HOW Do I make an elsa-like plait?
Joseph Brown, USA
Since the recent awards ceremony to select both the Master and Excellence awards for Ballistic Publishing’s latest art book masterpiece, EXPOSÉ 12, many people have inquired as to how the Elsa-like braid was created in my image titled Bird Set Free. Out of hundreds of submissions, this image was selected by the judges to be published in EXPOSÉ 12 and for an Excellence award. It is truly an honour to have had my image nominated and selected for an award, and to be published alongside many great artists that have always inspired me, such as Carlos Ortega Elizalde, who has inspired my work for years and also won an Excellence award. If you have not yet ordered your copy of EXPOSÉ 12, I highly recommend grabbing one before they are gone. It really is a collection of the ‘finest digital art in the known universe’ and certainly makes a lovely addition to any nightstand, coffee table, desk or inspiration library. It’s available at: www.cgstarter.com/ project/ expose12.
In Issue 207, I described how I made the dress for this image, and how I wanted to stick closely to the fantastic concept image by Kelly Vivanco. As I was modelling my character, and trying to stay true to Kelly’s concept, I knew the plait was going to be a challenge for me. I left the plait unfinished right up until the very end because I was dreading how complicated it would be to create. Although I would love to tell you that I spent countless hours modelling, sculpting, and perfecting the fine details of the braid in Zbrush, the truth is actually much simpler. I was able to figure out a shortcut that saved time and was convincing enough to pass muster, and I didn’t have to leave Cinema 4D to accomplish the end result.
To create the plait, I used a handy plug-in called Reeper 2.0. The name may sound a bit threatening, but apparently ‘reeper’ means ‘rope maker’ in Low German (Plattdüütsch). So, what is Reeper 2.0? Reeper is a Cinema 4D plug-in for creating ropes and similar structures along splines. For this project, I used it to create the plait with three layers of increasing size. The inner layer (grey) is solid, with a hair texture applied that has no transparency. The middle layer (green) has mild transparency to show through to the solid inner layer. The outer layer (yellow) has plenty of transparency to give the effect of fine loose hair strands, and to show through to the other two underlying layers to give the illusion of depth.
With the Reeper 2.0 plug-in safely tucked in your Cinema 4D tool bag, you can now make your very own version of Queen Elsa of Arendelle, and give your other characters convincing plaits too!