01 low poly modeling
Character Production Chapter 01 – Low Poly Modeling Chapter 01 – Low Poly Modeling
Setting up Image Planes
Now, using the Crop tool and its transform
The edge extrusion method is possibly the
controls, extend the image size to the right so
Software used: Maya
easiest way to block out the basic shape of a
you can fit a side image in it. Place the side
human head, and for that we will rely on a pair
image to the right of the front image and scale,
of reference images that we are going to load as
rotate and move it until you align all the facial
Hello my name is Anto Juricic and I am a CG
image planes. I have provided you with a side
features with the guidelines matching the front
artist specializing in the creation of believable
and front image of this character as a download
image. Don’t worry if some parts don’t line up
CG characters. In this series of tutorials I am
with this tutorial so you can use the images to
100% perfectly; it’s probable because of the lens
going to walk you through the numerous tasks
follow the tutorial (Fig.01).
distortion of images.
an old man. As a core application I have chosen
You can use any reference image you like as
If your model’s head is slightly tilted to one side
Autodesk’s Maya and I will use it for the majority
long as they come from the same person and
you can use the front on view to adjust and
of tasks in this tutorial.
show a front and side view. Let’s first spend a
correct the image. With this done remove the
few minutes preparing the images so they align
guidelines and crop the images again, removing
Although Maya is a powerful tool by itself and
perfectly once we load them into the Maya. Load
the space around the images. Also create two
capable of both geometry sculpting and texture
the front image into Photoshop and pull down a
separate files, one for the front and one for the
painting, it is capable of creating better results
few guides to mark the position of the eyebrows,
side view, and save the files.
when used in conjunction with applications like
center of the eye, nose tip and bottom, upper lip,
Photoshop and ZBrush, which are going to be
center of the mouth, bottom lip, tip of the chin
Now go into Maya. In the menu select a new
our major texture creation tools. With that said
and bottom of the chin. Also place a guideline
image plane and press Load Image. Select your
let’s move on to the first step.
along the center of the face.
previously prepared front image. Repeat the
Basic Modeling
involved in creating a highly realistic render of
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Chapter 01
Chapter 01 – Low Poly Modeling Character Production
same process with the side view. Image planes,
responsible for thickness so you are left with
the center of the nose bridge. Align this from
by default, are created at the origin of the
just a plane circle. Select the boundary loop
the side view too. Now select the border edges,
scene and crossing each other. To get image
from this circle and extrude it outwards. Delete
except ones at the center, and extrude them
planes away from the center and make some
the inside so you have a ring shape. Also make
once again to circle the cheek and eyebrow.
space you will need to adjust the attributes for
sure that you have your normal’s facing the
the image plane. Select the front image plane
right direction. Now roughly align the vertices,
This is a good time to duplicate this piece of
from the perspective view, go to the Attribute
following the front and side reference images, to
geometry to the other side of the face. Select
Editor and pick the Image Plane1 tab. Search
trace out the shape of the eye. These first few
the geometry and go to Edit > Duplicate Special
for the Placement Extras options and center
steps are illustrated in Fig.02.
and in the Scale option type - 1.000 to X axis only.
the parameter. Set the third number box, which represents the Z position, to 40. Repeat the
Now select the outer border edge once again
same process for the side image plane and type
and repeat the extruding process, shaping it
Move the duplicate to the other side of the face.
in 40 in the first box for the X axis offset.
roughly to mark out the shape of an eye socket.
Cut the bridge of the nose vertically by inserting
Make sure you align the newly created geometry
an edge loop. Don’t forget to always realign
from the side view as well as the front view.
the new geometry from the side view. Now let’s
Now we have our preparation done it’s time
Select the two edges that separate the upper
block out a nose shape by extruding down the
to lay out some polygons, so let’s start with a
and lower eye lid, and extrude them towards
nose bridge to the base of the nose (Fig.03).
Poly Modeling temporary eyeball. You can find all your poly editing tools in the Edit Mesh menu, and you can add those you use most to your custom shelf by selecting a tool while holding the Shift and Ctrl keys. Create a polygonal sphere and adjust it to match the position of the eyes from your image planes (both front and side). From the front view create a cylinder with 12 sides, which is slightly bigger than the eyeball, then place it in front of the eye. We will use this cylinder to shape the first row of polygons for the eyelids. Delete the polygons
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Chapter 01
Character Production Chapter 01 – Low Poly Modeling Make seven extrusions along the nose and then one more for the nostril. Select the second, third and forth edge from the nose’s bridge and extrude them towards the edge of the nostril. Insert three edge loops vertically to the new geometry and adjust it using the front and side view as a reference. Don’t be afraid to go to the perspective view from time to time to check your progress in 3D and maybe make some adjustments. Select the last edge from the base of the nose and last edge from the nostril, and bridge them to close the shape. Select six edges starting from base of the nose all the way around the nostril and extrude them out. Merge the last vertex with the corresponding vertex on the nostril, as illustrated in Fig.04. Split the edge at the center of the long polygon that bridges the nostril and nose base, and reshape it to a circular opening. Bridge the polygons to fill the gap between the nose tip and the mask shape. Select the nostrils’ opening edges, extrude them a few times and translate them upwards to
to define the mouth line. To finish the basic
edges to the nasolabial fold using the front and
shape the inside of the nose. With this complete
mouth shape, extrude the inside loop to form
side references. Bridge the two faces from the
let’s move on to the mouth.
the mouth’s thickness. Split the long polygon
laugh line to the nostril, as illustrated in the last
that bridges the mouth and nose by adding two
step of Fig.05.
Extrude two lines from the base of the nose to
edges, and extrude one more circle around the
the mouth, then make ten extrusions circling the
mouth. Now extrude two edges at the corner
From the base of the mouth make five
mouth. Split the newly created ring by inserting
of the mouth toward the cheek. Split these two
extrusions to outline the chin, and bridge the
a edge loop at the center. Add one more loop
faces twice near the mouth’s corner. Align these
laugh line with chin, as illustrated in Fig.06.
