Working on the eyes.

Today I have been learning how to create and animate eyes, I searched for tutorials and followed one which I just couldn't get my head around, the quality of the video was rather poor and the narrator didn't explain things which was frustrating. I then found another tutorial which was run over a series this was much more detailed and explained techniques and interfaces on 3DS Max which was incredibly useful and because of this I learned a lot about the program which I didn't know.

Firstly I created a sphere, however for this I used the keyboard entry which allowed me to align is right in the centre of the stage.

The next thing I needed to do was to create an eyelid for my eyeball and to do this I created another sphere in the exact same place but made it very slightly bigger to overlap the whole of the eye ball. To create a split to from the eye lids I opened the modifer panel and it gave me the option to turn 'Slice on' I checked the box, and could then move the values of 'Slice from' and 'Slice to' this created the opening of the eye.

I then needed to create a visual point that the eye would follow, to do this I learned something new which was to go into the helpers tab and create a 'Point', I aligned the point to the centre of the eyeball and attached it, I then created another which I placed in front of the eye and created constraint for the point in the centre of the eye, I selected at the top of 3DS max Animation > Constraints > LookAt Constraint and selected the point in front of the eye, this meant that where ever the point in front of the eye moved, the eye would follow. Now I had the eye following the Points I needed both of them to follow one particular object so that the eyes were both looking at the same thing, I simply created another pointer, centred it between the two that the eyes were looking at and added a LookAt constraint from both Points to the centre point, and this would be the 'Parent'.

 I also learned at this stage about layers in 3DS max, similar to adobe programs I was able to open the layer panel and create a new layer, in this window it allowed me to modify different settings, such as enabling that particular layer to be viewed or not when rendered.

The next stage was to clone what I had created and apply some materials which would make the eye look realistic and give it some pupils to show what they were looking at, in the tutorial the teacher creates his own using the material editor, however because he was creating eyes for a cartoon I felt that these were rather poor, so I decided to find some on-line, I search for eyeball textures and found a royalty free eye ball and skin texture. I applied the skin to the outer sphere creating the eyelids and the eyeball to the centre sphere which I then gave a UVM map to position in correctly.

The next step was to make the eye lids open and shut and to do this I needed to add a control which would allow me to open both the left and right eye lids together, I went into Helpers > Manipulators > Slider, I could then draw a slider on the stage, I renamed it according to the eye lid, top and bottom. I now needed to connect the slider to the eye lids, I right clicked the slide > Wire parameters, and then clicked on the eye lid, this opened a menu and I chose 'Value' and then Object > Slice to, this being the top half of the Sphere (Top eye lid), this opened up another window, which allowed me to connect the Value and the Slice to, and clicked the one way control direction, this means that the Value will control the Slice to, I then pressed connect and this finished the process.

Now that a slider has been assigned to the eye lid I was able to control the movement by moving the slider, however to do this I had to select the 'Select and Manipulate' tool at the top of the program to enable the use of the slider. In the modify panel with the slider selected I was able to set the minimum and maximum value that the eye lids would open, this meant that the eyes would open and close to realistic positions, as the movement is limited.  I then did the same process with the slider and the wire parameters to the other eye so that one slider would control both eyes, I created 2 sliders in total, one for the movement of the top eye-lid and the other for the movement of the bottom eye-lid, and both eyes were controlled by the single sliders.

I am extremely happy with the out come of the eyes, I feel that they look amazing, and will be extremely easy to animate with the use of the sliders and the Auto-key, I will hopefully be attaching to my head some how, and should help give a realistic animation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op1_XY9NbNQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GtwOdTV0qA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH9d9oj_cFk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4JkYT9avgc

My strategy review.

Most people I know have been modelling by using extrusions on their model, however my approach has been to model each aspect of my character separately; head, ears, nose, hands, and body. I have found this way of modelling to be a little more time consuming because I am having to attach the aspects and manipulate the aspect to suit the shape of the character, also its important that I line up the geometry so that the lines flow, as this should make it better for rigging and animating, this is also proving to  be time costly.

Although I may be creating more work for myself I am pleased with my progress and the way I am doing things, by creating each aspect individually I am able to have separate files for each of them, and also I believe I am learning a lot more about each individual aspects geometry, by following tutorials and researching before creating them, some people have created excellent models, however I don't believe they have learnt much about the topology and geometry of their models, and when it comes to animating their models may not animate as they hoped.

I hope that because I have taken extra time to create my model and learn more about flow of lines, that my model should animate well. Again with a 3D module like this I don't feel like we have enough time to create sufficient piece of work, because of juggling other modules, I think we would all benefit a module like this to be run over the course of 2 semesters, I am hoping that what I  am hoping create will be satisfactory according to the time scale.

