Maya 8 Character

Modeling

Gary Oliverio

Wordware Publishing, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Oliverio, Gary.
Maya 8 Character Modeling / by Gary Oliverio;
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59822-020-9
ISBN-10: 1-59822-020-9 (pbk., companion cd)
1. Computer animation. 2. Maya (Computer file). 3. Three-dimensional
display systems. I. Title.
TR897.7.O44 2006
006.6'96--dc22
2006029338

2007, Wordware Publishing, Inc.

All Rights Reserved
1100 Summit Avenue, Suite 102
Plano, Texas 75074
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means
without permission in writing from Wordware Publishing, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN-13: 978-1-59822-020-9
ISBN-10: 1-59822-020-9
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
0610

Autodesk and Maya are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries.
Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States
and/or other countries. Pixologic and ZBrush are registered trademarks of Pixologic, Inc.
Photos used by permission of www.3d.sk.
Other brand names and product names mentioned in this book are trademarks or service marks of
their respective companies. Any omission or misuse (of any kind) of service marks or trademarks
should not be regarded as intent to infringe on the property of others. The publisher recognizes and
respects all marks used by companies, manufacturers, and developers as a means to distinguish their
products.
This book is sold as is, without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, respecting the
contents of this book and any disks or programs that may accompany it, including but not limited to
implied warranties for the books quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for any particular
purpose. Neither Wordware Publishing, Inc. nor its dealers or distributors shall be liable to the
purchaser or any other person or entity with respect to any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to
have been caused directly or indirectly by this book.

All inquiries for volume purchases of this book should be addressed to Wordware
Publishing, Inc., at the above address. Telephone inquiries may be made by calling:
(972) 423-0090

This book is dedicated to my wife, Robin, and our five children.

Special thanks to Mike Hovland for the scripting help as well.

This page intentionally left blank.

Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Chapter 1

What Am I Getting Myself

Who Is This Book For? . . . .
Looking Forward . . . . . .
The Art of Programming . . .
To Draw or Not to Draw, That
Research and Reference . . .

Chapter 2

Words of Wisdom. . . . . . .
The Secret Formula . . . . . . .
Save, Save, Save, Save, Save! . .
Keep It Clean . . . . . . . . . .
Working with Quads. . . . . . .
Edge Loops . . . . . . . . . . .
Modeling Reference Guides . . .
Before We Get Started . . . . .
Important Note about This Book .

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Chapter 3

A Modeling Primer . . . . .
Subdivisions . . . . . . . . . .
That Quad Thing Again . . .
Extruding Pitfalls . . . . . . . .
Cant Get a Hard Edge! . . . .
Normals . . . . . . . . . . . .
UV Layout . . . . . . . . . . .
The Sculpt Geometry Tool . . .
Object and World Coordinates .
Go Tools . . . . . . . . . . . .
Wrap-Up. . . . . . . . . . . .

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Chapter 4

Beginning the Modeling Process .

Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Blocking out the Body . . . . . . . .
Important Note. . . . . . . . . . . .
Wrap-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Into? . . . . . . . . .
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Contents

Chapter 5

Building the Head . . . .

Applying What Weve Learned
Heads Up . . . . . . . . . .
Shaping the Nose. . . . . . .
The Mouth . . . . . . . . . .
The Eye Socket . . . . . . . .
Wrap-Up . . . . . . . . . . .

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Chapter 6

Creating the Ear . . .

Getting to Know the Ear.
Lets Start Building . . .
Wrap-Up . . . . . . . .

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Chapter 7

What Beautiful Eyes You Have . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

The Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Wrap-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Chapter 8

Open Wide. . . . . . . .
Getting Your Chops . . . . .
The Teeth . . . . . . . . . .
The Gums . . . . . . . . .
The Tongue . . . . . . . . .
Placing the Teeth and Tongue
Wrap-Up . . . . . . . . . .

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Fleshing Out the Body .

Crafting the Figure . . . .
The Arm . . . . . . . . .
The Back . . . . . . . . .
The Butt . . . . . . . . .
The Hips and Abdomen . .
The Legs . . . . . . . . .
The Breasts . . . . . . . .
The Clavicles and Neck . .
The Touch-Up. . . . . . .
Wrap-Up . . . . . . . . .

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Hands and Feet

The Hand. . . . .
Hand Details
The Foot . . . . .
Foot Details .
Wrap-Up . . . . .

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Chapter 9

Chapter 10

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Contents

Chapter 11

Fine-Tuning the Model

That Perspective Thing . .
Combine . . . . . . . . .
Finishing Touches . . . . .
Wrap-Up . . . . . . . . .

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Chapter 12

UVs and Textures . . . . . . . . .

A Bit about Advanced Shaders . . . .
Our Approach to UVs . . . . . . . . .
Preparing the Model . . . . . . . . .
Assigning UV Coordinates to the Head
Texturing the Head . . . . . . . . . .
Finishing Touches . . . . . . . . . . .
Wrap-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Chapter 13

Character Rigging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Understanding Joints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Placing the Torso and Head Joints. . . . . . . . . . .
Placing the Leg and Foot Joints . . . . . . . . . . . .
Placing the Arm and Hand Joints . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating Controls for the Pelvis and Torso . . . . . . .
Creating Head Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating Arm and Hand Controls . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating Leg and Foot Controls . . . . . . . . . . . .
Wrap-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Chapter 14

The Weighting Is the Hardest Part .

The Process of Weighting Our Character
Normalized Weighting . . . . . . . . .
Skinning Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Painting the Weights . . . . . . . . . .
A Bit about Blend Shapes . . . . . . . .
Wrap-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

vii

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Introduction
In sitting down to write this book, I really wanted to clearly define
an approach that was accessible enough for a beginner to grasp. I
have seen many tutorials that are so puzzling that in effect they
deter anyone from 3D modeling. The problem most people have is
distinguishing the good from the not so good, which can be difficult
for the novice who is just getting his feet wet.
I didnt want this to be a tedious string of tutorials that you cant
digress from or easily put your own touch on. At each step along the
way, I hope to keep it nice and simple. I think this way you can use
this book merely as a guide to get you started on your own model
instead of just copying what you see in the pages to follow. If, however, you want to do just that, by all means go right ahead! I have
included on the companion CD all the files necessary to create the
character and a Maya file to accompany each chapter.
In my years of teaching I have found that it is generally difficult
for new 3D artists to work out the bugs. If you are willing to see it
through, I can guarantee you will get it! I tell students to get in
there and break things. Mess up as much as you need to in order to
learn from your mistakes. Do it over and over again until you understand what you did wrong. The process of scrapping a model and
starting over from scratch will strengthen your skills.
This approach will not go unrewarded. What I hear often from
students is the I dont get it mantra. I tell them that the Eureka
moment will come. It usually does like a brick upside the head!
One day they wake up and they just get it! What I am trying to say
is dont get discouraged if it doesnt come easy. If you are determined to learn, then learn you will.
I think the best advice I could give someone who wants a career
as an artist is to be passionate. No amount of instruction from the
best teacher in the world will help you if you are not passionate.
Hey, if the Karate Kid wasnt passionate about his training, then a
room full of Mr. Miyagis wouldnt make a bit of difference. No passion = no sequel! Seriously though, passion will see you through
your darkest hours. It will make up for your lack of skills until you
have given yourself enough time to hone them.

ix

Introduction

Remember that this is art. It should be fun. If it is not something you enjoy enough to put the time and effort into, then you
should consider other options. Sitting down at the computer should
be as much fun as going out with your friends. If you have the passion, it will be fun.

Chapter 1

What Am I Getting
Myself Into?
Who Is This Book For?
This book is written for anyone interested in character modeling. A
good understanding of basic polygon modeling and knowledge of the
Maya interface are pretty much required to get the most out of this
book. Although geared toward the Maya user and with specific

Figure 1-1

Chapter 1: What Am I Getting Myself Into?

references to the Maya tool set, I believe that it can be easily translated to use with the software of your choice. Most of the actual
lessons can be performed with any modeling package.
If you stick with me, you will learn how to model, texture, and
rig a character. We will look at different approaches where they pertain to game modeling as opposed to higher-resolution modeling.
We will also look at different skeletal rigs including the basic skeleton and more advanced control-based rigs. We will not, however, be
covering the animation process. Animation is an art in itself. There
is way too much to cover and Im not quite ready to tackle that
book. One at a time, if thats okay with you.
There are a multitude of approaches to modeling a character.
Ive spent a number of years researching this topic and have come
up with a pretty concise formula for character modeling based on a
number of different techniques. The method I show throughout this
book is easy enough for the novice to grasp and will offer some
insightful tips for the intermediate to advanced artist.
If your passion is to be a character modeler, then a comprehensive understanding of human anatomy is a requirement. Do you
have to know the name of every muscle and bone in the human
body? The answer is no, but you should understand where they are
and what they do. Having this knowledge will make the character
modeling process that much easier.

Looking Forward
Creating characters for games and film is a quite rewarding profession. As a character modeler you will play an integral role in a long
process involving texture artists, character riggers, animators, concept artists, etc. In some cases, a character modeler might be
required to perform some or all of the aforementioned roles. It
really depends on a number of factors. Larger game companies as
well as the film industry tend to have people who specialize in specific areas and only perform tasks in their designated field of
expertise. Smaller houses, however, might have a larger workload
spread out over a smaller group of artists, allowing you to get your
hands dirty in a number of disciplines.

Chapter 1: What Am I Getting Myself Into?

Figure 1-2

Either way, character modeling is an exciting career that is always

changing for the better. With ever-advancing technology, modelers
are being called upon to create more and more believable characters. I can honestly say that this keeps it interesting! With the trend
toward creating ultra-realistic characters, it really becomes absolutely necessary for a character modeler to understand the human
body and the way it moves. This is something that should not be
overlooked, and I cant stress that point enough.
We also see a decline in the need to create models with low
polygon counts. This practice applied particularly in the game industry. With advancements in game engines, computers, and consoles,
low-poly is becoming a thing of the past. Now more than ever, artists have to be meticulous in creating higher polygon characters.
The increasingly popular use of normal mapping technology has
given rise to some amazing advancements in character modeling.
Details such as wrinkles, veins, and even pores are being added
directly into the geometry. A keenly trained eye is all the more necessary to capture the subtle details of the human form.
3

Chapter 1: What Am I Getting Myself Into?

The Art of Programming

As scary as it sounds to most artists, it is becoming increasingly
necessary to have some understanding of programming; in this
case, Mayas Mel scripting. Even a very basic comprehension of
Mel scripting will aid you tremendously. Scripting will allow you, for
instance, to create your own dialog window that contains your most
commonly used commands, or perhaps condense a number of separate commands into a single button.
The skills and job scope of the technical artist have grown rapidly over the past few years, and they form that bridge that spans
the gap between technology (programming) and art. Oftentimes,
artists and programmers dont quite speak the same language. It is
the job of a technical artist to be the interpreter. A tech artist is also
responsible for creating scripts that modify the standard Maya
workflow to simplify the production pipeline.
Knowing how to script also gives you an advantage when it
comes to getting a job. Prospective employers will consider your
technical skills a valuable asset alongside your artistic abilities.
Anything you can do to give yourself that edge will be rewarded.

To Draw or Not to Draw, That Is the

Question
Many students have asked the question, Do I have to be able to
draw before I can become a good modeler? I would have to say no,
but let me put that into perspective. I have come across a number of
people who are excellent modelers but cant draw a stick figure. I
think we need to understand that computer graphics is a medium
just like painting. Being proficient with watercolors doesnt necessarily make you a sculptor.
Conversely, having the ability to draw the human form gives
you a head start on understanding muscle and bone systems and
basic human proportions. Simply put, the idea here is to do everything you can to improve your skills. I firmly believe that my
drawing skills have made me a more insightful 3D artist. In turn, I
can also say that due in large part to 3D modeling, my ability to
draw has improved as well.

Chapter 1: What Am I Getting Myself Into?

Figure 1-3

Research and Reference

I cant say enough about the value of reference and research. I have
a library of reference books dedicated to human anatomy alone.
Books about drawing are also a large part of my collection. Oftentimes its easier to make out details in a drawing as opposed to a
photo.
Here is a list of the more essential books in my library:
Human Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form, by Eliot
Goldfinger, Oxford University Press, 1991.

Chapter 1: What Am I Getting Myself Into?

This book is a great photographic reference of the body in

various forms.
The Artists Complete Guide to Facial Expression, by Gary Faigin,
Watson-Guptill Publications, 1990.
This book is essential! Although this book is geared toward
the 2D artist, it breaks down the complexity of human facial
expressions. Great reference in setting up your character for
facial animation.
Anatomy for the Artist: A Comprehensive Guide to Drawing the
Human Body, by Daniel Carter, Parragon Publishing, 2005.
This book approaches anatomy from an artistic point of view.
Drawing Human Anatomy, by Giovanni Civardi, Sterling
Publishing, 1995.
Drawing the Female Nude, by Giovanni Civardi, Sterling
Publishing, 1995.
I really love Giovannis style very clean. Great reference.
Stop Staring: Facial Modeling and Animation Done Right, by Jason
Osipa, Sybex, Inc., 2003.
This book is gold when it comes to character animation. A
must-have if you want to be an animator.
Because I make my living as a character modeler, I have countless
reference images of clothing, armor, anatomy, you name it! Anything
I find that might be useful either now or in the future goes into this
collection. It is also quite useful to collect images of models that
were created by other people. Many times you will find pictures of a
work in progress, which can give you insight into how the model
was structured and the technique used in its creation. Websites
such as cgtalk.com, cgfocus.com, and cgchannel.com have forums
loaded with these types of images.
Many of the photos used in the book come from www.3D.sk.
This is an amazing site with high-resolution images relating to many
subjects, including male and female anatomy, armor, animals, and
more. These images are excellent as modeling guides or as textures
for your models.
I use the term research in the broadest sense possible. There is
no limit to the amount of study and preparation you can do on your
road to greatness. Just opening this book is a step in that direction.
6

Chapter 2

Words of Wisdom
Being a grizzled modeling vet (or grumpy old man, as some would
call me) in my 30s comes with endless hours sitting at the computer
honing my skills. This is an ongoing process and I always feel I have
more to learn. I take a lot of pride in what I have accomplished to this
point in my career, but I do so humbly. There are many who are much
more talented than myself and I strive to be on par with them. I dont
claim to have the de facto answers to everything you need to know
about modeling. I am merely offering my perspective based on my
experience and research. I think you will find that my approach falls
into line with what is considered industry standard.
Now that we have that out of the way, I want to present some of
my philosophical ramblings. These are some of the things Ive
learned over the past 10-plus years in the industry, all condensed into
the next few pages.

The Secret Formula

I believe in and rely on formula. I always begin a model the same way,
regardless of what type of character I am creating. There are many
advantages to modeling by formula, and the more you make a practice
of this method, the easier it becomes. This also decreases the amount
of time spent on the blocking out process in character modeling.
A character model should be built the same way you would draw
it. When you draw, you sketch out a basic mass for the character
before you begin fleshing it out. Generalizing the initial shape of your
model allows you to easily adjust its proportions to, for example, give
your character a more heroic physique. Once you have your base
model adjusted, you can then start adding in details.
7

Chapter 2: Words of Wisdom

The beauty of this approach is reusability. Having a strong base

model allows you to eliminate a good amount of preproduction work.
Say you need a female character and a guy with a beer gut and
moose antlers. By starting with a base model and massaging the
geometry, you can tackle both of these characters without starting
from scratch.
As you build your models it will also become apparent that body
parts can be reused again and again across a multitude of characters.
As an example, you create a standard hand geometry for one character, then with some minor tweaking, it can become the hand of your
next character. I personally maintain a library of parts that I have
created and Frankenstein them in when needed. This is not to say
that you should never experiment with new and more concise ways
to model. As technology advances, you will need to keep up with it!

Save, Save, Save, Save, Save!

And one more time SAVE! Saving will keep you from the anguish
and gut-wrenching feeling that goes along with losing hours of
work. Save often. Every minor change you make deserves a save.
Saving is one of the most important things you can do. It is so
important it is being repeated here over and over! So here is my
public service announcement, and Im saying it in my most sincere
introspective voice: Save its the right thing to do.

Keep It Clean
Before we get cracking on an actual character model, I would like to
discuss a few modeling basics that I will refer to throughout the
book. First off, I want to stress the concept of working clean. What
I mean by this is keeping your scene free of all extraneous nodes.
Maya is notorious for keeping around nodes that are no longer useful to your scene. This increases your file size dramatically. A quick
way to remove these dead nodes is to use the mhClearDeadNodes.mel script available on the companion CD.
Another aspect of working clean is to name everything! This is a
good practice to get into. Immediately name your mesh with something other than pCube1. As you create materials, give them

Chapter 2: Words of Wisdom

appropriate names. This could save you, not to mention anyone else
who happens to touch your file, time later in the creation process.
Transferring assets is a common practice in a production pipeline. Oftentimes you will need to hand off your model to either an
animator or a texture artist, and the last thing you need is to have
them coming back to you to decipher your scene. Dont be lazy
when it comes to naming nodes and you wont be haunted by cryptic
names later.
Here is the big one polygon accountability. What I mean by
this is that all the polygons on your model should serve a purpose.
Simply put, only areas with detail should have a higher concentration of polygons. This is especially true for game modeling, where
every polygon counts. Although poly counts are a little more forgiving in film work, it is still important not to waste them needlessly.

Working with Quads

My approach to modeling, like that of many others, is to work only
with quads! A quad is a polygon that is made up of four points that
generally but not always assume a rectangular shape (see Figure
2-1). There is much debate as to the validity of quad-only modeling.
Also, working with quads is a bit more difficult than working with
triangles, and maintaining a mesh that contains only quads can be
quite tricky for the novice. However, I firmly believe that using this
method makes you a better modeler.

Figure 2-1

Chapter 2: Words of Wisdom

I have always taught my students to prepare for the worst and then
step back accordingly. In this case, if you can model with quads,
modeling with triangles will be that much easier.
There are other factors to support the quad approach. Your
geometry will flow better and tessellate cleaner. Deformation during animation will be noticeably smoother, especially around joints.
Finally, a great deal of work in high-detailed modeling (see Figure
2-2) is now done by exporting your model to ZBrush (pixologic.com
and zbrushcentral.com) or Mudbox (mudbox3d.com). Both of these
programs contain advanced tools that allow you to sculpt a model
using more than a million polygons! These models are in turn used
to create the normal maps that give the illusion of a higher polygon
model. ZBrush and Mudbox like to work with quads, so this is
something you as a modeler need to address.

Figure 2-2: Sculpting with Mudbox.

Another thing to mention here is that many game engines deal

exclusively with triangles. What this means is that upon exporting
an asset from Maya, your model will be broken down into its triangulated form. Oftentimes when creating lower-resolution assets, a
modeler will resort to building with tris to accommodate a reduced
poly count. Knowing this, however, I would still begin the modeling

10

Chapter 2: Words of Wisdom

process using quads and then convert to tris at the end of the building phase to prepare for export.
Suffice it to say, in this book we will use quads for our modeling.
If you would like to research the topic of quad modeling vs. tris,
there is plenty of information available on the Internet.

Edge Loops
Edge loops. Come on, say it with me edge loops! Dont know
what an edge loop is? By the end of this book you will be dreaming
about them, my friend!
An edge loop is a continuous edge that loops around the muscle
contours of the characters body. You will find that if your geometry
follows the muscle structure, your model will animate considerably
better. This is especially evident in facial animation. Without edge
loops following the muscle groupings in the face, there will be
noticeable problems when you animate.

Modeling Reference Guides

Using front and side view image planes or a skeleton on which to
base your modeling is usually the best approach; your body proportions are then clearly defined. An image plane is the projection of an
image in a particular viewport. If you are unfamiliar with the use of
image planes, the process is covered in Chapter 4: Beginning the
Modeling Process. When using image planes it is important to
have high-quality reference images. Whether they are drawings or
actual photos is determined by what type of model you are creating.
Be forewarned, however, that photos always contain perspective,
whereas drawings can be completely orthogonal. Orthogonal refers
to flat projection planes such as a front, top, or side view. Such
views contain absolutely no perspective. If you are using photos as
your reference guides, be prepared to adjust for perspective during
the modeling process.
In using image planes it is also important that your front and
side views line up at the major features of the body. If you were to
overlap these views in a photo editing program, the features should
align as closely as possible.

11

Chapter 2: Words of Wisdom

Figure 2-3: Align your reference images so that the body features are
aligned.

Before We Get Started

Lets take a look at the basic human form. I think it goes without
saying that men and women have some major differences. Women
have softer contours and less defined muscle groups. Women also
have wider hips and more narrow shoulders than men. One particular area that seems to give people a lot of trouble is the face. While
modeling any head can prove to be difficult, I will say that the softer
features of the female face are sometimes harder to convey than
those of a male.
One more important thing to mention here, especially if you are
relatively new to the modeling process, is to get used to modeling in
perspective view. This can be challenging to the beginner but is well
worth the effort. Working predominantly in perspective mode
allows you to see your object as it will appear when rendered. This
is very important to character modeling where your figure will
potentially be seen from multiple angles. This can be a simple process if you use the X, Y, Z handles on your manipulator and avoid
12

Chapter 2: Words of Wisdom

Figure 2-4

grabbing the center box that moves your selection on multiple axes
simultaneously. This will guarantee that your selection will move
precisely where you want it.

Important Note about This Book

This book contains references to Maya 8 commands as well as Maya
7. Each part of the command will be separated by
a vertical bar (|). Whenever the command
includes opening the dialog box, a p will follow
the command. The Maya 8 command will come
first, and the Maya 7 command will follow inside
square brackets. Here are a couple of examples:
Edit Mesh | Extrude p [v7: Edit Polygons
| Extrude Face p]
This example tells you that opening the dialog
box is necessary.
Figure 2-5

13

Chapter 2: Words of Wisdom

Skeleton | Remove Joint

This one doesnt require you to open the dialog
box, and the Maya 7 command is the same as
Maya 8.

Whenever it is necessary to go to the additional

rollout dialog in a command, it will appear as
follows:
Display | Hide4Hide Selection (Ctrl+h)
Here, a command is accompanied by its hotkey.

Figure 2-7

I hope that covers it. Lets get crackin.

14

Figure 2-6

Chapter 3

A Modeling Primer
Subdivisions
Refer to Chapter_3 on the companion CD.
In Chapter 2 I mentioned my preference for modeling completely
with quadrangles, so lets review a little here. Modeling completely
with quads has many benefits that may not be apparent at first. Lets
go through a few modeling exercises to get your mouse hand all loosened up, and Ill show you what I mean.
First off, we are going to be building a human, so at some point
we will be adding additional geometry to help give the models surface a smooth quality. This is done in Maya by applying the Mesh |
Smooth [v7: Polygons | Smooth] command with our object selected.
Well refer to this as a smooth node. Sure, this is obvious to some of
you, but hey, this is for the newbies, so go with the flow. What the
hell, you might learn something new.
Some of you might prefer to use Proxy | Subdiv Proxy [v7: Polygons | Smooth Proxy]. If you are not familiar with a subdivided proxy,
it refers to the process of having your original control mesh represented as a transparent object encasing the higher polygon or
subdivided geometry. As you manipulate the control mesh, the underlying high-res mesh will deform as well. I prefer to use the Mesh |
Smooth [v7: Polygons | Smooth] command (smooth node) because
when working on the control mesh I prefer to see it shaded and not in
an X-ray or transparent state.
So that being said, when we apply a smooth node to our object, it
will divide each face into four subdivisions. This is why it is also

15

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

referred to as subdivisional surface modeling. Along with dividing

each face into four new faces, it also tightens up the mesh. Take a
look at Figure 3-1 to see what I mean.

Figure 3-1

You will notice in Figure 3-2 that when you subdivide a cube (Mesh
| Smooth [v7: Polygons | Smooth]) you get a somewhat rounded
object. If you were to subdivide it again, then each of the faces that

Figure 3-2

16

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

were divided into four will now be divided into four again, and so on
and so on. With each iteration of subdivisions, you will get a much
smoother mesh.
Sooooo, think about the last example. Look at the mesh you end
up with and remember from whence it came the lowly cube. This
should tell us something very important: We dont need a whole
boatload of polygons to create an organic model.
The base mesh or control mesh doesnt always have to be
pretty; that is the job of its cousin, the subdivided mesh. The control
mesh is simply that; it controls the subdivided surface at the modeling stage as well as during animation. We always save the control
mesh. It can be a separate entity from the subdivided mesh (subdivided proxy), or it can be in itself subdivided, as long as you can get
back to its initial form by removing layers of subdivisions.
One of the most important things about character modeling is to
understand how to create a proper control mesh. The subdivisions
have a way of taking care of themselves, almost to a fault. You may
be thinking, Subdividing any model always seems to make it
appear smooth, right? The answer, my friend, is a resounding NO.
If you take a close look at the actual mesh surface it will probably
look something like Figure 3-3. You will see that where there was a
triangle, Maya turns it into a quad. The problem is that it doesnt
flow the way the geometry was intended to flow and it appears as a
somewhat awkward shape.

Figure 3-3

17

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Now lets compare Figure 3-3 to Figure 3-4. Notice the difference in
the flow of the geometry? I hope youre still with me when you say,
Hey that second example looks ten times better!

Figure 3-4

The reason it looks better is because the control mesh is made

entirely of quads. So you say to yourself, How do I go about making
a model using all quads, oh Knowledgeable One? Well, there is a
secret. Actually it really isnt a secret, and it really is pretty easy.

That Quad Thing Again

Alright, this is the key to the quad modeling universe! Basically,
what we are doing is creating detail without adding unnecessary
geometry and, in the process, we are maintaining quads. Let me
show you an example here. In Figure 3-5 we have a plane with basic
subdivisions. Pretend this is the surface of your geometry.

18

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Figure 3-5

Lets say you want to add details to an area, like a big gash or wrinkles. The problem is how do you do so without adding a ton of
geometry? Let ol Uncle Gary show you how.
Many times when creating an edge loop you need to find a place
to end it. Oftentimes, people have the tendency to just run it into an
existing vertex, leaving one of those nasty triangles.

Figure 3-6

19

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

The answer is to avoid temptation and instead of ending at a vertex,

go to the midpoint of the edge and continue around.

Figure 3-7

Now draw an edge from the midpoint of the angled edge to the nearest vertex. Repeat this process wherever you need to. Even though
the shape may still resemble a triangle, it contains the same number
of points as a quad (see Figure 3-8). The important thing to note
here is that a quad doesnt have to look like a rectangle; it just needs
to have four points.

Figure 3-8

20

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

This can be repeated an infinite number of times, adding a great

amount of detail and, most importantly, youre working entirely with
quads.

Figure 3-9

Another method of building with quads is to start out in a similar

fashion to the first example by drawing your edge to the midpoint
and continuing along your path.

Figure 3-10

21

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

However, this time instead of drawing a line from the vertex to the
angled edges midpoint, simply collapse the angled edge.

Figure 3-11

Pretty cool, huh? That is all it takes. Now you should be able to
build anything with quads, no problemo!

Extruding Pitfalls
Lets take a look at some other issues that may pop up while you
are modeling. In this book we will be doing a lot of extruding. One
thing to remember about extrusions is that every edge surrounding
your selected faces will produce a new face when extruded. Now
this is fine and dandy for the most part, and it should work exactly
like you would expect. Problems can arise, however, when you
extrude a face from a border or open edge.
What is a border edge? An example of a border edge would be
the outside edge of a plane. But the open edge that you have to be
watchful of is the border edge you get when you divide your model
in half.

22

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

It is a common practice to mirror a model when working on

something symmetrical such as a characters body or a fighter
plane. When you mirror the model you can create an instance of the
original that allows you to operate on one side and see the same
results on the other. The problem arises when you extrude a face
that has an interior open edge, as shown in Figure 3-12.

Figure 3-12

When you have a mirrored object you usually dont see the faces
that are created inside of your geometry. The problem is that having
a face inside the geometry that shares an edge with the outer surface or shell can create unwanted results when smoothed. This is a
no-no.
The simple fix is to delete that interior face as soon as you see
it. This is just one of those little things to be conscious of while you
are modeling.

23

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Cant Get a Hard Edge!

One other issue that seems to pop up quite often is adding sharp
detail to a smoothed model, such as adding the hard edge of a belt
that looks like it is a separate piece of geometry when it is actually
part of the original mesh. The smoothing algorithms in Maya (or
any other software for that matter) always want to round out the
surface of the geometry, thus giving it that organic quality.
Maya will draw a curved surface between all edges when the
smooth node is applied. The smaller the distance between two
edges, the tighter the curve. Therefore, the way to make an edge
look hard is to tighten up the control mesh by adding new edge
loops very close to the loop you want to harden.

Figure 3-13

24

Figure 3-14: Add edge loops close to the loop

you want hardened.

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Normals
When we refer to soft edges we are not talking about smoothing.
Depending on your settings, an object such as a sphere may appear
to have a hard edge surrounding each face, giving it that disco ball
appearance. This is referred to as faceted.

Figure 3-15

In order to get rid of those hard edges, we need to soften them. We

do so by adjusting normals; in this case, Normals | Soften Edge [v7:
Polygons | Normals]. Normals play a very important role in the 3D
realm but are often ignored, especially by the novice user. A normal
is an indicator of sorts of the direction a face or vertex is pointing in
relation to the view. For the most part, when an object is created the
normal will point straight out from the face in a perpendicular
fashion.

25

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Figure 3-16

Vertex normals are a bit harder to comprehend. They may look as if

they are pointing in random directions on the faceted sphere.

Figure 3-17

In reality, they are pointing to angles that will allow the edges to
appear hard. Notice that there are four normals projecting from each
vertex. These represent the corner vertices of each face. In this

26

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

example, four separate faces all share the same corner vertex, and
each vertex has its own normal.
What you are doing when you make the edges soft is moving
the vertex normals so that they are all pointing in the same direction. This adjustment of a normal coupled with the normals around
it give the surface a smoother appearance.

Figure 3-18

Softening the normals, unlike the smooth node, does not add geometry to your object, so you will still have the appearance of hard
edges around the outside of your object. You will notice no difference between hard or soft normals when you apply a smooth node
to your geometry. Hard edges can, however, be added once you have
applied the smooth node. This is not recommended. I always try to
add the detail of my character at the base level, not after it has been
smoothed.
Normals are often used in game modeling that requires a low
polygon count. In this case, maintaining an organic character is done
by softening edges. One other place that normals play a role is in
matching up the seams of two separate pieces of geometry, such as
a hand and an arm. When the vertex from one object shares the
exact x, y, z, coordinates as a vertex from another object, they are
said to be co-incidental vertices. Therefore, normals for each vertex
must be identical where two objects meet to create an invisible
seam when the object is drawn in the game engine.
27

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Finally, and most importantly, normals are key to normal mapping. Go figure. In the simplest terms, normal maps are created
from calculating each normal in conjunction with the direction of
light (vector), thus producing a color indicating how that particular
normal is to be represented when rendered. Wow, thats a mouthful!
Figure 3-19 shows an example of a low-poly character model on the
right and the same model with a normal map applied on the left.

Figure 3-19

UV Layout
Lets take some time here to talk about texture mapping. In almost
all cases youre probably going to texture your object. There are
numerous ways to go about this process.
The old school way is to get in there and unwrap that thing and
then try to adjust your UVs so that there is no noticeable stretching.
This approach is fortunately becoming obsolete.
Basically, UVs represent the position of the vertices of your
model in 2D space. You will notice that once a UV map has been
applied to an object, all of the vertices of your object will be represented as UVs. UVs and vertices are not the same thing. This just
seems like the easiest way to explain them. Adjusting UVs in the
UV Editor does not move the vertices of your geometry. It merely
matches the UVs up to pixels on your texture map.

28

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

The ideal UV map exactly matches the face size, edge length,
and vertex positions as they appear in 3D space. Any variation will
cause stretching and pinching of the texture when applied to the
model. Before you get too worried, know that it is not always possible to create perfect UVs. There are, however, new methods to
make the process considerably easier.
One of the most common ways to make sure you have minimal
stretching of your texture is to use a marking map. This is a texture
normally comprised of squares that may contain numbers or letters.
In many cases, a checkerboard map would work just as well.

Figure 3-20: A marking map.

One of the relatively newer methods is called pelt mapping. This

process, which was originated in 3ds Max 8, gives the user the
option of simply selecting edges that are used as seams. The model
is then unfolded in a pelt-like fashion using the seams as a guide
(see Figure 3-21). From this point you can make adjustments to
ensure that your texture is evenly spaced. Using this pelt method
makes it rather simple to eliminate all that stretching that we used
to have to fight to get rid of. One of the few downsides to pelting is
that it is somewhat difficult to determine what you are looking at
when you bring your UV exported image into a photo editing program to paint. This, however, can be minimized by proper
placement of your edge seams.

29

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Figure 3-21: A pelt map.