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Chapter 01
Chapter 01 – Low Poly Modeling Character Production
Cut along the polygon three times and fill in the
chin extrusion. Select five edges from the top
afraid to reposition some parts of the geometry
gap. Add two edges to cut along the laugh line
of the mask and extrude them twice to form a
at any time, and add or remove some of it if you
polygon, and fill the gap by bridging the mouth
forehead shape (Fig.07).
feel it’s necessary. Make additional splits to the cheek geometry to match the edges of the jaw
and the base of the nose. Split the long temporal poly and bridge it to
geometry. Fill the gap between the cheek and
Bridge the two polygons from the nostril to
the forehead. Continue extruding the forehead
jaw by bridging between faces. Use the same
the corresponding polygons on the eye mask.
all around the head, all the way to the neck.
technique to fill in the rest of the gaps, as shown
Extrude two edges from the side of the mask
Reshape the new geometry to form a smooth
in Fig.08.
to create a temporal area. Do the same for the
shape. Insert another edge loop to the cheek
cheek and add a few extrusions from the cheek
geometry right behind the laugh line and
Also connect the remaining opened faces,
to the neck. Add one more edge to the cheek
connect the cheek to the eye geometry. Do the
as illustrated in Fig.09. Select an open face
polys and connect it to the last polygon from the
same to connect the cheek and chin. Don’t be
from the back of the neck and make enough
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Chapter 01
Character Production Chapter 01 – Low Poly Modeling
extrusion to match the jaw line and fill the gap. Select the open loop on the neck and extrude down as many times as necessary to ensure equal distribution of geometry. Also make sure you delete the history from time to time. Now go to vertex mode and press B on the keyboard to adjust the falloff radius, which is going to help us do some proportional editing. Go to perspective view and have some fun with this tool until you are happy with your model. I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial; see you in the next chapter where we will be adding some detailed facial features. Check out Fig.10 for my result after some proportional editing.
Anto Juricic Web: http://anto-toni.cgsociety.org/gallery/ Email:
[email protected]
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Chapter 01
02 modeling the features
Character Production Chapter 02 – Modeling the Features Chapter 02 – Modeling the Features Software used: Maya Hello! In the last chapter we used some very simple techniques to block out the main form of our character and establish a well organized edge loop structure. The method I demonstrated in the previous chapter will enable us to continue adding more geometry, which will add some details to specific facial features. Perhaps the most important part of a face are the eyes and the area around them. We are so used to seeing people’s eyes that making believable CG eyes is not an easy task. So let’s continue with that area. The eyeball itself will consist of two parts: the inner one with a slightly concave iris area and a slightly bigger outer one with a bulge over the iris beneath it. As a starting point you can use the sphere that we created at the beginning of the first chapter or create a new one from the front view. Make it slightly bigger than the eye socket opening and try to center it using a front image plane. to cover the inner part. Select all concave
any given time. Hide the eyeball to make some
A default poly sphere comes with 20 triangles
polygons and this time scale them up on the Z
room for the next few steps.
at the pole, which makes an unwanted pinch
axis to make a bulge. Also use Move Transform
on the geometry. To get rid of these problems,
to get the bulge back into place.
select every other edge radiating from the pole and delete them.
Select the border loop of the eye opening and extrude the selection inwards to make the eyelid
Select the inner area and add the outer
thickness. Scale down the last selection slightly
geometry to the selection, then press P on the
to make an easier angle transition between the
Now instead of 20 triangles you have 10 quads
keyboard to make a parent connection. The last
eyelid shelf and the rest of the geometry.
that will render much more smoothly.
few steps are illustrated in Fig.01.
Next extrude the opening edges once more and scale outwards to make geometry that
Select those ten faces and grow the selection
Let’s continue by shaping the eyelids and area
will penetrate the eyeball and prevent us from
twice, use the Scale Transform tool to scale
around the eye. When we have the eyeball in
having any gaps between the head and the
down selections on the Z axis to make it slightly
place we need to reposition the geometry of the
eyeball.
concave. Move it back into place on the Z axis.
eye opening to conform to a spherical eye. Don’t
Add one more edge loop at the edge of the iris
expect to make it a perfect fit at this point since
Select and delete three faces at the inner corner
to straighten the edge.
there is more geometry to be added. Also, if
of the eyelid to make a place for the tear duct.
necessary, rescale the eyeball. It is a good habit
Bridge the open edges left over from the
To make the outer eye geometry, duplicate the
to arrange objects in separate display layers so
deletion and, using the Cut tool, cut in a shape
one you just created and scale it up just enough
you can easily hide and unhide any object at
as demonstrated in Fig.02.
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Chapter 02
Chapter 02 – Modeling the Features Character Production Now it’s a good time to add some more geometry to both rings and the loop surrounding the eye. Let’s start with cutting the rows radiating from the eye. To add a complete edge loop all the way, use the Insert Edge Loop tool. Newly created edges are marked in Fig.03. New edges are added linearly and need to be repositioned to smooth out the surface. To evade tedious vertex pulling and pushing, the best strategy would be to use the Sculpt Geometry tool. Use the Pull brush with Auto Smooth checked and the Smooth Strength set to 3. Set the intensity down and swipe gently over a new geometry. Now we should add a few loops circling the eye. Added loops are also illustrated in Fig.03. Repeat the same geometry sculpting process to smooth this area. Add more loops using the same technique to even out the overall shape out most of the facial features and fix the
Once we attach the ear to the head model we
proportions. Patience is your best route when
will become completely ready for final tweaking
Now things are getting more complicated and
it comes to this task and it can often take a fair
and proportioning. So let’s continue with the ear.
at this point you should have more than enough
amount of time to reach proportions that you’re
geometry to shape out all the major features of
satisfied with. Don’t forget that you can always
You can hide all objects at this time and leave
the face.
come back to the proportioning at any time, so
only the image planes visible. You can use the
it’s not a big deal if you don’t get it right the first
same image plane as you used for the head, or
time.
if you like you can make a new one with an ear
geometry density.
At this point I am using the Move tool with Soft
image of your own choice.
Selection and the Sculpt Geometry tool to Later in the process, if you think your mesh is too dense, feel free to optimize it as you
Modeling the ear is all about laying out correct
like, but first make sure every edge is serving
topology that will follow the major ear shapes.
its purpose, and contributes to the form and
The ear is a complex shape and to better
construction of the mesh.
understand the shape I strongly recommend you learn the Latin names of the ear features.
Fig.04 illustrates my result on the same mesh after pulling and pushing the geometry, and
Use the Create Polygon tool from the Mesh
some mesh sculpting inside Maya.
menu to create a single quad polygon, place it at the start of the ear lobe and extrude it all
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Before we continue with more detailing it’s
along the helix, as illustrated in Fig.05. Repeat
important to have all of the head features
the same process for the inner part, which is
complete.
called the antihelix. Do your best to match the
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Chapter 02
Character Production Chapter 02 – Modeling the Features number of polygons to the helix and the edge
You will find that the two objects do not match
placement. Try not to add too many polygons at
in terms of topology and edge placement, and
the beginning; keep it as simple as possible.
you might reduce some of the edges from the back of the head or add some to the ear before
Select all the polygons and extrude them
merging an ear to the head. Start from the part
twice; on the second time extrude with a
facing towards the front by selecting close-
slight offset. Now delete the polygons marked
matching edges and bridging between them.
with red arrows from both shapes and all the
This way all non-matching edges will stay at the
polygons from the back, and then bridge the
back of the ear, which is unlikely to be visible.
corresponding edges. Also add one more edge
Do your best to keep the polygons four-sided.
loop to slice the inner shape. For the last few steps, check Fig.05.