Modelling hands

The next stage to my character was creating the hands, I decided the best way to approach this was to watch some videos and try and understand the process of modelling the hand, I also looked at the geometry of the hand, and the bone structure to get some ides of where the bones run and the position of the joints.

I found a series of images when I researched 'Hand topology' in Google images, and this helped me understand the structure of the hand.

I then followed a YouTube tutorial series which helped me model my own hand, the tutorial took a good couple of hours and it was quite a hard tutorial to follow, however I am extremely pleased with the outcome and I would go as far to say it is one of the best models I have created, even without the fine details of the hand such as veins and creases I feel that the outcome is very realistic, the shape is all in tact and follows the shape of a real hand.

To create the hand I print screened a reference image from the tutorial I was following and used this to help with the geometry, I then created a box and moved the vertices to correspond with the reference image and video, and I then began using extrusions to create the shape, I also used a technique which I have learnt this year quite a lot which involves me selecting a line and using a 'ring' then using the 'connect tool' which adds another line along the sequence of lines I am manipulating, this is also a great reference to see whether a model has correct geometry because the connect will only work if the geometry is in the right places.

I then spent a lot of time moving and pulling vertices on the box to try and eliminate the box shape and try give it a more rounded shape, this helped a lot when applying a smooth as it provided a more natural looking hand, the tutorial suggested using Turbo Smooth, however I believe that the NURMS smooth is better and have been using that throughout my other models, so decided to stick with it. 

For modelling the fingers I created a cylinder and added some more geometry to give the finger definition such as knuckles, it was important that the amount of sides were the same as the amount of vertices on the palm of the hand, so that when it came to welding the finger to the hand it would align easier. I then deleted the end of each cylinder as one end would be attached to the hand, and the other end I needed to create the nail bed and nail, I did this by creating a cylinder and cutting in half, I then attached this using target weld to the end of the finger and from here I could sculpt the nail, for the nail bed I simply extruded the 4 polys downwards three times, and then extruded the 3 lines it created to  create the cuticle of the finger, I then selected the polys again and extruded them upwards and then out to create the nail.

I then copied the completed finger 4 times, for the fingers and the thumb, scaling them corresponding to each finger, and for the thumb scaling it significantly, rotating it and changing the shape. The final step was to attach each finger and the thumb to the hand, and I did this simply by using the target weld, this was quite an easy task as I had an equal amount of vertices to attach to. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksVUhWUcXN0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn8pwcGav7A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOQD-csErOk

Attaching the ears to my model.

I have had a lot of trouble trying to attach the ears I created to my models face, I managed to attach the ear to one side of the face and then I tried to delete half the face and use the symmetry modifier to complete it, however once I added the symmetry it would not align properly and for some reason I couldn't get it to join symmetrically, I asked several people in the group for their help and it seemed to stump everyone, I tried changing the centre point of the head, I tried symmetry on the other side of the head, however nothing seemed to work.
I finally decided that I would re-start the process of adding the ear and add the symmetry tool to specifically the ear only, and then I could start cutting and welding the ear on and both sides would be identical, I managed to get this method to work and this is how it turned out.

This is how I added the ear, I imported the ear into the head file and placed it just away from the position I wanted it to sit, I then applied the x-ray tool so that I could see through the ear and to the side of the head and this allowed me to cut in vertices which would align roughly with the vertices of the edge of the ear, once this was complete I then began to target weld the vertices of the ear to the head.
I had to play around with the shape of the ear once it was on the head by scaling and rotating specific vertices to give a more realistic shape to the ear, as it was modelled flat so therefore did not have the right characteristics of an ear.

When the whole head is smoothed using the NURMS smooth I am very proud of what I have achieved.

Attaching the nose > Head

After completion of the nose, I imported the nose into the head file where I could finally attach it to the face of the model, I had already had a place on the head for the nose to fit as I deleted the polys from the nose position.
I used two different techniques for adding the nose that I have learnt from doing tutorials, and that is the bridge tool, which allowed me to fill in holes from one line to another, and the target weld tool which allowed me to connect two vertices together.

There was a lot of vertices movement involved, I found that the nose stuck out quite a bit and this meant that I had to move different parts and scale them down so that it looked more realistic once of the head.

I had to use the cut tool to create more vertices, so I was able to connect the nose vertices to the correct place on the head, and create a good geometry.

Once the nose was in position and I was happy with the scale of it, I was able to add a NURMS smooth to show me how it would look, I was extremely happy with the end result and think that it looks a lot better than I initially thought.

Ear modelling.

I have begun modelling the ear for my model, I found this process extremely hard, however again likewise with creating the body, I think this was down to myself rushing ahead and not thinking about things through, I eventually took the time to watch a tutorial and learn how to create an ear with the correct geometry, one of the biggest things I have learnt with modelling human features is that geometry is vitally important, I tried to create the ear by going straight into it and creating the ear-like shape, however when it came to adding a smooth to the object the ear didn't look realistic what so ever, and lost all of its shape.

