Modelling cont.
How you actually go about physically modeling is entirely up to you, and everybody I know seems to have a different way. Very generally though, whether you're using Maya, XSI, Silo, Wings or whatever, the techniques and tools are the same. I tend to start with a cube. I then delete one side of the faces and instance mirror the geometry. That way Im working on one side and the other is being updated instantaneously. I tend to model 'around the eye' since the eye is just the most obvious place to start to me. I then simply draw topology onto the cube, tweak, and repeat. There are really very few tools that I use for actual mesh editing. Some kind of tool that enables drawing on the mesh ( in Maya it's the split poly tool ) , extrude, bevel is really about all you need at the most basic level.
At the time I did the base for Cushings head, I did a time-lapse since it was for a speed modeling challenge. The video below is about 12 megabytes. You can click to watch or right click>save target as, and save the file. The video takes the model from cube to rough head shape ( about 30% done ) :
( temporarily unavailable due to lack of bandwidth sorry )
Now again, I created this model quite some time ago, so there are probably quite a few things that are much more efficient in my workflow now. I'm looking forward to lots of e-mails saying 'urgh, I can't believe you modeled it that way!' :)
If you don't want to d/load the 12 meg, here are some interim stages of the model during creation:
The ears disappear at one point, because I bolted on new ones from an existing model of mine. And why the hell not?! Ears are a bitch! Once the model reaches a certain point, it's really just a case of implicit observation of the subject to get it to where you need it to be. Try and break up the face structure as you look at it into simpler planes. Here, I've applied a cutout filter in photoshop, and painted into it a little, to try and figure out the most basic facial planes:
and you can also try drawing edge-loops onto your reference to aid you:
It's a good idea get your basic topology ( edge loop structure ) nailed before fine details. It will be much easier to shift large chunks of geometry around thereafter . To explain further, this image has some early on basic edge loop structure in place:
Note that to keep a visual track of what my edge loops are meant to be representing, Im using hard edges:
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It's after this point, that I can then worry about detail. The bag under the eye for instance, will need more loops within it to give it some form. Once I've added that edge I can push it out in Z to 'fill out' the eyebag shape a bit more:
This is a commonly used topology for wrinkes. Note that the termination of the edge row at the side of the head ends in a quad:
Once you're happy with your geometry, combine both pieces and stitch up the middle seam. You can then add some symmetry. Tarkin has a slightly broken nose for instance. Whether you intend to animate or no, it's good practice to model the face in a fairly default pose, and then model a blendshape ( morph target ) as your target expression. Edit > duplicate ( making sure you are not instancing ) and tweak away. You can use the Maya 6.0 soft selection tool for morph target manipulation. It's in the transformation tools section of the menu. Modify>transformation tools>soft modification tools. I actually prefer the awesome magnet script.
Once you're happy with your target, pull down the animation menu, select your base mesh and then your target, and go to deform>create blendshape. You can now turn your expression on and off at will.
Default pose and somewhat disgruntled expression at right:
The eyeball model is pretty simple. It's really just a question of replicating the actual structure of an eye. That way the way that light bounces off it later will be more convincing. Note how the eye has a concave iris, an actual hole for a pupil, and an outer sphere that acts as cornea with a convex lens. Note also that the geometry is all quads in anticipation of smoothing:
Final smoothed model with blendshape turned on at left and unsmoothed wireframe at right. Note from the wire that I'm less concerned about the occasional n-sided polygon in my tunic than I am the face. You generally don't want too many n-sided polygons near the facial features that might be animated.:
Make sure that your model is left in its unsmoothed state before committing to the next stage.