After some tweaking, I’ve got the result illustrated in Fig.08.
Select the loop in the ear hole and extrude it a few times to shape that area. Using the same
After successfully attaching the ear to the head
technique, extrude the outer edge border to
let’s move on to finalizing the rest of the mesh.
shape the back of the ear.
Grab the edge loop at the border of the mouth, opening and extrude it as many times as
Now use the same strategy as we did for the
necessary to create a mouth bag. At this point
face, reshape the existing geometry by using
duplicate the eye mesh to the other side of
Soft Selection with the Move tool and Sculpt
the head and, if you like, make a few more
Geometry tools (Fig.06 – 07).
extrusions to the base of the neck. You will most certainly find more edge loops than you need so
Now unhide the head geometry, select the
feel free to optimize the mesh as you like. You
edge loop on the opening and extrude it twice
can use the mesh I provided with this tutorial to
to prepare the head for connecting with the ear.
compare your result with mine. Lighter geometry
Select Average Vertices from the Mesh menu to
will be much easier to unwrap and prepare for
smooth out the newly created shape. Place the
texturing, which is going to be our next step.
Until the next tutorial, happy verts and polys!
with Move Transform to reshape the opening on
When you have all your geometry in place, once
Anto Juricic
the head to fit the ear better. Combine the two
again use the Sculpt Geometry tool and Soft
Web: http://anto-toni.cgsociety.org/gallery/
objects into one mesh.
Selection to evaluate the shape and proportions.
Email:
[email protected]
ear in position and start to use Soft Selection
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Chapter 02
03 unwrapping
Character Production Chapter 03 – Unwrapping Chapter 03 – Unwrapping Software used: Maya In the last two tutorials we have covered the creation of a head model, using some simple modeling techniques in Maya. So the next step is to prepare the model for texturing. The most common way is UV mapping, so before we start I will try to describe what UV mapping is. UV mapping or unwrapping is a way of representing a model in 2D space, so it can be used as coordinates that will correspond to the 3D version of the model. In other words it’s a model unfolded and
There are a few rules that need to be followed
seams will show as discontinued texture edges,
flattened onto 2D space. The simplest way to
during this process. To unfold any model, we
so the best approach is a good balance of both.
understand this concept is to imagine a simple
have to make cuts, or rather seams, in order to
paper box you want to unfold and flatten onto
produce less distortion on the flattened model.
It’s also important to say that UV space is 1:1
a desktop (Fig.01). The same concept can be
More seams can often lead to less distortion,
square ratio and in order to maximize texture
applied to geometry of almost any complexity.
but the downside to that approach is that those
space, it’s important to keep UV chunks or islands packed tightly and fitted in that range. Standard UV space ranges from 0-1 in a U direction and 0-1 in a V direction, and it’s often referred to as 0-1 space (Fig.02). Every UV piece has to have its own space; no overlapping is allowed, except two or more pieces that are identical and destined to use same texture. In that space, U refers to horizontal coordinates and V refers to vertical coordinates. In the same way 3D is described by X, Y and Z. With that being said, let’s move on to unwrapping the head we previously modeled. The fact that we have built a model symmetrically will pay off through every step of creation, especially the process of laying out UVs. Therefore we don’t need a symmetrical side of the head, and the first step is to delete it. Once we have completed the UVs for one half of the head, we will mirror it over to the other side.
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Chapter 03
Chapter 03 – Unwrapping Character Production Along with geometry, UVs will be copied too and all that’s left is to mirror the UVs and to stitch the two UV shells together. The second part of the plan is to separate some parts in UV space, like the ears and the mouth bag and unfold them separately. Keep in mind that models in UV space can be in as many pieces as necessary. Let’s start with the ear. Select the polygons of the ear (Fig.03). The selected polygons are mostly facing planar to the side view and we will use planar projection as a starting point for this part. Go to the Create UVs menu and select Planar mapping to make an initial projection. To preview how your texture will be applied to these coordinates, let’s apply a checker texture to this part. Make a simple blinn material and connect checker texture to color. Also, in a 2D placement node, make it repeat five times. You can select unwrapped faces directly from the UV Editor and apply the material to the selection. As you can see, the squares on the checker are a bit stretched because initial planar projection has made the projection plane perfectly square.
To make the cut, go to the Polygons menu in
You can also move vertices in UV space
To fix this, select UVs from the UV Editor and
the UV Editor and choose the Cut UV Edges
one by one and help those two algorithms to
rescale it by simultaneously watching over a
option. The ear UVs are now separated into two
better understand what you are up to. After
texture in a 3D view, until you make the checker
shells and to move the ear canal out of the way,
unwrapping that part, rescale the shell to
texture on the ear almost perfectly square.
select one polygon from that shell and press
approximately the same texture space as the
Select Shell, then Convert Selection to UVs.
ear shell. In order to do so correctly, use 3D
Planar projection has done a pretty good job,
Now you can move the separated piece to the
View to match the checker size on both shells.
except for a few areas that are overlapping or
side (Fig.04).
facing away from the projection, so the texture is stretched. So let’s deal with those issues.
Now let’s concentrate on the ear, which is the With the ear canal shell selected, go to the
much more complicated part. In order to use the
Tools menu and then select the Smooth UV
Unfold and Relax technique correctly, we need
First let’s detach the ear canal and move it out
tool. From there you will be presented with two
to make some unfolding by simply moving some
of the way. In the UV Editor, select one edge
on-screen menus, one called Unfold and the
vertices into the UV Editor. So let’s start with
inside the ear canal and from the Select menu
other called Relax. Both of these are smoothing
that parts that are most obviously overlapping,
press Convert Selection to UV Edge Loop. From
options. My strategy is to apply Unfold, then
such as the outer edge of the shell. To select
now on the Select menu will be used frequently,
Relax, in small increments until I get rid of all the
the shell border, select one of the outer vertices
so detach it to make it a floating menu.
overlapping.
and press Select Shell Border.
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Chapter 03
Character Production Chapter 03 – Unwrapping Deselect the inner border, since we will concentrate on the outer edges of the shell first. To move selected points out of the way, we will use the UV Smudge tool, which is essentially a move brush with a nice falloff. Once you move these points to their own UV space, grow the selection once (Shift >) and repeat the same process again. Now let’s deal with the rest of the overlapping vertices by selecting them in small groups and relaxing. Make sure to constantly monitor the behavior of the checker projection in 3D view, to prevent any major texture distortions (Fig.05). Since the ear is complicated in both topology and shape, making perfect distortion free coordinates is close to impossible and texture stretching is tolerable on this part, since most
Apply planar projection also on this part as a
part of the model. To easily select the remaining
of its look in final rendering will come from its
starting point and apply a checker material also.
part, go to the UV Editor and select all the
shape and sub surface scattering shading.
