October 30 2015

Today I started work on the shirt. It is actually really simple and I am almost done it.

I selected all the faces on the body of where I wanted to make the shirt (in a very similar fashion to helmet) and then duplicated it with [Shift+D] and immediately used the Shrink/Fatten tool and got it to size. After that, I did the fold over. To do that, I first had  apply the mirror modifier, then I had to select all the edges in the middle of the shirt, then went into my edge menu by hitting the keys [Ctrl+E] then selected edge split. It basically splits the edges I selected in two. Then I pulled one forward, and pushed the other back, and then pulled them each across so it actually goes across. I then added the solidify modifier.

As you can see above, they two sides of the shirt actually overlap. 

Then to do the collar, I extruded the certain edges I wanted to be the collar, then pulled it in the Z axis. After that, I added a loop cut in the center of it so I could pull it over and fold it without it affecting rest of the collar. And for the cuffs, I was going to do the same thing, but decided not to. instead I just made a loop cut where I want the cuff to be, on both sides because I don't have the mirror modifier anymore, then I just up-scaled it and added another loop cut so it had a harsher turn point. 

And with that, I am almost finished the shirt, I just need to do some mild point pulling. 

Tomorrow, I will be finishing that, then starting on the pants. 

September 29 2015

Today, I finally finished all of the head wear.

As you can see, I added the final touches to the goggles. Which included adding the rivets to all my desired locations. To do that, I just copied one Rivet from before, and then I duplicated it and put it onto the side of the goggles, along the x axis. I then duplicated it and put it on the opposite side. Then I just duplicated those and then rotated them to fit the Z axis. Then I duplicated those ones to go diagonally across the goggles on both sides, then I just grouped them with the lenses so they are one object. 

So Now that I am done my goggles, I will start on the clothing of my character tomorrow. 

The goggles were pretty hard, and came with many obstacles I had to overcome, like the center plate. I don't have it how I would like it, but I am still happy with my results. 

October 28 2015

Today, I almost finished the entire head. I added some of the rivets, mainly to the strap connectors and the Metal piece in the very center.

I also applied the solidify modifier that I had on the lenses, that way I could remove all the inside polygons so it will be easier for me to UV Map. I also did it so that I could add another metal piece, except they are going to be around the lenses and that is where I will end up putting my rivets, that way it isn't just going to have a bunch of rivets sticking into leather. 

Tomorrow I will be finishing the lenses, and applying the mirror modifier. Then I will start on the clothing on the body, then after that, I will do the shoes, and then I will start work on texturing. Starting with UV Mapping of course. 

October 27 2015

Today, I finished the majority of the Goggles, I didn't work on the lenses much, but I did mirror it so it is on the other side as well. I also tried to Make the humps around the goggles, but I couldn't seem to find a way to do it nicely. But I did end up trying something that Kind of worked, so i went with it.

I also started on the metal piece that hold the strap to the lens apparatus, but didn't get very far. I was trying to mirror it, but I kept running into an issue that screwed up the mirroring. I would set the 3D cursor to the center of the grid, and then set the origin to the 3D cursor, but it still wouldn't work. Tonight I will research on my problem to see if I can troubleshoot it. I think it has to do with the way I am ordering how I model it, instead of doing certain things first, I have to do something else first, but I don't quite know yet, I will just have to wait and see tonight.  

October 26 2015

Today I continued on the Goggles. I finished the leather strap, and the metal plate-type of thing. And Started on the actual lenses of the goggles.

As you can see, I have the lens only on one side, that is because I am just going to mirror it afterwards so I could get right into modeling it without having to set up some modifiers. 

I also went around and did a little bit of movement on the strap so if molded to the head better, and I think I did a pretty good job. I still have a little bit to do on the leather piece that the lenses are on, but I will get to that after I apply the modifiers on it so I can add some loop cuts and delete some faces because once I finish all the modeling, I must start UV Unwrapping so I can texture it. 

I don't think I will finish modeling it by the end of this week, but I will by the end of next week for sure. I am pretty sure the helmet and the shoes will be the most time consuming part of the entire process of modeling. I figured out that I can actually Subdivide the surface of a cylinder, as it is what I did for the lenses. all you have to do is add a few loop cuts so it stays as flat as possible.