One other new method is a ZBrush plug-in called ZAppLink. This

allows the user to export, for lack of a better term, a screen grab of
the object. It then ports it immediately into Photoshop where it can
be edited at will. When you are through editing that particular view,
you simply save it. Back in ZBrush, you merely accept the changes
and voil! The texture now has these particular changes. This can
be done with the model at any angle, therefore eliminating stretching of any sort.
The really amazing thing about ZAppLink is that technically you
dont have to lay out any UVs; you could let ZBrush do all the work.
When you do, a cube map or UVW map is created. What this means
is that the texture will be comprised of little squares. So if you were
to use the ZAppLink method to completely texture your model, this
would not be an issue. In fact, it works great if you intend to use the
texture for one unique model only.
Where this cube map creates problems in when you need to
produce multiple versions of a texture. A good example of this
would be team jerseys for a football game.

30

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

The reason cube maps can be problematic is in the fact that if

you look at the texture that is created, you have absolutely no idea
which end is up. As a standalone map it is indecipherable just a
bunch of squares with no rhyme or reason.

Figure 3-22: A cube map created with

ZAppLink.

Even if you use ZAppLink to create your textures, it is always good

to create your own UV layout for your model. This gives you total
control of the assets you are working with and, believe me, total
control is a very good thing. (With total control comes great responsibility, including the pain of laying out proper UVs, which is one of
the necessary evils that will pay off big-time in the long run.)
So with that in mind, lets talk about some of the more commonly used texture layouts. As I said earlier, pelt mapping is the
current one-stop shop for UV layouts, but I think it is still necessary
to talk about some of the more commonly used texture layouts.
First and foremost we have planar mapping. Think of this like a
movie projector shining an image on the screen. This works great
for surfaces that are mostly flat or have only a slight curve. Youll
notice from Figure 3-23 that the more the geometry curves away
from the projected plane, the more it stretches the image map.

31

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Figure 3-23: Planar mapping

Cylindrical mapping will wrap the object like a label on a soup can.
This is good for mapping arms and legs.

Figure 3-24: Cylindrical mapping.

Spherical mapping is great for mapping a globe. Lets see, its also
really good for mapping a globe. I think you get the picture.
Notice, however, that you will get some pinching where the map
meets at the poles.
32

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Figure 3-25: Spherical mapping.

Automatic mapping projects numerous planar maps from four all the
way up to 12 different angles. Each face is assigned to each projection based on its angle. Its hard to say that this is ideal for many
situations. The problem is that it really can make a mess of your
UVs, leaving it up to you to determine where each of the stray faces
it doesnt know what to do with belong. There are some good uses
for it, however. In some cases it can divide things up pretty well,
leaving you with a more manageable cleanup.

Figure 3-26: Automatic mapping.

33

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

The Sculpt Geometry Tool

The Sculpt Geometry tool is going to play a major role in our modeling approach in this book. At certain intervals we will use this tool
to aid in the modeling process. I use this tool a great deal in order to
achieve the smooth organic form of the human body.
As you learn to control the sculpting tool you will become very
proficient in fleshing out your character in a short amount of time.
This is, however, probably one of the hardest tools to utilize to your
advantage, especially in the beginning stages. Like any tool,
whether it be a pencil, a paintbrush, or a mouse for that matter, the
Sculpt Geometry tool takes a little getting used to.
Lets take a look at the Sculpt Geometry tool. Select Mesh |
Sculpt Geometry Tool p [v7: Edit Polygons | Sculpt Geometry Tool
p]. The Sculpt Geometry Tool window should pop up (see Figure
3-27). The most important things to know about the settings are:

4 When using the Smooth

operation, set Max Displacement rather low

somewhere around
0.005.

4 When using the Push or

Pull operations, the Max

Displacement setting
should be set to a higher
value, such as 0.2 to 0.4.

4 Using Auto Smooth in

conjunction with the

Push or Pull operation is
recommended. Your
Smooth Strength should
be set to 2 when using a
smaller Max Displacement, and then set
higher when you
increase the Max Displacement.

34

Figure 3-27

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

There are two approaches that I normally use. One is to work on

the object as is, and the other is to apply a smooth node and then
use the Sculpt Geometry tool. The trick to the latter approach is to
apply a smooth node on the object, then delete the smooth node.
This process can be simplified if you utilize the goModTools.mel
script. (See the section in this chapter called Go Tools for information about this script.) If you use a script you can set up the
buttons you use most often into one toolbox. The goModTools.mel
script does just this, and is described in detail a little later in this
chapter.
What this approach does is allow you to sculpt on a higherresolution model. The more geometry, the smoother the sculpt.
Once you are satisfied with the results, you then step back to your
lower-resolution control mesh. The mesh will retain about 80 percent of the tweaking, which makes it a lot less tedious to manually
move vertices here and there to form the model. Once you nail
down this approach you are going to see vast improvements in your
finished model.
The key to using the Sculpt Geometry tool effectively is to use
what I call the touch and click method. What I mean by this is that
as soon as you touch the model, click and release the left mouse
button. This is the way to control the effect of the operation. You
will find this most useful when using the Sculpt Geometry Tool |
Smooth operation. When using the Sculpt Geometry Tool | Pull
operation, dont be afraid of moving the geometry out too far. You
can easily go back in with the Smooth to make the adjustments.
This process, in conjunction with moving verts on the base
mesh, is a rather unique approach, but at the same time is becoming
more the norm with the addition of ZBrush to your modeling
arsenal.
Lets take a few minutes to experiment with this approach.
1. In a new scene create a sphere with the default settings. Now
lets mess with our sphere. If you are totally unfamiliar with
the Sculpt Geometry tool, try out its buttons and play around
with the tool, changing the settings as you go. Alright, times
up! If your sphere got totally messed up during your noodling,
simply delete it and create a new one.
2. Take a look at Figure 3-28. In this case we want to apply one
level of Smooth to our sphere. However, we will still want to
35

Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

be able to step back to our original control mesh. In order to

do that, we need to make sure that we have our Construction
History on. When the smooth node is applied it actually creates a polySmoothFace node. If you look in the Channel Box, it
should show up under the Inputs list. Using the Sculpt Geometry tool, try to recreate Mr. Blobby on your own.

Figure 3-28

3. Now once you are satisfied with the effects of the Sculpt,
select the polySmoothFace node in the Inputs list. This in
turn will highlight the selection in your Outliner. Click on the
polySmoothFace node in the Outliner and then delete it.
This should return you to your original sphere with the modifications you made with the Sculpt Geometry tool. Once again,
the Go Tools (goModTools.mel) interface (which well discuss
in just a bit) will handle this process much more efficiently.
You may notice that the areas that were pulled away from the
original sphere didnt look quite as smooth as you would like
when the smooth node was applied. This is because as we
pulled the geometry out, we ended up with polygons stretching to cover the distance (see Figure 3-29). So, in order to
clean this up we will add some additional faces to these areas.

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Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Figure 3-29

4. Select Edit Mesh | Insert Edge Loop Tool p [v7: Edit

Polygons | Split Edge Ring Tool p] and add a couple of edge
loops to the protruding areas of your control mesh. If you like,
you can also adjust the vertices. Once you are satisfied, add
the smooth node again.

Figure 3-30

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Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

5. You will notice that those areas are now considerably

smoother thanks to the addition of a few edge loops on your
control mesh. At this point you can use the Sculpt Geometry
tool once again to flesh out your model.

Figure 3-31

So in a nutshell, this is the entire process we will be using as we

model our character in the following chapters. The cycle is sculpting, adding geometry, then sculpting, then adjusting your control
mesh, and so on and so on.
There is no rule that says this is the definitive way to model.
You may feel more comfortable spending your time moving the
geometry on a base level to complete the entire modeling process.
It will be just as effective as the method I have described above,
only slower.
In fact there will be stages in the modeling process where manually adjusting the control mesh will be unavoidable. Either way you
go, I think that looking at your mesh with a smooth node applied or
using Proxy | Subdiv Proxy [v7: Polygons | Smooth Proxy] during
the stages of the modeling progression is essential.

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Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Object and World Coordinates

For some of you this might be obvious, but if you are relatively wet
behind the ears, you really need to know the difference between
world coordinates and object coordinates.
Take a look in the lower left-hand corner of any viewport. You
should see a little XYZ thingamabob. This is actually your world
coordinates. It shows you where the XYZ axes are pointing in relation to the camera you are currently looking through.
1. Quickly create a cube. Select it and apply the Move Manipulator by pressing W. You should see that the coordinates of the
cube are exactly the same as the world coordinates.

Figure 3-32

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Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

2. Now rotate the cube. Press W again. Notice that although the
cube is rotated, its pivot is still aligned to the world.

Figure 3-33

3. Go to Modify | Transformation Tools4Move Tool p.

When the dialog pops up, under Move Settings, switch from
World to Object.

Figure 3-34: Change the Move Settings to Object.

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Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

4. If you look at the cube you will notice that now the local axis
(pivot) is aligned to the cube and no longer aligned to the
world.

Figure 3-35

There are great advantages to being able to switch back and

forth between world and object coordinates. Many times you
will want to align an object based on the object coordinates.
5. Make two duplicates of the cube. Scale them so that you have
a large, a medium, and a small cube. In perspective view,
switch back to world coordinates and try to stack them as
shown in Figure 3-36.

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Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Figure 3-36

Pretty hard to do, huh?

6. Now switch back to object coordinates and stack the cubes.
Get the idea?

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Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Go Tools
Included on the companion CD are a
handful of scripts. The one I would
like to talk about a little here is the
goModTools.mel script, which
creates the custom Go Tools dialog
(see Figure 3-37). Oftentimes when
modeling you get in a groove and
find that some of the smallest things
seem to impede your progress. Well,
this little script is designed to eliminate a lot of those issues by allowing
you to access common commands
quickly and easily from one toolbox.
The toolbox itself is split up into
Figure 3-37
various tabs that allow you to
quickly move between tasks. I
developed this script from my own needs as a modeler. Each time I
came across a command I found difficult to access I added it to the
script. I hope you find it useful in your modeling.
Here is a list of features included in the Go Tools box:
Object Switches selection to Object mode.
Wireframe Sets selected object to Wireframe mode.
Shaded Sets selected object to Shaded mode.
BFCull ON Sets backface culling on.
BFCull OFF Sets backface culling off.
Component Switches selection to Component mode.
Vertex Escapes tool and sets component selection to
Vertex.
Edge Escapes tool and sets component selection to Edge.
Face Escapes tool and sets component selection to Face.
Paint Select Faces Sets selection to Paint Faces mode.
Paint Selected Vertex Sets selection to Paint Vertex mode.
Paint Selected Edges Sets selection to Paint Edge mode.
Select Edge Loop Performs Maya Select Edge Loop
command.
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Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Select Edge Ring Performs Maya Select Edge Ring

command.
Select Component Sets selection to select vertices, edges, or
faces by clicking on or bounding box selecting components
(default selection type).
Select Element Sets selection to select all vertices, edges, or
faces by clicking on an individual component. This works like
Grow Select but instantly selects the entire contiguous
geometry.
Modeling Tab
Split Poly Accesses the Split Polygon tool.
Sculpt Poly Accesses the Sculpt Geometry tool.
Fix Sculpt This button will perform a fix when the
Sculpt Geometry tool fails to work. It is meant to
work on an object with mirrored geometry.
Insert Edge Loop Accesses the Insert Edge Loop tool
[v7: Split Edge Ring tool].
Extrude Face Accesses the Extrude Face tool.
Extrude Faces Separately Extracts each selected face
individually.
Extrude Edge Accesses the Extrude Edge tool.
Merge Vertex Accesses the Merge Vertices option box.
Collapse Edge Accesses the Collapse tool.
Delete Vertex Accesses the Delete Vertex tool.
Delete Edge Accesses the Delete Edge tool.
Append Poly Accesses the Append to Polygons tool.
Cont. Edge Accesses the Edge Loop Utilities | To Edge
Loop option.
Border Edge Selects the border edge of a geometry.
Center Border Edge Use to straighten the center
border edge of a mirrored geometry.
Poly Extras Tab
Smooth Adds one smooth node to geometry.
Delete Smooth Removes most recently applied
polySmoothFace node.

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Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Instance X Creates an instanced geometry on the X-axis.

Instance Y Creates an instanced geometry on the
Y-axis.
Instance Z Creates an instanced geometry on the
Z-axis.
Smooth Normals Performs All Soft on selected geometry.
Subdiv Proxy [v7: Smooth Proxy] Creates a smooth proxy
model for the selected geometry.
Combine An improvement on Mayas Combine. This will
combine the selected geometry and allow you to immediately name the new object. It will also remove the
leftover transform nodes that are no longer necessary.
Symmetry Merge Very useful for stitching together the
edges of two halves of a selected geometry.
Center Pivot Aligns the pivot point to the center of the
selected geometry.
Create Layer Creates a new layer using the new name of
the selected geometry. It will also add the geometry into
the newly created layer.
Extract Faces Simplifies the Maya face extraction. As the
name indicates, it will separate the selected faces from
the geometry.
Duplicate Faces Creates a duplicate of the selected faces,
keeping them as part of the selected geometry.
Rigging Tab
Smooth Bind Skins a geometry to a joint system.
Weighting Tools Accesses Maya weighting tools.
Bind Pose Returns joint system to the pose in which the
model was initially skinned.
Mirror Weights Calls up the Mirror Weights option box.
Delete Bind Pose This is useful in some cases where you
may find it necessary to bind additional geometry in a different pose. It can also resolve scaling issues when the
skeleton was scaled after an animation was applied.
Create Joint Calls up the Joint tool.
IK Handle Creates an IK link.

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Chapter 3: A Modeling Primer

Orient Joint Zup Allows you to adjust the local rotational

axis of each joint so that they all point the same
direction.
Yup
Xup
Rotation Angle On/Off Toggles the local rotation angle on
or off for all the joints in the scene.
Freeze Transforms Calls the Freeze Transform tool.
Editors Tab This tab contains all of the most commonly used
editors in one convenient menu.
Delete History Using this button will only delete history if an
object is selected, and therefore will only delete the history on
that particular object. This prevents you from accidentally
deleting the history on everything in your scene. This could
be a big issue, especially if you have weighted geometry.
Clear Dead Nodes This is an extremely useful script written
by Mike Hovland. It will clear out any extraneous nodes that
are left in your scene. Maya is notorious for accumulating
nodes that are no longer associated with anything currently in
the scene. The Clear Dead Nodes script will get rid of these
nodes and then save your nice and clean file.

Wrap-Up
So in review, we learned some of the little tricks to creating models
that are entirely quad based. We also discussed some of the issues
that might crop up while you model and what to do to resolve them.
We also talked a bit about the types of mapping available. We
will, of course, go into more detail on this subject in later chapters.
We took a quick look at the Sculpt Geometry tools, which we will
use extensively throughout this book. In addition, you got a sneak
peek at a very useful modeling toolbox.
In next chapter we will start on our character! About time, huh?
So from here on out, all the yakking I do will be character centric.
Let the yakking begin!

46

Chapter 4

Beginning the
Modeling Process
Reference
Refer to Chapter_4 on the companion CD.
We first need to set up our reference. Whether you base your model
on a skeleton or images is really up to you. Ill try to facilitate both
approaches where it seems necessary. For example, when we model
the details of the head, the photo reference will give us more bang for
the buck. You can use the reference skeleton and photos provided on
the companion CD or use your own.
We will now set up our image planes for our photo reference. If
you are already familiar with this practice, you can use the
Chapter4_start.mb file on the companion CD and skip ahead to the
next section. If this is something new, do yourself a favor and stick
with me through the setup process.
1. First, open the Chapter4_skeleton.mb file on the companion
CD. In your front view on the Panels menu, select View |
Image Plane4Import Image, then select the appropriate
front image. If you are using the images from the CD, select
Lucy_body_front.jpg. The image will appear in your front
viewport. Because Maya has a tendency to randomize the scale
of the imported image, look in the Channel Box and set your
Height and Width to 30. You will need to adjust the Center Y so
that the feet reside a bit closer to the center grid line.

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

2. Switch to the side view and do the same, this time selecting
the side view image (Lucy_body_side.jpg) from the CD.
Make sure you plug in the same height and width settings and
also any adjustment you have made to the Center Y as you did
with the front view. You may also find it better to move your
image planes back behind the gridlines by adjusting your Center Z in the front view and your Center X in the side view. The
image planes should now line up with the skeleton, as shown
in Figure 4-1.

Figure 4-1

You will notice that the images and the skeleton are not a perfect
match. This is not a major concern. Early in the process we will use
the skeleton to merely get the basic human proportions. Later on
when we start adding detail, we will rely more on the reference
images to flesh out the model. The file Chapter4_start.mb on the
companion CD contains this entire scene.

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

Blocking out the Body

1. Before we start, choose Edit Mesh | Keep Faces Together
[v7: Polygons | Tool Options4Keep Faces Together] and
make sure there is a check mark next to Keep Faces
Together. This will ensure that your faces will remain
together when you extrude.
2. We will start the building process with a simple cube. First
select Create | Polygon Primitives and uncheck Interactive Creation on the bottom of the panel. This will default to
the old Maya standard of creating the geometry at the origin.
Select Create | Polygon Primitives4Cube p. When the
dialog box pops up, set your Subdivisions along the Width to 2.
By extruding and cutting in we should achieve our standard
base model in a short amount of time.
3. Now we want to align the cube with the upper torso. Move the
cube and resize it as necessary to line up with the rib cage. By
right-clicking on your cube and selecting Vertex, you can then
line up your vertices so it looks similar to the images in Figure
4-2. Make sure you are adjusting the vertices in both the front
and side views.

Figure 4-2

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

Dont be too concerned with the fact that your vertices dont
line up with your reference exactly. Remember, we are simply
blocking things in right now.
4. Next, we need to extrude the bottom two polygons down to
around the top of the hips. With the polygons selected, choose
Edit Mesh | Extrude [v7: Edit Polygons | Extrude Face].
Once again, use your front and side views to align your vertices as closely as possible to your reference.
5. Extrude the bottom polys down once more to line up roughly
between the top of the hips and the base (bottom) of the pelvic
bone, as shown in Figure 4-3.

Figure 4-3

6. Extrude the bottom polys one last time so that they line up
with the bottom of the pelvic bone. In the front view, scale the
polygons horizontally along the X-axis so as to form the crotch
region. Now in the side view, scale the polygons along the
Z-axis. Go back and adjust your vertices on the model wherever you feel it is necessary. You should now have something
similar to Figure 4-4.

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

Figure 4-4

7. Next we will use the Insert Edge Loop tool. Select Edit Mesh
| Insert Edge Loop Tool p [v7: Edit Polygons | Split Edge
Ring Tool p]. When the dialog box opens, make sure your settings are as follows:

Figure 4-5

8. Use the Insert Edge Loop tool to cut a new edge loop midway
down the chest between the shoulders and the bottom of the
rib cage. Do the same between the rib cage and the top of the
hips. Look at Figure 4-6 to make sure you have it right.

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

Figure 4-6

9. Select the two faces on the top of the body and use the
Extrude tool to scale them in with the X and Z scale cubes on
the Extrude manipulator.

Figure 4-7

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

10. Now, with the same two faces selected, extrude them up to
where the neck meets the base of the skull. Extrude the two
faces again to align with the top of the head.

Figure 4-8

11. Select the two faces on the front of the head and extrude them
forward to line up with the front of the skull. With the Extrude
manipulator still selected, scale the faces down on the Y-axis.
12. Add three edge loops around the neck. Make sure that one is
relatively close to the jaw line.
13. Now, select the faces closest to the back on either side of the
head and scale them out on the X-axis until they align with
each side of the skull, as shown in Figure 4-9.

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

Figure 4-9

14. Add three edge loops horizontally around the head. Create
another loop that starts at the top of the head and wraps down
under the chin.

Figure 4-10

15. Still using the Insert Edge Loop tool, create an edge that
starts at the top of the head and continues down the side of the
body. When you create this loop you should hold down the
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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

mouse button and slide the loop so it is in back of the arm. Finish it out by creating another loop that starts at the top of the
head, runs down the side of the head, and continues down
around the side of the body. When you create this loop you
should hold down the mouse button and slide the loop forward
so it is in front of the arm (see Figure 4-11). Well get back to
the head later.

Figure 4-11

16. We should now take the time to do a bit of housecleaning. First

off, we need to name our object something other than pCube1.
Select the name in either the Outliner or the Channel Box and
rename it baseModel. Now that we have our model named,
we can assign it to its own layer. If your Layer Editor is not
currently open on the right side of the screen, turn it on by
clicking the Show Layer Editor button at the top of the
Channel Box. Create a new layer and call it baseModel_L.
Right-click on the layer and click the Add Selected Objects
button.
17. Delete History and save your file!
18. From here on out we will only concern ourselves with the left
side of the body. So lets go ahead and delete half of our model
by selecting all of the faces to the left (in a front view) and hitting the Delete key. We will now duplicate the remaining half
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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

on the X-axis by opening Edit | Duplicate Special p [v7:

Edit | Duplicate p]. When the dialog box appears, match your
settings to Figure 4-12 by setting the Scale to 1.0000,
1.0000, 1.0000 and the Geometry Type to Instance.

Figure 4-12

You should now have a mirrored version of your original geometry. Whenever you perform an operation on one side of the
model, the same action will be mirrored across to the other
side. This is a common practice for creating symmetrical models. It makes things quite a bit easier!
19. Name the instanced geometry baseInstance. Lets assign the
instanced geometry to its own layer. Create a new layer and
call it baseInstance_L. Assign the geometry to the new layer.
For the moment, go ahead and turn off the visibility of
baseInstance_L.
One annoying factor about modeling with mirrored geometry
is that sometimes the vertices along the vertical centerline of
the model get moved. Sometimes I think they move when Im
not looking. It becomes necessary to stop what youre doing
and realign the vertices. You can do this by selecting Select |
Select Border Edge Tool [v7: Edit | Select Border Edge
Tool], and then double-clicking any of the border edges. When
you do, all the border edges will become selected. Then you
can switch to the Scale tool to realign them.
20. An easier way to do this is to use the Border Edge button on
the Go Tools toolbox. Click the button and then double-click
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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

any border edge. Then right-click the Border Edge button to

automatically realign the border edge.

Figure 4-13

21. Using the Insert Edge Loop tool, click any horizontal edge on
the front of the torso. You should end up with an edge loop that
runs vertically down the middle of the model, from the top of
the head down through the crotch.

Figure 4-14

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

22. Select the top edge on the front of the model right around the
collarbone and move it down slightly. Now select the top edge
on the back on top of the shoulder blades and pull it down as
well. On the front of the torso, select the outside edges of your
model and move them in toward the center (see Figure 4-15).

Figure 4-15

23. Select the edge along the outside of the back of the torso and
move it forward on the Z-axis.

Figure 4-16

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

24. Now well start on the arm. Select the uppermost polygon on
the left side of the body (the one closest to the back) and
extrude it by choosing Edit Mesh | Extrude [v7: Edit Polygons | Extrude Face]. Toggle the manipulator so that it is in
world space coords. Do this by clicking the light blue circle
that extends outside of the manipulator. Pull the face out a bit
on the X-axis by selecting the red handle. Click on any one of
the cubes at the end of the manipulator handles. This will
allow you to scale the face. Select the cube at the center of the
manipulator and scale the face down so it looks similar to Figure 4.17.

Figure 4-17

25. Extrude the face again, this time down to meet the elbow. You
will have to rotate the poly as well to get the correct angle.
Make some additional adjustments by scaling the polygon
down a bit. Extrude again down to the wrist (keep the manipulator in its default local coords).
26. Now we are going to add a little twist in the literal sense!
Click on the large light blue circle on your manipulator. This
will activate the rotational manipulator. Rotate the face along
its local Z-axis by grabbing the blue circle. Rotate toward the
front of the body so that the face is roughly 90 degrees from its

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

original position. Doing this accounts for the position of the

radius and ulna bones of the forearm.
27. Extrude one final time down to about where the fingers would
begin. Be sure to adjust the geometry to match up to your
reference.

Figure 4-18

If you are finding it difficult to make adjustments on the arm,

here is a little trick: Make sure you have both the original and
instanced geometry selected and then rotate the two about 35
degrees on the Z-axis or until the left arm is parallel to the
ground plane. This way all of the operations on your arm will
be aligned to an axis (see Figure 4-19). It is considerably easier to work this way. Just make sure that when you finish
tweaking, you type in 0 in the Rotate X panel to bring your
geometries back to their original positions.

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Figure 4-19

28. Select the three angular faces along the side of the pelvis and
extrude down to just above the knee. Again, move, scale, and
rotate the polygons around as necessary to match the
reference.
29. Extrude again to the center of the knee, and one more time to
just below the knee. Finish up by extruding down to the ankle
and once more to the bottom of the foot.

Figure 4-20

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

30. In Edge mode, select the front edge at the base of the foot and
move it up along the Y-axis. If this is not clear, compare the
location of the edge in Figure 4-20 to where it is in Figure 4-21
to see what I am referring to. Select the face beneath it and
extrude it forward on the Z-axis to right at the point where the
toes would start.

Figure 4-21

31. Later on in the book we will go into more detail about creating
the individual toes. For now, we will make one last extrusion
to the tip of the toes, giving us the impression that the character is wearing shoes. Lets also add two additional edge loops
as shown in Figure 4-22.

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

Figure 4-22

32. Before continuing, select the two edges on the inside of the
leg, right at the base of the pelvis, and move them in on the
X-axis toward the center of the model.

Figure 4-23

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

33. Starting at the center of your model between the top edge and
the one below it on the chest, use the Insert Edge Loop tool to
cut a continuous edge along the length of the arm, through the
center of the hand, and all the way around the back, ending at
the center of your geometry.

Figure 4-24

34. Starting at the top of the head right between the center and
back of the head, cut another edge along the length of the arm,
through the hand, and then down along the side of the body,
ending in the center of the crotch.

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Figure 4-25

35. Now we need to create additional subdivisions on our model

by creating more edge loops. With the Insert Edge Loop tool,
cut three edge loops around the arm between the elbow and
the wrist. Do the same between the shoulder and the elbow.

Figure 4-26

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

36. Place three additional loops between the hip and the knee and
another three between the knee and the ankle.

Figure 4-27

37. Delete History and save your file!

Now lets shift gears and use the Split Polygon tool. We are
going to create a new edge loop between the top of the shoulders and the one below it on the chest.
38. Start by clicking on the centerline of the model, then clicking
on the edges across the chest. Now, continue by clicking on
each edge over the top of the arm, as shown in Figure 4-28.

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

Figure 4-28

39. Now rotate around to the back and continue the cut by clicking
on the vertical edge at the base of the arm. Click on the edge
to the right and finish up by clicking on the centerline of the
figure.

Figure 4-29

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

40. Again, using the Split Polygon tool, click on the vertex that is
right in the middle of the back of the arm where it meets the
shoulder area. Click on the back edge of the top of the arm to
the left of the previous edge you just created.

Figure 4-30

41. Continue by cutting over the top of the arm and then end on
the vertex in the middle of the front of the arm at the base of
the shoulder. Press Enter to end the command.

Figure 4-31

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

42. Well take care of those nasty triangles in few minutes. Switch
to Vertex mode and select the new vertices we created at the
top of the arm. Adjust them so that they look similar to Figure
4-32.

Figure 4-32

43. Before we go any further lets take a moment to soften up

some of these hard edges. First, make sure your geometry is
selected and select Normals | Soften Edge [v7: Edit Polygons | Normals4Soften/Harden4All Soft (180)]. Now you
have soft edges, making your model appear a tad smoother.
Also at this point we could round out the features by averaging
some of the vertices.
44. In Vertex mode, select all of the vertices on your model to the
right of center, leaving the verts running down the middle of
the torso unselected. Go to Mesh | Average Vertices p [v7:
Polygons | Average Vertices p]. When the dialog box opens,
set the Iterations to 2 and hit the Average button. You should
notice that the model has lost a lot of the boxy feel and is a
bit more rounded out. It also may appear quite a bit thinner,
but not to worry. This alleviates a lot of the manual tweaking
we would need to do to achieve a similar result.

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Figure 4-33

45. Delete History and save your file!

46. Use the Insert Edge Loop tool to add another loop around the
center of the rib cage. Before releasing the mouse button,
slide the ring up a bit so it resides closer to the edge directly
above it. In Vertex mode, select the vertices as shown in Figure 4-34 and move them down and slightly out as illustrated.

Figure 4-34

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

47. Now lets take a look at the hand. In Vertex mode, adjust the
vertices so the centerline on the hand runs between the middle and ring fingers.

Figure 4-35

48. Using the Insert Edge Loop tool, click on the centerline on the
top of the hand. This will create a new loop that runs around
the middle of the hand. Now select the new loop to the left of
the centerline and click. You should now have a loop that
starts at the triangle on the back of the shoulder and continues
through the hand and stops at the front triangle near the
shoulder, converting both triangles into quads.
49. Now click the same loop to the right of the centerline. This
will give you a loop that runs through the back and up across
the chest as shown in Figure 4-36.

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

Figure 4-36

You should now have four sections at the front of the hand
divided by an edge through the middle.
50. Select the two polygons for the index finger and use Edit
Mesh | Extrude [v7: Edit Polygons | Extrude Face] to pull
them out a bit. Repeat the process for the three remaining
fingers and scale the faces so they look like Figure 4-37.

Figure 4-37

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

51. Select each of the four finger sections and independently

extrude them to line up with the tip of each finger on the skeletal reference. Use the Insert Edge Loop tool to create a loop
to account for each joint of the fingers. Remember that you
can rotate the figure so that the arm is parallel to the ground
plane in order to make this process easier. Now adjust the
position and scale of each finger to match the skeletal reference. Check out Figure 4-38.

Figure 4-38

52. Create two additional loops between the tip of each finger and
the next joint up. Do the same between the rest of the joints
on all of the fingers.

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

Figure 4-39

53. Use the Insert Edge Loop tool to add another loop on the hand
near the wrist. Now grab the two faces on the thumb side of
the hand closer to the wrist. Extrude the face out to the first
thumb joint, and then again to the tip of the thumb.
54. The thumb involves a bit of tweaking. Select all of the faces
that make up the thumb and rotate them about 45 degrees.
Create two additional loops between each joint.

Figure 4-40

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

55. Lets go back to the body and add a few more edge loops. Add
three loops between the bottom of the pelvis and the next
edge up. These loops will follow a path down along the front of
the leg and around to the back.

Figure 4-41

56. Lets get back to the head. In the side view, turn on Wireframe
mode so that you can see the reference head.

Figure 4-42

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Chapter 4: Beginning the Modeling Process

57. Select the bottom vertices on the front of the face and move
them so that they sit at the front of the mouth. The vertices up
from the ones at the teeth should be moved up to just below
the nose. The next set up should sit around the middle of the
nose. Move the next set of verts to around the center of the
eye socket. The next set up should move down to the crest of
the brow ridge.

Figure 4-43

58. Compare Figure 4-43 to Figure 4-42 to see how the vertices
have moved.
59. Continue to move the vertices on the head by following the
example in Figure 4-44. Compare Figure 4-44 to Figure 4-43
so that you can see the original position of the vertices as well
as where they should subsequently be moved.

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Figure 4-44

60. Select the faces on the side of the head and then switch to a
perspective view. Using the Scale tool, scale the faces uniformly by selecting the center yellow cube on the manipulator.
It should look similar to Figure 4-45. Well pick back up on the
head in the next chapter, ironically titled Building the Head.

Figure 4-45

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61. Delete History and save your file!

62. Beyond averaging vertices we could also do a little manual
adjustment. Select Mesh | Sculpt Geometry Tool p [v7:
Edit Polygons | Sculpt Geometry Tool p]. When the dialog
pops up, select the Smooth radio button under Sculpt Parameters and set Max Displacement to 0.005. Drag the Sculpt
manipulator over the geometry. You will see the edges start to
become more rounded. Use the manipulator as a paintbrush
to soften and round out the figure.
63. In order to get some of the form in place we could also use the
Push and Pull sculpting tools. Be sure to select the Auto
Smooth check box when using Push and Pull. You may also
need to increase the Max Displacement as well. A good Max
Displacement setting for Pull and Push would be about 0.2 to
0.4, with a Smooth Strength of 2 to 4. (See The Sculpt
Geometry Tool in Chapter 3 for more information about this
tools use.)
Dont overdo it. Be sure to not continually hold down the left
mouse button. The approach you want to use here is to touch
the model and release the mouse button. This gives you the
ability to better control how much you are smoothing. You will
notice that if you smooth too much, the geometry will tighten
up more than you would want. So remember, a little at a time.
You should end up with something like Figure 4-46.