Select UV Shell and apply the Unfold option all
unwrapped pieces, then go to Edit and choose
the way to the maximum. Use the UV Smudge
Invert Selection. With this area selected, go to
Once unwrapped, select both parts and move
tool to deal with any overlapping remaining
the Create UVs menu and select Cylindrical
them out of the way to make room for the
(Fig.06).
Mapping.
mouth’s interior and make sure that no polygons
Repeat the same process for the geometry
Since the shape of the head closely resembles
are selected that are visible from the outside.
inside the nose and move the unwrapped parts
a cylindrical shape, this is the best starting
That way we will prevent any visible seams.
out of the way. Now we are left with the main
projection we can get.
next piece. Now select all the polygons of the
Here comes a tricky part. Because we have deleted half of the head it’s no longer fully cylindrical, but half of it. This issue can be easily fixed by rotating and moving projection in 3D view by using a projection gizmo (Fig.07). Here is where the checker texture will be most valuable because we will constantly refer to it in a 3D view, while correcting distortion and overlapping in the UV Editor. Apply the checker texture to the whole model and resize the checker size by setting up more repetitions in a 2D texture placement node. Between 30 and 50 repetitions would be a good number of repetitions. Resize all the other unwrapped parts to roughly match the checker size with the head.
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Chapter 03
Chapter 03 – Unwrapping Character Production If you have done everything right by now your
time on it. Just select the top vertices and apply
checker projection should look like this (Fig.08).
Unfold smoothing.
As you can see there is some obvious stretching of texture in some places, so let’s deal with
The next problematic area is the mouth, where
those major issues first.
we have some overlapping. The best approach to this area is to move the points one by one,
Stretching in general occurs at places where
since there are few of them.
the size of the polygons in the UV Editor doesn’t match the size of the same polygons in 3D view.
Here is what I came up with after applying the
Our job is to make those differences as invisible
last few steps (Fig.09).
and as minor as possible. Using a similar approach, relax the areas on the Let’s correct the most obvious part at the
nose and eyes too. Detach the inner part of the
neck. Use the UV Smudge tool to space out
eyelid, as it’s not going to be visible and it will be
overlapping vertices as much as possible, then
easier to unwrap the eye without that part. Try to
select points in small groups of up to 10, and
maintain the shape of the eye in the UV Editor;
apply Unfold and Relax smoothing alternately.
it will be much easier to draw in 2D when you
Repeat the process for all of the neck area until
have them similarly shaped in both 2D and 3D.
you remove most of the distortion. After that select all points in the neck area, except ones at
After completing UVs for half of the head, it’s
the border, and repeat unwrapping and relaxing.
time to mirror all this work to the other side.
Go to the Mesh menu and select options for
Similar to the neck area, the top of the head
Before mirroring, align all the points at the
mirroring the geometry. Make sure that the
will also have significant distortion, but since it’s
middle of the head in the UV Editor, so they are
Merge with the Original option is unchecked and
not going to be visible at all, don’t spend much
aligned vertically.
Apply.
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Chapter 03
Character Production Chapter 03 – Unwrapping Select the vertices at the middle of the head and go to the Edit Mesh menu. From there select the Merge Vertices option and set Threshold to 0.0010 and hit Apply. Now you have the whole head unwrapped and both of the sides are using the same UV space, which means that the texture applied to the one side will also be applied on the other side, but it will be mirrored. That can be good in some situations, like in game models, but for this purpose we will make both of the sides use their unique UV space (Fig.10). Using a 3D view, select one polygon from the mirrored side and in the UV Editor go to Select Shell. With the mirrored shell selected, choose
Move and Saw UV Edges to stitch the two
The last step is to arrange all the shells to fit in
Flip from the Polygons menu in the UV Editor
parts together (Fig.11). Also make sure to flip
0-1 space nice and tightly.
and finally, from the Select menu, use Convert
the shells for the ears, mouth interior and rest
Selection To UVs. Now you have selected only
of the pieces. Stitching both sides together will
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and I’ll see you
UVs for the mirrored side and you can move that
produce some stretching at the line where both
next time.
shell left to match the other side.
shells for the head are welded.
Select edges at the center of the head in the
Before packing all the parts into 0-1 space,
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UV Editor, and from the Polygons menu use
invest some more time in relaxing those areas.
Email:
[email protected]
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page 19
Anto Juricic
Chapter 03
04 texturing and shaders
Character Production Chapter 04 – Texturing and Shaders Chapter 04 – Texturing and Shaders
Make a new ZBrush document with a size of
wrinkles and folds. Now would be a good time to
1024 x 1024.
study the references you gathered earlier.
In ZBrush 3D meshes you will find a simple
Loading images in Spotlight is the easiest way
In the last tutorial we made all the necessary
polygonal plain. Drop it on to the canvas and
to use references side by side with the model.
preparations for texturing, by unwrapping the
press Make Polymesh 3D, then subdivide the
All you need to do is load the image using the
model so that we have clean and readable UV
plane six or seven times to ensure they’ll be
Texture menu and press Add To Spotlight.
coordinates. That way we can be sure all the
enough mesh density to receive pore details.
Spotlight is very easy to use and all the options
Software used: Maya, ZBrush
details we draw in to texture will wrap around the model properly.
will be self-explanatory. Lastly, go to the brush From the Brush palette choose Standard brush.
settings and under the Samples tab, turn off
Change the stroke to spray, and pick alpha 47.
Spotlight Projection.
conduct a good search for reference images.
Frame the model to fill in the canvas. You can
Now it’s time to load the object file exported
You can start with the well-known www.3d.sk
frame in any spot on the plane or the entire
from Maya. Go to the Tools menu and import it,
reference site or just browse Google for some
plane, it’s up to you. Press Alt and swipe the
then drop it onto the canvas and press T.
faces that you like. Sites like www.facity.com
whole visible area of the plane with this brush to
can provide you with hundreds of useful face
make it look really noisy (Fig.01).
