Wednesday, 29 September 2010

Week 1 Update

For now, I wont bother going through how I created my head as I am following a tutorial which can be found here.

http://cg-india.com/tutorials/3dsmax_tutorials_organic_modeling.html

Instead, I will go over any new techniques that I have come across and give my thoughts on them. Then at the end, I will briefly go over how I created the model, showing images of my progression.


When I created models in the past, very rarely did I use a reference image. This was partially due to the fact that most of my previous models have been quite cartoonish, so realism was not of importance, but it was also down to the fact that I had not been using 3D Studio Max for very long, and I didnt realise the importance of using references.

The first thing that we had to do when modeling our head was to take photos of ourselves from the front and left point of views. I can safely say that without these refernces, there would be no way that id be happy modeling my own face.

In order to make the model as accurate as possible, I had to edit the 2 reference photos so that they were roughly the same size. I did this by distorting the photos and using the ruler tool which lined up important features of my face together. I got most of it to allign up almost perfectly with the exception of the ears and the oveall size of the head. This was most likely due to the slight change in distance to when I was standing infront the camera for both photos.

Once I had done this, I had to draw the topolgy over the photos. I followed the natural shapes of my face when drawing these. This will then act as a map for when I bring this into Max. I will simply be able to draw the polygons in roughly the same areas as the topolgy.



EDIT

At this stage in the modeling process, I was only expected to draw the topolgy lines for just the front of the face, and a little of the side. The ear and neck where done at a later time, but I have uploaded the final image now just to make it clear how the final reference images looked.

Sunday, 26 September 2010

First Impressions

This module is 12 weeks. In the first 5 weeks we have to create a 3D model of our own head, and in the following 7 weeks we have to create a 3D environment of somewhere in Essex.

Having really enjoyed 3D modeling last year, I was very much looking forward to doing it all again this year. However going straight into having to model a human head, and only have 5 weeks to do so seems a bit daunting. Still, I need to learn how to do it at some point so it may as well be now! We will be using a new technique called Spline Modeling which is meant to be a very effective way of creating realistic models.

My main concern with the project is time. 5 weeks doesnt seem like a long time, and will no doubt shoot by. I will just have to make sure to get stuck into my work whenever I get the chance.