Figure 4-46

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Many times throughout the modeling process you may want to

apply a smooth node to your model or work with a subdivided proxy
to see how things are shaping up. I will often apply a Mesh |
Smooth [v7: Polygons | Smooth] and then delete it again and again
to see what I need to do on the lower-resolution model.
Here is another neat little trick. During the process of sculpting
to obtain more of that organic shape, you can apply a Smooth and
continue to sculpt on the higher-resolution model. Then by deleting
the polySmoothFace, you will still retain a lot of the sculpt that you
performed on the higher-resolution model on the original geometry.
Unfortunately, when you reapply the Smooth you wont get the
exact sculpting results, but believe me, it really does make things
go a lot easier. One other little hitch is that Maya sometimes gets a
bit screwy when you use the Sculpt Geometry tool. You may notice
as you are using it that you cant see any changes to the model. The
fix is to duplicate the model and then delete the original. The Go
Tools toolbox allows you to fix this by right-clicking on the Sculpt
Poly button under the Modeling tab.
At this point you may notice that the center of your model may
have been altered while you were using the Sculpt Geometry tool.
Use the Border Edge command to select the border and then scale
the centerline on the X-axis as explained previously. Adjusting the
centerline is something you will probably end up doing a lot when
using the Sculpt Geometry tool. Using the Border Edge button in
the Go Tools toolbox will make the process of straightening your
border edge painless.

Important Note
Before we call it quits on the blocking process, lets take a few minutes to make sure our model is lining up with the photo reference.
Up until now we have been using the skeleton as reference.
Remember way back when I told you that the images dont exactly
match the skeleton? Well, from here on out we are going to use the
photo reference almost exclusively, so the idea would be to make
sure things are lining up properly now while we are dealing with a
manageable amount of geometry.

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Wrap-Up
Okay, so lets review here. So far we have created a simple model
using our good friends the quads. The concept here was to quickly
get to a point where we have a solid base figure to work with.
Notice I use the word quickly here. Once you get the hang of it,
you should arrive at this point in no more than 20 minutes. Obviously this takes some practice, but once you have the formula down
it will be a breeze. Check out the BaseModel.avi file on the companion CD. In it, I go through the process in real time.
Some additional things you should have learned from this chapter are:

4 Use the Scale tool whenever you can to adjust geometry. It is a

lot easier and quicker than moving vertices, edges, and faces
manually.

4 Rotate your model when necessary to align the section you are
working on to the ground plane. This will allow you to take
advantage of working perpendicular and parallel to your X-, Y-,
and Z-axes.

4 Use layers to keep your scene organized.

4 Work exclusively with quads and get an understanding of how
to turn triangles into quadrangles.

4 Use the Sculpt Geometry tool to give your model a more

organic form.

4 Simple lines of scripting code can make repetitive tasks easier.

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Building the Head

Applying What Weve Learned
Refer to Chapter_5 on the companion CD.
So here we go. Ill tell you right now that the head is probably one of
the most difficult things to model. But youre not gonna let that stop
you, right? Oh no, you are a trouper, my friend, and youre going to
keep going no matter what! The way we are going to approach the
head is the same way we blocked out the body. We are going to use a
formula.
If you havent caught on yet, everything youve learned so far in
this book has been a standard formula that you can use over and over,
no matter what kind of character you are creating. Once you do it a
couple of times you will know it like the back of your proverbial hand!
This formula will get stuck in your brain and you will always know
where to begin with each character you build.
This is also true of the head, although there are a few more steps.
Your head will take shape and I think you will be pleased with the
results and how fast you get there. So buckle up and lets get going.
At this stage of the process we will constantly refer to a
smoothed proxy of our model to see our progress. You can use the
command Proxy | Subdiv Proxy [v7: Polygons | Smooth Proxy] to
create a smoothed version of your geometry with a lattice representing your original geometry above it. You can also try applying a
smooth node to your original geometry.

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The latter option will have you adding the smooth node to
check your progress and then removing it to get back your original
geometry. This process is simplified by using the Go Tools toolbox
described in Chapter 3.
Call me old school, but I tend to rely on this method of adding
and removing. I like to be able to quickly switch between my original and the smoothed model. Either way you decide to go is fine.
The resulting model will end up turning out the same regardless of
how you approach it.
We will also be using image planes more specific to the head.
Open Chapter5_start.mb. This contains the image planes already
set up for you. The images are contained in the Chapter5
sourceimages folder on the companion CD.
During the course of this chapter I will here and there mention
the need to refer to the smoothed model. Ideally, you should be
looking at it constantly to make sure things are looking hunky-dory.

Heads Up
Lets get the ball rolling by starting off in the side view. You may
notice that our points dont match up to the photo reference quite
the same way they did with the skeleton. Like I said before, this is
expected because the skeleton doesnt match up exactly to the photos. The idea was, of course, to get a strong base to work from and
you have accomplished that. You did read the last chapter, right?
Now initially we will deal more with getting all the features in the
right place. In other words, dont get too caught up in the likeness
right now. Well worry about that later in the modeling process.
1. Take a couple of minutes to arrange the verts to line up a bit
closer to the head in the reference image.

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Figure 5-1

2. In a perspective view, select the six faces on the front of the

face as indicated in Figure 5-2.

Figure 5-2

3. We now need to extrude these faces in a similar fashion to the

neck in the last chapter. We need to open Edit Mesh |
Extrude p [v7: Edit Polygons | Extrude Face p]. When the

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dialog opens, set the Offset under Settings to 2 (slider should

be all the way to the right) and hit the Apply button. (The dialog box may appear slightly different in Maya 7.) You will see
the selected faces shrink down, inset from their original
positions.

Figure 5-3

4. Next, well want to delete the three polygons that were created in the middle of the face when we made our extrusion.

Figure 5-4

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5. Select the original six faces that were part of the extrusion and
slide them on the X-axis toward the center of the head so that
you have a straight line down middle. If it doesnt line up perfectly on the centerline, select the vertices that make up the
centerline edge and scale them on the X-axis until they form a
straight line, as shown in Figure 5-5.

Figure 5-5

6. Make sure you have the extruded faces selected. Then, using
the Scale tool, scale the faces on the Y-axis until you get something similar to Figure 5-6.

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Figure 5-6

7. With the six faces still selected, switch to a side view. Scale
them and move them forward so they line up with the lips.

Figure 5-7

8. In a front view, select the two faces in the center of the mouth
and delete them.

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Figure 5-8

9. Now lets go ahead and line up all the vertices we created from
the extrusion to the lips of our reference image. Because we
dont as yet have enough points, we are looking for the basic
form of the lips here. The interior open edges that surround
the faces you just deleted should be more or less flattened on
the Y-axis so that the top and bottom edges meet.

Figure 5-9

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10. When youre satisfied with the front view, switch to the side
and pull the flattened edges back so that they line up with the
corner of the mouth on the reference image.

Figure 5-10

One of the more important things to note here is the vertices

that make up the corner of the mouth. It is crucial to get the
geometry in the right place so that the lips will look natural in
the finished model.
11. Align the rest of the vertices around the mouth to form the
outline of the lips.

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Figure 5-11

12. Next, we will need to add some additional edge loops. First,
with the Insert Edge Loop tool, add a concentric loop around
the mouth area. Hold down the left mouse button and adjust
the new loop so that it is very close to the outline of the lips.

Figure 5-12

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13. Add an additional loop, then, in a front and side view, move the
vertices so that they resemble Figures 5-13a and 5-13b. Notice
that the loop outlines the exterior of the lip shape.

Figure 5-13a

Figure 5-13b

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14. Create two additional edge loops one between the center of
the head and the next row over to the right, and another that
should be roughly down through the center of the eye. These
two loops will continue down around the torso of the model
and will be used later to help define the body.

Figure 5-14

15. Now we can adjust the previous edge loops that defined the
outline of the lips. Select the vertices on the upper lip and
move them down a bit on the Y-axis and then back on the
Z-axis. Do the same for the row of vertices on the bottom lip
as well. In order to get a good grasp on the position of these
vertices, rotate around the head in perspective view to make
sure they look correct.

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Figure 5-15

16. Add an additional edge loop in a similar fashion to the earlier

one, then hold down the middle mouse button and adjust the
new loop so that it is very close to the outline of the lips. This
will help define the slight edge that is visible around the edge
of the lips.

Figure 5-16

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17. Select the six faces around the eye and extrude them. If your
Extrude tools offset is still set to 2, the polygons should be
inset from their original position.

Figure 5-17

18. In front and side views, adjust the verts from the extruded
faces to match up with the interior part of the eyelid. When
you have finished, select the six interior faces and delete
them.

Figure 5-18a

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Figure 5-18b

19. Now select the vertex in the center of the head between the
eyes and pull it forward until it lines up with the bridge of the
nose.

Figure 5-19

20. Delete History and save!

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The next thing we need to do is start to form the head a bit.

21. First, in the side view, select the vertices on the lower part of
the jaw close to the neck. Move them down until they line up
with the reference.
22. We also want to move some of the verts along the side of the
head to round out the shape a bit. This is known as tweaking. It is not written in stone exactly how much to move each
vertex. We are just trying to get comfortable with the flow of
the geometry. In order to visualize this flow we need to be in
perspective view.
23. We need to rotate around the head and see if things are going
well. Where you need to round things out, select the vertices
and move them by dragging on a particular axis handle. This
will ensure that they are going exactly where you want them.
At this stage we are really just eliminating some of the areas
that appear to be flat, mainly around the chin and the side of
the head.

Figure 5-20

24. Now we need to spend a bit of time working on the neck. Use
the Sculpt Geometry tool with the Sculpt Parameters set to
Smooth to massage the neck area so that the polygons are a

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bit more evenly spaced. You can do this manually by moving

the vertices as well.

Figure 5-21

25. Now we want to go ahead and adjust the geometry to account

for the muscle that begins behind the jaw and ends at the center of the clavicle, known as the sternocleidomastoid.

Figure 5-22

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26. Rotate the view so that you can see underneath the chin.
Starting at the center of the model, select the vertex right
where the neck meets the jaw and also the vertex directly
beneath it, and move them slightly forward on the Z-axis. Do
the same with the next two vertices to the right, and then
again with the next set of vertices to the right. Adjust the vertices so that they have a slight arc beginning at the center of
the model.

Figure 5-23

27. Selecting the next two vertices to the right, scale them on the
Z-axis so that the top vertex is directly above the one below it,
then move them back on the Z-axis.

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Figure 5-24

28. Select the next vertex over to the right where the neck meets
the jawline and move it slightly back on the Z-axis and up on
the Y-axis. Skip the vertex directly below and select the next
two. Move them forward on the Z-axis.

Figure 5-25

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29. Adjust the vertices on the front of the neck so that they follow
a curve toward the center of the model. Thats about it for the
neck area for now.

Figure 5-26

30. Next, we will clean up the edge flow near the cheek of our
model. Although we have consistent quad-based edge loops,
sometimes it is necessary to redirect their flow. Using the
Split Polygon tool, start at the end of the edge on the side of
the mouth and continue around to the back of the head.

Figure 5-27

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31. Now draw an edge that begins at the corner of the triangle on
the cheek and continue down around the front of the chin.

Figure 5-28

32. Select the angled edge on the side of the cheek and delete it.
We have now redirected the flow of our edge loops.
33. Lets add another loop that begins just above the eyebrow and
circles down the front of the chin.

Figure 5-29

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34. Use the Split Polygon tool to create an edge loop that begins at
the center of the head between the eyes and wraps around the
outside of the eye and then back around over the bridge of the
nose. I often refer to this as the Lone Ranger mask.

Figure 5-30

35. Go back and collapse the two angled edges near the bridge of
the nose.

Figure 5-31

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36. With the Insert Edge Loop tool, add two concentric circles
that begin above the tip of the nose and wrap down around the
chin. Make sure that they are close together.
These will later help us define the nasal labia folds, or laugh
lines, that are most apparent when you smile.

Figure 5-32

37. Delete History and save!

38. Take some time and use the Sculpt Geometry tool to soften
the edges of the head a bit. Use the Smooth setting and the
touch and release method. Avoid the lip area at this point.

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Figure 5-33

39. Use the Split Polygon tool to create an edge loop that begins at
the inside part of the eye and then continues around to roughly
where the tip of the nose will be.

Figure 5-34

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40. Inside the loop you created in the previous step, create a loop
that starts at the center of the nose and ends at the vertex just
to the left of the eye.

Figure 5-35

41. Take care of the two triangles near the tip of the nose by drawing an edge from the center of each angle to the corresponding
vertex.

Figure 5-36

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42. Lets start to shape the nose a bit. By selecting two vertices at
a time the one at the centerline of the head and the next
one to its right move them to line up with the nose in a side
view.

Figure 5-37

43. When you get to the tip of the nose, select the upper two vertices and move them to the tip of the nose in your reference
image. Move the two underneath to just below the tip in front
of the nostrils.

Figure 5-38

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44. The remaining vertices should be positioned to form the

underneath part of the nose.

Figure 5-39

45. In a front view, align the vertex to the right to match the outer
part of the nostril.

Figure 5-40

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46. Using the Insert Edge Loop tool, create a loop that begins at
the triangle near the eye and ends up underneath the nose.

Figure 5-41

47. Still using the Insert Edge Loop tool, create a loop that begins
at the inside of the eye and ends up underneath the nose.

Figure 5-42

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48. Create another loop the follows around the Lone Ranger
mask and another that loops over the bridge of the nose to
the chin.

Figure 5-43

49. Still using the Insert Edge Loop tool, create one final loop that
begins at the inside of the eye and ends up underneath the
nose.

Figure 5-44

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Shaping the Nose

We should now have enough geometry to define the shape of the
nose.
1. In a perspective view, use the Sculpt Geometry tool to smooth
out the bridge of the nose so that it flows smoothly into the
cheek of your model. Avoiding the centerline, zoom in close
and use a smaller brush size to get the desired results.

Figure 5-45

2. Since we added additional geometry in a side view, we need to

adjust the points so that we match the profile of the nose,
making sure to account for the rise of the nostril.

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Figure 5-46

3. Now in a front view, line up the outer edge of the nose to that
of your reference image.

Figure 5-47

The nose can be difficult to define by using only front and side
views. It really is necessary to rotate around in a perspective
view to be able to get it looking just right. Refer to Figure
5-48.
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Notice that there is a slight indent where the nose meets

the face. Also, remember the nasal labia fold? We begin to see
it taking shape over the crest of the nostril.

Figure 5-48

4. Rotate the model so that you are looking at the bottom of the
nose. Select the six faces and extrude them. Your Extrude tool
offset should still be set to 2, so the polygons should be inset
from their original position.

Figure 5-49

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5. Before we continue, open the Edit Mesh |Extrude p [v7:

Edit Polygons | Extrude Face p]. We want to go to Edit in the
upper left-hand corner and select Reset Settings. This will
return the Extrude tool to the default settings.
6. With the faces still selected, use the Extrude tool again to
push the polys up into the nasal cavity.

Figure 5-50

7. Add two additional edge loops one over the bridge of the
nose and one over the tip. Both edges will wrap down to the
chin.

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Figure 5-51

8. In a front and side view, adjust the vertices to line up with the
nasal cavity. It may also be necessary to adjust the size of the
nasal cavity in order to better match the reference. Rotate
around and make any additional adjustments. Refer to the
smooth version of your model often during this tweaking
process.

Figure 5-52

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9. Lets wrap up this stage of the nose by adding an edge loop

inside the nostril, close to the outer edge.

Figure 5-53

10. Delete History and save!

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The Mouth
Now we need to concentrate our efforts on the mouth and the area
surrounding it.
1. Lets start by adding an additional edge loop that circles
through the upper and lower lips.

Figure 5-54

2. Rotate to a front view. Lets first make sure that our vertices
are properly arranged to represent the outer edge of the lips.
In doing so, remember to keep the two edge loops tightly
together to define the lip edges.

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Figure 5-55

3. In order to better shape the bottom lip we need to add an edge

loop under the nose and around under the bottom lip. Move
some of the edge loops on the chin up on the Y-axis. This will
help to define the way the lower lip tends to protrude slightly.

Figure 5-56

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4. Add a new edge loop that circles through the top and bottom
lip.

Figure 5-57

5. Moving to interior vertices of the lips, adjust them in the front

view so that they are pretty evenly spaced between the outer
and interior edges.

Figure 5-58

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6. Rotate to a side view and position the vertices so that they

form a nice arc around the lips.

Figure 5-59

7. Now, switch to a perspective view in order to see the way the

edge loops are running. Begin to position the middle rows of
vertices to give the lips some fullness.

Figure 5-60

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If you look at the reference image closely you will notice that
the upper lip dips down in the center, then rises slightly, and
then dips again. Conversely, the bottom lip dips in the center,
then rises slightly. Its also important to note that the upper lip
overlaps the lower lip at the corners of the mouth.

Figure 5-61

8. Lets adjust the points on the lips so that they resemble those
of the reference image. Be sure to reference the smoothed
version of your geometry to make sure that the lips appear to
touch. This might mean that they actually intersect each other
in the base model.

Figure 5-62

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9. Beyond shaping the mouth, it is important to have the edge

loops follow the flow of the nasal labia fold. In a front view,
adjust the points along the edge loops to match the reference
image.

Figure 5-63

10. Rotate to the side view and adjust the points so that they follow the position of the cheek and nasal labia fold.

Figure 5-64

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11. Rotate into a perspective view and adjust the vertices so that
the crease of the fold is represented. Refer to the smoothed
model.

Figure 5-65

12. Lets move down to the chin for a bit o tweaking. In the side
view, move the vertices to follow the shape of the chin on the
reference image.

Figure 5-66

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13. Be sure to check the front view as well as the perspective

view to make sure that the chin and jaw line are matching the
reference.

Figure 5-67

14. Take some time to rotate around the model and to view it in its
smoothed state to see if there are any glaring issues. Either
manually adjust the vertices or use the Sculpt Geometry tool
to smooth over any rough edges. Just be careful around the
mouth and the nose to avoid any clearly defined edge loops.
15. While youre at it, you can use the Sculpt Geometry tool to
soften up the area around the eye so that the edge loops are a
little more evenly spaced. This will get us all prepared for
moving on to the next step the eye socket.

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Figure 5-68

16. Delete History and save!

The Eye Socket

Back when we started this whole mess, we talked a bit about having
to compensate for using photos as our reference. Basically, since
any photo you take has perspective, you cant always rely exclusively on the photo when adjusting geometry.
The eyes are one of those features that tend to get distorted in
photos, so we need to compensate for this as we move forward.
Well discuss a few tricks to compensate for these issues in Chapter
11. We should also look to some of the reference photos of the head
in various poses to help our cause. Please refer to the additional
images on the companion CD, in Chapter 5\sourceimages. So lets
move on to the eye.
1. In order to get the eyelids and the area surrounding them the
proper shape we will create a stand-in eyeball. Choose Create
| NURBS Primitives4Sphere p. When the dialog box
opens, set the Radius to 0.30 and the Axis to Z, then click
Create.

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2. Move the sphere up to match the reference in both the front

and side view.
3. Rotate the sphere roughly 4 degrees on the Y-axis so that the
center point of the sphere is facing slightly right.

Figure 5-69

The reason we are using a NURBS sphere at this point is so

we can take advantage of the Make Live command. When you
make a NURBS surface live, all of the vertices we move along
the eyelids will snap to the surface of the sphere. This in turn
will make it considerably easier to get the eyelids to look
correct.
4. So with the NURBS sphere selected, choose Modify | Make
Live. The spheres surface is now a live object. This means
that the vertices we move should snap to the curved surface of
the sphere.
5. Select your geometry again and, starting in a front view, adjust
the vertices on the innermost edge loop to match the reference image.

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Figure 5-70

6. If you switch to perspective view, you will see that the interior
edge loop is following the curve of the sphere.

Figure 5-71

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7. Rotate to a side view and adjust the vertices to match the reference image.

Figure 5-72

8. Select the sphere and turn off Make Live by selecting Modify
| Make Live again.
9. Add a new edge loop using Insert Edge Loop tool so that it
mimics the interior edge of the eyelid. With the edge loop
selected, pull it out a bit from the sphere on the Z-axis.

Figure 5-73

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10. Create a new edge loop around the eye. Move the vertices to
start to define the eyelid itself. Match the points to your reference in both the front and side views.

Figure 5-74

11. Add another edge loop. We will move the verts to help define
the way that the eyelid sort of tucks itself under the ridge of
the eyebrow.

Figure 5-75

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12. Create another loop. This one will be used to define the ridge
of the overlap of skin over the eye and the pocket that is
formed under the eye.

Figure 5-76

13. Create two loops that start at the outside corner of the eye and
wrap around to the back of the head.

Figure 5-77

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14. Add one last loop around the rim of the eyelids.

Figure 5-78

Lets go in and do a little bit more tweaking. The inside part of

the eye contains a little fleshy area known as the lacimal
caruncle.

Figure 5-79

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15. So lets select the two points on the inside corner of the eye
and move them back on the Z-axis and then in toward the nose
on the X-axis.

Figure 5-80

16. Select the face on the inner part of the eye and then extrude it
out a bit on the Z-axis so that it looks like Figure 5-81.

Figure 5-81

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17. Select the innermost edge loop and extrude it back into the
head on the Z-axis.

Figure 5-82

18. Take a few minutes to move the vertices on the side of the
head near the eye so that the eye socket smoothly transitions
into the head.

Figure 5-83

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19. Well add two additional edge loops that will give us some additional polys to work with when crafting the ear. Using the Split
Polygon tool, start at the bridge of the nose and continue
around to the back of the head.

Figure 5-84

20. Collapse the triangle that was left on the cheek.

Figure 5-85

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Finally, we can add a few additional edge loops to make sure

we have enough geometry to capture the likeness and account
for animation. These last few loops will also ensure that we
have no issues with the geometry not appearing smooth.
21. Using the Insert Edge Loop tool, add three more edge loops
that wrap around from the forehead to underneath the chin.

Figure 5-86

22. Add an edge loop that starts at the eye and flows down to the
upper lip.

Figure 5-87

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23. Insert another edge that flows from the inner eye around the
tip of the nose.

Figure 5-88

24. Create a loop that crosses the tip of the nose and wraps down
under the chin.

Figure 5-89

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25. Create a loop that wraps around the outside of the lips.

Figure 5-90

26. Add an additional edge loop around the nostril.

Figure 5-91

27. Finally, we add two edge loops that will give us some additional geometry to create the ear.

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Figure 5-92

This should just about do it for the face, aside from some final
adjustments well do later on to clean up the rough edges, nail down
the likeness, and account for some asymmetry. Dont worry now
about your model actually looking like the person you are trying to
create at this point.

Wrap-Up
In this chapter we got down and dirty with the characters head. We
learned how to use edge loops efficiently to create a head that looks
relatively good. At this point, aesthetics plays second fiddle to form
as our focus here is to create a clean edge flow that will be easier to
animate.
We learned quite a bit about the key elements of the face and
how they fit together. You also picked up some big words that you
can use to impress your colleagues.
We also learned to utilize the Sculpt Geometry tool as an effective means to model. We will take advantage of this as we move
forward. The head is by no means finished. We will be doing some
additional tweaking before all is said and done. The next chapter will
take us into the dark deep recesses of modeling the ear.

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Chapter 6

Creating the Ear

Getting to Know the Ear
Refer to Chapter_6 on the companion CD.
The ear. Yes, the ear. They come in all shapes and sizes and carry
with them the visual confusion of an Escher drawing.

Figure 6-1

I have decided to dedicate an entire chapter to the ear because it

tends to be a real showstopper for many modelers. The ears, like the
eyes of your character, can easily dispel the illusion of realism if they
are not modeled properly.

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And, like the eye, the ear suffers from perspective issues as
well. If we base the position of the ear solely on the side view reference image, we might end up with an ear that appears too far back
on the head. This is because as we look at the side view, the ear is
the closest thing to the camera and the features of the face tend to
fall away due to perspective. This creates the illusion that the ear is
farther back than it actually is. So when we start the ear, we will
create it in a different position than it is currently located in the
photo.
1. In order to continue to utilize our reference we will temporarily move the side reference image forward on the Z-axis. In
the Outliner, select imagePlane2. If you cant see it, you need
to right-click in the Outliner and uncheck Show DAG
Objects Only.
2. Double-click on the little icon to the left of imagePlane 2 to
bring up the parameters dialog on the right side of the screen
(see Figure 6-2). Under Placement Extras, go to where it says
Center and change the Z-axis (the third box over) from 0.8 to
0.5.
The ear should now be correctly positioned for us to continue.
When we are done with the ear, we can move our image plane
back to its original position of 0.8.

Figure 6-2

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Lets Start Building

So with that lofty introduction, lets get back to work.
1. Starting in a side view, create a loop around the ear using the
Split Polygon tool.

Figure 6-3

2. Go back to the triangles and draw an edge from the center of

each to the corresponding vertex.

Figure 6-4

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We need to move the vertices to accommodate the ear. We just

want to get the edges to form a somewhat circular shape to
prepare us for the extrusion. Think about the shape of the ear
where it meets the side of the head.

Figure 6-5

3. Select the faces that are inside the ear outline and extrude
using Edit Mesh | Extrude p [v7: Edit Polygons | Extrude
Face p]. When the dialog opens, set the Offset under Settings
to 1 and hit the Apply button. As before, the selected faces
will shrink down, inset from their original position.

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Figure 6-6

4. Before continuing, set the Extrude options back to their

default values.
5. Create another edge loop that wraps around the side of the
head and goes through the center of the ear.
6. Create another loop that starts at the top of the head and then
wraps down under the chin.

Figure 6-7

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7. In a side view, move the verts to align with the ear as shown in
Figure 6-8.

Figure 6-8

8. Create a new edge loop using the Split Polygon tool.

Figure 6-9

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9. Kill the triangles by drawing an edge from the center to the

corresponding vertex.

Figure 6-10

10. Position the new vertices as shown in Figure 6-11.

Figure 6-11

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11. Select the polygons shown in Figure 6-12 and extrude them
out from the head on the X-axis.

Figure 6-12

12. Now select the polygons and extrude them again.

Figure 6-13

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13. Select the three polys at the ear canal and extrude them back
into the head.

Figure 6-14

14. Select the uppermost polygon of the three you just extruded
and extrude it back farther into the head.

Figure 6-15

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15. Select the faces as shown in Figure 6-16. Once again, we need
to choose Edit Mesh | Extrude p [v7: Edit Polygons |
Extrude Face p]. When the dialog opens, set the Offset under
Settings to 0.02 and hit the Apply button. As before, you will
see the selected faces shrink down, inset from their original
position.

Figure 6-16

16. Back in a side view, position the vertices as shown in Figure

6-17.

Figure 6-17

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17. Use the Insert Edge Loop tool [v7: Split Edge Ring tool]
around the faces you just extruded.

Figure 6-18

18. Use the Split Polygon tool to clean up the five-sided and
three-sided polygons.

Figure 6-19

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19. Select the three faces near the top of the ear and extrude them
in on the X-axis a tiny amount.

Figure 6-20

20. Select the vertices near the earlobe and pull them down.

Figure 6-21

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21. Create another edge loop around the larger part of the ear
using the Insert Edge Loop tool.

Figure 6-22

22. Select the faces outside the edge loop you just created and
extrude them.

Figure 6-23

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23. With the faces selected, tuck them back under the outer ring
(helix). Make sure the faces arent intersecting any other
geometry.

Figure 6-24

24. On the side of the head, create a new edge loop that surrounds
the ear.

Figure 6-25

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25. In a side view, select the vertices that make up the inner part
of the ear as shown in Figure 6-26. This would include all of
the vertices except for the ones along the outside ring of the
ear.

Figure 6-26

26. Rotate to a perspective view. Use the Shift key or Grow Selection to add the first two rows of vertices around the earlobe to
your selection, as indicated by the dark lines in Figure 6-27.
Avoid adding verts
near the front of
the ear. Note that
these lines continue around to
the back of the
earlobe as well.

Figure 6-27

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27. Move the vertices away from the head on the X-axis.

Figure 6-28

28. With the vertices still selected, rotate them slightly so that the
front vertices move back in toward the head.

Figure 6-29

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29. Rotate so that you can see the back of the ear and add two
edge loops using the Insert Edge Loop tool.

Figure 6-30

30. Work your way around and select the faces closest to the side
of the head including those behind the ear, avoiding the ones at
the front of the ear.

Figure 6-31

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31. Scale the faces down on the Z- and Y-axes, and then push them
in to line up with the side of the head.

Figure 6-32

32. Add two edge loops around the ear.

Figure 6-33

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33. Pull the vertices of the edge loops out around the outer ring to
help define the helix.
Alright! Now we are nearing the home stretch! What we want
to do now is go in with the Sculpt Geometry tool and smooth
out some of the areas on the ear.
34. Starting with the front of the ear, smooth out the area where
the ear meets the face. Ideally, it should be relatively flat.
Check by referring to the smoothed version of your model.

Figure 6-34

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Chapter 6: Creating the Ear

35. Add a slight touch here and there with the smooth operation;
just enough to rid the ear of any harsh edges and to soften up
some of the details. Once again, check by referring to the
smoothed version of your model.

Figure 6-35

36. To wrap things up, use the Sculpt Geometry tool to smooth
the head a bit around the ear.

Figure 6-36

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Wrap-Up
We have now completed the head for the most part. This was definitely the most challenging aspect of modeling the character.
Besides the fact that you have a finished head, you also have created
geometry that can be reused time and time again. The ear is one of
those things that you dont want to have to build again if you have
one already. It can be altered and adjusted to fit any head you end up
creating.
As we move forward there will be some refinements to the head
to capture the likeness of our model. These tweaks will be
addressed at the end of the modeling process.
In the next chapter we will create an eye that will give our character a little life.

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Chapter 7

What Beautiful Eyes

You Have
The Details
Refer to Chapter_7 on the companion CD.
Earlier, we used a simple sphere as reference to shape the eye
socket. Now we are going to create an eye that will give our character a more realistic appearance. The saying goes The eyes are the
window to the soul. Look into anyones eyes and you get a clear picture of what this statement really means. If the eyes of your model
dont look realistic, the rest of the model, no matter how good it
looks, will never be quite right.
We will once again begin with a sphere.
1. Choose Create | Polygon Primitives4Sphere p. When the
dialog box opens, set the Radius to 0.3 and the Axis to Z.
At this stage we want to leave the sphere at the origin. This
sphere will represent the outer layer or cornea, which is the
thin transparent membrane that covers the front of the eye.
2. In a side view, select the first two rows of vertices on the left
side of the sphere and pull them out slightly to form a bulge in
the cornea.

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3. Use the Insert Edge Loop tool to add an edge at the base of
the corneal bulge, as shown in Figure 7-1.

Figure 7-1

4. Create a layer and name it Cornea_L. Add the cornea geometry to the layer. Create another sphere and scale it to be
slightly smaller than the original sphere.

Figure 7-2

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5. This sphere will represent the sclera (the white part of the
eye) and will also give us the iris (the colored part of the eye).
Name the sphere Eye and place it on its own layer. To make
things easier to work with, turn off the visibility in the cornea
layer or turn on templating in the layer so it wont get in the
way.
6. Go back to the side view and select the first three rows of vertices on the left. Using the Scale tool, scale them on the X-axis
to the right to flatten the front of the sphere.

Figure 7-3

7. In a perspective view, select the innermost faces as shown in

Figure 7-4 and move them back on the Z-axis.

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Figure 7-4

8. With the faces still selected, extrude them back into the eyeball and scale them down.

Figure 7-5

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9. Add two additional edge loops around the pupil.

Figure 7-6

That should suffice for the geometry of the eye. What really
sells it, though, are the texture and shader settings. At this
point we will apply a transparent material to the outer sphere
or cornea.
10. Go to Window | Rendering
Editors4Hypershade.
Create a new phong material
named Cornea_mat with
the settings shown in Figure
7-7.

Figure 7-7

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11. Select the cornea, right-click on the new material, and choose
Assign Material to Selection.
Now we will move on to the sclera, iris, and pupil.
12. Open a new phong shader and give it the same settings as you
did the cornea shader except for the Transparency slider,
which should be set to black (all the way to the left).
13. Click on the checkered icon to the right of the Color slider.
When the Create Render Node dialog box pops up, select File
from the Textures tab.

Figure 7-8

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14. A new place2dTexture panel will open, as shown in Figure 7-9.

When it does, click on the folder icon to the right of Image
Name. Browse to the Chapter 7\sourceimages\
Lucy_eye.jpg file on the companion CD.

Figure 7-9

You should now have a texture ready to map onto the surface
of the eye. Before we do that, however, we need to change the
UV coordinates on the eye geometry. By default, when you
create a polygon sphere it has spherical mapping coordinates
applied to it. We are going to simplify matters by applying a
planar projection instead.

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15. With the eye selected, in a front view go to Create UVs |

Planar Mapping p [v7: Polygon UVs | Planar Mapping p].
When the Planar Mapping Options dialog opens, make sure
Project From is set to Z axis or Camera [v7: set Mapping
Direction to Camera]. (See Figure 12-21 for the Maya 7 version of this dialog box.)

