Here is my final model:


To finish my Mudbox model i had to paint on the lines of a good poly flow structor over the top of my model. This would have to show edge loops and show a clear understanding of what a good poly flow would appear like. This took me around an hour because i kept making mistakes with lines on each side and making sure that my poly flow contained no triangles. Overall i’m thoroughly happy to what i have achieved. This is an image of my final Model and the model with a painted poly flow structure:



I enjoyed the project as i progressed though out the term. I found myself using new software and attempting practical work like sculpting maqettes which i wouldn’t choose to do before hand. This Project has also opened the 3D world of ideas art into perceptive for me in that i can now understand the basic elements that build a model both practically and digitally.

I feel as if i have got a strong sense of knowledge of what topology is and how polygons work in Digital modeling. The 1000 word essay was key to help me learning this important area of modeling. Without researching and exploring different areas of topology i would of struggled to paint a good poly flow structure on top of my model and i would of struggled to create my model.
There are areas that i wish i had more time for and i wish i worked harder on. If i had the chance i would improve this blog because it lacks research and it lacks a clear timeline of events. Im happy that i was able to create a make a blog because this is the first time using a blog to document my work.

Other areas of improvement i would like to make is the model its self, there are some areas that could use improving on the face which could be done with some more time building the basic structure. I found that i did to much modeling on a high poly flow level and that i should of did more basic modeling on a low level. This is something that i will remember in future projects and tasks. The same goes with my structor of the polygons in my model. I must remember to use edge loops and good topology on my model unlike in this project.

Overall i am happy with my project and have learnt a lot. I think i have for filled my brief. An extension to my work could be to look at the difference between the sex of the models in the face or the age. This study would thoroughly test my new knowledge.

After struggling to create eyes on my model due to the lack of eye loops and the shape of the polygons around the eye i textured my model. after finishing texturing my model i was able attend a Q&A session on Mudbox. In this session i was able to learn a new way of creating realistic eyes on mudbox.

I learnt that i could create objects outside of the original model on Mudbox. This men’t that i could use a pre made model on my model. I imported a sphere on my model and adjusted the size so that it was roughly the same size as my models eye. I next dragged this ball into the same place as my models eye. This created a ball that appeared to look like a eye. by having most of the ball within the model the showing area looked very realistic. I did the same for the other eye but i used the preferences of the last ball to have them both the same size and in the same place opposite of each other.



With these spheres in the right place i had to adjust what the model appeared like from the front view of the eyes. By Locking the two spheres in place i was able to sculpt the head of the model eye sockets to the correct shape and give an illusion of eye lids on the balls.



This image shows what my models eyes look like after using two spheres as the eyes. As you can see the eyes on this image are white. Referring back to my early work on texturing what i did was lock both the model head and created new paint layers on the spheres so i could use the paint brush to color them white. Next what i had to do is to paint the iris and the pupil of the eye onto the spheres. I had trouble with this step. I used the paint brush along side the mirror settings to be able to paint both eyes at once so they would look identical. This didn't work because the mirror would mirror what i would paint on one sphere on a different area on the other sphere. This meant that i had to paint each eye separately. I tried to my best ability to keep them similar:

My next part of modeling was creating the hair on his head. This was easy due to my partner having short hair. What i did was i sculpted the area that his hair is on his head. After this i used the scrape tool to scrap a couple of pre-made textures and one of my own. this created the appearance of layered hair.

After creating my textures to use on my model i painted them on. I firstly used a darker skin color as a main skin texture on the face. After this i applied a lighter skin texture onto the area of face that appears lighter. I change the strength of the texture so that it would make it blend between the two. Because i made the hair i used a texture image i made of the hair from the original picture to colour the hair on my models head.

I next used a dark brownish color with a low strength and painted this straight onto the model on top of the skin in areas that were darker like behind the nose,eyelids, under nose and under the lips as well as the inner ears.

Because my partner a light stubble of beard it was extremely hard to try and model this onto the face because it didn't look right. I used a light pre made texture to rough the area of the face that the beard covered. I next painted the hairs onto his face using the paint tool:



For the lips i painted them on using the paint tool. i used the photography to make sure that i was using the same colours and placing light and dark areas in the correct place. Im happy of what the lips turned out to look like.