The best way to start any texturing project is to
images from all around the world. To use these
In order to start adding details, we have to subdivide the model a few times to get a denser
references easily, compose a collage of your
Now go to the ZBrush Lightbox menu and from
mesh. The dividing process tends to smooth
favorite images in one file.
the brushes folder, scroll right to the Smooth
the mesh significantly and to prevent losing any
brushes where you will find the Smooth Peaks
mesh volume you must store a morph target
There are many ways to achieve believable
brush. Use the Smooth Peaks brush and swipe
before adding divisions. After achieving the
surface details, but the most intuitive way for
all over the noisy area once again. The surface
wanted level of divisions, press Switch in the
me is by sculpting surface details in ZBrush.
that you achieve this way should look a lot like
morph target tab to regain the original volume.
Although we have finished modeling, shaping
orange peel or cheek skin.
and even UV mapping, it’s never too late to
The next task is to emphasize the shapes you
review your model once again, so feel free to do
In the Alpha menu, choose Grab Doc and save
already modeled in the mesh and add new
so if you think it needs any improvements.
the captured alpha as a PSD file. The saved
shapes like skin fold and wrinkles. I like to use
alpha image stores depth information and once
the ClayBuildup brush with alpha 48, and for
I could share with you some standard ZBrush
loaded to the Standard brush with a rectangular
fine wrinkles I use the same brush with the
brushes I use on a daily basis, but let’s see how
stroke, it will be valuable in detailing the skin.
LazyMouse option.
few steps I will describe how you can make a
Before applying all these high frequency details,
The best advice I can give you at this stage
realistic skin pore brush, so let’s jump to ZBrush.
let’s concentrate on some larger forms, like
is to be patient and don’t rush to the highest
you can make one all by yourself. In the next
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Chapter 04
Chapter 04 – Texturing and Shaders Character Production
subdivision level, as long as your current level has enough resolution to describe your strokes. Also keep your eyes on the references. You don’t have to invent new skin folds or wrinkle patterns – nature has done it for you. All you have to do is to copy what you see. Observation is the key. Fig.02 illustrates my result after half an hour of doodling with the ClayBuildup brush on the third subdivision. As you can see there are not any major changes to the volume of the model and all added details are a thin layer on the surface. The wrinkles you add at this stage will guide you through the rest of the process, so step up to the next subdivision and continue defining those details. Don’t neglect any part of your model and make sure all your details are at the same stage of development on all areas of the model. You should have enough resolution at this time to start cutting in wrinkles and the best brush for that task is the Dam_Standard brush, an brush
step up one division. The subdividing mesh will
advice I can give you is to stay cool and don’t
that pushes and pinches geometry at the same
most certainly wash out some of the lines, so
rush for the multimillion polygon count too soon.
time. Fig.03 illustrates detail cuts achieved with
you will have to go over all the mesh and define
the Dam_Standard brush.
those details once again, by using the same
Now it’s time to use that skin pores alpha we
techniques as before.
prepared at the beginning of this tutorial and
All of these details so far are on the fourth
set up a pore brush. Select the Standard brush
subdivision and since I feel like the mesh
As you can see by now, sculpting details is all
from the Brush palette and change the Stroke
resolution does not support any finer details, I
about layering through subdivision and the best
to DragRect. Go to the Alpha palette and import
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Chapter 04
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Character Production Chapter 04 – Texturing and Shaders the earlier prepared alpha. In the Alpha Modify menu change RF (Radial Fade) from 0 to 15 and the pore brush is ready. As a last step, change the Smooth brush to Smooth Peaks. You can start adding pores at the fifth subdivision level, with subtle Z Intensity (about 10) and cover your entire model. Dragging the pore brush on the surface will give you direct control over the location and size of pores. You can also use it with Alt pressed to achieve the opposite effect. If you feel like you’ve overdone it on some areas, use the Smooth Peaks brush. Fig.04 shows my result on the fifth subdivision. For the final detail, divide the geometry once more to get a final, sixth level of subdivision with approx 3-4 million polygons. You can go for an even higher poly count if you have enough RAM, but since the final goal is to project all these details on 4096 x 4096 Displacement and Normal map textures, I am sure those extra add more variety by adding individual pores
you can come back, adjust the layer opacity
in some places. It’s a good idea to keep these
and generate a new Displacement or Normal
Proceed with adding skin pores on level six,
details on a layer in ZBrush, so if you at any
map. Keep in mind that once rendered with the
using same technique as before. You can even
point feel like your surface is looking too rough,
subsurface scattering shader, most of the high
details will not show up on a 4K texture.
frequency details will get washed out, so don’t be afraid to make those details a bit stronger than you perceive them, by looking at some photos of faces. Fig.05 illustrates the final detail level on the sixth subdivision. Finally it’s time to transfer all of this hard work into a Displacement and Normal map. We will use both maps as a guide for texture painting in Photoshop and we will also extract some details out of both maps and use them in a mixture with other color layers. To generate a Displacement map, first you have to go to the first subdivision level. The next step is to choose the image size under the UV Map tab – the 4096 preset should be enough for this tutorial.
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Chapter 04
Chapter 04 – Texturing and Shaders Character Production
Go to the Displacement map tab and apply
menu > Other > High Pass. Set the High Pass
menu and under Brush Tip Shape, choose a
the following settings: Adaptive, Smooth UV,
radius to 10 pixels.
5 pixels dot and adjust Spacing to 50%. Next check the Shape Dynamics and set the following
and DPSubPix 2. Press Create Displacement and once it’s created press Clone Disp and
Change the blending mode for the displacement
parameters: Size Jitter to 100%, Minimum
save it from the Alpha menu as a TIF file. The
layer to Linear Light. Now we have darkened
Diameter to 10%, Angle and Roundness Jitter to
generated map will be vertically flipped and you
cavities and have also laid down the road map
100% and Minimum Roundness to 50%.
can flip it right away from the Alpha menu or in
for the rest of the texture. To make this layer
Photoshop.
blend more naturally with the skin, use Curves
Now move to the Scatter options and set Scatter
adjustment and change the parameters on the
to 1000%, Count to 2 and Count Jitter to 50%.
red channel only, as illustrated in Fig.06.
Once again it’s time to pull out some of those
Go to the Normal map tab and create normals
gathered references and start spraying some
with the following settings: Tangent, Adaptive, Smooth UV and SNormals. Export the Normal
Let’s add some fine details we are going to
map in a similar way as the Displacement.
extract from the Normal map. Open the Normal
variation over the skin.
map as a separate file, go to Channels and
I like to start with the red color and spray it all
Generating maps with these settings can take
select the green channel only. Press Ctrl + A to
over the place, and later concentrate one more
some time to render, so it can be a great time to
select all the pixels from that channel and copy
pass on the areas like the cheeks and nose.
take a break.
them. Now go to the texture file and paste to a
Repeat the same process with a white color
new layer. Let’s repeat the same process with
on a separate layer. After adding some white
Before you export the geometry too, you can
the High Pass, but this time set the radius to 2
pigmentation, open a new layer and do the
use the Move brush to break up the symmetry
pixels.
same with a blue color, but more subtle and on localized areas like under the eye area, nose
or make some facial expressions. Overlay this layer in Soft Light blending mode.
and cheeks.
