Modelling Competition

[Simon Edmondson]

http://www.3dworldmag.com/2012/10/02/compe...ake-a-3d-human/

 

It wouldn't be for me but some of the better modellers out there might be interested in this competition run by the magazine 3D World ?

 

simon

 

apologies, I just read it properly and its for other software, My mistake. I don't know how to delete the post. Sorry.

[Rodney]

Although the competition itself isn't going to be of much interest because of the limitations in who can enter there are some good things to take note of here that relate to us. They are especially noteworthy because often we neglect these areas to our own detriment when trying to create realistic models. The ideas are global in application and apply to all 3D applications:

 

 

Five Tips for Perfect CG Portraits

 

01 REFERENCE

Before beginning any actual modeling, collect as many reference images of the subject as possible.

If conducting a photo shoot to get the references:

Start from the front of the face then circle around at intervals of 45 degrees.

Be careful to select images with similar focal lengths, sharpness and exposure.

Select eight hero photos from what is shot.

 

During the early stages of development, create a virtual camera which is used only for the reference work.

On that camera, attach a background image plane that dynamically loads each of the reference images per frame.

To aid in aligning the model to each of the images, keyframe the camera at every frame.

In that way, whenever the Time Slider is changed, the view automatically changes to match the reference image behind it.

 

(Note: There are other ways to set up Rotoscopes by this is the authors preference)

 

02 MODELLING

The modelling phase is a careful balancing of technical construction and artistic sculpting.

When building a model from scratch, establish the structure of the base model, then work in the detail.

 

Avoid n-gons and triangles (i.e. three and five point patches).

As the eyes are key to capturing someone’s personality, focus there first, working outwards, keeping in mind the proportions of, and distances between, the nose, lips and eyes.

 

When laying out UVs on the face, place any texture seams where the hair parts on the top of the head.

It's usually better to have minor distortion in a few areas than to have too many UV shells, especially when using displacement maps.

 

03 TEXTURING

Preview and paint textures with a flat surface shading and no diffuse shading. Photoshop Layer Comps are the best way to manage variations of texture maps. Label each one with the corresponding version of the scene file and date in case it needs to be restored later.

 

Since some applications don’t preserve Photoshop Adjustment Layers or Layer Comps, keep a separate painting PSD and a master PSD, with all of the integrated paint work and versions. The color map should have no baked-in shading, odd highlights or reflections, to ensure that it reacts properly to lighting. The specular map and any control maps for the Fresnel and Fresnel Edge intensities should coincide with the skin’s color and bump layers.

 

04 LIGHTING AND RENDERING

Lighting can make or break the look of a character’s face. In fact, it’s one of the last big challenges for CG. Although we’re still some time away from a true physically based CG technology for simulating the interaction of light with human skin, it is possible to fool our audiences into believing a CG face is real.

 

When lighting scenes, use a combination of HDR dome lighting with traditional key and rim spot lights.

Final Gathering (Radiosity) is my preferred way to render and I usually set the Intensity of the dome to about 0.3 and the key light Intensity around 0.8.

 

Consider placing ‘cards’ [planar objects positioned around the model to reflect light onto it] in optimum places. These have a flat surface shader to create Incandescence: this helps to achieve good eye reflections (that’s where you can win or lose a viewer) and simulate natural real-world lighting.

 

05 SHADERS

Make sure basic shaders used are working properly by test-rendering them individually.

Create bump or displacement passes (render those separately), keeping the general sculptural displacements in a separate layer from the fine pore-level details.

 

Postpone the very fine level of detail of sculpting until the general colour map is done, so that small wrinkles, grooves and blemishes can be matched properly.

 

Map a modified version of the colour map in the epidermal and subdermal layers.

 

Map any Reflective Filter, Blend and Fall Off (Reflect Weight and Reflect Edge Weight) to a combination of the Bump and Specular maps, mixed with some Gaussian Noise.

 

For the iris and lachrymal gland shaders, my Subsurface Scattering color is pure white, and about half the intensity of the one used on the skin.

 

For the reflective parts of the eye, like the tears, conjunctiva and tear catcher surfaces, use a Phong shader with mostly transparent and reflective sheen dictated by fall-off perpendicular to the camera view.

 

(Extracted information from the article and heavily edited by Rodney. All rights retained by the original author, Francisco A Cortina. Application specific terminology has been replaced by general terminology where deemed practical.)

[Simon Edmondson]

...

Five Tips for Perfect CG Portraits

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Rodney

 

WOW !

That was comprehensive.

I shall be writing that down later. I want to improve my model making but, am more focused on the animating and story side at the moment. I did say the other day that the learning curve was almost vertical.

 

regards

simon