After watching the tutorial I grabbed a print screen of the persons ear so I could follow the geometry, I set up a plane and then created another plane to model and follow the template I set up, from here I cut in all the geometry and followed it according to the image, and then I followed the tutorial for extruding the different aspects of the ear, I firstly extruded the outer edge, and then the inner parts I used a bevel technique, so that once extruded they could be scaled down slightly to give a gradient.



I also learnt a new technique whilst watching this video, I found that its possible to delete certain polys which may not be needed, and can then join the vertices to close the gap, to do this select two vertices, right click > collapse, this then allows the vertices to join.

This is the outcome of the ear after following the tutorial and making sure that the model has the correct geometry, I am very happy with the outcome, and this is how it looks when using NURMS smooth, I do however think it looks a little bit too smooth, but this can be altered by adjusting the settings on the smooth at a later date.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhF_lhx7QSM

Nose modelling.

When creating the nose I found the tutorial really hard to follow, so I pretty much created the nose by myself, I created one half of the nose and used the symmetry tool like I did with the other models, and it was a case of a lot of vertices moving to try and create the nose shape, I used the extrude tool for the nostrils, and also used quite a bit of bridging and welding, as I found that creating small sections of the nose first and then adding more vertices and edges to the nose made it easier to cope with creating. The tutorial which demonstrates how to model the nose uses the same technique, however I found that the outcome of my modelling was slightly different to the tutorial, and again because of the blueprints I just used my initiative to create the shape and referenced to the blueprints only for a rough shape.

 

Smoothed result.

 

 

The next step is to import the nose into the head file, and then bridge and weld the nose onto the face. Once the nose is attached I can look at modelling ears, and then finally attach the head to the body, and look at modelling hands and feet.

Creating the characters head.



 

Once I had the basic body shape I begun on creating the face for my model, I carried on watching the YouTube tutorials to help me create this, and to start I simply created a square and then selected the shape and used the 'relax' tool, this is a new technique I have learnt and it basically allows all of the polys to 'relax' and symmetrically fall into its self and become more rounded, this gave me the basic shape for the head, and I then begun moving vertices to align up with the blue prints, again I had to use my initiative quite a lot when creating the shape of the head as the blue prints didn't quite align properly.

I then had to work out the geometry for the face, I researched into human face topology which basically allowed me to find the best lines of geometry for modelling the face.

 

http://www.digitaltutors.com/forum/showthread.php?9365-human-face-topology

 

I found a series of images which explained which areas of the face should and should not connect, and which parts should be isolated from different areas of the face. Using the research I found really helped me understand how to model the face, I used the cut tool to give me basic insertions for the different features such as the eyes and mouth, I modelled the eye sockets and the mouth structure straight onto the head, and modelled the nose separately. It was important that I followed a structure for the face features, and therefore when I created the insertions I tried to create a circular shape. It was also important that on the corners of the mouth and the eyes I left two lines to give a 'hinge' effect so that when animated they open and close naturally. 

 

 

How it stands.



This is how my character stands at the moment, I used the blueprints from http://www.the-blueprints.com/ and used these as references for creating my character, a few parts of the blue prints are not quite exact, so I had to use my own initiative and create the shapes based on my knowledge of what the human body looks like. When creating a the shape of the bottom, I learnt a technique for deleting unwanted edges from the a model, I simply select the edge I wanted to remove and pressed 'CTRL + Backspace'. I used a lot of the connect technique when sculpting the back of my model, as I needed to add a 'V' shape line in the back to make it look realistic, here I could then round off the back side of the body, I then created another line right in the middle of the character and pulled the vertices inwards to give the definition.

 

My progress so far.

After I jumped ahead and tried to create models I started to create a model based on the mistakes and the new techniques I learnt. Although I shouldn't have jumped straight in and tried to create a model straight away, I do not regret what I did because I have learnt a lot from the mistakes I made.
I watched the series of 3D character modelling tutorial and learnt a lot of very important aspects for creating a human model.
It was very important to try keep vertices to a minimum, as this makes it easier to model as only a few vertices would have to be moved to create the shape, however if I had several which on one of my models I did, it would cause a lot of issues because most of the vertices would have to be altered in relation to the body shapes and curves I would be trying to create.
The most important thing I have learnt is using 'Quads'; modelling a character so that it has four vertices/lines for each part of the body, this also allows the body to move more naturally once animated.

A few more techniques which I learnt whilst watching tutorials;

* Connect tool - by selected a specific line, and then pressing 'loop' or 'ring' this selects the all the lines around the model, then when pressing the 'connect' tool this places a line within the lines selected, this can then be moved up or down by using the settings on the tool.