 

October 22 2015

Today I started working on the lenses of the goggles, kind of... I started with the leather piece that the lenses will actually be attached to and finished the strap.

I have to be honest, the goggles are actually pretty complicated. What I did today was create a plane, cut it down to size, and then split it in half and mirrored it. I intentionally made it slightly bigger than the strap because that is how it is on the art. I then made the very basic shape of the goggles leather piece and started shaping it around the helmet. There is one metal piece in the center that I tried to model, but I couldn't quite figure it out, I don't exactly know what I am going to do with that, I think I am going to make a new plane, and model it then just combine it with the goggles so it does alter anything else. 

Tomorrow, I will finish this leather piece, and then for the actualy lenses,  will create a cylinder, and loop cut the center so I can pull the edges out while still keeping the cap so it is the actual glass. I am thinking that the lenses will be reletively easy to do compared to the rest of the goggles. 

October 21 2015

Today I continued working on the strap of the goggles.

As you may notice, I have left a gap in the middle, that is because that is where I will put the actual lenses of the goggles to finish off the helmet. 

And you will also notice that the strap isn't the same as I last left it. Instead of what I was going to do, I did end up just created a plane, and extruding it a bunch. It turned out to be a lot easier than the other method I was going to do. What I did once I finished extruding, was to fix up some points and make sure they all rotate porperly, and don't look scewed. As you can tell, I still have some work to do, and I must also make the strap thicker so it looks better when I ad the subdivision surface modifier. The top picture is what it currently looks like with the subsurf modifier and thickness. And it doesn't look too good, so I am going to make it thicker. 

Tomorrow, I will finish the strap, and start work on the lens's and the nmake the hair on the character so he isn't bald. 

October 20 2015

Today, I finished the buckle on the strap on the helmet.

To do the center part, all I did was create another path spline and shaped it accordingly, and I also shaped the fram of the buckle so taht is curved with the strap on the hat. Speaking of which, I also pulled a small part on the strap out so that it would look like an actual helmet strap like the one above. 

I also started work on the goggles, starting with the strap.

What I did was select where I desired to make the goggles, but only on one side so I can mirror it. And then duplicated the faces, and separated them them from the helmet and named them "Goggles." Before I did anything else, I hid all the other objects except for the goggles, and then removed the subsurf modifier. Because If I didn't it would screw up the mirror modifier when I apply it. I then set my 3D cursor to the center of the grid, and set my origins to the 3D cursor and made the mirror modifier and joined all the necessary points so it is one single strap. then I just moved some points around to get the basic shape that I want for my goggles. 

Tomorrow I will be continuing work on the goggles. I might not keep what I have for the current strap, it isn't turning out exactly how I want it. I may just create a plane, that way it is mor on the symmetrical side in the Z axis. But who knows.

October 19 2015

Today, I continued work on my helmet, I finished the ear piece as you can see here.

I then mirrored it and applied the mirror Modifier so I can seperate the two earpieces and name them accordingly. I did the same with the eyes so they are all different object as you can see in the picture below. 

To finish the ear piece, it was relitively simple. All I did was extrude the faces, scale them down, and drag them out a little bit. I then did a loop cut between the scaled down face and the other, and did two loop cuts and scaled them down further so it would curve inward instead of outward. then I Extruded, and extruded again, then dragged the center point out, and then the sorrounding parts behind it, but not as far so it would look like a globe. 

I also started on the buckles on the helmets ear pieces. 

 I didn't know how to go about doing this. So what I did, I watched the tutorial until he did the shoe laces, and just applied what he did there so this. What I did was create a spline path, and then just made it a perfect square, and then adjusted the depth of it to 0.200 and made it so it covered the full spline, not half of it. And instead of applying a subdivison surface modifier, what I did was on the spline editor, I was able to edit the width, (which is what I made 0.200) and changed the resolution from 0, and put it to 2 then changed the shading on it to smooth, that way the look is consisten with the rest of the model.  It is pretty complicated to get the spline to a perfect square, actually. I had to keep switching between the front, side and top view many, many times to make sure it all looked proper.

