I began the seashell model as a low-poly asset created in Maya for the Chakra game I created in Unity. To create this shape, I used Maya’s Helix tool and gave it volume with an extrusion. I used Lattice Deformation to help shape the form, and even after deleting history and freezing deformations, I was unable to use the GoZ feature to import it into ZBrush. Instead, I exported it as an OBJ to simplify the geometry and make it ready to import.
Here is the shape imported into Zbrush.
One of the issues I had was that I could not make the shell hollow. If I deleted the end cap, it caused the shell to have no volume when imported into Zbrush. I decided the leave the endcap, but do a negative extrusion to push it back into the shell a bit. Once imported into Zbrush, I used the Move tool to massage the shape and push it back further, but was unhappy with the flatness of the shape. I wondered if it were possible to Divide just that one area to give it more polys. Using a Mask, I found that you can indeed Divide to add polys to just a specific area. This gave me more geometry to work with.
I began shaping the outer edges of the seashell to look more organic. I also stretched out the shell to be longer.
After getting a shape I was more pleased with, I began using the Dam Standard brush with a variety of Alphas to add detail.
At this point I was ready to use Polypaint to add color.
Finally, I used a darker polypaint color along with Zadd to give it some depth to create the ridges.
Overall I would say I was fairly happy with this sculpt. Going forward, if I had to do another one, I would have taken the advise of my professor to do more preliminary sketches from reference, because I’m not sure the bottom of it looks entirely realistic. Creating sketches would have helped firmly fix the initial shape in my mind. For now I plan to use this to push forward into the rest of the project. Perhaps another time I can spend an entire day creating seashells. 🙂