Metal Gear Solid
Cyborg Ninja
Female Grey Fox
Past Hobbies: CG 3D Character Modeling
Conceived in 2009, this was a tribute to one of my favourite characters from Metal Gear Solid, with a slight twist. Created at a time when I was seriously considering CG character modelling as a career, I was looking to expand my skill set to include examples of female anatomy as everything I had modelled previously was either man or beast.
I’m no longer pursuing a career in CG arts, but this is still one of my favorite pieces and I’ve included it here to showcase some of my creativity and attention to detail. Base mesh was produced in Lightwave, detailing and sculpting with the incredible Zbrush, and touch ups done in Photoshop.
Much of the following content originally appeared on Zbrush and 3DM3 in 2009.
I used Grey Fox from Metal Gear Solid as my main reference (See image on right – by Konami).
I began modelling an athletic female body type in Lightwave 3D. Then I exported the base mesh into Zbrush, subdividing and refining the body further:
Next I began modelling the helmet. In ZBrush, I squeezed a transparent sphere around the head using the move tool. I masked out the areas I wanted to indent, and then used the negative inflate:
Once I found the look I was after I still had to retopologize the mesh, as it was far too dense in the wrong places:
I then exported the new topology into Lightwave: hollowed, thickened, detailed and textured it. Test rendered in LW Layout:
I used the same ZBrush masking techniques on the body as well:
In ZBrush I continued to detail the body:
I used Nikolett Barabas for facial reference:
Lastly I transposed and rendered in ZBrush, and added the final touch-ups in Photoshop:
I found Grey Fox’s original sword looked too dated, so I used Raiden’s sword from Metal Gear Solid 4 as a reference and built this:
Lastly I transposed and rendered in ZBrush, and added the final touch-ups in Photoshop:
Features & Awards
Zbrush: 360 Turntable Feature
Pixologic (the makers of Zbrush) featured my Cyborg Ninja in their turntable gallery (presently on page 15). The turntable gallery is an impressive tool that allows people to turn character models 360 degrees to see any angle they like. This is a great tool for studying anatomy.
Since I can’t link directly to my turntable I’ve included a rendered clip below to preview:
3DM3 Tutorial Feature
On May 29, 2009, 3DM3.com featured my Ninja in their “Making Of” tutorials section here, and I was also the main feature on 3DM3’s home page.
Picture of the Month for “Outstanding Beauty”
On May 13, 2009, Newtek (the makers of Lightwave 3D modeller) featured my Ninja in May’s “Picture of the Month for Outstanding Beauty” newsletter feature.
3D Total Excellence Award
On May 9, 2009, 3DTotal awarded me their “3DTotal Excellence Award” and featured my creation in their gallery.
3D Dreamlab Magazine
On May 14, 2009, a Russian CG art community “3DreamLab” featured my Ninja in the 2nd issue of their web magazine’s “3D Master Gallery.”