Need HELP with 1st head

[Dusk108]

looking good so far. it's hard to crit because the expression is a bit extreme but here it goes.

personally i think the upper lip could use more definition as well as the jaw. the eyes could also use that little hollow spot where the tear duct is as well.

still all in all it is very good for a first attempt. keep working on it and keep pracicing.

[Dr-spline]

That looks great for a first head, spend some more time on the nose

[ntmonkey]

Thanks guys for the quick reply,

But still, I'm stuck on how to model the ocular part. Working on the tear duct, nose, and lip. Updates to follow.

Thanks,

Lu

[Dr-spline]

What app?

[ntmonkey]

I'm working in Maya 4.5 and using NURBS modeling. I feel like I'm going the way of the dodo with NURBS, but its a class project and part of the requirement.

[Dr-spline]

Dont worry, nurbs arnt going anywhere. There still the best for deformable ofjects like arms and legs. How about a wf?

[ntmonkey]

Sorry for the delay in the wireframe update. School gets in the way, along with games, girlfriend, dog, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I defined the lip and nose a bit. The eye patches are still buggin me, so if you guys have solutions I'd greatly appreciate it. Please bear with me while I get my website set up so I can get some high res images for you.

Thanks,

Lu

[Hairball]

ntmonkey, i will have to disagree with Dr-Spline about NURBS not going anywhere, i believe they're still a great way to model characters.. specially cartoony characters. However, that's just an opinion. In your case you're having dificulties just like everyone else in your class getting the eye patches to look correctly. To be honest, not everyone gets it perfect on their first try, by this i don't mean that you're not trying hard enough, but that maybe your problem is that you don't understand what exactly is that you should be modeling out of an eyepatch.. it is basically the eyelids, it should only be as big as the area that deforms. Model around the EYE the shape of your eye socket and eyelids, then the best way to make it blend with the head is by using a fillet, just beacuse it DOES the blending for ya. Now, to get the fillet to work correctly, you need to have a curve on surface made out of the same parameters as your eyepatch and bigger than the patch so it will BLEND. You can make the curve on surface out of a projected curve duplicated from an isoparm of the patch or by creating an INTERSECTION CURVE, out of an intersection between the eyepatch and the head... notice that you will only intersect the patch to make the curve... but must detach the intersecting part after you make the fillet. If you have questions about this.. why don't you ask me? i'm sitting here up front to help you.

[evildeli]

i think there might be too much bunching around the mouth. Either use the smooth tool located in the Sculpt surface tool, or reloft using less isoparms.

[ntmonkey]

I'm gonna assume that if you reloft both U and V then all the isoparms that are there NEEDS to be there. I agree with you there evildeli, the isoparms are breeding around his chin. Ech! Update coming soon...

[ntmonkey]

Here's an update. Hopefully this is a little better.

http://www.visualeruptions.com/images/head.gif

[ntmonkey]

And here's the wireframe. I still get these isoparms even after I reloft, so I guess they're there to stay. Also, is there a quick way to come back to my post via CGTalk's menu's? Eyes are not quite done, but they will be soon, textured and all. The ears are stuck in for the moment, but I'll see if I can't attached them convincingly to his head. Hopefully I can hide some of those seams with eye brows and texturing. Again, this is not a patch head so the eye patches look funny. Any comments, tips, and those "you're doing it wrong so do it this ways" are always welcome. :thumbsup:

Thanks,

Lu

[ntmonkey]

OOPS! Guess the pick might help.

http://www.visualeruptions.com/images/headwire.gif

[ntmonkey]

And this is for fun... :applause:

http://www.visualeruptions.com/images/coolhead.gif

[Gemini]

hey, i think this is a great first model. i just have some comments about the technique you are using. i belive that i read that you where using fillets for the eye sockets. i tend to stay as far away from fillets as possible( kind of late), especially in areas where there may be deformation because they really bog down the computer, and in my experience, have some irregular results. i just haven't had the best of experiences with them.

something to remember when you are lofting is that your curves need to be nice and neat too. before you loft, you should make sure that they are all 0 to #of Spans and all have the same number of spans. that way your result will be more uniform and predictable. i may be wrong, but this looks like it may be your problem with the un-uniformness of the eye socket giving you wierd seems and such.

i too actually started my first model with this method and had a hell of a time with it. i have since been using patch modeling and have had much better results. it is a little more complicated, but once you have your workflow figured out, i find it to be much smoother. i can give you some good links and stuff to get you started if you wanted to try patch for your next model

anyway, hope this helps, and i wish you good luck on your project. keep with it, it looks good
BTW, what school do you go to?

[ntmonkey]

Gemini,

Thank you for the tips! The eye patches were fillets originally, and if I had kept them, they would have looked a whole lot better. But like you mentioned, animating it would bog the system down so I relofted them. As for patch modeling heads, bring it! :D I'd love to learn how to do it the "right" way. As much as I have messed with trying to get the model seamless, I could have easily invested that time learning patch modeling and probably have achieved a much better result. Then again, I did this because of a class project and I didn't know better.

