Modelling Heads

#161

I used the same method of TPE to make my first head! its very fun, even if quite long method because of the great amount of polys. its better than poly to poly method though.

I made it like that. i took my drawing, on paper, then designed my cage mesh over it in PS, so that i ended up with a linear drawing of the final mesh (this can be done even with less polys, so not all the details) then imported the drawing of the mesh as backdrop in modeler, coupled with the drawing of the side view of my character.

Then, simply created a flat poligon subdivided exactly as my drawing,(only one half i mirrored later, obviously) and after that did no other than pulling vertexes in the z axis using the side view as reference, wich is the longer part of the process.

then, completed the head with extender, at that time with the default version, not Ikeda’s , unfortunately. the only part that I didn’t achieve was the ears, that time. it was quite 3 hours time to complete the head.

however, this method can be used very well now coupled with some bandsaw for example in eyesocket & mouth areas and with ikeda’s good extender wich leaves not added poligon to erase after you do it. :slight_smile:

I like the spline method , though and I want to know more! It seems a very good one for a person like me wich still now is more a drawer than a 3D expert.

#162

The spline method seems easy, but there has to be a catch…

I’m going to take a picture of my friend and try to recreate them in 3D.

I think that’s my best bet, as soon as I get a break from school…I have a lot of 3D homework still to do.

#163

There is no catch other then you need to have a basic understanding of the structure of a head to be able to model it. Ill extend this to anything you want to model. You have to know the thing you intend to model. Reference is always a good thing to h ave around. In many cases mechanical things are sometimes easier because they are mostly combinations of tubes, cubes and spheres put together in various ways. From a design, engineering and cost standpoint theres lots of advantages to using those sorts of “primitives”. The rules that govern those shapes are fairly easy to understand.

A head also has rules that govern where things go and the proportions they adhere to. Theres more to learn about on a human head which takes longer to get it to gel in your mind.

Aside from that the idea behind 3D modeling is that you have to layout points down somehow to get the proper VOLUME so that it looks like a head. You also have to have edge FLOW (edge loops) in the right way to have proper shading, shadows and deformations.

So the idea is to end up with polygons that form a skin or shell that looks like a head. You do this point by point or poly by poly and tweak them into that shape as you go. The problem with this method is that by default its going to take longer because you have to basically touch almost every point or polygon.

Splines take less time simply because they use far less data to represent a form. The shape and direction of a single spline can effect the form and flow of a lot more polys. Heres an example of what I mean building a nose. I can use six splines forming 2 patches. Thats a very small amount of data. But I end up with a SubD cage that has a nice form and flow to it that would take much longer to tweak point by point or poly by poly. As Nemoid pointed out its more like sketching in 3D. :slight_smile:

#164

ok i did this with a background picture of angelina joie just for reference, i took me like 3 hours to do the spline cage, (learning and errors) and lilke 3 to pach it and add some more detail, actualy this is my first decent head,
i just thing, that i have no good spline flow (i dont know if is the right way to say it)

#165

i dont know how to summit 2 pic in the same post,
or having them with out link sorry

#166

The advantage of the method I described is that, even if its not so elegant, you get the job done. :buttrock:the only disavantage is that is quite an execution method so quite long, but not like poly by poly.also you have the structure of your head completed before starting to model it.

to draw the half side of your cage using as reference the front drawing of your char requires some minute. then you can build your flat poligon with the drawing of the mesh in background using the pen tool, forming some quad poly one yes and one not then U can select the points of every hole you left and make the remaing polys more easily.

you don’t have to build a complex flat mesh. the details of areas like eyesocket and mouth and other required rows of polys you can add them when the model is in 3d dimension.

then, you don’t do anything other than pulling points in the z axis following your side view. that way you have a solid reference to put them in the right position. if hit ctrl when dragging points you drag them exactly down the z axis so no prob.

after completing the half of your face in 3d, you can mirror it, and complete the head with extender. then smshift the mouth inward to get the inner of mouth as well as for the nostrils. you may have to adjust some points for the eyes, but the hard work is done yet.

with this method you can complete a good head in quite 2-3 hours from start to finish.:slight_smile:

#167

Hey Demian,
Pretty good. I would avoid running splines into other patches without continuing them (T intersections). I would also shoot for a more uniform and circular flow around the face. All in all not bad and few splines. :slight_smile:

#168

thank you larry, i have a lot of problem to do after paching,
but i have seen the pics of you and you have circles of splines around the mouth and the eyes, like flow, i have done my face just ok, but do i need to do it like that?

another thing how can i add the ears splines diretly to the cage so i dont have to doit in 2 things, the head and the ear?

#169

Theres a few ways I do ears depending…
One is to prepare a part of the head where I want an ear to go and start smooth shifting out. Its more or less similar to what tpe and nemoid do but in a LOCAL AREA (which is where I think techniques like that are better suited). From there I simply grow the ear out.

Sometimes I prepare the area Ill cut and paste the geometry into another layer and work on it there then paste it back to the original layer.

Sometimes I may build the ear separately and then weld it back in. I would never build a 3D ear with splines. It would be a huge pain to do so. I would layout the ear 2 Dimensionally using splines and set the stage to be able to smooth shift the various parts in and out. This is a good example of showing how to use splines as a layout tool. Heres a link to a thread describing this method:

#170

Another problem area for some is the nose. I found this tutorial that uses splines to create the nose. It’s in 3dMax but it gives good insight into the main surface areas of the nose and is easily applied to Lightwave3d.

Nose Tutorial

#171

Man if I had to use LW splines the same way I wouldnt use them. :slight_smile:

#172

In that tutorial, the images of splines and photos are good reference for getting the basic shape of the nose. Ignoring the software differences, you could generally use any of your favorite techniques to get to that point.

#173

Originally posted by allenatl
In that tutorial, the images of splines and photos are good reference for getting the basic shape of the nose. Ignoring the software differences, you could generally use any of your favorite techniques to get to that point.

The photos are good reference and its a good contrast to they way splines can be used in Lightwave. Another technique Ive used is to model sort of a blank head (no eyes, nose, mouth etc)
and delete out geometry where I want a nose to go then use splines created from the points around the opening to quickly build a cage.

#174

I had this posted in another thread but I think it would be applicable to this one. Heres a way that I sometimes use simple polygon templates as a guide to create splines from. This could easily be adapted to modeling a head.

#175

My first spline head (and semi-proper head ever), just 1.5 evening of work:

Thanks for the useful info you have provided SplineGod

#176

Two words…

Larry Rocks!!!

Larry IS the spline God!!!

#177

That’s amazing, I can’t wait till I get to take Larry’s Course!

#178

AndrewE, did you know if you pre order one of our books, Larry will give you 25% off of his course…and NewTek will give you a $50.00 Tim Buck as well…

Check it out www.wordware.com/tnt

#179

larry …anymore RULES for spline modeling.
I starting to model an airplane and I think I wanna start with Splines. I like the T error info. I’ll watch out for it.

Do you use the AutoPatcher or MK version?

#180

I didn’t know that!

Thanks for the info.

I was going to buy a bunch of your books anyways.

But that makes the deal even better!