This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Q&A
Q. How radically different are modeling workflows for different types of characters?
A. The workflow does not change drastically between highly realistic characters and cartoony characters. The only thing that changes is that most realistic characters are exported to a high-polygon sculpting software after they are finished in low-poly form.
Q. My image planes are not lining up with each other. What is wrong?
A. When this happens, it is because your image planes are not the same size. It is always easiest to take advantage of letting Maya size and position your image planes automatically by making the side and front images have the same dimensions.
Q. When I combine the two halves, and I select all of the center vertices to merge them, they do not all merge. Why?
A. You might have accidentally moved the models, or the center vertices are not exactly lining up with each other. To increase the distance that two vertices will travel to merge together, increase the Threshold value in the Merge command’s option box.
Q. I noticed your character’s eye socket is empty. Shouldn’t we model an eyeball?
A. Remember any object that is not skin tight should be a separate object and not modeled into the character’s model. That goes for eyes and teeth as well. Best bet is to have a sphere in place as you are creating the eye socket to give you a sense of what the eye shape is going to be, and remove it before you are done. Alternatively, you can use that sphere as a good starting point for your eye once the body mesh is complete.