Now let’s move to Photoshop to draw a Color
This will be a base for a color texture, so before
map. Open a new document, with a size of 4096
moving on to other layers, group these layers
After you finish all these color variations you can
x 4096 pixels. I usually start with a big chunk of
together.
flatten the noise layers and apply a Gaussian
skin taken from a photographic reference. On
Here is a quick setup method for making a
Blur with 0,3 px radius to make it look more
top of that, add the Displacement map. With
spray color brush for adding skin variation and
softened. See Fig.07 for a small patch of the
the displacement layer selected go to the Filter
blemishes. Press F5 to get to the Brush Setup
skin texture achieved this way.
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Chapter 04
Character Production Chapter 04 – Texturing and Shaders
At this point it’s a good idea to check the texture on the model, so go to Maya, load the model and assign a Blinn material to it. Load the Blinn material with the PSD color texture and Normal map to have a better representation of your texture in Maya’s viewport. Fig.08 shows how your model and texture should look in the Maya viewport. Keep on coloring the texture with more color variations, skin blemishes and spots. Once you are satisfied with the result, add a color balance
Go to your Shading Group Attributes of the
model and drop the same displacement in the
on top so you can control the overall skin tone.
V-Ray material applied to the model and
Displacement Mat. slot of this material. V-Ray
connect the displacement node to Displacement
Fast SSS2 is really easy to set up and it has
Now we have all the necessary assets for
Mat. Load the Displacement map you earlier
already prepared presets for a few different
setting up realistic skin shading in Maya using
exported from ZBrush. In the File attributes of
subsurface models like skin, milk, marble and
the V-Ray render and its powerful SS2 shader.
the loaded map, set Filter Type to Off to avoid
so on. For our purpose the skin preset will work
any image processing and loss of details. Now
perfectly and the first thing you should do is set
First we have to make some lighting, properly
go to the Color Balance, set the Alpha Offset to
the Prepass rate to 1 and load the Color map to
set up the Displacement map, make a new
-0, 5 and check Alpha is Luminance.
Sub-surface Color.
ZBrush and apply a V-Ray material. Let’s set up
Now you can make a test render. The reason I
You can also plug in a grayscale map to control
a three-point lighting scheme by adding three
am doing this with a V-Ray material instead of a
the specular reflection and glossiness. You
V-Ray lights: one key, one fill and one back
SS2 material is because subsurface scattering
can also use the V-Ray Texture Input Gamma
light. Use the V-Ray rectangular light and place
tends to soften details, so it would be hard to
attribute. For an in-depth look at the material
them as shown in Fig.09. To see an almost
make the right decision on the displacement
parameters, refer to Fig.11.
instant effect of your lighting, use the V-Ray RT
strength. If you feel like you should have a
engine.
stronger displacement, amp the Alpha Gain
That would be all for this tutorial and I hope you
number and make sure that Alpha Offset is
have enjoyed it.
Maya scene, load a base model exported from
To set up a displacement for the mesh, select
always negative half of that number. See Fig.10
the object, go to the Attribute Editor and from
for my result after applying displacement.
Web: http://anto-toni.cgsociety.org/gallery/
the V-Ray menu use the Subdivision option. The first thing you will notice if you make a render at
Now, when we have a proper displacement
this time is that the model renders smoothly.
setup, let’s apply the Fast SSS2 shader to the
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Anto Juricic
page 25
Email:
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Chapter 04
05 hair and clothing
Character Production Chapter 05 – Hair and Clothing Chapter 05 – Hair and Clothing Software used: Maya, ZBrush In this fifth tutorial, we will look at some poly modeling techniques, very similar to ones we have used to block out the basic head shape, but this time we’ll model some cloth for our character. let’s start with a simple polygonal cube, roughly
to reshape the model until it looks similar to
After that, to finally complete all the assets for
shaped to the volume of the character’s torso,
what is shown in Fig.02.
this work, we’ll add some hairs to the character’s
as illustrated in Fig.01.
head using a few different techniques such as Paint Effects and Maya Fur.
If you like to use a more intuitive way for Split each face by adding a vertical and
reshaping, I strongly recommend that you
horizontal edge loop to one of the faces, and
download the Diamant Modeling plugin by the
Let’s start with blocking out a basic shape for
delete the top and bottom faces. Select the
very talented Richard Scott Diamant. Besides a
the shirt.
open edge loop on top and extrude to form a
handful of amazing features, you will find a grab
loop of faces around the neck. With this basic
brush similar to one you can use in Mudbox.
As opposed to the edge extrusion method we
shape blocked out it’s time to add some more
used on the head, now we’ll use box modeling.
geometry. Go to the Mesh menu and choose the
Delete six faces next to the shoulder area to
Instead of gradually building up a volume box,
Smooth option to divide the geometry once and
prepare some room for adding a sleeve. Add
modeling usually starts with the volume. So
smooth the shape. After that use Soft Selection
one more edge loop between the shoulder and collar area. Select the sleeve’s opening loops and make one extrusion. Use the Average Vertices function from the Mesh menu to smooth the newly created geometry. Again, use Soft Select transform to reshape the geometry. At this point you can duplicate this part of the geometry and save it as a starting point mesh for the vest, which we’ll concentrate on after the shirt. The last few steps are illustrated in a Fig.03.