I also attempted to color the eyes i had using the paint tool and straight colors but this didn't work:

With these new skills i needed to practice using Mud box. To do this i chose to create 2 other basic Mud box models. Firstly i created a basic head pictured here:

This head despite being basic helped me understand areas that i would need to improve on like the eyes and the shape of the head. It was good to be able to spend time on using the different sculpting tools on mud box before having to attempt detail on my main sculpture because now i know what tools can do what and how they can effect my sculpture.

I also created a model of a unrealistic character to learn and use textures more. I mainly used the pre-made stamps for this model. I used the brush tool and painted the colour and stamps. I created tried to keep the idea based around a creature so i created it humanoid but i changed the shape of the eyes and chest and gave it a spine that a stands out of the skin. Here is a screenshot:

Lastly is the best way of creating a texture for model is to use areas from images that can be exported to Mudbox and painted on as a stamp. On Mudbox there are already made pre-made stamps shown here:



These textures can be painted on and create the illusion of depth. Also you can choose what colors you wish to paint the pre made stamps. In some work these would be practical but for my project i will have to create my own stamps on photoshop to paint on to my model. To make my own stamp i had to use the software Photoshop and load an image that had a texture that i would like to use.



This is the photo i used to create my first texture stamp. The picture was of a close up of the skin of my partners head.



This picture shows the area of skin that i want to use as a stamp. I chose the area that had the best light and looked the cleanest meaning there will be less healing with the healing tool. I cropped this area out only leaving the skin texture.



This image shows me using the healing brush to clean areas of the skin making it perfect for texturing. I also changed the levels of the photo to make the highlight and shadows show up more.



Lastly i saved my texture as a targa file on a 32 bit ration so it can save an alpha channel. I can now use this texture in my Mudbox model. I will have to import it into the stamp images. It can then be used with the brush tool. Here are some other textured i made to use:

Another method of texturing is using the projection brush. This brush uses a image that is placed over the model. This brush is tricky to use because you have to line up the image to the model if not the areas you paint on won’t match. The brush works by having a image as the brush that is transparent to the model:


When you click to paint the areas you paint are painting the image on the model. This means instead of painting the skin texture or importing a texture to paint on you can use images of a face to paint straight on:


This method needs a lot of lining up with the image and the model. you have to be able use more than one image to capture the texture for a 3D model. This means you have to be able to line up the photos on the model as well as one. This means there is a high chance of over laps and line edges that may spoil the texture. The result is good though a can make the model appear very life like.

I next started to work on basic detail. I looked at how my partners nose is formed. I looked to see if the tip was high or the bridge of the nose had certain bumps. I had to look at how the nostrils fitted on to the nose in side and depth. This allowed me to sculpt the nose onto my model. The tools i used to do this were the sculpt tool, smoothing tool. and the grab tool.

I was shown how to mirror my brush on Mudbox, this is a tool that allows you to sculpt on one side of the face but in what way you mirror the brush it will happen to the other side. This means i can save time by doing details and more on one side of the face and the computer is then duplicating this to the other side saving me time and effort. The disadvantage of this is that human faces aren’t perfectly the same on each side and other have certain differences. Areas of close detail will have to be done using the tools without being mirrored.

I roughly sculpted cheek size and sockets to were the eyes would go on the model. To sculpt out the eye sockets i used the sculpt tool but inverse the sculpt by holding ‘control’ while sculpting. This allowed me to leave space and have the area for the eyes ready to be sculpted later. I next build on the model the face definition like the shape and roundness of the head. I prodomiently used the Sculpt tool to add on size then i would use the Flatten tool to level out the head making it an even surface. once i had formed good shapes of the face, head and cheeks i used the smooth tool to round out the face making it more realistic.

We had a short lesson in how to texture a model on Mudbox using 3 different techniques.
Also Mudbox has a lot of tools that help in the texturing process. Like with the sculp tools there is a area that holds a couple of different tools that help you create texture on a model. Here is a screen shot of the tools:

The paint tool is the first technique of painting textures onto the a model. Mudbox you allows you to choose color, brush size, fill of the brush and size. This means for basic colours and tones can be painted directly onto the model. Here is a quick example:



Despite this being a main way of texturing a model its also the most basic and most unrealistic. It can be a long a hard way of coloring a model and its unadvised if trying to make a realistic model.

During the tutorial we were shown how to use our photographs of our partner to help create the basic shape of the head. To do this i had to import the face on photo into the front camera view on Mudbox. The same applied to the size view photograph with the size view camera.

