Modular modellering for characters - efficient or a timespen

[Aderyn]

Hello!
I'm a 3D artist from sweden studying gamedevelopment at the university of skövde.


It might be abit arrogant of me to even ask this of you but what i'd like to know is if the proffesionals will laugh at this kind of work or if it's a good idea - My biggest problem is that there havn't been any work before me in this area.(at least from what i've found)

My work will be what i'd refer to as "modular modelling". I'll construct characters where you're able to replace for example a hand, leg or head. Kind of like a template.

The idea is to make character modelling more efficient by speeding up how you rough out the groundshapes.


Any feedback (even bad feedback) or links would be appreciated greatly!

//Rickard

[artist_cg]

people use templates all the time , usually a naked model with done uvs
i created my own naked guy , so i can start from there when i am creating a new character , so if u r talking about creating a template its not new thing
and sure u can cut pieces from that template to reuse it in any way u like
so i would recommend that , its always less painful and faster to start from a template

[Elcura]

I wouldn't use that method if I wanted to practice a model and try and improve/speed up. I would definitely use it for making multiple models on the same project or if I had to somehow shave a lot of time off my workflow. But often I find it easier to make something new then fiddle about with something old so the styles match up.

[FluxAmbassador]

I think, if you're still learning, you absolutely need to go the long way around. There's absolutely no way to learn what makes a good mesh if you haven't already suffered through a hundred bad ones. Trial & error is all part of the process.

However, if you already know how to model a character and have done so many times before, I see no problem with a modular approach. To be honest, "kit bashing" is extremely common in industries where deadlines are tight and time is of the essence.

I think that, after some time, artists tend to create enough bodies or faces where they already have a hearty & varied enough supply of parts from which to "Frankenstein" a new character. Even when you're learning, I think that its important to actually start building a library. Suppose that you've mastered ears and now you want to start mastering noses. Do you really, REALLY want to recreate your 250th ear just to get to that nose that you still can't do right?

Building a library is important, but so is variety. If you keep building new characters from the same set of pieces then your characters are all going to look too much alike, even with hand tweaking. You need to develop a large enough gene pool to breed these new characters. Again, this is something that requires both time and experience.

Using kit bashing as an excuse to get around mastering the basics is just lazy. I wouldn't want to hire a guy who managed to create a perfect looking ear once. I'd much rather work with a guy who I can count on for being able to do that on demand.

Something to think about.