BTW, I go to FullSail in Orlando, FL.

Hey lab instructors who sit up front and scour the web! :wavey:

[Gemini]

well, here are some links with both good network info as well as realy helpfull mel scipts.

www.thehumanhead.com
http://www.swanimator.com/tipstutorials/tiptutorials.htm
http://www.highend3d.com/maya/tutorials/patch2/

these sites should get you started. if you need some more of a start than this, which i know i did, i will post a bunch of my projects progressions so that you can get an idea of what i was thinking. there are some tricks that i don't think these sites cover that will make a world of difference. i'll try to put some images up anyway over the next couple of days to help you get started.

[eLm0]

Hey sorry if someone said this already i don't have time to read much any more interms of long writing.... hehe (hypocrite here)

Ok some quick advice, is go through and delete some unnessacarry isoparms trust me less is more even if it looks like (shit) straight away , just tweak alittle bit trust me much better in the long run

my 2 peusos:)

[Hairball]

hey ntmonkey, i just wanted to say that there is no "right way" of doing anything... there are options of modeling that you would take towards modeling a character. It all depends on how complex the characters are, which way the modeler feels it be simpler to model or fit the character better and finally, what the team or studio works with if you're part of one. The one you are being graded on is making radial heads with eye patches, cartoon eyelids if applicable or Patch modeling as optional and recommended only after you are done with the whole character and wish to rebuild the surfaces by making it a patch. I'm not saying you shouldn't do patches.. i encourage you to give them a try, but i also warn you that it is a tedious process and you have little time to finish up your character.. which is most likely going to take all your time since it's your first one.

Gemini, awesome links BTW, thanks!:thumbsup:

[ntmonkey]

Hairball: I know there isn't a "right" way to things. But I've seen really good results with a patch head. I have an idea how tedious patch modeling can be after attempting to model a BMW Z4 and an Xbox controller in NURBS back in model creation. The patch head is just a challenge and plus, with Gemini's links (awesome BTW), I think I'll have a good source of information to get started on it. C'mon, Hairball, I go to FullSail! You know I've got no life besides CG! Pretty much every ounce of free time is dumped into Maya and school....and maybe C&C Generals from time to time! :rolleyes:

Thank you Gemini for those awesome links...hope other ppl will benifit from those!

Thank you ELMO for giving me to courage to delete isoparms.

And thank you Hairball for being in the trenches with us day after day!

[ntmonkey]

http://www.visualeruptions.com/images/olddude.gif



Here's an update with the body and arms. Crits are more than welcomed.

Thanks,

Lu

[ntmonkey]

http://www.visualeruptions.com/images/olddudeback.gif


And here's the back view

[Gemini]

it's coming along nicely.GREAT JOB ON THE ELBOWS it looks like you have some seams in the belly button area ( sorry to state the obvious). a qiuck way to ensure tangency is to make the vertices at the seam in a straight line. so you would take one cv on either side of the seam as well as the two cvs that are together and make them all in a perfectly straight line. there is a really good mel script that will due this for you on thehumanhead.com. other than that i think that you proportions are really well done.

are the arms attached, it looks like it in the front but not in the back. just wondering. post a wire maybe!
hope that this helps

[ntmonkey]

Thanks for the crit Gemini, and thanks for revisiting my post. The arms are attached but the isoparms are kinda weird due the veins in his arms. I will have to redo the arms pretty soon. I'll post a wire as soon as those arms are attached. Thanks for all the help you've provided so far.

Lu

[xrodin]

it might be easier (and cleaner) to do veins and stuff like that with bump maps. that should work for most things unless you have a super crazy close up of the area. just a thought

[Hairball]

hey man! looking good.. it seems the body might be toos mall for the head and you should fix some areas like the belly button.. more round and more datils, the clavicles prob don't need to connect with the muscles in the neck. Definately use fillets to blend those arms to the torso, and later reloft with the arms... I like the details you're adding to the arms but agree with xrodin when he says you could use bump maps instead.. just less geometry to work with. looking good!:thumbsup:

[ntmonkey]

http://www.visualeruptions.com/images/hopkinsbody.gif


Here's an update of his legs....I'm trying to go for a suspenders-type look. Let me know if you guys want close-up of any particular area. Feet and hands to come. As always, crits are welcome.


Hairball:
_________________________________________

I like the details you're adding to the arms but agree with xrodin when he says you could use bump maps instead.. just less geometry to work with. looking good!

_________________________________________


You really think the veins should go? I'm confused on what kind of details should be applied by bump maps and which ones should be applied by actual modeling it. Could you help me out with some examples?

Thanks,

Lu

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