I next had to make the image size on both views smaller because they are a lot larger that the model and they aren't on screen. I changed both of the images to the same size on the scale box to 0.3.



I next had to make the face on the side the same as the picture i took so that the model will have the same shape head. I used the grab tool to pull the basic ear shape inline with the photo. I next used the grab tool on the edge of the face on the nose, forehead, chin, head and neck to move the face into the right shape from the side view. what else this does is pull the face forward and back. This means from the front you can use that depth change on the sides to build upon and aline with the rest of the head.

I did the same technique to the front of the face and dragged the sides of the face out and the top of the head up. I also dragged the ears into place from the front view. From doing this technique i have created a basic shape of my partners head. I would of started this model by sculpting and bugling areas if i wasn't taught this way of creating a basic structor. This has saved me a lot of time and a lot of work, as well it most likely has given me the closest starter model. By sculpting the face and not using the images then i doubt if my model would like much like my partner in the same amount of time also it mostly likely would of been uneven.

I struggled a little during this process due to my pictures of my partner on the slight slant. i had to aline the face/nose to how i thought it would of fitted when in the centre. This meant i had to lightly move the details to the left so that they aren’t also on the slant.

I started my Digital 3d model on a software called Mudbox. Mudbox is a software that was created by Autodesk. Its a digital sculpting, texturing and painting software that gives you the freedom to sculpt and create 3d models. Its created to replicate the ablititly of modeling with clay, and allows you to have work that is realistic and perfect for industries.

This is the my first time using this software meaning that it will take time for me to learn what is necessary to create a realistic looking model head of my partner. We had a 2 hour tutorial that would help us get learn the different tools of the software as well as begin our model head.

To begin with Mudbox has a range of basic models to choose from to help begin a model, or you can choose to start from new. We chose to load a basic head:

This head has the basic facial topology already in line and it had a very small amount of polygons. We learn the technique to creating more polygons on the head so that more detail could be added. key command = (control s) you can see on the picture below on the wire frame, this has more polygons on then in the last image.

We next were taught the different methods of sculpting using the tools provided on Mudbox. The list of tools given to us are:



Here is an example of me using the different tools:

After looking looking at anatomy of humans and a brief study and look into topology i found myself trying to find reasons for the egde loops. I needed to look more into the human face, and the muscles that are within the face. This would give me a better understanding of topology lines and edges. Also this would help me when i have digital sculpt my models face because knowing were different muscles are and how they might make areas of the face stick out more or areas that are more close joining.

These are some the images i drew to help me remember the different muscles in the face:

I attended a anatomy session that taught me new methods of drawing and seeing shape and tone in body and the facial features. This session was to allow me to get better at seeing space and being able to control my drawing so that when i start my 3d modelling i can transfer the skills.

during the session we were introduced into a basic history of anatomy and how artists were the biggest part of the learning and discovering the anatomy of humans. I found this interesting in how artists like Leonardo Da Vinci were able to draw the human body in different depths, shapes and tones creating a realistic image. these images became the basic drawings for medicine and surgery.

After this session we had a model come in which we had to draw in many different angles and expressions. This drawing session was to improve ourselves in perspective, shape, line and tone. We had to draw a different positions in a amount of time to be able to build shape and line of a body quickly. After a couple of drawings we had more time and in this we were able to view how there are lays of tone and light on the body.

These basic skills we were taught could be transferred into sculpting and digital modelling.

These are some the images i drew during the session:

We were asked to attend a brief photopgrahy session for this project. During this photography lesson we were taught the areas of a face that can be important to photograph to use later during the construction of a digital 3d model in mudbox.

I found this session not overly important but it did help me understand areas i can take close up photos that i can use in mudbox when creating digital work. I have a photography A2 level and i understand the formal elements and key elements of photography and digital photography.

We also had to take reference images of our parter during this session. This was to enable us to keep a image of both the front and side of our parter to look at during the digital modelling process. To make this easier for us we were given a backdrop and a piece of string to use to level the eyes of both photos.

I had to ask my partner to sit, and ask two classmates to move the string inline to my partners eye's while i made sure it was in line through the lens of the camera. Once this was done i could take a photo, then the partner would move to a size view and i could then take a photo again.

