modeling a hero

[lazz]

So I've been trying to make this super hero I made up. But, I'm having a bit of trouble. His head is a sphere And he doesn't have a neck, so I'm having trouble getting a mouth to look right. I finally did, but I'm sure there's a better way. What I've got right now has way too many splines. So, help would be definately appreciated. I'll post a sketch of him and the spline heavy model I've got at the moment. Thanks!

Robert Lazzarini

[lazz]

And the mesh-

[Ganthofer]

Just my 2cents.

 

I would definitely reduce the spline count on the sphere. Maybe try it with a 16 or 32 ring sphere. you could probably get by with 3 vertical splines forming the mouth, unless it's going to make really complex lip shapes, as you'll have the 2 corners of the mouth and 3 points along the lip to shape it. So since it has six right now, that should make it possible to at least cut the density of the sphere in half.

 

Keep on splinin'

[higginsdj]

All you need to do now is to select and delete all the splines you don't need. This should maintain the shape of the sphere.

 

You could do it in reverse and just add more spliens to a low patch sphere in the area you needed but then you would need to tweak them all (via the bias handles) to maintain the smooth spherical shape.

 

Cheers

[littleandy]

Whoa, yeah, that is a lot of splines. My only suggestion would be to make your own sphere, over again. This time, just lathe it with fewer cross-sections. You are just going to give yourself an ulcer the way you are going right now.

 

-Andrew

[lazz]

Alright, so here's what I did, I changed that crazy monster spline thing and did a 16 ring sphere and modeled the mouth the same way I did for the crazy splinage one. And this is what I kept getting before. I know I'm going at it wrong. Thanks so far for the replies, I did try deleting spline rings and stuff, but it didn't quite keep its shape and reverted back to this. I think the way I'm trying to madel the mouth is flawed. Thanks again and replies are always appreciated!

 

Robert Lazzarini

[littleandy]

Have you applied porcelain to it yet?

 

-Andrew

[higginsdj]

A little CP and bias handle tweaking will fix things but I imaging you want the characters mouth to move so some 'distortion' will be inevitable/required so don't go too overboard just yet.

 

Cheers

[lazz]

Andrew-

Porcelain isn't on the regular materials list that's viewable in the program is it? Do you know where I could find it?

 

David-

I'll try that out. But, would that end up distorting that area when its animated?

 

I'll post a close up wireframe of the mouth. when I get back to my computer that has A:M on it. have there been any other models that people have done with a mouth on a sphere? I find it helpful to look at ways other people have modeled so I can get a better feel for it ya know?

 

Thanks again!

-Robert

[Hutch]

Well this looked like a fun challenge so I gave it a shot. Attached is an image of a sphere with a mouth, mesh and quick rendered. Then I tried adding some eyes. This has porcelin applied to it. Hope it helps and if you would like the model file let me know.

[lazz]

Wow man. You rock. Thanks a whole lot. I'm not gonna ask for the project file though (unless I get completely frustrated ), but I think I'll just try to learn from your awesome example. Thanks a whole lot! I'm gonna try modeling it like that and see how I do. Thanks again!

 

Robert Lazzarini

[lazz]

High five! That worked great! Thanks a whoooole bunch . Now on to the rest of him. (whew! glad that's over with!).

[Hutch]

Nice! Yours looks smoother than mine. Did you apply porcelin? I am glad I could help. Have fun with the eyes!

[lazz]

No, I didn't add porcelain to that one. However, after I tried to model the eyes(shape of his mask) I put on porcelain and got a really odd result in the render. When I rendered it, al, or most, of the five point patches turned dark and wierd and all. I'll post a render so you can see what I mean. Does anyone know what's causing this? It only happens when I have porcelain on it. hmm...

[jamagica]

that happens to me, also! It's been bothering me a lot

[lazz]

Seriously, the porcelain thing's kinda bugging me too. Oh well. Until then, I'll have to do without. I think I'm done with the head (thank goodness), and I'm gonna start working on the body. Here's what I got so far. Thanks so far for all the help!

 

-Robert Lazzarini

[Hutch]

The black spots are flipped normals. Go to tools, options, modeling and slect display normals. The yellow marks should all be facing out. What ever pach has the mark facing in, selevt it with the patch select tool and press the f key to flip the normal. You may have to close the model and re-open it for the black parts to go away.

[lazz]

Alrighty then . I think that'll do well! Thanks! This next shot is with multipass and porcelain. Thanks again!

 

Robert

[hypnomike]

Nice job Robert, it's really starting to take shape.

[Zaryin]

He's really turning out. You can also do "Shift+1" to show normals. Lot faster than going through the menu.

[littleandy]

Haha, I like this guy! Really unique- I like how you are managing to make viable eyes out of an infinity symbol. That is cool! Keep it up!

