First Time Head Topology

Andrew F Productions

I have been out of 3D modeling for about a year and a half now, and even before I stopped I wasn't very good. But im going to do my best to pick it back up again, here is a character that I drew and then tried to model. I'm getting some weird shadows all over the head (maybe because I didn't light the scene, not sure) and all though I think the topology is okay, the face in general just looks un-natural.

I would love some feedback on how I could improve my work for the next head model.

deohboeh

It looks good from the front and side make sure it looks like you want it from the 2/3 view. Search bunk poly Steven Stahlberg he has an amazing image showing proper topology, use it as a reference and you will get and idea. The middle e.i nose looks too poly heavy. try to have uniform distribution of polygons, except in deformable areas. Deformable areas are around the mouth near the corner of the eyes where there is maximum deformation.But only if you are going to animate the character. Otherwise just try to maintain the overall shape. Again follow Steven Stahlberg's topo. It's really good. After you have understood what he does try to reduce it in polycount. His models are for films and art not games. But he is effing good!

Sorry for going offtrack at the end.. Hope this helps.

Andrew F Productions

deohboeh wrote: »

It looks good from the front and side make sure it looks like you want it from the 2/3 view. Search bunk poly Steven Stahlberg he has an amazing image showing proper topology, use it as a reference and you will get and idea. The middle e.i nose looks too poly heavy. try to have uniform distribution of polygons, except in deformable areas. Deformable areas are around the mouth near the corner of the eyes where there is maximum deformation.But only if you are going to animate the character. Otherwise just try to maintain the overall shape. Again follow Steven Stahlberg's topo. It's really good. After you have understood what he does try to reduce it in polycount. His models are for films and art not games. But he is effing good!

Sorry for going offtrack at the end.. Hope this helps.

Awesome advice! Thank you so much! I will definitely check him out.

slosh

The proportions look way off from the front and the side as well. Use image planes and line all the features up...they are quite different.

Kharon Alpua

Although it does match the reference in general, it's worth considering if it looks the way you really want it to in 3D -- the mouth in particular seems very strange because it's forced to draw so far back into the head that there seems to be no plane to his head. In general, you can think of the facial features as fitting into a plane that runs from the bridge of the nose to the outer corner of the eyes (with a matching plane mirrored across the face).

The eyes are inset from the surface of this plane, and the nose protrudes, but the basic shapes don't puull back as far as your art style indicates. At rest, the corner of the mouth should line up roughly with the front of the eyes in profile -- My most broad and extreme grin doesn't bring the corner of my mouth all the way to the back outer corner, though it gets close. Your character here has a mouth that extends deeper into his profile than the back corner of his eyes. This means that the jawline looks like its comes to a point, not only at the bottom, but at the front as well, so his mouth can pull as far back as you make it go.

In addition to the above, his cheeks look very pronounced, probably as a result of the mouth pulling so far back. The reference art doesn't pronounce any of his facial features -- he looks young and undeveloped, with a soft yet masculine jawline... Hmm.

I wish I had the time to attempt a paintover to highlight the points I'm making here, but time is at a premium right now. I may try to do it later, though, if you think it would help you out.

Kharon Alpua

So I spent the evening, after I got home from work, trying my hand at a paintover for you. I don't want to claim that the topology I'm highlighting here is the one true topology for a human face -- but it's a good starting point. it takes a lot of practice to get good at faces, especially to get good enough to make a more stylized face like this one to look good.

[IMAGE]17513[/IMAGE]

This was my first guide to face modeling -- I'm not posting it because it's perfect, but it provides a strong point of starting reference for a detailed but low-poly face. Controlling your topology really all comes down to knowing exactly how many points you need and what lines they follow. For a year or two after I saw this map of facial zones, it was my Bible for faces -- I did eventually find more detailed solutions, but when I saw this set of zones and curves, it was the right level at the right time.

May it help you as it helped me -- just try to use the least number of polygons you can to follow the colors and see if it helps your topology and shape at all. Oh, one other thing, I messed u on the front view -- the top segments (except the green) should extend higher up on the head.

PyrZern

Try getting some of this in there.

Fenn

Keep practicing this is Zbro's basemesh. I would study this a bit. I would also study some human head references for proportions and general form.