Character Head Modeling: A Different Approach
Learn a different approach to modeling heads by using linear NURBS curve cage production as a first step. This approach is fundamentally different from traditional methods and, once mastered, allows you to model from photos as well as drawings. Software required: Maya 2016, Photoshop CC 2015.
What you'll learn
Modeling requires the artist to think in 3D, but how can you do this when your computer screen and pencil and paper operate in 2D? In this course, Character Head Modeling: A Different Approach, you will unlock the connection between 2D and 3D thinking through a different approach to 3D modeling (as opposed to more traditional methods such as box modeling). First, you will learn about schematics and how to use contour lines extracted from drawings and photographs of the face. Next, you'll discover how to generate a 3D linear NURBS cage, and with it, you will create your head model polygon by polygon, from all parts of the face to the ears and back of the head. By the end of this course, you'll have a new approach to head modeling that will help you create better character models than ever. Software required: Maya 2016, Photoshop cc 2015.
Table of contents
- Tracing the Nose 10m
- Tracing Around the Eye 9m
- Building the Mouth 11m
- Finishing the Mouth Cavity and Nostril 10m
- Creating the Eye Cavity 10m
- Extruding the Forehead 11m
- Defining the Bridge of the Nose and Nostril 11m
- Fleshing out the Cheek 10m
- Creating the Chin 9m
- Filling in the Side of the Head 9m
- Connecting the Chin to the Neck 6m
- Shaping the Back of the Head 11m
- Shaping the Back of the Neck 10m
- Modeling the Front of the Neck 8m
- Defining the Sternocleidomastoid 10m
- Filling in the Side of the Skull 10m
- Tracing the Ear 9m
- Defining, Deforming, and Connecting the Ear 10m
- Redirecting Edges, Cutting Details, and Clean Up 8m
- UV Mapping the Half-head 10m
- Mirroring the Geometry and Correcting UV Problems 11m
About the author
Eric Kunzendorf has been teaching computer graphics and animation at the college level for the last two decades at such varied institutions as Jacksonville University, the New Hampshire Institute of Art, the Atlanta College of Art, and the School of Visual Arts’ Savannah campus. He holds a Bachelors of Arts in Art history from Columbia University and a Masters of Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting from the University of Georgia. Eric has contributed to several works including "Mastering Maya 8.... more