Figure 7-10

I personally prefer to set Project From to Camera because I

am assured the view I am looking through is the same as that
of the UV projection.
16. Press the Project button to assign the projection and close
the dialog box. A planar mapping manipulator will pop up in
the viewport, showing how the texture is being projected onto
the geometry.

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Figure 7-11

The texture is applied to the eye geometry but it is not scaled

quite the way we want it. We will have to adjust the UVs to get
the iris to be the proper size.
17. Open Window | UV Texture Editor. The UV Texture Editor
window will pop up, and you should see the UV representation
of the eye geometry along with the Lucy_eye texture.

Figure 7-12

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18. Right-click in the window and, when the marking menu pops
up, select UVs. Select all of the UVs that make up the eye and
scale them uniformly so that the edge of the iris is just outside
of the two tightly spaced edge loops.

Figure 7-13

Dont be concerned if the geometry ends up outside of the texture space. Any tiling that occurs will be obscured by the head
geometry.
19. Now that we have the eye geometry textured, we can prepare
it to be placed inside of the head. Make sure both the cornea
and the eye are visible. Select the two geometries and then
choose Mesh | Combine [v7: Polygons | Combine].
Name the new combined object left_eye.
20. Move the new object up to match the reference image, or simply align it to the stand-in eye geometry. Remember to rotate
it slightly on the Y-axis. You can now safely delete the stand-in
eye geometry.
21. Make sure left_eye is selected. Go to Modify | Freeze
Transformations. This will zero out any translation and rotation on the geometry.

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22. With the geometry still selected, go to Edit | Duplicate Special p [v7: Edit | Duplicate p]. When the dialog box opens,
set the Scale to 1, 1, 1. Hit the Duplicate button to mirror
the geometry to create the right eye. Move the new eye
geometry into position in the right eye socket. Be sure to
name the geometry right_eye.

Figure 7-14

23. The last things we will do to wrap things up is apply a smooth

node to the eyes and add them to their own layer. Then go to
File | Optimize Scene Size to clear out any layers that we
are no longer using.
24. Save your file!

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Wrap-Up
In this chapter we learned how to make a realistic eye for our
model. This is another geometry that you can add to your library.
You will never have to build an eye again.
Our head geometry is now complete, but not finished! We will
still have to do some additional tweaking to correct perspective
issues and nail down a likeness. We will also add a texture and, of
course, eyelashes and hair. But before all that we need to get back
to our characters body, so grab some coffee, clear your head, and
turn the page.

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Chapter 8

Open Wide
Getting Your Chops
Refer to Chapter_8 on the companion CD.
To really capture a likeness we need to sweat the details. Every little
nuance adds credibility to the model. To avoid having an emotionless
character, you need to be able to represent movement of the face.
By and large, we each have our own way of expressing ourselves.
The face can express a number of things without a single word. A
smile, a frown each is easily recognizable. In order for our model
to best represent the person we are basing it on, we will at some
point open the mouth, thus revealing what is inside.
So in this chapter we will run through the process of creating
teeth, gums, and a tongue for our character. In order to capture the
nuances of our model, we will be sure to address any special characteristics of the bite when we build them. Noting this will help sell the
realism of our character.

The Teeth
1. Lets start by opening Chapter8_start.mb from the companion
CD. Youll see that we have an image plane that shows the teeth
from a front view. If the image doesnt show up, you can load it
in from the Chapter 8\sourceimages folder. Lucky for you, I took
the liberty of sizing the image so that it matches the scale of
your model!

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Lets take a quick moment to discuss the teeth. Teeth basically

come in three shapes and sizes. We have the incisors, which
are the four teeth in the front. Next are the canines, one on
either side, commonly referred to as vampire teeth. Then last
but not least we have the molars. Now since this isnt Dentistry for Morons (that will be my next book), thats really about
all we need to know about the teeth. After all, we are modeling
them, not drilling them.
2. Choose Create | Polygon Primitives4Cube p. When the
dialog box opens, set Subdivisions Along Width to 2, Subdivisions Along Height to 4, and Subdivisions Along Depth to 2.

Figure 8-1

3. We start right up front with the incisors. Although there are

four incisors, we only need to make one and then vary it a bit
on the three copies we make. Adjust the geometry so that it
looks like the front and side views in the example shown in
Figure 8-2.

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Figure 8-2

4. Once you have completed the modeling, move it up to match

the position and size of the tooth in the reference image.
Duplicate it and then move the new tooth over to create the
second incisor. Manipulate the vertices to match the
reference.

Figure 8-3

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5. Ultimately the teeth will be smoothed, and thus will shrink

down a bit. Apply a Smooth to the two teeth to see if there are
any unwanted gaps. Make the necessary adjustments on the
low-res version to compensate. This might entail overlapping
some of the edges of the teeth.
6. Go ahead and make another copy of the tooth. Scale it down
and shape and position it to create the incisor to the right.
Make sure to rotate it slightly in the process.

Figure 8-4

7. Before moving on, select the incisor and go to Modify |

Freeze Transformations. Doing this will allow you to mirror
the tooth with the rotation intact along the X-axis. With the
tooth still selected, go to Edit | Duplicate Special p [v7:
Edit | Duplicate p]. When the dialog opens, set Scale to 1,
1, 1 and Geometry Type to Copy. Hit Apply. You should now
have a mirrored copy of the right incisor.
8. Move the copy to its position on the left side. Notice in the
reference photo the slight variation in the incisors position as
compared to the one on the opposite side. Make necessary
adjustments to match the reference.

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Figure 8-5

9. Again copy one of the teeth. Extrude the faces on the bottom
of the tooth so as to create more of a point for the canine.
Move the verts around a bit until it looks like the one shown in
Figure 8-6.

Figure 8-6

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10. Position the tooth based on the reference image. Duplicate it

across the X-axis as before, and match the duplicate to the
canine on the left.

Figure 8-7

The teeth behind the incisors are the molars. They consist of
two general types: the premolars and the molars. The only
real difference is that the premolars have a slightly sharper
surface in comparison to the flatter surface of the molar.
11. Lets create another cube with the same settings as the first
one we created. Move the points around until it resembles
Figure 8-8.

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Figure 8-8

12. Select the top four faces and extrude them so the faces are
inset from the original position. Form the geometry so that it
looks similar to Figure 8-9.

Figure 8-9

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13. To create the premolar, simply select the vertices on the outside and pull them up.

Figure 8-10

14. Rotate and scale the tooth and then move it up to match with
the photo reference.

Figure 8-11

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15. Rotate into a top view and, instead of mirroring the tooth right
now, create three consecutive copies and position them as
shown in Figure 8-12.

Figure 8-12

16. Select the molars and freeze the transforms. Combine the
teeth by selecting them and choosing Mesh | Combine [v7:
Polygons | Combine]. Now duplicate the teeth as we did
before on the X-axis, then position them on the opposite side.

Figure 8-13

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17. Select all of the teeth and combine them. Give them the name
upperTeeth.
18. In order to get the lower teeth we need simply make a copy of
the upper teeth and flip them over. This will involve a bit of
tweaking as the bottom teeth arent nearly as large as the top.
They also have more of a level bite line than do the upper
teeth.

Figure 8-14

19. Once you have completed the tweaking, be sure to name them
bottomTeeth.
Be aware of the fact that the top teeth overlap the bottom
teeth in front, so be sure to position them correctly.

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Figure 8-15

The Gums
1. Next, of course, well need to create gums for our teeth.
Create a 20-sided cylinder with Subdivisions Caps set to 3.

Figure 8-16

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2. Name the cylinder upperGums. Delete the back half of the

model, then in a top view, position it directly under the teeth.

Figure 8-17

3. Scale the cylinder on the X-axis so that it matches up a bit

better to our teeth. Dont worry if its not perfect.

Figure 8-18

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4. Move the gums up above the top teeth.

Figure 8-19

5. Select the back open edge of the gums and extrude back.

Figure 8-20

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6. In a front view, move the bottom row of vertices down to meet

the bottom of the gum line. Try to position the vertices so that
they sit between the teeth. Dont worry if the teeth protrude
through the gums at this point.

Figure 8-21

7. Rotate around and use the Insert Edge Loop tool to add
another edge loop between the two back teeth.

Figure 8-22

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8. Once again, use the Insert Edge Loop tool to add an edge loop
between each of the existing loops.

Figure 8-23

9. Rotate around and position the vertices to get a zig-zag

appearance.

Figure 8-24

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10. Use the Insert Edge Loop tool to add two edge loops around
the gum line.

Figure 8-25

11. Go around and move the vertices to get a nice gum line. Refer
to a smoothed version of the gums as well as the teeth to see
if there are unwanted gaps. Feel free to add an edge loop here
and there to get the right look.

Figure 8-26

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12. In a top view, select the inside group of faces and move them
up on the Y-axis. Be sure the faces on the inside of the mouth
are selected as well.

Figure 8-27

13. Select the top edge loop around the gum line and scale it on
the X- and Z-axes.

Figure 8-28

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14. One more thing we want to do to the gums is delete the faces
that arent going to be visible on the final model. So select the
faces on the top of the gums and delete them.

Figure 8-29

15. Duplicate the gums on the Y-axis in order to get the bottom
gums. Name the new geometry lowerGums. Well need to do
a little massaging to get the gums in position with the bottom
teeth. The best way to handle this is by using a lattice
deformer.
16. First, uniformly scale the lower gums down so that they will
be easier to manipulate with the deformer. In the hot box,
choose Deform | Create Lattice p. (Deform is on the
Animation menu selection in the hot box.) You may also access
Create Lattice from the menu at the top if Animation is
selected in the left box on the status line. When the dialog
opens, set the Divisions to 3, 3, 3.
17. When the lattice appears, right-click on it and select Lattice
Points from the marking menu. Now that the points are highlighted, use them to get the gums to line up with the bottom
teeth. When you finish using the lattice, select the geometry
and choose Delete History.

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Figure 8-30

18. Where there are still issues, you can manually adjust vertices
or apply the smooth node and use the Sculpt Geometry tool.
The teeth and gums are one of the few geometry types that
dont necessarily need to keep their low-resolution counterpart. Once they are done there is no need to go back and mess
with them. You may, however, want to keep a low-res version
handy so that the poly count wont hinder the animation
process.

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Figure 8-31

So that pretty much does it for the teeth and gums. The next thing
we will do is add a very basic geometry for our tongue.

The Tongue
We can create a very serviceable tongue with very little effort.
Although the tongue plays a major role in the way we speak, it is
really just an added bonus when it comes to modeling a character.
For the most part the tongue wont be visible, even during speech.
The tongue is used primarily when an l or th sound is involved,
and even then it isnt visible to the viewer. Unless you need your
character to lick its lips, you really dont even need a tongue. But I
always lean toward the safer than sorry approach.
1. So with that said, we will build a tongue using a squashed
sphere. Choose Create | Polygon Primitives4Sphere p.
When the dialog pops up, set Subdivisions Along Axis to 20,
Subdivisions Along Height to 20, and Axis to Z. Select the
Scale tool and flatten the tongue on the Y-axis.

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Figure 8-32

2. Now go to Deform | Create Lattice p. When the dialog box

opens, set the Divisions to 3, 2, 5. When the lattice appears,
right-click on it and select Lattice Points. Select the last two
rows of the lattice points and slide them back on the Z-axis.

Figure 8-33

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3. In a top view, scale the selected points out on the X-axis.

Figure 8-34

4. Select each row of the lattice points and move them so that
they resemble Figure 8-35.

Figure 8-35

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5. With the tongue geometry selected, delete the history. This

will bake in the lattice deformation. Move the tongue up to
position it in the mouth.

Figure 8-36

There is really no need to do any additional work to the tongue

other than applying a texture. Aside from that, we are pretty well
set with the inside of the mouth. The last thing we will want to do is
position the teeth inside our model.

Placing the Teeth and Tongue

Lets do some final cleanup before we save the file.
1. Select the top teeth and gums and select Mesh | Combine
[v7: Polygons | Combine]. Name the new object UpperTeeth.
2. Select the bottom teeth and gums and combine them as well.
Name the group LowerTeeth.
3. Select the UpperTeeth, LowerTeeth, and the tongue, then
select Edit | Group. Name the group something like Teeth or
Mouth.
4. Select ImagePlane1 in the Outliner and delete it. We wont
be needing it for the next step.

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5. Save the file as Teeth, then open up the file with your model
and import the Teeth.mb file. You might need to move the
teeth a bit so they fit properly into the mouth. Check the
image to see the proper placement.

Figure 8-37

6. Once the teeth are positioned properly, create a layer and

name it Teeth_L. Add the group to the layer and turn off the
visibility before we move on to the final step.
When we built the head we were concerned with aesthetics
more than functionality, so at the time we built the lips we
werent really thinking about opening the mouth. Now that we
have given our model teeth, well want to add some polygons
to the lips so that they have a natural appearance when the
mouth is open.
7. It might be beneficial to rotate in a perspective view so that
the camera is inside the head looking toward the front. Select
the interior open edge of the lips and extrude them farther
back into the head.

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Figure 8-38

8. Extrude the edges once again and move them up or down on

the Y-axis accordingly.

Figure 8-39

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Chapter 8: Open Wide

Look at the image to see roughly where the teeth should line
up with the head in a side view.

Figure 8-40

Wrap-Up
In this chapter you learned to use basic primitives to create a pretty
convincing set of choppers and you set up a mouth that can be used
for animation. You also have a model of the teeth that can be used
over and over in any subsequent character that you build.

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Fleshing Out the Body

Crafting the Figure
Refer to Chapter_9 on the companion CD.
Now that we have made it past the head, we need to focus on fleshing
out the body (no pun intended!). So lets take a look at where we left
off with the character. To this point we have more or less been concerned only with the mass of our figure. The majority of edge loops
are there simply to dictate the general shape. So the next thing we
need to do is start adding edge loops that follow more along the lines
of the muscle structure. This is the stage of the modeling process
that really defines your character. We are also at the point where we
will rely on the photo reference considerably more than the skeleton.
So to begin with, we will want to get our figure to resemble the
reference images as much as possible without adding any additional
geometry. This is what I refer to as the bulking up phase. Up until
this point we have been following the bone structure as our point of
reference. This is a great way to get things started and it gets the
general proportions of the figure squared away. However, we dont
really have a sense of the figures underlying muscle structure.
1. Select Mesh | Sculpt Geometry Tool p [v7: Edit Polygons |
Sculpt Geometry Tool p]. When the dialog pops up, set Max
Displacement to .2000 and Smooth Strength to 2.

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2. Using the Pull operation, begin to sculpt the figure with short
strokes. Refer to the front and side views to determine the
amount of each stroke. Concentrate on the torso, arms, and
legs of your character, avoiding the hands and feet for the
moment.
Dont be too concerned if the model bulges out a bit too much
here and there. We will switch often to the Smooth operation
in order to resolve those issues.
3. You may find it useful to adjust the Smooth Strength in order
to get the results you are looking for. Just try to keep it
between 2 and 9. Vary it up a bit here and there to see how it
affects the Pull operation. Remember, switch back and forth
between Smooth and Pull with an occasional Push thrown in
here and there for the best results. Take a look at your
smoothed figure to see how things are shaping up.

Figure 9-1

If this is new to you, give it a real chance to sink in and dont

get frustrated. If worse comes to worse, you can still get the
same results by manually moving the vertices about. I wholeheartedly encourage you to keep trying, and eventually it will
become second nature. For additional help with the process,
refer to the Sculpting avi on the companion CD.

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Once you have the model following the reference as

closely as possible, the next thing we will concentrate on is
adding our muscle edge loops. We will begin with the stomach
area.
4. Create four new edge loops that wrap around the torso using
the Insert Edge Loop tool. In addition, add an edge loop
around the clavicle region.

Figure 9-2

5. Starting at the center of the model, just below the rib cage,
use the Split Polygon tool and draw an edge loop around the
stomach area.

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Figure 9-3

6. Draw an edge from the center of each angled edge to the corresponding vertex.

Figure 9-4

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7. Create another loop inside the one you just created.

Figure 9-5

8. Select the two angled edges and collapse them.

Figure 9-6

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9. This next loop is a bit more complex so I will break it up into

smaller steps. Make sure as you go along to keep track of the
angled edges as we will be collapsing those later. Starting on
the back of the model near the bottom of the buttocks, use the
Split Polygon tool to draw a loop as shown in Figure 9-7.

Figure 9-7

10. Now, continuing from the end of that loop, draw an edge down
under the base of the pubic area.

Figure 9-8

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11. Continue the loop down around the front of the thigh to just
below the knee.

Figure 9-9

12. Then take the edge back up to the top of the hip.

Figure 9-10

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13. Continue the loop over the top of the hip and back down the
thigh to just above the back of the knee.

Figure 9-11

14. Okay, last one. Continue the edge back up around the back of
the thigh and end it at the crotch, as shown in Figure 9-12.

Figure 9-12

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Did you get all of that? Okay, so now we need to go back and
clean up all the little triangles we just created.
15. Select each of the angled edges (eight total) in the loop and
collapse them. There are two behind the knee, one right
where the buttocks meets the thigh, two at the top of the hips,
one right beneath the pelvis, and two on the knee. We should
end up with something like Figures 9-13.

Figure 9-13

Not only do we use edge loops to define muscles, but oftentimes we will use them to define bones, especially when they
are near the surface of the body. In the last step, we not only
came closer to defining the muscle groupings in the front and
the back of the thigh, but we also gave some form to the hip
bone.
A few other examples of using edge loops to define bones
would be the knees, elbows, ankles, and wrists. So with that in
mind lets go ahead and define some of these bones.

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16. Starting with the knee, use the Insert Edge Loop tool to add
an additional edge loop above the knee and one around the
center of the knee. As a change of pace, you could also try
using Edit Mesh | Offset Edge Loop Tool [v7: Edit Polygons | Duplicate Edge Ring Tool] for the same results.

Figure 9-14

17. Use the View Compass in the upper-right corner to rotate to a

back view of the model. We will now define the slight indent
that sometimes occurs right above the gluteus maximus.
Using the Split Polygon tool, draw two diamond shapes, one
inside of the other.

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

Figure 9-15

18. To finish, create and connect the angled edges to the corresponding vertices.

Figure 9-16

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

19. Lets go ahead and create two loops around the elbow using
the Insert Edge Loop tool.

Figure 9-17

20. Now lets add an edge loop to help define the elbow.

Figure 9-18

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

21. Go back and once again collapse the four angled edges and add
an edge loop around the middle of the elbow.

Figure 9-19

22. Rotate into a front view of the model. Using the Split Polygon
tool, draw an edge loop that helps define the collarbone and
bicep in one fell swoop.

Figure 9-20

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

23. Collapse the two angled edges near the elbow.

Figure 9-21

24. Moving down to the ankle, use the Insert Edge Loop tool to
create two additional edge loops around the ankle.

Figure 9-22

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

25. Now, use the Split Polygon tool to create an edge loop that circles the medial ankle bone.

Figure 9-23

26. Once again, collapse all of the angled edges.

Figure 9-24

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

27. We also need to create an edge loop around the exterior protuberance of the ankle bone.

Figure 9-25

28. Collapse the angled edges.

Figure 9-26

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

29. Create an edge loop that surrounds the ankle.

Figure 9-27

30. Add two additional loops around the calf.

Figure 9-28

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

31. Using the Insert Edge Loop tool, well now add a few additional edge loops around the torso. Beginning near the
stomach, add two edge loops that wrap around the middle of
the figure.

Figure 9-29

At this point, compare the geometry with the reference images

to see where any adjustments are needed to get the proportions aligned. For instance, you may need to narrow the torso
a bit by moving some vertices.
You can place these loops just about anywhere you need
additional geometry to define your character. From welldefined muscles to horns sticking out of the character anything is possible.
We should now have enough geometry to begin to really
shape our characters body. This is where the Sculpt Geometry tool really comes into play. To begin with, we will want to
add a smooth node to the geometry. Next, we will use the
Sculpt Geometry tool on the higher-resolution model and then
ultimately remove the smooth node to get back to our base
geometry. The model will retain the shape of the sculpt, thus
removing the need for major vertex tweaking. By utilizing this
method you will become adept at quickly building the muscle
shapes and other nuances of your character.

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For lack of better terminology, I often refer to sculpted

geometry areas as bulges. This, of course, means the geometry that is pulled out from the surface of the model to define
the muscles and bones.
As I stated earlier in the book, I prefer to work directly on
the model, avoiding the Subdiv Proxy [v7: Smooth Proxy] altogether. I apply the smooth node directly on the base mesh and
sculpt away. Then I remove the polySmoothFace node, go back
to the original base mesh, and move vertices only where the
Sculpt Geometry tool doesnt quite get the job done. The Go
Tools toolbox contains buttons that make this process considerably easier. To delete the polySmoothFace node manually,
you need to select the node in the Outliner (right-click in the
Outliner and make sure that Show DAG Objects Only is deselected). Click on the polySmoothFace node and then click on
Delete.
32. Delete History and save!

The Arm
So lets get moving. Well begin with the arm. At this point we still
want to avoid the hand.
1. With the geometry selected, choose Mesh | Sculpt Geometry Tool p [v7: Edit Polygons | Sculpt Geometry Tool p].
Well start out using the Pull operation. Set Auto Smooth to 4
and Max Displacement to 0.15.
2. Beginning at the forearm, touch and release the geometry, trying to follow the direction of the edges. Continue around the
entire forearm, making sure to rotate and check the geometry
from numerous perspective views. If there are any areas you
feel youve pulled out too far, switch to the Smooth operation
to clean things up. In some cases where you need only minor
smoothing, set the Displacement to a lower value, such as
0.005.

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Figure 9-30

The best way to see your progress is to constantly refer to the

mirrored geometry. Seeing the geometry in its shaded form
without the wireframe will help you visualize the model as it
will appear in its finished state.

Figure 9-31

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3. Try to subtly create the flow of the muscles as they wrap from
the top of the elbow and around to the thumb.

Figure 9-32

4. Also emphasize the bulge of the elbow on the bottom side of

the arm.

Figure 9-33

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

5. Move up the arm and pull the geometry to create the bicep.

Figure 9-34

6. Move up and shape the top of the shoulder.

Figure 9-35

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

7. Subtly pull geometry along the top of the arm so that there is a
slight dip at the top of the bicep.

Figure 9-36

8. Rotate to the back of the figure and bulk up the arm a bit right
above the elbow.

Figure 9-37

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

9. Move down and create a slight bulge at the back of the elbow.

Figure 9-38

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

The Back
Now lets move over to address the back of our model. Well want to
give the scapula some definition. The scapula moves quite a bit in
relation to the position of the arms. Because we wont set up our
skeleton to animate the scapulas independently, we want to give
them a natural appearance regardless of how the arms move.

Figure 9-39

Remember as we go along that anytime the centerline of your

model gets misaligned, you can go to Select | Select Border Edge
Tool [v7: Edit | Select Border Edge Tool] and double-click on any
center edge, then scale it back into its original position. With the Go
Tools toolbox, use the Border Edge button and then Center Border
Edge (right-click Border Edge) to center the edge automatically.

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Now add a slight rise just left of the spine and slight bulge over
the buttocks, just enough to see a glimpse of the indentation. Use
the Push operation to the left of the bulge to make the bulge a bit
more noticeable.

Figure 9-40

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

The Butt
1. Move down to the butt and switch back and forth between the
Pull and Smooth operations. Be sure to refer to the mirrored
side in a three-quarter view to get the form correct.

Figure 9-41

2. Take the sculpt as far as you can at this point to shape the posterior. This is an area that requires going back to the base
mesh and moving points to get it to look as good as possible.
3. Lets remove the polySmoothFace node from our model. If
youre not sure how to do this, refer to the section in Chapter
3 called The Sculpt Geometry Tool. If you are using the Go
Tools toolbox, (goModTools.mel) simply click on the Delete
Smooth button under the Poly Extras tab.

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4. Once you are back down to your base mesh, select the vertices at the center of the buttocks and move them into the body
on the Z-axis.

Figure 9-42

5. Select the next row of vertices to the left and move them
toward the center of the model on the X-axis.

Figure 9-43

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

6. Move them in toward the body a slight bit on the Z-axis also.

Figure 9-44

7. Adjust the vertices near the bottom of the butt so that there is
a slight overlap where the cheek meets the leg on the inner
part of the thigh.

Figure 9-45

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

8. Switch to Object mode and then apply a new smooth node.

Make any additional adjustments you feel necessary to get the
buttocks to look right. It might take a bit of back and forth
between sculpting and then moving vertices on your base
model to get it just right.

Figure 9-46

9. One important thing that adds a touch of realism is to add a bit

of a bulge where the bottom of the cheek flows into the outer
part of the thigh.

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

Figure 9-47

10. Delete History and save!

The Hips and Abdomen

1. Lets move over to the hip. The top of the pelvis (the iliac
crest) will protrude slightly. Nudge it out in the front a bit as
well.

Figure 9-48

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2. Move around to the lower abdomen and give it a bit of a bulge.

Bulge out the pubic bone a bit as well.

Figure 9-49

3. Moving up, define the upper abs, creating a slight indent near
the right side of the stomach. Dont concern yourself with the
navel at this point.

Figure 9-50

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4. To accentuate the rib cage add a bulge to the right of center

and then a bit in the center of the model.

Figure 9-51

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

The Legs
1. Next, well move down to the thigh. Bulge out the front of the
thigh so that it slightly overlaps the knee on the right. Also
expand the thigh between the legs as well as the outer side.

Figure 9-52

2. Now beneath that create a bulge for the knee.

Figure 9-53

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

3. Give the inner thigh a slight rise, ending at a bulge on the

inside of the knee.

Figure 9-54

4. Expand the inside and outside of the calf.

Figure 9-55

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

5. Create a bulge down the front of the calf to create the shin
bone. Go back in with the Smooth operation to soften it up.

Figure 9-56

6. Well catch up with the foot in the next chapter. Right now we
will rotate around to the back of the leg and create the calf
muscles.

Figure 9-57

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7. Directly below the calf muscle sculpt a narrow bulge down to

the back of the heel to create the Achilles tendon. Notice from
the image that the tendon is less noticeable near the calf and
becomes more prominent as it flows down to the back of the
foot.

Figure 9-58

8. Working our way back up the leg, we will sculpt the hamstrings. The hamstrings are comprised of two muscle groups
that extend down to wrap around the outer portion of the
knees.

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Figure 9-59

9. Also add a slight bulge along the length of the hamstring muscles on the inside and outside of the leg. Just for reference
Figure 9-60 shows the right side of the figure (duplicate)
moved back slightly so that you can see the interior portion of
the thigh.

Figure 9-60

10. Delete History and save!

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

The Breasts
Now we need to go in and define the chest. We have intentionally
waited to the end of the fleshing out phase to tackle this area. The
breasts tend to be a difficult area to nail down. All too often we see
the comic book approach to breasts. You know the kind that defy
gravity. To the dismay of some, we are going to lean toward a more
natural and realistic approach for our model with a touch of artistic
license. The important factor to achieving a natural look to the
breasts is to remember that they overlap the rib cage. Unless the
breasts are very small or surgically enhanced, like anything else
they are affected by gravity.
1. Beginning with the base model, select the vertices under the
arm near the pectorals and move them up on the Y-axis.

Figure 9-61

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

2. Select the nine faces on the chest as indicated in Figure 9-62.

Figure 9-62

3. Select Edit Mesh | Extrude p [v7: Edit Polygons | Extrude

Face p]. When the option box opens, set Offset to 2.0. Hit the
Apply button and then the Extrude Face button to close the
dialog. You should have two inset extrusions.

Figure 9-63

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

4. Switch to the Sculpt Geometry tool and use the Smooth operation to round out the spacing of the faces.

Figure 9-64

5. Select the vertices on the interior edge loops of the breast

(see Figure 9-65). Select Create | Sets4Quick Select Sets
p. When the dialog opens, enter breast as the name of the
set.

Figure 9-65

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

6. Switch to the Sculpt Geometry tool again and use it to bulge

out the breast. Be sure to create a smooth transition between
the upper part of the chest and the breast itself. You dont
need to add a smooth node at this point.

Figure 9-66

7. Select Edit | Quick Select Sets4breast. Rotate the

selected vertices on the Y-axis and then move them slightly to
the right.

Figure 9-67

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

8. Use the Insert Edge Loop tool to add another edge loop
around the breast.

Figure 9-68

9. Select the four vertices under the breast and move them up on
the Y-axis. You may need to move them back slightly on the
Z-axis as well.

Figure 9-69

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

10. Now apply a smooth node to the figure. Use the Pull operation
of the Sculpt Geometry tool to close the gap at the bottom of
the breast where it overlaps the rib cage.

Figure 9-70

11. Use the Pull operation again to add some weight to the outside
of the breast.

Figure 9-71

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

12. Rotate around so that you are looking at the side of the breast
closest to the center of the model. Use the Smooth and Pull
operations so that it resembles Figure 9-72.

Figure 9-72

13. Continue to rotate around and look at the breast from various
angles. Use the Smooth and Pull operations to continue
increasing the size of the breast while keeping the geometry
smooth. Be sure to refer to the shaded mirrored version of the
model in the process.

Figure 9-73

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

Getting a natural breast shape is surprisingly difficult, and it is

important to study the breast from various positions. What
may look fine from one angle will look considerably wrong
from another.
14. Keep working the shape until you get a natural appearance
from all angles. It may at times become necessary to switch
back to the base mesh and manually move verts to get it perfect. If your intention is to make the breasts larger, build them
up as much as you can with the existing geometry and then
add edge loops only when the geometry no longer appears
smooth.

Figure 9-74

15. Once you have the breast shape completed, you can then add
the nipples. Back up to your base mesh and select the nine
faces on the front of the breast.

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Figure 9-75

16. Select Edit Mesh | Extrude p [v7: Edit Polygons | Extrude

Face p]. When the option box opens, set Offset once again to
2.0. Hit the Apply button three times. Leave the Extrude
Face Options window open for now.

Figure 9-76

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

17. In Object mode, use the Sculpt Geometry tool with the
Smooth operation. Set Max Displacement to 0.005. Smooth
the faces to round out the geometry.

Figure 9-77

18. Select the nine faces at the tip of the nipple and extrude the
faces out from the breast.

Figure 9-78

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

19. With the Insert Edge Loop tool, add two edge loops around the
tip of the nipple.

Figure 9-79

20. Apply a smooth node and then, concentrating on the tip of the
nipple, use the Smooth operation of the Sculpt Geometry tool
to round out the nipple.

Figure 9-80

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21. If you wish, you can add another loop around the outer edge of
the areola to enhance the shape.

Figure 9-81

22. Delete History and save!

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The Clavicles and Neck

When we built the head of our character we did a little preliminary
work around the neck. Now, as we form the clavicles, we will
address the neck in finer detail. The clavicles, in a similar fashion to
the scapula, move considerably in relation to the movement of the
arms. Because of that, they can be more prominently visible in certain positions and less so in others. Once again well take the middle
ground approach and model them so that they look acceptable
regardless of the position they are in.
So lets start with the base mesh and do a little preliminary
work to set up the clavicles.
1. Select the seven faces that run down the side of the neck.

Figure 9-82

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2. Select Edit Mesh | Extrude p [v7: Edit Polygons | Extrude

Face p]. Set Offset to 0.1 and then click Apply. Move the
selected faces back into the neck of the model. Before closing
the window, reset the Extrude Face settings back to the
default.

Figure 9-83

3. Next, select the two vertices near the bottom of the extrusion
and pull them up a bit on the Y-axis.

Figure 9-84

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

4. Select the three vertices to the right of center and pull them
up a bit on the Y-axis as well.

Figure 9-85

5. Move the vertex at the base of the neck down so that it lines
up with the one below it.

Figure 9-86

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

6. The next vertex should be moved up.

Figure 9-87

7. Add an additional edge loop right under the clavicle.

Figure 9-88

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

8. To create the sternocleidomastoid muscle, use the Pull operation, starting behind the jaw and ending in the middle of the
base of the neck.

Figure 9-89

9. Now go back in and smooth the muscle, especially behind the

jaw.

Figure 9-90

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

10. Continue to smooth the area between the sternocleidomastoid

and the upper trapezius muscles.

Figure 9-91

11. The clavicle has a slight bulge at the base of the neck where
the two clavicles meet called the sternal facet. Use the Pull
modifier to create the bulge.

Figure 9-92

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

12. Use the Push operation to create a slight divot where the
throat meets the sternal facet.

Figure 9-93

13. Beyond this you should use the Smooth operation to soften up
the sternocleidomastoid and surrounding area so that they are
not quite as exaggerated.

Figure 9-94

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Chapter 9: Fleshing Out the Body

14. Delete History and save!

The Touch-Up
The last thing well do is the touch-up. This means going back
over the figure and touching up features here and there. This may
include adding some additional edge loops that will help define the
figure and aid in deformation. Feel free to add loops wherever you
deem necessary; the butt and the upper arms would benefit from a
few.

