Table of Contents

Preface viii

About the DVD xi

CHAPTER 1: BEGINNING MODELING TECHNIQUES 1

CREATIVITY AND ANIMATION 1

MODELING SIMPLE OBJECTS WITH POLYGONS 2

THE BASIC MODELING TOOL SET 2

MODELING A HAMMER 4

MODELING AN EASY CHAIR 9

MODELING A SOFA 12

MODELING A BOOKSHELF 15

MODELING A CABINET ONWHEELS 17

MODELING SIMPLE OBJECTS WITH SPLINES OR NURBS 22

MODELING A NURBS FLOOR LAMP 23

MODELING A NURBS END TABLE 24

MODELING A NURBS OFFICE CHAIR 26

CHAPTER 2: INTERMEDIATE MODELING TECHNIQUES 31

CREATIVITY AND ANIMATION 31

NURBS PATCH MODELING: A SIMPLE EXERCISE 32

INTERMEDIATE NURBS MODELING: CREATING A CARTOON CHICKEN 34

INTERMEDIATE POLYGON MODELING: CREATING A CARTOON CHICKEN 40

CREATING A CARTOON COW WITH POLYGONS 45

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL POLYGON MODELING 2: CREATING A CARTOON PERSON 56

CHAPTER 3: ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN FIGURE 79

SOME ANATOMICAL CONSIDERATIONS 79

PROPORTION 79

THE SKELETON 81

THE SKULL 83

THE SKELETON OF THE TORSO 85

THE BONES OF THE ARM 88

THE BONES OF THE LEG 89

THE MUSCLES 92

The MUSCLES OF THE HEAD 92

THE MUSCLES OF THE NECK 92

THE MUSCLES OF THE TORSO 94

THE MUSCLES OF THE ARM 97

THE MUSCLES OF THE LEG 99

CHAPTER 4: ADVANCED MODELING TECHNIQUES, PART 1 101

THE CREATIVE PROCESS OF 3–D MODELING AND ANIMATION 101

MODELING THE HEAD WITH POLYGONS 102

TOPOLOGY CONSIDERATIONS 103

PREPARATION FORMODELING 104

GETTING STARTED 104

ADDING A FEW EDGES TO THE MALE HEAD 138

SUMMARY 138

CHAPTER 5: ADVANCED MODELING TECHNIQUES, PART 2: THE TORSO 139

MODELING THE FEMALE TORSO 140

MODELING THE MALE TORSO 160

CHAPTER 6: ADVANCED MODELING TECHNIQUES, PART 3: THE ARM AND HAND 175

MODELING THE FEMALE ARM 175

MODELING THE MALE ARM 178

MODELING THE HAND 183

CHAPTER 7: ADVANCED MODELING TECHNIQUES, PART 4: THE LEG AND FOOT 201

ANIMATION AND CONFIDENCE 201

MODELING THE FEMALE LEG 203

MODELING THE MALE LEG 207

MODELING THE FEMALE AND MALE FOOT 212

CONCLUSION 224

CHAPTER 8: ADVANCED MODELING TECHNIQUES, PART 5: FINAL PARTS 231

DIRECTED IMAGINATION 231

THE FINAL PARTS OF THE 3–D HUMAN 231

MODELING AND TEXTURING THE EYEBALL 232

MODELING EYELASHES 234

MODELING TEETH, GUMS, AND A TONGUE 238

POLYGON HAIR VS HAIR GENERATOR SYSTEM 240

MODELING AND TEXTURING POLYGON HAIR 241

USING A DYNAMIC HAIR SYSTEM 245

LOFTING THE CURVES 247

CREATING THE REMAINING HAIR CURVES 249

MIRRORING HAIR 251

CREATING STRAY HAIRS 251

MAKING A PONYTAIL SECTION 251

RANDOMIZING POINTS ON THE WIG 253

CONVERTING NURBS CURVES TO HAIR SYSTEMS 253

TURNING OFF HAIR DYNAMICS 254

SETTING THE HAIR ATTRIBUTES 255

CLUMP AND HAIR SHAPE 255

DYNAMICS 256

CONCLUSION 260

CHAPTER 9: SURFACING AND LIGHTING DETAILS 261

UV–MAPPING A HUMAN HEAD 261

IMPORTANT SHADED UV VIEW ALTERNATIVE TO THE WIREFRAME UV SNAPSHOT 266

CREATING THE TEXTURES IN AN IMAGE EDITING PROGRAM 267

APPLYING THE TEXTURES IN MAYA 268

USING THE MENTAL RAY FAST SKIN SHADER 269

ADJUSTING THE IMAGE MAPS 270

UV–MAPPING AN ENTIRE BODY 270

VERTEX PAINTING: AN ALTERNATIVE TO UV MAPPING 272

ADDING THE MISSS—FAST—SKIN—MAYA SUBSURFACE SCATTERING MENTAL RAY NODE 274

LIGHTING CHARACTERS AND SCENES 275

LIGHT TYPES 275

LIGHTING ARRANGEMENTS 276

MOOD LIGHTING 279

CHAPTER 10: SETTING UP THE HUMAN MODEL FOR ANIMATION 281

THE WORKFLOW 281

MAKING BLEND SHAPES FOR FACIAL EXPRESSIONS 282

CREATING THE BLEND SHAPES FOR THE BROWS, EYELIDS, NOSE, AND CHEEKS 287