Tomorrow, I will be finishing the buckle, and starting on the goggles, then if I do manage to finish the goggles tomorrow, then I will start on the vest and shirt on the model. For that Part I will be following the tutorial for that seems how he does it in the video. 

October 15 2015

Today, I did exactly what I said I would do yesterday. I finished the base model of the Helmet, and started on the ear pieces.

As you can see, I also deleted all of the polygons on the inside of the helmet that aren't visible from the outside, that is because it would make a lot more work for me when I am texturing my model. 

Now, today was basically all just putting my skills to the test, this is completely freestyle on how I model it. How I do the ear pieces is completely up to me, and same goes for those two tail kind of things on the helmet. So, all I did, was select the two faces on the helmet which I thought would be good positioning for the earpiece then duplicated it and then separated it from the helmet and named it Ear.L. Then I made it a symmetrical rectangle to everything was equal. I then applied a Subdivision Surface modifier and made it visible in edit mode. Then I selected the two faces, and extruded them outwards, and then loop cut the side of it near the edge so it had a sharper corner to it. I then extruded the faces again, and scaled them down, that way it had a second thin layer sort of look. Then I Loop cut it near the edge again so it has a sharper corner to it. 

When I orginally did all this, I tried it with a cylinder first, but when I subdivide it, it doesn't look how I want it to, so I had to do it a bit differently. 

Tomorrow, I will be finishing the earpieces and mirroiring it to the other side of the model and start on the goggles on the helmet. I don't know how I am going to go about that though. 

October 14 2015

Today I did a few things, but didn't do as much as I should have. But I would have gotten further if i didn't run into some issues, I'll address these later.

First thing I did, was fix the area around my eyes, and mirror the eye.

When mirroring the eye, it is important that you set the 3D cursor to the center of the grid by clicking [Shift+S] and selecting at center. Then change your point of origin to the 3D cursor, that way when you apply the mirror modifier, it goes exactly where you want it. And I Fixed the area around my eye so it looks more how I want it.

Second thing I did was start working on the helmet. And this is where I got issues. So to make the helmet what I did, was use the circle select tool by going into edit mode by clicking [TAB] and then changing my tool from vertex to face mode, then use circle select mode by hitting the "C" key. Then just select the faces I want to make the helmet. After that, I push [Shift+D] to duplicate those faces, then in the toolbox menu, select shrink/fatten and dragged it to my desired place. Then just click the "P" key and separate by selection then rename the new object hat or whatever you want.Then that is where I left off.

That is also where my problems occured. It is mainly the tutorials fault I screwed up though. What the tutorial said I was supposed to do was add a modifier to the helmet, that modifier is called solidify, and it makes your object hicker by adding mroe polygons to make it thicker. Then when you get it so it matches up with your model, apply the mirror modifier first, otherwise your solidify modifier distorts itself. Then apply the thickness modifier after the mirror, and then select all the polygons on the inside that I don't need because that would be extra work when I am texturing. Then after all that I saved my work because I didn't want to lose it all. 

BUT

After I did that, he said "but make sure you make the helmet the proper shape before you apply the modifiers." And you can't use "Ctrl+Z" to go back before you saved. So I had to go to the save from yesterday and basically rush through everything again. 

So what I learned today was to watch the section of the tutorial I am watching completely before I do my work, and if I forget something, then i will go back to it and watch it again so I don't screw up again 

Tomorrow I will be finishing the base model of the cap and then work on some other accessories. 

October 13 2015

Today, I finished the base model of the eye.

As you can see, the eye has two completely seperet components. Called the Outer eye, and the inner eye. (from top to bottom)  To do that I just had to duplicate my eye, and then make the outer eye slightly bigger. I scaled it up 1.020 units to be precise. That way, there is no geomatry clipping. Then I went to the front of the sphere (which I had rotated in the x axis by 90 degrees prior) and select the 3rd ring from the center. And made 2 edge loop subdivisions. That way, it had a more sharp corner than it would have had if I didn't. I did the same on the first ring so  I could make is concave on the inner eye. And then, after I did that, I dissolved every other edge along the center vertex, that way there is less polygons, and it makes it so it looks less stressed from being pulled in a bunch of different directions. And I did the same with the back.

