n 3ds Max

4
Character Modeling
M
ODELING CHARACTERS is one of the most appealing uses for 3ds
Max. We’ve all seen great animation and stills featuring characters
seemingly sculpted from nothing into living, breathing people.
Your main tool for character modeling is persistence. Character modeling takes
skills that you might not have coming into the field of computer graphics, but you
can develop these skills with practice.
When learning these techniques, a rule of thumb is that your first character will
take a week to create and will look absolutely terrible; the second will take half
the time and look twice as good; and successive attempts will continue to take
exponentially less time and look even better. If you keep at it using the techniques
described in this chapter, you’ll eventually get where you want to be.

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 4 Character references
Character Modeling

B
EFORE YOU START modeling, you’ll
need good reference images to work
with. At the very least, you’ll need one
image for the front of the model, and another
for the side. The images don’t have to be
highly detailed, but they do need to provide
enough information to create the basic shape
of the model. If you don’t have the skills to
photograph or draw the images, get an artistic
friend or colleague to help.
For highly detailed areas, such as the face
or an intricate piece of jewelry or clothing, you
can create a separate set of images and use
them after you’ve completed the bulk of the
model. Even with good reference images, after
modeling the character you’ll need to complete
the finishing touches by visually checking
the model itself against your vision of what it
should be.
Starting with useful reference material is key
to creating appealing characters. Time spent up
front to make or get these images will pay off
many times over in the time you’ll save while
modeling.

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1 Reference images can be drawings or photos, or

combinations of the two. Making the outlines of the
character’s body clear is more important than color. The front
reference image should show the character standing straight
with its arms away from its sides, and its legs slightly apart.
Facial reference should show use a neutral facial expression, or
at least the same expression in both pictures. SethFront.jpg
SethSide.jpg
OgreFront.jpg
OgreSide.jpg
CatFront.jpg
CatSide.jpg

2 Using Photoshop, resize front and side images so the character is the same
height in both images, and major areas of the body or face line up. It can be
helpful to put both reference images into the same image and use guides to line up HOT TIP
the images. For a body side
reference image,
it can be helpful to
erase the arms to
make it easier to
see the shape of
the body from the
side.

3 Map the reference images onto two perpendicular planes in 3ds Max, leaving
enough room to create the model where the two images intersect.

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 4 Character modeling process
Character Modeling

T
O MODEL ANY CHARACTER, you’ll
use the same general process in 3ds
Max. As with sculpting, you’ll start with
a simple object like a box or cylinder, and mold
and shape the character using a variety of tools.
This is a basic overview of the process; the
tools themselves are described in more detail
in subsequent topics.

1 After you’ve set up your reference images, start with a

box. Convert it to an Editable Poly so you can access the
Polygon and Vertex tools.

4 Add more detail and shape to the torso using Cut, Connect, Chamfer, and other cutting and refinishing tools described in
the topic Chop Shop. You’ll also need to clean up the edge flow with the tools in the Nip and Tuck topic.

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2 At the Vertex sub-object level, move vertices around to

give the torso its general shape to match the front and side
reference images.
3 Smooth out the shading to see the torso’s shape
more accurately. See the Polygon Building topic for
details.
HOT TIP
If you’ve never
created a
character before,
sculpting it in clay
first can be very
helpful to the
process.

5 Form polygons on the body where the arms and legs will
come out. Extrude the limbs, then form the hands and feet.

6 Using a separate set

of reference images,
model the head and hair.

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 4 Chop shop
Character Modeling

1 To create more polygons, use the Cut tool at the Edge

sub-object level to cut new edges.

C
UTTING AND RESTRUCTURING
your model’s polygons is an inevitable
part of character modeling. Although
Editable Poly and Editable Mesh have
numerous sub-object tools, you’ll find that you
use the same few over and over again. Here
you’ll find a guide to the most popular and
useful tools.
Most of these tools can be found on
the Graphite toolbar, where you can easily
choose them rather than hunt for them on the
command panel. 4 You can draw a new edge in a specific place with the
Create tool at the Edge sub-object level.

7 Every once in a while during your chopping session, you

should use Weld to clean up coincident vertices. Extra
vertices are a common cause of pinching.