There was a problem with taking these photos at that was that there was a shadow caused by the lighting in the room and the flash going off. This shadow would have to be removed before getting a good reference photo. Luckily we could remove this in photoshop and for this we were given a brief introduction into photoshop.

After this Photography lesson we had a brief introduction into the uses of photoshop. We were shown how to use the basic tools to help edit and advance our photos. Luckily i have used photoshop before hand so i was able to pick up most of the tutorials easy.

To remove the shadow in my images what i had to do was to highlight the shadow i wanted to remove using the magnetic lasso tool and then create a layer mask. once this was done i could remove the shadow. With the shadow removed i had to cover the white gap. i used the Clone tool to colour the background into the area that had been removed. i had to do this with both images. after i then changed the levels of both images to make the images look better and show more detail. I used the Ruler to then make the images inline with each other. then i was able to crop the images to the same size ready for later use.

Here are my photoshopped images

These images are of the final maquette i made of my parters face. unfortunately i believe that i was unsuccessful and creating a good maquette that ported my partners face. i think this is because i tried to create the facial features on my first attempted. I believe that the head shape i created fits perfectly.

My next steps will be to create another maquette later on in the project and see if work with moquettes and digital work will help me model better.

Looking at digital 3D modelling using the software mudbox. In this i will be looking at how to digital sculpt characters as well using digital photography to help digital modelling. digital colouring and texturing to give my digital 3d model colour and realisitisity.

In my brief it stated that i have to create my own maquette using clay. The model/character i have to create is the head of a partner i choose. To do this task there was a couple of things that i had to collect and do before i could start on the making of my own maquette.

I chose my partner and took some digital photos as a reference to go by when i start creating my Maquette. These are some of the images i took for refecnce whislt making the maquette:




I also was able to collect the materials for the maquette. These consided of clay, sluping tools, stand and a polystarein ball.

For the stand and clay pictured here:


I had to take a tutorial in the woodwork shop. They took us around the shop and explained various tools and heath and safety regulations. Lucky most of wood was pepared and this left me to drill a hole in the center of the base. after this had been done i had to glue in place a rod that would hold the maquette. I didn't expect myself to be using wood and large tools in the games design course any time but after looking at maquettes and how useful they can be for character design and helping with art work this might be something i would have to do many more times during my course.

Maquette
Maquette is fence for 'scale model' a maquette is a small scale model that can be either a sstructor or a sculptor. A Maquette is used as a basic concept for many areas of artistic subjects. The principle is that you build a small model of what you want to achieve to understand a basic understanding of 3d form of what you want to create. It is a prototype for areas of delepment in media.

Mainly a maquette is a sculpture of someones head, this allows the artist to view a character from many different angles from the prototype and see what adjustments might need to be made later. It also acts as a way of seeing new angles and experiencing depth.

They can be a good way of a group of designers to come together to discuss aspects in a visual manor. Its also a cheap and easy way of creating a

This is a maquette from the popular animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire. This film was created in 2001 by disney. This film was a 2D animated film, but the use of 3D maquettes was important to the design and development of the film. you can see the detail in which maquettes can have as well as the character that can be created. The 3D maquette allows for the 2d artists to see different views of a character and helps them see how they can draw different perspectives while keeping the character looking realistic and the same from the different perspectives.


Picture: Vinny Santorini Maquette, 2000, Image referenced from:
http://www.digitalmediafx.com/Maquettes/VinnyMaquette.html

Wikipedia, Information dated 2009, Maquette, available from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maquette

Introduction

Monday 1st February
We received a brief today about what our next projects will be on. During the day we spend most of the day in our groups researching an area of 3d concepts. My group had the task of collecting 5 facts about Digital sculpting. Although this task wasn't the best way of learning what we need to know as an introduction it did give us a bit of an insight to the details of 3D sculpting.
We had to display our work in front of the other groups of the end of the day were we ourselves listened to there research. This gave us an overall basic understand of 3D concepts.

My next task is to create a clay proportionally accurate maquette of a colleague's head. This task means that i will have to gather the appropriate items to create the Maquette. This would include me having to find a colleague to model, finding an appropriate clay to use, find or make a stand for the clay model, also to take evidence and referencing photos.

im looking forward to this task because it will introduce me into sculpting and learning about head proportions and facial details. It would also help to practise practical work and working on a new medium. My self deadline for this task is Thursday 4th February