Sculpting the character was very a enjoyable experience. I learned a LOT about Blender and Maya in this time and how poly-counts, topology and innovation using shapes are essential to the efficiency and execution of the 3D pipeline.
Following exercises we had done in class, I began by blocking my character.
This is my first block-out:
Almost immediately after I completed this, I had my support session with Mike where I learned a lot of tips about what I could do going forward to make my model as exciting and successful as possible.
Here are my notes from the session:
- Make use of dyntopo!
- Clothes
- Sculpt simply using a sphere over the body. Keep in a different layer. Mould around the model.
Masks
Make good use of masks. Proportions need to be adjusted, slightly thinner and taller so go down that route and always use masks. Distinction in the middle and increase scale downwards. Legs need to be longer, not torso. This is a box mask.
Same for mouth. Use mask on top and do bottom, etc.
Eyes
Always use a sphere and mould the eyelids around that. Much more expressive and shows a greater understanding of anatomy. Eyebrows on top using clay tool?
Fur
Make bigger, more dramatic. Eccentuate using the bottom red tool for a distinct, more stylised look.
Props
Model with the props applied, don’t need to add these later after the character is modelled (to an extent this is ok). You don’t need to animate, so model with your specific pose in mind.
Background
Not necessary but would be cool. The marks are for creating an interesting, well-designed character.
Hence, I began implementing these changes. I passed a more developed sculpt of my model where I added more details and utilised masking as Mike said to make a more dynamic and stark design:
I was much happier with the facial shape here, plus, the eyes being spheres really humanised my character and brought me closer to where I wanted to be in terms of the Disney-style design language. I found the red tools super handy in creating a stylised look for the fur, and combined with the mask this was highly effective.
At this stage, I was very curious about how I would build the strap and make it seem integrated with the model and not entirely separate as pictured above. I ended up using the same technique as the clothes that Mike told me – simply sculpting an object around the base object – and this worked well:
This was a success!
What I knew was off now though was the trousers. They felt too baggy and the fit wasn’t seamless with the design in the way I wanted it to be. So, I ended up blocking these out again with three shapes: a sphere and two mirrored cylinders. I then joined these and sculpted them together on top of legs that were dramatically reduced in size. This worked much better:
At this stage you can see I also created the shoes for my character. I utilised this video about modelling in Blender which taught me a lot about how you can use the vast amount of modifiers to create exactly what you want. I was able to watch it and then do it myself and create the exact sizing and style I was going for based on my original concept.
I also modelled a camera and coffee cup, however due to the low-poly nature of these props I used Maya and my skills from earlier in the Semester:
With these props, that was my final sculpt and model and I was ready to move on to retopology.