Original Post
[TUT] Modeling a character
Tutorial time!
How to make a character model from a reference image.
What you will need:
- A reference image
- A 3d program of some kind
- A 2d program of some kind (Paint will do!)
Step 1: Reference image and thinking!
The first thing to do is load up your reference image in your 2d program.
Then you need to start thinking about how you are going to convert this 2d character in to 3d. Look at the major lines and areas on your character, and think about how you will break them up. Look for areas that are not completly connected to the rest, for example the boots, visor and skirt. Also look for areas where a joint would occur, like the shoulders and hips. Do not make really small regions (don't do each finger or anything like that, 5 or 6 regions should be enough to keep things simple).
Then chuck some lines in, and some colours, and you will end up with something like this;
Regions diagram:
As you can see I just broke it down to the head, helmet trim, torso, arms, legs, boots, and skirt.
The next step is to draw on how you think the mesh will look. There are some really really important things to look out for:
This here is also pretty useful when modeling humanoid characters, as it shows you were the muscles and bones are. Often you may want to follow these shapes in your mesh to make the mesh better when it is subsurfed, and just more realistic. For example, if you are making a detailed head model you may want to get the faceloops to follow the underlying muscle structure of the face. If you don't need a highly detailed face then you don't really need to do this. My model is pretty low poly, but I still tried to follow the muscular structure on the torso, arms and legs.
Here is my mesh (I only did head and torso because I can't be bothered modeling more for now :I):
And here are my faceloops, just so you can see what I mean:
Notice how my faceloops are actually really simple, they go vertical and horizontal. Nothing too tricky there!
Now that you have your diagrams and you have done some thinking, its time to boot up your 3d program and move on to...
Step 2: Time for some modeling!
Before you do anything, save your blank document. That way you can easily ctrl+s to quicksave, and you will be less likely to accidently forget to save :3
Now this step isnt necessarily hard, just break down the task and it won't be too daunting.
The first part is to set up your work space so that you can actually do things! In blender you can add extra windows by right clicking on the border of 2 windows and then click Split.
Here is my workspace:
It is 4 3d windows (front, back, side, and one that I move around a lot), and a UV window that I just use to display the concept art. The reference image of the person that I use for the 3 windows on the left is here, I set it as the background image so when I am doing things I can see how it relates.
Once you have done that, save again! It can be annoying to get everything just right, but its even more annoying the second time.
And now for the actual modeling part!
To be continued... XD
How to make a character model from a reference image.
What you will need:
- A reference image
- A 3d program of some kind
- A 2d program of some kind (Paint will do!)
Step 1: Reference image and thinking!
The first thing to do is load up your reference image in your 2d program.
Then you need to start thinking about how you are going to convert this 2d character in to 3d. Look at the major lines and areas on your character, and think about how you will break them up. Look for areas that are not completly connected to the rest, for example the boots, visor and skirt. Also look for areas where a joint would occur, like the shoulders and hips. Do not make really small regions (don't do each finger or anything like that, 5 or 6 regions should be enough to keep things simple).
Then chuck some lines in, and some colours, and you will end up with something like this;
Regions diagram:
As you can see I just broke it down to the head, helmet trim, torso, arms, legs, boots, and skirt.
The next step is to draw on how you think the mesh will look. There are some really really important things to look out for:
- Think about capturing the major shapes. Try to use as little as possible to show as much as possible.
- Think about what should be modeled on, and what could be added in the texture.
- Think about the flow of the model, that is, how the face loops will flow. (Faceloops are when there are a series of faces forming a path).
- Keep your mesh even, don't have a really giant quad and then a bunch of really tiny intricate ones, keep the same resolution.
This here is also pretty useful when modeling humanoid characters, as it shows you were the muscles and bones are. Often you may want to follow these shapes in your mesh to make the mesh better when it is subsurfed, and just more realistic. For example, if you are making a detailed head model you may want to get the faceloops to follow the underlying muscle structure of the face. If you don't need a highly detailed face then you don't really need to do this. My model is pretty low poly, but I still tried to follow the muscular structure on the torso, arms and legs.
Here is my mesh (I only did head and torso because I can't be bothered modeling more for now :I):
And here are my faceloops, just so you can see what I mean:
Notice how my faceloops are actually really simple, they go vertical and horizontal. Nothing too tricky there!
Now that you have your diagrams and you have done some thinking, its time to boot up your 3d program and move on to...
Step 2: Time for some modeling!
Before you do anything, save your blank document. That way you can easily ctrl+s to quicksave, and you will be less likely to accidently forget to save :3
Now this step isnt necessarily hard, just break down the task and it won't be too daunting.
The first part is to set up your work space so that you can actually do things! In blender you can add extra windows by right clicking on the border of 2 windows and then click Split.
Here is my workspace:
It is 4 3d windows (front, back, side, and one that I move around a lot), and a UV window that I just use to display the concept art. The reference image of the person that I use for the 3 windows on the left is here, I set it as the background image so when I am doing things I can see how it relates.
Once you have done that, save again! It can be annoying to get everything just right, but its even more annoying the second time.
And now for the actual modeling part!
To be continued... XD
Last edited by Gorman; May 17, 2010 at 02:37 PM.