Figure 9-95

The addition of these new loops may not be necessary for your particular model. As far as I am concerned, when building a high-res
model, a few extra loops here and there to make sure your surface
is smooth certainly cant hurt.
You may have noticed that we have overemphasized some of the
muscle groups. As a final tweak we will look to the reference
images to nail down our particular model.

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Figure 9-96

Take this step as far as you want. There is nothing written in stone
that you cant deviate from your reference image. Youre an artist,
for crying out loud. Be artistic!

Wrap-Up
Were almost there! If youve made it this far you have good reason
to be quite proud of yourself. In this chapter we used the Sculpt
Geometry tool extensively to give our character a body to go along
with her head. You should now realize how powerful the Sculpt
Geometry tool is. You can change the look of a character in minutes
add muscle definition, give em a potbelly, whatever.
The last thing we have to do in the modeling process is finish
our models hands and feet. From there we will combine the two
halves of our character and give her the final touch-up, then its off
to texture land!

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Chapter 10

Hands and Feet

Refer to Chapter_10 on the companion CD.
Both the hands and the feet can be difficult areas to model. One thing
people seem to have a lot of trouble with is adding enough geometry
to create the hands and feet without adding unnecessary geometry to
the arms and legs. I think once you are through this chapter you will
find the process considerably easier. Remember, its not rocket science; we just need to break things down into manageable steps.

The Hand
1. So, lets start with a little prep work. You can open
Chapter10_start.mb from the companion CD. It contains a new
image plane for the hand that references Lucy_hand.jpg in the
Chapter 10\sourceimages folder.
2. For now we can hide the mirrored geometry and concentrate
solely on the original. With your geometry selected, rotate the
model 35 degrees on the Z-axis. This should put the model in a
good position to work on the hand. We want the hand to be parallel to the ground plane.

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Figure 10-1

3. To make things a bit easier, select all the faces that make up
the hand to about midway up the forearm. Go to Show |
Isolate Selected4View Selected. The only thing showing
in the viewport should be the faces you selected.

Figure 10-2

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4. Because you have isolated a selected area, you may notice that
the image plane is no longer visible. You can remedy this situation by first turning on the visibility of the hand_Image_L
layer. The layer contains a polygon plane with the image of the
hand applied. Select the plane along with the faces on the
hand. When you isolate the selection you will still have the
hand reference image available. Cheap, yes but effective.
5. Begin by using the Sculpt Geometry tool to smooth the hand a
bit so you have a generally clean flow of edge loops. Concentrate on the hand and not so much the fingers at this point.
6. Slide the row of vertices around the hand forward toward the
fingers. Be sure to adjust the vertices on the top of the thumb
as well.

Figure 10-3

7. The next thing to do is to get the hand on our model to resemble the hand in our reference image. First add four edge loops
around the thumb. After that, it is really a process of just digging in and moving vertices. Try to get your hand to resemble
the image as closely as possible, but keep in mind that it
doesnt need to be exactly the same. The most important thing
to do is get the edge loops positioned evenly around the joints.

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Figure 10-4

8. Getting the initial hand layout right can be tough, but once its
done, the rest should be pretty easy. If you need help with this
step, look at Chapter10_template.mb.
9. Use the Insert Edge Loop tool to add a new edge loop around
the wrist.

Figure 10-5

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10. Add another loop that wraps around the tip of the thumb and
around the hand.

Figure 10-6

11. Select the faces on top of the index finger along with the three
faces on the top of the hand. Using the Extrude tool, scale the
selected faces uniformly with the center yellow cube on the
manipulator so that they are inset from their original position.

Figure 10-7

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12. With the Extrude tool still selected, move the faces up a bit.

Figure 10-8

13. Repeat the process for the remaining three fingers.

Figure 10-9

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14. Use the Split Polygon tool to cut the start of an edge loop on
the top of the hand near the wrist.

Figure 10-10

15. Create a similar cut on the palm of the hand near the wrist.

Figure 10-11

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16. Use the Insert Edge Loop tool to create an edge loop that runs
from the palm down around the tip of the pinky and then over
the top of the hand. The edge should stop one face short of
where you made the previous cuts.

Figure 10-12

17. Create a similar loop around the tip of the index finger.

Figure 10-13

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18. On the palm side of the hand, use the Split Polygon tool to
connect the new edge loops to the previous cut you made.

Figure 10-14

19. Cut an edge from the midpoint of each angled edge to the corresponding vertex to eliminate the triangles.

Figure 10-15

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20. Flip over to the top of the hand and connect the edge loops as
you did on the palm.

Figure 10-16

21. In this case, collapse the two angled edges.

Figure 10-17

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22. Next, cut a couple of new edges on the top of the hand inset
from the previous loop.

Figure 10-18

23. Do the same for the palm.

Figure 10-19

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24. Create two additional edge loops one down and around the
tip of the middle finger, and one down around the tip of the
ring finger. Both edge loops should stop one face short of the
previous edges you created.

Figure 10-20

25. On the palm side of the hand, connect the ends of the edge
loops.

Figure 10-21

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26. Cut an edge from the midpoint of each angled edge to the corresponding vertex to eliminate the triangles.

Figure 10-22

27. Flip over to the top of the hand and connect the edge loops.

Figure 10-23

28. Once again, cut an edge from the midpoint of each angled edge
to the corresponding vertex to eliminate the triangles.
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29. Delete History and save your file!

Figure 10-24

30. Now would be a good time to smooth out the geometry and
shape it a bit before we add any additional geometry. Start by
selecting all of the vertices from the wrist down. Select Mesh
| Average Vertices p [v7: Polygons | Average Vertices p].
When the options box opens, set Iterations to 2.

Figure 10-25

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31. Next, we need to go in with the Sculpt Geometry tool. Set

Max Displacement to 0.01. Select the Pull operation and set
Smooth Strength to 2. It would benefit you to add a temporary
smooth node to your geometry. This will make this step a bit
easier.

Figure 10-26

32. Start with the fingers. The amount of bulking up of the fingers
will vary depending on the way you built the fingers to begin
with. Regardless, work your way around the fingers with the
Pull operation until you are satisfied with the size and general
shape of each finger.

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Figure 10-27

33. Move over to the thumb and bulk it up as well.

Figure 10-28

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34. On the palm side of the hand, add a bit of a bulge from the base
of the thumb to about the center of the hand.

Figure 10-29

At this point the hand shape should be pretty well fleshed out.
Take all the time you need to make sure the geometry looks
good before we get caught up in the details.

Figure 10-30

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Hand Details
We want to work on the original geometry, so if you added a smooth
node you will want to remove it before continuing.
1. Select the first three rows of faces on the top of the index finger along with the next row of faces below.

Figure 10-31

2. Use the Extrude tool to scale and inset the faces.

Figure 10-32

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3. With the Insert Edge Loop tool, create a new edge loop around
the nail bed.

Figure 10-33

4. Select the four faces at the front of the nail and extrude them.
You may need to switch the manipulator into world coordinates (little blue handle) to adjust the new geometry. You may
also want to scale the faces down a bit.

Figure 10-34

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5. Now you will need to adjust the geometry a bit to give the nail
its final shape. Select the two vertices on either side near the
base of the nail bed and move them in toward the center of the
finger. It may be necessary to move them forward as well.
Generally, you are just rounding out the shape of the nail.

Figure 10-35

6. Move any additional vertices around to give the nail a nice

shape. You may want to raise the vertices a bit on the center of
the nail while youre at it.

Figure 10-36

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7. If you want to see a nice distinct border around the nail, you
can add a few additional edge loops around it and further tweak
the geometry.

Figure 10-37

8. When you are satisfied with the nail, go back through and
repeat this process for the remaining fingers.

Figure 10-38

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9. On to the thumb. There is a slight difference with the creation

of the nail here. In this case we will only select the top faces to
begin with.

Figure 10-39

10. Extrude the selection and scale it down a bit.

Figure 10-40

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11. Create an edge loop around the nail bed.

Figure 10-41

12. Select the faces again and extrude them out with a slight inset.

Figure 10-42

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13. Create another loop around the thumbnail.

Figure 10-43

14. Select the three vertices at the front of the edge you just
created and pull them forward.

Figure 10-44

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15. At this point, you need to adjust the geometry as you did with
the fingernails to get the right shape. It may take a bit more
tweak time because of the angle, but the same theory applies.
As before, you can add additional edge loops if you want.

Figure 10-45

Right now we have a pretty serviceable hand, but in this business serviceable runs a distant second to cool, so were not
quite done yet.
16. Lets continue by adding another edge loop around the knuckles down around the palm.

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Figure 10-46

17. Next, select the edges or vertices between each of the knuckles on the hand and move them down slightly.

Figure 10-47

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Chapter 10: Hands and Feet

18. Select the faces along the top of each finger and use the
Extrude tool to scale them inset and then up a bit.

Figure 10-48

19. Use the Insert Edge Loop tool to add an edge loop at the base
of each finger.

Figure 10-49

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Chapter 10: Hands and Feet

20. Add another loop around the base of the thumb.

Figure 10-50

21. Continue to use the Insert Edge Loop tool to add two more
edge loops through the tip of the thumb and around the hand.

Figure 10-51

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22. Add three additional edge loops around the wrist.

Figure 10-52

23. Lets once again use the Sculpt Geometry tool to bring out
some details. Start by smoothing out the knuckles on top of
the hand so that the edge loops of the knuckles are evenly
rounded.

Figure 10-53

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24. The knuckles for the ring and pinky fingers are generally less
pronounced than those of the index and middle finger. Use the
Sculpt Geometry tool to flatten the knuckles down with the
Push and Smooth operations.

Figure 10-54

25. Bulge the knuckles up slightly on the index and middle

knuckle. Then switch to Vertex mode and select the four vertices behind each knuckle and move them up slightly.

Figure 10-55

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26. Flip the hand over so that we can make some adjustments to
the palm. If you cup your hand you will realize that the first
knuckle of each finger as well as the thumb reside more in the
palm of the hand. Because of this we will need to move some
of the vertices to accommodate this movement.
27. First, select the row of vertices near the fingers and slide
them forward. Make sure you are not accidentally selecting
vertices on the top of the hand; only select the vertices on the
palm.

Figure 10-56

28. Adjust the next two rows down so that they look like those in
Figure 10-57.

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Chapter 10: Hands and Feet

Figure 10-57

29. Make some additional adjustments to the vertices in the center of the palm and then add two additional edge loops around
the palm to even out the geometry.

Figure 10-58

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30. Next, rotate around so that you are looking at the pinky side of
the hand. Select the four rows of faces on the outside of the
wrist and extrude them once to give us enough geometry to
create the bulge for the wrist bone.

Figure 10-59

31. Lets use the Sculpt Geometry tool one last time. Just rotate
around the hand and look at it from different angles. You may
need to bulk up the outside of the hand near the wrist as well
as round out the wrist bone. Once again, try adding a smooth
node during the sculpting process.

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Chapter 10: Hands and Feet

Figure 10-60

32. Take some additional time to go around the fingers as well,

perhaps adding a bit of a bulge to the fingertips.

Figure 10-61

33. Its also kinda cool to add a bit of a bump here or there randomly on the top of the hand to give the impression of veins.

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Chapter 10: Hands and Feet

Figure 10-62

34. The last thing we will want to do is make sure the edge loops
around the fingers are set up to deform properly. With all of
the sculpting we have done, some of the loops may have
moved. The easiest way to fix this is to simply add new edge
loops around the knuckles. Dont forget about the thumb.

Figure 10-63

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Chapter 10: Hands and Feet

The hand is one of the areas that can vary greatly in detail
depending on your needs. For example, you would have less
detail on a gloved hand than one that was bare. You can go all
out with geometry, adding in details such as the wrinkles on
the knuckles, folds of the palm, etc. The alternative would be
to use a bump or displacement map to handle the finer details;
its really up to you.

Figure 10-64

35. Delete History and save your file!

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Chapter 10: Hands and Feet

The Foot
Now that the hand is complete, unhide the geometry and rotate it
back into its original position to begin work on the foot. We will step
(ha, ha get it foot step!) through the process in much the
same way we did the hand. As I mentioned earlier in the book, we
will be tackling the foot in more detail by adding toes.
For the most part, the characters I build have some sort of footwear. It is rare to see a character with bare feet. The exception may
be some sort of creature like a woodland tree fairy or a two-toed
sloth monster.
Regardless, you never know when you will need a detailed foot
geometry. Because we are dealing with the classic nude figure, our
model will most definitely need some feet.
1. To begin with, lets select the faces from about midway down
the calf and around the foot. As we did with the hand, isolate
the selection by going to Show | Isolate Selected4View
Selected. There is a polygon plane containing the foot image
for reference on the CD (Lucy_foot.jpg in Chapter
10\sourceimages).

Figure 10-65

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2. Remember that since we are adding toes to our model, we will

more than likely have to adjust the foot geometry to accommodate the toes. Basically, we want the front of the foot to line up
directly behind the toes.
3. Next, we will need to adjust the geometry to line up with the
toes. Start with the big toe and the next two toes. Align the
vertices so that they are in between each toe.

Figure 10-66

4. As you adjust the vertices, evenly space the vertices on the

top and bottom of the foot as well.

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Chapter 10: Hands and Feet

Figure 10-67

5. Select the two front vertices on the outside of the foot and
slide them over so that they sit between the pinky toe and the
next toe over.

Figure 10-68

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Chapter 10: Hands and Feet

6. Select the five faces on the front of the foot and extrude them
separately.

Figure 10-69

7. Select the face on the big toe and extrude it once to the
knuckle, and then again to the tip of the toe. Adjust the vertices to match the reference as well as you can at this point.

Figure 10-70

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8. Repeat the process for each of the toes. First extrude to the
knuckle, then out to the tip. Rotate around the foot and shape
the toes a bit as well.

Figure 10-71

9. Use the Split Polygon tool to create a single edge on the outside of the foot.

Figure 10-72

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Chapter 10: Hands and Feet

10. Create one on the inside of the foot as well.

Figure 10-73

11. Use the Insert Edge Loop tool to create an edge loop that
wraps around the toes and stops one face short of the edges
you just created.

Figure 10-74

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12. Create another loop that wraps around the back of the foot.

Figure 10-75

13. On the inside of the foot, use the Split Polygon tool to connect
the edge loops to the single edge.

Figure 10-76

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14. Collapse the middle edge to create a quad.

Figure 10-77

15. Repeat this process for the outside of the foot.

Figure 10-78

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Chapter 10: Hands and Feet

16. Create a cut on the top of the foot to the front of the pinky toe.

Figure 10-79

17. Create the same cut on the bottom of the foot.

Figure 10-80

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18. Connect the edge on the front of the toe.

Figure 10-81

19. Connect the edge on the side of the foot as well.

Figure 10-82

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20. Select the angled edge on the front and top of the foot closest
to the toe and collapse it.

Figure 10-83

21. Collapse any other angled edges on the foot and then use the
Sculpt Geometry tool to even out the geometry.

Figure 10-84

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22. Create a new cut on the top of the foot.

Figure 10-85

23. Create a similar cut on the bottom of the foot near the heel.

Figure 10-86

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24. Use the Insert Edge Loop tool to create an edge loop over the
big toe, stopping one face before the two previous cuts on the
top and bottom of the foot.

Figure 10-87

25. Create an edge loop over the toe next to the pinky toe. This
should follow the same path as the last edge loop, stopping
short of the edges you created.

Figure 10-88

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26. Connect the edge loops on the top and bottom of the foot.
Once you have the loops connected, collapse those angled
edges (the two on the top of the foot as well as the two on the
heel).

Figure 10-89

27. Create a new edge loop over the top of the second and third
toes.

Figure 10-90

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28. Add a cut to the back of the foot where you created the previous edge loop.

Figure 10-91

29. Use the Insert Edge Loop tool to create two loops that wrap
around the two toes, stopping short of the edges.

Figure 10-92

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Chapter 10: Hands and Feet

30. On the bottom of the foot, connect the edges and then draw
edges from the center of the angled edges to the corresponding vertices.

Figure 10-93

31. Back on top, connect the edges on the front of the toes and
then create edges from the center of the angled edges to the
corresponding vertices.

Figure 10-94

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32. Add two edge loops around each of the toes, one around the
middle and then one around the tip.

Figure 10-95

33. Delete History and save your file!

Foot Details
1. As we have done so many times before, lets break out the
Sculpt Geometry tool and use it to smooth out and shape our
foot. Apply a temporary smooth node and then rotate around
and concentrate on rounding the heel as well as the ball and
outside of the foot.

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Figure 10-96

2. On the inside part of the foot, you may want to add a slight
instep or arch.

Figure 10-97

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3. Approach the toes with a bit of caution. Concentrate more on

the top and bottom, being careful not to intersect the sides too
much. Start with the big toe and bulk up the top a bit.

Figure 10-98

4. With the rest of the toes, try to bulk up the knuckles more
than the tips.

Figure 10-99

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5. On the bottom of the toes, take the opposite approach by bulking up the toes and smoothing or at times pushing the
geometry where it meets the foot.

Figure 10-100

6. Bulk up the ball and smooth over any rough spots on the bottom of the foot.

Figure 10-101

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Chapter 10: Hands and Feet

7. Remove the polySmoothFace node so that you are back to the

base mesh.

Figure 10-102

8. Well create the toenails in the same way we did the fingernails. Start with the big toe by selecting the four faces on the
top and extruding them inset from their original position.

Figure 10-103

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9. Create an edge loop around the nail with the Insert Edge Loop
tool.

Figure 10-104

10. Select and extrude the four faces again, this time pulling them
forward a bit.

Figure 10-105

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11. For the rest of the toes, select only the first two faces and
extrude them in.

Figure 10-106

12. Extrude the faces once more, then add an edge loop around
each of the nails.

Figure 10-107

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13. Take a few minutes to move the vertices to round out the toenails. Add a few more edge loops around the foot and ankle
and, if necessary, adjust them so that we will get a clean deformation when the foot bends. From here you can add as much
geometry as you feel you need to enhance the look of the foot.
Just like the hand, the amount of detail you add will vary
greatly from model to model.

Figure 10-108

14. Because of all the sculpting we have done you may need to
move the ankle down a bit. As a final step, lets bulk up the
ankle bone on both the inside and outside of the foot.

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Chapter 10: Hands and Feet

Figure 10-109

Wrap-Up
So guess what? In this chapter we added hands and feet to our figure, and that pretty much puts a wrap on the modeling phase! With
the completion of nice hand and foot geometries, you have added a
couple of reusable parts to your library.
The one thing that should be evident from this chapter is that
we can add a lot of geometry to one part, such at the hand, without
having to add any unnecessary geometry to the connecting arm.
This is accomplished by redirecting the path of an edge loop so that
you dictate the direction of the flow.
For additional examples of extra geometry used to enhance the
hands and feet, see the file Chapter10_completeB.mb. The model
contains hand and feet geometry that show what can be done in the
way of adding detail.

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Chapter 11

Fine-Tuning the Model

That Perspective Thing
Refer to Chapter_11 on the companion CD.
So now we have reached the final stages of the modeling process. Up
until now we have worked directly from reference images and a
stand-in skeleton to get a complete character model. It would seem
pretty logical that our character should have a resemblance to the
reference images. This is true to a certain extent.
Somewhere back when we set up our reference I said that when
using photos for reference we need to take perspective into account.
Because we used orthographic view planes to create the geometry,
certain features of our model may
appear quite a bit larger than the reference images.
For instance, remember how we
adjusted the image plane to build the
ear? That was just one of the things that
need to be accounted for when achieving
a likeness. This is due in part to the fact
that we never actually see people in an
orthographic sense.
So what exactly does that mean?
Well, if we exaggerate the point, it would
be like looking at someone through a
fish-eye lens.
Figure 11-1

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Notice how the nose looks larger and the rest of the features, such
as the eyes, seem farther apart and farther away. As I said, this is an
exaggeration, but the same thing occurs on the regular image to a
lesser degree.
So when we created the geometry, we used orthographic views
with perspective images. Therefore, our features are larger in the
flat orthographic view, and when we look at the model in perspective, the features appear twice as large as they should be.
About the best way to get a head shot that has very little perspective is to stand about 30 feet away from your subject and use a
telephoto lens. This obviously isnt always a possibility, especially if
you are, say, trying to build a model of a famous person. You have to
make do with what youve got.
So this is where your keen eye as an artist comes into play. On
the companion CD you will find a variety of head shots in various
positions in the sourceimages folder of Chapter 11. This, along with
one little factoid, should get you through the tweaking phase.
So what I have found is this: The
features in an orthographic view
should be roughly half the size as they
appear in a perspective view. Now this
isnt written in stone, because any
photo you use for reference could use
any variety of camera settings, but for
the most part, it is a good place to
start. To make the process a bit easier,
you can refer to or load up Chapter11\
images\11-002.jpg in the front image
plane. This will give you an idea of
what the head would look like with no
perspective.
There is still more tweaking
Figure 11-2
involved beyond that, such as comparing your model to reference images
and using an artistic eye. This perception cannot be learned by reading a book; it takes practice just like anything else. If you are having
trouble, try to get an opinion from someone else. When you get
wrapped up in a project, sometimes it is hard to step back and take a
good objective look.

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Combine
When you feel satisfied with your tweaking, we will take the next
giant step of combining the two halves of your model. This can
always be a little intimidating. It feels so final! Rest assured that if
you really need to go back and make adjustments, you can always
remove one side of the body and mirror your geometry again.
1. Before we combine our model we need to make sure the center border edge is on a straight vertical path.
2. Select both halves of the geometry and select Mesh | Combine [v7: Polygons | Combine]. You now should have one
piece of geometry.
There is one more thing to account for though. There is a
seam directly down the center of the model.
3. In a front view, zoom in and go to Select | Select Border
Edge Tool [v7: Edit | Select Border Edge Tool] to select an
interior edge from each half of the model. The entire border
edge will be highlighted.

Figure 11-3

4. Select Edit Mesh | Merge [v7: Edit Polygons | Merge]. The

separate halves of the geometry are now sewn together as
one.
Congratulations! You have a complete model.
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Finishing Touches
Our model at this point is perfectly
symmetrical. If you look closely at the
face of our reference, however, you
will notice that there are distinct differences between the right and left
sides. This asymmetry needs to be
evident in our model as well to really
make her look realistic. This is
another area where observation is key.
If it helps, you can bring the front
image into a photo editing program and
draw horizontal guidelines to see how
the features differ from one side to the
other.
Make adjustments as necessary.
Figure 11-4
This will help to sell the likeness.
Even if you created a model that
appears to have symmetrical features, you should still go in and add
a few asymmetrical touches here and there.

Figure 11-5

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Wrap-Up
So thats it. We have completed the modeling process. Hopefully,
you are satisfied with the results. In this chapter we learned the
very important lesson of compensating for perspective and using an
artistic eye to get a likeness. Obviously, textures play a major role in
selling your character, so we will be discussing that in the next
chapter.
Once again, it is beneficial to have someone else look at your
model to give you an outsiders perspective on things. (Notice how I
managed to squeeze perspective in there one last time very
important!)

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Chapter 12

UVs and Textures

A Bit about Advanced Shaders
Refer to Chapter_12 on the companion CD.
Now that we have a completed model we can move on to the next
step adding textures. There are many ways in which to approach
the UV layout as well as the creation of the texture itself.
Characters these days are looking more and more lifelike due to
the development of advanced shaders. In Chapter 3, A Modeling
Primer, we briefly discussed normal mapping. When used in Maya,
the normal map is a somewhat elaborate shading network that is then
applied to the geometry and rendered to achieve the desired results.
Remember our example from Chapter 3?

Figure 12-1

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Chapter 12: UVs and Textures

Another advancement in shaders is the use of subsurface scattering

(SSS). This shader creates the appearance of light that is absorbed
into the surface of an object, then bounces around the underlying
layers and is reflected back out, or diminishes, as it is absorbed.
Whoa! That sounds pretty complicated!
When lighting characters, the subsurface scattering effect is
most prevalent in skin where the layers are thinnest. You will notice
it on the ears when there is a light source coming from behind. To
get a good look at SSS, hold a flashlight under your hand. It should
almost appear as if your hand is glowing under the skin.
Creating this shader takes some amount of work. There are a
few different means by which you can approach SSS, some more
complex than others. Achieving real SSS will increase render times
dramatically, but there are ways to cheat the SSS that will keep your
render times a bit more manageable.
We dont have enough room here to explain the use of these
advanced shaders, but there are numerous tutorials on the Internet
to walk you through these methods. Because this book is geared
more toward beginners, I have to assume that creating UVs and textures is daunting enough.

Our Approach to UVs

Getting good UVs is a pretty involved task when it comes to characters. As I stated in Chapter 3, pelt mapping is really coming into its
own and can be used to simplify the process quite a bit. The problem I find with this approach is the fact that the pelted geometry
bears very little resemblance to your actual model.

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Figure 12-2: A pelt map.

This simplified UV process can save you a boatload of time, but the
trade-off is the difficulty in comprehending the UV layout that
results from pelting when you bring it into a paint program.
Even though I recommend learning to use pelt mapping, the
approach we will focus on here is the old tried and true method of
creating your own UV layout, primarily because Maya doesnt
include the pelting, and also because understanding UVs is an
important part of the modeling process.
We will step through the process of creating UVs for the entire
character and then focus on creating textures for the head. This
should give you enough of an understanding of the process so that
you can continue on and texture the body yourself. The companion
CD contains the completed textures for the head as well as the rest
of the body so that you can see how they are constructed.
The model we created has edge loops laid out in a manner that
is conducive to laying out proper UVs. In other words, it can be split
out into sections that will allow for a uniform layout.
The example I usually give when creating UVs is to look at an
article of clothing. Take any shirt, for instance. There are seams
where different pieces of material are stitched together. If you
remove the stitches you can lay each individual piece out flat. The
front of the shirt is separate from the back, and the sleeves, which
are essentially cylinders, can be laid out flat as well.
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This is the same approach we take with UVing. Sections of the

model can be split out and more or less flattened to get an accurate
layout. Each section has a unique UV map projected on it, and then
can be stitched together in the UV Editor.

Preparing the Model

UV layouts can be very confusing, especially if it is something you
are unfamiliar with. The worst thing you can do to your model is to
lay out the UVs improperly. Bad texturing can ruin the best model.
My opinion is if you arent going to spend the proper time laying out
UVs, then dont texture the model at all.
To simplify the process we will start by dividing the model into
sections based on how we will divvy up our UVs. To begin, we will
simply apply temporary separate materials to different sections of
the model. Eventually we will stitch some of the sections back
together to create one continuous UV flow.
1. Select Window | Rendering Editors4Hypershade.

Figure 12-3

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2. When the Hypershade window opens, create a new Blinn

material and name it Head. Double-click on Head to open the
attribute panel shown in Figure 12-4.

Figure 12-4

3. Click on the gray swatch next to Color to open the Color

Chooser. Pick any color you like. As we go through this process you will choose different colors for each material so that
it is easier to see how the UVs should be applied to your
model.
4. Lets take a moment to adjust some of the settings on our
Blinn material. Under Specular Shading, set Eccentricity to
0.3, set Specular Roll Off to 0.5, leave Specular Color alone
for now, and set Reflectivity to 0.05.

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5. Select all of the polygons that make up the face of your character. Look at the example to make sure you are selecting the
right faces. Right-click the Head material and choose Assign
Material to Selection.

Figure 12-5

6. Create a new Blinn material, name it head_side, and give it a

unique color. In a side view, select all the faces on the side of
the head. Make sure you are selecting the polygons on both
sides of the head. Apply the head_side material to the
selected faces.

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Figure 12-6

7. Create a new Blinn material, name it head_top, and give it a

unique color. Select all the faces on the top of the head. Apply
the head_top material to the selected faces.

Figure 12-7

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8. Create another new Blinn material, name it head_neck, and

give it a unique color. Select the faces at the front of the neck,
stopping where the neck meets the torso. Make sure you are
selecting the polygons of the neck. Apply the head_neck
material to the selected faces.

Figure 12-8

9. Create a new Blinn material, name it head_chin, and give it a

unique color. Select the remaining faces of the head under the
chin. Apply the head_chin material to the selected faces.

Figure 12-9

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10. Finally, create a new Blinn material, name it head_back, and

give it a unique color. Select the remaining faces on the back of
the head. Apply the head_back material to the selected faces.

Figure 12-10

You should now have a pretty good idea as to where we are

going with this. As we continue to split out the figure, we
make new materials for each new section. Next, we will move
down to the torso.
11. Create a material named torso_front. Select the faces on the
front of the torso, stopping at the imaginary seams on the side
of the model and near the shoulders. It should look something
like a one-piece bathing suit.

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Figure 12-11

12. Apply the new material and then select the faces on the back
of the torso in a similar fashion to the front.

Figure 12-12

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13. Apply a new material named torso_back.

14. Next, we will move to the arms. Select the left arm from the
shoulder down to the wrist. Assign a material named arms.

Figure 12-13

15. Repeat the previous step on the right arm. You can assign the
same material you used for the left arm.
16. The hands require a bit more effort. Select the faces that make
up the top of the left hand. To make it a bit easier, you can
select Display | Custom Polygon Display p. When the
options window opens, set Backface Culling on. You can now
use the Selection tool to select only the polygons visible to the
camera.
17. You will more than likely have to add and remove faces from
the selection around the seam. When you are finished, your
selected polygons should look like Figure 12-14. Assign a new
material named hand_top to the polygons.

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Figure 12-14

18. Repeat this process by selecting the faces on the palm side of
the hand and assign a material named hand_palm.

Figure 12-15

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19. Repeat the process for the right hand, using the same material
assignments that you used for the left hand.
20. Move down and select the polygons that make up the legs
from the hips and butt down to the ankles, as shown in Figure
12-16. Assign the material legs to the selected faces.

Figure 12-16

21. Select the faces on the top of the feet and assign foot_top as a
material.
22. Repeat for the bottom of the foot and name the assigned
material foot_bottom.

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Figure 12-17

If you are so inclined, you can separate out the fingernails and toenails with separate materials. This is not a necessity and is really
based on personal preferences. For our example, we will keep the
nails as part of the hands and feet UVs.

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Assigning UV Coordinates to the Head

Now that we have our figure divided into sections, we can step
through the process of assigning UV coordinates to our model.
Splitting out sections by material assignment now makes it easier to
select the particular section we want to UV.
If you are not familiar with the UV Texture Editor, take the time
to get acquainted with it by looking through the Maya help documents. Dont worry, Ill wait for you.
Got it? Alright then. By default when you open Window | UV
Texture Editor, Maya will display all of the geometry of the selected
mesh in a jumbled mess, as shown in Figure 12-18. As you build an
object, Maya keeps track of the faces and generates UVs as you
proceed.

Figure 12-18

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You would never use them in this state. We need to assign proper
UVs in an organized manner. First, however, we want to clean up
the UVs so that as we proceed we can keep the unassigned portion
of our UVs out of our way.
1. With the geometry selected, go to Polygons | Layout UVs in
the UV Texture Editor. After a few moments, the faces should
display in the editor window. Right-click in the editor and
choose UVs. Select all of the geometry and move it off to the
right, outside of the grid.

Figure 12-19

Now we are ready to assign UVs to our head. One way of

applying UVs to the head is by using cylindrical mapping, as
shown in Figure 12-20. This will give you a relatively good UV
layout except for the top of the head and under the chin, where
it will be difficult to prevent stretching of the texture. So we
will put a bit more work into the head because it is really the
most important part of the character.

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Figure 12-20

2. Lets start right at the top by right-clicking on Head from our

list of materials. Choose Select Objects with Material from
the marking menu. The polygons on the face of your model
should now be selected in the viewport.
3. In a front view, select Create UVs | Planar Mapping p [v7:
Polygon UVs | Planar Mapping p]. When the options box
opens, make sure
Project From is
set to Z axis or
Camera [v7: set
Mapping Direction to Camera].
(Figure 12-21
shows the dialog
box in Maya 7.
See Figure 7-10
for the Maya 8
version.)

Figure 12-21

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4. Hit the Apply button. The selected faces should be surrounded by the planar mapping manipulator.

Figure 12-22

5. The selected faces now have UV coordinates assigned to

them. Select Window | UV Texture Editor.

Figure 12-23

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The face of your model should be visible in the editor window.

Initially, there should be a manipulator that allows you to scale
and move the selected faces.
You should also note that the selection resides within the
grid from 0 to 1 in both directions. It is common for all UVs to
reside within the 0 to 1 parameters. This is not absolutely necessary, as any texture you apply to any given selection will
repeat itself over and over in all directions. So your texture
would sit at 0 to 1 and repeat again at 1 to 2, and 2 to 3, and so
on. This will become more apparent as we start creating
textures.
6. We ultimately want to apply one texture to the entire head, so
we will want to combine the separate UV projections into one
layout. Lets start by selecting the face in the UV editor and
scaling it down.

