Saturday, October 29, 2011

The Deep Ones

I think this is the future of propmaking, and I have mixed feelings about it.

Bryan Wynia "sculpted" this fantastic selection of Deep One concepts using Zbrush, a 3D modeling program.



And here's the final version with a complete skin.



The second picture is what lead me to the linked site. Even at high resolution it's difficult to tell that it's a totally digital object and not an actual maquette. It's not the first time I've been fooled by a good digital "sculpt", and I have a feeling it will be happening a lot more in the near future.

What I find really interesting about Mr. Wynia's work is that it could be transformed into a real bust in just a matter of days. The plummeting cost of modeling software has made creating digital objects and props easier than ever. Once those models are created they can be used to construct virtual items, for use in high definition video productions, as well as actual items. Tabletop 3D printers are still a few years away from being household items, but it's just a matter of time until they are.

When that happens it will revolutionize small-scale manufacturing, not to mention hobby propmaking. "Sculpting" isn't going to be any easier, but there are a lot of people, myself included, who are far better at creating three-dimensional objects than they are at making two-dimensional depictions. There's going to be an explosion of small shops cranking out obscure items like Cthulhu statues and Elder Thing star stones.

4 comments:

Mr. Sable said...

One very cool thing about theZbrush progam is it can be directly hooked up to a 3-D printer or 3-D lathe, so you can have a macquette (any size) made from a file in less than an hour. That's what they use in museum displays and kids themed playgrounds in malls these days.

Anonymous said...

The funny thing about this one is that it's the background that gives it away. If the wall behind the Deep One was further away and out of focus, or something else, I would have been fooled too. Great Deep One, poor wall :)

Alex Kaeda said...

On the subject of deep ones, I was watching "the creature from the black lagoon" last night, and I couldn't help but think "oh, a relative of the deep ones!"

Zombiecowboy said...

This is such a great re-imagining of a Deep One. I love it! Gives me hope that a really big budget Lovecraft film would kick ass.