Workflow - Alphas n Modelling

At the minute I'm texturing and modelling the colossus.  I have already put an animation set into UDK and got the colossus animated via triggers within the Marquee.  I will also add in cameras and more appropriate animations.

Of course I haven't completed the modelling!  But with a bit of practice I have sorted a work flow where I can easily update my model.

Zbrush Alphas
Alphas (grey scale images) are very useful in Zbrush.

Here I am using alphas to create a carved/embossed effect. - It's very hard to hand draw somethings

I have been experimenting a bit and have found that if you save Alphas as 16Bit TIFFs you get clearer & more precise results.

By saving these alphas as custom shapes(vectors) it gives me a way to repeat the pattern
anytime easily at any resolution.  Only certain formats can be previewed and used in Zbrush

Here is a pillar, which are 3 objects that I can use to make different configurations - and even use on my colossus

Using stacked "turbo smooth" & "edit poly" mods is a nice way to create objects -
It means LODs are very easy to make as well as sculpting meshes

I'm using 3DSMax & Zbrush a lot.  I am projecting and baking in Zbrush.  I'm doing this instead of 3DS Max and Xnormal for a few reasons.
1) Can see and manipulate high frequency details (normal map), and the base mesh at the same time.
2) I don't need different instances of the same mesh - the shell is always "perfect"
3) Zbrush is very good for painting with photoshop, and exporting different maps easily

Classic problems with using Zbrush is re-importing meshes, projecting, and retopology.  This can be avoided if you either get lucky or have a bit of experience.  Lots of people may project & bake using different methods to circumvent this technique all together.  This is bad in my eyes as it will involve decimating a mesh and "ending" the process.  When projecting in zbrush you can always continue to work and make changes - possibly designing as you go.