Figure 12-24

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If you inadvertently turned off the UV manipulator, right-click

in the editor window and choose UV as the selection type. Be
sure to select all of the UVs, and then you will be able to use
the scale manipulator to scale your selection. Maya will also
show you the current UVs you are working with in the
viewports.

Figure 12-25

7. Back in the Hypershade window (Window | Rendering

Editors4Hypershade), right-click on the head_side material
and choose Select Objects with Material. The new selection will be evident in the viewport.

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Figure 12-26

8. Rotate to a side view and select Create UVs | Planar Mapping [v7: Polygon UVs | Planar Mapping]. Once again, your
selection is surrounded by the planar mapping manipulator. Go
back to the UV Texture Editor to see the new projection.

Figure 12-27

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You should notice a couple of things when you look at the editor window. The first thing is that the new UVs appear right on
top of the UVs from the face. The second thing that will be
evident is that both sides of the head are right on top of each
other. This is not a problem.
9. First, select both halves of the side of the head and scale them
down in the editor window so that they are close to the size of
the face. Now, select any one UV on the side of the face. Go to
Select | Select Shell at the top of the window. All of the UVs
that are part of that side of the head should now be selected.
Use the Move tool to separate the two halves.

Figure 12-28

10. Check the viewport to verify on which side of the head the
UVs you have selected are located. We want the right side of
the head selected. If you have the left side of the head
selected, select the right side UVs instead.

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11. With the right side UVs selected, go to Polygons | Flip UVs.
By default, the UVs will flip horizontally, which is what we
want. Move the selection over to the right side of the face
(screen left in the editor).

Figure 12-29

12. Go back into Hypershade and right-click head_top. Rotate to

a top view and assign planar mapping to the selection.

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Figure 12-30

13. Back in the UV Texture Editor, scale the new selection down
to match the size of the rest of the head.

Figure 12-31

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14. Repeat the process for the chin, assigning planar projection.
You can rotate to a bottom view or you can stay in the top view
to create the new UV map. If you remain in the top view, you
will need to vertically flip the chin UVs in the UV Texture
Editor. Scale the chin in the UV Texture Editor down to match
the rest of the head.

Figure 12-32

15. Select head_neck to select the neck section of your model. In

a front view, apply a planar projection to the selection.

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Figure 12-33

16. Go back to the UV Texture Editor and scale the neck selection
down to match the rest of the head.

Figure 12-34

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17. Finally, rotate to the back of the model and assign a planar map
to the back of the head. Scale it down to match the rest of the
head.
Now that we have all of the coordinates laid out for the head,
we can clean up the UVs by stitching sections together. So at
this point we will assign a single material to the head.
18. We can use one of the materials we have already created.
Double-click on Head in the Hypershade window to bring up
its attributes. Click the checkered button to the far right of
Color. When the Create Render Node window pops up, select
Checker. Since by default the UV Texture Editor displays the
geometry in white, we should alter the checker color to make
our lives easier. Select the checker1 tab in the Head attributes. On the Checker Attributes, click on the white color
swatch and change it to any color other than white.
19. In the UV Texture Editor, select all of the UVs. Go to Select |
Convert Selection to Faces. Right-click the Head material
in Hypershade and choose Assign Material to Selection. If
the checker texture does not show up on the model in the
viewport, hit the number 6 key on your keyboard to see it. If
the checker pattern appears blurry, select Shading | Hardware Texturing p and select Unfiltered under Texture
Filter.

Figure 12-35

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So the idea here is to get the checkers on the geometry to

look as square as possible to eliminate stretching that may
occur in the final texture. We do this by adjusting the UVs.
20. We will start by adjusting the positions of the different sections of the head UVs. Scale the sections so that the checker
pattern is roughly the same size when you look at the head in
the viewport.
21. There are noticeable seams in the checker pattern that will be
taken care of as we stitch the UVs together. We start by stitching the sides of the head to the face. In the editor window,
right-click and choose Edge. Select the edges along the side of
the face. As you do, you will see the corresponding edges on
the side of the head highlight as well, indicating that they are
shared edges on your geometry.

Figure 12-36

22. For now, select only the edges that are shared on the face and
sides of the head. Select Polygons | Sew UVs from the top of
the UV Texture Editor. The selected edges should now be
stitched together.

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Figure 12-37

You should notice that the checker pattern around the stitched
areas is looking a little smoother.

Figure 12-38

Dont worry if the checker pattern looks stretched on the

geometry; we will address that issue as we move along.

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23. Select the edges along the bottom of the face until the top
edges of the chin are selected in a similar fashion to the way
we did the side of the head. Select Polygons | Sew UVs to
stitch the chin to the face.

Figure 12-39

Once again, you should notice that the checker pattern around
the stitched areas is a little smoother.

Figure 12-40

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24. Stitch in the top of the head just as you did the chin.

Figure 12-41

25. Select the edge down the center of the faces for the back of
the head section. Select Polygons | Cut UVs in the editor.
This will create two separate halves. Select the edges along
the right side of the head and then go to Polygons | Move
and Sew. The piece from the back of the head will be stitched
to the right side of the head. Repeat the process for the other
side.

Figure 12-42

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26. As a final step, we will sew in the neck. This is one of the
areas that takes a bit more effort. The best way to handle the
neck is to first move the neck section down to give yourself
room to work. To make it a bit more manageable, sew just a
few edges at a time. If you select an edge on the right side, be
sure to select the same edge on the left.

Figure 12-43

Once the edges are sewn you should have something similar
to Figure 12-44.

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Figure 12-44

Next, we will need to adjust some of the UVs to get the

checker pattern flowing correctly.
27. Concentrate on the area around the chin first. Manually move
the UVs and refer to the model to see how your adjustments
are affecting the checker pattern.
In addition, you may want to relax the UVs to make them a bit
more uniform.
28. Select the UVs below the chin and select Polygons | Relax
UVs p. When the Relax UVs Option dialog box opens, make
sure Pin UVs is set to Pin Unselected UVs, and Max Iterations is set to 2 in the Stopping Condition area. Your UVs
should look something like Figure 12-45.

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Figure 12-45

29. Next, select the UVs on the upper edge of the eyelids. If it
makes it easier, select them in the viewport. Move the UVs
down in the editor so that there is more surface space for the
eyelid.

Figure 12-46

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There are a couple of other areas we need to concentrate on:

the nose and the ears. Both these areas are troublesome
because of overlapping geometry.
30. Select the UVs around the nose in the editor and select Polygons | Relax UVs p.
31. You may need to repeat the relax a few times to get it right.

Figure 12-47

32. Select the UVs of both ears. Make sure that you have the
same UVs selected on each side. Repeat the relax process
until the UVs resemble Figure 12-48.

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Figure 12-48

33. You may also want to separate out the interior of the mouth
into its own UVs. When you are done with the head, you
should have something similar to Figure 12-49.

Figure 12-49

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You should now have a pretty decent UV layout for the head. At this
point, you can continue the process of UVing the rest of the body or
move right along to the texturing part of the lesson.
Here are some tips for UVing the body:

4 Use planar mapping for both the front and the back of the
model and the hands and feet.

4 Use cylindrical mapping for the arms and the legs.

4 Use the relax process on the breasts to remove any overlap
issues.

Figure 12-50 shows the finished UVs for the body. The UV layout is
available on the companion CD, along with the textures.

Figure 12-50

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Texturing the Head

Now that we have our UVs, its time to create some textures for our
model. We will be creating three standard textures: a color map, a
bump map, and a specular map. Short of subsurface scattering,
these three textures combined create a pretty convincing-looking
character.
For this particular section you will need a pretty decent paint
program. I will be referring to the Photoshop tool set exclusively. If
there is one universal tool in this industry, its Photoshop. For the
most part, I will assume you have a good understanding of
Photoshop.
So for starters we need to be able to see our UV layout in
Photoshop.
1. In the UV Texture Editor, be sure that your UVs reside within
the 0 to 1 section of the grid. Select Polygons | UV Snapshot p. When the UV Snapshot box opens, select a location
and file name for your image.
2. The default settings for Size X and Size Y are 4096 x 4096.
This is a rather large image size, but will give you the ability
to add a great amount of detail. If you want a more manageable
size to work with, set Size X and Size Y to 2048 x 2048. This
will still get you a fairly detailed texture.
3. Finally, make sure Image Format is set to Targa. This image
type is the most preferable to work with because it can manage a great wealth of color information without any loss due to
compression of the file. It is a good idea to steer clear of the
ever-popular JPEG due to the fact that the color information it
stores can be compressed, which could result in artifacting
(jagged pixels). Hit OK to save the image. Name the image
Head_Template or anything you like. If you have not created
a new project folder, the texture will be in the My Documents\maya\projects\default\images folder.
4. Now open the image in Photoshop, then open
Lucy_Front.jpg from the companion CD. Select All and copy
Lucy_Front and paste it into the UV texture. This should
create a new layer. Turn the opacity down a bit so that you can
see the UV layout underneath, as shown in Figure 12-51.
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Figure 12-51

5. You may need to scale the image nonuniformly to match the

UVs. You also may need to move some of the features to
match up with the UVs. You can do this by cutting and pasting
or by using the Liquify tool (see Figure 12-52). When the
features are aligned, open Lucy_Side.jpg.

Figure 12-52

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6. Copy and paste Lucy_Side.jpg into the UV layout. Move the

image so that it is aligned to the left side of the front view
image. Move and scale it until you are satisfied with the
layout.

Figure 12-53

7. Now you will need to blend the side image into the front
image. Erase the unwanted areas of the side of the head. Use
the Clone tool to blend the two layers so that there are no
noticeable seams.

Figure 12-54

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Eventually we will copy the side layer and flip it, but for now
we will continue to work with only one side of the head. For
the sake of simplicity, our texture will contain the hair as well.
Later, we will add some additional geometry for the ponytail
and stray hairs. This is not necessarily the best approach to
creating hair, but it will contain the elements used to create a
hairpiece using geometric strips and alpha maps. The other
alternative would be to use Mayas Hair system, which unfortunately is only available in the Maya Unlimited version. I
wanted an approach that could be used with Maya Complete as
well.
8. Use the Clone tool as well as cutting sections of hair and pasting them. Be sure to follow the flow of geometry. Using the
Liquify tool will enable you to curve portions of the hair to
match the geometry.

Figure 12-55

9. The next thing we will do is remove some of the details from

the image. First, we will remove the nose. Essentially we want
to take out the nostrils and any shadows around them. Use the
Clone tool and sample areas around the nose. Be sure to avoid
any repeating patterns.

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Figure 12-56

10. Next, we will concentrate on the ear. Eliminate all of the

details and shadows.

Figure 12-57

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11. The eyes are another thing that we want to remove from our
texture. Once again, use the Clone tool to remove the eyes.
When you are through cloning, use the Paintbrush to add a
subtle pink tone to the eye area.

Figure 12-58

12. We will also want to remove any shiny spots that tend to occur
on the oilier parts of the skin, like the forehead and nose,
along with any shadows in the image. Use the Clone tool to
remove them.

Figure 12-59

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13. You can now copy and flip the side of the head over. Make sure
there are no noticeable seams or other issues. Once you have
adjusted the layer to match up with the UV layout, you can collapse the color map down into one layer. Be sure to keep the
UV layout on a separate texture for future reference.

Figure 12-60

14. Now would be a good time to check the texture on our model.
Save the image as head_color.tga. Back in Maya, right-click
the Head material in the Hypershade. Choose Graph Network. In the Work Area tab of the Hypershade, select the
checker texture and delete it.

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Figure 12-61

15. Double-click the Head material to open the attributes. Click

the checker button next to Color and choose File from the
Create Render Node box. The File Attributes should pop up.
Click the folder next to Image Name and browse to where you
saved head_color.tga. You should now see the texture on the
geometry.

Figure 12-62

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16. Rotate around the model to see if the texture is lining up to

the geometry correctly. Also look for any noticeable seams. If
you need to make adjustments to the UVs, right-click on the
Head material in the Hypershade and choose Select Objects
with Material. Open the UV Texture Editor. The texture
should be visible underneath your UVs (see Figure 12-63).
Move the UVs where you need to so that the texture is properly aligned with the geometry. When you are satisfied, save
the file and go back into Photoshop.

Figure 12-63

17. Add a new layer so we can add a bit of detail to our color map.
First add a bit of a red hue to the nose and ears. This should be
very subtle. You may want to adjust the opacity of the layer to
get the right effect.

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Figure 12-64

18. Add another layer. On this layer we will add some small spots
to simulate pores, freckles, and other little details visible on
the skin. One easy approach to this is to use a rather large
brush and set the mode to Dissolve. Turn the opacity down to
about 10. Paint on random parts of the texture, varying the
color from pink to light brown and red. Now erase any
overspray on the lips or other areas you dont want affected.
Add a Blur filter to the layer to soften it up, then adjust the
opacity of the layer so that it doesnt appear overpowering.

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Figure 12-65

19. As a final step, use a small brush size to add additional strands
of hair. You may use a brush that contains a series of dots or
even create your own. I have found that a small standard brush
is effective as well. Use the Eyedropper tool to randomly
select color values from the hair as you go along. The hair in a
photo is often somewhat blurry. Adding additional hair strokes
will alleviate some of that.
That should about do it for the color map. You can collapse the
layers down or, if you want, save a PSD file for any future
tweaking. Check out the texture in Maya and make any other
adjustments you deem necessary.
20. The next thing we will do is create our bump map. The bump
map will give the texture the appearance of having a 3D quality. We will start by saving our color map as a new image.
Name the new image head_bump.tga. The first thing we will
do is desaturate the image by converting it to grayscale.

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Figure 12-66

A bump map will use the light and dark values to give the
impression of raised and receding areas on the texture. So the
lighter areas are raised and darker areas become recessed.
The bump map for the face should be subtle, with a limited
range in the grayscale values. In other words, we would rarely
use true black or true white as they would appear a little too
extreme. The hair in this image should contain about as close
to the extremes as we would ever get.
21. As a grayscale image we have a pretty good start with the
tonal values we need; we just need to level them out a bit. The
first thing we will do is make a copy of the image onto a new
layer and then invert it. This way areas that would be recessed
on the grayscale image will now protrude instead. The exception would be the lips and the creases near the mouth. Erase
the lips from the inverted layer, revealing the grayscale lips.
Use the Burn tool to darken the creases on the sides of the
mouth.

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Figure 12-67

22. Level out the image by adjusting the contrast. In this case we
are looking for less contrast so that the values are a bit more
even. The lips may need some additional work as well. Use
the Dodge and Burn tools to add a few creases but remember
be subtle!

Figure 12-68

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23. You can also add a few lighter spots here and there to create
slightly raised bumps or beauty marks. Save the image.

Figure 12-69

We now have our bump map, so lets take a look at it back in

Maya.
24. Double-click the Head material to open the attributes. Select
the checker button next to Bump Map and select File from the
Create Render Node window. Browse to select the
head_bump.tga file from its saved location.
25. The bump is now assigned, but the default bump will not work
for our model. In the Hypershade, right-click Head and
choose Graph Network. There is an icon that represents the
bump node of our shader.

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Figure 12-70

26. Click on it to open the bump attributes. Set the Bump Depth
to 0.035.
27. Now we need to render our scene in order to see the results of
the bump map. Apply a smooth node and zoom in relatively
close to the head in a perspective view. Select Window |
Rendering Editors4Render Settings.

Figure 12-71

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28. From the Render Using list, select Maya Software. In the
Image Size area, select 1k Square from the Presets list. You
can now close the Render Settings window.
29. Select Render | Render Current Frame. You should see a
render of your model in a few seconds. Take a look at the way
the bump map rendered in order to make necessary adjustments to the Bump Depth setting. Go back and forth between
rendering and adjusting the Bump Depth until you are satisfied
with the results. The bump shouldnt be glaringly obvious and
should only really be visible at a very close range.

Figure 12-72

You should consider adding lights to the scene. A direct light

with Raytraced Shadows turned on and a couple of additional
lights with lower intensity levels should suffice for now.
This brings us to the final map. We need to create a specular map for our model. Right now, if you take a look in the
renders the specular highlights are apparent on the entire
model. As I mentioned before, some areas of the skin are more
apt to receive specular highlights than others. These are generally the areas of the skin that tend to be more oily.

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30. Back in Photoshop, begin by copying head_bump.tga and call

it head_spec.tga. To create the specular map we will lighten
areas of the texture along with giving it a slight hint of a bluish
tint. Once assigned to the specular node of our shader,
hotspots will only appear on the areas that are dictated by the
specular map.
31. So lets begin by eliminating light areas that are left over from
the bump map and wont apply to the specular map. The first
thing to do is to get rid of the eyebrows.

Figure 12-73

32. The next thing to do would be to tone down any other areas
that shouldnt receive concentrated specular highlights. Some
areas to hone in on would be the neck and the lower cheek
area.

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Figure 12-74

33. Now we will step through and add lighter values to the areas
that should be affected by the specular highlights. Concentrate
on the forehead, the tip of the nose, the crease at the corner of
the nose, the chin, and, to a lesser degree, the cheeks. The
ears should also receive a fair amount of specularity.

Figure 12-75

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34. The hair should also receive some amount of specularity. Add
some various light tonal streaks randomly through the hair.

Figure 12-76

35. Save the texture and assign it to the Specular color channel of
the Head material. Now check the specular map by rendering
the scene.

Figure 12-77

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As with the other textures, you may find it necessary to bounce

back and forth between Maya and Photoshop to get the results you
want.

Finishing Touches
Adding eyelashes and some additional geometry for hair will add
more realism to your model. Here is a quick run-through on the
subject.
There are a couple of ways to add eyelashes to your character.
The first is to create tiny cones and position them around the eyes.
You can then apply a simple black material to complete the effect.

Figure 12-78

Another method is to create strips of geometry and paint the eyelashes using a transparency map. Simply paint the map in
Photoshop and then save a negative to use as the transparency map.
As a final step we will add the ponytail and some flyaway hair to
our character.
1. Create a plane in Maya that is three units wide and eight units
long. Assign a planar map and then make several copies;
roughly six to eight should do.

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2. Create a new phong material and name it Hair. Assign the

material to the strips of geometry.
3. Now move the geometries to the back of the head and then
bend and shape each strip to create the ponytail shape It is not
a major concern if the geometry intersects. Using a lattice
deformer might make things a bit easier. Add a few additional
strips here and there on the head itself. When you have the
geometry in place, combine the individual strips together and
name the geometry ponytail.

Figure 12-79

In Photoshop we will create a hair color map along with a

bump map that will stand in for the specular and transparency
maps. Like the bump map, a transparency map will use light
and dark values to achieve levels of opacity, with the lighter
values being more opaque and the darker values increasingly
transparent.
4. Start with a new targa image that is 1024 x 512. Cut sections
of hair from your head map or any of the other textures available on the companion CD and add them to a new layer. Repeat
this a few times by creating individual strips on the texture, as
shown in Figure 12-80. Save the image as ponytail_color.tga.

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5. Save an additional copy and desaturate it. Name it ponytail_bump.

Figure 12-80

6. In the ponytail_color texture, hold down Ctrl and click on the

layer in the Layers Editor. Select the Channel tab and, at the
bottom, select the gray box with a circle in it. This will save
the selection as an alpha channel. Turn off the RGB color channels, leaving just the alpha channel on. Save the image as
ponytail_trans.tga.

Figure 12-81

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7. We want to give the illusion of strands of hair, so in the transparency map we will paint some negative lines as well as
soften the edges of the strips.

Figure 12-82

8. Back in Maya, add the ponytail_color file in the Color channel. Add the ponytail_trans file in the Transparency channel,
and add the ponytail_bump file in the Bump channel as well
as the Specular Color channel. You will need to render the
scene in order to view the transparency map at work. Adjust
the bump to get the desired effect.

Figure 12-83

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9. In the UV Texture Editor, randomly assign the UVs to the various strips of hair.

Figure 12-84

Wrap-Up
This chapter took you through the creation of textures and how to
use textures to create the little nuances that bring a character to
life. We also learned how to effectively add UVs to our model. Like I
said, we did it the hard way but this should give you a more complete understanding of how UVs work.
Adding believable textures, although time consuming, will really
give your model that finishing touch it so deserves. Take your time
when creating your maps, and your efforts will pay off.

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Chapter 13

Character Rigging
Understanding Joints
Refer to Chapter_13 on the companion CD.
In most cases, when we build a character model we expect to be able
to animate it. Luckily, we have taken that into consideration during
the modeling process. How, you ask? Well, to a great extent we have
tried to get our model geometry to follow the natural shape of the
muscles, as well as provide enough geometry around areas that will
bend and rotate. Even if you dont plan to animate the model, it would
still benefit you to use a skeletal system to pose your model in something other than the current default pose. I think you will agree it
would look a lot better on your demo reel.
Now let me warn you that no matter how hard we try, we will
never get the model to move perfectly by just throwing some joints
inside. The human body is quite an amazing machine. We have
reached a point in the world of 3D characterization where actual
muscle systems are being used in models in order to achieve human
motion.
In this book, however, we arent going to go there. The skeleton
setups I show you here are meant to give you a quick orientation into
the rigging process. For the most part, the gaming industry still uses
a relatively simple skeleton setup. So I will go through this setup initially and then describe a more advanced setup using controllers and
set driven keys.
Maya itself provides a skeletal rig that contains full body IK and
provides you with a more than adequate setup. If you are pretty well

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versed in rigging and wish to skip this chapter, by all means go

ahead. For those of you who are not at ease with the rigging process, you might want to follow along.
Something to understand right up front is that in order to get
the most out of our joints, we will generally not place the joints
exactly where they would line up with their skeletal counterpart. A
good example for this would be the spine. If you know nothing else
about human anatomy, you know that your spine runs down your
back. But if you were a 3D model, your spine would run right down
the center of your torso. Kinda creepy, huh? The reason for this is
that the closer we are to the center of the torso, the more evenly
the points will move when a spine joint is rotated. So the points on
the stomach and on the lower back are equidistant to the joint.

Figure 13-1

Some joints will give you trouble no matter what you do, specifically
the hips and, worse yet, the dreaded shoulder! Both of these areas
consist of a ball joint setup. They are able to rotate in all directions, making weighting an absolute nightmare.
The shoulder has additional issues to deal with. Aside from the
ball joint, shoulder motion also involves movement of the clavicles
and scapula. Try this: With your arm down at your side, note the
position of your clavicle. Now, slowly rotate your arm up. See how
the clavicle rotates up as well?

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Okay, try this one: Stick your arm straight out with the palm of
your hand facing down. Notice that the elbow is facing back. Now,
without rotating your wrist, rotate your arm so that your palm is
facing forward. This rotation is happening at the shoulder.
Now picture your model. You get the weighting all tight with
the arm moving up and down. Then you go to rotate it like you did
with your own arm in the previous example. More than likely the
points on the shoulder will end up on the back of your model. Not
exactly what we are shooting for. You see, on the human body there
are many areas where bone movement is coupled with muscle
movement in a way that is hard to recreate in a computer model.
Fortunately, we have a number of tricks up our sleeve to compensate for most of these issues.
Some of these tricks involve adding extra joints into our characters skeleton that arent present in the human body. So in order to
compensate for this wacky shoulder rotation, we would add what is
commonly called a roll bone. The roll bone would be placed about
midway between the shoulder joint and the elbow joint, as shown in
Figure 13-2.

Figure 13-2

This bone would be used only for the purpose of the rotation we
have been discussing here. Instead of the rotation happening exclusively at the shoulder, the roll bone would be used instead to give
the arm the look we want, which is keeping the shoulder muscle
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where it belongs. This is not the only place we would use a roll
bone. It is also used to create radius rotation in the forearm. If you
remember, we set up our arm during the modeling process in the
position where the radius is twisted over so that the palm faces
down.
The wrist is kinda funky in that you can bend it up and down
and back and forth, but its rotation emanates from the elbow region.
Because this book deals more with modeling than animation, we
will only use the roll bone for our forearm to keep things simple.

Figure 13-3

Sometimes a more advanced setup is preferred. For instance, there

is a joint layout for the forearm that uses two bones to represent the
radius and ulna.

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Figure 13-4

Other areas that can benefit from the roll bone are the thighs and, to
a lesser degree, the lower leg. For our purposes, we will stick to a
standard leg setup, which consists of the thigh, knee, and shin
joints.
The fact is there are so many different approaches to setting up
a skeleton that its hard to keep up. Suffice it to say that what you
learn in the pages to follow will give you a pretty comprehensive
understanding of the standard process. From there, you can pursue
other alternatives to creating skeletal rigs.
Sometimes the skeleton by itself is not enough; in these cases,
a rig is required. A rig is a group of controllers that make moving
the character much easier than just rotating joints manually. In its
simplest form, a rig might just be inverse kinematics (IK).
So let me explain kinematics. Forward kinematics (FK) refers to
the standard way that joints rotate. You select it and you rotate it.
Any joint that is parented to the joint you rotate will rotate as well.
Pretty simple. Inverse kinematics creates a chain of joints that move
together, where the child joint will inversely control the rotation of
the joints it is parented to. Both types of kinematics have their place
in animating your character.

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Lets take a look at a couple of examples of how you would use

IK and FK.
1. In a side view, lets create a simple leg joint setup. Select
Skeleton | Joint Tool and create a chain containing four
joints, as shown in Figure 13-5. These joints will represent the
thigh, knee, ankle (heel), and toe.

Figure 13-5

Now we certainly know that the rotation of the hip joint in

turn rotates all of the joints attached to it. The knee, shin, and
ankle are children of the thigh joint. The thigh joint is considered the parent in this string of joints. This is forward
kinematics. All rotations emanate from the parent joint.
Now lets say we want to make our character climb up
steps. In an FK world, we would need to rotate the thigh, then
the knee, and then the ankle to get our leg to rotate properly
so that the foot rests on the first step. As the character moves
to take a second step, we would need to account for the rotation that would take place on the pelvis, thigh, and knee, while
keeping the foot planted. This is incredibly hard to do with FK.
This brings us to inverse kinematics.

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2. Go to Skeleton | IK Handle Tools. Click on the heel joint

and then the thigh. You should now have an IK link. Grab the
IK handle at the heel and move it around a bit. You will notice
that the thigh stays stationary but the rest of the chain corresponds to the movement of the IK handle.
Now our IK handle needs one more thing to get the effect we
want: a constraint.
Constraints fall into the rigging category. Normally it is a
device that dictates how a particular joint or object moves. In
the case of our leg, we want the foot to stay planted as we
move the rest of the leg.
3. So lets create a constraint for our foot. First off we will create
a locator. If youve never used a locator before, it is pretty
much as the name states. Go to Create | Locator. The locator should appear in your scene at the origin. Select the
locator and, while holding down the V key, snap it to the position of the IK handle.

Figure 13-6

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4. Select the locator and then Shift-select the IK handle. Select

Constraint | Point (located under the Animation menu).
Move the thigh joint and notice that the foot will remain
planted until it is stretched beyond the length of the joints.

Figure 13-7

In effect, the locator now dictates the position of the foot in relation
to the movement of the other joints in the chain.
So now think about our example of climbing the stairs. With IK,
you simply move the foot to the step with the locator. When the
character goes to take another step, you only need to move the parent joint and the foot will stay put.
So this should give you a general idea about the effectiveness of
IK. Now you are probably asking yourself the question, When
would you ever need to use FK?
FK really shines when a pendulum motion is required. For anything from arms swinging back and forth during a walk cycle to a
character swinging a sword, FK is definitely the right way to go.
Luckily, Maya makes it relatively easy to switch between IK and
FK.

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Another thing to take note of is the way that Maya handles joint
orientation. When you set up a skeletal chain, ideally the same axis
should always point to the next joint in the chain.

Figure 13-8

In the case of a standard bipedal character, the bones in our skeleton

will only rotate and never actually translate. In other words, you
wouldnt move the joints in the arm to get the hand straight up in
the air; instead you would rotate the joints.
Now here comes the tricky part. Whenever you draw out a joint
chain, Maya will automagically point the selected axis (by default
the X-axis) to the next joint in the chain. This is exactly what we
want. So here is the problem: Say you need to move a joint to get it
to line up with your character. Maya doesnt account for this and
leaves the axis pointing to where that joint used to be. Are you lost
yet?

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Lets do a quick experiment to show you what I mean.

1. In a front or side view, open Skeleton | Joint Tool and create
a new chain containing four joints.

Figure 13-9

2. Select all of the joints by clicking on each one individually

while holding down the Shift key. Now select Display |
Transform Display4Local Rotation Axes [v7: Display |
Component Display4Local Rotation Axes]. You should see
the local rotational axis of each joint. You should notice that
indeed, each axis is pointing to the next joint as it should.
3. Now select one of the joints in the middle of the chain and
move it. See how the joint axis didnt reposition itself when
you moved the joint?

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Figure 13-10

Before we actually fix the problem, lets do one more thing.

Try rotating a joint. Notice how the axis will rotate as well. So
what have we learned from this little example? Quite simply
rotate good, translate baaaad!
4. So how do we fix it? Well, the way to adjust the axis would be
to use Skeleton | Orient Joint p. When the dialog pops up,
select the orientation you want by selecting in most cases
XYZ, where X is the axis pointing to the next joint in the
chain. This is something that should be done once all of the
joints are placed and lined up to your character.
So this chapter will tackle the process of setting up proper joint
placement for your character skeleton. Well also take it a bit further
and create a rig for our skeleton. The next chapter will actually
address the proper way to attach the model to the skeleton. So let
us begin, shall we?

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Placing the Torso and Head Joints

1. Begin in a front view and select Skeleton | Joint Tool. We
are not going to create a joint to account for each and every
segment of the spine. We are just adding enough joints to give
us a pretty good range of motion on the torso. You can now
begin to place the joints that will represent the spine.
2. Begin at the center of the torso between the hips and place the
first joint. Hold down the Shift key and create another joint
above the first, just below the hips. Holding down the Shift
key will keep the joints running in a perfectly straight line.

Figure 13-11

3. Still holding the Shift key, create another joint right at the
navel and another midway between the navel and the base of
sternum. Continue by creating one at the base of the sternum,
another joint midway up the sternum, and then one at the base
of the neck (see Figure 13-12). Starting at the first joint at the
bottom of the chain, name them pelvis, spine_1, spine_2,
spine_3, spine_4, spine_5, and spine_6.

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Figure 13-12

4. Select pelvis and then choose Modify | Freeze Transformations. The pelvis should now have zeroed coordinates,
meaning that the translations of the selected object (or joint in
this case) will replace its world space x, y, z coordinates with
zero values. What does that mean exactly? Well, think of it this
way: You can move the joint wherever you want in 3D space
and then return it to its default position by typing 0 for the x,
y, z translation values.
This is a very effective means of being able to return the joints
to their original positions once controllers are attached, as we
will see later in the chapter.
5. Rotate to the side view and position the joints as shown in
Figure 13-13.
Select pelvis and then Modify | Freeze Transformations.
The pelvis should once again have zeroed coordinates.

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Figure 13-13

6. Create a joint about midway up the neck and then another at

the base of the jaw just below the ear. Create one more joint at
the top of the head. Name the new joints neck, head, and
head_end.

Figure 13-14

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7. Select neck and Shift-select spine_6. Hit the P key or choose

Edit | Parent to parent the joint.

Figure 13-15

8. Create a joint right about where the jaw meets the ear. Now
place one more at the chin. Name them jaw and jaw_end.
Select jaw and Shift-select neck_2, then hit P to parent jaw
to neck_2.

Figure 13-16

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Before we go any further, lets take a few minutes to talk about the
joint names. There are a number of conventions used when it comes
to naming joints and it is ultimately up to the animator on any given
project to decide what each joint should be named. We are using a
pretty standard naming convention here for our joints. Maya has its
own built-in method for naming joints under Skeleton | Joint
Labeling4Add Retargeting Labels.
Sometimes it is better to adapt a certain convention when a particular animation program is involved. For example, MotionBuilder
is an animation program that is used extensively throughout the
industry. It uses its own standardized names, which allow for
quicker setups when using MotionBuilder to animate. As an example, MotionBuilder uses the word Hips as opposed to pelvis in
its naming convention.
Because we arent using MotionBuilder here, it really isnt necessary to go that route, but I wanted to give you the option. When it
comes right down to it, you can name the bones pretty much whatever you want as long as it doesnt affect other people in the
pipeline. Since at this stage you are the only one in the pipeline, I
guess it doesnt really matter. ;)

Placing the Leg and Foot Joints

1. Switch back to a front view so we can lay out the joint placement for the leg. Create a joint at the hip, then hold the Shift
key and place another joint at the knee. Place another joint
right below the knee joint, and then another at the ankle.
2. Still in the front view, create a joint at the heel, then continue
to create more joints straight down for the ball of the foot and
the tip of the toes. Dont worry about the position of the last
two joints. We will properly position them when we rotate into
a side view. Name the joints left_thigh, left_knee, left_shin,
left_ankle, left_heel, left_ball, and left_toe. We wont be
making individual joints for each of the toes. If you dont plan
on wiggling the toes, this setup should be fine for most
animations.