 

-Andrew

[lazz]

Thanks! Yea, I came up with him in math class.I wrote down the symbol and just started playing around with it and eventually got a super hero. What powers he has, I dunno. But anyways,

 

I've made a body for him now. I have yet to make the cape. Then he'll be finished, with the exception of rigging. I'll post a picture of what I've done so far. any critiques or comments would be great! Let me know if there's anything that doesn't quite look right. Sometimes its hard to critique your own work. Thanks!

[zacktaich]

That's the porcelain. Your normals are flipped. We have quite a few threads of frantic people trying to figure out what this is .

 

Press Shift+1. This displays the direction of your normals.

 

select all the points of a patch who's line is pointing inwards (your 5 point patches have this problem). Press 'f'. This should solve it. It may look a bit weird still after you do this to all of them, but once you close the project and reopen it, it should be fixed.

 

It's really coming together. I like it a lot.

 

Oops... you already figured this out. sorry for being repetitive.

[lazz]

Thanks anyways. Ya, I remember it being asked about beforehand (I think) and didn't pay much attention to it then because it wasn't a problem back then for me on account that I didn't use it.

 

Alright! cape done! , but now I move to texturing. Ideally I'd like to get a nice fabric look o his suit and cape, somekind of subtle weaving pattern. But, I'm not too sure on how to go about doing that. Any help would be absolutely splendid. So far I kinda mimicked a weavelike thing, I took Sine and played with the X scale and brought it down to five. If anyone knows of a good cloth material or how to make one please let me know, that would be great. Thanks again for all the help!

 

-Robert

[hypnomike]

I like the fabric effect you've got so far Robert.

 

Great idea continuing the infinity theme with the buttons!

 

I'm mainly tampering with roughness settings on my hero as I'm pushed for time and haven't done any texturing outside the Art of Animation Master exercises.

[lazz]

Thanks Mike!

Yea, for materials 'n such, I just mess with the materials that are there.

 

Anyways, I've rigged him! Yay! , But he's not rigged well. Awww... But here's a test shot anyway. I want there to eventually be a beam of light going in the back ground onto a cloud. Kinda like the old batman thing except with an infinity symbol. Does anyone know how I could accomplish this? Thanks!

 

-Robert

[lazz]

Alright, so I kind of got the beam of light for the background ging, but I have no idea how to get the shadow of his symbol to appear in the sky. Any help on this would be great. Thanks!

 

-Robert Lazzarini

[starving4rtist]

How about just making a black targa with an alpha channel of what you want the symbol to be. Then just take that and put it on a plane right where the spotlight ends...that should work unless I'm missing something.

[lazz]

Hey! Alright! From what I understood was to just make a picture type thing and put it where the light ends right? If so cool! 'Cause that's what I did and it looks pretty good. Thanks!

 

Now all I'll have to do is get a bckground, add a couple of more buldings, and texture the buildings. Then that should be about it for this picture. Thanks a whoole bunch to those who have commented thus far, all your help has been invaluable. Thanks!

 

-Robert

[hypnomike]

The effect works great on the searchlight Robert but Infinity Man now looks a little insignificant in your picture.

 

I think you should make him the main focus and have the light very much in the background as you improve your composition.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Best Wishes

 

Mike

[littleandy]

I think what mark was getting at was that, with the image you have coming from your light, you can actually turn off a color. So... in your case, you could turn off the black part of it, so it shows whatever is behind the black part- for instance, the cloud you have the light hitting?

 

-Andrew

[lazz]

I think you should make him the main focus and have the light very much in the background as you improve your composition.

-Mike

 

Well, what I did was add two more buildings, which (i think), took away from the light and evened the focus on the picture by the viewer out a little bit. Although I do see what you are saying, The light does distract a bit from the hero. Should I make it smaller? Change the color a bit? hmm... I'll try doing that and see where I end up.

 

I think what mark was getting at was that, with the image you have coming from your light, you can actually turn off a color. So... in your case, you could turn off the black part of it, so it shows whatever is behind the black part- for instance, the cloud you have the light hitting?

-andy

 

Ooooh. That would probably work/look better as well. Ideally, I'd like to have it actually hitting some wispy, smoglike clouds. But, I'm not too sure how to create some thing like that.

 

Anyone have an idea of how to go about that? Thanks!

 

Robert

 

P.S. this is what I've got so far:

[hypnomike]

You might want to give light gels a try.

 

I've not used them so I enclose this quote from the Technical Reference.

 

To add an image to a light, simply right-click (Control-click on a Mac)  in a Choreography window, or on the “Shortcut to” Light item under the choreography in the “Choreographies” section of the Project Workspace, and pick [New][Rotoscope]. You will then have the opportunity to select the image you wish to use.

 

You definitely need to make your hero the main focus of the shot, he needs to be foreground with the searchlight in the background. All the detail you've put into him is lost in the long shot.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Mike