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Modelling My First Head

BlackThief

By BlackThief
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BlackThief

BlackThief

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This weekend I started to model my very first head, actually it's not really darkmod related, since my modelling skills don't suffice for darkmod quality, but I post it here to get some feedback from the more experienced modellers. The character is supposed to be a smuggler and as you can see the whole thing is made out of 362 subpatches.

 

http://www.thedarkmod.de/misc/head_wip1.jpg

 

Comments and criticism are welcome :) (Especially concering the eye, nose and basic shape - I think those are the parts that really need some improvement)

 

oh, btw just in case you're wondering I didn't start modelling the ears yet...

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oDDity

oDDity

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There's no hope for it. The edge flow is all wrong except for around the mouth which isn't too bad.

Here's a free video tutorial on modeling a head in Lightwave. Watch it before attempting anything more.

That guy looks like he's had a series of accidents involving farm machinery and a steamroller.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

character models site

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mrdes

mrdes

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Heyya. Theres a bunch of decent video tutorials at http://www.planetquake.com/polycount/resou...-tut-list.shtml

 

One in particular that I found very helpful a while ago is the one under "Modelling" labelled as "Paramilitary_punk - 57MB - Wetterschneider - Completely modeling and uving a male model". I notice that there's also a few videos in the same section specifically about head modelling so those might be worth checking out too.

 

edit: Also, some good information on mesh flow and topology. There's a good example pic of a head there too.

http://coldfusion.art.msstate.edu/camenisc...lingtheory.html

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  • 4 months later...
BlackThief

BlackThief

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well as I said I made some progress in lightwave and a few days ago I started a new attempt in modelling a head.

 

Here's the hipoly model:

head_smooth2.jpg

head_smooth3.jpg

 

and here's the lowpoly model with the normalmap generated from the highpoly in doom3

kopftest.jpg

 

He's supposed to be some kind of thug or maybe a poor houseguard.

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oDDity

oDDity

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IT just looks all mishapen, and there's no cheekbones, plus that big fold coming down from the nose to the mouth is too long and protruding, it starts too high and ends too low. THe mouth is very oddly shaped, especially at the corners. THE chin is too fat, flat and protruding. THe head is too round and the shap around the eyebrow ridges are wrong. THe ear and the nose are the best parts.

It's getting better for sure, but it's needs a lot more subtle shaping.

THere's a great thread at CG talk deaing with head topology.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=38469

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

character models site

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Springheel

Springheel

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There are some problems with the shape, though most of them are minor. Things like the rounded forehead could easily be explained away by normal human imperfections (not every face has to have classical proportions). The three-quarter view does reveal a problem with the cheekbones, however. The cheekbone on the edge of the face should definitely be sticking out further than the eye does.

TDM Missions:   A Score to Settle  *  A Reputation to Uphold  *  A New Job  *  A Matter of Hours

Video Series:   Springheel's Modules  *  Speedbuild Challenge  *  New Mappers Workshop  *  Building Traps

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oDDity

oDDity

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And a word about the texture. It's a good base, but it's a bit too bland and generic - you know, the sort of perfectly tanned skin you see on all models these days.

I'm making them a lot more dirty and grimy, chapped and weather beaten, bad complexions etc. It adds a lot more charcater to the faces.

Take at look at this one for example.

post-51-1131298772_thumb.jpg

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

character models site

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BlackThief

BlackThief

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ok thanks for you feedback. tried to fix the cheeks.

 

I agree with most of your crits, but I don't think that's right:

plus that big fold coming down from the nose to the mouth is too long and protruding, it starts too high and ends too low.

 

that fold starts at the place were the "wing" of the nose connects with the head and it's like that on my head. I exaggerated it a bit to give him a little more character, but imho it doesn't look very unnatural.

 

 

regarding the texture: yes it isn't finished yet - there's also still some stretching going on I have to fix first.

post-6-1131298986_thumb.jpg

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BlackThief

BlackThief

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I over-worked the whole thing quite a bit and wanted to create a proper uv-map for the lowpoly model with unfold3d, but somehow the uvs get messed up again when I try to save the model.

 

the whole shit looks fine in unfold3d (of course I've to tweak them a bit so that the face gets more space of the texture and the neck-area less):

http://www.thedarkmod.de/intern_screens/unfold1.jpg

 

but back in lightwave or deepexploration most of the uvs are totally messed up:

http://www.thedarkmod.de/intern_screens/uvs_messedup.jpg

 

oddity do you have an idea what's wrong?

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oDDity

oDDity

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Well, that's a terrible and inefficent way to Uv map the head in the first place, you cna see that most of the texture space is used up around the neck, and the main part that matters at the front of the face is getting the least UV space.

You want to split the face in half before uving it. Slice it down the middle of the head, not in the z axis like you were mirroring it, but in the x axis. There's no way you can UV a whole head as one big piece.

He will have hair, so the seam across the skull top won't be seen, you can make the seam go behind the ears, so that only leaves a bit of seam at the nexk to smooth over.

I've neevr had a problem like that isong unfold3d, so I don't know, but try spliting the mesh and see if that works.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

character models site

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BlackThief

BlackThief

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Well, that's a terrible and inefficent way to Uv map the head in the first place, you cna see that most of the texture space is used up around the neck, and the main part that matters at the front of the face is getting the least UV space.

 

 

the whole shit looks fine in unfold3d (of course I've to tweak them a bit so that the face gets more space of the texture and the neck-area less):

 

I already said that I'll have to tweak that, but I can't as long as I don't get the model and the uvs back into lightwave properly.

 

You want to split the face in half before uving it. Slice it down the middle of the head, not in the z axis like you were mirroring it, but in the x axis. There's no way you can UV a whole head as one big piece.

He will have hair, so the seam across the skull top won't be seen, you can make the seam go behind the ears, so that only leaves a bit of seam at the nexk to smooth over.

I've neevr had a problem like that isong unfold3d, so I don't know, but try spliting the mesh and see if that works.

 

thanks I'll try to do it that way.

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sparhawk

sparhawk

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The front looks absolutely good. :) Only the middle part, where it is seen from the side is to stretched IMO. Don't know if this is because of the image or if the actual model is that way. The distance from the ears to the cheeckbone seems to be pretty big. As if the actual face is moved forward.

Gerhard

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BlackThief

BlackThief

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The front looks absolutely good. :) Only the middle part, where it is seen from the side is to stretched IMO. Don't know if this is because of the image or if the actual model is that way. The distance from the ears to the cheeckbone seems to be pretty big. As if the actual face is moved forward.

 

you're right about the ear, it's not right, however it's not too far back it's actually quite a bit too low.

 

I fixed that now - it's still a bit too low in comparison to the ideal head, but not everyone's head looks the same ;)

head_reference.jpg

post-6-1134508135_thumb.jpg

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Springheel

Springheel

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Looks great, BT. Lots of character in the face. The eyes look a little like they're looking in two different directions though--the opposite of cross-eyed.

TDM Missions:   A Score to Settle  *  A Reputation to Uphold  *  A New Job  *  A Matter of Hours

Video Series:   Springheel's Modules  *  Speedbuild Challenge  *  New Mappers Workshop  *  Building Traps

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