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2 You can also use the Connect tool to create new edge
loops around a specific area. 3 The Chamfer tool creates two edges from one. This tool
often requires cleanup afterward with Target Weld.

HOT TIP
When cutting
a new edge
between two
existing vertices,
use Create to draw
the edge rather
than Cut. Using
Create will avoid
duplicate vertices
that need to be
welded later on.

5 Target Weld at the Vertex sub-object level welds one

vertex to another. This is helpful for cleaning up areas
with too many small polygons, which can cause pinching.
6 The Collapse tool at the Vertex sub-object level, similar
to Target Weld, automatically welds all selected vertices
into one.

8 When you move vertices around, use the Edge

constraint to keep them moving along the model’s
surface and not out in space.
9 Before extruding limbs, use Make Planar at the Polygon
sub-object level on the polygons you plan to extrude.
This will give you a flat area to extrude cleanly.

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 4 Nip and Tuck
Character Modeling

I
N YOUR QUEST for a well-built model
with three-sided and four-sided polygons,
you will do a lot of plastic surgery on your
model. Even if the shape of the model is right,
you’ll need to clean up edges to make them
flow. A model with flowing edges doesn’t
pucker when you apply TurboSmooth, and will
deform smoothly when animated.
Before checking for problem areas, be
sure to smooth the model using the technique
described in the Polygon Building topic.

2 An edge loop is a series of consecutive edges forming

a closed loop on the model. Edge loops make for
smoother subdivision, and allow the model to deform more
3 Whenever possible, form edge loops around major body
areas. Use cutting and welding as much as necessary to
make the loops flow.
cleanly during animation.

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1
Clean up any edges that end abruptly by cutting or creating new edges.

4 Use the
Symmetry
modifier to allow
HOT TIP
If your model
puckers at any
you to model
given spot, you
just one side of
might need to
the model and
weld vertices.
have it mirror to Cutting edges
the other side. sometimes creates
After you use new, extra vertices
the Symmetry on top of existing
modifier for ones, leading
the last time, to puckering.
collapse the Sometimes, the
stack and some puckering is
asymmetrical visible only when
details. you render, or
when you apply
TurboSmooth.

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 4 Polygon building
Character Modeling

S
OMETIMES YOU’LL
make such a mess of
things that you have
to delete polygons and make
new ones from scratch.
Although you won’t need ths
skill often, when you do need
it, you’ll really need it. If you
know you can create polygons
at will, you won’t be afraid to
cut and chop in your quest for
the perfect construction.

2 When drawing polygons from scratch, take care to click

actual vertices on the model. Otherwise, the vertices will
end up out in space.
3 Instead of drawing polygons from scratch, you can
select the open hole at the Border sub-object level of an
Editable Poly, and use the Cap tool to close it up. You’ll need
to create new edges through the cap to make three-sided and
four-sided polygons.

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1 To delete polygons, simply select

them at the Polygon sub-object
level and press Delete. To draw a new
polygon, click Create at the Polygon
sub-object level, then click three or
four vertices to outline the polygon,
and click once more at the starting
vertex to finish. Be sure to click vertices
in sequential order and in a counter-
clockwise direction. Going counter-
clockwise will make the polygon’s
normals face the correct direction. If
you use a clockwise direction, you’ll
have to flip the polygon’s normals after
creating it.

4 Newly created polygons won’t appear smooth as they won’t be in the same smoothing group as surrounding polygons.
While looking at the Polygon Smoothing Groups rollout at the Polygon sub-object level. select one of the polygons near
the new polygons and note which smoothing groups the polygon belongs to. Then select the new polygons, and assign them to
that smoothing group.

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 4 Subdivision
Character Modeling

T 1
HE TURBOSMOOTH When modeling, try to keep all polygons three or four-sided. Such a model
and MeshSmooth animates better, and also works well with the TurboSmooth modifier.
modifiers subdivide
a model into more polygons,
smoothing out the model in
the process. MeshSmooth
has more parameters, but
TurboSmooth uses less
memory and updates faster.
For this reason, TurboSmooth
has become the subdivision
modifier of choice for 3ds
Max modelers.

