Adding vasculature to the materials
Developing the look
I popped the older model I used for my grant application into Cinema4D to get an idea of what sort of look and rendering style I wanted. I found a lovely noise that allows me to mimic the transparency of the fetal skin and show vasculature. For the younger models, I probably will make them redder all over, and hand-paint in the important vasculature, but this is a great way to add extra detail. I also added an enviromental fog to give the background some depth, though I think I’ll be making a custom background for most shots. I love bringing my models into Redshift and seeing what they can look like! It’s so encouraging.
ZBrush sculpts
Making the models
I also started working on making the various fetal aged models. Here is the rough sketch of the 16wk (left) and 24wk (right) fetuses. Although they look very similar in ZBrush, there’s a lot of big changes during this period, especially in size. He’s grown from an avocado to about the length of a corncob in those 8 weeks! That size change isn’t something I really address in my animation, though I may have a scale indicator somewhere in the design. That’s something I’ll have to consider later.