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Chapter 05
Chapter 05 – Hair and Clothing Character Production Add a loop around the collar and the middle of the shirt, as illustrated in Fig.04, and extrude the sleeve from the opening that we prepared for it earlier. Mirror the geometry to the other side and weld the vertices on the back of the shirt. Use the Soft Selection transform to overlap one side of the shirt over the other. Next select all the faces and use the Extrude function to add a thickness to the shirt. Then delete all the inside faces that are not going to be visible. Now let’s prepare the geometry for the collar. Select the loops on the faces surrounding the neck area and duplicate the faces. See Fig.04 for a step-by-step illustration. Select the edge loop from the upper side of the new geometry and extrude once out on the X and Z axis. Reposition the extruded edges to roughly shape out the collar shape. Add a couple more edge loops to even out the geometry distribution and reshape the geometry to the final collar shape. When we have a basic shirt shape modeled, it is time to add some detail to the cloth seams. Before going into detailing, add edge loops to the collar and shirt edges to strengthen the edges, then add appropriate loops in the shoulders to add seams, as shown in Fig.05. Now when we have got all the geometry in place it’s pretty easy to fine-tune the overall shape and add more details. After unwrapping this model I have separated the sleeves from the shirt to get a more pronounced seam. To make the shirt look more natural, add a few more divisions to the mesh with the Smooth function from the Mesh menu, and use Maya’s sculpting tools to add a few wrinkles. You can see my final shirt in Fig.06. To start with the vest, let’s get back to the basic shirt model and reshape it to roughly the shape
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Chapter 05
Character Production Chapter 05 – Hair and Clothing
of the vest with the V opening. Note the marked polygons in Fig.07, which are important for adding seams to the vest. If you have successfully finished the shirt part you won’t have any trouble with the vest, because it’s pretty much the same in terms of modeling techniques. After blocking out a basic shape, add thickness to the geometry and delete all the unnecessary faces. Add edge loops at the seams and open areas to sharpen up the details. Don’t forget to unwrap the model before moving on to the sculpting, where you will add some looseness to the model to make it look more natural, as I’ve done in Fig.08. Finally, we reach the last piece of the clothes – the cap. This part will be straightforward because of its very simple shape. To start with, make a simple box and apply the Smooth function to add two more subdivisions. With this method you will get a poly sphere and you need to delete the bottom half. After that place the newly created cap shape on the model’s head and reshape it to fit properly. These few steps are illustrated in Fig.09. After adding a few loops and reshaping to a final shape, I’ve come up with the result shown in Fig.10.
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Chapter 05
Chapter 05 – Hair and Clothing Character Production In the second part of this tutorial, we will concentrate on making facial hair using several different techniques available in Maya and V-Ray. Let’s start with Paint Effects, which we’ll use to make the brows and hair. Paint Effects is a very powerful system that will enable us, in this case, to grow geometry instances on top of the polygonal surface and much more. We will start with the brows. You can choose Paint Effects either from the Shelf menu or from the Rendering sub-menu > Paint Effects. Select your head mesh and from the Paint Effects menu, choose Make Paintable. Now all strokes that we apply to the mesh will be snapped on the surface. Choose Get Brush from the Paint Effects menu, and from the Hairs folder choose EyeBrowBlack preset. This preset will serve as a good starting point, so make a stroke in the shape of the brow on the surface to generate the eyebrow. As you can see from this first stroke, the brow doesn’t look like something that would fit the size and type of our character so let’s do some tuning. Go to the attributes of the created stroke called eyeBrowBlack1 and let’s start with the Scale attribute. I’ve found that a scale of 4, 5 works fine for me as a starting point. Now move down to the Tubes menu and under the Creation options adjust Tubes Per Step to control the number of hairs generated on the stroke. I have set mine to 0, 7, which is quite a small number of hairs, but it will get much denser and more natural once I apply multiple strokes. The next parameter is Segments, which controls the number of segments along each hair. The more segments you have, the more sensitive the hair will get to displacement and deformations, which we’ll address later. The next one is the hair length. Default values are looking fine to me in this case, but you can play with those to get any desired results. This is the same with the Tube Width 1 and 2, which stands for the root and the tip width. Values of
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Chapter 05
Character Production Chapter 05 – Hair and Clothing 0.004 and 0.003 work fine for me. Now let’s play
each stroke you make. You can use the same
address is the Displacement menu, where I’ll
with some displacement.
brush to make some hairs in the nostrils and ear
play with some noise and wiggle options. Note
hole. Every stroke has its own material and to
that since the hair is now much longer, you will
There are quite a few options there, but I would
use V-Ray materials you have to convert those
also need to increase the number of segments.
like to keep it as simple as possible so I will
strokes to polygons from the Modify > Convert
only use the bend parameter for the sake of
menu. Now you can apply different V-Ray
Once you are satisfied with your settings, don’t
this tutorial. Feel free to experiment and maybe
materials to each stroke. Later on we will deal
forget to save out the preset. You’re now ready
you’ll get more interesting results.
with the shading of hairs. You can see my result
to lay down a couple of strokes to populate the
in Fig.11.
hair area, as I did in Fig.12. You can use the
I have set Bend to - 0.500 and Bend Bias to
same approach to generate hairs for the beard.
-0.300. It would be a good idea to save this
We will use the same technique for the hair, but
preset at this time, so go to Presets in the
this time we will use a brow preset as a starting
That would be all for this tutorial, I hope you
Attribute Editor and save the brush preset. To
point. First change the brush with the parameter
found it useful and enjoyed it. In the next and
apply this setting to every stroke you are going
to a higher value, because it will be much easier
final tutorial we will polish the whole scene and
to make, choose Get Setting from Selected
to generate hair with the wide stroke. I set my
try some different lighting techniques.
Stroke from the Paint Effects menu.
value to 0.500. After that move down to the Creation menu and adjust the hair length. I am
Now you are ready to make some brows, you
going for a more bushy hair style, so I’ll set mine
can delete that starting point stroke and apply
to 1 for the max and 0.500 for the min length.
Anto Juricic
several new ones to make it look really natural.
I’ll also add a few more Tubes per step; a value
Web: http://anto-toni.cgsociety.org/gallery/
You can also adjust all settings individually to
of 5.000 works fine for me. The last thing I’ll
Email:
[email protected]
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Chapter 05
06 rendering and lighting
Character Production Chapter 06 – Rendering and Lighting Chapter 06 – Rendering and Lighting Software used: Maya, ZBrush
materials. Once I am satisfied with the result,
strongly encourage you to try a few other HDRis
I will make it more interesting with different
as well.
materials and textures. At the top of the light’s attributes you will find a
In this sixth and final chapter of the series, we
Load all the assets you made so far for this
small box named Sample, which will show you
will put together everything we’ve done so far
scene and assign a new V-Ray material to
the approximation of the light’s color intensity
in a nice and realistic render. Unfortunately we
all objects. Leave the material on its default
and you can use it for setting up the initial
didn’t have room to cover every single step in
settings and name it something like “test
intensity for this light.
the process, but the things I chose to leave
material”. This would be a great opportunity for
out are more or less self-explanatory, like the
you to use the V-Ray RT render, which will give
Once you load such an image into the dome
texturing of the clothes and modeling eyelashes.
you almost instant feedback.
light, Maya will automatically create an image placement node, where you can make some
Once you explore the downloadable content from this tutorial any missing parts will fit in to
For the easiest setup and most realistic result
additional settings, such as rotating a light or
place. So without further a do, let’s move on to
I’ve decided to use IBL (image based lighting).
choosing a type of mapping.
the assembling of the final scene.
