Character Modelling Guide

Character Modelling Tutorial

Below is a short tutorial showing the way I like to approach character modelling. I
hope some of you find it informative and useful.

A summary of the key points that this tutorial will cover -

● Start with good reference material and use as much as you can.

● Using your reference as an image plane, block out the rough shape of the
character using cylinders.
● When adding finer details make sure to follow the muscle lines strictly.

● You must end up with a nice clean model, symmetrical where possible.

● Try and keep to a grid system, this will give you a neat model to work with, and
result in better deformation.
● Do not put polygons where they are not needed, even if this is a high-resolution
model.
● Check the edges on your character thoroughly. Make sure they are flipped the
correct way, what you need to avoid is faces collapsing in onto each other when
the model is animated.
● Adjust the character to its final binding pose.

Contents

Reference Material
Starting Out
General Shape
Head and Neck
Adding Details
Muscle Structure
Shoulders
Armpit
Bicep Twist
Bending Areas
Face Detail
Hands
Final Pose

Reference Material

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Character Modelling Guide

The most important thing you should do before any modelling happens is stock up on
your reference materials. This could be scanned, drawn, grabbed from a video, DVD or
anything just make sure you have lots of it. Ideally you should have turn a rounds of
the character, if these don't exist then use the rest of the images you have collected to
generate your own.
The ideal turn a round should contain a front view, side view (left & right if possible),
rear view and a three quarter view. You should have both full body and a head close
up. As well as these you should also have a decent facial expression sheet, showing as
many emotions as possible, not only will this be useful when modelling the head but it
will give the animator a good guide to work from when generating facial blend shapes.

Example Model Sheet Example Facial Expression Sheet

As well as your basic character sheets you should ideally have a colour sheet too. This
will be used later when you start to texture your model.

Note - It is really important that you have this reference material. You may as well be
modelling with your eyes closed if you don’t use anything to base your model on.

Trying to model without preparation will result in you having to tweak the final mesh
for weeks on end until you or your lead are happy with it. At the very least you should
have something scanned in and used as an image plane to get the proportions correct.

Starting Out

Before starting to build your character you should first make sure you have your turn
around scanned in and at the ready. The front and side view should be imported into
Maya and used as image planes to guide you.

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Character Modelling Guide

You should also find out as much about the character as possible -
● Is it an in game model or will it be used in pre-rendered cut scenes?

● You will need a rough polygon count limit.

● Finger amount. Will it have full fingers or a mitten type hand with no fingers?

● Facial detail, will the characters face need to animate to show emotions and
talk?
Another point to consider is how many levels of detail are required. If I am to generate
a character, which has four levels of detail, I find the best way to work is to model the
highest version first. Once this is done you can then generate the lower versions from
this simply by removing polygons, it is allot easier to remove polygons and detail from
a character than it is to add them. Also working in this order assures you that the lower
Lod`s (levels of detail) will match the highest perfectly.

To aid with this guide I will model a character myself and show you the process step
by step. I have decided on a character I am to produce so I have spent some time
gathering various pieces of reference material. I could not find a suitable model sheet
so I have drawn out a rough one myself, I shall use this to generate the general shape
and proportions of the model.

My Rough Turn Around

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Character Modelling Guide

General Shape

Now you can start to build the character but don't rush in and try to build it a bit at a
time, try to fill out the whole shape first as this will help you to get the proportions
correct.

Limbs and Torso

Start by creating three cylinders. Set the height to 8, subdivision axis to 8 and the
subdivision height to 10, (this can differ depending on the poly count restrictions on
the character, although it is easier to remove polygons later than to try and add them.)

Rotate, translate and scale the cylinders to position them in the correct place
corresponding to the left leg, left arm and torso but try to keep a row of vertices lying
on the elbow and knee. We only need to model one half of the body as it can be
mirrored later to produce the right hand side.

Note – It will make scaling the vertices easier if you do not freeze the transforms on
the cylinders!

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Character Modelling Guide

Using these cylinders, and keeping them as quads, view from the side and scale/move
the vertices horizontally until the shape of the cylinder roughly fits the leg in the image
plane.

Next switch to the front view and do the same, adjusting them to fit the general shape.

