3DCluster creates the scene of high-living monsters, kicking back in their off-duty hours.

CGSociety :: Tutorial
21 May 2009, by Paul Hellard

Introduction
3DCluster is, yes, a cluster of freelance creative 3D modelers in New Zealand. David Partridge, Andre McGrail, Simon Parry and Ben Parry work together catching all kinds of projects for film, game, commercials and sometimes just for fun.

The creation of the 'Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem' began with a request from Gavin Siakimotu, a young Creative from DDB New Zealand, who approached the 3DCluster late last year to see if they were interested in producing a series of print ads and posters for the premiere of Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem on Sky Movies (New Zealand).

"There wasn't much money for this job though," explains Ben Parry, "and the time constraints meant that we would be working long hard hours through most of January. But because they were two of our favorite characters and the idea was so cool, we couldn't pass the job up."

It was a cool concept to see these two characters so much out of context. Gavin chose the original Alien and Predator rather than the newer editions found in the 'Alien vs Predator' movies, as these are the most recognizable versions of the two characters.

Sketches
After some ideas were conceived, Gavin sent on some sketches of the final compositions and poses he wanted the creatures to be in. Soon afterward, he sent 3DCluster backdrop photos and reference of the versions of Alien and Predator he wanted. From these, Andre drew orthographic views of Alien to assist him during modeling. He used a combination of the reference pictures received from Gavin and from a detailed model from McFarlane toys.
Andre McGrail (left) and Ben Parry (right).

Modeling Predator
"I started modeling Predator in early January," explains Ben. "Starting with his head, as it is the main focus of the character, I patched together his face and continued onto his body. His body was far easier as it is a normal human body that I was a bit more used to creating." Ben Parry then built his accessories and UVd him ready for ZBrush. He'd never used ZBrush before, and this was going to be his first time using it. There was no time to be going back or starting over, so he had to commit fully to ZBrush and hope that he produced the quality that was needed.

"Once in ZBrush, I found it easy and fast to use," Ben is happy to report. "It is an essential for any work flow for organic modeling with intense detail. Within just a few Sub-D levels in ZBrush I found that my mesh was starting to look more realistic and more like Predator. Sub Tools were a vital part in my work flow in ZBrush as this added separate layers I need for Predator's armor, head and body etc."

Ben used standard brushes for the sculpting, and a combination of default alphas for the skin details. He exported displacement maps for all of the Sub Tools and also re-exported the base mesh.
 

Alien: Andre McGrail built Alien in modo, starting with the head and moving down the body as he progressed. He detailed Alien using the tube tool and instances to save modeling and rendering time. Some of the bone pieces were UVd first before cloning to save him UVing identical parts later on. There was a lot of going back and forth between Photoshop and modo to get the displacements looking right in all the extra detail that was needed.

Texturing
Predator: Ben continued painting the color maps for Predator's face and body in ZBrush. He used a mix of greens and browns, using several different alpha brushes, including one with the ZRGB setting on for the black scale-like details over Predator's back.

Alien: Andre painted guide details onto Alien in modo, as this would assist him with his color and displacement textures. All the maps were hand painted by Andre in Photoshop, using a combination of soft and hard edge brushes, and using dual layer brushes for a more efficient way of painting some of the pipe details.
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