..... >> VFXWorld / Feature Articles << .....

[Figures 31 & 32] The low-resolution nose and mouth (left), and the high-resolution nose and mouth (right).

Cleanup
Once the polygons have been split, sculpted, merged, deleted and manipulated into the model that is going to be smoothed, certain cleanup tools should be used. In truth, these tools must be used every time the model is going to be previewed using the subdivision method required for the model. These first tools that should be used are merge vertices and merge multiple edges. These will simplify the unseen entities that may be creating problems.

To do a final check on the model, you can use the polygon cleanup tool. You must use this tool carefully. Be sure that the model is inspected carefully before the results of this tool are accepted; this tool can cause major problems to otherwise usable models.

Hair
The original sketch had a baseball cap on the head of the character. This was an attempt to avoid what became a difficult process of making many layers of NURBS surfaces into hair. Many computer-generated characters use layers of NURBS surfaces to create hair. This character was supposed to be a young guy who did not pay careful attention to hair care, so the hairstyle would have to be loose.

[Figures 33-35] The first hair proposal (left), and the final hair (center). A close-up of the eye reveals some of the way the eye was built (right).

The real story here is the difference between the hair that was originally proposed and what finally appeared on the character.

Figures 33 and 34 show some of the progression from long hair to the relatively clean-cut look.

Eyes
The eyes were built from three NURBS spheres nested inside each other:

1. A clear outer later (the cornea).

2. A colored interior layer (the iris). This layer has a recessed, or concave, area around the color of the iris that reacts to light. When light is directed above the eye, the iris will have additional reflection that occurs beneath the pupil. This anatomy is physiologically incorrect, but this lighting has become an accepted way that eyes appear in computer-generated characters. The characters in the Pixar films and the PDI films have their eyes constructed in a similar manner. The opening for the pupil is simply a hole that has a cluster that controls the diameter of the hole. This allows for animation of the size of the pupil.

3. A black inner layer (the pupil). This layer is adapted to fit the iris. The shader on this layer is a black surface shader that emits no light whatsoever.


<< Back	Page 1 2 3 4 5	Next >>