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Character Modelling Guide

For the arm look from the front and scale the vertices to fit the shape of the reference
image.

Next do the same from the side view. If your model sheet has its character drawn with
the arms out to the side you will probably need to use some other reference material to
adjust the vertices from the top view.

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Character Modelling Guide

The torso cylinder needs to be split into two, the left side and the right side. Delete the
right side, as we only need to work with the left for now. Also delete any cap faces on
all the cylinders if you haven’t done already. Doing as you have already done with the
leg, using the front and side views scale/move the vertices horizontally to get the rough
shape of the torso.

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Character Modelling Guide

You should now have a clean, grid style mesh that fits the general shape of the left
hand side of your character, but it’s missing a head, foot and a hand.

Before we add these we need to join the arm and leg to the torso. Start by raising the
arm if need be, then move the vertices at the joining ends so that they lie where the
joints would crease. Try to get vertices to line up with each other.

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Character Modelling Guide

You should start to notice areas where you may need to add an extra vertex, or you
could remove some faces to get the limbs to join properly. This is the next stage. Using
the Split Polygon Tool to add the vertices, and deleting any unwanted faces make sure
the vertices all line up perfectly, then combine the three pieces and weld the vertices.

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Character Modelling Guide

You should now have a basic body although it may need tweaking slightly to get it
back to a desired shape. Also at this stage add any extra bits, like breasts, and attach
these to the basic model.

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Character Modelling Guide

Hands

To be honest at this early stage I sometimes don't bother roughing in the hands. If I do
need to, to get a better idea of proportions, a few cubes will suffice.

Feet

To create rough feet I simply extrude the edges at the base of the leg cylinder. Then I
extrude the front of the newly created faces forward, usually having two divisions. It’s
just a case of editing the vertices then until you get a basic foot you are happy with.

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Character Modelling Guide

Head and Neck

At this point the neck can simply be a low polygon cylinder, subdivision axis to 8 and
the subdivision height to 3, adjusted, like the torso, to fit the neck in the image plane.

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Character Modelling Guide

The head should begin as a cube with a few subdivisions, again adjusting the vertices
to fit the general shape of the reference head. We don't add any detail to the head at
this stage. Once done, weld the head to the neck and then the neck to the body, as we
did previously with the torso and limbs.

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Character Modelling Guide

Adding Details

By now you have your basic model filled out, it has all the limbs needed as well as a
rough head, feet and maybe even hands.
You can now do one of two things, optimise this model for in game use, removing
strips of polygons and adjusting it to look like a low resolution version of your
character, or you can go in and refine the model, add more detail and fill out the shape
until it looks exactly like the reference material.
Below are suggestions on the best way to achieve such details.

Note – You can achieve allot of detail with the texture on your character, don’t rely
solely on polygons.

Muscle Structure

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Character Modelling Guide

Keep an eye on where the muscles lie on your character, placing edges along the
muscle lines will result in a much more natural deformation as well as making your
model look better.

Muscle Structure

Note – It may be worth spending some time mapping the lines onto your model, (as
pictured below). Simply go around it and use hard edges as I have done, in some cases
you will need to use the Split Polygon Tool but don’t be afraid to add a few polygons
at this stage.

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Character Modelling Guide

Shoulders

An area most people struggle with is the shoulder. As you can see in the image below,
when the arms are raised the shoulder muscle (deltoid) is more pronounced, bulging
higher than the collar muscles (trapezius). Also notice that the big back muscle,
(latissimus dorsi) acts like a fan, opening up when the arm is raised and closing again
when the arm is relaxed.

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Character Modelling Guide

Armpit

Remember that the armpit recesses into the body slightly.

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Character Modelling Guide

Bicep Twist

This is a trouble area if modelled incorrectly. When a twist is applied it can collapse
and deform horribly but this can be avoided if you keep the polygons around this area
in strips.

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Character Modelling Guide

Bending Areas

An important part of any character is the areas where it needs to bend, i.e. elbows,
knees etc. So go around your model and make sure to put in extra polygons in these
areas.
As with the elbow pin point the pivot area and create the polygons behind that point.