V-Ray can utilize IBL in a couple of different ways, but the easiest to set up is a dome light,
A Rotation setting of 126.00 units and Intensity
Instead of recreating the image you can see at
which is an infinite big light that surrounds
of 0.800 works fine for me and you can see my
the beginning of every tutorial, this time I will use
everything in your scene. The default dome light
first render with this setup in Fig.01.
the actual scene to describe the rendering and
is white in color, which is a great way for adding
lighting process.
ambient light to your renders. Instead of a clean
To gain more control of your lighting, you can
white light we will color the light with a HDR
experiment further with the light probe dynamic
The good thing is that the content that you
image. The effect of using light in this way will
range by shifting settings like Alpha Offset and
can download with this tutorial will give you an
result in very realistic environment lighting.
Alpha Gain. In Fig.01 an Alpha Offset of 0,500 gave me the best result. Image-based lighting
identical result to my final image. You can use it to follow this tutorial or as a scene preset for
From the Create menu choose Lights and
does not have to stand all by itself; you can
your own character. You will find some slight
create a V_Ray_Dome_light. Under the light
always add some additional lights to better
differences in the scene assets, but that will not
shape attributes scroll down to Texture menu
frame your character.
affect the course of this tutorial.
and upload a HDR image. For this example I’m using the “kitchen_probe” HDR image, which I
In Fig.02 you can see another example of the
Over years of work, I’ve found that the strategy
downloaded for free from www.pauldebevec.
image-based lighting; this time I’ve used an
that works best for me is to start with lighting a
com/Probes/. You will find there are many other
image probe called “campus probe”, which is an
gray-shaded model, because it’s much easier
examples of so-called light probes that also
image of an outdoor scene with a little bit of low
to read shape without all different colors and
work well with this or any other scene, and I
sunlight and a yellowish color tint on the side.
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Chapter 06
Chapter 06 – Rendering and Lighting Character Production As you can see you can get some really interesting results with image-based lighting and change complete scene lighting with one file. Since dome light emits from all sides around your model, it almost looks like the scene has been lit with global illumination techniques, adding a great sense of realism to the render. Another good way of lighting your scene is with another type of light, such as V-Ray rect. lights. For the next example I will construct a basic studio lighting setup, arranged with four V-Ray rectangular lights. I will have two key lights (one for each side of the face, placed on the left and right), one fill light in front to lighten up dark areas and a rim light for the back to give the character some outline for better framing. You can see the placement and colors of the lights illustrated in Fig.03. Just by tweaking the intensity you can get a few different and interesting results, as shown in Fig.04. Another good idea would be to parent all light to a locator placed at the center of the scene. By rotating a locator on a Y axis you will be able to rotate the whole light rig around the model. Now, when you have your favorite light setup blocked, it’s time to turn our attention to materials. Since we have already covered skin material shading in one of the previous chapters, let’s say a couple of words about shading the clothes. All of the cloth pieces have some sort of repeating pattern and naturally those patterns are placed from seam to seam. To achieve that kind of look with a small repeating pattern, it’s essential to model cloth with the topology following those seams. simple rules, it’s quite easy to do the surface
You can see how a few simple seamless
Another important step in the process is to make
details by repeating a weaving pattern across
patterns repeated across the whole vest work in
cuts in the UV shells along the seams. Once you
the whole mesh without actual additional texture
Fig.05. The same process can also be applied
have constructed the clothes following those
painting.
to the cap.
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Chapter 06
Character Production Chapter 06 – Rendering and Lighting
Further cloth realism is achieved with the
To set up the V-Ray fur, select the object you
addition of some surface hairs. To make this
wish to grow fur from and go to Create > V-Ray
process as simple as possible I will work with
and Add VrayFur to your selection. You will
Maya Fur, which comes with some presets that
instantly get feedback of the created fur in the
can be used as a starting point. After making
viewport and can quickly set up a desired look.
a few changes to the selected preset, I render
Note that V-Ray fur will inherit material from
hairs with the Maya software renderer on a
its base surface. If you want to have V-Ray
cloth model with a black surface shader. Maya
fur with different materials you can copy the
Fur renders extremely fast with the software
object, assign it to the other material and turn
render, and after less than three minutes I have
off the object’s visibility in the shape node
a fur pass to composite over a beautiful render
object display. Fig.07 illustrates the detailed cap
eyes. There are a couple of important things
(Fig.06).
surface with V-Ray fur.
worth mentioning when it comes to eye creation. An eye model can be constructed out of many
You can also experiment with V-Ray fur, which
Another important part of achieving a realistic
parts if you are going for an anatomically correct
is also great and very easy to set up.
CG model is the creation of the character’s
model, but the easiest way would be to use two models, one for the outer transparent layer with the cornea and another for the layer with the iris and sclera. These separated models are shown in Fig.08. The inner part should be shaded with subsurface scattering and the outer part with a fully transparent material with the index of the refraction set to 1.3 or more. After assembling everything together, the last thing to do is to set up a render resolution and sampling.
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Chapter 06
Chapter 06 – Rendering and Lighting Character Production
Note that more image resolution requires less
If you are rendering big resolution stills, like
Also using the same color correction
precise image sampling. V-Ray offers us three
3000 px or above, you can probably get away
adjustments for both the character and the
types of image sampling: Fixed, Adaptive
with default V-Ray settings, but I would definitely
background will help you to marry the two
Subdivision and Adaptive DMC. Image sampling
recommend using a DMC for those who are
elements together better.
could be a whole tutorial in itself, so let’s skip
looking for more details and have enough
the complicated stuff and cut to the basics.
rendering power.
I hope you have enjoyed these tutorials and that you will find them useful for your future realistic
I often use the Adaptive DMC method because
If you encounter a long rendering hang, make
it works best with the small details, like hairs or
sure to increase the Dynamic Memory limit to
skin pores, which are important for achieving
more than its default 500 MB.
portrait creations. Thanks for reading!
a realistic image. If you are using low samples you will have probably lost many fine details you
If you are looking for some more control over
sculpted in your model’s face, so you have to
your renderings, make sure to explore V-Ray’s
use fixed or low adaptive subdivision; only for
Render Elements, which will provide you with
testing or if you are rendering a big resolution.
the ability to render different passes like Diffuse, Reflections, SSS and so on.
If you are going for a 1080 px video render or similar resolutions I would definitely recommend
After you render all the necessary passes you
DMC with minimum 1 and maximum 6 samples.
still have some room for improvement in postprocessing. One of the most obvious additions
You can see a couple of frames captured from
in post-processing is a background and it’s
the turntable video in Fig.09 – 10.
very important to match the background with the lighting. If you have used an image to light
Threshold parameter also plays a big role in
your character, then you could use the same
image sampling and you will get more precision
image as the back plate to perfectly match the
and less noise with a lower threshold.
background with the lighting mood.
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Chapter 06
Anto Juricic Web: http://anto-toni.cgsociety.org/gallery/ Email:
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