Character Design

[bluestreak]

hey tb582,

you can do it 2 ways, with image planes or mapping an image onto geometry.
i prefer the second method, here's how...

i check in photoshop to see what the image size of the pic is.

then in maya, make a poly plane rotate in 90 degrees in Z
and change the width and height accordingly.

for example, if the pic is 720*480, then make a plane that is 4.8 in width and 7.2 in height

you can then XYZ scale the plane to whatever size you what.

then apply a lambert shader to the plane.

in the attribute editor (ctrl+a) of the plane, click on the checkered box beside 'color'

a window will pop up, then click on 'file'....

in the attribute editor click on box on the right by 'Image name'

then just look for the pic you want to use.

also, put that poly plane on a layer, and click reference for it, so that you don't
accidently select it when you model.

as for scaling the image to make it fat or tall, simply scale in one direction only.

hope that helps

[tb582]

so basicly all that is doing is putting my 2d image onto a poly plane? then what do I do?

[Dialector]

I have a character that I have drawn out and have now traced an outline of my character in Illustrator, can I now bring that outline into maya, and be able to make my character fat ie scale it out in the z axis?

If you want a 3D character thats not going to be your workflow.
You are better off importing your drawings as images, one from the front view and one from the side, and putting them on image planes. Then build the model using those drawings as a guide.

[tb582]

ok, are there any tutorials or can someone tell me how to setup my image planes? I have 2 ai files one front view and one side...

[Dialector]

Type "image plane" into the Maya help file to start.
Do you know how to model? Im guessing not.

If you dont, here are a few links to video tutorials that lead you through it, including set up of image planes:

LINKS:

For poly and SubD modeling:
Advanced Character Modeling (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0970685521/qid=1130280892/sr=8-3/ref=pd_bbs_3/104-3225892-9174348?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) (I was a total beginer and could follow it.)
Female Android Kit (http://www.digitaltutors.com/store/product.php?productid=77&cat=15&page=1)

LowPoly Modeling:
Gnomon Head Modeling for Games (http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/mes01.html)
Gnomon Body Modeling for Games (http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/mes02.html)

(Check out the rest of Gnomons DVDs.)

For Nurbs and Poly:
Organic Modeling (http://www.simplymaya.com/movie_pages/tutorial.mhtml?tut_id=83)

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