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Character Modelling Guide

Face Detail

Face topology is very important, depending on what you wish to achieve with your
model that is. A good rule, as with the body, is to stick strictly to the muscle structure
when placing your polygons and edges. Paying attention to how the face creases, and
constructing it according will give you a natural looking face as well as making the
creation of blend shapes and animation easier and more fluid.

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Character Modelling Guide

Face Muscles Face Wrinkles

Once again, import some scanned in imagery to use as a guide. Scale the image plane
to fit the rough head you have created

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Character Modelling Guide

Subdivide the faces at the front and start to move the vertices until you get the general
shape. You should also do this from the front view, using another image as a guide.

Splitting the polygons, keep adding more detail until you are happy with the way the
face looks, remembering to keep the edges running along muscle lines and also bearing
in mind how the face will need to deform i.e. will it need eyes, eyelids, an inner
mouth?

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Character Modelling Guide

Hands

First off, if someone on your team, or even in the studio has already modelled a decent
hand, use it. There is no point reinventing the wheel and making more work for you,
even if it isn't the right style the structure should be sound enough for you to work with
and adjust.
Before you build the hands you need to know what the character is to be used for. If its
in game the chances are it won't need separate fingers, just maybe a separate thumb, if
its a character for a cut scene then all fingers will need to be modelled.
When starting the hand I always begin with a finger, spend time creating a good finger
and you can then copy and adjust it for the other three and the thumb. Again, get some
images of hands scanned in and use them as image planes.

Start with a cube – Width 6, Subdivision Width 3, Subdivision Height 2.

Using the Split Polygon Tool we now add some details to the finger. For the moment
you just want to define the knuckle areas, these just need to be on the top half of the
finger (add as much or as little detail as you require, the images represent a medium
resolution finger.)

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Character Modelling Guide

Once done you can play around with the finger to get a general shape you are happy to
start working with. Make sure you use the image you scanned in as a guide.

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Character Modelling Guide

When you are happy with the shape of the finger, duplicate it and adjust it to fit the
other three fingers.

You should now have your basic fingers to work with, duplicate one of the other
fingers and adjust it to fit the thumb. Then, using your modelling skills and the
reference images add some more details and the rest of the hand. You should end up
with something like this -

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Character Modelling Guide

This hand was modelled using a male hand as reference, no good for the female model
I am doing but I can use this as a base and adjust it.

A few things to consider –

1. Its better to initially model the hand flat, this makes it easier to texture. Then you
can adjust it later for the final pose.
2. The base of the finger, where it meets the hand, is slanted not flat. If you look in
between your own fingers you will notice a small webbing area.
3. Your fingers are not straight so do not model them like that. They are most
likely slightly crooked.
4. In women, the ring finger and the index finger tend to be the same length. But
with men, the index finger is shorter than the ring finger.

The final model.

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Character Modelling Guide

Final Pose

Before you finalise your model and begin texturing it is probably a good idea to bung
in a rough rig and check the mesh deforms correctly. I guarantee you will find a few
areas that need tweaking and if you have spent time texturing you will need to alter
some UV`s.
The aim is to get the final model in as much of a relaxed state as possible, this way
when the character is rigged and animated in a relaxed state it will look more natural
and as the modeller intended. Having the elbows and knees bent not only helps with
rigging but also allows the modeller to refine the look of the joints.
Note - You should make sure your model is finished and signed off before putting it
into this pose, unless you intend to do a preview bind, in which case save it as a
separate file.
Your characters final pose should be as follows and NOT in the standard crucifixion
poses -

● Arms - Out to the sides but slightly lowered, (about 35 degrees)

● Elbows - Should be bent inwards at an angle of about 40 degrees.
● Hands & Fingers - Should be in a relaxed position with the fingers slightly bent.
The palms should be facing forwards.
● Legs - These should be slightly bent, as if the character is in a slight crouching
position.
● Face - The head should be in a rest pose, closed mouth and open eyes.

Coming Soon - Texturing & Rigging

The images used in this section were taken from the following books -

Anatomy for the Artist by Sarah Simblet

How to draw Manga: Bodies and Anatomy
Batman Animated by Paul Dini&Chip Kid

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