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Figure 13-17

If the leg of your model is not perfectly straight, thats okay.

For now just approximate the location of the knee and ankle.
We will rotate the joints to fit the legs in the next step.
3. So I guess you can figure out what we are going to do next.
Thats right, were gonna rotate the joints to fit our leg. Start
at the top joint at the hip and rotate it so that the joints are
centered in the leg.

Figure 13-18

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4. In a side view, start at the top joint. Rotate and move it if you
need to so that it runs down the center of the leg. Move down
to the knee and rotate it so that there is a slight bend, as
shown in Figure 13-19. Even if your leg is perfectly straight,
you should be able to get a slight angle to the knee. This will
give the knee a preferred angle. Basically, it tells Maya which
way the joint should bend when an IK chain is applied.
5. Right-click on left_knee and select Set Preferred Angle. Do
the same for left_shin. This will ensure that our leg bends in
the correct direction when IK is applied.

Figure 13-19

6. Continue down to position the foot joints. Remember to rotate

and scale the joints to position them. Do not move the joints!

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Figure 13-20

7. When you are done with the foot, select left_thigh and then
Modify | Freeze Transformations. We are only concerned
with the rotation values here, so dont worry if you see values
other than 0 in the Translate XYZ.
8. In a front view, create a joint directly below the pelvis and then
create a second midway between the pelvis and the thigh.
Name the joints pelvis_2 and left_hip. The second pelvis
joint can be used to rock the pelvis of our character and also
aids in posing the character in a seated position.

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Figure 13-21

9. Select pelvis and then Modify | Freeze Transformations to

zero the rotations on the upper joint structure. Select the
thigh joints and Modify | Freeze Transformations. This will
zero out the rotations on the leg joints, which will come in
handy later on. This must be done prior to adding the IK
chains.
10. Now that the joint rotations have been zeroed, rotate each of
the knee and shin joints on the Z-axis. Right-click on the joint
and select Set Preferred Angle. Return the joints to their
original position by typing 0 for Rotate Z setting in the Channel Box.
11. Parent left_thigh to left_hip and then parent pelvis_2 to
pelvis.

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Figure 13-22

12. Delete History and save!

Placing the Arm and Hand Joints

We will take a little different approach in laying out the joints for our
arm. Ideally, we want to make sure that the joints are in a straight
line. Obviously, the arms of our model were built at more or less a
45-degree angle. So, in order to get the arm joints as straight as
possible, we will rotate both the skeleton and the geometry so that
we can accurately place the arm joints in a straight line.
First off, we will temporarily group the skeleton and the geometry to ensure that we are rotating them together from the same
pivot point.
1. Select the geometry and the pelvis of the skeleton and go to
Edit | Group or press Ctrl+G on the keyboard.
The skeleton and the geometry are now grouped together. You
will notice that the pivot of the group should be right at the
origin, or 0 on the XYZ axes.

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Figure 13-23

2. Rotate the group roughly 35 degrees on the Z-axis. The arm

should be parallel to the ground plane. We should now be set
up to add the arm and hand joints.

Figure 13-24

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3. Starting in a front view, create a joint midway between the

center and left shoulder of the character. Continue by creating
a joint at the shoulder of the character. Now, hold down the
Shift key and create a new joint for the elbow, one for the
forearm roll bone, and one for the wrist. Name the joints
left_clav, left_shoulder, left_elbow, left_forearm, and
left_wrist.

Figure 13-25

4. Rotate into a top view. Most likely you will need to adjust the
position of the arm joints so that they are centered to the arm
of your character. Select the joint representing the clavicle and
move it so that the joints are centered. Note that the bottom
half of the model and skeleton have been removed in Figure
13-26 to make it easier for you to see the joints. (Dont do this
with your model!)

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Figure 13-26

You will probably need to do some additional tweaks, such as

rotating the elbow joint to fit your model. Be careful not to
move the joints in the chain. As a rule of thumb, the only joint
you should actually move is the first one in the chain. All other
joints should only be rotated and scaled to properly line up to
the mesh. Doing this will ensure that the local axis always
points toward the next joint in the chain. Remember our example from earlier in the chapter?

Figure 13-27

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5. In a top view we will begin to lay out our hand joints. Begin by
creating a single joint directly at the center of the palm. If it
helps, you may want to hide the faces on the lower portion of
the body, as shown in Figure 13-28, while you work on the
hand.

Figure 13-28

6. In a similar fashion to the way we created the actual fingers of

our model, we will create the finger joints. Start at the first
knuckle of the index finger and create a joint for each of the
knuckles, ending with a joint at the fingertip. Be sure to hold
down the Shift key to keep the joints in a straight line.

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Figure 13-29

7. Select the first joint of the finger and select Edit | Duplicate.
Move the joints over to the middle finger, then rotate and scale
them to fit the geometry. Repeat the process until you have all
of the fingers completed.

Figure 13-30

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8. Copy the finger one last time and move it over for the thumb.
The thumb is unique because the first joint resides more or
less in the palm of the hand. It is also unique in the fact that it
rotates in more of 45-degree angle, so we will have to account
for that as well when we attach the fingers to the hand.

Figure 13-31

9. Create one final single joint on the pinky side of the hand.

Figure 13-32

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10. When we create our joints, by default they are positioned on

the ground plane. Select the two single joints and then the
root joint of the fingers and the thumb. Rotate into a front view
and move the selected joints up to the hand of your model.

Figure 13-33

11. Before we parent the joints we will want to make sure that
they are all in their proper position. Start by selecting the root
joint of each of the fingers and adjusting them so that they are
centered to each finger of your character.

Figure 13-34

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12. Once you have them positioned correctly, we can move on to

the thumb. Start by selecting the root joint of the thumb.
Shift-select the rest of the thumb joints and then select Display | Transform Display4Local Rotation Axes [v7:
Display | Component Display4Local Rotation Axes]. You
should now be able to see a local axis for each of the thumb
joints.

Figure 13-35

13. Select the root of the thumb and rotate it so that the local axis
is at a 45-degree angle. Rotate and scale the joints so that they
are aligned with the thumb of your model.

Figure 13-36

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14. Now we can parent all of our hand joints to the wrist of our
model. Begin by selecting the root joint of the pinky finger and
then Shift-selecting the single joint on the outer part of the
hand. Hit the P key to parent the pinky joints.

Figure 13-37

15. Select the root joint of the three remaining fingers and then
parent them to the single joint in the center of the hand.

Figure 13-38

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16. Select the root joint of the thumb and the two root joints in the
hand and then parent them to the wrist joint.

Figure 13-39

17. Now that all of the joints are parented, lets perform a simple
test to check if all of our axes are correct. Select the first
knuckle of the index finger. Shift-select the rest of the index
finger joints. Continue to add the rest of the fingers and thumb
joints to your selection. Dont select the joints in the hand
itself.
18. Once you have all of the joints selected, use the rotate manipulator to check them out. If all is well, the fingers should begin
to make the shape of a fist as you rotate them on the Z-axis.

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Figure 13-40

After you are through playing around, make sure you return
the fingers to their original positions.
19. Before we go any further we will need to name the joints in
our hand. Name the joint in the center of the palm
left_hand_1. The joint on the outer part of the hand should be
named left_hand _2. Name the rest of the joints as follows:
left_thumb_1, left_thumb_2, left_thumb_3, left_thumb_
end, left_index_1, left_index_2, left_index_3, left_index_
end, left_middle_1, left_middle_2, left_middle_3, left_
middle_end, left_ring_1, left_ring_2, left_ring_3,
left_ring_end, left_pinky_1, left_pinky_2, left_pinky_3,
and left_pinky_end.
20. We still have one last joint to connect. Go back and select
left_clav. Zero its rotations by selecting Modify | Freeze
Transformations, and then parent it to spine_5.

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Figure 13-41

21. Now that we have our arm completed we will rotate the group
to its neutral position by setting the Z-axis rotational angle
back to 0. At this point we can get rid of the group by selecting
the pelvis joint and the geometry and then selecting Edit |
Unparent.
We now have the joints laid out for the left side of our character. In order to get the right side joints, we will simply mirror
our joints from the left side over to the right.
22. Select the left_clav joint, then select Skeleton | Mirror
Joint p. When the dialog box opens, verify that Mirror Across
is set to YZ.
23. When you hit Apply, the right-side arm joints will appear and
will also be parented to the spine joint. Also note that all of the
joints have been renamed using right_ automagically!

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Figure 13-42

24. Select left_hip and mirror it to get the right leg. Once again,
the renamed joints should appear parented to pelvis_2.

Figure 13-43

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25. We now have our complete skeleton and are ready to move on
to setting up a rig. Before moving on though, verify that all of
the joints are oriented correctly. If a joint does not have the
proper orientation, select Skeleton | Orient Joints to make
the proper adjustments. Set Orientation to XYZ and Second
Axis World Orientation to +z. In some cases, Second Axis
should be set to z. Make sure the joint orientation resembles
the following figure.

Figure 13-44

26. Delete History and save!

Creating Controls for the Pelvis and Torso

With our skeleton complete, our next step will be to set up our
character to be animated. The base skeleton itself is really only useful for motion capture where all of the joints are driven by motion
capture data.
In a nutshell, motion capture involves the placing of reflective
markers on the joints of a live actor. As the actor moves, the data is
captured and applied to the joints of your skeleton.
In our case we will be setting up our character to be hand animated. When we animate our character manually we want to make
the process as easy as possible. That means adding a rig to our
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skeleton. A rig consists of handles or shapes that will control the

movement of our skeleton.
1. The first step in creating a rig is setting up the controllers for
our torso. Start by selecting Create | NURBS Primitives
4Circle. Scale the circle so that it is about the size of a hula
hoop in comparison to your character. Name the circle pelvis_control.
2. Move the pelvis_control up and press the V key to snap it to
the pelvis. Select Modify | Freeze Transformations. Your
pelvis_control now has zeroed local coordinates. This will
make it easier to return it to its default position as you
progress.

Figure 13-45

3. Now we will create a more advanced setup for the spine.

Select Skeleton | IK Spline Handle Tool p. When the
dialog opens, leave the default settings except for Number of
Spans, which you should set to 1, and then check the Root
Twist Mode option. Select spine_1 and then spine_6. A
spline IK handle will appear at the neck, as shown in Figure
13-46.

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Figure 13-46

4. In the Outliner, Shift-select pelvis to show the entire hierarchy. Select curve1 from the list.

Figure 13-47

5. With curve1 selected, switch to component mode. You should

see a total of four tiny purple boxes. There should be two solid
boxes and two wireframe boxes.

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Chapter 13: Character Rigging

Figure 13-48

6. Ignore the first box at the base of the spine and then select the
next box up the spline. Select Deform | Create Cluster
located under the Animation settings. A tiny C should appear
over the box. Repeat the process for the other two boxes.
These clusters are one of Mayas various ways to control the
deformation of geometry or curves.

Figure 13-49

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7. Create a polygon cube and move it up and behind the spine.

Duplicate the cube for each of the corresponding clusters. You
should have a total of three cubes. Position the cubes so that
they are directly behind each of the clusters. Select the middle
cube and duplicate it once more. Move it back behind the other
cubes.

Figure 13-50

8. Select all four cubes and go to Modify | Freeze Transformations to zero the translation values on the cubes. Name the
cubes spine_control1, spine_control2, spine_control3, and
spine_control_master. In the Outliner, select the three cluster handles, one at a time, and use the P key to parent each to
the cube directly behind it. Select each of the cubes and parent
them to spine_control_master.
9. Now if you move the cubes you will see the spline IK at work.
Either undo your moves or type 0 in the appropriate
spine_control Translate XYZ to return the cubes to their original positions.

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Figure 13-51

The last thing we need to do for the spine is to have

spine_control_master control the twist of the spine. For this
particular situation we will create a new attribute to do just
that.
10. With spine_control_master
selected, go to Modify | Add
Attribute p. When the dialog
box opens, type SpineTwist in
the Attribute Name box. Under
Numeric Attribute Properties,
type 45 for the Minimum value
and 45 for the Maximum value,
then press OK.
Now when you select the
spine_control_master, the
SpineTwist attribute will appear
at the bottom of the list in the
Channel Box. Right now the
attribute does absolutely nothing. We have to connect it to
something namely the Twist
attribute of the spline IK.
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Figure 13-52

Chapter 13: Character Rigging

11. Select Window | General Editors4

Connection Editor. When the dialog
box opens, make sure spine_control_master is selected and then click
ReloadLeft at the top of the window.
Next, select the spline IK handle and
click the ReloadRight button. Then
you simply select SpineTwist in the
left column and Twist in the right.
These attributes are now linked and
the spline IK twist is now driven by
the SpineTwist attribute.
12. Now select the pelvis and Shift-select
pelvis_control. Hit the P key to parent the pelvis to the controller. Now
Figure 13-53
all movement of the pelvis is accomplished by translating and rotating the
pelvis_control.
Now we will set up a control for the lower pelvis. Basically, the
lower pelvis is used for rocking the pelvis forward and backward. This makes it easier to animate your character in a
seated position, as well as help convey weight distribution
when the model stands in a relaxed pose.
13. Create a new polygon cube and move it up to rest behind pelvis_2. Select Modify | Freeze Transformations to zero out
the cubes translations. Name the cube pelvis_tilt.

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Figure 13-54

14. Well once again use the Connection Editor to set up the
motion for pelvis_2. Open Window | General Editors4
Connection Editor and enter pelvis_tilt in ReloadLeft and
then pelvis_2 in ReloadRight. Select Translate Y in the pelvis_tilt column. Now select Rotate Y in the pelvis_2 column.
The rotation Y of the lower pelvis is now controlled by pelvis_tilt. Move pelvis_tilt up and down to see the effects.

Figure 13-55

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15. With pelvis_tilt selected, press Ctrl+A. When the Attribute

Editor panel opens, make sure the first tab is selected. Click
on the Limit Information panel. Under Translate, click the
check boxes next to each of the Trans Limits on both the Min
and Max sides. Click on the arrow to the right of the Min column and to the left of the Max column for Trans Limit X and
Trans Limit Z. The X and Z boxes should now be set to 0.00.
16. Set the values for the Translate Y to 0.5, 0.00, 0.5. This will
prevent you from moving the pelvis too far. It should have a
subtle motion. We now have our torso pretty well rigged, so
its time to move on to the next step, which is to rig the head.

Creating Head Controls

The setup for the head is pretty much identical to that of the pelvis,
only on a smaller scale.
1. Create a new NURBS circle and name it head_control. Rotate
the circle 90 degrees on the Z-axis. Move the head_control up
so that it either encompasses the head joints or sits above
them. Freeze the transforms on the circle.

Figure 13-56

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2. With head_control selected, press Ctrl+A. When the Attribute Editor panel opens, make sure the first tab is selected.
Click on the Limit Information panel. Under Translate, click
the check boxes next to each of the Trans Limits on both the
Min and Max sides. Click on the arrow to the right of the Min
column and to the left of the Max column for Trans Limit X, Y,
and Z settings. The X, Y, and Z boxes should now be set to
0.00. Check all of the boxes under the Rotate panel. Set the
Rot Limit X, Y, and Z to 0.00 as well.

Figure 13-57

3. With head_control selected, go to Modify | Add Attribute

p. When the dialog box opens, type HeadTurn in the Attribute Name box. Under Numeric Attribute Properties, type 60
for the Minimum value and 60 for the Maximum value. Click
the Add button.
4. Repeat the process to create HeadTilt at 45, 45 and
HeadTwist at 35, 35, then press OK.
5. So now in the Connection Editor, load head_control in the
left side and head in the right side. Select HeadTurn in the
left column and then Rotate X in the right. Next, select
HeadTilt in the left and Rotate Z in the right. Finally, select
HeadTwist and then Rotate Y.

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Chapter 13: Character Rigging

Figure 13-58

So the head should be in pretty good shape. If you want to be a Mr.

Fancypants, you could add other attributes that control the jaw
movement, rotate the neck, etc.

Creating Arm and Hand Controls

In this step we will set up the controls for our arm and then controls
for the hands. When we get to the hand portion of the setup Ill
show you two common methods for controlling the fingers, one
using IK and the other utilizing the Connection Editor.
1. Lets get started with the arm. Select Skeleton | IK Handle
Tool p. When the dialog opens, set the Current Solver to
ikRPsolver. Select the left_forearm joint and then the
left_shoulder. You now have an IK link for your left arm. Grab
the IK handle and move it around a bit. Make sure to return it
to its original position. Name the handle left_arm_IK.

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Chapter 13: Character Rigging

Figure 13-59

Now because we are using an extra bone in the forearm to

rotate the wrist, we didnt begin the IK chain on the wrist
bone. This would lock the ability to freely rotate the forearm
during animation. Placing the IK chain one joint up will leave
the forearm free to be rotated.

Figure 13-60

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2. The next step will be to set up a controller for our arm. In our
example we will use a locator for our control. Select Create |
Locator. A locator will appear at the origin. Hold the V key
and snap the locator to left_wrist.

Figure 13-61

3. With the locator selected, go to Modify | Freeze Transformations. Your locator now has zeroed local coordinates. This
will make it easier to return the locator to its default position
as you progress. Name the locator left_arm_control.
4. Next, we need to enable our locator to control the IK handle.
Select left_arm_control and then left_arm_IK. Hit the P
key to parent the IK handle to the control. The IK handle is
now being controlled by the locator.
In addition to the arm_control, we can add a few other controls
to make sure our arm moves the way we want it to.

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Chapter 13: Character Rigging

Figure 13-62

5. Create a NURBS sphere and then use the V key to snap it to

the elbow joint. Then move the sphere back behind the elbow.

Figure 13-63

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6. Select Modify | Freeze Transformations. Name the sphere

left_elbow_control. With left_elbow_control selected,
select the left_arm_IK handle. Then go to Constraints |
Pole Vector. The sphere will now dictate the direction that
the elbow points. If you want, you can parent the elbow control
to the arm control. Try moving the left_arm_control along with
the left_elbow_control.
7. Create a new NURBS sphere and place it directly behind the
left shoulder. Call the sphere left_shoulder_control.

Figure 13-64

To get a really cool setup for the arm we will use expressions.
Expressions are simple lines of code that connect attributes.
The reason we want to use expressions here instead of the
Connection Editor is because we want to be able to create situations where if you move one object 10 units, the second
object may move 20 units. There is an alternative method
using the Connection Editor that we will get to later.
Just a quick note here. Because of the angle of this joint,
you need to verify that you are setting up the right rotation. In
this case, the rotate attribute of the clavicle may be Z or Y.

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8. Open Window | Animation Editors4Expression Editor.

In the box labeled Expression at the bottom, type
left_clav.rotateZ = (left_shoulder_control.translateY)
*10.

Figure 13-65

This expression is stating that for every 1 unit the left_shoulder_control is moved along the Y-axis, the left_clav will rotate
10 units on the Z-axis. This will prevent us from having to
move the shoulder controller too far away from the rig in order
to rotate the clavicle.
It is important to note that the controller is being moved in
world space while the joints are rotating on their local axis,
hence the reason a translation on the Y-axis could control the
rotation on a Z-axis.
Another thing to note is that the only part of the Expression Editor you need to concern yourself with is the box under
Expression near the bottom of the window. Once you create
the expression, Maya knows to assign the values to the proper
nodes in the scene.

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9. Create a new expression and type left_clav.rotateY =

(left_shoulder_control.translateZ) *10.
This expression will rotate the clavicle forward and backward
when the shoulder control is moved on the Z-axis.
10. Lets go in and limit the translations. With left_shoulder_control selected, hit Ctrl+A on the keyboard. Under
Limit Information, check all of the boxes under Translate. Set
the Trans Limit X to 0.00, Trans Limit Y to 2.00, 0.00, 3.50,
and Trans Limit Z to 1.00, 0.00, 3.50.

Figure 13-66

Like I said before, there is an alternative approach to what we

have just done that allows us to use the Connection Editor and
some of Mayas other fancy doo-dads.
11. First off, open up the Hypershade. In the Create Maya Nodes
dialog box on the left, scroll down under General Utilities and
select Multiply Divide. You will see the node pop up in the
Work Area to the right.

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Chapter 13: Character Rigging

Figure 13-67

12. Keep the Hypershade open, and select Window | General

Editors4Connection Editor. Select the left_shoulder_control in your viewport and then select Reload Left in the
Connection Editor. Select the multipyDivide node from the
Work Area of the Hypershade. Select Load Right in the Connection Editor.
13. In the left_shoulder_control Outputs, scroll down and select
TranslateY under Translate. In the multiplyDivide Inputs,
select InputZ under Input1.

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Figure 13-68

14. Now we need to switch things around. Select the

multiplyDivide node and then select Reload Left. Select the
left_clav and select Reload Right. Under multiplyDivide,
scroll down and select OutputZ under Output. In the left_clav
column, select RotateZ under Rotate.

Figure 13-69

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15. Finally, double-click the

multiplyDivide node in
the Work Area to open its
attributes. Under MultiplyDivide Attributes, type 20
in the last box to the right
of Input2.
So there it is, two different
approaches that will get the
same results. Ive heard a
tech artist buddy of mine
say that the only real difference is that expressions
can take longer to compute
than the node-based
solution.
Figure 13-70

16. Now we will add a controller for

the rotation of the forearm.
With left_arm_ control
selected, go to Modify | Add
Attribute p. When the dialog
box opens, type ForearmRotate in the Attribute Name
box. Under Numeric Attribute
Properties, type 45 for the
Minimum value and 45 for the
Maximum value. Click the OK
button.
17. In the Connection Editor, load
left_arm_control in the left
side and left_forearm in the
right side. Select Forearm
Rotate in the left column and
then Rotate X in the right.

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Figure 13-71

Chapter 13: Character Rigging

Figure 13-72

The last thing we will do with the arm is set up an automatic

rotation of the clavicle as the arm is raised and lowered. Make
sure the arm is back in its
starting location.
18. Open Animate | Set
Driven Key4Set p. When
the dialog box opens, you
should see a Driver area on
the top and a Driven area on
the bottom. Select
left_arm_control and click
Load Driver. Now select
left_shoulder_control and
click Load Driven. Select
translateY from both the
Driver and Driven lists, then
click the Key button.
Figure 13-73

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19. Select left_arm_control and move it up on the Y-axis by

typing 10 for TranslateY in the Channel Box. Now select
left_shoulder_control and move it up as far as it will go, then
click Key at the bottom of the Set Driven Key window. The
clavicle should now rotate when the arm is raised.

Figure 13-74

20. Now lets adjust for the clavicle relaxing when the arm is down
at the side. Select the left_shoulder_control and move it as
far down as it will go. Move the left_arm_IK down by typing
10 for the TranslateY of the Channel Box. Click Key again.
Now as you raise and lower the arm, the clavicle will raise and
relax along with it. You can create a similar setup so that the
clavicle reacts when the arm moves forward and backward as
well. Try playing around with it on your own. You should now
step through and repeat this process with the right arm.
Once you have both arms set up, you can work on the fingers.
As I said before, there are two different setups that are commonly used for fingers. One is to set up attributes and then
use the attributes to drive the rotation of the fingers using set
driven keys. The second method is to set up the fingers with
IK. We will begin by discussing the former.

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Some animators prefer attributes to control the movement

of the fingers. What we would normally do is add extra attributes to the left_arm_control. For example, we might add an
attribute called fist that will curl the fingers into a fist position
as we adjust the numeric value. And there can be as many
attributes as you want. Usually there is one for every finger
and then additional attributes that control all of the fingers at
once. The aforementioned fist along with a relaxed hand or
extended fingers would be good examples.
I will run though the setup for one finger here. This should
give you enough information to set up additional attributes for
whatever you want. The first thing we will do is add an additional attribute to the left_arm_control.
21. With left_arm_control selected, select Modify | Add
Attribute p. When the dialog box opens, name the new
attribute indexCurl. Leave Data Type set to Float and Attribute Type set to Scalar.
22. Under Numeric Attribute Properties, type 2 for the Minimum, 10 for the Maximum, and 0 for the Default. Hit the OK
button to finish. Now if you take a look at the Channel Box,
beneath Visibility you should see your new attribute. Highlight
indexCurl and middle-mouse-button drag back and forth in
your viewport. The value
should go from 2 to 10. Be
sure to set the value back to
0 when you are finished.
23. So now we have our attribute
and we need to connect it to
something. Open Animate |
Set Driven Key4Set p.
Select the left_arm_control
and press Load Driver. You
should see the list of attributes appear in the right
column under Driver.

Figure 13-75

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24. Now select left_index_1, left_index_2, and left_index_3

and then press Load Driven. The three joints are displayed
on the left side of the Driven column. When each one is highlighted, its attributes appear to the right.

Figure 13-76

25. Highlight the indexCurl attribute under Driver and then highlight rotateZ under left_index_1. Press Key. Repeat the
process with left_index_2 and left_index_3. Now select
left_arm_control under Driver and, in the Channel Box, set
the value of indexCurl to 10. In the scene, select left_index_1
and then Shift-select left_index_2 and left_index_3. Rotate
the joints so that they curl down into the palm.

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Chapter 13: Character Rigging

Figure 13-77

26. Press Key again for each of the joints. Now when you move
the value on the indexCurl attribute, the finger should respond
by curling and uncurling. Set indexCurl to 2 and then select
the joints in the same manner as before and rotate them
slightly so that the finger appears hyperextended. Key each of
the joints again. The rotation of the index finger joints is now
controlled by the indexCurl attribute.
This should give you an idea of how attributes can be used to
control the fingers. You may also in your infinite wisdom see a
number of ways to use attributes for other purposes. Next, we
will take a look at using IK to control the fingers.
27. Begin by selecting Create | Polygon Primitives4Cube p.
When the dialog box opens, set the Width, Height, and Depth
to 0.25. Move the cube up so that it is positioned in front of
the index finger. Name it left_index_control. Duplicate the
cube for each of the fingers and the thumb. Name them
left_middle_control, left_ring_control, left_pinky_control, and left_thumb_control.

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28. Select each of the cubes and then select Modify | Freeze
Transformations.

Figure 13-78

29. Select Skeleton | IK Handle Tool p. When the dialog box

opens, be sure Current Solver is set to ikSCsolver. Select
left_index_end and then left_index_1. Repeat this same process for the remaining fingers as well as the thumb. Name the
IK handles accordingly, using this convention: left_(finger
name)_IK.
30. Select left_index_IK and then parent it to left_index_control. Do the same with each of the remaining fingers and the
thumb. You should now be able to control the bending and finger position using the cubes. As a final step, parent the cube
controls to left_arm_control. Thats about it for the IK hand
setup. If you have difficulties with the finger joints getting all
wacky, try limiting the rotational axes.

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So there you have it. Two completely different setups to control finger movement. As stated, you can use attributes to control just
about anything. It really depends on how you would like to approach
animating your character. Make sure you repeat the process on the
right arm. When it comes to the hand, perform only the operation
that you find most comfortable.

Creating Leg and Foot Controls

1. Select Skeleton | IK Handle Tool p, set Current Solver to
ikRPsolver, and then select left_ankle and left_thigh. The
IK handle for the left leg should be visible. Name the handle
left_leg_IK.

Figure 13-79

2. Create another IK link set to ikSCsolver from left_ball to

left_ankle, and then one more from left_toe to left_ball.
Name the IK handles left_ball_IK and left_toe_IK,
respectively.

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Figure 13-80

Next, we will add a few extra controllers to simplify the movement of our foot. The most common rig is referred to as a
reverse foot control; it is so named because we create a joint
structure in a reverse order to that of the foot. This will then
control the position of the foot during animation.
3. Starting in a side view, create a joint at the heel of your skeleton. Create a second joint at the toe, then another at the ball
of the foot, and then a final joint at the heel where you started
the chain. Name the joints left_heel_reverse, left_toe_
reverse, left_ball_reverse, and left_ankle_reverse. Move
the joints so that they line up with the left foot. As a final step,
select left_heel_reverse and then freeze its transformations.

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Chapter 13: Character Rigging

Figure 13-81

4. Select the left_toe_IK and parent it to left_toe_reverse. Parent left_ball_IK to left_ball_reverse, and finally parent
left_leg_IK to left_ankle_reverse.
5. Create a cube and position it to the right of the foot. Select
Modify | Freeze Transformations to zero the coordinates of
the cube. Name the cube left_foot_control.

Figure 13-82

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6. Select left_heel_reverse and parent it to left_foot_control.

This box can now be used to position the foot. Move it around
and check it out. You can at any point zero the Translate XYZ
of the cube in the Channel Box to return the foot to its original
position. In addition, rotating the joints of the reverse foot
setup will rotate the foot as well.

Figure 13-83

7. Select the pelvis_control and move the skeleton up and

down. Notice that the foot will stay put when the pelvis is lowered or stand on its toes when the pelvis is raised.

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Figure 13-84

Chapter 13: Character Rigging

So lets add some attributes to the foot control that will allow
us to control the reverse foot setup.
8. With left_foot_control selected, select Modify | Add Attribute p. When the dialog box opens, name the new attribute
ToeRoll. Leave Data Type set to Float and Attribute Type set
to Scalar.
9. Under Numeric Attribute Properties, type 0 for the Minimum,
10 for the Maximum, and 0 for the Default. Hit the OK button
to finish. Now if you take a look at the Channel Box, you
should see your new attribute ToeRoll. Highlight ToeRoll and
middle-mouse-button drag back and forth in your viewport.
The value should go from 0 to 10. Be sure to set the value
back to 0 when you are finished.
10. Select Animate | Set Driven Key4Set p. Select the
left_foot_control and press Load Driver. You should see the
list of attributes appear in the right column under Driver.

Figure 13-85

11. Select left_toe_reverse and press Load Driven. Select the

ToeRoll attribute and then select rotateZ under left_toe_
reverse. Press Key at the bottom of the dialog box.

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12. Select left_foot_control and type 10 next to ToeRoll in the

Channel Box. Now select left_toe_reverse and rotate it up
until the foot rises to a comfortable position, then hit Key at
the bottom of the window. The foot should now rotate up when
the ToeRoll attribute is at 10.

Figure 13-86

13. Lets add another attribute to our left_foot_control. With the

left_foot_control selected, once again open Modify | Add
Attribute p. Name the new attribute ballRoll and, under
Numeric Attribute Properties, type 0 for the Minimum, 10 for
the Maximum, and 0 for the Default.
14. In the Set Driven Key window, click on left_foot_control.
The new attribute should appear in the window. Select
left_ball_reverse and load it into the Driven window. As
before, select the ballRoll attribute and then select rotateZ
under left_ball_reverse. Select left_foot_control and type 10
next to ballRoll in the Channel Box. Select left_ball_reverse
and rotate it so that the toes stay grounded and the heel
rotates up, then hit Key at the bottom of the window. Now
repeat this entire process of creating controls for the right foot
and leg.

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Chapter 13: Character Rigging

Figure 13-87

This is about as far as we will take our rig. You should now
have a pretty good basic understanding of what is involved in
the rigging process. Figure 13-88 shows a fully rigged skeleton
with all the bells and whistles.

Figure 13-88

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Chapter 13: Character Rigging

15. As a final step, create a new layer and name it IK_L. Select all
of the IK handles and assign them to this layer. In the Layer
Editor, select T to template the layer. Because all of the IK
links are controlled by something else, there is no reason to
have them selectable. Create one additional layer and name it
controls_L. Add all of the controls to this layer. This will
make it easier to turn the visibility off during renders.

Wrap-Up
We covered quite a bit in this chapter. Not only did we set up a skeleton for our model, but we also set up controls to more easily
animate it. We learned how to set up attributes and set driven keys
with a small dose of expressions added to the mix.
As you advance you may want to take the time to create controllers using Create | CV Curve Tool. This way you can draw out
shapes such as arrows or even hands or feet. Obviously this is not
necessary, but it looks pretty damn cool!
This should give you a good understanding of the rigging process and you should now have enough knowledge to create a basic
rig of your own with controls to suit your needs. But as you can see,
a great deal of work goes into setting up a rig, and in many ways we
have just scratched the surface!

