I have 3d studio max and character studio, character studio makes the basic shape of a person for you but how do I make the face and how the body looks (the shape) I have no idea how. does anyone know of any good tutorials online?

Well when I create characters i use poser when its humans.
Its to hard to sit down and create a fully animated character from scratch in just 3dMax.

When it non human characters i just nake them by combinding objects in 3DMax.
Some spehrs will after a while become a nice face if you put some energy into it.

Check out my website under downloads for some of my characters.

www.pigbear.cjb.net

I think there is a function like "Do the work for me" somewhere well hidden in the program ...

mmm ...

ok that was mean.
MAybe you shouldnt start by modeling characters, maybe you should start by the basics like Vertex manipulation ?
Of course, I might jsut misunderstand your question, in which case sorry. But you know what they say : Learn to walk before you learn to run.

youpla :-P

Check out the Half Life, Quake, etc. sites.
For instance:
http://www.planethalflife.com/coldfusion/

has some good tutorials on low polygon character modelling.
It''s pretty tough to make a really good looking model, but with practice you can do it. Plus it''s kinda fun!
Good luck!


Zeus Interactive

My favorite method is to draw a model sheet of the character''s front and side views. Then all you have to do is edit a mesh so the outlines conform to your pictures. It''s pretty simple, really. I can bang out a 1000 poly model of a character in a day or so. A little more if it''s very complicated or has a lot of extraneous geometry like wings, capes, drapery, horns or tail.

My friend swears by surface tools, but I''m stuck on Max 2.5 and don''t have access to it. Conceptually, it''s pretty similar.

Trick is, your model sheet has GOT to be accurate. Inaccurate model sheets are worse than useless.

If you''re going to make a model animate properly, you''re also going to have to learn how many extra vertices you''ll need around joints. My friend uses three rings around joints, but I prefer two. (I''m something of an efficiency freak) Elbows and knees are easy, as they only flex in one axis. Shoulders and hips are an absolute nightmare. No wonder why so many characters have huge shoulder pads to cover that area up. Or you could use segmented models, but that technique has fallen out of favor.

Hope that helps.

$0.02

How do you make a mesh?

You goof! Didn''t I show you on Tuesday?


This RtS-Babble© has been brought to you by:
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You can make characters very easely in 3DS MAX (or like I do now, in Blender).

This is one of the sites where I've learned character modelling.


btw. Don't look @ that page when you're under 18


Edited by - richardve on November 16, 2000 7:02:16 AM

>How do you make a mesh?

Typically, I just create a cylinder with about 5 height segments, apply an edit mesh modifier and start pulling vertices around so that they match my model sheet. Then you optimize and turn edges.

Do one cylinder for a leg, do one for the torso, one for the arm, weld them together and mirror them for the other half of the body. Sometimes I use a sphere for the head and sometimes I start with a cylinder. Depends on the character design.

How do I make a cylinder?