Then on the outer eye, I did the opposite so I could create a convex center, where the light will be captured and will be reflected. 

I then merged the two eye components so they moved and scaled evenly, and put it into my eye socket on the character. 

At the beginning, the eye socket was not properly shaped to fit the eye. So I had to make a rough estimation on where the eye would sit permanently, and the pull the outer points on the edge of the socket to shape around the eye while still keeping the integrity of the original face. 

Tomorrow, I will be duplicating the eye, and start on the accessories of the character.

October 9 2015

Today, I finished the inside of the mouth, including the teeth.

I also molded the gums to the teeth, and to to mouth better, and then just made sure they fit in the mouth without disrupting the lips. I found out that All I need to do to duplicate an object is just select an object and do [Shift+D] tp duplicate the object.

I didn't flip the teeth upside down, because I didn't want the same side of the teeth showing on both sides, so on the top, the bottom of the teeth are showing, and vice versa. 

Then I just made them one object by selecting both of them and then clicking [Ctrl+P] and selecting "By Selection." 

Then I created a sphere for my eye.

I changed the Segments and rings to 16 and 24 respectively because I need space o nthe top so I can make where the pupil and iris will be without it looking odd. I then added a Subdivision surface modifier with 2 views and 2 renders and smooth shading so it doesn't look blocky.

Aside from all that, I also removed the subdivision surface modifier from the actual body of the character, so I could fix some points. The reason I did that, is because when the subsurf modifier isn't there, it is low poly, so I can change the points and see it better because the smooth lighting won't make it look different. After  that, I put the subsurf modifier back on, and it looked better than it did before.

Tomorrow I will finish up the eyes. 

October 8 2015

Today I almost finished the mouth. I added the tongue to the inside of the mouth by selecting 4 faces on the bottom of the mouth, and just sextruded it a few time while resizing and rotating.

As for the teeth, well, the tutorial doesn't help me there. because this particular model is for a game, I am to have less polygons than for an animation. So instead of modeling all the teeth seperately, I am doing them each as one piece of geomatry.

Basically what I did, I created a cylinder, sized it down, and shaped it to my characters, mouth, and then selected all the faces I didn't need, including the top and bottom caps, then deleted them. Then, to give my teeth depth, i just selected all the faces, then extruded them towards the inside of the mouth so it gives the teeth depth. All I must do now is just duplicate the teeth, make some changes to fit the bottom, then that is All I am doing for the mouth. 

All together, this is what it looks like so far.

As you can see, the teeth just barely show behind the lips. My character has an overbite, so instead of fixing it, I will just keep it as is, and model is accordingly. 

Tomorrow, I will finish off the teeth, and move on to modeling the eye. Then I will do the clithing, and then start UV Mapping. 

October 7 2015

Today, I started on working on the inside of the mouth.

My process basically consists of extruding the edges, and scaling them and flattening them so it is easier to extrude later on. I started by Selecting the edge of the lips, and extruded and dragged it inside the mouth a little bit. Then did the same thing but scaled it outwards as well. 

After this, I will start the next video, which shows me how to model the teeth, and also the tongue. Unless of course I get showed how to make the tongue in this video. 

I tried to get a screenshot of the inside of the mouth without the wireframe, but this is the best I could do. 

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You can sort of see it through the eye hole of the model.

Tomorrow, I will continue doing what I am doing, by basically extruding it all the way down to the throat. Then if I finish that tomorrow, do some point pulling because I know I will have to. I mean, I do fix the major ones while I am modeling, I fix the minor ones afterwards because they're usually plenty of them.

October 6 2015

Today, I continued work on the hand, it is just about done, all I need to do is some point pulling to make it look good.

As you can see, the bottom of the hand is kind of flat, which I can fix using the Proportional editing tool. I am using that tool in particular for a few reasons. Because I don't use it very often, and also because there is a lot of area that needs to be fixed on the bottom, so I think the proportional editing tool is perfect for the job for maximum efficiency. 

