settings. I painted masks for the density and the width of the hair. I also used many hair modifiers such as fly away, noise and clumping to achieve a realistic result.

Maya XGen Hair Guides

Andor Kollar Maya XGen hair descriptions and guides

This is the final white wig with a smiling facial expression.

Young Man with white wig and bow, 18th costume, Andor Kollar

Young Man with white wig and bow, 18th costume, Andor Kollar

Young Man with white wig and bow, 18th costume, Andor Kollar

This is the laying young man who watches his lover.

3d 18th century aristocrat character with justacorp coat, white wig and tricorn hat in Maya

3d 18th century aristocrat character with justacorp coat, white wig and tricorn hat in Maya

3d 18th century aristocrat character with justacorp coat, white wig and tricorn hat in Maya

I used the face of Jonathan Pryce as reference for the Old Man then I sculpted his face in ZBrush.

Jonathan Pryce images

Andor Kollar Jonathan Pryce 3d ZBrush

Andor Kollar Jonathan Pryce 3d ZBrush

I used this reference images for the wig and I sculpted the shape.

Old Man Wig

Old Man with wig and ribbon bow in ZBrush

Andor Kollar Maya XGen Guides Old Man Hair Wig

This is the Old Man with a big bow and the final wig.

Jonathan Pryce as aristocrat in 18th costume, wig and bow, artwork of Andor Kollar in Maya

Jonathan Pryce as aristocrat in 18th costume, wig and bow, artwork of Andor Kollar in Maya

Jonathan Pryce as aristocrat in 18th costume, wig and bow, artwork of Andor Kollar in Maya

This is the sitting Old Man who propels the swing with a pair of ropes.

18th century aristocrat character with justacorp coat and wig in Maya 3d

18th century aristocrat character with justacorp coat and wig in Maya 3d

18th century aristocrat character with justacorp coat and wig in Maya 3d

18th century aristocrat character with justacorp coat and wig in Maya 3d

18th century aristocrat character with justacorp coat and wig in Maya 3d

18th century aristocrat character with justacorp coat and wig in Maya 3d

First I checked videos about how to make a bun hair in order to understand the structure better. So I drew the guide lines exactly like a real bun. I used six hair descriptions for the Lady’s hair: the bun, hair inside, thin hair around, eyebrows, eyelashes and peach fuzz.

Female head in Maya, XGen bun hair and guides

Girl bun hair clumping in Maya with XGen

Female head wireframe in Maya, XGen bun hair, eyebrows, eyelashes and guides

3d gril face in Maya with XGen guide for hair, eyelahses, eyebrows and peach fuzz

3d gril face in Maya with XGen hair, eyelahses, eyebrows and peach fuzz

I show you some close-up shots from the eyebrows and eyelashes.

Woman girl 3d eyebrows and eyelashes in Maya with XGen

Woman girl 3d eyebrows and eyelashes in Maya with XGen

And this is the final bun hair for the Lady. I groomed the hair to fit to the shepherdess hat.

Girl, woman character with XGen bun hair in Maya

Girl, woman character with XGen bun hair in Maya

Woman, girl character wearing hat with XGen bun hair in Maya

Woman, girl character wearing hat with XGen bun hair in Maya

Woman, girl character wearing hat with XGen bun hair in Maya

Woman, girl character wearing hat with XGen bun hair in Maya

Andor Kollar, pink Lady with bun hair with fancy woman hat in 3d

If you want see more details just check out my video presentations about the XGen hairs and the 3d characters in ZBrush and Maya.

 

This tutorial show you how I converted XGen Hair to geometry. I used the “Curve to Tube mesh” tool.

Here is a wip render by Spencer Fitch.

I made some experiment using alShaders in Maya. I painted the subsurface scattering (SSS) textures in Mari.

Subsurface Scattering SSS textures painted in Mari

I rendered this close-up shot of the Lady’s face in Maya with Arnold.

smiling girl mouth 3d render in Arnold using alShaders in Maya with peach fuzz

Originally I created the characters in 2016. Finally I had time to make a proper render from the Old Man character in 2020 with the newest Arnold shaders in Maya 2020. I captured a video of how can you render in Maya with Arnold a proper and accurate displacement map from ZBrush.

 

I used the Node Editor for the shader work, in this way I can keep the shader network separately in different tabs to make the work more transparent and tidy. I always rename everything, textures, layers, meshes, shaders, etc.. in my workflow to make my work clear and very tidy.

Maya Node Editor

I used 8K texture sets for all meshes, I textured the Old Man in Photoshop and in Substance Painter.

Substance Painter, coat texturing

This is my eyeball. I painted the sclera using photos and I used an iris texture from Texturing.xyz. I use different iris texture for the right and left eye.

3d realistic eyeball and iris in Maya with Arnold render

Realistic old man eye in Maya with Arnold render

Realistic old man eye in Maya with Arnold render

I added peach fuzz for the face of the Old Man. This increase the realism.

Maya peach fuzz XGen hair

I also added fluffs for the coat, I used XGen.

I created the 3d lace pattern in ZBrush with NoiseMaker. I painted the base black and white textures in Photoshop and I used more ZBrush layers to make different heights.

How to make a 3d lace pattern with NoiseMaker in ZBrush

3d lace pattern with NoiseMaker in ZBrush

This is the height and opacity map of the tileable lace texture.

Lace texture, height and opacity map

I show you close-up shots from the rendered lace. The mesh is double-sided and it has a displacement and opacity map together.

3d lace render in Maya with Arnold renderer

Ruffles with lace around the hand.

3d lace render in Maya with Arnold renderer

The final images in Maya with Arnold render, I used ACES color workflow.

18th century 3d aristocrat character with justacorp coat and wig in Maya with Arnold render

18th century 3d aristocrat character with justacorp coat and wig in Maya with Arnold render

18th century 3d aristocrat character with justacorp coat and wig in Maya with Arnold render

18th century 3d aristocrat character with justacorp coat and wig in Maya with Arnold render

Jonathan Pryce as aristocrat in 18th costume, laces, scarf, wig and bow, 3d artwork of Andor Kollar in Maya, head and XGen hair in Arnold render

Jonathan Pryce as aristocrat in 18th costume, laces, scarf, wig and bow, 3d artwork of Andor Kollar in Maya, head and XGen hair in Arnold render

Jonathan Pryce as aristocrat in 18th costume, laces, scarf, wig and bow, 3d artwork of Andor Kollar in Maya, head and XGen hair in Arnold render

Jonathan Pryce as aristocrat in 18th costume, laces, scarf, wig and bow, 3d artwork of Andor Kollar in Maya, head and XGen hair in Arnold render

Jonathan Pryce as aristocrat in 18th costume, laces, scarf, wig and bow, 3d artwork of Andor Kollar in Maya, head and XGen hair in Arnold render

Thank you for reading, I hope it was helpful!

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