Every
project starts from sketches. I do lots
of skeches before starting modeling -
it helps to visualize not only model itself,
but also problems which might arise during
modeling or animation process. But for
toonish character like that I use just
side view skech for modeling. So if you
have your sketch ready ( make background
light grey, it will be easyer to see in
workspace window) choose Panels >Ortograhic
> side view, then go to View > Camera
Attribute Editor and click on Environment.
There you will see a button - Create image
plane, click it and point to your sketch
image file.
Body
We
will start modeling from the body. Create
poly sphere with 20 subdivisions along
both axes. Then scale and rotate sphere,
so that it would fit the body like in
the Image1. Especialy important is rotation
angle - we will use polygon edges to extrude
feathers, so it's quite handy that polys
would be originaly oriented in the right
direction.
You
will have to triple some polygons to get
possibility to overlap some feather polygons,
as well as you will need to ad some edges
arround eyes and beak. Unfortunately mayas
built in triple poly function is somewhat
unrelyeble, so the best way is to do thet
manualy, using split polygon tool from
Edit polygons meniu.
Also you will need to create "trowsers"-part
of the body where legs will be attached.
Best way to do thet is to select 4 polys
at the bottom part of the sphere and extrude
them few times. Remember to set "Keep
Faces Together" in Tool Options in Polygon
meniu.
Now
the funny part - making feathers. It's
actualy very simple, if somewhat time
consuming - just select polygon edge and
Extrude polygon edge tool from Edit Polygons
meniu. Use tool manipulators to position
feathers the way you like. Dont forget
that pressing keyboard shortcut "g" repeats
last polygon operation, so you don't have
to navigate to meniu or use hotbox for
every feather. In some places I extruded
the same edge few times, making feathers
standing with the different engle to the
body, this way geting better coverage,
especialy arround eyes.
Don't
forget that you have to make feathers
just for one half of the body, when you
are happy with the side which you where
working on just cut away side without
feathers (change selection to faces, and
in front view rectangular select polys
you want to get rid off, when they are
highlighted make sure that selection is
correct) and then go to Plygons > Mirror
geometry, specify x axis for opperation,
and here you go - you have full body.
If you don't have Maya 3.0 you will have
to do mirroring manualy by choosing Dublicate
from Edit meniu, and seting scaleX to
-1. After that you will have to stich
sides together by using Merge Edge from
Edit Polygons meniu.
Beak
We
will use subdivision surfaces for beak.
It will be much easyer to create real
nice blend shape targets with subD, and
it gives much less trouble than NURBS.
But we will start modeling it with the
polygon tools. This is very simple technique,
and I realy use it often. Select Create
Polygon tool from Polygon meniu and draw
the polygon in the side view by placing
points on the beak outline in the sketch.
Don't put too much points, just enough
to roughly repeat shape - remeber, we
will use subD, and it will smooth beak
perfectly, but if you will create too
much points in initial shape, you will
finish with very dence mesh.
When
you are finished with drawing initioal
poly, you will have to extrude it 3 times,
every time slightly moving, rotating and
scaling extrusion. You might want to add
some edges and detail with split polygon
tool, just as Isaid don't overdo it. Also
try to think about different beak blend
shapes you will want to make for animation
and try to make sure that polygon edges
are aligned to the bends you have imagined.
It will make your life much easeer afterwards.
Last step to do is to delete initial polygon,
select the rest and By using Mirror
Now
it's a time to create subD out of it.
Select polys, and from Subdiv Surfaces
meniu select Create Subdiv with default
options. Now you have smooth beak. If
you dont like something you can adjust
easy by puling points, or while right
clicking on the model you will get options
meniu, where you can select polygon mode,
and work on your subD beak as on any other
polygon model.
Legs
& feet
For
the legs we are going to use NURBS. In
the side view create NURBS cylinder, then
scale it so it would be about right thickness,
and little bit longer then legs on your
sketch. We need that for middle toe, which
is the part of the same cylinder. Now
you will need to add some isoparms - you
will need few around the knee, another
few aground ankle to create nice bend
and form back toe. You can add isoparms
by selecting any existing isoparm (just
right click on your NURBS cylinder and
from popup menu select isoparm), while
isoparm is selected you can move it to
any location and when you are satisfied
with new location click on Edit Surfaces
> Insert Isoparm
When
you have enough isoparms in right locations,
you should change to CV selection mode
and pull, rotate and scale CV's to get
shape indicated by your sketch. Most complicated
part is back toe, but with some patience
you can achieve nice result. You will
find out that with extreme CV moving some
of the CV are getting hidden inside so
you should use X-ray mode which you can
find in Shading > Shade Options menu.
In some cases it might be easier to select
CV's aground the ankle, change menu to
Animation and from Deform menu create
deformation latice, with minimum spans
(3 in each direction would work well)
this way you will have fewer points to
pull.
Other
two toes are made from NURBS cylinders
too with some CV scaling and pulling.
Then they where intersected with foot
- Edit Surfaces > Intersect Surfaces
and trimmed. Make sure that history is
on before intersecting - this way if you
still do some slight changes to the toes
or foot the trim will adjust automatically.
Nails where modeled by using NURBS cone
primitive with some slight CV puling.
When you are finished with one leg with
all it's parts, create empty group fro
Edit meniu Call it Leg_Left or any other
way you prefer, open outliner window and
drag all the parts of the leg to this
group. Select Leg_Left in outliner and
by pressing "Insert" key on your keyboard
move pivot point of the leg to the very
top of it, where it enters the body. What's
left is to duplicate Leg group with scale
-1 in x direction, and rename it to Leg_Right.