* Chamfer tool - this allowed me to not only create another vertex, it also allows the line to scale down to follow the flow of an object which decreases in size, for example an arm from top to bottom.

* Bridge and target weld - These two techniques are excellent for joining models together, I used both these techniques for joining together separate aspects of the model I created, for example hands, nose and feet. Target weld allowed me to connect singular vertices and bridge allows me to choose two edges and 'bridge' them together

My frustrating progess.

Right, basically I have 4 models of a human character as I have been trying to model the character using a variety of different techniques, I firstly watched a YouTube video for inspiration and then just started modelling from there, I secondly thought I could try model it using a square with several different edges and found that it made it too complex looking at so many different vertices.
I was then showing a colleague my models and we discussed how it would be rigged and animated, he gave me some advice which he personally learnt from YouTube videos and that was that each part of the body i.e chest and limbs should contain 'Quads' I didn't really understand what he meant by this, but did some research and found a good tutorial which I have currently been following, in the tutorial the person narrating explains that having 'Quads' 4 sets of vertices/lines, allows for a much more realistic movement when it comes to animating, this made sense so I begun modelling my character by following the tutorial.

I have learnt a variety of different techniques and short cuts whilst watching these tutorials, which include:

* Pressing the front view allows me to view purely the front vertices, this means that it is easier to see because if I was viewing in another view port I would see the front and back, which at times can be confusing.
* X-ray mode - By pressing ALT+X this means I can see through the character and view anything behind it, in this case I was using a blueprint so this was an extremely useful tool.
* It is important to try make models as close to the shape as possible without adding a smoothing group/Turbo smooth, and I have learnt that using quads and moving vertices to create symmetrical rounded shapes can do this.


This is the link to the series of videos I have been watching;

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE4693155A242C51F

Character research

This is what a google image search returned for 'policeman' I found that no matter what I searched the images gave a typical stereotype for policemen, and that was either a 'grumpy', 'goofy' or 'over weight' look, I feel that this is slightly harsh and it doesn't present a very good image to children, so I have decided to create a hero-type policeman, with a skin tight suit which will compliment his muscles and give a positive hero figure to the target audience which in this case is young children.

My inspiration has come from media groups which enter schools and inform children about specific behaviours, or events. For example when I was at school, I remember the fire brigade coming in and doing a day event about their jobs and actions by people, showing the school the consequences of actions, they were informing the school about arson and what effects it can do, I am hoping to create a similar story line to give an educational animation considering the target audience.

I then did a good search for 'Super heroes' to try and find some typical characteristics for them, this is what the search revealed: 

I came to conclusion that typical super heroes are very 'top heavy' this means that they're very muscular from the abdominal area upwards, and the muscles in the chest, arms and shoulders are exaggerated this gives them a very strong and powerful looking pose, this is also complimented by the type of clothing they wear, which is typically skin tight. I will be combining these characteristics with a policeman to give him a hero type presence. 

Character Modelling

I have begun modelling a human shaped character, to try and gain some experience. I have never created anything remotely human like, so it has been quite interesting trying to model the shapes, especially for the head and hands. I watched a Youtube tutorial to get some inspiration and try see where I should begin, I set up some blue prints in the scene which allows me to create my model based on a template, this helps a lot as it gives me a guideline to follow to keep the shapes realistic, I try to use the blue print technique where I can as I believe this allows me to create higher standard models.
I have made some good progress so far, and I am pleased with my initial model as it does look human, however I am unsure whether this model will be used for my animation.

 

This is the first model I began creating however felt that I didn't create good enough symmetry in the lines for the joints etc., so I started on another.

 

This is the second model I created I used a box with several different lines on each side as I thought that I could create a more realistic shape, I then discovered that this became far too confusing, and time consuming as I had too many vertices to work from.

 

This is another model which I went ahead and started to create, after speaking to a colleague it was explained to me that I needed to create 'quads' so I had to rethink how I was going to create my model.

First post - Facial expressions.

In the first week, we have been looking at expressions that characters use to show their emotions, in particular facial expressions, I have been looking at different facial expressions on line, and I decided that I would sketch my own to get a better understanding of how effective different aspects of the face show a characters emotion.

The face is broken down into, eye brows, eyes, nose, mouth and any other wrinkles/creases, when I started to draw the facial expressions for different emotions such as happy, sad etc. I drew from top to bottom starting with the eyebrows, I found that just slightly different positions automatically change the emotion of the character, a very slight move of an eyebrow, eye shape, mouth shape, and different creases in the face provide an emotion for the character.  I also found that to really emphasis a characters emotion, the facial expression should be exaggerated, for example if the character is angry, the eyebrows should be pointing downwards quite dramatically to help emphasis anger.

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/296/f/a/cartoon_ish_facial_expressions_by_existtraiesc-d4drgfg.jpg