1.
I started modelling my character using the box modelling
method.
My plan was to get the
basic shape, and put more geometry by the joints. I then wanted to use the
surface cut tool to put more topology on.
2.
3.
I got to the top of the leg , I’m trying to follow this
topology map but my model is really square so I’m finding it hard to match up
what lines go were.
I’m also having trouble doing the bum; I thought I would just
keep it relatively simple as I was going to deform it in Mud box anyway.
4.
I’m on to modelling my
second leg, I’m trying to make them look as similar as possible but it's hard
to do especially around the feet. Also as I’m modelling the separately rather than
using a clone, I’m having trouble doing the inside legs. I can’t really see it
that well and it’s very hard to match the two legs up.
Apart from some
weighting issues, they seem to be deforming properly.
6.
I decided to get rid of half of my model, and just clone it
when I was finished modelling. I did this because the geometry on the legs was
starting to annoy me, and also I wanted to fix the lines in between the legs.
At this point I’ve also started adding more geometry to the waist. But again I’m
having trouble with the topology because my model is so square like.
7.
I started trying to curve the waist around and match up the
lines running from the legs, I’m not really sure how to start on the breasts as
the reference topology I’m using is of a naked model and mine is clothed. I
also cloned the side to check how it would look when it would be done.
8.
I did the chest and arms; the topology isn’t great as I had
trouble following the plan. Also I was going to add more to the arms but I was
told that I didn’t need to make it too complicated. I’m going to try and take
some of the lines out of the waist as I think that I don’t really need all of
them
We had a group crit this morning, the topology for my top half was brought up because it wasn’t very good so I decided to restart the body. I took the reference topology image and applied it to the front plane then started building it a polygon at a time. In this image I had attached it to the leg. Straight away the lines seem to flow a lot better. Although I still had trouble doing the chest.at this point it is still a bit boxy.
10.
This is what my waist
and chest looked like after being smoothed out and joined properly. There is
still a lot of geometry that isn’t necessary so I think I’m going to have deleted
a few lines.
11.
I noticed that in a few
places on my model there are some extra polygons that shouldn’t be there so I’m
just going to try clean my mesh up. Also I started on the arm , but because I’ve
got a lot of geometry to work with , I’m trying to keep it as tidy as possible.
Also from the reference images that I have, I didn’t really look at any top
views of arms so I’m worried that I might have made it too wide.
12.
I cleaned the mesh up and got rid of some unnecessary
geometry. I also finished modelling the
arm and started on the hand. I had some trouble doing the shoulder. I’m not
really sure how to finish the shoulders and neck so I think I’m going to model
the head separately and add it on after.
14.
I started modelling the face, I really like the way the eye
has gone so far but I had alot of trouble with the lips especially in the
corners of the mouth.
15.
Started modelling the nose
and cheeks but I’m having some trouble with the topology around the nose. I can’t
work out how to attach it to the cheek properly. Also I think that at the moment
the face is looking pretty flat.
16.
I managed to attach the nose finally but it’s still looking a
bit flat for me. I also decided that because I’m going to add hair after, I won’t
model the ears to save time.
17.
Managed to connect
everything together but I’m not too happy with the lips and the shape of the
face. Also I think that several different parts of the face can be smoothed
out.
18.
I tried for several hours to fix my face but I couldn’t get
it right. I decided to start over. This time though I used a pre made model and
used that to work with other the top. This really helped me out and I think
that the whole topology flow is already starting to look better. The model that
I’m using to help me is a bit too complicated though, so I’m trying to get the
same look but with less geometry. I did
have some more trouble attaching the nose with the cheek again, and some of the
lines could be cleaned up, but it’s looking better than my previous try. Also
the reference model gets really complicated around nostrils so I’ve left it
open for now and I’ll come back to it. I’ve also been using this tutorial page
that I found very useful:
19.
I'm having a bit of trouble with the lips. I can’t work out
how to do the corners of the mouth properly. But I started filling out the
cheeks and it looks much better.
20.
21.
I left the ear open for now but I got the basic shape that I
needed so I deleted the reference model.
22.
I've finished modelling
the head/neck. I’ve added it to the file with my body , I’ve just got to figure
out how to attach it because I’m still having trouble finishing the shoulder
23.
I did some more work
to the shoulders and also I cloned and stitched the body together.
24.
I managed to sew the
two together. It was quite difficult because I had to match up the lines
without changing too much.
25.
I went onto UV and texture mapping my model. But I’m having
some trouble with the head. I’ve cut it down the back and around the neck but
it just doesn’t want to unfold. Also because the polygons on my hands weren’t
very neat, it was hard to unfold them and line up the texture. I tried to
neaten up the geometry while trying to line up the texture map.
26.
Now that the model
was okay and working in mud box I started working on the hair. Originally i
wanted to try and use the hair tool in MAYA but I thought it might be easier to
just start with a block and mould it around the head. I did the front part, but
then I realised that it would probably be quite difficult to unwrap the UV.
27.
I decided to model
the hair by using lots of different planes and shaping them. I saw this on a
tutorial and it looked a lot better than the hair that I had managed to model. I
had to put a different texture on my model to make it easier to shape the
planes around it.
28.
After finishing the hair I put the file in mud box to make a
displacement map. I’m not sure why it happened but sometimes it was as if the
brush would stop working. I wasn’t sure how to fix it properly so I restarted
it several times.
29.
I added some bump to
the areas where the vest will be, it took me several tries to get this right as
it was quite hard to draw a straight line. I then discovered that there is a
steady stroke option which really helped.
30.
I started adding
textures to my model, but I’m not happy with the way it looks, in my mind I
thought the hair and fur would look a lot more realistic but I just think it still
looks really flat.
31.
I’ve decided to go
back into Maya and try and texture it that way. I want to maybe try and get the
hair and fur dynamics working too.im trying to create hair using splines as a
guide. I made a copy of the top of the head so I have something to attach the
hair too. All the blue lines are the splines that I’ve made.
32.
After attaching the hair to the spline paths and tweaking a
few clump and density settings this is what I got. I’m going to go back and try
and separate the hair at the top because it’s too big and overlaps.
This is what it now looks like after I tweaked it. It
doesn’t clump so much.
33.
I’ve started to try and figure out how to use the hyper
shade now.
34.
I’ve managed to add fur to the legs. This took me a while as
when I added it, it only worked on parts of the mesh. I checked online for a solution but nothing
helped. I went into the UV editor and optimized my mesh and it worked fine. I’m
now going to attempt to use the paint fur detail brush to style it and change
the length.
35.
I think the fur in MAYA looks a lot better than
the displacement map in Mud box. It still needs a bit of grooming but it’s
getting there. I also managed to add a texture to the vest.
36.
After getting the fur to work, I discovered that because I
cut up and changed the mesh so much, it was no longer connected to the joints. Now
I’ve got to make the skin again as well as add the IK chains and weight it.
37.
After re re-rigging it, I added the hair back in.
38.
I moved some of the parts of my model, I then saved it,
closed Maya, and when I reopened it some of the hair had become detached. I’ve
decided to go back to a previous copy, and texture it again.
39.
I've just finished my model. If I have any time I would
maybe like to make the skin texture look a bit more realistic.
