Week 2

Basic Character Modeling

In order to practice the art of animating a 3D character, this week's task was to start modeling a basic character which will later be attached and rigged to a biped or bone system.

 

The process started from the foot using a box object which was converted to an editable polygon then extruded to form a rough boot shape. Additional edge loops where then inserted by using the "Ring Select" button once the desired starting edge had been highlighted. Having selected a ring of edges these were then joined using the "Connect" button which effectively added a loop of new edges directly through the middle of the selected edge ring. This process was done to allow the shape of the boot to be curved slightly via dragging out and scaling vertices to add more detail.

 

Boot - Edge Loop Connect

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Boot – Edge Loop Scale & Curve

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Finished Boot

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The next task was to produce the trousers starting from the top of the boots. The cylinder primitive tool was then used to draw out an approximate length leg positioned exactly on the top of the boot by enabling the "AutoGrid" check box which causes the created object to be made directly on top of a highlighted surface.

 

Approximate Length Leg Cylinder

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Additional segments were then introduced into the cylinder using the same Edge Ring technique as used for the boot. However using the connect dialogue box a set of 4 edges were spaced out and positioned over the knee area using the pinch/slide  parameters. This was done to allow a smoother deformation of the mesh surrounding the knee pivot joint which will later be moved during the animation process. The same was done for the hip/crotch areas which represent vital pivot points for the animation of the character's legs and therefore additional segments will preserve the roundness and shape of the mesh during animation.

 

Knee Bend Segments

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Further edges were inserted to aid with the shaping of the leg, for example so that the bottom of the trousers could be scaled slightly larger to replicate a flaring effect as if the trousers are resting over the boots. The buttock and groin areas were also formed by dragging out sets of vertices to create a rounded fleshy appearance.

 

Leg Shaping

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The right leg and boot were then mirrored for the opposite side of the character's body and welded along the middle seam were any vertices overlapped. The overall shape was then tweaked a small degree to remove the ridge down the centre of the character which had been produced as a result of mirroring process. During this phase selected edge rings were rotated slightly so that the legs met evenly and consequently could be joint together with ease using the "Bridge" function.

 

Mirrored Legs

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The last step was to work on the top half of the character by producing a simple shirt object starting with a "plane" object. This was then converted to an editable poly and the edges were extruded multiple times in the side viewport using the shift + drag technique to produce new edges to follow the rough shape of a human torso. Working from the front to the back of the shirt more edges were extruded to form these panels leaving just the sides of the body exposed. The edges surrounding the side of the shirt then selected simultaneously using the border sub-object selection mode. This selected was then extruded inwards using the "Scale" tool to create a rim of new polygons on the side of the shirt. The remaining gaps were then filled using the Bridge tool, leaving a hole towards the top so that the sleeve could then be fashioned.

 

Shirt Start - Plane Edge Extrude

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Shirt Start – Front & Back Shaping

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Shirt – Side Panel Bridge

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The sleeve was made and extruding the edges encompassing the arm hole to an approximate length of where the wrist would end. The arm/sleeve was then given extra definition by inserting supplementary edges to provide the necessary vertices to alter the shape as required.

 

Arm Hole Extrude

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Arm/Sleeve Shaping

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At this point only half of the Shirt was made, so like before with the trousers, the shirt object was mirrored, attached, then welded along the centre vertical seam to produce a whole shirt for the character. Again the shape of this was manipulated to add more detail and scaled smaller at the bottom to simulate the shirt being physically tucked into the trousers. A V-neck collar was then fabricated by deleting several polygons where the neck would be positioned. The neighbouring vertices were then adjusted as desired to add more interest to the shirt object.

 

Mirrored Shirt & V-Neck Hole

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Final Basic Character Mesh

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