Character Creation: Modelling, Texturing and Rigging.

In this project I had to model, texture and rig a character of my own creation. To begin we had to model a classmates head. This was to practice modeling heads as we had never done this before. I learnt about loop flow and where to put cuts to create shape without causing there to be any tris. This was done in a day but even though it was quick, it built my confidence for modeling a whole character.

Next I went onto creating my character. Because we had so much to do in such a short time with this project, we didn't get much time to create and design a character. I had to quickly draw up a turn around so I could go straight into modeling.

I spent a lot of time in Maya on my low poly model. ( probably more then I should have) I really enjoyed the form making and the fact I was creating something entirely my own. I tried my hardest to keep the model clean and neat so when I got to high poly sculpting, it would subdivide nicely. I had some trouble around the jaw, neck and shoulder area and spent a lot of time deciding where edges needed to be and how I could create that without causing other problems like tris. After modeling a whole body for the first time, there are definitively different ways I would go about things now I know how they should be. I wanted to go straight into modelling another character once I had finished this. I was happy with how it turned out and really enjoyed creating it.

Next I moved onto high poly sculpting in Mudbox. I have a lot of fun in Mudbox because I don't have to worry about a clean wire frame. I got to add all the little details I wanted and also add the texture and secular shading. It was fun to play with different material textures and the brushes to create different effects. Sculpting is something I would like to spend more time practicing at as I really enjoy it.

 

 

 

 

Here are the maps for the model (created using mudbox)

Texture Map

UV Map

Displacement Map

Normals Map

AO Map

Spec Map

 Finally I had to rig my character. This was the first time I had rigged anything from scratch. I found it fairly challenging but once I had wrapped my head around how everything worked it wasn't too bad. I had a few problems with the feet and the shoulders but I eventually managed to get them working to a standard I was happy with. Unfortunately I didnt have enough time to go into any advanced rigging with this project (such and a facial rig, finger curls etc) Though I intend to go back to this over the summer and add more to it.

Deformation test of rig:

I would definitely like to work on my rigging skills in the future. I think it will help me a lot as a secondary skill to animation. I love the idea of being able to design, model, rig and then animate my own characters.