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Chapter 14

The Weighting Is the

Hardest Part
The Process of Weighting Our Character
Refer to Chapter_14 on the companion CD.
Wow, isnt that a clever title for this chapter? Attaching the model to
a skeletal rig is commonly referred to as weighting. In this process,
the individual joints will influence each of the vertices on the model,
thus making the character move. The art of proper weighting is a
task that is very involved. You might even call it tedious at times.
In Maya, we call this process skinning. Luckily for us, Maya
offers a pretty good tool set in order to make this process easier. Just
like anything else, there are a number of different approaches to the
skinning of a model. Some prefer to individually weight each of the
vertices by using the Component Editor to give each joint a value
that determines the amount of influence it has on each vertex.
Others prefer to paint the weights using the Artisan brush. We
will cover a bit of both, but we will primarily use the Paint Skin
Weights tool.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

Figure 14-1

As stated, this can be a very time-consuming process, but the payoff

is having a character that moves well. As we step through the process I wont go into great detail about how you should paint the
weighting. Depending on the way you built your model, very
detailed steps might not correspond to your particular model. Suffice it to say that this chapter should give you a good understanding
of the process, and I have the utmost confidence you will be able to
handle it!
ONE VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Do Not Delete History as
you work your way through the weighting process. Deleting history
will also delete the skin cluster that attaches your model to the
skeleton. This would not be a good thing. The alternative is to use
Edit | Delete by Type4Non-Deformer History. This will keep your
weighting intact while deleting the history.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

Normalized Weighting
Here is another buzzword to add to your word of the day calendar:
normalized. Normalized weighting refers to the idea that no matter
how many joints influence the movement of any vertex, their influence must always add up to 1.0.
So hypothetically we have a vertex that sits at the middle of the
elbow. This vertex would be infuenced by both the upper arm joint
as well as the elbow or lower arm joint. Since it resides right in the
middle, the two joints would more than likely have equal influence:
0.5 for the upper arm joint and 0.5 for the lower arm joint. So if you
do the math, and this is an easy one, 0.5 + 0.5 = 1.0.
There is really no limit to the number of joints that can influence a particular vertex. I have found that on average three joints is
usually the norm. This really depends on the type of joint you are
dealing with. For example, the joints around the shoulder move considerably more than those on a joint that merely pivots, such as the
knee joint, so more joints would be involved in weighting the shoulder area.
Like I mentioned in Chapter 13, it is very difficult to get real
human motion on a character regardless of how good the modeling,
rigging, and skinning may be. There are a few ways to compensate
for problems in these areas, though. The method I prefer is using
blend shapes to correct any unwanted deformations of the mesh. In
this process you can use driven keys to drive the blend shape. This
can really come in handy for problem areas such as the shoulders.
We also have the ability to mirror weighting. This speeds up the
skinning process quite a bit. In a similar fashion to the modeling
process, with mirror weighting you concentrate the majority of your
efforts on one side of the model only.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

Skinning Basics
So the first step in the weighting process is to attach the model to
the skeleton. Select the mesh and then Shift-select the pelvis joint
of your skeleton. Select Skin | Bind Skin4Smooth Bind. We will be
using the default setting for our purposes. Your mesh should now
move whenever you rotate a joint on your character. Give it a try. At
any point you can return your character to its default pose by selecting any joint and then Skin | Go to Bind Pose. This gives you the
luxury of being able to move the joints all over and then easily
return the character to the default pose.
Unfortunately, you may see some problems where Maya doesnt
do such a hot job of assigning the weighting by default, as shown in
Figure 14-2. This is to be expected. Many areas like the shoulder
and hips will need a good deal of TLC before they will properly
deform.

Figure 14-2

One important thing to mention is that you dont have to be in the

base pose to adjust the weighting. This means you can apply animation to the skeleton and be able to adjust the weighting of the mesh
as joints rotate into various positions. This will give you an accurate
indication of how the mesh is deforming, making it considerably
easier to adjust any problem areas.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

It is also important to note that you are applying the weights to

the cage mesh. As you make adjustments, you can apply a smooth
node to the model to see how well it is deforming and then delete
the node. You may instead want to create a Subdiv Proxy [v7:
Smooth Proxy] to see the final mesh under the control mesh. Either
way, you will need to use the control mesh to see any real-time
deformation.

Painting the Weights

Lets start with the legs. First well set up a simple animation so
that we can see the deformation of the knee as the pelvis moves up
and down. We will use the controllers we created in the previous
chapter (also available on the CD in Chapter 14\scenes).
1. At the bottom of the screen under the Time Slider you will see
two boxes on the left and two boxes on the right, each containing numeric entries. The boxes on the left indicate the frame
in which the animation begins. The boxes to the right indicate
the number of frames in the animation. For our purposes, type
100 in the boxes on the right so that we will have a total of
100 animation frames to work with.
2. Select pelvis_master_control. Make sure the Time Slider at
the bottom of the screen is all the way to the left. Set a key
frame for the pelvis control by pressing the S key on your keyboard. You should see a vertical line on the Time Slider,
indicating that a key frame has been set.
3. To the right of the Time Slider is a button that has a key symbol on it. Click the key. The key should turn red, indicating
that auto keyframe is active. Now move the Time Slider to 20.
Using the pelvis_master_control, move the pelvis down so
that the knees are bent.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

Figure 14-3

4. A new vertical line should appear in the Time Slider at frame

20, indicating a new key has been set. Move the slider back
and forth to see your character move up and down. Now you
will be able to adjust the
deformation of the leg at
various stages of it bending.
5. So this is where we utilize
the Paint Skin Weights tool.
With the mesh selected,
select Skin | Edit Smooth
Skin4Paint Skin Weights
Tool p. When the dialog
box opens, you will notice a
number of different settings
that are very reminiscent of
the Sculpt Geometry tool.

Figure 14-4

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

When painting the weights, the influence of each joint is by

default more of a whiter shade. As the influence falls off, it will
become increasingly more gray and then black where there is
no influence (see Figure 14-5). As you paint, the color will
change to indicate more or less influence depending on the
brush settings you use. You can also use Multi-Color Feedback, which can be set under the Display tab of the Paint Skin
Weights Tool window. Once again, we will concern ourselves
with the left side (screen right) of the model.

Figure 14-5

Chances are that as you move the slider you will notice that
the leg loses some of its volume as it is bent.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

Figure 14-6

This is obviously something that we dont want.

6. Move the slider to around frame 15. In the Influence section of
the Paint Skin Weights Tool window, select the left_thigh
joint. You may also select the joint by clicking on it in the
scene with the middle mouse button and selecting Paint Skin
Weights.
7. Under Paint Skin Weights, select Add for Paint Operation and
then set Value to around 0.25. This will give you a manageable
value to begin the painting process.
8. Begin to paint the vertices on the back of the leg behind the
knee. The idea is to close the gap between the back of the
thigh and the calf. In order to get the weighting as close as
possible, click on the left_knee with the middle mouse button
and add a little influence by painting the verts. Utilize the
Smooth operation as well as Add to get the best results.
Switch back and forth between left_thigh, left_knee, and
left_calf, adding and smoothing so that it looks similar to
Figure 14-7. Remember to check the smoothed version of your
model to see the end results.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

Figure 14-7

9. Continue this process to include the entire knee. One little

trick is to add a bit of influence from the thigh a little farther
down the calf and vice versa. This will give the appearance of
the calf and thigh muscles compressing as they push against
each other.

Figure 14-8

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

10. Save your file!

Lets move up and take care of one aspect of the thigh and
butt. I say one aspect because we are only keying in on the
forward rotation of the thigh when the figure moves into a
crouching position. We will have to account for other instances
where the thigh may rotate out to the side or when it rotates
back.
The area where the thigh rotates up to meet the hip is
probably one of the more difficult areas to weight. Proper
placement of the thigh joint is the first step in getting good
deformation. Take a look at the thigh as you move the slider
back and forth. You will most likely see some problems at the
aforementioned hip area as well as problems with the butt.

Figure 14-9

Lets start with the butt. The first thing we will do is try to
even out the movement of the vertices as the thigh rotates.
The idea is to evenly weight the area to the thigh and the pelvic bones. When the thigh rotates, we want to see nice even
spacing between the edge loops as they are deformed.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

11. In order to accomplish this we need to work back and forth

between the thigh joint and the two pelvis joints. Use the Add
and Smooth brushes until you get a nice rounded deformation
when the thigh is rotated.

Figure 14-10

To really get a grasp on keeping the deformation spaced

evenly, think of the shape of an accordion (or if youre not
much into the polka scene, a paper fan) as an example. In both
cases, as the folds move farther apart, they maintain a nice
even spacing. This is what you should look for in the deformation of your mesh.
Moving on, the area in the crotch region should be more
heavily weighted to the pelvis joints. The butt cheek should
have a higher weighting concentration given to the thigh.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

Figure 14-11

12. Lets focus in on the front of the thigh area near the hip. This
is where you will really reap the benefits of maintaining a
smoothness to the deformation. In this situation, begin by getting a pretty even weighting distribution between the thigh
joint and the lower pelvis joint. Next, we want to close the gap
between the thigh and the hip where they meet. This involves
moving back and forth between the thigh and lower pelvis and
adding influence. At the most extreme rotation, it is acceptable
for the top of the thigh to intersect the geometry of the hip,
and in some cases it might be unavoidable.
13. Check the thigh and compare it to Figure 14-12. Try to make
the fold look as smooth and natural as possible.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

Figure 14-12

14. The interior of the thigh where it meets the pelvis can also
cause some difficulties. Once again, try to get an even spacing
of the edge loops to diminish the stretching that may occur
(see Figure 14-13). You may find it necessary to move the
right leg out of your way to better see your weighting. Just
grab the right foot control and move it. When you are finished,
return the foot control to its original position by typing 0 for
the translation values.

Figure 14-13

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

15. Next, we will add a few more keyframes so that we can move
the legs into other positions to check our weighting. Move the
slider to the first frame of the Time Slider. Select the
left_foot_control and then press the S key to set a keyframe.
16. Move the slider to frame 20 and make sure a new keyframe
has been set for the left_foot_control.
17. Now move the slider to frame 30. Select the pelvis_master_control and move it to its starting position by typing 0 in
the TranslateY setting in the Channel Box. Move the
left_foot_control so that the leg extends from the side of the
body. Make sure a new key has been created for the pelvis and
foot controls. Now as you move the slider, your figure should
move down and then up, and then the leg will extend to the
side.
18. Note how the weighting that you have done for the thigh
reacts to the new animation. One problem area might be some
collapsing at the top of the hip.

Figure 14-14

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

This is due to the fact that some of the vertices on the hip are
being influenced by the thigh. It may look great when the leg
is bent forward, but not so hot when it sticks out to the side.
Quite the dilemma! We will have to create a nice balance
between the different positions of the legs.
19. Begin by adding a bit more influence from the lower pelvis to
the hip bone.
20. Move the slider back and forth and see how the crouch position is affected by the change in weighting. It may look fine or
it may need some additional adjustments. Consider how the
character is to be animated and what movements will occur
more in the animation.
The rule of thumb is to weight the character with emphasis on
the weighting scheme that gives you the most bang for your
buck. For example, if your character is going to sit or crouch
more than it does the splits, you may want to give more
emphasis to the weighting that suits that type of animation.
If you have to have it all, you can always use blend shapes
to fix the issue.
Next, we will move down to the foot. This should be a walk
in the park compared to weighting the thigh.
21. First, we will make a minor adjustment to our animation.
Move the slider to frame 35 and select left_foot_control.
Move the control by typing 0 in the TranslateX setting of the
Channel Box. This should move the foot back to its original
position.
22. Select the pelvis_master_control and press the S key on the
keyboard with the mouse pointer hovering over the Time
Slider to create a new key at its current position. Move the
slider to frame 40 and then move pelvis_master_control up
so that the character stands on its toes.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

23. Select the mesh and then the Paint Skin Weights tool. Paint
the foot and ankle joints until the foot deforms properly.

Figure 14-15

24. Save your file!

25. At this point we can mirror our weighting over to the right
side of our figure. With the mesh selected, go to Skin | Edit
Smooth Skin4Mirror Skin Weights p. When the dialog
box opens, select YZ for Mirror Across and make sure Direction Positive to Negative (+X to X) is checked. Now as you
scrub through the time line, the right leg of the model should
have the same weighting as the left.
The one minor issue that arises is any overlapping geometry
will not get the correct weighting. If this should occur, and it
more than likely will around the butt and crotch, you will need
to go back in and fix the weighting. This is a task that should
be done at the end of the weighting process when you are no
longer mirroring the weights.
26. Now we will move up to the torso. With the Time Slider set to
40, select spine_master_control and create a keyframe by
pressing the S key. Move the slider to frame 45. Move the
spine_master_control forward on the Z-axis until the

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

character is bent over (see Figure 14-16). A new keyframe

should appear for the spine_master_control in the timeline.

Figure 14-16

27. Move to frame 50 and move the spine_master_control back

on the Z-axis so that the back is severely arched. A new
keyframe should appear for the spine_master_control in the
timeline. Adjust the individual spine controls so that the arch
is a bit more realistic.

Figure 14-17

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

Now as we move the slider back and forth, the torso will bend
forward and back. There tends to be some unnatural intersecting and stretching that occurs. This is most evident with the
breast. You may also notice some problems under the arms
and at the abdomen.
28. So just as we did with the lower body, we need to use the Paint
Skin Weights tool to smooth out our weighting. As you move
the slider back and forth, use the Paint tool to evenly blend the
weighting over the torso until it appears to deform correctly.

Figure 14-18

29. The stomach where it overlaps the hip area when the model
bends over can be quite troublesome. This can be made to
look considerably better if you use the pelvis tilt to adjust the
position of the lower pelvis.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

Figure 14-19

30. Save your file!

31. Once you have the torso in relatively good shape, we can
move along to the arms. Move the slider to frame 55. Select
the spine_master_control and type 0 for the TranslateZ setting. This will return the control to its default position. Select
left_arm_control and press the S key to give it a new
keyframe.
32. Move the slider to frame 60 and move the left_arm_control
up on the Y-axis so that the clavicle is raised as well (see
Figure 14-20). Make sure a new key is created for the control.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

Figure 14-20

33. Move the slider to frame 65 and move the left_arm_control

down on the Y-axis so that the clavicle is lowered. Check to
make sure a new key has been created.

Figure 14-21

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

34. When the arm is raised, the palm of the hand generally faces
forward. This rotation takes place mostly at the shoulder. Go
back to frame 55 and create a keyframe for left_elbow_ control. Move to frame 60 and move the left_elbow_control on
the Y-axis until the palm of your character is facing forward.

Figure 14-22

35. Move to frame 65 and return left_elbow_control to its

default position, making sure a new keyframe has been created. As you scrub the slider back and forth, the arm should
rotate as it is raised and lowered. This should give us a pretty
good indication of what kind of work we need to do on the
shoulder.
36. Like I have stated before, its not easy to get perfect deformation of the shoulder. Work back and forth, moving between the
left_clav, left_shoulder, and spine_5 with the Paint Skin
Weights tool. It will take a bit of effort to get a good deformation, so take your time. You should ultimately end up with
something like Figure 14-23.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

Figure 14-23

37. Move the Time Slider to frame 70 and move left_arm_control back to its starting position, making sure a keyframe is
added. Move to frame 75 then move left_arm_control up on
the Y-axis and then in toward the body on the X-axis until the
arm is bent at the elbow. Make sure a new keyframe has been
created.
38. In a similar fashion to the knee, use the Paint Skin Weights
tool to get a clean deformation.

Figure 14-24

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

39. Now the cool thing here is that more than likely there are very
minor adjustments to do on the hands. You may have a stray
vertex here or there that move with the wrong joint, but aside
from that it should only involve some minor tweaks. Most
notably, as you curl the fingers, make sure they deform in a
similar manner to the elbows and knees.

Figure 14-25

40. Save your file!

The final step in the skinning process is to weight the head
and neck.
41. Starting at 55 on the Time Slider, set an initial keyframe for
the head and the neck. Rotate the head and the neck on subsequent frames just as we have done for the rest of the skeleton.
Be sure to create keys where the head is rotated forward and
backward and left and right at a minimum.
42. To start off the head we will take a slightly different approach
than the one we have been using. In this case we will set the
weighting using the Component Editor. Rotate to a side view
and in Vertex mode, select all of the vertices for the head.
Avoid selecting vertices of the neck.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

Figure 14-26

43. Select Window | General Editors4Component Editor. If

it is not already selected, move the top slider portion over and
select Smooth Skins (see Figure 14-27). With Smooth Skins
selected, you should see a list of all of the selected vertices
down the left side of the dialog and then the list of bone names
along the top.

Figure 14-27

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

44. Alongside each vertex number the amount of weighted influence is displayed. Select the influence box for all of the
vertices under head. Type 1 to add 100 percent influence to all
the selected vertices.

Figure 14-28

45. Move the slider to rotate the head. You will then need to use
the Paint Skin Weights tool to balance the falloff of influence
where the head meets the neck. Be sure to check the head at
various positions to get the best weighting.

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

Figure 14-29

46. Depending on how you want to animate the head, you may
want to weight vertices to the jaw joint to open and close the
mouth.

Figure 14-30

47. As you may remember, along with our character mesh we had
a few additional geometries: the eyes, mouth, hair, and eyelashes. All of these objects should be simply parented to the
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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

head joint with the exception of the lower teeth and tongue,
which should be parented to the jaw.

A Bit about Blend Shapes

I mentioned blend shapes earlier in this chapter, so I feel you
deserve a bit of explanation as to how they are used. For some of
you, this might be obvious, but once again, lets not forget about the
newbs!
Blend shapes are used most often to create facial animation. In
this case, you create duplicate geometries and move the vertices on
the duplicate to form a variety of facial expressions. When the blend
shapes are applied to the original geometry, Maya takes into account
the offset of the vertices in the blend shape object. If the vertices
have moved from their original positions, the blend shape sliders
movement causes the geometry to morph to its blend shape
counterpart.

Figure 14-31

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

This is a very effective way to create quality facial animation. One

important thing to remember when creating blend shapes for facial
animation is to keep blend shapes for the lower part of the head separate from the upper part. For example, have one blend shape for
the smile and then a separate blend shape for the squinting eyes.
Blend shapes are also, as I have stated, very useful in cleaning
up deformation issues that may occur on your model during animation. You can have the rotation of the joint drive a particular blend
shape to make the deformation appear more convincing, as shown in
Figure 14-32.

Figure 14-32

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Chapter 14: The Weighting Is the Hardest Part

Wrap-Up
This chapter gave us but a glimpse into weighting a character. We
learned to use the Paint Skin Weights tool to get a nice deformation
on our character. As I stated way back at the beginning of the book,
we wont be getting into the animation process. We did, however,
learn to set keyframes so that our figure had a rudimentary range
of motion.
I want to emphasize that this chapter along with the previous
one are meant to give you enough information to set your character
up for animation and by no means cover the subject to the depths
that it deserves. I encourage you to pursue this subject further even
if you dont intend to focus on animation.
As far as animating the face is concerned, one of the best books
written on the subject is Stop Staring by Jason Osipa. It really takes
into account the nuances associated with believable facial animation.

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Final Thoughts
A great deal of work has gone into the creation of this book. In teaching and working in the game industry, I have dedicated a vast amount
of time into getting where I am now.
I stress the point of being passionate. Art is something that
allows you to express who you are. I hope you got as much out of this
book as I have put into it. Making it through is a testament of how
dedicated you are to your craft. This is an industry that will keep
growing and opening up new opportunities for anyone with the ambition and drive to take advantage of them.
Take what you have learned here as just a primer for the endless
coats of paint you will add as you continue to build your skills and
learn what this industry is all about talented people who love what
they do.
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not;
nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will
not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the
world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone
are omnipotent.
Calvin Coolidge

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Index
A
abdomen, shaping, 228-229
animation, taking into consideration during
modeling process, 387
arm,
adding edge loops to, 65
aligning on axis, 60-61
blocking out, 59-60
creating joints for, 407-411
setting up controls for, 431-442
shaping, 215-220
weighting, 473-476
asymmetry, importance of, 322
attributes,
adding to controls, 426-431
connecting with expressions, 435-437
automatic mapping, 33
B
back, shaping, 221-222
base mesh, 17
blend shapes, 457, 481-482
body, see also model
adding edge loops to, 64-75, 199-214
blocking out, 49-79
defining, 197-215
shaping, 214-253
UV layout, 361
bone structure, defining, 205-214
border edges, 22
problems with, 23
breasts, shaping, 235-246
bump map, creating, 372-377
butt, shaping, 223-227
C
centerline, realigning, 56-57, 221
character, returning to default pose, 458
character modelers, 2-3
character modeling, 1-3
child joint, 392
chin, shaping, 121-122
clavicle, shaping, 247-254
clusters, 424-425
co-incidental vertices, 27
color map, creating, 364-372
command conventions, 13-14
Component Editor, 478-479

Connection Editor, 430-431

constraint, 393
creating, 393-394
control mesh, 17
creating, 17-18
controls,
arm, 431-443
finger, 442-447
foot, 448-453
head, 429-431
leg, 447-448
pelvis, 422-429
spine, 422-429
torso, 422-429
Create Render Node dialog, 164
cube,
aligning to reference, 49-50
creating, 49
using to create tooth, 172
cube map, 30-31
cylinder, using to create gums, 181-182
cylindrical mapping, 32
D
drawing skills, importance to modeling, 4
Duplicate Special Options dialog, 56
E
ear,
adding edge loops to, 141-142, 149,
153-154
perspective problems with, 138
shaping, 139-156
edge loops, 11
adding to body, 64-75, 199-214
adding to ear, 141-142, 149, 153-154
adding to eye socket, 126-129
adding to face, 99-104, 107-108, 132-136
adding to foot, 298-299, 305-309
adding to hand, 74, 259-261, 263-264,
267-268, 281-285
adding to head, 91
adding to lips, 92
adding to mouth, 89-90, 115-117
adding to nose, 112-114
inserting, 51-52, 54-55
redirecting flow of, 99-100
using to define bone structure, 205-214

487

Index

using to define muscle structure, 199-205

edges,
collapsing, 22
faceted, 25
hardening, 24
softening, 27, 69
Expression Editor, 435-436
expressions, 435
using to connect attributes, 435-437
extrusions, problems with, 22-23
eye, see also eyeball
duplicating, 169
perspective problems with, 123
shaping, 93-94
eyeball, see also eye
creating, 159-163
creating stand-in, 123-124
texturing, 163-169
eyelashes, creating, 381
eye socket,
adding edge loops to, 126-129
shaping, 124-131
F
face,
adding edge loops to, 99-104, 107-108,
132-136
removing details from, 365-367
shaping, 99-104
faces,
keeping together, 49
selecting, 335
viewing selected, 258, 293
fingernails, creating, 274-281
fingers, see also hand
blocking out, 73-74
creating joints for, 411-418
setting up controls for, 442-447
shaping, 257-273
FK, 391
using, 392, 394
foot
adding details to, 309-313
adding edge loops to, 298-299, 305-309
blocking out, 62-63
creating joint for, 404-405
sculpting, 309-312
setting up controls for, 448-453
shaping, 294-309
weighting, 469-470
formula, modeling, 7-8
forward kinematics, see FK

488

G
Go Tools dialog, 43-46
gums,
combining with teeth, 183-190
creating, 181-183
shaping, 184-187
H
hair, creating, 365
hand, see also fingers
adding details to, 281-292
adding edge loops to, 74, 259-261,
263-264, 267-268, 281-285
blocking out, 72
creating joint for, 411
sculpting, 271-273, 285-286, 289-290
shaping, 257-273
weighting, 477
head,
adding attribute to control, 430-431
adding edge loops to, 91
assigning UVs to, 340-361
blocking out, 53-54
creating joints for, 400-401
setting up controls for, 429-431
shaping, 75-77, 83-86, 95
texturing, 362-381
using photo reference to model, 82-83
UV layout, 360
weighting, 477-481
hips, shaping, 227
Hypershade, using to create material,
163-164, 328-329
I
IK, 391
using, 393-394
image plane, 11
images, blending, 364
Insert Edge Loop tool, using, 51
inverse kinematics, see IK
J
joint setup, creating, 392
joints,
creating for arm, 407-411
creating for finger, 411-418
creating for foot, 404-405
creating for hand, 411
creating for head, 400-401
creating for leg, 402-407
creating for pelvis, 398-399
creating for spine, 398

Index

creating for torso, 398-400

linking, 393
mirroring, 419-420
naming, 402
orienting, 395-397, 421
parenting, 401, 406-407, 416
selecting, 396
L
lattice deformer,
using to position teeth, 188-189
using to shape tongue, 191-193
layer,
assigning model to, 55
deleting, 169
toggling visibility of, 259
leg,
adding edge loops to, 66
blocking out, 61
creating joints for, 402-407
setting up controls for, 447-448
shaping, 230-234
weighting, 460-469
lips, see also mouth
adding edge loops to, 92
shaping, 91-92, 194-196
locator, 393
M
mapping,
pelt, 29-30
texture, 28
types of, 31-33
maps,
cube, 30-31
marking, 29
normal, 28
UV, 28-29
marking map, 29
material,
assigning temporary, 328-338
creating, 163-164
creating with Hypershade, 328-329
Maya command convention, 13
Maya commands (* indicates commands
available only in Maya 7)
Constraint | Point, 394
Create | Locator, 393
Create | NURBS Primitives | Sphere, 123
Create | Polygon Primitives | Cube, 49
Create | Polygon Primitives | Sphere,
159, 190
Create | Sets | Quick Select Sets, 237

Create UVs | Planar Mapping, 166, 341

Deform | Create Cluster, 424
Deform | Create Lattice, 188
Display | Component Display | Local
Rotation Axes, 396*
Display | Custom Polygon Display, 335
Display | Transform Display | Local
Rotation Axes, 396
Edit | Duplicate, 56*
Edit | Duplicate Special, 56
Edit | Parent, 401
Edit | Select Border Edge Tool, 56*
Edit Mesh | Extrude, 50
Edit Mesh | Insert Edge Loop Tool, 51
Edit Mesh | Keep Faces Together, 49
Edit Mesh | Merge, 321
Edit Mesh | Offset Edge Loop Tool, 206
Edit Polygons | Duplicate Edge Ring
Tool, 206*
Edit Polygons | Extrude Face, 50*
Edit Polygons | Merge, 321*
Edit Polygons | Normals |
Soften/Harden, 69*
Edit Polygons | Sculpt Geometry Tool,
34, 78*
Edit Polygons | Split Edge Ring Tool, 51*
File | Optimize Scene Size, 169
Mesh | Average Vertices, 69, 270
Mesh | Combine, 168, 321
Mesh | Sculpt Geometry Tool, 34, 78
Mesh | Smooth, 15
Modify | Freeze Transformations, 168
Modify | Make Live, 124
Modify | Transformation Tools | Move
Tool, 40
Normals | Soften Edge, 25, 69
Polygon UVs | Planar Mapping, 166,
341*
Polygons | Average Vertices, 69, 270*
Polygons | Combine, 168, 321*
Polygons | Cut UVs, 355
Polygons | Flip UVs, 347
Polygons | Layout UVs, 340
Polygons | Move and Sew, 355
Polygons | Normals, 25*
Polygons | Relax UVs, 357
Polygons | Sew UVs, 352
Polygons | Smooth, 15*
Polygons | Smooth Proxy, 15*
Polygons | Tool Options | Keep Faces
Together, 49*

489

Index

Proxy | Subdiv Proxy, 15

Render | Render Current Frame, 377
Select | Select Border Edge Tool, 56
Select | Select Shell, 346
Show | Isolate Selected | View Selected,
258, 293
Skeleton | IK Handle Tools, 393
Skeleton | Joint Tool, 392
Skeleton | Mirror Joint, 419
Skeleton | Orient Joint, 397
Skin | Bind Skin | Smooth Bind, 458
Skin | Edit Smooth Skin | Mirror Skin
Weights, 470
Skin | Edit Smooth Skin | Paint Skin
Weights Tool, 460
Skin | Go to Bind Pose, 458
Window | UV Texture Editor, 167
Mel scripting, 4
mesh,
base, see base mesh
control, see control mesh
smoothing, 15-17
subdivided, see subdivided mesh
mirroring, problems with, 23
model, see also body
aligning with photo reference, 79
applying temporary materials to, 328-338
assigning to layer, 55
attaching to skeleton, 458
combining mirrored halves, 321
duplicating, 55-56
merging halves of, 321
mirroring, 55-56
preparing for texturing, 328-338
sculpting, 78-79
smoothing, 78-79
switching between original and smoothed
versions, 81-82
modeling,
and animation, 387
basics of, 8-9
formula for, 7-8
importance of drawing skills to, 4
motion capture, 421
mouth, see also lips
adding edge loops to, 89-90, 115-117
shaping, 86-90, 115-123
Move tool, using, 40
muscle structure, defining, 199-205
N
names, assigning to objects, 8-9, 55

490

neck,
blocking out, 52-53
shaping, 95-99, 247-254
weighting, 477
nodes, deleting extraneous, 8
normal maps, 28, 325
normalized weighting, 457
normals, 25-26
softening, 25, 27
vertex, 26-27
nose,
adding edge loops to, 112-114
shaping, 105-114
NURBS sphere, creating, 123-124
O
object coordinates, working in, 40-42
objects,
combining, 168
naming, 8-9, 55
sculpting, 35-38
smoothing, 15-17
orthogonal view, 11
vs. perspective view, 319-320
P
Paint Skin Weights tool, 455-456
using, 460-461
parent joint, 392
pelt mapping, 29-30
pelvis,
adding attribute to control, 427-429
creating joints for, 398-399
setting up controls for, 422-429
perspective, and distortion issues, 11, 123,
138, 319-320
perspective view,
importance of modeling in, 12-13
vs. orthographic view, 319-320
photo reference,
aligning model to, 79
and perspective problems, 11, 123, 138,
319-320
using to model head, 82-83
Photoshop, viewing UV layout in, 362
planar mapping, 31-32
using to texture eye, 166-167
Planar Mapping Options dialog, 166
polygon accountability, 9
polygons, extruding, 50
ponytail, creating, 381-385
pose, returning to default, 458
preferred angle, creating for joint, 404

Index

programming, 4
Q
quads, 9
using in control mesh, 17-18
working with, 9-11, 15, 18-22
R
reference, 6
photo, see photo reference
setting up, 47-48
using skeleton as, 47-48
Render Settings dialog, 376-377
reusability, 8
reverse foot control, 448
setting up, 448-450
rig, 391
rotation, zeroing out, 168
S
saving, importance of, 8
scripting, 4
Sculpt Geometry tool, 34-35
using to sculpt model, 78-79
using to sculpt sphere, 35-38
seams, matching, 27
set,
creating, 237
editing, 238
Set Driven Key dialog, 441-444
set driven keys, 441-442
skeleton,
attaching model to, 458
setting up, 387-391
using as reference, 47-48
skinning, 455 see also weighting
smooth node, 15
applying, 15-16
specular map, creating, 377-381
sphere,
creating, 159
sculpting, 35-38
using to create eyeball, 159
using to create tongue, 190-191
spherical mapping, 32-33
spine,
adding attributes to control, 426-427
creating joints for, 398
setting up controls for, 422-429
subdivided mesh, 17
subdivided proxy, 15
subdivisional surface modeling, 16
subsurface scattering, 326

T
teeth,
combining with gums, 183-190
combining with tongue, 193
creating, 171-181
texture layouts, 31-33
texture mapping, 28
thumb, see fingers
toenails, creating, 313-316
toes, creating, 294-298
tongue,
combining with teeth, 193
creating, 190-193
torso,
blocking out, 49-52
creating joints for, 398-400
setting up controls for, 422-429
shaping, 57-58
weighting, 470-473
translation, zeroing out, 168
triangles,
eliminating, 17-22
working with, 10-11
U
UV layout,
body, 361
head, 360
viewing in Photoshop, 362
UV map, 28-29
UVs, 327-328
adjusting flow of, 357-360
assigning to head, 340-361
flipping, 347
relaxing, 357-360
stitching together, 351-357
V
vertex normals, 26-27
vertices,
averaging, 69-70, 270
co-incidental, 27
realigning along centerline, 56-57
W
weighting, see also skinning
and overlapping geometry, 470
mirroring, 457, 470
normalized, 457
weights, painting, 459-481
world coordinates, working in, 39-42
Z
ZAppLink, 30-31

491

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About the CD
The companion CD contains the images from the book, Maya
image and scene files to help build the character, AVI movies that
show the modeling process in real time, and Mel scripts for
installing the Go Tools character modeling tool menu. The content is organized as follows:

4 Chapters_ImagesThis directory contains all the images

from the book and is organized by chapter.

4 ScriptsThis contains the goModTools.mel and

mhClearDeadNodes.mel scripts that are discussed in the

book. See the Read_Me file for information on how to use
these to install the Go Tools.

4 VideosThis folder contains self-extracting AVI files that

step through the blocking and sculpting process and provide

examples of Go Tools operations. AVI files will play in the
Windows Media Player. Note that the AVI files are best
viewed with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 or better.

4 Maya8_CharacterModeling.exeThis file contains scene

and image files used to build the character. When extracted

to the C: drive, Maya will find the associated images for each
scene.

Please see the Read_Me file for more information.

WARNING:
By opening the CD package, you accept the terms and conditions of
the CD/Source Code Usage License Agreement. Additionally, opening the CD package makes this book nonreturnable.

CD/Source Code Usage License Agreement

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