I need to fix the thumb as well

As you can see, it is actually very small compared to what it is supposed to be like. And I need to rotate it as well so it is in the right position. 

Connecting the hand was simple. All you have to do is select the body, and then the hand, then click [Ctrl+J] to combine the objects. 

*IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU SELECT THE BODY FIRST*

If you do not select the body first, your mirror modifier will not come over during the combination process. So that means, You will lose the other half of your model, and your hand will not duplicate. But if you do select the body first, it will mirror the hand, and it will match the other side of the body perfectly. 

When you are merging ([Alt+M]) make sure you make the hand go to the wrist, so if you slect the hand first, merge at the lsat, and if you slect the wrist and then the hand, merge at first. And while you are merging the points, it does look like it won't work out properly, but trust me, it does, it is just lining itself up. 

Tomorrow, I will finish the hand, and start on modeling the inside of the mouth. 

October 5 2015

Today I continued work on the hand by extruding the edge, and scaling it to flatten it out.

As you may notice, the thumg is not yet connected to the hand. I think in the tutorial he forgot to do it, so I won't do it until he does it incase there is an actual way to fix it that is better than other methods. While I extruded the edge, I also merged some points so I can match the amount of edges on the wrist to the hand, that there is no abnormalities.  I also had to upscale the hand and move it down so it expands like a real hand. 

Connecting the fingers was really simple, all you have to do is just select the two appropriate vertices, then just merge at the center by clicking [Alt+M] then if you want, you can move it a little bit to match your envision of what you want. 

Tomorrow I will finish the hand, and connect it to the wrist then mirror it so it is on the opposite side of the body because the hand is a weird shape, so if it were to mirror, it would not mirror properly like the rest of the body. 

October 2 2015

Today, I continued work on the hand, starting with the other fingers. 

I also worked on the starting middle finger first, I made knuckles by selecting whre the knuckles would be with the loop selection tool. [Atl+ R mouse button] Then scaled it out, dragged it up, then selected the bottom of the knuckle, and dragged it up to create the indents on the inside of the finger. 

I then duplicated the finger 4 times then dragged them to their respective placements, and scaled them to the proper size, and rotated the thumb. 

That is all I got done today. 

When you make fingers, keep them all oriented (excluding the thumb) so when the rest of the hand is modelled, (or modeled, I don't know which to use) it is all proportional. If you havn't noticed, proportion is very important in 3D modeling. 

On monday. I will continue work on the hand, and if I finish it, I will mirror it to the other side, then I will conjoin it with the wrist on the full body.

October 1 2015

Today I started on the hand. Although there is going to be a glove on the character, I am modeling the hand underneath it. When modeling the hand, you must start from the middle finger, for 2 reason, One, so you start in the somewhat middle, two so all of your fingers are the exact same.

To start the finger, I created a cylinder, removed the caps, and decreased the vertices from 32 to 8. I do that so I can keep easier control of the surface and make everything more symmetrical without having to count all the different faces. I then closed one of the ends by selecting two edges from the top, and two from the bottom and extruded them, but I didn't move them, but rather scaled them in. then merged each vertex to its corresponding vertex. To create a fingernail, I selected the two top and middle faces, and extruded and scaled down. I then dragged them down, extruded once again, then dragged them up, and scaled out to get a low-poly fingernail. I then went into the modifiers tab for the cylinder, and added a Subdivision surface multiplier so I can round it out and make it look nice. (same as for the body, 2 views, and 2 renders with optimal view) 

When modeling the hand, there isn't much to take into consideration besides hand proportions, which isn't too hard. If you get a little lost, just look at the finger on your hand relative to the finger you are modeling and it should make it easier. 

I also fixed the points I said I was going to finish.

As you can see, the torso to waist transition is a lot more smooth, and the stomach is less flat and more round as it would be on a child. I also fixed the inside of the legs as best as I could, but it won't matter too much because there is still going to be clothing over it. 

Tomorrow, I will continue on the hand