3D Character modelling evaluation

Evaluation of the 3D Character Design

In this report, I am going to evaluate my character model and explain the processes of making this. I will be discussing what problems I came across and what ways I used to work around them. In the conclusion, I will also self-criticise my character model too.

For the past four to five months, I have been modelling a character. To come up with what I was going to model, I looked at what the brief asked for specifically: I was to design and create a 3D model of a humanoid character that was able to move and have expression. The program I had to use for this task was Autodesk Maya, a program used for modelling and animating by most of the films and games industries that exist today. Previously, I had experience of 3D modelling so the basics were straight forward however, making a 3D character model did prove difficult for me.

Character Design

Before I began I had to think about what I wanted to model exactly. I had previously done sketches of human characters in my spare time, which helped me decide what character I could model. One sketch I made was of a knight that had a falcon shaped helmet, dubbed as “Falcon Knight”. I found this one the most interesting and proceeded to draw a turn around and understand what I wanted to develop later on. I was then taught a technique to help me develop my character further called photo bashing. (Photo Bashing is explained in the appendix).
I found this process incredibly helpful to develop my character further because the three photo bashed documents I have (which are posted online to my blog) shows progress I went through to come up with my final design. Once I was happy I then created a dynamic pose of my character.

Character turnaround and Mesh Topology          

I translated my character to a final turnaround, one in which I would use in Maya. The turnaround showed the Falcon Knight’s front, left, and back views as they were the most relevant to me. I then had to note down the mesh topology that the model was going to display which was going to help me add segments onto a shape in Maya. This proved somewhat difficult at first as I had no idea of how to calculate the mesh topology of any 3D model but l later found out in tutorials online.

Modelling the character

With any 3D model, it does start off from a basic shape such as a cube, sphere, cone, pyramid, or cylinder. I had posted the process of my character in my blogs supported by animated GIF images of my model starting to take shape. I had first made a cube in Maya, added segments onto all axis (x,y and z) and deleted one side of the model. The reason why I deleted one side was because it made it easier to make a duplicate of the hollow box which would follow exactly what changes I would make.
As I modelled my character, I had come across several problems (Explained in the Appendix).

UV Texturing

Once I was happy with my model, I then went onto making my UV textures. The UV texture editor in Maya helped me to cut UV edges to then unfold and place onto my UV texture. I unfolded my mesh and made them much simpler to then work on. (The UV texture editor is explained more in the Appendix). I had the assistance of a UV checker to make sure that my textures would not repeat over themselves. My gloves and boots in my UV texture editor showed up as duplicates and therefore I had to spread them out equally on the texture. Happy with the outcome of the UVs, I then went onto rigging my character.

Rigging and Weighting

Learning before about the roles of character modellers in the animation industry, I found rigging to be easy and weighting challenging. I had placed joints inside my mesh and added IK chains and RFLs (Reverse Footlocks) on my character. (IK Chains and RFLs are explained more in the Appendix). After adding these, I then placed controllers over them to help move them around. Once I bound the mesh to the rig, I then had to weight the necessary areas so that the deforming joints would not affect non deforming properties. (Weighting is explained in the appendix). I had shown in my blog that when I moved the arms, they would make the visor look as though it is melting, which shouldn’t happen at all. I had sorted this problem out by posing my character and weighting the areas around the corresponding joints. Once I had weighting sorted, I had applied textures to my model in Mudbox. (Explained in the appendix)

Conclusion

From what I have learnt about 3D modelling, I have found that everything included for modelling is very technical. I realise that there are areas that I cannot miss out on in order to make a successful 3D character model. I have found Maya to be a difficult program to work in when making 3D models, but at the same time enjoyable as what I have produced makes me feel proud.

Appendix

Photo bashing
Photo bashing is a process in which the artist finds images on the internet of things related to a character they want to design (possibly linked to making moodboards), and depending how many different elements they are going to photo bash, they import them to Adobe Photoshop (or another program that uses drawing layers too) and place each photo over another in order. Once the photos are placed, the artist will then add a new layer above all the photos and start drawing the outline of the character using a graphics tablet. When they’re happy, they then colour in the design and reveal their creation.

Maya glitch encounter

One glitch I encountered was that made my character’s legs suddenly went invisible, though strangely enough at least two faces were visible. According to some online forums, they had claimed that it was down to the renderer in Maya. A way to ensure that errors and glitches don’t appear in Maya is to go to Edit>Delete all by Type>Non Deformer History. This gets rid of any huge amounts of data that sometimes messes the models up. Even trying this method didn’t work, so I followed a video that had explained to add a texture in and this brought my legs back to visible.

UV Texture Editor

The UV texture editor allowed me to map out my textures properly. I had previously explained in my blog posts that when uploading any texture into Maya, it will automatically map out the UVs which is sometimes helpful and other times, not. To place UV textures out, I had to go to Create UVs and choose one of the following: Planar mapping, automatic mapping, spherical mapping, cylindrical mapping and create UV based on camera. These would place the UVs and I would then need to unfold them to spread them out across the texture. To do this is in the UV texture editor window, go to Tools>Unfold and click and drag on the Unfold icon.

IK Chains and Reverse Footlocks

An IK Chain is where a limb, like an arm or leg will act as it should, bending at the middle joint. To make an IK Chain, go to Skeleton>Create IK and a tool pops up. To make an IK on the arm, first select the shoulder and then the hand, missing out the elbow. Selecting the shoulder then the elbow will not make the arm bend as the elbow is the bending joint. For the leg it’s the hip joint then the foot; the same rule about the elbow applies with the knee. I had also created a reverse footlock in Maya too by following a tutorial. This helped me to create attributes for my legs to have a footroll and a toe lift as well as a leg pivot.

Weighting

When binding together a mesh and a rig, the program will automatically map out the weighting around a joint. For my model I had both deforming and non-deforming properties that I needed to weight. The areas that deformed were the arms, legs, neck and fingers and the rest was to be non-deforming. To do this, I selected a mesh I wanted to work on and then _­the Paint Weight tool. In my tool settings, the joints all displayed. Selecting one joint that the mesh is affect by will show on the model. To add weight to something (e.g. the mesh is floating towards another joint), simply click on the areas of the mesh that you want to weight and it will weigh the mesh down to that joint, and to get rid of anything, holding down shift and clicking removes it.

Mudbox

As well as Maya being part of the Autodesk programs, another program that is part of it is Mudbox. This program allows you to import models as .obj into Mudbox and then add textures or mesh edits. There are various tools in Mudbox to help with almost anything when it comes to texturing, like adding diffusions, incandescence, bump maps, specular maps and many more. It is very useful with Maya as you can send a model straight to Mudbox and connect the two programs up together. A creative way to ensure that you can add fine details to a model is to subdivide it and add any sculpting or knife cutting to the mesh. When adding a paint layer, like a diffusion or bump map, Mudbox will ask you what type of paint layer you will want to create. Another creative way to add textures in Mudbox is a stencil, which used with the paint brush will create some amazing textures (depending on what channel you use).

Testing a human rig

Part of this brief had asked me to find and test a human rig. I had come across a website called Creative Crash, a whole webpage for animators and riggers to post their own models they have made online either for free or for a price. I found and downloaded a rig called the Andy Rig that was going to be part of my 3D animation project too. This rig was very useful as it can be set with different textures, the sliders for facial expressions were useful too, and the controllers for hands, feet, head, and body made it very easy to move things into position for key framing.