head model for syncing

[bar2sek]

welp, must be good then...

or else unspeakably bad after 2 days of no comments. :D

[JavonX]

Next time, don't link to page with the images, people are lazy and you loose many possible interested people, you already have the pictures uploaded so why not post them directly? It will take you 10 sec to do.

You used a bit much faces for the nose and the sides of the nose
The edgelops in the front view look good to me, but the edgeloops in the sideview look strange, they look curved and with sharp turnes and there are many tris as a result of it.

[Jerkazoid]

im curious
your using blend shapes to animate this?

this is something i just have to see... what a challenge to model a high poly face and make the neccesary 20 or so facial gestures.

if so

the layout of the cross sections will defienetly add to the work of manipulating the face into the extreme gestures, acuretly.

its ok in the front but from the side the contours should be much more smooth for easier and cleaner manipulation.

[nimajneb]

You model suffers from too much attention to form and not enough to structure. You have the right idea around the lips, but all those loops need to come forward quite a bit. The transition between the group of loops I've been calling the muzzle, and those that describe the check are ... well there really isn't one. You have the form of the cheek delineated in a grid and then smack! The loops of the mouth start. You can see evidence of this in the line that goes aroung the muzzle group in your shaded pictures.

The eyes have the beginnings, I can see the loops beginning to form the characteristic mask. You will need more loops in the eyelids to make them open, close and squint pleasingly. Also, about your use of tris. When required yes, but in areas like your brows you have some eight sided poles with tris coming into them. That's going to be a problem .

Another thing to think about is mesh density. Look closely at the filtrum and the top lip. What its the purpose of all that mesh density there. You are going to need to move these features around quite a bit when it comes to making blend shapes. The denser the mesh, the more difficult the changes. Terminate some of those (with 3 & 5 sided poles, diamond faces), and simplify.

As you model you should be thinking about two things. 1. Form, or proportion, you're doing that. 2. Function, how is it going to move. You need to be seeing the blend shapes in your head as you model the neutral pose. You need to be planning how you are going to shape those poses with the structure you have in front of you.

Here's some references for you:

The human head (http://coldfusion.art.msstate.edu/camenisch/thehumanhead/)

This is likely the best site for an overview of topology requirements for facial modeling. It empathsizes NURBs but the issues are the same for sub-d.


Stop Staring (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0782141293/qid=1074355563//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i0_xgl14/002-0626588-9146411?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)

This is a link to the only good book I have found on facial modeling, animation and rigging. I love this book. I'm a MAX user, and it's Maya but the material translates well. With you being a Maya user, it's perfect for you.

[bar2sek]

Hey, thanks guys!

Javon_X: good point, I'll post the pics on here next time.

Jerkazoid: I was following the Stop Staring book for how to model and rig the head. I havn't gotten that far yet, but perhaps this modeling stuff isn't for me. I might just have to use other people's models/rigs and stick to animation.

nimajneb: wow! fantastic articulated advice. Will definitely help.

Thanks again

[nimajneb]

You have the book! Good. Use the example files he give as a reference for looping. Do the sections on modeling a couple of times from scratch to give you a better feel for it, then go back to the sections on making the targets. That is an awesome book.

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