150 Ornament Brush and 3D Models + 7 Video Tutorials — VOL 05

The largest volume in the ornament series: 150 alphas at 4096 x 4096 and 16-bit, the 3D models they were sculpted from, and seven hours of video on how those models were built. Volume 05 is the one to buy if you want the technique as well as the assets.

What the archive holds

• ✓150 ornament brushes at 4096 x 4096
• ✓16-bit height maps throughout
• ✓ZBrush brushes
• ✓PSD, PNG and TIF versions of every alpha
• ✓3D models in OBJ and MAX
• ✓JPEG previews
• ✓Seven video tutorials running 418 minutes, in HD
• ✓The project files from the videos

The videos teach ornament modelling by the fastest route rather than the sculpted one — how to build the 3D ornament itself, which is the part that decides whether an alpha bakes cleanly or turns to mush at the edges. With the project files open beside them you can stop at any stage and compare your mesh against the one on screen.

Sixteen bits matters here more than the count does. An 8-bit height map has 256 steps to describe a carving with, and a shallow ornament stamped from one steps visibly under a grazing light; at 16-bit the same relief bakes to a normal map with no terracing at all.

The models are supplied in OBJ and MAX. OBJ is the one to reach for when the ornament simply has to be in a scene; MAX is the one that still has the construction in it, and it is worth having open alongside the videos, because it is the file the technique they teach produces.

The ZBrush brushes require ZBrush 4r8 p2 or newer, and the MAX files are saved to the 3ds Max 2015 format so older installations can still open them.