3 With the TurboSmooth modifier, a value of 1 or 2 for Iterations is usually plenty.

To keep viewports updating quickly, you can set the Render Iters parameter to
1 or 2 and leave the Iterations parameter at 0, which will make the model render with
the Render Iters value but not show it in viewports.

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HOT TIP

The Subdivide
modifier, while
originally
designed
for radiosity
renderings, can
also be used to
create more detail
only in areas with

2
larger polygons.
To make edges keep their shape when TurboSmooth is applied, increase the Adjust the Size
Crease parameter at the Edge sub-object level to 1.0. parameter to limit
the effect to the
largest polygons.

4 If you want to apply a subdivision modifier like TurboSmooth to a skinned

model, always apply it above the Skin modifier on the stack.

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 4 Poly modeling in practice
Character Modeling

B
OX MODELING a low poly character
is one of my favorite things to do. If you
have good reference and follow it, your
experience will be much better. If you’re new
to box modeling or just want to play around, a
cartoony character like this anthropomorphic
cat from one of my star students Tetyana
Rykova is great to work with. This little guy
was modeled and used in as entry in an
11-Second Club competition animation.

3 In the side view, move vertices around to line up polygons for the arm holes, one on each side of the body. You might need
to use Connect at the Edge sub-object level to cut more edges. Select the armhole polygons, and Bevel or Extrude to get
the basic arm shape. Then move vertices to shape the arms.

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 How to Cheat in 3ds Max

CatFront.jpg
CatSide.jpg

1 Create or obtain front and side views of the character

(called a model sheet in the 3D biz), and use it to create
a virtual studio in 3ds Max. Create a box with 1-4 segments
2 Make the box see-through, and collapse it to an Editable
Poly. At the Vertex sub-object level, shape the box to
match the character’s torso. Move vertices at the corners of the
along the height, width, and depth. box to make it rounder.

4 At the end of each arm, use Connect to cut extra edges

for fingers. Bevel polygons with the By Polygon option
turned on to create separate fingers.
5 In the same way you did the arms, extrude the legs and
feet and shape them at the Vertex sub-object level. Then
use Bevel to create the head, and shape it the same way.

6 Apply the TurboSmooth modifier for some instant gratification. If TurboSmooth makes the model too squishy, select some of
the edges and add addtional edge loops in those areas. This will hold the edges in place even when TurboSmooth is applied.
Continue working with the model, using the same tools to extrude and shape any additional character elements.
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 4 Character Modeling

INTERLUDE

Making animatable models

NOT ALL CHARACTER MODELS ARE created equal. A model that looks great in a still
rendering is not necessarily going to animate well. This is why, when you’re modeling a character,
you need to pay attention to how you construct it in addition to how it looks when rendered.

Characters that animate well have these attributes in common:

The model consists of three-sided and four-sided polygons only. These types of polygons are
necessary for smooth edge flow, but that’s not all. Many game engines work only with three-sided
or four-sided polys, and the TurboSmooth modifier itself behaves correctly only with these types
of polygons.

Polygons are evenly sized and spaced. Long, thin triangles are bad news in a character model.
Remember that when a character’s arm or leg bends, the polygons themselves don’t bend. You
need enough evenly-spaced detail to make smooth bends at the character’s joints.

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Edges follow natural bend and crease lines. When you sit, there’s a natural V-shaped crease
where your thighs meet your hips. When you bend your elbow, there’s a natural crease where the
wide part of your lower arm meets the upper arm. Make edges on your character to follow these
natural creases.

Both visible and hidden edges flow smoothly. The Editable Poly is the form of choice for many
character modelers because of its toolset, as compared with Editable Mesh. The catch is that a
four-sided poly has a hidden edge that, if turned in the wrong direction, can wreck the smooth
flow of faces.

Subdivision is used intelligently. If the model has three-sided and four-sided polygons and uses
creasing where needed, you can create it with a low number of polygons, skin the model with
ease with the Skin modifier, then put the TurboSmooth modifier above the Skin modifier on the
stack. The result will be a model that animates easily and accurately, updates quickly on screen,
and renders beautifully.

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