quick 10 minute head tutorial

[omnicypher]

this is the fastest way ive come up with to make a human head. its only a start as it doesnt cover ears, nose, or eyes in depth. this study was based on the locust from gears of war. if you have a faster way to make a head, or just a good way to make eyes, nose, chin, or mouth, please post it. comments and crits are always welcomed.:)

[Templar]

I don't get it.

No offense, but I'm new and hardly have any idea what the hell I'm doing and it would really help if there was some text to explain commands and such.

[omnicypher]

when modelling a head there are many ways to get a good topology like edge extrusion, spline patches, or box modelling. this tutorial focuses on box modeling because i find that i can get a head started faster that way and with fewer steps. i have to admit that i have made less than 10 heads in my life before writing this, so these are not words from a pro.this tutorial shows how to box model a locust head with (what i think is) good topology for the mouth, cheeks, and eyes. each of the following steps correspond to each sequential picture. everything selected in red is effected during that step.

-------------------3ds max/maya--------------------------------

1. make a box about 2x as tall as it is wide with 2 width and 2 hieght segments.
2. extrude the front top two faces.
3. mirror down the vertical axis and move the top of the head verts up and divide vertically in half
4. select the polygons on the sides and shrink them
5. pull the chin verts down and pull the outside neck verts out
6. divide horizontally, then grab the outside jaw edge and move it inwards horizontally
7. subdivide/turbosmooth/meshsmooth
8. cut edges along the chin, around the ear, and down to the shoulder. look close and make sure to keep it in quads!
9. select the eye polygons and move them vertically
10. select the center and side edges of the eye polygons and shrink them vertically
11. select the mouth polygons and bevel inwards
12. repeat step 11
13. grab the eye polygons and bevel inwards
14. throw it in zbrush for 5 minutes and youll have a locust head!:thumb:

-------------tips for zbrush:---------------

1. hit x to turn on symmetry.
2. subdivide alot and always try to work in a subdivision that effects the size of details being worked on.
3. right click when you need to change the brush size and sharpness
4. add to the back of his head, around the jawline, around the nose, around the lips, across the chest and back, over the eye lids, and on top of his head.
5. subtract from the outsides of his eyes, his temple, under the cheeks, under his jaw, over his clavical, between his pecks and around his jugular vien.
6. go to a low poly subdivision and initiate the "zmapper" plugin
7. click on the "tangent space n.map" button
8. click on the "normal and cavity map" tab
9. click on the big "create normal map" button
10. get out of zmapper and click on the texture preview box and click on "export" and save it as an image file.
11. export the low poly as an .obj file
12. flip the texture vertically in photoshop
13. apply it to the low poly in max/maya (you might need to flip the red or green channel to get it to look right)
14. throw in a few morph targets for fun and enjoy!;)

if you find faults with this method or know of a faster, better, or easier way, id like to know how its done. peace!

[omnicypher]

p.s. the normal map shown is an object space normal map and not a tangent space normal map. tangent space normals have alot more blue to them and less green and red. they also render properly in 3ds, unlike object space maps. so take that normal as an example of what not to do by following step 7 in my zbrush tips.

[ShadyD]

In your first post you said it was the fastest way to a human head, but that doesn't really look human to me..

It's a decent tut but it also (unfortunately) teaches a sloppy technique, sorry!

[Pezzz]

In your first post you said it was the fastest way to a human head, but that doesn't really look human to me..

It's a decent tut but it also (unfortunately) teaches a sloppy technique, sorry!

I kind of agree here...

[omnicypher]

this was a really sloppy technique because i took 20 minutes to make it. it took 10 minutes to model, and 10 minutes to throw together a tutorial on it. i wasnt really going for precision, i was going for speed, and if you want to make anything great you should definitly spend some time on it. this is just how i currently start human heads. plus i was planning on zbrushing it, so the base mesh should be kinda sloppy if going for speed. but im still looking for better ways of doing things. i want to get it down to a science, where i could box model a head really quickly, and end up with a good meshflow.

[iceblazer17]

:uhh: im not really understanding the importance of this... "tutorial"

[cookepuss]

Well, it does qualify as a tutorial - much in the same way as an animated GIF does. It's not bad overall, but the basic topology leaves something to be desired. I'm inclined to agree with everybody else here.

If you're going to do a tutorial, at least do something that promotes proper technique. You kinda hint at the idea of edge/poly loops, but you don't take it all of the way. I understand that you did this in only 10-20 minutes, but I don't think that speed modeling is the excuse here. It seems to me as if you probably didn't go in with a plan, as if the idea of a tutorial was almost secondary to the fact that you were just doodling in 3D. No offense of course. that's just the way it come off.

I think that newbies can probably still learn stuff from these images. I just don't think that they're learning all they can. This tutorial should have been preceded by something just as short, but more focused. Even a simple cartoon head where the character had only one eye. This way, you could clearly explain the importance of technique.

Maybe it's just me, but I always find this type of thing to be a bit trickier to do as a tutorial if its box modeled. I've always been a greater fan of poly-by-poly. Much cleaner topology that way. Less cleanup too.