Advice in solving this modelling/rendering problem?

#1

Hi. I’ve owned a copy of AM for a while, but only recently started getting serious with modelling.

I think I’ve gotten the hang of splinesmanship, working with hooks and 5-point patches, and so on, but I’m running into another problem that I’m not so sure I can solve.

Here’s some pictures of a face I’m working on. I rendered these in v10.0, right from the modelling window. In a head-on shot, in fairly strong “light”, the model looks fresh and cute:

But then if I tilt the model, looking at it from the chin up, it’s a wrinkly horror…

I’m guessing that this mottled look is because there’s an unevenness in the patches - the cheeks and curves of the face aren’t ‘perfect’, which gets exaggerated when there are shadows about.

I’m a little worried about this. Making sure there are no blatant creases in a model I can handle, but how hard is it going to be to make sure my cheeks and foreheads are perfectly curved? I spent a good while adjusting individual CPs to try and wipe out the mottling, but I can’t seem to get anywhere.

Are there some modelling techniques that can help me solve this by planning ahead - or maybe a plug-in that will even out my curves for me?

BTW, here’s a copy of the wireframe…

#2

Aha!

This wasn’t such a bad problem after all. It turns out the “plugin” I wanted that can help smooth my model was the Porcelain material I had been hearing about from time to time here.

I applied it, did some coloring, and…

I’m pleased with what I see!

Sure, there is some loss of detail, but there’s trade-offs for anything that you leave to automation. I can remove porcelain from the nose, which got a little too smoothed over - there wasn’t much patchiness over there anyways.

-Sean Givan

#3

Ok, take off the porcelain now, and work on your modeling skills. Porcelain is a quick, and only moderately effective solution. You want to improve you models as much as possible before turning it on. So heres a couple tips.

  1. Don’t model only from the orthgraphic front, side and top views. Your models will be distorted and you will miss stuff. I personally like to model in 3d perspective, however this doesnt work to well in AM. Always look at work from different angles while you are working

  2. Read this tutorial
    and there is some helpful info here as well

  3. Reduce your patch count. That is way too much detail for a simple face. Most of it can be done simply by controlling where and how you have the points. You can add detail later when you need iit.

  4. Look into Edgeloops. Some info here . here. The best link is down, but these will hopefully do. The concept is having correct topology. Even though these are in most cases polygonal models, the concept still applies in A:M. The flow of your splines should follow the flow of the facial muscles and bone structure. ie. loops around the mouth and eyes. A grid pattern does not work as well once the model is animated.

#4

Okay, thanks. I would have been happy with the porcelain’d face, but it’s probably a good idea to redesign it for animation purposes.

Reducing detail might be difficult - it always seemed like the complex features were dictating how complex the rest of the face would be - but I’ll try ringing the eyes and mouth with less CPs and hooks and taking it from there. Also, I’ll try putting more definition splines in the face before patching everything together.

I’ll post back in a day or so with Face #2.

-Sean Givan

#5

The problem with porcelain is it doesnt fix the profile of the object. Actually it doesnt modify anything but the rendering of the surface normals. The actual geometry is not effected. So while it does look fine from many angles, problems in the geometry will appear as the object moves and turns around the camera.
This is why having the object as perfect as possible before applying the porcelain is important.

My modeling technique when using A:M is actually similar to what Bachelorrete uses . Make a number of guides off of your rotoscopes or free hand rough it out if you arent working on drawings. Make guides for the eyes, cheekbones, mouth, jaw, etc in both the profile, and front views. and then tweak them so they work in 3d space. The number of points in the curves does not matter. Select these curves, group, and lock. From here you can begin to build you surface, working in 3d space off of the guidelines (i dont know what version you are using but in v8.5 1,2,3-not on the numpad-constrain to the x,y,z axis and can be combined.) Build the entire surface, roughly following the topology of the face. Keep the number of patches to a minumum, as the fewer the smoother the curve, and the points you use the more difficulty you will have in tweaking and facial animation. Continually add more points as you define the facial features. But before adding them, be sure that you need them. For instance the nose: the picture you posted has the tip of the nose defined by 5 splines. It is possible that you can achieve a very similar effect with just 3, two to define the low points of the curve, and one to define the high. As this is an anime face it is quite possible you dont even need that.

#6

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