Accurate Orthos ?

[DanielC]

Hello, i was wondering if any of you knew how to create accurate ortho's from a sketch or painting.. ? Its something i lack a lot in my portfolio and i had a bit of a problem when i started some... So, any help ? :)

[rattsang]

Accurate Orthos what exactly is that may i ask ? :S

[DanielC]

Well, making an orthographic view that doesnt make the proportions all weird. Like a head a bit too big or, boots too fat, or wheels too far away from each other.. etc ?

[Justin.]

from a process point of view, do the ortho first, then the painting. Things in your painting will more then likely be off (artistic liberties and whatnot), so trying to translate them directly into in ortho won't work very well.

[DanielC]

alright, thanks man :)

[thirdeye]

I sometimes use ortho view of man's figure from Loomis to check my proportions. Put it on multiply mode to see if everything is in order. Fix what's wrong and move on. Of course I try not to stick to it too stiffly - giving the figure some imperfections to give it some uniqueness.

Also, a tip I heard from workmate - to make the head generally a bit bigger than it's supposed to be. Because in in-game perspectives anatomically correct head can seem a bit too small at times. It may only apply to air perspective games - not sure, so it doesn't have to be right.

[[void]]

from a process point of view, do the ortho first, then the painting. Things in your painting will more then likely be off (artistic liberties and whatnot), so trying to translate them directly into in ortho won't work very well.

I disagree, orthographics are for modelers and less useful to paint from. I design in line-work (occasionally with straight paint in values but this is hard and more long winded). I'll render once the design is nailed with a full colour version and then base the orthographics off that. You have to be accurate in terms of relationships but the measurements themselves are not an exact science as its from your head anyway. Its always a back and forth to some degree, at least with digital you have transform.

The model will often be tweaked from the orthos anyway as the design process is iterative.

Hope this helps.

[Justin.]

void, what you're saying is true but I wasn't suggesting using the orthos for the painting- if you are sketching a character from a game, generally basic character sketches come before painting fully rendered characters in a scene...

[roninboarder]

If you want good orthos, go to the zbrush forums (zbrushcental.com, or you can just google zbrush orthos and see where that gets ya). They stock up on the shit (they are modelers after all). Anyway, they have some REALLY good stuff in there. Check it out.

I've seen orthos used more for showing color choices in a character. The main reason though would be to give your drawing to someone else and have then be able to model your drawing correctly.

[Dan!]

additionally just think of it as a blueprint for someone else to work from--here is a spot for some good examples of orthos- as well as blueprints and schematics of just about everything.
http://www.the-blueprints.com/index.php?blueprints/humans/humans/