Week 5 - Dreaded Textures

This week I had the hardest of tasks applying the texture to the model. The process is very long and complicated especially if the model isn't perfect.

To create the texture you use the original photos that were used in the beginning as references. You can create a texture map in 3Ds Max that can be imported into Photoshop to use as a painting template.

To produce the texture map you first have to apply a unwrap UVW modifier to the original half of the model. You only want the outer edges selected and leave the ear. The selected edges are highlighted in green. By using the cylindrical gizmo we can determine the path of the texture. The gizmo can be found in the right hand tool bar.

The image below shows the result of the unwrap UVW modifier. When clicking edit in the tool bar this window opens. It displays a flattened map of the model which was selected. Repeat the process again for the ear so that you have a separate map.

Alterations can be made to the map in this window. Points on the map can be adjusted to avoid complications such as overlapping. You get the whole face map adding another unwrap UVW modifier above the models symmetry modifier. If you click on the model until the opposite side is selected, you can then simply select the mirror option in the edit window to get the other half of the face map. The two sides are joined by welding all of the points that run down the centre of both sides.

The image below is a quick render you can run that represents the shading on the model. The red areas show where parts of the map have overlapped. This can be corrected but the areas can affect the final texture.

The image below shows my final texture map ready for painting in Photoshop. The ears are in the bottom left and right corners. Areas have been left open for the eyes and ears.

To create the texture I used the original photos and cut parts of the face away and placed them in accordance with the texture map. I kept saving the texture map so that it updated in 3Ds Max. This helped me to judge my progress. The image below shows the texture at a very early stage of development.

Final Map

This is what my texture map looks like completed. I used the clone stamp and patch tools in Photoshop to blend the different areas of the face. The tools allowed me to generate an organic looking skin texture. The gaps that were left for the nostrils, eyes and ears were all covered with a skin texture to ensure the whole model was textured.


Conclusion

Overall I am very happy with what I have accomplished, considering this is my first attempt at modelling a head. Saying this, there are definatly things that I would change if I had more time.

The bigest change I would make would be to create the model using less polygons. The model I made had a lot of polygons which made it very complicated to manipulate without causing problems. It is because of this that the texture map wasn't perfect. I had too many overlapping faces which meant certain parts of the map didn't correspond properly with the model.

It has been a good learning expereince and I have picked up a few new modelling techniques along the way. I look foward to having another go at it when we are required to produce a charecter model.

Week 4 Features - Mouth, Eye lids, Nostrils and ears!!!

This week I continued with the face by adding extra polygons for the mouth, eye lids and the inside of the nostril. At first I thought this would be very complicated but after watching the tutorial I was able to complete the task within an hour.

To create additional polygons I used a simple drag and copy method. Using the edge select option in edit poly, select an edge you want to add too and drag it out whilst holding down shift. This will create an additional polygon that is already attached to the starting edge. I repeated this until I had all the new polygons I needed.

If you have two new polygons next to each other they are joined to the original selected edge but they are not connected to each other. To connect them you switch back into vertex mode so that you can see all of the points on the model. Then in the side bar, select target weld and click a top vertex on one of the polygons. A dotted line will appear from the selected point as a reminder of which vertex has been selected. If you now click on the nearest top vertex on the next polygon the points will merge/weld. These points will now be joined. Test the weld by moving the vertex and seeing if the two polygons alter simultaneously.

This image shows the results of the added polygons. I have also added a Turbo smooth modifier to give me an idea of the final result.

Ears

The ears were developed in the same way that I made the head. After producing a topology map for the ear I switched the properties of the model of the head to hidden. I traced the topology with the line tool to create the polygons. With the polygons selected I converted them using an edit poly modifier and selected the weld button to join them.

As with the head I modelled the ear in vertex mode, pulling points out to produce the basic shape. I also used the press shift and select short cut to create more polygons to add depth to the model.

With the ear modelled I re-introduced the head model and cut a hole for the ear by deleting polygons. The two models were attached by clicking the attach tool an then all points were welded using the target weld tool. Parts of the model had pulled due to the lack of polygons around the ear area. Just by playing with some of the points I managed to reduce the stretch considerably.

Week 3 - Need to Blog!!!

Ive been so eager to get the model finished that I have been neglecting the blog for the last few weeks. I have accomplished quite a lot since my last blog and the model is very near completion. In this update I will carry on from where I left last time.

Symmetry

In my last blog I spoke about alterations I wanted to make to the early model. The cheek areas were very bumpy and a lot of the facial features were very sharp and didn't appear natural.

I made the alterations by using the edit poly tools. I feel the best selection to use is vertex as you can select specific points rather than large areas. Being a perfectionist I spent hours re-arranging points to try and get the face looking how I wanted. I got to a point where I felt the model had improved enough to progress to the next stage. I made this decision purely beacause of time constraints. Im sure I could have spent many more hours making tiny alterations but I needed to leave enough time to at least attempt some of the other tutorials.

The image above shows the results of the alterations i made. Compared to the original model I think it looks ten times better. I now have the full face after adding a symmetry modifier to the side i had already created. The modifier made a duplicate of the original as well as flipping it horizontally. I used the move tool to line the two sides up. The duplicate will update if i make any changesto the original model.

Week 2

This week I visited the Museum of Power in Langford, Essex to gather some ideas for the group project. From first glance it appeared that the main focus of the museum was the large collection of Steam engines and pumps. After closer inspection i found that there were a lot of other interesting artifacts on display ranging from tools too cameras and even car and plane engines.

Looking at the steam pumps I could see that the mechanisms that drive the actual machines were very complicated. Any animation of such machines would need to be timed perfectly, which would be very difficult.

From what I had seen I felt that most of the exhibits would present some challenge to our group when we come to modelling our chosen idea. I would like the challenge of re-creating one of the smaller steam pumps but it depends on what the group as a whole decide to animate.

As well as the museum visit I have also progressed with the model of my face. After completing the line structure on my face and drawing the quads last week I now have the basic shape modeled and ready for tweaking.

As you can see from this image i still have quite a lot of work to do. I want to try and smooth out the cheek area where some dips have appeared. The original mesh was created using spline modelling. The quads from the reference plate were traced using the line tool. Once the quads were created I then converted them all to editable poly's. In vector mode I pulled out each point of the shape to the desired position using the side reference plate as a guide. I have applied a mesh smooth modifier temporarily so I can see the areas that need improving.