HUMAN FIGURE

[robvmonte]

OK I know that I post a lot of stuff but I want to post this. Its a torsoe and the blue on it isnt a texture...Its lighting! Its so kool! Anyways, I this is a torsoe that I have for a semi-realistic character. I dont want the body to be exact I want it to be fairly realistic with some cartoonish about it, but still noiticable that its a human type figure. Please give me some imput.

 

Thanks,

Robert Fiermonte

 

 

 

WIRED!

[robvmonte]

UNWIRED

[robvmonte]

Oh by the way, I need Some major help with the arms. I didnt think about this clear enough. How am I supposed to attach the arms? Any suggestions. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP! I really need to complete this model!

[Ross Smith]

Rob,

 

Arms are tricky. They fit in that category of "long cylindrical objects that attach into other objects", like legs, heads, tentacles, the like. No one ever told me how to model a body when I started my first one, so I just modeled the parts independently, then brought them all together and figured out how to create the torso from that.

 

In the end I think you'll need to use five point patches. That was my solution, and it works fine. I recommend you practice attaching things before you try your luck with a model you want to keep. I repeatedly modeled cylinders and attached them to each other, figuring out the splining of the joints.

 

So ja, experimentation is key. And try the ARM, it's always handy (no pun intended). Good luck!

[nerrazzi]

Here's a simple character I made a while back. Notice how the torso contains a small series of 5 point-patches so that from that, you can extrude the shoulder from regular 4-point patches. Take some time and study the image because a lot of times it doesn't start & end with the arms... it works into the neck region as well.

[robvmonte]

I think I would get this. But the problem is Im having a hard time figuring out what a 5 point patch IS! I whent to Arm and read that tutorial but it didnt help. Maybe you guys could fill me in please! Thanks for the help nerazzi and Ross!

[nerrazzi]

okay, basically if you create and connect some splines like in the first image, you will create what is called a 5 point patch... simple

 

Press the 0 (zero) key on you keyboard. The one above the letters..., you get nothing.

Now, if you shift-select just those five points in the center of those splines, a little green & white hoop will light up on the side of the interface. (See red arrow in image 2) Click that little hoop and that gap will fill in. Congratulations!!! You've just created a 5 point patch!!!!

[robvmonte]

WOW THANKS! I feel like a retard!

 

Thanks,

Robert Fiermonte

[Ross Smith]

Um... so.

You use five point patches under special circumstances.

When you have your splines all laid out to make quads (patches with four sides), that's great for a surface that adheres to a flat or cylindrical shape. But when you need to make an unusual surface, like an opening (mouth, eyes) or a joint (attaching arms and legs to torso), it usually involves five point patches.

 

My modeling isn't the best example, but here goes.

Observe.

 

 

Those arrows are pointing to five point patches that help the eye area on this face "fit into" the head. Since the eye is basically a widened opening that splits the surface of the head, five point patches can be appropriate -- they let you deal with surfaces that are unusual or transitional. They also give you some ability to control where splines should be in your model. Making a lot of splines that run the circumference of the head may help you sculpt the face in detail, but they can pile up on the smooth back of the head pretty purposelessly. Five point patches can help eliminate these, and so can hooks.

Be careful using five point patches or hooks. They're modeling "short-cuts" that can really help you, but only if they are used under the right circumstances. That's a hard thing to teach, so best learn it through trying.

 

I hope that helps some.

[robvmonte]

well im having a problem with the 5 point patches. I got it to do 2 5-point patches but I cant get it to do it again! Help! Heres a picture. You'll notice the 5 point patch icon wont let me click on it! Whats up with that?!

[Olorin]

Let me chime in here.. Before you attach your arm to the body you need to make a hole at the shoulder to accept the arm. Looking at your picture it appears that the shoulder is still a closed surface, so there are no available splines for the arm to attach to.

 

The splines which run along the length of the arm should flow into splines that already exist on the shoulder, which means you need to break some splines open (and probably delete some spline segments) to create unattached splines for the arm splines to attach to.

 

Try this: The spline running along the top of the arm should be one with the spline that meets it and flows up side of the neck. Disconnect that spline from the part which goes down the side of the body and connect it to the top of the arm. You should have one continuous spline running from the wrist, up the top of the arm and on up the side of the neck. Do the same with the spline on the bottom of the arm, attaching it to the free section of the spline which _used_ to connect to the neck spline but now has a free end. Then use the same technique to attach the splines running along the front and back of the arm to the spline running around the chest (break the chest spline at the point where the arm meets it. Now your five point patch should render properly.

 

Note that the top arm spline connects to a vertical body spline while the front arm spline connects to a horizontal body spline. The two arm splines were going in the same direction, then they split off in different direction once they join the body. This is what creates the need for a 5 point spline. In a case like this, you will usually need four five point splines to complete the attachment.

 

B-

[Ross Smith]

Right, so. My advice: you have some patches on the torso that need to be disposed of. They're the ones that would be between the arm and the torso if you closed up that joint. You don't want those there -- you'll never see them, and they'll make the splines of your model flow badly.

Here's what I suggest you do. Go in and delete the CPs responsible for just those interior patches. Once you do that, the torso will have some splines that just end abruptly around the hole where you want the arm to attach. Those splines will flow smoothly into the splines of your arm if you use the Attach tool. It'll look and function a lot better.

As for why the 5-point patch button isn't lighting up, I'm not sure why. Try my advice and see if that fixes anything. (Sometimes you have to break and reconnect, or destroy and remake CPs, to get A:M to do something sensible. I'm not sure why.)

 

Here's a pic showing the splines that I would try to get to flow smoothly into each other. Highlighted in green.

Best of luck!

 

 

Edit: Whoops! I spoke too soon. Heheh. Or too late? Well, either way, here's a second post that says basically the same thing.

[robvmonte]

OK Ive got the Arms Done. Thanks to all that helped ESPECIALLY nerrazzi. nerrazzi I got your model and saw how you did it and I redit so I could learn. Thanks so much everyone! Now for the next step legs. Ill keep you posted on them! Wish Me Luck!

[zacktaich]

Here's the bullet form

-good overall extremely basic shape

-arms: higher, more shape and muscle

-Torso: look at human anatomy textbook pictures, or go to fineart.sk. Add more musculature, does not need to be Nerazzi's superhero muscle style, but a little more shape would be good.

[robvmonte]

Thanks, Its not supposed to be a hero though!

[zacktaich]

I got that

It's just a character devoid of any shape at all. You're getting this stuff down.

[nerrazzi]

The point behind what rob was doing was to learn "how" to create effective 5pp. I don't think he was shootin' for a tight model at this point. Learn how to use the tools and then apply that knowledge to the creation of a seriously phat model.

 

Looks like zacktaich was more or less supplying pointers for the model at hand which is cool too...

[zacktaich]

Well maybe now But when this thread was started he didn't know what a 5 pointer was . It's all good.

 

Zackt.

[robvmonte]

Well I really aprreciate everyones post but im going to ask for somemore critizism! What do you think of the body of my character?!