PART 1: WORKING WITH AN FBIK RIG 289

PART 2: SETTING UP YOUR OWN FBIK RIG 291

PARENTING THE TEETH, TONGUE, AND EYEBALLS TO THE HEAD JOINT 295

CONTROLLING THE MOVEMENT OF THE EYES 296

CREATING AND EDITING EYELASH CLUSTER WEIGHTS 297

USING BLEND SHAPES TO DRIVE THE ROTATION OF THE TEETH AND TONGUE 297

BINDING THE MODEL TO THE RIG 301

SMOOTH BINDING A HUMAN MODEL TO THE RIG 302

SMOOTH BINDING THE MESH 302

USING THE PAINT SKIN WEIGHTS TOOL 302

USING THE COMPONENT EDITOR TO FIX WEIGHTS 305

ADDINGWEIGHTS AND SUBTRACTING WEIGHTS IN THE COMPONENT EDITOR 306

CONCLUSION 307

USING BLEND SHAPES TO FIX DEFORMATIONS 307

CREATING IN–BETWEEN BLEND SHAPES 312

MAKING MUSCLE DEFORMATIONS WITH SET DRIVEN KEYS DRIVING CLUSTER DEFORMERS 313

ADJUSTING THE CONTROLLER 314

RIGID BINDING A HUMAN MODEL TO THE RIG 314

ADDING FLEXORS 314

HIP AND SHOULDER PROBLEMS 315

PAINT SET MEMBERSHIP 315

CONCLUSION 316

CHAPTER 11: FUNDAMENTALS OF HUMAN ANIMATION 317

SOME ANIMATION POINTERS 317

ANIMATING IN STAGES 319

USING THE GRAPH EDITOR TO ALTER A CLIP 320

ANIMATING A BALL THROUGH THE GRAPH EDITOR 320

USING THE GRAPH EDITOR TO ALTER A DIGITAL HUMAN S MOTION 322

ANIMATING THE ARM 322

ALTERING THE HAND WAVE IN THE GRAPH EDITOR 324

CREATING A WALK CYCLE USING CHARACTER SETS 325

CREATING A WALK ANIMATION 329

USING THE TRAX EDITOR TO REPEAT THE WALK CYCLE 334

REDIRECTING A WALK ANIMATION 337

MAKING A CLIP OF THE HANDWAVE ANIMATION 338

ADDING THE HANDWAVE AND HEAD TURN CLIPS TO THE WALK CYCLE ANIMATION 339

ENTERING THE GRAPH EDITOR FROM TRAX TO ALTER A CLIP 341

CONCLUSION 341

CHAPTER 12: HUMAN ANIMATION PRINCIPLES 345

DIALOGUE 345

DIALOGUE ESSENTIALS 345

WAYS OF MAKING THEM TALK 346

USING AN EXPOSURE SHEET 346

WORKING WITH DIALOGUE AND SOUND CLIPS IN THE TRAX EDITOR 347

STORYBOARDING 355

ROTOSCOPING 356

THE 12 PRINCIPLES OF ANIMATION 358

1 SQUASH AND STRETCH (WEIGHT AND RECOIL) 358

2 ANTICIPATION 359

3 STAGING 359

4 STRAIGHT– AHEAD VERSUS POSE– TO– POSE ACTION 360

5 FOLLOW– THROUGH AND OVERLAPPING ACTION 361

6 SLOW IN AND SLOW OUT 361

7 ARCS 362

8 SECONDARY ACTIONS 362

9 TIMING 363

10 EXAGGERATION 364

11 SOLID DRAWING 364

12 APPEAL 365

THE ELEMENTS OF ANIMATION 365

1 PACING AND IMPACT 365

2 ACTION REACTION 366

3 RHYTHM AND LINES OF ACTION 366

4 PATHS OF ACTION 366

5 SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS 367

6 ACCENTS 367

7 CYCLES 367

8 POSTURES 367

9 THE TAKE 368

10 EMOTIONS 368

11 BALANCE/IMBALANCE 368

12 WEIGHT, MASS, ANDGRAVITY 368

USING CLOTH DYNAMICS FOR FOLLOW– THROUGH AND OVERLAPPING ACTION 369

MODELING THE CLOTHES 369

CONVERTING THE DRESS INTO AN NCLOTH OBJECT 373

CREATING A COLLISION OR PASSIVE OBJECT 374

CONSTRAINING CLOTHES TO MOVE ALONG WITH A CHARACTER 375

RENDERING 376

TERMINALWINDOW RENDERING 376

MAC OS X INSTRUCTIONS 378

WINDOWS INSTRUCTIONS 378

CONCLUSION 378

Bibliography 379

Index 381

About the Author

Peter Ratner is a professor of 3–D computer animation in the School of Art and Art History at James Madison University. He is the founder of the computer animation program at the university and started the first animation concentration in the state of Virginia. In addition to teaching, writing and illustrating five books, and authoring articles for HDRI 3D magazine, he has exhibited his oil paintings, animations, and computer graphics in numerous national and international juried exhibitions.